Thank you so much for the reviews I have already received. They really motivate me to continue this story (which is becoming longer than I had anticipated). For the anon who said they wanted to see Neal being taken care of by Blaine: I've been thinking about it, but I find it very hard to imagine this situation in reverse. It wouldn't make sense for Blaine to stay in New York, considering he wouldn't be of any help to the FBI. And if it was (hypothetically) another situation in which Neal needed some support for some other reason, I'm sure he would tell Blaine to go back to Ohio anyway, since Neal doesn't easily admits he needs comfort. Anyway, I'll keep thinking about it, maybe I'll find some idea in which I can make it work ;) (or you can make suggestions, if you have ideas).

Long-due Reunion – Chapter 4

"... So you had better do as I say, Mr. Caffrey, if you want your brother back in one piece."

The screen turned to black, erasing Blaine's figure for the second time. Neal and Mozzie were sitting at Neal's kitchen table in front of the laptop. They had already seen the ransom DVD twice since Neal had found it in the mail, almost twenty hours after Blaine's kidnapping. At least now they knew who they were dealing with.

"I can't believe Mitchell waited all this time to get his revenge," Mozzie mused. "How long has it been? Eight years?"

"Almost nine." Neal stood up and started to pace around the room.

"I wonder how he found you, or how he knew about Blaine."

"That doesn't matter right now, Moz. What matters is that we get Blaine out of there."

"Right. So what do we do?"

"Find the money to pay the ransom."

"Well, yes. Finding money won't be a problem. But what if Mitchell doesn't keep his word?" Mozzie hesitated because he knew Neal wouldn't like what he was about to suggest. "Maybe we should tell Peter..."

"We can't."

"Neal..."

"You've heard Mitchell. If we involve the FBI, he'll kill Blaine." Mozzie was about to say something in return, but Neal didn't give him the chance. "I agree it sounds like a line from a bad kidnapping film, but I know Mitchell. He's a man of his word, and I've seen him kill people over less. He's too dangerous not to take seriously."

Neal continued pacing.

"Neal," Mozzie tried again, "I still think we should show Peter the DVD. I know what it says about the FBI, but Peter might keep it off the books if you explain the situation." Mozzie saw he was getting through to his friend. As much as he didn't like the suits, he knew they needed their help to keep Blaine safe. "You know Peter will do anything in his power to help, but he needs information, as much as you can give him. Keeping this from him won't do anyone any good, especially not Blaine."

"...You're right. You're right."

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door. As Neal opened the door, Peter held up a six-pack and a bottle of cheap wine.

"Care to explain what you meant by 'Look casual'? Oh, hey Moz."

"Suit."

"You'll know in a minute. There's something I need to show you." Neal planted the laptop in front of Peter and pressed 'play'. After the clip had stopped playing, Peter turned to his partner.

"How long have you had this?" he asked, somewhat accusingly.

"I found it in the mail over an hour ago."

Peter raised an eyebrow, as if he wasn't sure whether to believe him.

"Peter, I wasn't keeping it from you. I'll admit I didn't want to show you because of what Mitchell said, but I did anyway, didn't I?"

"Mitchell? So you know this guy?"

"Yes. His name is Robert Mitchell. I worked with him for a while, but our partnership didn't work out."

"How come?"

Neal hesitated just a bit before he went on. "His methods... They weren't my style." Peter knew Neal well enough to know that probably meant Robert Mitchell wasn't afraid of using violence to reach his criminal goals.

"Okay. So what was he talking about on the DVD? Something about money you owe him?"

"Well, I don't really owe him anything. Technically, the money was never his." Peter raised his eyebrow again. "Fine, I may or may not have sabotaged one of his cons and walked away with the money he was after."

Peter rolled his eyes.

"Okay, so you screwed him over, what, eight years ago –"

"Almost nine."

"– and now he wants that money with interest. And he's keeping Blaine hostage to get what he wants."

"Yes."

"Right." Peter rubbed his face with both hands and looked up at Neal. "Do you think he'd do it? Kill Blaine, I mean."

"Yes," Neal answered, without hesitation. "He's a man of his word. If I give him the money, I'm sure he'll let Blaine go free."

"Neal, you know you can't count on that. It's been almost nine years, people change."

"It's all we have right now, Peter."

"I know."

Peter stared at Neal, who was sitting at the table with slumped shoulders. His instinct told him not to trust this criminal's word, but he knew involving the FBI was a risk as well. Still, he was also aware this was a bluff used by most kidnappers to scare the abducted person's family into complying to their rules. Since he didn't know this Robert Mitchell, he wasn't sure yet which of these options he was dealing with, but he trusted Neal's judgement of character, even if it was a nine-years-old judgement.

"Let's watch the DVD again. Maybe we can narrow down a possible location where they're holding Blaine."

It was cold and dark. That was about all Blaine registered with his fuddled mind. He tried to move his arms, but, as before, they wouldn't budge. Neither would his legs, still tied tightly to whichever object he was sitting on – probably a chair, common sense told him. His eyes were still covered, making it hard to guess how much time had passed since he was taken, since he had woken up. For the moment, his life was made up of a succession of events: being kidnapped, waking up with a headache and almost throwing up, getting some water from an invisible person, waking up a second (?) time without being able to remember he had fallen asleep in the first place, getting more water and some bread from the same invisible person, being led to an invisible toilet, being tied up again. At least his hunger had faded since then, subdued by his thirst.

He could hear voices somewhere, but he couldn't understand what they were saying, as if they were behind an invisible closed door. He wasn't sure what was happening or what they wanted from him. Whatever it was, he was glad they wanted him alive, for now.

'I hope Neal is okay,' he thought. He had tried calling out to him a few times, to see if he had been taken as well, but to no avail. After being hit and ordered to shut up – under threat of being made to shut up – he hadn't tried again, too afraid of what his invisible kidnapper might do.

His thoughts went to Kurt next. At least he was safe. Probably worried out of his mind, but safe nonetheless. A quiet sob he had been trying to hold for a long time finally made its escape. He felt his blindfold going slightly damp as he thought of his boyfriend and his friends. His plans and dreams of graduating and following Kurt to New York and finally getting out of Lima were very far away. All he wanted now was to live and to be free and to see his family and friends and Kurt again.

Blaine bit his lip, trying his best to get a grip, but failing at keeping the tears from falling.

A day had passed since the DVD had arrived. Blaine had been gone for forty-four hours, almost two days. Not that Neal was counting. Once again, he was pacing restlessly around his apartment while Mozzie was sipping wine at the kitchen table. The young conman felt useless. Peter had sent him home "to get some sleep" after spending hours watching the DVD and analysing every little detail of it.

Suddenly, the silence in the room was interrupted by the sound of Neal's cell phone. Without looking at the caller ID, he picked it up, thinking – hoping – it was Peter with news.

"Hello?"

"Neal? This is Kurt."

"Oh, Kurt, hi."

Disappointment coursed through him, but he tried to keep it out of his voice.

"I was wondering if you had any news." Kurt sounded guarded and subdued, as if he were bracing himself for bad news.

"Well, I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to tell you, but I've never been one to follow rules anyway." Unintentionally, Kurt let out a small laugh as he released the breath he had been holding.

"We don't have him back yet, but I can tell you we have a lot more information now than we started with. We've found out who's behind this." His statement was followed by a tense silence, so Neal ploughed on, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible.

"It's as we thought. One of my old enemies took Blaine to get me to do what he wants. He sent me a ransom DVD yesterday with his demands."

"What does he want from you?"

"Money. Money that he thinks I still owe him."

"You're going to give him his money, right? Do you still have it? Wait, what if he doesn't give Blaine back once he has his money? Maybe you should–"

"Kurt, slow down. I was getting to that. To answer your first question: yes, I am going to give him what he wants. Anything to get Blaine away from him. And we did think of the possibility that he won't keep his word. The good news is that we think we know where he's keeping Blaine."

"You think you know?"

"I'm pretty sure of it. Listen Kurt, I know you're worried, but I know this guy and I've worked with him long enough to know his habits. Combine that with what we can see on the DVD, I just know he's there."

"So what's going to happen now? You can't exactly kidnap him back, can you?" Kurt asked with a certain amount of his usual sarcasm. "Can you?"

"No, I can't," Neal chuckled and sobered up almost immediately. "I wish I could, but I'm afraid it's not very likely to happen. Either way, this does give us an advantage we didn't have before," he added, in an attempt to keep the teenager thinking positively.

"What kind of advantage?"

"We know his location, which means I can anticipate his actions and take precautions of my own."

Kurt remained silent, but Neal didn't know what else he could tell him. Then, just as the young conman was about to ask if he was still there, Kurt broke the silence.

"Hey Neal?"

"Yeah?"

Kurt hesitated.

"... I'm sorry for what I said... in the park, when I... when I said this was your fault."

"Kurt..."

"It really wasn't. I was upset and I took it out on you and I'm sorry."

"Don't... You don't need to apologise, Kurt. I know you were upset, but you were also right."

"No, Neal–"

"You were, Kurt. I was selfish coming to your competition and now he's paying the price for it. I should never have come."

"I'm glad you did. And so was Blaine. Despite everything, I'm glad you came."

"How can you say that? If it weren't for me, he would've been safe in Ohio with you."

Neal stopped abruptly. He needed to regain control of his emotions. Ever since the day in the park, he had been feeling uptight. Somehow, Kurt had managed to bring all of that out in the open, even though Neal hardly even knew his brother's boyfriend. He took a deep breath.

"It doesn't matter. I'll make sure he's safe and then I'll disappear from his life."

"...He doesn't want that," Kurt interjected softly. "You didn't see him in the hotel afterwards, Neal. When he told me about you. He was so excited you had come, so happy to know you were alright."

Kurt chuckled affectionately when he remembered his boyfriend all but jumping on the bed in excitement and delight, like a child on its birthday.

"He won't blame you either, you know."

"You don't know that..."

"Yes, I do. I know Blaine and I've seen how eager he was to meet up with you. To get to know his big brother again."

Neal felt tears prickling in his eyes. He turned towards the balcony, away from the kitchen table, where Mozzie was studying his wine and pretending he wasn't listening in on one side of the conversation. Neal was blinking hard, willing himself to get his emotions in check.

"Kurt, I should go," he said, clearing his throat. "Peter might call with news."

"Oh, okay. Could you do me a favour, though?"

When Neal didn't answer, Kurt continued.

"Don't disappear again. You have no idea how much meeting you again meant to him. How much you mean to him. And how much it would hurt him if you left... I don't want to see him get hurt like that. He's been through enough without adding that to the list."

Neal didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure if he could keep a promise like that, considering who and what he was.

"If he still wants me in his life after all of this is over, I'll stay."

"... He will. Bye Neal. Keep me posted, okay?"

"I will. Bye."

Neal stayed by the doors of the balcony, needing a moment to regain his composure before he turned back to his friend.

"We should start making plans. Maybe we should try the perfect exchange again. With some modifications, of course."

"You know it's not perfect, Neal. We still haven't solved the problem of the middle man yet." Mozzie looked at him thoughtfully.

"What about the Suit? Aren't you going to fill him in on your plans?"

Neal looked away, which Mozzie took as a no.

"You told Kurt you would take precautions, as in 'you alone'."

The young conman still didn't answer.

"We shouldn't do this on our own, Neal. I think it would be a good idea to accept the help of the FBI."

"And that's coming from you. The world must've ended while I was on the phone with Kurt."

Mozzie chuckled.

"I don't know, Moz. What if Mitchell finds out? He'll kill Blaine. And what if we're wrong about his location? There's too many ways this could go wrong."

"Which is exactly why we should involve the FBI. Even if you don't, Mitchell still might kill Blaine. We've been over this, Neal. Personally, I'm not a fan of them, but with their help, Blaine at least stands a chance to survive this mess. A much better chance than when you do this on your own. And so do you, for that matter."

Neal stared at him in surprise.

"Mitchell said Blaine wouldn't be harmed if you did what he asked. But even if he does keep that promise, you have no guarantee he won't try to kill you instead."

Reviews are always welcome. As I said before, they motivate me.