DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING YOU RECOGNIZE.
A/N: I'm sorry and I love you.
"Flight 295 now arriving from St. Louis."
It was a week to the day of the video call between the FBI offices and the girls; and working almost around the clock they were able to get Stana, Olivia and Amira out of Westbrook without many problems. That being said that left Neal and Lena at JFK airport waiting or the teenagers to get off the plane. It was now the end of June and Lena had not seen the girls since she left Westbrook about a month ago. Lena was getting anxious, in the past 5 years she hadn't been away from them for this long. It was 10 minutes after that announcement that Lena caught sight of them, and Neal couldn't believe these were the girls that were going to be taking down Zeller's organization, it was 6pm in New York and it was still warm and all four of the girls; his daughter included were dressed in shorts, tank tops and various beachy shoe wear. They didn't look like Agents, but he soon realized that was exactly the point.
"Lena!"
And that was it, his daughter was gone, enveloping the other girls in a hug in the middle of the airport. Once the reunion was done the five of them stood there for a moment,
"Dad I want to officially introduce you to my best friends in the entire world"
Neal smiled, he was glad that even though her life was anything but normal she was able to be a normal teenager with her friends.
"Hello girls, it's nice to finally meet you; we should get to baggage claim before we miss your bags."
Twenty minutes ater they were walking out of the airport each with their suitcases, which again reminded Neal these weren't agents; but in fact teenage girls. He had never seen so much animal print in his life. It was decided they would order pizza when they got back to the loft. After a quick airport ride and an introduction to June they made it upstairs and the girls sat in a circle in the living room catching up.
Stana looked at Lena with a very stern face,
"Lena, why sisn't you tell me?"
Lena was confused to say the least she had no idea what the other girls was talking about.
"Uhh, tell you what?"
Stana started grinning like crazy and came back at Lena full force,
"That your Dad was such a hottie"
Lena groaned and pulled a disgusted face, the rest of the night passed with much of the same, pizza and a movie marathon, and Neal making himself scarce.
The next morning at 09:00 Neal Caffrey walked into the White Collar division of the FBI with a cup of coffee and looking worse than Peter had ever seen him . He was about to ask why before he saw the four teenage girls come out of the elevator in two groups of two linked arms. Peter looked at the girls, taking in their appearances; matching faces to names much like Neal had done the previous night.
"Good morning ladies, how was your flight?"
All three girls replied with a very standard "Very good, Agent Burke."
The whole encounter was a slight bit awkward to say the least. Peter and Neal made their way towards the stairs with the girls following behind them;
"The Director is in the conference room, once we're up there the briefing will start, Lena pay attention. You don't know everything you think you know."
The six people walked up the stairs and towards the conference room leaving a room of confused Agents in their wake. They all reached the conference room and took their seats, the girls all seated next to each other. Director Hobbs at the head of the table.
"Hello girls. On behalf of the FBI I would like to welcome you to the White Collar division and thank you for your service on this case."
Hobbs scanned the girls; taking in what they looked like. To be honest, he was doubtful. Lena was wearing a light jean jacket with a sun dress covering up the ankle tracker with a pair of chesnut cowboy boots, Amira wearing high waisted denim shorts with a t-shirt tucked into them. Olivia wearing leggings with a racerback tee and Stana with demin shorts and a floral shirt. He didn't know them or particularly trust them; they didn't look like the capable Agents he was used too and sure as hell didn't behave like them.
"In these files you'll find your new identities; learn them and live them. These files do not leave this room."
The girls each received a file in front of them. Though, Hobbs stopped them before they could open them.
"Before you look at the files let me brief you on the case itself. A man named Robert Zeller has been stealing and re-selling art work for years. Recently he expanded his organization into forginng himself and needs a new team, he likes to use teenagers because they're unsuspenting and manipulative. We don't yet know if he's acting alone. We have intel that he might be under the order of a larger project."
Lena knew all of this of course, she had read through the file many times without the knowledge of the FBI, but her friends were stunned. They all opened their files one by one; sharing the contents with each other. All slowly realizing that these identities on this paper would be their lives for a short while. Lena was surprised, she knew she would be going undercover but seeing it all writen out suddenly made it real for her.
Name: Makayla Shae Forester
Age: 16
Birthday: October 18, 1995
Background: High school drop out. Proficient in languages and forgery. Run away from a very prominent and privledged life style. Rumored to be forger L.C
Olivia was the next to open hers,
Name: Amanda Leigh Franklin
Age: 15
Birthday: January 21, 1997
Background: Grew up on the street all around the country, no living relatives. Fighter. Weapons extraordinaire. Master lock picker. Voice of reason.
Liv nodded her head in approval, she could pull this off no problem. Amira on the other hand was a bit apprehensive opening her file.
Name: Taylor Miranda Roberts
Age: 16
Birthday: November 15, 1995
Background: Parents in law enforcement, learned early not to trust the system. Disowned for speaking out against the job. Black belt in several forms of marshall arts. Can fit in anywhere.
Amira couldn't help but laugh at how different this cover was from her real life. Stana ripped open her file with the anticipation of a child and a present.
Name: Akiva Danielle Ryan
Age: 17
Birthday: September 27, 1994
Background: Known con person under an assumed name, up and coming forger. Disregard for the law.
Once they all looked up from their files Peter was looking at them.
"I know you all have talents you will bring to this operation; but you are not Agents. We will need to test your abilities with a hand gun. You will not be carrying one; but it i being tested as a precaution."
Neal was about to protest before Lena shot him a glare as if telling him there was no way in hell they were stopping her. The girls were led to the FBI shooting range. When they got there they were met with a large room consisting of a bunch of Agents and guns. They were aligned at their ranges when Lena's voice rang out.
"Loser buys a round of smoothies, yes?"
The girls all turned to look at eachother, all smirking; again leaving the older men confused. As the alrms sounded and the targets locked into place it wasn't long before shots rang out. Peter stared at all of the girls, shocked by their near perfect stance and easy shooting of the guns, but Neal looked at his daughter in particular. She was 5 foot 3 inches in cowboy boots, and a sun dress unloading the clip of a Glock hand gun into a paper target. She continued to be a force to be reckoned with; and that scared the crap out of him. Soon enough the targets were brought back and Neal and Peter stared at each other in awe, who exactly were these girls? Stana unloaded her whole clip into the targets forehead; leaving a gaping hole; Olivia and Amira had a similar shooting meathod. Only Amira left most of her shots in the symbol of a smiley face in the paper mans' chest; reminding everybody she was the youngest of the group. Lena mixed it up a bit. Rotating between the heart region and the forehead. Neal was easily unsettled by this. He never wanted her around guns. Within an hour they were gone, buying smoothies, courtosy of Amira. It was seen as a good time to get used to calling eachother by their new names. After the smoothies they found themselves at a playground, lounged on swings.
"When you asked for a favor this so is not what I was expecting."
Lena looked at the girls she called her sisters with a small smile on her face.
"I know, I owe you girls so much"
Amira looked around each of the girls faces;
"If somebody would have told me a year ago when I transfered to Westbrook that this would have happened I would have laughed in their face."
Lena was about to answer when a phone rang. It was the burner that her Dad gave her after she got to the city. It was the first time it rang since she got it.
"Hello?"
The voice coming through the other end of the phone was brief, coded and not comprehendable to anybody but Lena.
"The pink dove flies at midnight."
Lena couldn't help but laugh. It was a code they had created around the time Lena was 7.
"to grandmothers house she goes."
It was ridiculous in theory really; it made no sense at all but it was their's and it was sacred.
"Lena, I got information that the suit might like to hear. Zeller is planning a heist. Tomorrow night at 11 pm. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 5th Avenue."
Lena's face crinkled up, clearly confused about how this information came to light.
"Uncle Mozzie are you sure?"
A sigh and a scoff was heard from the other end of the line; he never liked his information doubted. A click and a dialtone was heard through the speaker as the call was disconnected.
"Girls, we have to get back to the FBI building."
They didn't question it; they just tossed their finished smoothies into the trash and walked the short distance back to the building.
Back at the FBI as soon as the door to the shooting range closed Neal moved to stand in front of the target that his daughter obliterated. He was confused to say the least. He was also angry beyond words, and typically Neal Caffrey isn't one to get angry. He was still standing when Peter touched his shoulder.
"Neal..."
Neal tensed up; turning to face Peter, succeeding in keeping the offending paper silhouette of a man out of his sight.
"I didn't teach her that."
Peter's eyes connected with the eyes of the other man, seeing a fire he's never seen before.
"I believe you Neal..."
Neal moved around Peter to sit on the bench against the wall. Leaning his head back to stare at the ceiling as he spoke.
"When you caught me she was only this 12 year old little girl who didn't understand why if I was going to prison then why wasn't she because she had been on every con with me since she was 3 years old. I sent her away rather than having her stay with Mozzie, Kate or even Alex. I didn't want her around this any more. The con world is no place for a little girl, for my little girl. Now my kid knows how to shoot a gun better than some of your Agents. I taught her to paint and forge. Alex taught her to fight the basics when she was little. After all of this I wanted her to walk up to me one day and say 'Dad I want to be a teacher' not 'Dad my forgeries were intercepted by the FBI'"
Peter looked at the younger man, he had never seem him like he was at that moment. It was evident that he really didn't know as much about Neal Caffrey as he thought he did. He continued to look at him trying to figure out what his next move was when his cell phone rang from his pocket. He looked at Neal one last time before turning away to answer the call,
"She could still be a teacher Caffrey."
He turned to his phone and answered with a simple "Agent Burke" as he normally does. The conversation lasted about a minute before he closed the phone and looked back at Neal.
"Apparently your daughter is upstairs and insists that is is very important. Jones told me she's scaring the other Agents."
Neal couldn't help but laugh, when his daughter was excited about something there was no calming her down. Upstairs they were met with four teenagers who drew the attention of the Agents in the direct vicinity of them. Lena was pacing back and forth as Stana, Olivia and Amira were looking at her amused.
"Dad, Agent Burke. We need to talk, upstairs. Now."
Peter looked amused, also wondering when the 16 year old with the ankle tracker started comindeering the room. Though, he didn't have much time to ponder the thought before he was following Lena, the girls and Neal up the stairs to the conference room.
"Alright, what is it?"
Lena gave Peter an unimpressed look at his bluntness before walking around to the seat she previously occupied.
"How soon can we start this operation of infiltrating Zeller's organization?"
Peter studied each girl in the room a moment before he answered the question
"As soon as we can find a way in." Almost as an after thought he added "Why?"
Lena smiled at Peter and her father before taking over again,
"I got word from a reliable source that Zeller is planning a heist tomorrow night at 11. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 5th. He's planning on stealing the Madonna and Child piece."
Peter stared at her like she was crazy and still really confused as he began to ask where she got this information exactly. But before he could ask Neal cut him off,
"I'm guessing you got a call from Mozzie."
Lena looked at him and smirked before Peter put in his input,
"How exactly are you planning on doing this Lena. You said Zeller's team is planning on taking the piece. What does that have to do with what Makayla, Amanda, Taylor and Akiva are doing tomorrow night."
"Well Agent Burke, all i'm saying is what better way to make nice with an employer than to steal his paycheck. I say we go in and steal it while he tries to intercept us. Introductions are made and he'll realize we're 200 times better than the team he has now. It's simple really. Just have to get in and out without getting caught."
Peter and Neal both looked at the girl impressed, clearly through the years of cons with her father she had learned something.
"How do you plan on doing that exactly. Breaking into the Met isn't exactly easy."
Lena actually let her head roll back towards the ceiling and gave a good laugh.
"Agent Burke. I assure you; it is not that hard. It's childs play. Hypothetically i'll say i've been there and done that."
At which point in time Peter Burke looked at Neal Caffrey with a glare that could kill a dozen suspects.
"Hey Peter, she said hypothetically."
"Alright then Neal, hypothetically how would you have four teenage girls break into the Met to steal a painting."
Neal looked at Lena and had a silent communication through their eyes, often how Neal communicated with Mozzie or Alex when planning something.
"The Dutchman" it was a simple term spoken at the same exact time by father and daughter.
Neal and Lena looked thrilled, Stana, Olivia and Amira looked shocked and Peter just looked confused. The girls heard the story of the infamous Dutchman several times in the years away at school.
"I was 10 and it was in Italy. I forget the museum and mark obviously. But we needed to get into the museum and it was one of the big jobs I was allowed on. It was a 4 man team, It was me, Dad, Auntie Alex and Keller. It was built sort of like this one. Somebody sets up a diversion with security while somebody else loops the camera's in the security room. After the camera's are looped and the area is cleared another person gets into the vents. Typically it's done a few hours before closing so you're not in there long and the other 3 leave. Out of the 3 that leave they disable the alarm by hacking into the security system and the person in the vent makes their way to an exit and opens the door to let the others in. Badda bing badda boom."
Peter looked impressed at the plan. It wasn't overly difficult or overly simple. The craziest part is, that it can actually work. Peter looked at the girls again,
"Are you girls sure you're ready for this. We have time to plan another way in."
The girls all looked at each other, in reality non of them had even questioned anything else. Non of them were going to pass up an oppurtunity to pull off a Dutchman. Especially as 4 teenage girls. This was defintely on their bucket lists.
"We're ready"
"Okay, everyone get some coffee. We've got some planning to do."
A/N: There you've got it, they're pulling a con on the Met. What could go wrong? I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you review :) I love where this story is going and it's all planned out in my head. It gets better from here! Leave anything in a review, I triple dog dare you.
-Cia