Yay! Next chapter! I LOVE this one…hope you guys do, too! :)

"Hey! Glad you could make it!"

Diana and Jones smiled at Neal and Jones said, "Of course! It was no problem - Ann here was in the mood for another get-together, anyway."

"We brought this to go with dinner," Diana said, giving him a bottle of champagne.

Neal took it and looked at the label, grinning. "Aww, you shouldn't have!" he said, and turned to Peter, who stood a few feet away. "Peter! Put this in ice for later?" With a nod, Peter took it and walked away as Diana and Jones came in.

"Reese and June are already here," Neal said with a smile, leading them into the dining room. "We're just waiting on Haversham and Sara."

"Don't tell me she's still with him," Diana said derisively.

"Six years and counting," Neal said with a grin.

"I suppose Alex isn't coming then?" Jones said as they walked into the dining room.

Neal chuckled. "Haversham chose Sara tonight." He put a finger to his lips, teasing, "Mum's the word."

Diana laughed easily as she sat in the chair Jones pulled out for her. Out of the corner of his eye, Neal could see Peter rolling his eyes and smiled a little.

"Reese, June," Jones said, sitting down in his chair next to Diana. "It's good to see you two again."

"And you, CJ," June said graciously with a smile, though to Neal it seemed a bit forced. When he saw her stealing glances at Peter and El, he understood - she had never liked how his job worked. He caught her eye and just gave her a look. She shrugged with a small smile, seemingly saying, I can't help it. It's not right, but I'll help.

Neal gave her a small smile just as the doorbell rang again.

"And that's them," he said, and left the room to answer the door.

"...I don't care how efficient you think it is, Mozzie - I am not, under any circumstances, going to - "

"Neal!" Mozzie interrupted Sara, who stood next to him. "Good to see you again, mon frere. We were just discussing the possibilities of sending a grappling hook through the mail to help out a friend in Thailand."

"It's a long story that I'm sure Neal has absolutely no interest in," Sara said, rolling her eyes.

"Sara," Neal said with a dazzling smile. "You know it's always good to see you, beautiful as ever."

Sara leaned forward to hug him. "You too, Neal...why, again, couldn't Alex have come this time? You know I hate being paired with Chandra Bahadur Dangi here."

"Your resentment hurts, Half Suit. Let me just go back to the car and pick up the broken pieces of my heart - I'll see you guys back in the dining room in a couple of minutes."

Neal grabbed his arm before he could walk away. "Come on, guys - play nice. This is important. Alex couldn't come because she's in Bolivia right now, and we really need Peter and Elizabeth to buy this."

Mozzie sighed and walked in. "You owe me, Neal."

Sara rolled her eyes and then planted a fake smile on her face, slipping her arm almost possessively through his. "C'mon, 'Dante'. I'm sure we'll have so much fun tonight!"

The first hour was easy, quiet - normal - with all of them chatting about meaningless things - aka, gossip about people they supposedly knew who didn't really even exist. This was all so that Peter and El, who were standing by and ready to be called on, would get a feel of who they were supposed to be.

"...so that's how we figured out that she was really just pregnant and not a lesbian like we thought," Diana finished her story with a smile to her audience. Everyone dutifully laughed, and even though they'd heard the fake story several times before at previous dinner parties like these, it sounded like they had heard it for the first time.

"Sweetheart, you tell that story to everyone and it just never gets old," Jones said, resting a hand on her knee.

Diana grinned and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Thanks, sugar."

"Okay, then!" Neal said suddenly with a teasing smile to the two of them. "Now that PDA is getting involved, I think it's time for dessert! Elizabeth?"

With a polite nod, Elizabeth turned to get the dessert from the kitchen, Peter following behind her to help.

"So," Hughes said after they'd left, "I see you bought two new amusements. How long has it been since the last one?"

Neal swallowed his champagne and set down his glass on the table. "Mm...I'd say a couple of months, give or take a couple of weeks."

"And you haven't laid either of them yet?" It was more a statement than a question, but Neal shook his head anyway.

"I told you - I don't buy people for that."

Hughes laughed. "Well, I do, and if you're so reluctant, I'd be happy to take the woman off your hands for a few hours."

This innuendo was made just as Peter and El walked in with desserts in their hands, and when Peter heard this, he visibly tensed as he glanced at Neal to gauge his response while trying not to look like he was paying close attention.

It was quiet for a brief, tense moment before Neal smiled and said, "Sorry, Reese. 'No' can do."

Reese shrugged dutifully, playing his part in the act. "Oh, well. I suppose we can't have everything we wish for."

Neal smiled and watched as Peter and Elizabeth passed out the gelato to the guests. While they both looked away, Hughes looked at Neal with a question in his eyes. Neal looked at Peter and El for a moment before he looked back to Hughes and shrugged. It's your choice, but I can't say what will happen.

With a silent, imperceptible nod, Hughes watched as El approached him with his dessert. She put the bowl in front of him, and as she leaned down, he put a hand at the small of her back and whispered something in her ear. She leaned away from his touch with a polite smile and said, "Pistachio," and then continued on her way. Hughes looked at Peter, who had been watching him intently, and smirked. Anger flared in Peter's eyes, but he remained still in the doorway, obediently waiting for further instruction from Neal.

Sara let out a sigh of pleasure when she tasted the gelato. "Neal, this is the most amazing thing I've ever tasted. Where did you buy it?"

Neal turned to her with a smile. "Actually, Elizabeth here made it this afternoon. It was her own recipe, actually - she surprised me with this." He looked at Elizabeth and gave her a smile, knowing that she hadn't made it just to be nice - it was further apology from earlier that day, when she hadn't "stayed put".

Of course, Peter hadn't yet been told of the break-in, having been too busy making the dinner after getting home at three in the afternoon and immediately setting to work with the grueling cooking of dinner. So he just looked at El with a confused sort of stare, wondering why she was being nice. He wondered, as she had worried earlier, if she was developing Stockholm Syndrome for the man.

"Well, my compliments to you, Elizabeth," Sara said with a gracious smile. "You have to have a natural born talent to make something like this - it's truly awe-inspiring."

Elizabeth gave her a small smile at the kind words, a smile tinged with pride.

"Mm," Jones agreed as he pulled the spoon from his mouth. "Wonderful job, Elizabeth. This is superb." Elizabeth glowed with pride, and though she tried to hide it, everyone knew how much their words touched her at that moment.

"A woman of many talents," Hughes said. He winked at Elizabeth as he spooned some gelato into his mouth, and then took his time in licking the silver spoon clean, staring at Elizabeth the whole time.

"I would greatly appreciate it, sir, if you would stop eyeing my wife like she's a goddamn prize horse." The words were low and dangerous, coming from Peter at his post in the doorway. His eyes were sharp, cutting into Hughes like daggers, filled with hate.

Neal put up a calming hand toward Peter and said easily, "Relax, Peter. It's just a bit of harmless flirting."

But it was as though Neal hadn't spoken as Hughes stared straight into Peter's eyes, saying, "If she's the horse, I'd be happy to be the jockey."

Peter's face flashed to red anger in an instant at the not-so-subtle innuendo. "Why, you son of a - "

Neal leaped up and grabbed Peter's shoulders as he tried to leap forward to throw a punch at Hughes.

"Peter! Peter, you need to calm down," Neal tried to warn him, struggling to hold him back. But Peter didn't seem to hear him as he tried to swing a punch at Hughes, and then when he figured out that he was too far away, he tried to go for Neal to get him off of him. But Neal simply grabbed the fist and before he knew it, Peter was bent over in a headlock, arms held to his sides. Without a word, Neal pulled him into the kitchen even as Peter struggled to try and escape.

"Peter," Neal said sternly as he struggled to contain the man. "I know you're pissed off - I get it. But you need to calm down before this gets out of hand."

"'This' got out of hand when you brought that bastard - "

"Peter," Neal cut him off. "I get it. You have no idea how much I get it. But giving Reese a shiner isn't going to change his personality overnight. Now I'm going to let you go, but if you try and swing a punch at him or me again, you're going to be in trouble - and I mean more than just a little slap on the wrists. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Peter said mockingly, but he seemed to be telling the truth, so Neal slowly let go of the man, watching him to make sure he wouldn't do anything sudden. He didn't, simply straightening his jacket with a huff and then going back out to the dining room without a glance back at Neal. With a little smile to himself, half of amusement and half of pride, Neal followed.

Elizabeth watched helplessly as Neal pulled Peter into the kitchen, clearly trying to calm him down. The older man's words had bugged her, yes, but it was nothing she or Peter hadn't heard before. She didn't quite understand why Peter was so...angry now. Neal had already said no to the man about basically loaning her out, and she didn't think she'd ever see him again after this night, so she just ignored the man's touches and innuendos and kept serving.

But now she didn't know what Neal - Mr. Caffrey, she couldn't think of him as Neal - would do to Peter as punishment for creating a scene, and for trying to hit him. She swallowed against the sudden lump in her throat and tried to calm the tightness in the pit of her stomach. She felt suddenly nauseous and quickly excused herself, going quickly to the bathroom down the hall. She had just thrown the toilet seat up when the vomit came bubbling up her throat and she leaned forward to empty it into the toilet.

She didn't know how long she knelt there, puking up her insides, but at some point she felt the hair lifted out of her face and off her neck. She wasn't sure who it was, but she was grateful for the help anyway as she emptied her stomach of food and acid - mostly acid.

"There, honey - just let out," a kind voice soothed as cool fingers pressed lightly against the back of her neck to cool her off. Elizabeth tried to place the voice, and then it clicked - she was the woman who complimented her gelato. What was her name? Sara? Then her thoughts were interrupted by the tickling feeling in her throat again, and she bent over the toilet, dry heaving for several more seconds before it finally seemed to be over, her stomach sufficiently calmer.

Still keeping her head in the toilet bowl, El reached up with her hand and flushed the toilet. After the water had settled again, she looked up at the pretty redhead who didn't seem to give a damn that she was in an expensive mauve dress as she knelt on the bathroom floor and held back her hair as she barfed.

"Thanks," El said with a raspy voice, and coughed as Sara put her hair back into place.

"Is this because of what Reese said?" Sara demanded, though not unkindly. "I know he can be a real bastard, but - "

"No," El shook her head and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "It's not him - he's fine."

Sara was quiet for a minute before asking, "Is it Neal?"

El nodded wearily. "Yes," she admitted. "I just...he's so confusing. I never know what he wants or what he plans to do, and I have a weak stomach, so when I get nervous..." she nodded to the toilet. "Well, you saw."

Sara sighed and sat down on the ground, leaning against the wall. "Yeah...Neal can be frustrating even on his best days. But when it counts, he's there."

"Maybe for his friends," El said almost gloomily. "Peter and I are just commodities that he happened to buy."

"But he protects you guys," Sara pointed out.

"We wouldn't even need protection if we were free to begin with and not some toys for a poor little rich boy to play with when he feels like it!" El exclaimed. "How is it that you can even accept what he does - this is illegal and it's happening right under the noses of the law!"

You have no idea, Sara thought, but said, "Neal is my friend. He has been for years now. If Peter did something wrong, would you turn him in?"

"Peter wouldn't - "

"But if he did," Sara insisted. "If he did happen to go rogue, what would you do?"

"Well, I'd..." she trailed off as she stared at Sara, truly thinking about the question.

After a moment, Sara nodded. "We'd all like to think that we would do the right thing if we were ever faced with that type of situation, but the fact of the matter is, most of us wouldn't do anything to stop it. We don't want to betray our friends, and that's understandable. It's wrong, yes, but we all live with our actions. And you have to admit, Neal isn't the cruelest or most sadistic or even the meanest 'master' out there. By buying you and Peter, he really did you both a favor."

"But why is he so different from all the others?" El asked her. "Why isn't he interested in anything...sexual?"

Sara stared at her for several moments before she finally said, "I probably shouldn't tell you this - and Neal would probably kill me if he found out - but...Neal used to be a slave, too."

El blinked, taken off guard by the sudden revelation. "What?"

Sara gave her a sad smile. "It's true. He and his wife, Kate, were taken thirteen years ago, in the middle of the day, from their apartment in Queens. They were originally sold as a pair, and this went on for about a year, but then one day someone wanted to buy just him. They were separated...and Neal promised her when he left that he would never give up on finding her." Her smile became even more sad, if possible, as she continued, "The day they were taken, they had only been married for eighteen days. He was twenty-one.

"My point, Elizabeth, is that Neal knows what it's like - losing the single most important person in your life without the knowledge of when or if you'll ever see them again. He doesn't want anyone else to go through that, so he frequently does something like what he's doing with you and Peter - he takes you under his wing like a mother hen and tries to help you guys. I'll admit, it would be better if he went about it in more legal ways, but when he was a slave, they screwed with his head, and he just hasn't been the same since then. But overall, he's a really nice guy and I can promise you that if you talk to him, it will be much easier working for him and you won't be having quite so many of these incidents." She nodded to the toilet with a smile.

"How am I supposed to talk to him?" Elizabeth sighed. "How in the world am I supposed to - "

Sara smiled and leaned over to straighten her hair back into place. "It doesn't have to be all at once," she said gently. "Approach it slowly, through bits and pieces of conversation, and he'll pick up on it fairly quickly. When he starts to figure out your feelings on it, he'll be the one to approach you - and then you can have a long conversation about it."

"And if that doesn't work? What then?"

Sara sighed and slipped her arm around El's shoulders. "I don't claim to be psychic," she said, "But I get the feeling that you're afraid of him because he's different. From other people who've bought you, I mean. He's new, foreign, and you don't know how to read him."

"So?"

"Neal is different - that's true. He looks at you and Peter like...like servants. He doesn't think he's hurting you, and he thinks that everything he does to you is fair. He's never gone after you or Peter on a sexual level, and not just because of his background with Kate. He believes that marriage is something sacred, not to be tampered with, and that little scene downstairs a minute ago? Peter's not going to get punished for that."

"How do you know?" El asked, hope shining in her eyes. She was sure Peter would get a sound hiding for that little outburst, and as many times as it had happened to him before in the past years, it still turned her stomach at the thought.

"Because," Sara said simply. "Peter was defending your honor. I'd bet that if Neal made even the smallest reference to you on a sexual basis and Peter did succeed in punching him in the face, Neal would simply smile and forget about it, because he was defending you. Neal may not admit it, but he admires Peter. I've seen it in the way Neal has been looking at him all night. Even in your circumstances, you guys are still fighting, and he likes that. Not because it's exciting or a brand new challenge, but because Neal is of the belief that women are special. They're not just toys - or commodities, as you put it - but they - we - have a special purpose here. He doesn't believe that people should be put down just because of their status, and that's why he never assaults you sexually, or lets anyone else, for that matter."

"He is a confusing son of a bitch," El stated with a sigh.

Sara nodded and quirked a smile at her. "Cocky, confusing, arrogant, charming...but he's the best damn son of a bitch I've ever met." She stood up, and then put a hand out to help El up. "C'mon. They're probably missing us by now."

Tehe. I love El and Sara together. :) And I have a big surprise coming up for y'all…a couple of you may have already guessed it by tiny clues I've implanted in the past chapters…hope several of you are surprised, though! And now, I'm off to edit the next chapter!