I really just... don't have any excuse. I wont even bother going through the whole thing about being sorry, because being sorry means you'll never do that thing again, and i can't really promise that. I am a bad updater. I do really feel bad though. I wouldn't fell bad if i just didn't update, seeing as i told you all at the beginning that i would suck at updating, but i promised you guys... I just... I feel terrible.

But i am back and not dead, so... Yay?I don't even know how much any of you care at this point but, regardless, here is chapter four!

Strolling out of her apartment with one of her favorite hats on, Emily felt a brisk wind tickle her nose. Growing up in Vermont, Emily had always been a fan of winter, but the cold winds here felt very different from the fresh crisp air back at her old home. The winters up in Vermont always felt like a refreshing mint, but down here in New York, it felt cruel and pricing.

Emily let out a muffled squeak as she threw her hand up to grasp her hat as a rather strong wind blew through the streets. The hat she had saved was a brown cloches hat with a black bow. She had picked this hat both for practicality, for they stood up well against colder weather, and seeing as it was one of her favorite hats. She supposed her love of hats might have been passed down from her father. She never went more than a day without seeing some fashionable piece of headgear atop his scruffy brown hair.

A smile flitted across her face, only to quickly turn into a bitter scowl. Before she could sink too much deeper into her mind, Emily erased all thoughts about her past. Instead, she decided to focus on the present.

Emily reviewed her current case. The Pint-Sized Pianist: a painting that had been stolen, was going to be exchanged at some unknown location and time, by Kile Rose and Arial Seasling.
Last night, she and a few others working in White Collar, planned to send someone in to try and get some information out of Arial Seasling. Obviously, the two key things they still needed to know was, where, and when the transaction was going to take place. Emily loved everything about this plan. It was simple, straight to the point with no fancy maneuvers to mess things up. She just didn't like who they were sending in.

Caffrey.

Of course. Why should she have been expecting anything else? He was a past (read: current) con-man who knew a lot about dealing with these kinds of people, he had plenty of experience snooping around, and he was above all, a thief. But, regardless of all the facts that put Caffrey at the top of this for people to send in, it didn't mean she had to like it.

Emily's hands tightened into fists inside her coat pockets. She knew she was getting too worked up about the matter, and had to close her eyes in order to calm herself down.

You're fine. It's just a simple task he has to do, and then you can help with the interception. You won't be completely out of control.

Control: one of the most, if not the, most precious thing left in Emily's life. There were so many things in her world that were out of her reach. Three of the worst events of her life happened when she wasn't in control, but for one of them she was…

And she would never forgive herself for it.

Ever since that day, Emily had become hyperactive in everything she did. She wasn't going to ever let something slip through her fingers again.

Ugh! How did everything she thought of always end up right back to where she started? She didn't want to be thinking about that! She came here to avoid her family's memories as much as possible, yet they seemed it was all she could think about.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Emily looked up to see where she was. Only another block or so and she would be reach the FBI building. Emily quickened her pace, not wanting to be out in the biting cold anymore. After about ten more minutes of struggling against the frigid wind, Emily reached her destination.

Emily relished the warmth when she walked through the door. No doubt that later that day it would become unbearably stuffy, but she decided to take comfort in in for at least a short while. After a short elevator ride to White Collar, Emily ambled down the long hallway. Not two seconds after she entered, the short woman's eyes widened in horror.

There, perched atop the con-man himself was a sleek black fedora.

Without thinking, (for that would take too long) Emily darted back around the corner, reached her hand up to her head, and promptly threw her hat into the closed trash bin. No way, for all that was holy, was she going to wear a hat alongside Caffrey. There simply was no argument. She wound not.

Well, now they won't see the light of day ever again. I really shouldn't even take them out of the closet. I should probably just burn the closet…

After her little episode, Emily rounded the corner (for the second time that day), and began her day to day routine. After a few hours or so passed, Emily was called up for a meeting. Walking past one of her fellow co-workers, she gave a curt nod and a polite smile for him holding the door open.

"Morning Ms. Cliff," he smiled.

With another small smile, and a quiet 'Morning' back, Emily joined the rest of her coworkers in the meeting room. After the last meeting had deciding Caffrey would be going under cover, Emily wasn't to overly excited to go back there. A few people were already seated. She recognized a few faced, such as Peter and Jones, but other than that, there were only a handful of other agents around the large table. After taking her seat, Emily waited patiently for the rest of the team to arrive. It was only a few minutes later when everyone arrived, and at which point Emily realized her idiotic mistake.

When Emily had entered the room, the first person she noticed was Peter, and knowing him the best of all the people there, went and sat close to him. Only what she didn't realize was in her hast to sit near him she had forgotten about Peter's pet, who always sat next to him.

With an internal groan, Emily faked a smile and steeled herself for the inevitable small talk that would come.

One and a half hours. That equals up to five thousand and four hundred minutes. And in those five thousand and four hundred minutes, Emily was stuck sitting in the same chair the whole time next to Caffrey having to put up with incised chatter.

You would think that after going though as much as she did, she would be much more tolerant of the world and what it gave her, and to a degree, that was true. But, it also made her far less tolerant of something else. People. Now days, even the smallest thing someone did would set her brain fuming. Although Emily knew she was being very ridiculous at times, she knew there was no point in fixing it. Even if she tried, she knew she would never be able to.

Emily spent the rest of her day going about her usual routine, which consisted of not much else besides working all the live long day. Although she didn't mind this, Emily thought others might wonder if something was wrong with someone who never stopped working. After some consideration, Emily decided that she would try going on walks during her lunch break. Where to, she wasn't sure yet, seeing as she was still new to the city, but she decided that this way she could act like a normal human being, while taking some time out of the office.

About a week later, the case had been solved. It turned out that Caffrey was good at going under cover seeing as he didn't blow his cover, and manage to intercept the time and place of the swap. And as Emily had told herself a few days before, she was at the interception, cuffing Kile Rose. There were very few things that acted like a better stress reliever than slapping cuffs onto a criminal.

Also in those few days, Emily had found that there was a quaint little park not far from the building and had made it a habit to walk and eat lunch there every day. It she was being honest with herself, she quite enjoyed the time out of White Collar. It was a nice break from the stuffiness and people. Sure, it was cold and there were still people in the park, but not ones who would constantly be coming up to you asking for stuff and expected things from you. The people here ignored you and let you be. One thing she wouldn't quite admit to herself though, was that she did really need to take breaks from her work. It wasn't healthy for her to never let herself stop day after day. But, when it all came down to it, Emily was glad for this change. It felt… refreshing.

One day however, Emily was on her way to the park when a familiar voice shouted from somewhere behind her. Turning without thinking, Emily saw Caffrey hasten to catch up to her.

What was he doing here? She came on these things to get away from the place, not have it follow her.

She wondered if there was any chance that she could pretend she didn't see him and lose him in the crowd. Looking about, Emily realized that there was no crowd to be seen, seeing as it was winter, and not many were on the streets.

Well, it was too late to do anything now. He knew she had seen him, so there was nothing left to do but play along.

NEAL

Over the past few days, Neal had become increasingly curios of Emily Cliff. For the First few days, all she did was work nonstop, but after a while she seemed to settle in a little and left the building at 1:00 each day. He wanted to know who this woman was, and why she acted the way she did. She fit in like a normal person, but there was still something off about her. After noticing this habit of hers he decided to follow her one day.

After He had finished up the project he was working on, Neal took off. At first it was difficult to spot her, even without many people around because of her height, but soon enough, he saw her strolling along a sidewalk headed towards what looked to be a park.

Calling out for her, Emily's head turned his way. After he caught up with her, she gave him a friendly smile.

"Hi Caffrey, what are you doing here? I thought you were back with Peter this time of day?" Emily asked.

"Got off early, so I decided to take a walk," he said gaily. "What about you?"

Emily turned her attention back to the path. After a moment she replied. "I wanted to explore the city more, so I decided I would spend my free time talking walks." Her tone wasn't cold, but it wasn't inviting either. Not wanting to leave, Neal pressed on.

"So, have you liked what you've seen so far?"

She hummed in consideration. "Mostly, but it's very different from the place I used to live. There isn't much I recognize, life-style wise."

"That's understandable. The big city means a big change." Neal paused. There was a question that he really wanted to ask her, but wasn't sure if he should just yet. After a beat of silence, he opened his mouth and asked. "If you don't mind me asking," Neal started with a gentle tone, "Why did you come here in the first place? In your profile it said that you were requesting a transfer for a while."

Emily didn't respond for some time, seemingly deep in thought. After a few moments, she let out a big sigh.

"It's a little embarrassing…" She mumbled with reluctance.

Neal held up his hands in a surrendering gesture. "You do not have to tell if you don't want I was only—"

"No! No, it's fine I was just warning you." Not taking her eyes of the pavement, she continued. "I was in a very serious relationship with someone for a while, and, well, it ended on very bad terms. And, as luck would have it, we were colleagues. After a while, it just became too hard and awkward. As much as we both tried, we kept running into each other, so, I finally decided I couldn't stay. I thought I would just make a fresh new start with everything. I had wanted to try something new for a while anyway, but hadn't really seen any reason to." She looked sad remembering what seemed to have been a hard brake-up.

"I so sorry to hear that, but I hope that you come to like this city. I know things like that can be hard to come to terms with." Neal responded reassuringly.

Despite what he let on, this answer confused him. Why open up so easily after all that time giving him short one of two word answers? After a few minutes of listening to the ambiance of the streets and winds, Neal checked his watch and turned to face Emily.

"Well this was fun, but I think Peter might want me back soon. Thanks for letting me tag along!"

"Of course!" She said.

"Well, yeesh," he said glancing at his watch one more time, "I really got to go. But hey! We should do this again sometime! You could tell me more about you work up there."

Emily's jaw clenched noticeable as she responded with a weak "Uh hu," before a smile quickly replaced it and she waved at him as he turned to leave.

As soon as Neal was out of sight he let him own smile drop. (Little did he know Emily did the same thing.) One thing was painfully clear when he was talking to Emily about the reason she left Vermont.

She was lying.

And there you have it. Another Cliff-hanger. (I know you all hate me and i don't care(but i will try not to do this every time).)

I personally really like this chapter. But what did you think? Yay? Nay? Can't say?

Dang it has been so long since i updated. Looking back at my old chapters, they make me shutter. They are so bad. Some time i might go back and fix them, but for now, i'll just wright.

I tried to get out at least one chapter this summer, and hey! ONE chapter, two days before school starts.

...

Well, i'll take what I can get.

Hope to see you all in the next chapter, and as always, the deal with the songs is still up!

That's all for now folks!

Thanks for tuning in.

~Talent