Again, I don't own White Collar. I am just playing on their court.

Chapter 2

Peter felt as if he had been punched in the gut. Neal was a victim of Taggert? It didn't seem possible. First, no one survived once Taggert got a hold of them, so if Caffrey was taken how did he get out? Second, this boy was too young to be his CI. According to the DOB the child would be 25 years old, while Neal is close to 30. Third, surely if Neal had been subjected to Taggert he would have told someone by now? Wouldn't he?

"I am sure you have many questions, Agent Burke," Rice started, "and so did I. I didn't want to walk in here and start making accusations until I had more data. After more digging we found that 2 children were kidnapped on the same day in the St. Louis area, this child, Nicholas O'Neill, and a little girl, Tiffany Sanders disappeared from the same area on the same day. Tiffany's body was discovered in a shallow disturbed grave a little over 7 years later, but Nicholas's body was never found. When Tiffany was found forensics reported she had only been dead a few days, so she was alive the 7 years she was missing. Since the boy's body was never found, it was suspected that the body was destroyed prior to burial. There was blood discovered on the girl not belonging to her, and it was suspected to belong to Nicholas O'Neill and was officially declared dead at the same time. Next of kin of both children were notified."

"Wait, next of kin?" Peter jumped, "So his family is alive out there, thinking he is dead?"

"He was only 5 when he was kidnapped, Peter," Hughes spoke up kindly, "Children that young are just starting to learn their home address and parent's names and phone numbers, and after 7 years of being held captive…"

"…he didn't know where to go, right," Peter finished for Hughes. "That doesn't bring up the fact that this O'Neill would only be 25 years old today. Neal is older than that."

As the words left his mouth, doubt started to enter his thoughts. Did he look his age? There were times that Peter would refer to him as a kid because of the pout faces did resemble a teenager and not that of a grown man. Add that to the fact that Neal is one of the nation's top forgers and creating a birth certificate adding a few years to his life would not be beyond his range of abilities.

"Maybe," Rice answered, "but maybe not. He is a competent forger and could have easily made himself older when he arrived.

"Wait a minute! Peter," Jones addressed Peter looking distressed, "if this is Caffrey and that is his real age, he was only 16 when he forged and cashed in those bonds. He was a minor. He was barely drinking age when he started working with us."

Hughes spoke up when Peter's face paled further at the implication. "Yes, if this is Caffery, then we will be opening Pandora's box on all his crimes since we have to take into account his age, but we will get to that later. First, we have a child missing, and from the looks of it, Caffrey may know something about Taggert that can help us get her back."

"The trouble will be approaching Caffrey," Rice continued, "If he is this little boy, he was held hostage by Taggert for 7 years of his life. We have no idea what he was subjected to in those 7 years. We only know his blood was found on the victim so he was with her when she died or after. I did a DNA match and the blood on Tiffany Sanders matches to Neal Caffrey. It is him, Peter."

Again the room was silenced by the revelation. There was no doubt, Nicholas O'Neill was Neal Caffrey. Suddenly bells started going off in his head; O'Neill=Neal, Nicholas= Nick Halden, his first alias. He was angry, horrified, and disgusted all at once. He didn't know whether to go drag his CI in and punch him for keeping this information from him or hug him for what he had most likely lived through.

Hughes sighed and addressed Peter. "I think it would be best Peter, if you led this discussion with Neal. He trusts you and it may be better coming from you. But we have to deal with this now. If Ellen Parker was made, it is possible Neal could be too which means his life could be in danger. He is not your CI on this one. He is a witness and victim and that is all. I have offered Rice our assistance since I know you would want to help knowing the situation."

"Damn right we would" muttered Diana and Jones, still looking sick from the news.

Neal sat at his desk pretending to look at mortgage fraud cases, but his attention was on the meeting taking place in the conference room without him. He was itching to know what was going on and started thinking that maybe he would get a bug from Mozzie to plant in the room so he could listen in from now on. He knew of several places that no one would notice. It bugged him because he hasn't been left out of a meeting, and from the looks of it, it is a big meeting. Rice is back from missing persons and even Hughes is present and looking more grumpy than normal.

After watching the room for a while, he sighed and tried to focus on the reports on his desk. The more he tried to read the more distracted he got. Between thinking about Ellen's death and the meeting, he couldn't help but feel a sense of doom. He is not usually one to have premonitions, but he does consider his gut instincts to be pretty sharp. His gut was telling him something was up. He just didn't know if it had to do with Ellen's death or with the meeting.

As with any time he thought of Ellen's death, memories of his life with her slowly started to seep through the carefully constructed wall he built for himself over the years when he came to New York. Ellen supported him when he had no one, when he was no one. She helped him create an identity for himself and comforted him when he was at his lowest point. He was confident that he would not have survived this long without her support in those early years, and now that she is gone he is regretting the years he spent away from her more than ever. He thought he was protecting her by keeping away, but instead he left her alone for years, and now he has not chance to make it up to her.

Shutting down that line of thought, he shook his head to refocus himself. Mortgage fraud suddenly looked a lot more interesting than reminiscing about the past. He was about halfway through a file when he heard his name called. He looked up and saw Peter, giving him the 2 finger point. His face looked angry and Neal started thinking about what he possibly could have done now. He slowly walked up the steps and entered the conference room behind Peter. All faces in the room turned to him as the door closed, and suddenly Neal felt a strong desire to run if only Peter would let go of the door.

"Sit down, Neal." Peter said, and he knew something was wrong.

Swallowing and trying to calm the gut feeling of doom, he took a seat at the end of the table facing the other agents. It felt like an interrogation, with all eyes on him. What did they think he did now?

Peter sat down next to Neal, while Neal noted one of the agents he didn't' recognize stood and went to stand by the door, blocking it. Now Neal KNEW something was wrong.

"Okay, whatever it is, I didn't do it. Check my anklet." Peter gave a small laugh at Neal's comment.

"You are not being accused of a crime today, Neal. Quite the opposite in fact. We think you may have been the victim to one and we need your help to solve it."

This confused Neal. "I don't recall being conned by anyone. Are you sure about this Peter? Why is agent bulldog blocking the door if I am not a suspect?"

Peter sighed in frustration. "Neal, I have no idea how to ask you about this but we need to know about your relationship with Ellen Parker."

Warning bells were going off in Neal's head. Missing persons present and questions about Ellen Parker. No. Way. They couldn't have made any connection to him.

Neal gave what he hoped was his patented grins, "I think she was a little old for me Peter" he replied, trying to stall until he figured out what was going on.

Peter was not amused. "Fine. If you don't want to talk about Ellen Parker, perhaps you can tell me about Nicholas O'Neill."

Confusion and fogginess filled Neal's brain as he tried to remember that name. He knew it from somewhere but it wasn't one that stood out from anything. His confusion must have been clear on his face because Peter didn't push it.

Peter sighed again. He did really not want to do it this way but Neal was being stubborn and not answering questions so he felt he had to take it to the next level, "Neal, your DNA was found on a body found 13 years ago outside of St. Louis, MO. Do you recognize her?"

A picture of the little girl at age 5 (the last living picture) appeared on the monitor. Neal took one look at it and immediately recognized the girl. He felt his heart pound in his chest and suddenly felt like the walls were closing in on him. He knew he was sweating bullets by now and he could tell by the general looks of concern he was receiving he wasn't looking too well either.

He wanted to look away from the monitor but found he couldn't stop staring at the little girl's face. The walls he so carefully built around his memories started spurting leaks and it looked like they were going to collapse at any moment. He felt like he was in a tunnel and as he saw the blackness take over his vision, he heard Peter call his name.