Thanks to the usual suspects, my wonderful betas canadianscanget and mam711. You make this a lot easier for me. And to my readers: I hope you enjoy!


Neal glanced at Alex, whose eyes widened in sheer disbelief. Peter often had remarkably bad timing for showing up at the loft but this topped everything. Neal stood and started picking up the medical supplies, while Mozzie tried to patch Alex up as fast as he could. They weren't fast enough for Peter though; he knocked again, louder this time.

"Neal? I can hear you. Open the door already."

Neal shoved everything he held in his hands under the bed and stepped over to the door.

"Uhm, not a very good time, Peter!"

Neal heard Peter huff through the door. "Oh, I'm sorry, Neal. I'll come back tomorrow, okay?"

Neal frowned. "You don't mean it, right?"

"You really need an answer to that?"

Neal thought for a moment, then stripped off his shirt, kicked off his shoes and yanked his socks off. He turned around to Alex and found Mozzie helping her remove her top as well. Neal smiled, grateful for his friends' keen perception. A rendezvous would be easier to explain than a tête-à-tête with his cohorts in crime. Mozzie quietly crossed the room to hide in the closet and Neal glanced over to Alex, who gave him a reassuring nod: ready.

"Neal, I won't ask again. Open the door or I swear I'll make you work on insurance fraud cases for the next four months!"

Now, that threat was new. And scary.

Neal tousled his hair, dove for the door and tried to look… interrupted.

"Hey, Peter, what's up?"

"I'm…" Peter squinted his eyes. "Do you have company?"

Peter invited himself in and immediately spotted Alex. She had tucked herself into the comforter and tried for a casual smile. Neal noticed that her charade wasn't as flawless as usual. He was sure Alex was in trouble, the kind of trouble Peter could bring her down for. Alex tried to look more innocent by tilting her head slightly to her right shoulder.

"Good evening, Peter. Nice to see you again."

Peter stayed calm but Neal could tell from the way his face hardened that something was wrong. His fears turned out to be justified when Peter's anger deepened his voice.

"Ms. Hunter… I see you're back from your little field trip to Germany. I hope you enjoyed it."

Damnit! If Alex had been in Europe, and Peter knew about it, she was probably involved in the Nibelungen heist. That in itself was bad enough; Neal didn't even want to imagine what Peter was thinking now with Alex being here, in his bed, naked and intimate... Neal wanted to say something, anything, to break the tension in the room but quite frankly he was at a loss for words. He figured any attempt at an explanation on his part would lead to the threat of nothing but insurance fraud cases for months on end coming to fruition. Damn, Peter's untimely arrival hadn't even afforded a moment of time to gain any information from Alex; he had no idea what was really going on. All he knew for certain was that Peter was on less than cordial terms with Alex – Alex who was nestled uncomfortably in Neal's bed like a trapped lynx: taut, ready to pounce and flee into the night.

"It was nice, yes. Although maybe a bit boring for my taste."

Peter's lips turned into a smirk and he lifted his eyebrows. "Yeah, I bet it was…"

Neal was getting impatient. "Peter, can I talk to you for a sec?"

He opened the door to make himself clear. Peter nodded towards Alex, then left the apartment. Neal followed him, trying to keep his frustration in check.

"Peter, would you please tell me why you're treating my friend like a suspect?"

With Peter's sucked-in breath and brief hesitation, Neal knew Peter would have happily yelled at him but instead kept his voice to a strained whisper to ensure Alex could not hear him.

"Because she is! Did you know? Did you know she went to Europe? Did she tell you something? Was she in on this?"

Neal sighed. "Peter, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Peter shook his head and licked his lower lip. "Right, of course, you don't know anything about anything… I can't believe it; I had your back, Neal – told Richter you weren't a liability, and the first thing you do is snuggle under the covers with our main suspect!"

Well, at least their little ruse of intimacy had worked, only Neal had the unnerving feeling he may have stuck his neck out a little too far on this one…

"Whoa, wait a minute… I thought our main suspect was Bishop. And if you're so convinced Alex's guilty, why haven't you arrested her yet? Huh?"

"Neal, security cameras caught Alex in Berlin shortly before the thefts. Richter hadn't thought there was a connection until you came up with the theory that Bishop needed partners. Now your friend is back on our radar. And please don't tell me her turning up now is a coincidence…"

"It could be…" Neal didn't sound as convinced as he wanted to. "Do you think it was her?"

Peter lifted his chin. "What do you think?"

Neal dropped his gaze. He had no idea. "I'm gonna find out."

"We. We're gonna find out."

Neal nodded. "Yeah, sure. Whatever. Look, I'll keep an eye on Alex. Go home, get some rest."

Peter stared intently at him – not as a concerned friend, or partner, but as Special Agent Peter Burke. Neal was quickly reminded of the cold reality that this man he called a friend was a Fed and that he, Neal Caffrey, wasn't.

"Listen to me, Caffrey, if she is involved with this, I won't hesitate to arrest her; she'll get prison time. And so help me, if I find out you're up to something behind my back, I'll be arresting you too. Neal, I won't have a choice with Richter and Interpol watching us."

"Peter, I…"

Peter's voice and eyes warmed. "No. No excuses, no promises. I want you… I need you to do the right thing here, Neal. Don't make the same mistakes again. That's not who you are anymore."

Neal swallowed hard. "Okay."

Peter nodded and tapped his shoulder. Then he left Neal alone in the hallway. The con man breathed in and out a few times before he entered his apartment again. He found Alex sitting on the edge of his bed, fumbling with her boots. Neal saw her flinch when her arm touched the wound on her side. When she heard the door she looked up at him.

"Neal, I…"

"Don't." Neal didn't want to be rude but the less he knew, the better – something he'd learned from Peter. Plausible deniability. "You can stay here; Peter has nothing solid on you. Well, at least for now. I'll let you know if something pops up… But… whatever you took in Europe, get rid of it."

Alex was more like herself now – debonair, somber, maybe a little bit too nonchalant. "You don't understand. We're getting killed off because of this job."

Neal glared at Alex. He was getting sick of his own curiosity. "What do you mean?"

Alex gestured at her injured side. "I wasn't hired by the actual client but by an old friend of mine. He told me where to meet the client to hand, hm, a certain object over to them. This friend of mine was meeting the client one day before me for a similar exchange. When I tried to call my friend repeatedly the next morning, he didn't pick up his phone or answer my text. I asked around and a John Doe had been found at the place his meet was supposed to go down. That was three weeks ago; I laid low – it'was obviously getting too hot for me. Today, somebody was waiting for me in my apartment. Tried to kill me... Whoever gave my friend that assignment wants to have… you know… what he wants to have."

Neal walked over to Alex and sat down next to her. He just looked at her until she smiled and leaned against him. He kissed her hair and wrapped his arm around her.

"We'll figure something out, Alex. I promise."

Neal looked up when he heard the door to the closet. Neal cursed. "Sorry, Mozzie, forgot you were there."

The way Mozzie pursed his lips told him he was anything but amused. "I get it; why would anybody remember the little guy in the closet?"

"There's a two-way mirror in there; you should've known it was clear to come out…"

Mozzie seemed to be flummoxed. "Hm, 'If we think about the obvious long enough, it dissolves.'"

Neal felt Alex chuckle. "Oscar Wilde?"

Mozzie stepped back in faked shock. "Mason Cooley… You have to start reading, Alex."

Alex threw a pillow at Mozzie and both of them were smiling. Neal however couldn't shake the feeling that things were steadily heading south. He had to find a way to make this all work. Alex. Peter. Neal hated juggling partners and friends, but once again he had no other choice. Fortunately, an idea had already sprung to life.

"Alex, which manuscript do you have?"

Alex was startled. "I thought we weren't going to talk about…"

Neal raised his voice when he interrupted her. "Which one, Alex?"

"One of the Nibelungen manuscripts. The one from Karlsruhe."

Neal stood and ran his hand through his hair. This could work. "Can you get it here?"

"I think so. Why?"

Neal turned around to her. "I'll tell you as soon as I've figured out the details." He couldn't keep himself from smiling. "It's time for some charity."


And just because I need to share this with somebody – SPOILER ALERT for everybody who hasn't seen or doesn't want to see the promos for the second part of season 3...


***Is this Neal with a gun in his hand? A gun in Neal's hand? Neal holding a gun? This an Raylan Given's hat alone in the woods will kill me. I'm not going to survive until January 17th***