Okay, so long time no write. I browsed through my folder of started but never finished things, and didn't find anything worth finishing. Well, except the one that needs to become a oneshot or get a plot or something like that. That'll be up eventually. So in the meantime, I've decided to do this. It's a collection of lyric-inspired pieces. Are the lyrics taken out of context? You betcha. Are they all going to be canon? Probably not. Will these be updated with any kind of regularity? Well, knowing my record with that, I'm going to be honest and admit that the answer is no.

And here is a generic spoiler warning, since I know I won't remember to put it at the beginning of every chapter like I should. Spoilers for anything and everything in all seasons.

Not mine, don't own. I'm just borrowing. :)

We're setting the fires to light the way; we're burning it all to begin again. (Bricks, Rise Against)

Peter didn't say anything. It would appear that there was nothing left to say, but Neal knew better. Peter had every right to be upset. He should have been angry. He should have been sad. He should never have come back for Neal.

In all honesty, he probably should have put Neal in cuffs.

But instead, Peter drove. Neal sat in the passenger seat. The silence that stretched between them didn't really have hidden meaning. Or rather, it had too much hidden meaning. One of those where both parties are feeling more than they care to admit. Yet it wasn't a threatening sort of silence; more than anything else, it seemed disappointed.

Not that Peter didn't have every right to be disappointed.

"I'm sorry," Neal said finally.

Peter didn't answer immediately. His face remained mostly blank, and that bothered Neal more than he cared to admit. There was no reason for Peter to try and hide what he was feeling.

"Don't be." The response came suddenly and threw Neal off guard.

"Why not? Peter, I ran. I could have been a free man but instead I left. I betrayed your trust. After everything we did that day… I should have stayed."

Peter shook his head, the motion brief and jerking. "No. You did what you had to do. Kramer was going to have you arrested and take you for himself. If you had stayed, you would have been shipped away to DC."

Neal remained silent.

"You weren't going to end up as a free man. It wouldn't have happened, regardless of what they decided at the commutation hearing."

Neal wasn't surprised. That seemed inevitable, really. In the end they would have caught him for something else, or he would have had to run another con. He wouldn't be able to stay on the good side of the law for long, regardless of what he might like to tell himself late at night when he can't sleep.

"Now what?"

Peter shrugged with a feigned nonchalance. "I don't know, Neal. You're back here, but Kramer's gone."

"You're ignoring the part where I ran without telling you," Neal replied softly.

"Yeah. That too."

Neal studied his friend. Peter's jaw was tensed, but his face remained impassive. The mask still bothered the con man. If anything, he was the one who should be blanking out all emotions. Peter could have been relieved, or angry. He could have yelled and threatened to put Neal back behind bars. He should have slapped some cuffs on Neal at the very least.

Instead, the silence reigned supreme.

"What am I going to do?" Neal asked.

"Nothing. You are not going to go behind my back. I'm not going to pretend that I don't know that you're back here. We, however, are going to work through this. I'm going to keep you here, Neal, if it kills me. You wouldn't do well in DC." Peter paused and glanced at Neal, breaking his gaze away from the road for the first time since they had climbed into the car. "Unless, of course, you want to go to DC?"

"I have a family here," Neal said simply. "I want to stay."

"I don't know how we'll do it, but we'll find a way to keep you here."

Before the silence could take over again, Neal said, "Thank you, Peter."

They lapsed back into silence. The streetlights illuminated Peter's face and then shrank away with a predictable, even pattern. Bit by bit, streetlight after streetlight, Neal saw the mask slip away. Then his friend's face held only relief. No anger, no disappointment. Just relief.

"We're not going to be able to go back to what we had before."

"What?" Peter sounded surprised.

"After everything that's happened, after, well, this, I'm surprised you aren't sending me back to prison."

Peter slowed and turned a corner before answering. "After everything, I don't think I would be able to send you back to jail just for this."

Neal smiled, but it wasn't a drawn up sort of thing. On the contrary, he couldn't help it. For once, he smiled and meant it. He smiled and it wasn't a lie. It was everything that he felt, everything that couldn't be conveyed in words.

Everything that Peter would just understand.