Author Note: Sorry for the delay. I meant to get this up on Saturday but I was swamped with Girl Scouts and such. Hope you enjoy it!
***Meant to do this earlier, sorry if you got the wrong message and thought this was chapter 3. Disclaimer: If I owned White Collar, Neal would be shirtless all the time, and there would be more Neal and Kate, Neal and Sara, and Neal and Alex makeout scenes. (Sadly, I will not get my wish.)
Neal made it to the park in a matter of minutes. He wanted to minimize his time out in the open so that he wouldn't be tracked down. The park was closed on the weekends so he had to pick the lock in order to get in. Roy was waiting for him inside the park and he waved warmly when he saw Neal.
"So glad you could make it. I was beginning to wonder if you'd show or not." His tone appeared welcoming but Neal knew better. He knew that no matter what tone Roy's voice had, it was always plotting. Plotting some nasty con that would rake in the money.
Neal gave him a cold look and said, "I got the F.B.I off your back Roy. Now do yourself a favor and leave town, before anything else happens."
"But I've only just got here Neal. Business is going great for me here; I think I might just stay for a while." He said with an amused look in his eyes and a mock pout on his lips. Roy enjoyed seeing Neal squirm; it reminded him of the days where Neal was just an innocent boy, waiting to be molded into a fine con artist.
Neal paled at the thought. He knew that Roy was only just playing with him, but sometimes Neal didn't know where that line of mental torture ended and where his seriousness began.
Before Neal could say anything back to Roy, shouts were heard at the park's entrance. Roy frowned and cursed softly. He fumbled with his jacket before producing a gun from the small of his back.
Neal looked at the gun in Roy's hands and back to Roy with his mouth agape. He said, "What are you doing? We don't need guns to escape from here, and we don't need them to fend off whoever those guys are."
Roy let out a short laugh, a mirthless sound that was harsh on Neal's ears. He had a hard look in his eyes and said, "What happened to the boy I rose? Clearly this pansy who refuses to pick up a gun to save his own skin isn't him."
The shouts came closer and sirens were heard in the background. If the police were coming, then that meant that Peter would know where Neal was…and who he was with. Neal cursed mentally. Peter didn't need to know of his relationship with Roy; no one did.
"I told you before, I quit dealing in guns. They're too dangerous." Neal said with a grimace on his face. He hated the days where he would come home to a house filled with guns and shady men, their pockets lined with money.
"You were serious about that? I thought you were kidding around; pulling one over on your old man." Roy said with a charming smile on his face. Obviously he didn't like the way Neal was acting towards him, but what can you expect when you drop off the face of the earth for 13 years? Especially after what had happened between the two.
The shouts and sirens were closer now, and their footsteps were heard running against the grass. Roy bit his bottom lip, contemplating wither or not to shoot at the men. He quickly put his gun away and began to run towards the back fence. He made a 'follow me' gesture with his hand and Neal knew to follow. They escaped from the park with ease, and dipped into the closest alleyway they could find.
They stayed there for a while, only moving when they heard sirens approaching. Neal sighed, and hoped that one day he would be able to bury everything that went wrong in his past.
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Neal just stared at him, fire in his eyes. Why Roy even decided to show up here, of all places, he has no idea. And he doesn't want to find out.
"What do you want?" He said, with his hand still on the door. 'Haven't you ruined my life enough already?' Neal had received a note, cleverly hidden in yesterday morning's newspaper. He knew it was from Roy immediately, and it put him on edge to say the least. Everything after that just started to spiral downwards. It's one of the reasons why the apartment was such a mess right now. Neal had tried to calm down…but it just wouldn't work. Roy always knew just how to unnerve him to the point where Neal wouldn't be able to control himself.
"I can't stop by and say hello? I haven't seen you since… when was it?" His smile had turned sly, and his eyes became hard. It was clear to Neal that Roy had a problem with his line of work, now that he was considered a snitch by many of his fellow peers. Roy pushed his way into the apartment, and pretended to look around. Neal closed the door after and made his way to the table.
"I was 17…" he said, quietly fuming. Roy thinks he can just show up and expect everything to be fine, after all that happened all those years ago? Neal still hasn't quite gotten over it, no matter how much he tells himself that it has long since ended.
"Ah, you have grown up so much since then, my boy. How have things been going so far? You have made quite a name for yourself out here." He runs his hand over the bookcase, admiring the wood.
"Why do you care? You left me to die." The atmosphere grew tense, and a silence came between the two men. Neal knew for a fact that Roy would ruin everything that he had planned. From working out his sentence with Peter to finding more information about Kate and the music box.
"It's the thought that counts." He said with a calculating smirk. He meant to come and visit earlier, but business had gotten in the way once more and it had delayed his visits by a couple of months.
Neal exhaled a short breath and said, "That's bull and you know it. Why are you here Roy?"
Roy turned to face him and looked him dead in the eyes. All of the tell tale signs of scheming was gone from his face and he even looked remotely regretful. Neal wondered what could have happened to make Roy feel this way. He rarely showed his true emotions and when he did, it wasn't pretty.
"I needed a place to lay low for a while, okay? A little scam of mine went south and I don't have any other safe houses nearby. Not yet at least." Was that embarrassment Neal heard in Roy's voice? 'His scam must have really gone bad if he's coming to me for help.' Neal mused.
Roy turned around once more and cursed softly. He ran a hand though his dark brown hair and sighed. In a sense, the scam went perfectly… Had it not been for that one slight problem, he wouldn't have to resort to this. Roy felt a vibration coming from his pants pocket and he frowned when he looked at it.
Neal smirked; he knew where this was going. Before Roy could even say anything, Neal knew. He knew that no matter how much he didn't want Roy to be here, Roy was here to stay. How long this time, depended on how good Neal's life was going. Judging by the fact that he was now having dinner every week with a federal agent, and that he actually enjoyed working with the Bureau, meant that Roy would be here to stay.
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Special Agent Peter Burke sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stop the headache that was coming. Neal had run in an attempt to save him from embezzlement scam that went south. But the one thing that Peter couldn't figure out for his life was why? He knew that Neal was loyal to a fault, but to risk jail time? It was something that Peter had difficulty wrapping his head around. He thought that Neal would have run because of something in the past that finally caught up to him, not to save the one man that could catch him.
It was troubling; having Neal as a partner. Sure, there were the moments of absolute trust between the two, but there were also moments of complete distrust. It was both of their faults, really, but they wouldn't admit that for the world. Somehow Neal would get himself into these situations where Peter would have to act fast in order to save him. This time felt like one of those situations, except Peter had no idea how to contact Neal, or even make sure if he was okay or not. Peter had tried to contact Mozzie to no avail. The Little Guy had disappeared into the mist, like a certain consultant.
He heard a knock on the door and soon entered Diana, who had a grim look on her face.
"What's wrong?" Peter asked, fearing the worst.
"Caffrey was spotted breaking into Greenacre Park, with a man whose description matches the one we have on Daniel Clark." She let Peter connect the dots, not wanting to upset her boss further. She noticed the peculiar relationship between the two, but she chose not to judge. It was fun having Caffrey around, even when they had to go behind the Bureau's back to find information.
Peter rubbed a hand over his face and cursed softly. Daniel Clark was their main suspect in the embezzlement scam. Peter had a hunch that was who Neal was trying to protect him from but now he had proof to back it up.
"Boss…?" Diana asked questioningly. She didn't know what Peter knew, but she knew it wasn't good news. It never was when it concerned Neal.
"Neal isn't working with Clark, I'm sure of that fact." He bit his lip with unease. Peter didn't have a doubt that this was who Neal was trying to protect them from. But then why did he feel so uneasy? He now understood why Neal was acting strangely when they had first interviewed the witness, Derek Traversi. If Neal let it get to him like that, did that mean that something bigger was coming?
"What do you mean?" Diana asked, puzzled. Most of the time she was able to see where her Boss was leading the investigation, but now she was partially confused. If Caffrey wasn't working with their prime suspect, then what was he doing there? And why did he run?
"I think Neal's trying to protect us." Peter said determinedly. Most people in the Bureau thought that Neal had run for his own reasons and they thought that Peter was a fool for taking the ex con on in the first place. But Peter wouldn't have any of it. He knew Neal; he knew enough to know that Neal wouldn't just drop off the face of the earth for no reason.
He pulled out the letter that Neal had left and showed it to Diana. He was quiet for a few minutes and when it was clear that she was done reading it he said, "I got this the day Neal ran. Now I'm certain that he's trying to protect us from Clark."
Diana looked thoughtful for a minute before adding in, "That explains why he met with Clark. He wanted to make sure that he got out of town before anything else happened."
"Any word on that file?" Peter asked. He meant to review it earlier but things had gotten in the way. Diana frowned and stayed quiet. She produced what appeared to be a charred file in an evidence bag from behind her back and handed it to Peter.
"It was found by the furnace… The only prints on it were Caffrey's." She said, and observed her boss quietly. When it came to things like this, Peter tended to over-react. To her surprise though, Peter looked relatively calm.
He sighed. He should be mad, furious even. But he's not. Even though there's proof of Neal's acts right in front of his eyes, he's not angry. Peter's grown used to Neal's ways, even though they do land them both in hot water from time to time.
"Keep searching for Neal. Tell me if you get any updates." Peter said as Diana made her way back to her desk. His eyes automatically went towards Neal's now empty desk and he rubbed a hand over his face once more. 'Damn it Neal… Why do you do this to me?' Peter asked silently. Neal had a way of making everything of value flip upside down. It was getting harder and harder for Peter to get Neal out of trouble. If Neal didn't get his act together, and fast, their partnership would be over and Neal would be back in prison in no time.
Author Note: I know this might have a somewhat awkward ending but I didn't want to delay it any longer and I could not think of a different way to end it without giving too much of the plot. Please Review!