What He Does Best

Chapter 9


Peter couldn't believe the way everything had played out. If it wasn't for the fact that he was currently worried out of his mind, he would be giving Hughes a piece of his over-worked, over-stressed, overly anxious mind. The ineptitude of his junior agents had been nearly catastrophic and Peter needed someone to pay. Preferably someone other than himself, of course. These particular junior agents had just recently been assigned to Peter's crew, with Hughes assuring him that they were above average agents.

Peter disagreed.

They had efficiently followed Kincaid and the other man, ending up at an old farmhouse on the outskirts of town. They had followed procedure perfectly up to that point, but then everything had fallen apart. Peter learned later on that communication had been severed between the two agents and the rest of his team, presumably from some sort of signal jamming device. Diana, Jones, and the rest of the team were still miles away when communication was lost.

Upon realizing that they were on their own, the two agents had set up as much of a perimeter watch as they could, keeping the old farmhouse well within their sight. What they didn't take into consideration was that whoever was inside the farmhouse more than likely had their own perimeter watch, as well.

Once they were found out by one of Silas Dmitri's men, everything happened quickly and disastrously. Gunfire broke out between the two different parties, but the two agents were vastly outnumbered. They didn't stand a chance against Dmitri's men and within the first few minutes both men suffered severe injuries.

Peter had no idea what had happened after that. The only thing he knew was that somehow Neal had been injured again in the crossfire and Dmitri had managed to get away. Dr. Kincaid was uninjured during the melee, but had apparently fallen into a state of shock. By the time the rest of his team had arrived on the scene, Dmitri's men had fled as well, leaving behind two of their own injured and one dead.

The two agents were in critical condition, but Diana assured him that they were conscious, at least. Neal, on the other hand, was in dire straits. From what Peter could glean from the broken communication with Diana, Neal had been shot in the stomach and had lost a lot of blood. The paramedics had whisked him away as quickly as they could, lights flashing, sirens blasting.

Peter was now pacing the floor of the emergency room waiting area, his eyes fixed on the ambulance bay doors. What was taking them so long? Did something happen on the way to the hospital? As he anxiously paced, he suddenly found himself praying for his partner…his friend.


Elizabeth sat on the couch, nursing a rather cold cup of coffee as she waited to hear something from Peter. When he had left earlier, after Diana's call, he had promised to call her as soon as he knew anything. She felt like she was about to go crazy with worry, and prayed that her phone would ring soon.

It was almost two hours later when her phone finally rang, but she was disappointed to see that it wasn't Peter.

"Hi, June," she answered as brightly as she could. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Elizabeth, but I just returned home from a trip upstate to find things here at home a little messy. Neal said that he would watch over Bugsy for me while I was gone, so I gave my staff a few days off, too. It seems, though, that poor Bugsy has been left to fend for himself for quite some time. I called Neal, but he's not answering his phone. Do you know where he is?"

Elizabeth had no idea what to tell her. She knew that June cared for Neal as if he were her own son, so she didn't want to terrify the poor lady. Another part of her, though, knew that June deserved the truth. Before she could answer, June continued.

"It's just not like Neal to act so irresponsibly, Elizabeth. He's a man of his word, you see, and I'm rather worried about him."

"June, would you mind if I came over to talk to you? There are some things you need to know, but I'd rather not talk about it over the phone."

"Why don't I come to you instead? My driver is still out front and I'm ready to go."

"Okay, I'll make some fresh coffee for us."


Diana couldn't believe the scene she had walked into. They had lost communication with the two junior agents nearly twenty minutes before, but luckily they were able to get sporadic pings off of their car's GPS system. Once they arrived on the farm, they immediately saw the two agents, plus two other casualties spread out on the ground. It was obvious that a firefight had ensued, so Diana and the rest of the team proceeded cautiously.

Diana had been so relieved to find that the two young agents were still alive. One of the other two men hadn't been so lucky. Once she had assigned a few agents to administer first aid to the injured, she followed Jones toward the house. Diana was surprised to find herself overcome with fear at the thought of finding Neal severely injured, or worse, inside the house.

She and Neal had a definite love/hate relationship, but Diana was willing to admit that the hate part was more frustration than anything else. Neal could drive her crazy faster than anyone or anything else, but for the most part she liked and respected the man. She could even admit….. to herself, but not to anyone else… that she cared for him quite a bit. To think that someone could hurt him was almost too much. Despite everything that he had done in his life, he didn't deserve to be mistreated or abused. In her eyes, Neal had more than paid his debt to society and she knew that most of the people they worked with now thought of him as a valuable member of the team. That was what he deserved.

After clearing the perimeter of the house, as well as the wrap-around porch, Diana and Jones entered the farmhouse. The first room they entered was the kitchen and after quickly clearing that room, they entered into the dining room and living room. Once they entered the living room, Diana quickly noticed the obvious pock marks on the walls from where bullets had slammed into them. Looking down on the floor, she noticed a small trail of blood leading out of the room and down a short hallway. To her dismay, the blood seemed to be increasing with each step she took. Motioning to Jones to follow her, she eventually ended up in front of a closed door just off the hallway, the trail of blood disappearing under the door.

"FBI! Come out with your hands where we can see them!" Jones bellowed.

When there was no response, Diana tentatively reached out and tried the door handle, noting that it didn't seem to be locked. When she turned the handle and slowly pushed against the door, it didn't open, though. She could immediately tell that someone was leaning up against the door, his or her body weight effectively keeping them from entering.

"FBI! We need you to step away from the door." Jones yelled.

With still no response, Diana motioned for Jones to go ahead and push against the door. It took him several long seconds to push whoever it was further into the bathroom, allowing Diana to safely enter the room, gun drawn and ready to be used.

Upon entering the room, Diana was shocked to see an extremely battered, bruised, and bleeding Neal Caffrey. "Neal!" she yelled desperately, as she felt for a pulse. For several excruciating seconds, she couldn't feel a pulse and she thought that Neal was dead. A small gasp from the man proved her wrong, though.

"Neal," she yelled again. "It's okay, Caffrey. We're going to get you some help, okay? Just hang in there."

Other than the small gasp that had escaped him, Neal sat motionless and completely silent against the partially opened bathroom door. He hadn't reacted to a thing Diana had said and she wasn't even sure that he was actually conscious. At that point, though, she was just happy that he was breathing and had a pulse.

Yelling at Jones, who by this time was standing directly behind her, she made sure that an ambulance was enroute, before turning back to Neal. She couldn't believe how awful the young man looked. His normally stylish hair was greasy and plastered against his head. His face was pale, his skin cool and clammy. She immediately noticed several bruises along his jawline and temple, not to mention the bulky dressing wrapped around his shoulder. One eye was swollen almost completely shut and there was blood caked around his nose. The worst part, though, was the gaping wound in his abdomen.

Diana couldn't believe the amount of blood saturating Neal's clothes and spilling onto the floor. Looking around, she noticed a towel rack above Neal's head. She also noticed the bloody handprint on the wall next to it, figuring that Neal must have been trying to grab the towel to stop the blood flow. Grabbing the towel, she quickly balled it up and pressed it against Neal's wound. At the sound of Neal's cry of pain, she instinctively let up on the pressure, but then quickly pushed down again, knowing that it had to be done.

Jones stood guard over his two partners, not knowing if this was the last time he would ever see Neal Caffrey alive.


When June finally arrived, Elizabeth was waiting for her with a fresh cup of tea and a plate of warm cookies. June gave her a soft kiss on the cheek before sitting down on the sofa.

"Thank you, Elizabeth," she said as she took the offered tea and cookies. "Now, tell me what's going on with Neal."

Elizabeth explained everything she knew to the older woman, watching her carefully to see how she was taking the news. She could see the tremble in June's lovely hands, could hear the teacup knock against the saucer. Elizabeth wished that she didn't have to be the bearer of bad news, but June deserved to know.

"June, Peter's doing everything he can to find Neal, and you know how good he is at that. It's what he does best, right? He'll find him and when he does he'll call me right away. All we have to do is sit here and wait for the call. Will you wait with me?"

"Of course, Elizabeth. And you're right…Peter will find Neal."


Eventually, Peter heard the sound of an incoming ambulance and prayed that it was Neal. Stepping out of the emergency room, he ran over to the ambulance bay. He knew he wasn't supposed to be there, but he didn't care. Just as he rounded the corner, he heard the paramedics reporting off to the doctor receiving the patient and knew by what he was saying that it was Neal.

"Male patient, early to mid-thirties, with a GSW to the abdomen. Severe blood loss in the field. BP 70/30, EKG shows Sinus Tach, rate 140, respiratory rate is 30 and shallow. GCS score 8. He has two large bore IVs and he's received three liters Normal Saline wide open. The wound is packed and the bleeding has slowed down."

Peter listened intently, trying to understand what the paramedic was saying. From what he could tell, Neal had lost a lot of blood. Trying to follow the gurney into the trauma room, Peter was stopped by a burly looking security guard.

"You can't come in here," the man said as he held up his arm to stop him.

"That's my partner," Peter yelled. "I need to see him."

"Sir, you need to let the doctors do their thing. Your partner is in good hands."

Peter looked desperately at the gurney as it disappeared behind a curtain.

"Sir, have a seat in the waiting room, okay? I'll make sure someone keeps you informed."

Peter had no choice but to do as he was told.


By the time Diana and Jones arrived at the hospital, almost an hour had passed since Neal had been shot. They entered the ER waiting room to find Peter pacing frantically near the trauma bay doors.

"Hey, Boss… Any word on Caffrey yet?" Diana asked.

Peter stopped pacing and turned to face his agents. Diana didn't think she had ever seen him looking so…tired? Lost?

"Peter, maybe you should sit down for a while," Jones said when he got a good look at his boss.

"No, I'm fine," Peter answered tersely. "They've been working on him for a long time. The last I heard they were prepping him for surgery."

That's good, right?" Diana asked. "They're going to take him in there and fix him."

"He lost a lot of blood, Diana. The doctor said that his body went into shock from the blood loss and some of his organs are starting to fail. He said they can take him to surgery and fix his wound, but he's still in critical condition. He said they were doing everything that they could, but that Neal…..that he might not make it."

"He'll make it, Boss. Neal's strong and he's a fighter. He'll make it."

Peter knew that Diana was trying to convince herself of that, too.


June and Elizabeth had demolished the pot of tea and platter of cookies and at the moment were talking about the early days with Neal. June was explaining to Elizabeth how Neal had come to live in her upstairs apartment. Elizabeth had, of course, already heard the story from Peter, but hearing it from June was different.

"And there he was, looking at me with those dazzling blue eyes and that charming, mischievous grin of his. He reminded me so much of Byron in that moment and I immediately knew that I couldn't just let him walk out of my life. There was just something about him that cried out to me, if you can imagine."

"Oh, I can imagine," El laughed. "The first time I ever laid eyes on him, I wanted to hug him and cook him a nice meal. I thought Peter was going to explode when he came down the stairs and found Neal sitting on the sofa with me."

June laughed at that. "That boy does know how to push Peter's buttons, doesn't he?"

Elizabeth joined her in laughing before turning serious again. "Weren't you worried about inviting him into your home, June?"

"Not a bit, dear. Looking into his baby blues, I knew I could trust him. Neal's been a lot of things in his life, but he's never been dangerous. The only thing he could have taken from me was my material wealth and that's not important to me. When I saw him, I saw a man that was down on his luck and desperate for someone to care about him. That's all."

Just as Elizabeth was about to answer, her phone rang. Jumping up to grab it, her heart pounded when she saw that it was Peter calling.

"Peter? What's going on?"

June watched as Elizabeth listened to whatever Peter was saying, her face growing paler by the second. Eventually, Elizabeth had to sit down, her trembling legs obviously not strong enough to support her. After several minutes, she finally hung up the phone and turned to June.

"They found Neal, but he's been shot. We have to go. Now!"

June stood up on shaky legs and grabbed her coat and purse. "My car is still outside. Let's go!"


By the time Elizabeth and June arrived, the waiting room was full of Peter's fellow agents. Elizabeth was surprised to see that even Hughes was there. It seemed that Neal had finally earned the support of everyone in the White Collar division.

Spying Peter off in the corner of the room, the two of them made their way over to him.

"Hon? Any news?"

Peter turned to his wife and immediately drew her into his arms. She was surprised to feel his body trembling against her, and she realized that he was barely holding it together.

"Peter, I need to sit down, okay?" she said, knowing that he would never sit himself down. "Will you sit with me?"

Seconds later they were both sitting on the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room.

"He's still in surgery, El," Peter said. "It's been over an hour and no one's come to tell us how he's doing."

"I'm sure they'll update us as soon as they can, hon," Elizabeth answered weakly.

"He can't die, El. He has to pull through this."

"Peter, he's going to be fine, okay? The doctors here are some of the best in the world. He's in good hands."

Peter nodded absent-mindedly. "He can't die. He needs to know that I…. He can't die."

Elizabeth pulled her husband closer to her, clutching onto him tightly. She didn't know what to say to make him feel better, so she just held onto him.


It had been almost five hours since Neal had been shot. The waiting room had thinned out quite a bit, leaving only Peter, Elizabeth, June, Diana, Jones, Hughes, and a very paranoid looking Mozzie. June had suggested a few hours before that someone notify the little guy as to what had happened. Luckily, Elizabeth had one of his many phone numbers saved in her phone.

A nurse had come through a few times to give the group a brief update. She really didn't have much information, just that the surgery was still in progress and Neal was still in critical condition. Peter wanted to grabbed her and shake her until she told him more than that, but Elizabeth wouldn't let go of his hand.

By the time the surgeon walked through the OR doors, everyone but Peter and Mozzie was asleep. Peter jumped up from the chair, waking his wife up in the process. He hurriedly walked over to meet the surgeon, trying desperately to read the man's face, but failing.

"How is he?" he demanded. "Is he okay?"

"Agent Burke, right?" the doctor asked. "I'm Dr. Jackson. I know you spoke with Dr. Kent earlier, but I'm the primary surgeon on Mr. Caffrey's case. The surgery is over and Mr. Caffrey will be moving to a room in the ICU after recovery. We were able to stop the bleeding and fix the damage from the bullet's trajectory, but your partner has suffered quite a shock from the blood loss. His kidneys and liver are failing right now and his heart is under a lot of stress. Because of this, we are going to keep him intubated and in a medically induced coma for now."

"What does that mean?" Peter asked frantically.

"It means that Mr. Caffrey will have a tube going down his throat and into his lungs to help him breathe. We will be giving him medication to sedate him. The less stress his body is under, the better for his recovery."

"Will he recover?"

"The next few days will be critical for him, Agent Burke. He has a lot to overcome, but it helps that he is young and healthy. We have been and will continue replenishing the blood that he's lost. I've ordered some heavy-duty antibiotics to be given to him, hopefully to prevent sepsis. We are monitoring his kidney function closely, but if it doesn't start to improve we may have to start dialysis."

Peter's head was spinning from everything the doctor was saying. He was trying to process everything, but it was too overwhelming.

"When can I see him?" he asked finally.

"He'll be in Recovery for about an hour and then they'll move him to the ICU. They'll need some time to get him settled there, so it will probably be at least two hours, Agent Burke. Why don't you get something to eat or take a nap? Someone will get you as soon as possible."

With that, Dr. Jackson turned and went back through the OR doors, leaving Peter to wait impatiently to be called. Elizabeth tried to get him to walk down to the cafeteria with her, but he adamantly refused. Instead, he sank back into the uncomfortable chair, thinking about all the things he wished he had said to Neal. Did the kid know how much he cared for him? Did he know how much their partnership….. their friendship meant to him? Did he know that Peter would never forgive himself if he died?

Peter could feel tears burning his eyes and he tried to wipe them away before anyone noticed. Just as he was thinking that he should visit the men's room, the intercom flared to life, the words flowing over him like ice.

"Code Blue Recovery room 3. Code Blue Recovery room 3. Code Blue Recovery room 3."


Author's note: Sorry for the late update. I love writing for you all, and if I had my way I would do it every day, but life just keeps getting in the way. One of these days, maybe I'll find a way to be independently wealthy. Then I can write all I want.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Yes, they found Neal. Yes, Neal is still in trouble. Yes, Dmitri is still out there somewhere. This story is far from over, methinks. Anyway, thanks for reading. I would love to hear your thoughts.