A/N I apologize for taking so long to update this story. Things have been crazy. I want to thank all of you for your feedback and support. Please review and tell me what you think. Thanks!

Neal couldn't sleep, the events of the day replaying in his head over and over again. He wasn't sure what to make of it. For a year he had thought that he had lost Kate, that the love of his life was gone forever. 6 months of that had just been him getting over that fact and he couldn't believe that the whole thing was a trick. He had seen Kate on the airplane, her beautiful blue eyes portraying a goodbye and her black hair swaying in the light breeze. Neal had thought she looked beautiful-as she always does- but even more so, maybe amplified with the fact that he thought she was leaving. Neal thought back to that day, how he had raced to talk to Kate before she left. How Peter had followed him and how the plane exploding had shaken and shocked both of them. The day was bright and sunny; the sky a shade of robin egg's blue but that was before the fiery explosion that engulfed the plane. The black plume filling the air and turning the pleasant day into a nightmare. Neal let a few tears he didn't know he had been holding in fall down his face and with a squeak of the springs, shifted on the bed to face the window. He almost gasped at what he saw.

There on the balcony stood a sheepish Mozzie who was nervously cleaning his glasses. Neal wondered how long he had been there and stood up to open the door. With a clank and a thank you Mozzie strolled through the doors, facing the brown-haired, blue-eyed man he called his best friend. Mozzie motioned to sit down on the burgundy chairs that were in Neal's room and they both sat down. Neal, in only his red boxers, shrugged a black fitted t-shirt and plaid pajama pants on and settled into a chair. He offered Mozzie a blanket to protect him from the chilly night air streaming through the balcony doors. But Mozzie declined, stating that his tan long sleeved t-shirt and black slacks were warm enough. In hushed whispers, as to not disrupt The Suit, Mozzie started to talk to Neal.

"How you holding up?" Mozzie asked. Neal could see that numerous questions were bouncing around his head but Mozzie always was more concerned with Neal than answers.

"I'm fine; it's just a bit of a shock. I mean you think that for a year someone is dead and that your friends were right and she never actually loved you. And then one day you get a phone call and you know that at least part of that isn't true." Neal answered, bitterness making his words sharp and pointy.

"Neal… I know this is hard for you but aren't you curious? How did she escape? How did she survive and who did she live with after?" Mozzie asked, his eclectic and curious side getting the better of him.

"I don't know." Neal sighed, showing his vulnerable side, a side he only let Mozzie see if he could help it-which generally he could except for…. Kate- and even at that he kept it a minimum.

"Yeah, so how's it like to have the enemy crawling all over you apartment? It must be a nightmare, I hope you hid anything you didn't want Peter to find." Mozzie blurted, his paranoia coming out at full blast. He stopped insulting Peter soon after a blue-eyed glare from Neal.

Neal ran his hands through his hair, after everything that had happened he just wanted the chase with Kate to be over. He had gotten justice, Adler had confessed and Kate's mystery had been laid to rest but now…. Now all that anxiety that he never let people see, all that obsessive behavior he had towards finding Kate would be back again. He had managed to keep it a bay before, forcing himself to sleep and eat; to take a break and relax or paint. But he wasn't so sure that he would have enough energy or will power to do that this time; he was afraid that this newfound mystery may destroy him.

….

"Jones, can you track the call?" Peter barked, desperate to uncover a new lead.

"No, they used a burner phone. Or I guess she used a burner phone." Jones answered in an accented voice. He removed the headset from his chocolate brown hair and shrugged his black suit jacket off of his body. Leaving a stark contrast between his white dress shirt and his dark skin.

"She's smart, but I wish Neal had listened to her longer. He never heard what she wanted from him and that could have proven valuable." Peter answered, stating his thought process out loud in hopes of some sort of connection that could lead him to Kate.

Peter was worried about Neal, it had taken him 6 months just to get over Kate's death and Peter didn't want to imagine how hard it would be for him to see her die another time. Peter let out a frustrated humph. He thought back to those hard days where he had to pretend to not notice the number of ribs he could count through Neal's shirt and the dark circles under his eyes; the days where Neal was jumpy and never drank coffee, afraid that caffeine might fry his overworked brain. To the days where Peter had to lie to El to keep her from mothering Neal, Peter knew that Neal was private and any interference would cause him to hide and could endanger his health even more. With all those thoughts running around in his head he was beginning to think of checking up on Neal but then Jones' voice snapped him back to the mission.

"Peter!" Jones yelled, motioning for the team to follow and for someone to fetch Neal.

"What do we got?" Peter inquired, his voice smooth and tainted with pleasure.

"Someone is calling and I think it might be Kate." Jones answered.

Neal walked in, his eyes puffy. Peter didn't know if it was from sleep or lack thereof or even tears but they had a mission at hand. Peter shoved the phone in Neal's shaking hand and slid a pair of sleek, black head phones over his ears. Neal nodded, like he understood what this was for and what he had to do. Neal took a deep breath, clicked the answer button, and threw on a Caffery smile to put him in the mood.

"Caffery." Neal answered, his voice bouncy and light unlike his stormy mood.

"Hello Neal….. Kate's with me." A raspy man's voice flooded through the phone but Neal's smile never faltered.

"Long time no see." Neal answered, he just received a chilling laugh in response. "What do you want?" Neal became all business, not wanting to allow more lollygagging to occur.

"What I want Caffery, is something you already know I'm searching for. I hope you find it. Tomorrow, same time and tell you FBI friends that it was nice talking to them too." That was the line when Neal's smile finally fell off his face, his blue eyes becoming dark and dangerous, his perfect pink lips formed a line and he let out a small grunt. "Goodbye Neal, Kate's waiting." The man responded, letting out another high-pitched cackle and hung up. Leaving Neal with his dark thoughts and the object that the man was looking for. The real painting by Edward Munch, the painting everyone knows as the Scream. The painting that Neal had forged, then returned, just to have his own copy. But the man had been fooled and had been gunning for it ever since. Now Neal didn't know what to do, he didn't have it but the man wanted it. The man wanted it and Neal wanted to give it to him, to save Kate and get out of this with his own sanity.

A/N I hoped you enjoyed it. Please review