The Extortionist

When the infamous Extortionist hits NYC, Peter's got his hands full – between leading the investigation no man has completed, protecting his pregnant wife from a kidnapper gunning for her, and keeping Neal under control. Can he keep the inevitable from happening, or will he end up enlisting Neal and Mozzie in a quest to retrieve what has been taken from him?

Chapter I

Peter blinked his eyes open, blurry vision replacing the black nothingness that was blissful, uninterrupted sleep, and he met the sight of his beautiful wife, Elizabeth Burke, sleepy eyes closed and a hint of a smile playing at her lips. Her chest rose and fell with silent breaths, and her dark brown hair was splayed across the pillow, her shoulders, and her pale neck. She looked so peacefully at ease that he had trouble deciding if he should wake her. Finally, after consideration, he reasoned that she would need a good breakfast before she had to go to work. Planning events was a tricky business, and more often than not, she went without lunch. He recently began bringing her lunch whenever possible, but he had a feeling he wouldn't get out of the office so easily today. Some important case arose out of the blue and he was trying to get every spare paycheck he could manage since they'd found out about their little "surprise".

He grabbed her shoulder and gave it a gentle tug, pulling her out of her dreams and into reality. Her wide blue eyes fluttered open, finding his instantly. Elizabeth smiled at her quick recollection of the past week and its events, and her hand automatically settled on her abdomen. His large hand engulfed hers and they sat in comfortable silence, smiling at each other. They'd both done a lot of smiling since they returned from the doctor with a residence inside her and a new emotion in their hearts. It was hard not to, knowing that in 8 short months there would be little hands in theirs and little laughter amongst the big laughter (and the occasional woof from Satchmo) filling the house.

Elizabeth's voice brought him out of his thoughts and into reality. "Good morning," she whispered in a sing-song tone.

Peter smiled wider and replied, "Good morning yourself."

She leaned upward and kissed him tenderly, only pulling away when she caught sight of the time. "You let me sleep in?"

Peter simply said, "You looked tired." She smirked and poked his stomach, to which he responded with a kiss on her forehead. El winked at him and started upward, jumping out of the bed.

Instantly, she regretted it; her stomach dropped and nausea rose up her spine and into her throat. "Oh..." She covered her mouth with one hand, using the other to steady herself on the bedpost. El knew Peter was watching her, so she toughed up and waited for the feeling to pass. However, it didn't, and that's when the real worry set in. Would she have to work like this?

"Honey?" Her husband stood up warily, walking over to check on her. He set a hand on her shoulder, silently waiting for her to look at him. Eventually she did, with slightly worried eyes. "Are you okay?"

She blinked, then nodded. "Just a little morning sickness, I guess. I'm gonna go get re-" Another wave of nausea rushed over her, and she pushed past him, running to the bathroom.

Peter stood in shock as Elizabeth slammed the door shut behind her, locking it. He blinked, walking to the door. "Maybe you should stay home today..."

Her voice erupted behind the door. "No, I'll be fine! I just... need a minute."

Peter seriously doubted that, but when Elizabeth put her mind to something, it would often take a fire or a dead body to stop her.

"If you're sure. I'm just gonna grab some breakfast and head out." He almost left, but added, "If you need anything, give me a call."

"Mhmm!" Her voice sounded weak, but he wasn't about to question her conviction. "Love you!"

"Love you too, hon."

And with that... special sendoff... he was off.

Peter waltzed into the White Collar unit casually, nodding at passers-by and familiar faces, while his thoughts raced. El said she was fine, but she was his wife, whom he'd known for ten years. She often said she was "fine" not out of speculation of her welfare but rather the seriousness of the situation and what she needed to accomplish. He'd have to keep his phone on, whether she said she was "fine" or not; customers don't take kindly to their event planners throwing up in the middle of the store, and she knew that.

"Hey, Peter!"

Peter turned to the direction of the voice and found Neal Caffrey, twirling a hat onto his head and smiling in the way only he did. His "snake eyes" as Peter inwardly referred to them were locked on him, and he figured either there was something very important, or Neal just felt like today was a good day to waste his time. He was more dependent on the latter.

"Hey, Caffrey," Peter greeted him cautiously, eyeing a paper in his hand. "What's that?"

"Invoice." Neal handed the paper to his partner, which was quickly scanned before dismissal. "Some big meeting's about to be held in the Conference room. Sounds important."

Peter sighed, walking next to his comrade as they twisted around the early-morning rush the office always provided. "Yeah, I know. I got a call about it on my way."

"Any idea what it's about?" Neal questioned.

Peter shook his head, eyeing the paper in the ex-criminal's swinging hand. "I was hoping you could answer that."

"Ah," Neal blinked, glancing around the busy room dismissively. "How's Elizabeth?"

"Wasn't feeling well this morning." Neal gave him an inquisitive look, so he added, "Morning sickness. First case of it, far as I know."

"Will she still be able to work?"

Peter honestly couldn't answer that question. "She's around all that food and wine... El says she's fine, but I think she's gonna have to have someone work her hours in the morning and pick up in the afternoon, if it wears off by then."

Neal snorted. "She's not gonna like that."

Peter grimaced. "You've got that right."

"Agent Burke!" Jones ran up to the pair, clutching a file precariously in one hand. "Meeting's starting. We're holding a chair for you."

"Right behind you," Peter replied quickly, following him to the large room. He and Neal exchanged glances and peered into the window, getting a feel for what kind of crowd they would be stepping into. The usual agents sat in their usual seats, and surely enough, two empty chairs.

They entered the room, all eyes darting to the three men stepping in on the meeting. Hughes hadn't seemed to mind their entry, welcoming them to take a seat and pay attention as he briefed everyone on the case which they were all sure would be the only thing heard of for days, if not weeks. Peter wasn't at all enthusiastic but he listened closely, fearing he would regret walking into such an issue blindly.

"We've got an abduction case."

Peter looked up. That was something you didn't see too often lately.

Hughes continued. "The kidnapper goes by the name of the Extortionist. We've had his cases before, but we could never place the man behind he mask."

Peter's brow furrowed as not-so-fond memories of the "Extortionist" came into view. He remembered clearly the man's unique way of kidnapping key people in the government, law-enforcement and, the touchy point of conversation, the bureau. He could recall several attempts to catch him in the act when a clue was slipped, but the man was always one step ahead and leaving choice clues, which must be distinguished fake or real. By the time you had a plan in action, he was off to Act 2.

"Who's he got this time?" Neal asked, all eyes on him (as per usual).

Jones blinked at him. "You're familiar with his work?"

Neal grimaced. "If his work is kidnapping innocent people and their wives, then yes, I've heard of him."

Hughes nodded and continued. "As some of you may be aware, he kidnaps his victims in groups, then takes full ransom in return for each of them, within the span of a week." He pulled a chart and map of the city down from a cord and pointed at points marked in red. "He leaves clues, some fake, hinting at where he's keeping them. By the time they're interpreted and a plan is in place, he moves to another location, all within the same city, and doubles the ransom. It's his game, and he plays it well."

Everyone nodded, muttering to each other. Neal contributed with his own mumblings, directed mostly to Peter. "This guy gets a lot of money, and makes it look easy. You're gonna have a tough time catching him in the act."

Peter smirked. "You mean 'we'll' have a tough time. We're gonna need your vast knowledge to find him." He eyed Neal's fingers tapping on the table. "What do you know about his past victims?"

He stopped tapping, sighing as if it pained him to share the information. "He always takes three; one government official, one law-enforcer, and one federal agent. He usually takes two women and one man, so as not to be outnumbered, but last year he took on three men, one of which died when the FBI failed to pay ransom."

"Why didn't we pay?"

"Too busy trying to catch him," he coughed. "However, since he took three men last year, it's likely he'll take three women this year. One agent, one from law-enforcement, one from government."

"That's a good point, Mr. Caffrey," Hughes interrupted. "We could be dealing with a female abduction this time, so we're not putting any female agents on this mission."

The women automatically protested.

"That's not fair!"

"It wasn't that way with the men!"

"We'll be too vulnerable!"

"Alright, settle down!" He waved a hand to calm them down. "You'll be on the case, and paid in full. We just can't risk you on the field." They quieted.

"Who will lead the investigation?" asked Jones.

"Agent Burke will be the leader, along with Caffrey as a consultant," He looked at the two. "You both share a unique knowledge of our kidnapper. Don't fail us."

"Yes, sir," Peter assured him. Neal only offered a nod.

Peter waltzed in the door, Neal trailing him. He was still rambling on about some painting he'd stolen somewhere...

"And that was when I realized; I forgot which one was my forgery and which was real!" Neal laughed. "So, with a minute until the alarms activated again, I called Mozzie in and we searched for any differences, but we couldn't tell. So, we had to pick by random, and we ended up with the real painting! Guess we just-"

The pair stopped abruptly at the sight of Elizabeth sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating what appeared to be hollowed-out pickles with peanut butter on the inside. On the coffee table there were several bags of chips, popcorn, cereal, celery with dip, and much more.

"... got lucky," Neal finished. He looked at Peter and whispered, "Morning sickness, huh?"

Elizabeth heard their voices and looked up, smiling. "Hey, honey! How was work?"

The men walked into the living room, revealing Neal behind him. "Oh, hi Neal! I didn't know you were dropping by." She immediately began cleaning up the food and wrappers.

Peter stepped forward and wrapped her in a quick hug, kissing her cheek. She kissed his cheek as well and hurried into the kitchen, hands full with trash and half-eaten bags of food.

Neal chuckled at Peter. "Looks like El's faring better than you thought."

Peter's eyes were wide. "Something tells me I'll be eating toast for dinner..."

WOO!

I've been writing this for six months, editing and rewriting, and swore by the time I wrote 20 out of 30 chapters I'd start posting. So here I am :D

I hope you guys like my writing; I know this is a smaller fanbase (for this couple, anyway - what is it about functioning couples that turns people away?) but I've been itching to post some Peter/El lately, so I hope this is in-character and accepted by most. If you like it, please let me know!

I noticed that the few stories that have the fantasy Burke pregnancy end tragically, and that made me sad, so I decided to write a happier take on it. This story has no timeline; sometime in the future, maybe. I've avoided the storyline of White Collar because it's always changing, so this is a character-driven fic.

I plan on posting the whole story over time, so hopefully I'll pick up some readers! Don't forget to review, follow, favorite, etc. I'd really appreciate it!

* *-TheSongbird341-* *

DISCLAIMER: As you can well imagine, I don't own White Collar. Sucks, right?