Chapter 3: Need You Too
Alex handed Neal a nicely stacked bunch of letters, "It's all in these, I got them long after Italy. I just never paid any attention to them. We made a lot of people angry there" Alex pulled a specific letter out of the stack, handing it to him hastily. "When you were in prison-business started getting really tough. I tried to find another partner-but I couldn't. So, I used old alias' to find work."
"You used Stella Harris" Neal summed up her jummbled words. He could tell that Alex was having a bit of a hard time figuring out the situation herself. The world seemed to roll off her tongue faster than usual.
"Yes" She silenced herself by breathing in deeper breaths, trying to calm herself the best she could.
Neal was getting angry with the words on the paper, "The writer wrote I will get what you have taken from me and you are a fraud and you didn't think it was important to report it."
Alex frowned, "And say what, my husband" She used air quotes "And I stole a fortune in heirlooms, and fine art and now someone is threatening me"
"I would have helped" Neal saw her side of the story, but also wanted to be the hero and prove that she could have prevented it.
"You were in prison, waiting for your once a week visit from Kate." Alex said harshly, her eyes lighting up with anger. She was once more proving that Neal had stabbed her in the back. But he could also see the lie in her eyes, she had to know he saw it.
"Why didn't you go to Mozzie?" Neal asked, moving closer to her.
"I tried" She said quickly, her eyebrows raising "I tried to get your help, but Kate told me not to."
"She told you not to?" Neal found it hard to believe that Kate would send away one of his friends in need.
"I ran into her when I was going to visit you. She stopped me." Alex told him, "It was year three- and I really needed help. Mozzie was off the radar."
"Why would she do that?" Neal asked himself, not Alex.
"I don't know, Neal..." Alex said a little unsure of her answer.
"You're not saying something" Neal pointed out, "What aren't you saying?"
"You don't want to hear it" She assured him, "It wasn't exactly the kindest thing that has ever crossed my mind."
"Speak" Neal demanded, "If you have a thought in the matter, you might as well say it."
"Did it ever cross your mind that you were in love more with what could have been, then what was right in front of you." Alex said bluntly, "You are the hopeless romantic"
Later:
Neal lounged back on Alex's couch, his eyes shutting partly as he listened to the soft music in the background. He knew that this was the closest he was going to get to relaxed tonight. "Are they still outside?" He asked Alex, who was reading a new romance novel from her shelf.
"Mmhmm" Alex sounded tired as she spoke, "Remember when I said I could take care of myself" Neal started to sit up to listen to Alex, "I can't"
"Whoever is after us, I can protect you" Neal tried to say, but he knew that it wasn't true. How could he protect her with a mile radius.
"No." Alex's words dripped with honesty, "Not from Jaxon DiLarox"
"What aren't you telling me?" Neal asked her once more, "We can't keep secrets anymore Alex."
"Can't we?" Alex laughed, "Because I recall a lot of secrets between you and me"
"Alex..." Neal started, but Alex lifted up her hand.
"You lied to me, Neal" She said, "From the moment we met we have been a lie."
"No we haven't" Neal tried to say it, "Alex- I never lied to you about how I feel. I have been a little less than an open book this whole time."
"Liar" Alex said, "Did you forget that I know you!"
"That's funny, I thought we were just fighting about how I always lie" Neal said, getting more than pissed off by Alex's sudden mood change.
Alex's feet started tapping, "You are too smart for your own good, you love fine art and when your wrong and scared you fight."
"You are right" Neal said, smirking. "You are always right"
"Don't be that way" Alex begged, "I was just trying to say-"
"I'm just saying how it is Alex, I am always wrong. I am wrong when I try to help you, I am wrong because I'm wearing an anklet, I am wrong because I lied to you to protect you and I am wrong that I can protect you"
"You are wrong that you ever trusted her" Alex told him, stepping closer to him.
"Kate?"
"Yes! It's always been Kate- Every single time we got caught it was her on the other end. You got thrown in prison twice because of her."
"Kate's dead Alex. You can't keep blaming her because I didn't want you!" Neal regretted the words.
"She wasn't working alone" Alex told him, "She never was and you know it. It was a game to her. You were a con."
"No I wasn't" He got up, getting ready to leave Alex.
"She told them where you hid your things" Alex whispered before he left, "You lied to her. You must of found her some kind of untrustworthy"
Neal gave her one more look, and then opened her door-pissed. He took each step carefully out her door, and then he stopped- sliding his back against the door, throwing his hat on the sidewalk. He barely had time to care about the FBI watching him. He put his head in his hands.
"Did it ever cross your mind that you were in love more with what could have been, then what was right in front of you."
I need a drink.
Neal was struggling still, no matter what he pretended to be-he was struggling. He did not like to cry in public, it showed a weakness. But he couldn't help himself. The tears just dripped into his hands.
Kate
Oh, Kate.
What have you done to me?
He felt betrayed. His thoughts were on rewind as he went through a step by step process of what was really going on the whole time.
Could Kate be the con of his life?
All that time, was it just a con? The days they spent on the run, or smiling at each other from across the room. Was it real? Was Kate ever really there?
He felt the door come off his back.
"I'm sorry" Alex's arms wrapped around his shoulders, "I'm so sorry"
"You're right" Was all Neal could say to her, and he knew that the FBI was translating this to anything they wanted it to be. "I can't trust anyone"
Review. I will say, if it is at all confusing- I am sorry. I wrote this quickly.
-sorry.
Thanks for Reading.
