Peter's Perspective
Peter's perspective of the time they were in the closet after he was shot and when Neal operated on him. (Additional Scene to chapter 11 part one the Forger Crew bust with inspiration still going to "No Thief Like Fear" by last1stnding. ). Also, the KRAEUTLER is a real gallery in NYC that I simply googled for setting purposes and "Houdini" is in reference to the named person and his ability to escape from bonds.
We were taking on the Forger Crew of the Antagonist using an existing artist's identity of Nicholas and his assistant. My role was to lead our part of the deal by being Neal's assistant and front man while Neal played the secretive artist with a mysterious life, but amazing talent.
The unseen, inside Agent Neal Camden is actually the one who arranged for most of our case details. Apparently, he and Nicholas are cousins so he was able to set Neal and me up with everything we needed to fulfill our roles.
I was uneasy with the idea of Neal taking the identity of a real and famous artist, but with the case needing a name that could withstand the most in-depth scrutiny, I didn't have much of a choice.
On the day that we were to close the case I was walking into the warehouse and I had a gut instinct that things were not going to go well.
Neal was walking slightly behind me playing his role, and was carrying a bag of supplies slung over his shoulder, while I walked confidently in front of him. Feeling the same sense of trouble brewing in the air he stepped up beside me when we stopped.
Looking around I noticed how the crew were jittery and seemed to be standing a little too close for comfort. Going with my instinct, I decided to give the code word before something went wrong.
"Is there a problem? We have a showing at KRAEUTLER gallery this afternoon that we don't want to be late for."
Abruptly, the nearest guys yanked our arms behind our backs and bound us with zip ties while others shoved hoods over our heads. Tripping and stumbling we were quickly rushed away before being shoved into what felt like the back of a van.
After a decent drive, with enough turns to get us disoriented, we came to a stop. The sound of the doors opening was followed by rough hands grabbing my arm and forcing me to exit the vehicle.
There was another few minutes of forced walking, while I put my effort into not falling on my face, before I found myself being shoved into a chair. Straps were used to bind me in place while the hood remained intact to keep me from observing my surroundings.
Hearing Neal being put through the same treatment I knew he was nearby the entire time.
The footsteps of our captors recede as we were left alone in the room. Which meant that we immediately began working to free ourselves.
Neal had prepared for such a possible situation so he pulled a small blade out of his cuff to sever the zip tie on his wrists. With that gone, he was able to Houdini his way out of the straps and remove the hood with his freed hands. After he was free he went to work on my bonds.
Once we were both free, we checked the room for escape options and discovered the door to be our only out. Creeping down the hall we were dismayed to find armed guards rounding the corner and before we had time to react they raised their weapons and opened fire.
Feeling an impact, I found myself flying back into Neal. He caught me before dragging me into a closet that was next to us and blocked the door.
After Neal had laid me down on the floor the events began to catch up to me. I had been shot through the chest, I was locked in a closet of an unknown location, there were armed guards outside, Neal was my only help, and there was a very good chance that I wouldn't make it through this alive.
At first, I was not paying any attention to Neal's actions because I assumed that he was simply becoming familiar with our location and trying to do his best with what he had. Then, I noticed that he still had his bag and was rearranging the space like he was preparing for surgery. My concern grew when he gently lifted me up and moved me over onto the space that he had cleared and placed a protective sheet of plastic over. Blacking out I missed the next steps, but when my vision cleared he had a full surgical set up placed beside me, lights in strategic locations, and as sterile a work space as you can get in an old closet.
I made several incoherent protests as it looked more and more like Neal was going to be doing surgery on me. In response, he kept telling me what was wrong with me, what he needed to do to fix the problem, and how he was going to do that. Finally, I made the extra effort to get a more verbalized statement. Even though I know my words seemed rather garbled, due to blood loss and pain, Neal understood my concern that he appeared to be planning on removing the bullet himself.
"What are you doing Neal? You're not a doctor, why are you acting like your about to do surgery on me?" (It came out more like Wh't're you doing N'al? Y'r not doc, why you acting l'ke y'r 'bout to do surg'ry on me?).
His reply was, confusing in my state. "The Caffrey you think exists may not have medical training, but I do. Peter, I have been a doctor for fourteen years and have field experience with the Air Force as well as several government agencies in dealing with situations just like this. This is a full field surgical kit which contains everything I need to take care of you until you can reach a hospital. Combing my gear with my experience, you have nothing to worry about. In order for me to take care of you though, I need you to relax, let me put you under so that this won't hurt any more, and I promise that when you wake up you will be in a hospital with Elizabeth by your side."
When he said the words, my mind mostly focused on the part about waking up in the hospital with Elizabeth by my side and being okay, so I agreed to the surgery. As he proceeded to put me under, my mind briefly wondered who he was if he wasn't Neal, but then I felt the pain dulling and my vision blackened into oblivion.
As promised, I woke up in the hospital with the sound of the medical equipment beeping in my ear. The closer I came to full consciousness the more I heard. First, was the sound of Elizabeth and Neal conversing near my hospital bed. A thought buzzed through my brain that something was not right about Neal, but it was gone before I could grasp what it was about. Then, I could hear general noises from the hall as I gained consciousness. Working up the strength I opened my eyes before quickly closing them with the bright light. Opening them again, I was able to look around and see Elizabeth turned and focusing on Neal as they discussed a local art show.
"El… Neal…"
Immediately, all attention was focused on me and two simultaneous exclamations of "Peter" greeted me. El told me how glad she was to see me awake while Neal smiled confidently at me and pushed the nurse call button.
Within a few minutes the nurse came in and began doing the preliminary check while we waited for my doctor. When he arrived, El and Neal were sent to the cafeteria for a coffee run to allow the medical staff easier means of asserting how I felt without me trying to be strong for them. After they were done, El and Neal were permitted back into the room while the doctor explained that I was doing just fine and I would probably be released within a week or two depending on how my body continued to respond to treatment.
It didn't take long for my fatigue to catch up with me so they told me to rest and I felt my eyes drifting shut while my mind settle into darkness again.
Over the course of my hospital stay I had a lot of visitors. My team, some agents from the extended office, June, even Mozzie and the visiting Agents Carmichael and Casey put in brief visits.
During the early times that I was awake, Neal filled me in on the general details of what occurred for our rescue (leaving out a lot I later discovered), and El told me about my hospital stay up to when I woke up. When Jones and Diana visited I got some more of the bigger picture, including the hints to the fact that Neal was leaving out details, and I found myself rather confused.
(Since I had severe blood loss, extreme pain, and had been unconscious for several days, I had no memory of what occurred in the closet except Neal promising that I would be okay and wake up with El at my side).
When I was alone I spent a lot of time thinking. Many things weren't adding up with Neal of late. As I pondered them in my hospital bed I really began to wonder if perhaps… well maybe Neal Caffrey didn't exist at all and it was all just some kind of government conspiracy. Then I shook those thoughts away laughing to myself about how much I sounded like Mozzie, but still my gut told me that there was something to this theory.
The more I thought about everything, the more I found myself feeling confused after nearly everything in my life had twisted and turned into a practically unrecognizable mess of late. This caused me to feel frustrated as I felt that Neal linked closely to everything and I knew that he wasn't telling me much of anything. Finally, I felt hurt, almost betrayed (okay betrayed), that it looked like my best friend was messing with my life in such drastic ways while remaining unwilling to tell me what was going on.
Due to my stressing over my life too much I found my hospital stay extended (which did not help me to calm down at all). Oddly enough, what did allow me to calm down was a dream the night after my stay was extended.
In my dream Neal visited my hospital room in the night and told me a lot of the answers I was looking for.
"Peter… are you awake… sigh. Well, you seem to be stressing out over things so I think it is time for me to tell you some of what you wish to know.
Starting from the beginning, I am your cousin, God-brother, and childhood best friend. Our current relationship as partners and friends is not a lie, it is just... portrayed in an alternate reality… I guess you could say. My purpose in being here is to catch the Antagonist, keeping you and a few other particular targets especially safe, and looking out for those drawn into the line of fire by simply doing their jobs. I haven't told you the details because when you learn them, your life will literally turn on its axis causing everything to change. You aren't ready for that yet, but we will begin breaking the news to you very soon.
As for our recent adventure in the closet… I wasn't lying to you when I claimed to be a doctor or said that I had government and military experience. When I finished medical school I worked at a hospital, found my lost cousin, started consulting for agencies… including you on several cases, joined the military, and eventually got nominated as the Director for a few large operations. I did your surgery and took care of you in the closet while an uncle took care of our problems waiting outside… he may have had some help with the armed guards but, if he did, he isn't talking. Between us we set up a signal alerting Jones of our location and our uncle guided the team to us using an old favorite of his with blinking the lights of the building.
That is the short of it, but we won't be filling you in on the rest of the details until you are ready so you need to relax in order to finish healing. You have a fever so I don't know how much of this you heard or will remember but I hope it is enough to get you to rest peacefully, if only until you are well enough to be the archeologist to dig for this information later. Doces soños Peter."
With that strange farewell he got up and left the room.
Once again, I got the feeling that he said really important things but I could quite grasp everything. Still, it was enough to do as he hoped because I knew enough to know that he gave me answers, he would again, and I got the impression that there was a good reason behind what he was doing.
After I learned about Nick, the Caffrey Five, and regained my memory I was able to make sense of all of this (it helped that this is part of what Nick and I discussed that first night after I remembered).
Finally, I understood that he was protecting me when the bust went bad, he told me the truth because I needed to hear it, and he knew I wouldn't remember the truth in full for any length of time so he wasn't exactly divulging too much too quickly. What more could he have done under the circumstances?
Doces soños – sweet dreams in Galician according to google translate (what I use as the secret code between Peter and Nick).
I'm back from my vacation (obviously ;) with this is in place of posting last Sunday and posting will come again on Sunday as usual :D
