Hey, so I'm a first time White Collar fanfic writer though I've read a whole lot out there and I thought I'd give it a go. I'm an absolute sucker for Neal whump but we'll see if I'm actually any good at writing it. Please be kind and review! I'll update faster!

Disclaimer: I do not own White Collar. If I did there would be whump in every episode!

Neal Caffrey sat in the passenger seat of the Ford Taurus twisting and untwisting his newly won pen. With each click as the nub slid out of the bottom he could see Peter growing more and more frustrated.

"I'll take it back if you don't stop doing that," Peter warned.

Neal turned to his friend and partner with his most charming smile plastered onto his face. "Take my hard earned pen? You wouldn't" He twisted the top again. "No, you couldn't." Click. Peter's hand snaked out, lunging for the object of his annoyance.

"Uh-uh Peter, this is mine," Neal pulled his hand away. He laughed at Peter's sigh of frustration.

"I only gave the thing to you to shut you up." Peter stopped the car at a set of red lights and turned to his partner. "So shut it or give it back."

With a smirk Neal made a big show of placing the pen in his pocket. As the light turned green and Peter accelerated past through the traffic lights Neal turned to looked out the window.

"Peter! Look out!"

There was a metallic crunch as the two cars collided in the middle of the intersection. Peter had reacted quickly with Neal's warning and managed to avoid a full on crash, instead the second car clipped the back end of the Taurus pushing it out of the intersection and into a slight a slight spin.

Inside the car Neal braced himself with one hand against the dashboard and the other up over his head. It had wacked against the window at the first moment of impact. Peter had his own death grip on the steering wheel to keep from being flung about.

After what felt like hours the car rocked to a stop.

"Neal? Are you ok?" Peter brushed glass off himself and turned, wincing, to his partner.

Neal nodded and immediately regretted it. He waved off his friend's concerned expression. "I'm fine Peter, just bumped my head." At this stage witnesses to the crash had reached the car and Peter's door was wrenched open.

"Is everyone ok in here?"

"Hey! Catch that man!"

Peter was helped out of the car in time to watch the driver of the other car take off down the street with several civilians going after him. Peter wanted to go after him but concern for Neal kept him at the car where several people were trying to get the passenger door open.

Neal grew impatient and simply scooted across the seat.

"You should have stayed sitting," Peter scolded.

"I'm fine Peter, and sitting out here beats sitting in that thing. Normally I'm not a fan of your driving," Neal joked. He let his head drop into his hands, holding it against the headache that was pounding away at his temples. "But this time I think I'll let it pass."

Sirens heralded the arrival of paramedics. Peter brushed them off and went to look at the other car.

"This wasn't an accident," he turned to Neal while pointing at the tangled mess of the cars. "Did you get a look at the guy before he ran?"

Neal blinked and tried to wave away the paramedic who was shining a bright light into his eyes. "Yeah, I recognised him." He turned back to the paramedic. "Can I go now?"

"Recognised him?" Peter wandered back over to Neal. He hadn't asked that. He'd simply asked if Neal had seen him. "Is there something you need to tell me Neal?" He stood over the ex-con with his serious face on.

Anything Neal was about to say was interrupted by the paramedic. "I really think Mr Caffrey should come with us to the hospital. He may have a concussion."

"That's really not necessary," Neal told them.

"No, I agree with the paramedics," Peter told his partner. "And we can talk once we get there."

...

Four hours later Neal and Peter walked out of the hospital. Peter had called Elizabeth when they first arrived to tell her they were ok and the doctors had confirmed it and a minor concussion for Neal before sending them off with some mild painkillers for Neal's headache.

Elizabeth drove them home insisting Neal crashed in the spare room.

"But first I want to know why someone tried to kill us. Spill it Neal, what aren't you telling me?"

Neal rubbed at his temples for a moment deciding just how much he wanted Peter to know.

Finally he took a breath and told Peter and Elizabeth the story.

"Before you caught me I was approached by these men. They wanted me to forge a painting. I refused. What they did involved guns and people getting hurt. I don't do that."

"You just forged paints for the money," Peter stated.

"Allegedly." Even exhausted Neal's grin never lost its charm.

"To sum it all up these men weren't happy. They swore revenge and such but then I was in jail and I've been out now for over a year and never heard from them again." Neal yawned. "Now I'm off to bed. It's been a long day." He stood and left Peter and Elizabeth exchanging worried glances.

"Go to bed honey," Peter picked up his phone. "I'm going to call Hughes and get a protective detail over here. Hopefully in the morning we'll get the whole story from Neal."

...

Neal woke up in the spare room at Peter's house. The morning sun shone through the windows provoking the headache that had disappeared during the night.

Neal pulled himself out of bed and trudged downstairs and spotted Elizabeth at the kitchen table.

"Well good morning sleepy head," she greeted him cheerfully. "There's coffee in the kitchen and you know where we keep the cereal."

Neal ducked into the kitchen for coffee and food then joined Elizabeth at the table. "Peter's at work then?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Oh Neal, what have you gotten yourself into?"

"I did nothing," Neal complained. "And that's the problem."

Neal spent the morning under house arrest with Elizabeth. The driver who had crashed into Peter's car hadn't been caught. At one point Neal went upstairs to change from his pyjamas. He noticed his phone by the bed had one new message on it.

Bit of a bumpy ride huh? That was merely a warning. Next time we'll get you.

Neal put the phone down quickly. How had they got his number? He didn't want to think about it. Peter was at work trying to figure out who was after Neal and there were men outside watching the house. Neal retrieved his phone again and typed a quick message. He didn't want to give too much away. Peter was digging around in the past and that was dangerous. Neal did not want to go back to jail. He sent the message to Peter. It read: Look for a Richard Tayland.

Richard Tayland was a dangerous man. Yes he loved the money, but he also loved fear. When Richard wanted something he was never afraid to threaten others to achieve it. Neal hated his approach, even before he met the man personally. There was just no subtlety in his method. It wasn't creative or artful. He simply waved around his guns and showed off his goons and the job got done.

Neal was first brought before Richard five years ago. He didn't work through any of the normal channels like most cons, sending feelers out and arranging meets. No, Richard sent his goons to pick Neal up one night, trashing the young man's apartment and capturing the forger to drag back to the boss.

Then Neal had had the balls to tell the man no. He already had an FBI tail and for all his thievery Neal did have a certain set of morals. He didn't like guns. Working for Richard would ultimately end in disaster. Neal knew that. His opinion did not go down well with his potential boss, no did Richard respond well to Neal escaping the building he'd been kept with. He spent the next two months evading not just Peter Burke who was trying to put his arse in jail, but he'd also had to keep himself and Kate moving every time Richard found them again. It had almost been a relief to be sent to jail and to discover that Kate was being left alone. After almost a year out of jail Neal had hoped Tayland had lost him for good or maybe given up. But now things weren't looking promising.

It wasn't a particularly long chapter but I'll work on that. Hope you enjoy and please review!