Hey everyone thanks for the reviews and reading this story, I crave more haha, I start my new job tomorrow so the updates will be more spaced out gomen I am so sorry but I am still writing because you my fans are making me happy. So keep reviewing or I might have peter get fired from the fbi its in your hands ppl Loves and Hugs

Chapter 2: Captured

Neal opened his eyes and found himself staring at the darkness again, he had no idea how many days had passed. All he knew was the sound of the key in the lock signaling that Keller was there with a small cup of water for him to drink. When the telltale click of the key alerted Neal to the return of Keller he closed his eyes to keep himself from being blinded by the bright lights when they were turned on. "I'm going to take pity on you today Caffrey and let you take a bath upstairs," Keller said as he put the edge of the paper cup against Neal's lips and helped him drink. Neal drank the water quickly and lapped at the drops on the rim. Grabbing his pocket knife Keller cut the plastic zip ties that held Neal's arms behind his back and forced the ex-con to his feet and held him up as he walked him out of the dark room.

Right away Neal closed his eyes tighter as he was met by sunlight. He tried hard to memorize each step as he was led up a flight of stairs. By the time Neal felt some strength return to his legs he was pushed down onto floor. Opening his eyes slowly Neal let them adjust to the sunlight coming in the window. When he was able to see again Neal looked around the bathroom as he listened to Keller begin filling the tub with water. Dragging himself over to the tub Neal looked at the water and smiled at the sight and stuck his hand into the water to feel the warm liquid. Sighing softly he dragged his fingers over the water and traced patterns on the water's surface.

Keller shut the water off and watched as Neal put his head down on his arm and played with the water for a few moments. "You better get in the water before it gets cold," he said grabbing onto Neal's shirt and forcibly pulling it over his head leaving him shirtless. Neal used the edge of the tub to push himself to his feet. Sitting on the edge of the tub he managed to remove his pants and slide into the tub without help. Keller smirked and brought over some soap and shampoo. "Be done in two hours, I'll be back for you then," Keller said as he left the bathroom and locked the door behind him. Neal groaned as he slipped into the hot water and let it slip around his body making him feel grateful for being allowed to take a bath. Putting his head against the built in head rest Neal closed his eyes as he let the hot water relax his strained muscles.

After an hour Keller grew bored of waiting and slipped into the bathroom and found Neal resting in the tub his damp hair sticking to his face. Walking over silently he put his hand on Neal's head and pushed him under the water before he could react and held him there for a couple seconds before pulling him out of the water. "I didn't say you could fall asleep Caffrey, I hope you washed up because you're getting out now," Keller said as he dragged Neal out of the tub by his hair and dropped him on the floor face first. "You're new clothes are in the bedroom, but I want you to crawl into the room," Keller ordered. Neal knew what the other man was capable of; pushing himself to his hands and knees he slowly crawled out of the bathroom ignoring the fierce blush covering his body as he entered the bedroom. When he found the clothes on the bed he quickly dressed in the sweat pants and large tee shirt.

"What do you want from me Keller?" Neal asked as he kept his eyes locked on the other man. "I didn't give you permission to talk," Keller said as he walked toward Neal and punched him in the jaw sending him to the floor. Neal stayed down for his own safety and kept his eyes trained on the carpet. "You will only speak when I tell you unless you want even worse, now stay there I'll be back in two minutes," Keller warned as he left the bedroom to see if Neal would listen to him. Neal pushed himself up slowly until he was sitting up and looking around the room quickly he took in as many details as possible before his captor came back. When the door began to open again Neal got back onto the ground and kept his eyes down. "You're learning very quickly…now get up and follow me I guess I actually have to feed you to keep you alive," Keller said as he left the room with Neal following behind him down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Neal walked over to the table and sat down and looked at the newspaper on the table and saw that he had been there for over ten days. It doesn't feel like ten days have passed at all… Neal thought as he picked up the paper. "I didn't say you could sit at the table," Keller said as he threw Neal to the ground. "The FBI gave up looking for you and now you are stuck here unless you want to go back to jail when you step out that door, but if you listen to me and do as I say I will protect you from going back to jail," Keller promised as he put his hand on Neal's head. Neal looked up defiantly and smacked Keller's hand away. "Peter would never give up looking for me, even if the FBI tells him to stop he won't!" Neal yelled as he grabbed the chair and swung it will all his strength and sent his captor into the wall. Dropping the chair Neal ran toward the door to make a break for it.

As soon as his feet hit the hardwood floor of the living room Neal was tackled to the ground hard sending him into a daze. "I didn't say you could leave Caffrey," Keller panted as he flipped Neal over and punched him again this time knocking him out cold. Ignoring his own bloody lip Keller grabbed Neal by the wrist and dragged his unconscious body and dropped him on an oversized dog bed under the window before putting a heavy iron collar around Neal's neck; he then walked over to the counter and picked up a small blow torch and hooked a chain through the two rings on the back of the collar and welded the chain link closed and smirked as he shut the blowtorch off and put it away in the cabinet.

When he regained consciousness Neal sat up and found his neck felt weighted down by something, forcing his body up Neal saw he was sitting on a large dog bed and was chained to the wall by a heavy collar that was making him want to lie back down. Fighting the weight Neal stood up and found the chain allowed him to walk into the bathroom and reach the toilet and the sink but was just a few inches too short when it came to reaching for the cordless phone on the counter. Letting out a small whimper Neal practically strangled himself as he tried to reach the phone, his fingers brushed against the smooth plastic base only to end up knocking the phone to the floor and having it bounce out of reach. Letting out a low curse he grabbed the table and flipped it over in anger and grabbed the chain and pulled with all his strength.

Pulling on the chain with all his strength Neal was met with little leeway; he struggled and strained only to have the ring hold tight. Growling in annoyance Neal dropped the heavy chain on the ground and sighed as he walked over to the window and looked out at the dark backyard. Ignoring the pain in his cheek from earlier Neal looked around to make sure he was alone before sinking to his knees and giving a silent prayer before crawling back onto the dog bed and curling up to keep warm as he tried to fall asleep.


Peter sat in front of the TV not paying attention to the game at all. He hadn't been able to concentrate on anything since Neal's disappearance. He couldn't stop thinking about Neal. Elizabeth walked into the living room and watched as Peter shut the TV off and just sat in the dark the only light coming from the street. "Peter… do you want to talk about it?" Elizabeth asked as she walked over and sat on the couch by her husband. "I'm going to turn in early…" Peter said as he got up from the couch and dragged himself upstairs and into the master bedroom. Dropping onto the bed Peter put his pillow over his head as he fell back. Neal… I'm not giving up on you Peter thought as he pulled the pillow off of his face before he changed his clothes and got back into bed.

Elizabeth sighed and got up from the couch and made her way upstairs. Walking into the master bedroom Elizabeth got ready for bed and crawled into bed. "Peter…you have to stop blaming yourself, you're going to find Neal I know it," she said trying to get through to her husband. "But it is my fault El, he didn't want to do it and I talked him into going undercover which put him on that sidewalk to be grabbed, now with no ransom how do I know he's even still alive…I'll never forgive myself if he's found dead in a dumpster somewhere," Peter said softly indicating he wanted to drop the conversation. "Neal is not lying in a dumpster… you're going to find him and bring him home," she said softly. Peter rolled over and looked at his wife. "Don't even try to humor me…I've failed Neal and he's as good as dead," Peter argued as he turned away again and closed his eyes and forced himself to fall asleep.

In the morning Peter dragged himself out of bed and showered, he was glad it was Saturday so he wouldn't have to go to work but it also meant facing another day without Neal. On the way to the kitchen Peter was caught off guard by his agent sitting in his living room. Diana stood up and looked at her boss. Right away Peter knew something was wrong. "The body of a young man was pulled out of the river this morning in New Jersey, mid to late twenties to early thirties, dark hair and blue eyes. Hughes wants us to go see if it's Neal," Diana said knowing that the news would be a tough pill to swallow. Peter didn't wait he rushed upstairs to change and was down and ready to leave as soon as possible. When the agents arrived in Newark Peter felt his stomach twisting into knots as they pulled up to the Essex county morgue.

Ignoring the smell of chemicals Peter followed the assistant down the twisting halls. "I don't know why you even bothered to show up this poor bastard barely looks human, whoever did this really hated the guy or is just crazy, his face is a mess and the tips of his fingers were chopped off while he was still alive so finger prints are a no go," the assistant said as he pushed open the doors into the morgue. Peter bit his tongue to keep from responding as the medical examiner came over. "You must be Agent Burke and Agent Barrigan, I'm Doctor Jason Verge, when this young man came in I was talking to a friend of mine who said that the description matched that of your missing consultant not to mention he was wearing the clothes your consultant was wearing when he went missing, now I should warn you that it's pretty brutal… I've pulled Mr. Caffrey's dental records to compare with the x-rays I took from the body," the M.E. said as he walked around the table and grabbed the edge of the sheet.

Peter steeled himself for the sight and nodded, the M.E. pulled the sheet down revealing the face. "When you examined the body did you find a faint scar on the left palm?" Peter asked as he stared at the face of dead body, the heavily swollen lips and cheeks hid most of the bone structure underneath. "No, the palm is clear of scarring, why do you ask?" Jason asked as he lifted the hand up to show the pale colorless skin and unmarred palm. Peter finally looked up from the face. "Neal cut his hand on a piece of broken glass a month ago and needed stitches I was there when the doctor said there would be a faint scar after…which means this isn't Neal, check the records and the DNA but this man isn't Neal," Peter said his heart feeling lighter that he hadn't failed Neal yet.

"Thank you doctor, we'll let you get back to work," Peter said as he walked out of the morgue with Diana beside him. "For that body to be dressed in Neal's clothes means that whoever kidnapped Neal did this to draw our attention from something else. Which means we're looking in the wrong direction… if we want to find Neal we have to find out what we're not supposed to be looking at," Peter said as he got into Diana's car. "We need to get to the office right now I need to look up something," he said thinking that he over looked something. Pulling his phone out Peter called in his agents and ignored the few that hung up on him saying they needed the day off. When they got to the office Peter stood in the elevator with Diana.


Keller walked into the kitchen and looked at the destruction in the room. Grabbing the cordless phone off that floor Keller put it back on the cradle before moving over to the dog bed by the wall. "Bad Caffrey…you made such a mess of the kitchen," Matthew said as he walked over and stood over the ex con. Neal cracked his eyes open and saw the anger in his captor's eyes. Before he could move out of harm's way Neal cried out in pain as Keller's foot made contact with his stomach. Curling up in a tight ball Neal closed his eyes tightly and whimpering in pain. Grabbing the chain Keller gave it a hard tug choking Neal as he grabbed the bolt cutters and cut the chain from the wall and folded it over and began to whip Neal with it.

By the time he was done Keller smirked at his work and dropped the chain before checking Neal's pulse to make sure he was alive. "At least you're still breathing…for now…" he mumbled as he grabbed Neal by the wrist and twisted it to the near point of breaking it snapping Neal out of his stupor. "I'm sorry I'll clean it up!" Neal yelled to get Matthew to let him go. "That's what I wanted to hear now get to work," he ordered as he walked over to a chair that was still standing and sat down to watch Neal clean in silence. Neal cleaned up the mess quickly and stood there and looked at the floor. "Very good you're learning, you earned something to eat," Keller remarked with a smirk as he walked to the bread drawer and pulled a bag of dinner rolls out and threw the bag at his captive.

Ripping the bag open Neal started to scarf the rolls down as fast as possible. When he finished the first couple rolls he looked up for a drink. "May I please have a drink?" he asked as he continued to nibble on the rolls as he was given a bottle of water. "See you're learning, when you follow the rules you'll get food and more freedoms, try to escape or injure me and a whipping will be the least of your problems," Keller said as he sat down across from Neal. Keeping quiet Neal kept eating until he was full; when he was done he played with the twist tie on the table. "I'm going out for a few minutes, I have to get my mail from down the street I want you to stay right there and if you move an inch I'll make you wish you hadn't" Keller warned as he got up and left the house.

Neal waited a few agonizing seconds the make sure the other man had left before he got to his feet and tiptoed across the room and grabbed the bolt cutters that were left on the island counter and cut a majority of the chain off from around his neck. I need to run fast and far… Neal thought as he ran out the back door and down the small alley to the street. Looking behind him Neal looked for any signs of being followed as he started to walk down the sidewalk to find a place to hide. Turning toward street Neal came face to face with Keller. Sliding to a stop Neal turned around and took off like a jackrabbit in the other direction.

"Neal! Get back here…" Keller yelled as he chased his former partner into traffic. Neal didn't hear the taxi's horn in time to get out of the way as the yellow cab struck him like a deer in the street. Keller froze on the street corner he knew that the police would be called and it would be dangerous to stay there, turning tail he made a run for it before anyone saw him. Neal watched as people stood over him with cell phones glued to their ears as they called in the accident. He tried to catch his breath despite his broken ribs, looking at the faces looking down at him Neal became nervous and tried to push himself away only to cringe in pain at his broken arm.

When the paramedics arrived Neal fought them as they tried to help him. After a moment they grew fed up with Neal's actions and moved him to the gurney as quickly and safely as possible before they put him in back of the ambulance. One of the paramedics leaned over Neal and put his hand on his shoulder to keep him calm. "We need to know your name and blood type," he said as he grabbed a clip board and began to fill out information on the chart. Neal turned his head away and began to hyperventilate at the thought of giving out information that could let Keller find him Neal pushed himself up into a seated position despite his injuries and struggled to breathe with his broken ribs. The paramedic instantly grabbed a small vial of Ativan and filled the small syringe and injecting it into Neal's arm to calm him down. "We're trying to help you sir; now please what is your name?" the man asked again. "Neal…Caffrey" Neal said softly the drugs making him a little loopy. "Alright Mr. Caffrey, we're almost there…"the paramedic promised as the ambulance pulled into the bay. Neal whimpered as he was moved from the ambulance and into through the hall toward the emergency room.

Doctors surrounded the gurney and looked down at Neal as they wheeled him into the emergency room to repair damages from the accident. Drugged out of his mind Neal barely noticed as the collar from around his neck was cut off. "Peter…FBI…" Neal mumbled as he was wheeled into the emergency room to set his broken leg and get stitches on his face and body and repair the damages the car did to him. One nurse left the room and went to the nurse's station and place a call to the FBI with Neal's description and the name she was given having her call transferred she talked to a few agents before she was transferred to the White Collar division.


Peter had finished his seventh cup of coffee when his phone in his office began to ring, leaving the conference room he picked it up spoke briefly on the phone before hanging up. "Diana I'm going to need a ride to Mercy General, Neal's there he was hit by a car," Peter said as he rushed out of the office with her hot on his heels. By the time they reached the hospital Peter was on edge. Rushing into the hospital Peter flashed his badge to get into the emergency room only to be denied by the head nurse. Diana had to hold Peter back when two orderlies came over and threatened to throw Peter out if he didn't calm down.

Pacing the waiting room Peter was on edge as he waited for one of Neal's doctors to speak to him. After hours of waiting in the cramped waiting room a doctor in his mid forties walked out of the emergency room and straight towards Peter and Diana. "Mr. Burke…there is no need to worry about Neal, he has been moved to a private room upstairs, he had to be restrained and sedated because he tried to stab a male nurse that was trying to hold him down when we were fixing his broken leg. His injuries from the accident consist of a broken leg, six broken ribs, a dinged collar bone, a hairline fracture in his pelvis and a fractured right arm, mild concussion and a few superficial cuts on his face, hands and arms," the doctor said in a professional tone.

"You said something about injuries from the accident which means you found injuries from something else as well," Peter said as he got to his feet. "Yes, he has large welts and bruises on his back from what looks like he was whipped with a chain. When he came into the emergency room we had to remove a metal collar and part of a chain to check for neck injuries. I had the nurse save his clothes and the collar for you just in case. I have to get back to the emergency room; Neal is in room seven-fourteen, he might be a little out of it for a while but you can sit with him until he wakes up," the doctor said before leaving Peter's side.

Before leaving the waiting room Peter took the clothes and collar from the nurse and gave them to Diana with instructions to look for fingerprints or clues. Heading up to the seventh floor Peter walked into Neal's room and found him still asleep from the sedatives. "Jeez Neal… I let you out of my sight for a few seconds and you get into so much trouble," he whispered as he took a seat by Neal's bed. As he waited Peter called a nurse in to undo the soft restraints holding Neal onto the bed. By the time Neal woke up from the sedatives Peter had started his third cup of hospital coffee. Neal groaned softly as he opened his eyes. "Peter…"Neal said as he sat up only to regret the stabbing pain in his ribs. "Hey calm down you have six broken ribs you need to stay still," Peter said softly keeping a calm tone.

Neal struggled to breathe as he was pushed back down onto the bed. When he was calm he closed his eyes and took slow shallow breaths to keep from agitating his injuries. "I know that this might not be the best time but I need to know what happened to you Neal… I know about the collar and the beating you took," Peter said as he reached over and put a comforting hand on Neal's only to have him pull away. "I can't say…" Neal said softly as he turned his gaze toward the window. "Okay I understand, well I should get back to the office and fill Hughes in on your condition and ask him what to do next," Peter said as he got up from the chair hoping to con Neal into talking. "Wait… don't go, I've been alone for almost two weeks in a dark windowless room," Neal said his voice cracking a bit. Peter walked over to the door and shut it to give Neal some privacy before sitting back down.

"Alright I won't go on the condition that at some point you tell me what happened to you Neal so that I can protect you better. Now I'm just going to step out for a second to get the nurse and ask her about getting you some food you look like you could eat a whole deviled ham sandwich," Peter remarked with a smirk. "No matter what I would never eat that," Neal said giving a weak smile as he turned to look out the window again. "When can I go home Peter I don't like it here," Neal said his voice cracking a bit.