Chapter 10

Mar'i landed on the balcony of June's mansion. She placed her bag on the ground and used the key Neal gave her to go inside. Neal wouldn't return for hours as he was stuck on a plane with Chuck, Peter, Collins and Dobbs. It would be slow and not very fun.

Her phone went off and she answered in lethargically.

"Neal's deal will be reinstated," the voice on the other end droned.

Mar'i sat up. "Really?"

"The threat of the CIA taking him and the capture of Robert MacLeish was enough to reinstate the deal."

Mar'i frowned. "What about removing the anklet?"

There was a mutter from the other end of the phone. "They don't want to talk about it. Seems like the FBI wants to forget it was going to happen. They had been about to free him and he ran. They're taking it as a sign that Neal's not reformed."

"As much as they want to pretend otherwise, reformation wasn't the goal of this program of theirs," Mar'i grumbled.

"We know. So does Neal. He insists he'll be fine."

Mar'i didn't respond. There were other things on her mind. Things which had been bothering her for the last couple of days.

"Has Neal ever mentioned a ring?" she asked.

"A ring?" Red Robin echoed back with a chuckle. "I rarely hear from Neal. Sometimes he would ask for information as Bryce but mostly he keeps to himself and I'd only see him as Damian at family gatherings. Which I'm happy about, by the way."

Mar'i hadn't really noticed. She kept up to date with all her uncles and assumed every else did the same. Maybe Neal didn't want any trace of the family in his life? But then, who could she ask about the ring?

Mar'i went down to introduce herself to June. June was a lovely lady and Mar'i listened to all her stories as she was shown around the house.

June didn't know anything about the ring either. She knew about Kate since Neal had mentioned her a couple of times but nothing about a ring.

This was going to drive her crazy.

Neal returned with a tired smile on his face. He placed the suitcase on the floor and even returned Mar'i's hug.

"Dobbs complained all the way back. I'm only disappointed that Collins didn't shoot him too."

Mar'i glanced down at Neal's pant leg. There was no sign of the injury she knew was under there. However there was the bulge from a tracking anklet.

"I should have punched him," she complained.

Neal laughed. "I would have liked to as well."

Mar'i nuzzled in closer, resting her had on his shoulder. "Do you think you'll keep Neal's non-violent pact?"

"I've come this far. No point stopping now."

Ah, the famous Wayne stubbornness. Mar'i hummed her interest, wondering if Neal's non-violence would spread to Damian's personality.

"Hey, Mozzie said that-" their phones went off. "You've got to be kidding me," she moaned.

Neal pulled his out and answered it. "What do you want, Drake?"

Red Robin huffed. "And here I am, bringing you news about your favourite FBI agent. I thought you would at least give a pleasant greeting."

"Peter? What news?"

"Someone's complained that Peter shouldn't have involved himself. He wasn't supposed to go after you."

"But he was on leave," Mar'i pointed out. "It shouldn't have mattered."

"Well, it did. So now Peter's being sent to the Evidence Lockup. It's pretty much where an agent's career goes to die."

"No way." Peter didn't deserve this. Mar'i felt her eyes heat up and glow with righteous fury. "We can't let them do that!"

"I do have a couple of things you can try," Red Robin said to Mar'i. Neal listened to the plans and was impressed. A meeting between Mar'i and Hughes had been set up and she was going to try and convince him to fight the decision. Plus, Red Robin had a number of files which would help them do that. The other plan was to see if they could request Agent Burke to investigate a theft at the penthouse Bruce Wayne owned. Neal was not a fan of that plan because of the proximity to his father.

Meanwhile they would be working on finding out the person behind the complaint. Nothing would have happened to Peter if someone hadn't pointed it out. If that someone was someone with something against Peter or Neal, they would come down hard.

Everyone seemed happy to see Neal back. Neal smiled and greeted everyone and looked over his desk. Something ached inside when he saw it had gone untouched. In the time he had been away, no one had cleared or moved into his desk.

"Right by the door is where the angry visitors focus their complaints," Diana joked as an explanation for no one taking the desk. "But you're too pretty for people to complain to, Caffrey."

"Thanks," Neal responded drily.

"Something wrong?" Peter asked.

The door opened at that moment and Mar'i came walking in. Her hair seemed to bounce behind her and her disguised, human green eyes sparkled as she looked around. She was dressed in a suit jacket and skirt with black heels. The top button of her jacket was undone and Neal suppressed the sudden, very Damian, urge to tell her to 'cover yourself, woman!'.

"Isn't that-"

"Mar'i," Neal finished before Peter could say 'Kate'. "Yep."

"You know her?" Diana asked.

"She's taken," Peter quickly informed Diana.

Mar'i grinned and waved. She blew a kiss in Neal's direction before heading up to Hughes' office.

"Spill, Caffrey. Who's that gorgeous woman?" Diana asked. "She's built like an Amazonian."

"I can tell you that she's not an Amazonian," Neal responded with his trademark grin.

Diana was not impressed. "I'll find out sooner or later, Caffrey."

"You're starting to sound like Peter."

"Good. I admire him."

"As amusing as this all is, you both have paperwork to complete," Peter said, coming to stand between them.

They both looked at Peter for a moment before moving to do as he asked. Everyone knew that Peter was awaiting orders on his punishment for going after Caffrey. Sadly, his excuses of going on holiday didn't fly with the higher ups, especially since the intel on where Neal was came from Peter's house in the first place.

"Do you know where they're sending you?" Jones asked.

Peter shook his head. He had supposed to find out that morning when he came in but Hughes had held off for some reason.

"Maybe they've decided that I don't need to be transferred," Peter said optimistically.

Neal bit his tongue. He knew they were sending Peter to Evidence Lockup where he wouldn't be able to work active cases. But he also knew that there were people fighting the decision. The team included Mar'i so Neal hoped that she was here right now to overturn the decision.

Mar'i came out of Hughes' office stomping her feet. Her face was puffed up and she looked ready to fight someone.

"Miss Grayson, I hope this doesn't leave you with a bad impression of the FBI. We do take care of our own," Hughes said when they both reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Do you?" Mar'i said in the quiet but strong voice of a vigilante.

"I gave Agent Burke a choice. I challenged the decision. People aren't budging up there."

Mar'i hummed and turned.

"Hair," Neal whispered to her as she stomped past. A light warning about the glowing embers he could see. If she got any more worked up, her hair would ignite.

"Your girlfriend is a piece of work, Caffrey," Hughes commented. "Polite but I have the feeling that wasn't the last I'll see of her regarding this."

"Probably not," Neal responded. "Is that going to be a problem, sir?" If it was, he could get her to pull back. Mar'i could be intense when fighting for justice.

Hughes thought about it for a couple of moments. Neal was ready to ask again when he shook his head.

"Not at this moment in time," he said. "I'll let you know. Peter, with me." Hughes pulled Peter back up to his office. It seemed the 'temporary' transfer to Evidence Lockup was going to happen whether they liked it or not.