Notes: So this chapter might be a little rushed, sorry. I wasn't feeling well the past few days due to sinus problems (the changing seasons - spring is here in Australia).

So, Mozzie knew about the Governor?

Mozzie was now officially 'Agent Winters'. He was enjoying the challenge of being CIA without losing himself to the mechanisms of the man. He was more than the job and wouldn't let it overtake his life.

It frustrated his superiors at first but they got used to it. Mozzie was a man of his own time and means. It made him a handy ally for a certain electrical engineer.

Stephen Bartowski had been hanging out in Mozzie's loft, fondly known as Friday, and was currently snoozing away in a hammock.

Friday had hammocks instead of beds.

There was a reason the CIA put up with Mozzie's attitude. He was a good spy. A clever spy. It didn't take much for him to put the pieces together.

For example; Stephen was wearing a new watch. A nice watch. It was not the kind of watch Mozzie's friend would normally wear. But watches could be like tiny computers and Mozzie knew what his friend could do with a computer.

When he confronted Stephen with that over breakfast, at five pm because they both currently lived nights, Stephen laughed.

"You're being too suspicious, my friend," Stephen commented.

Mozzie was not convinced. He knew there was something going on. He let his disbelief show on his face.

"Then you won't mind if I take it? Can't have anyone who might track it coming here."

"Mozzie!" Stephen was horrified. His hand clamped over the watch on his wrist as if to protect it from the little guy. "My watch isn't a tracker!"

"How am I meant to know that? There's something to your watch-"

Stephen sighed, "it's an invention of mine." Mozzie raised an eyebrow, wanting to know more. Stephen gave him a look that said he was a bully. "It's for the Intersect."

Mozzie was not surprised to learn that Stephen had a computer in his head like the one he had locked away in Neal's; who was currently overseas on a mission as Bryce. "Why do you need a watch for the computer in your head?"

"Because flashing damages the brain. It causes overheating with extended use."

It took Mozzie a few moments to process the implications of this. "You're telling me that you willingly downloaded something into your brain which causes it to fry?"

"No!" Stephen responded quickly. "That's what the governor is for, see? So I don't fry." Then, in a mutter, he added, "I didn't know about the frying thing when he first downloaded it."

"What about Neal?" Mozzie asked because he would put Neal before Stephen, always. Neal was his brother in all but blood and Mozzie knew Stephen understood that.

"Neal should be fine. He can't flash so there's no need for him to have a governor."

Mozzie was not convinced. He was an 'always be prepared' kind of guy. So they discussed the governor a little more and a few other of Stephen's inventions.

Protect

At least Orion wasn't going to come after him. Mozzie thought for the fourth time as he paced the floor of Neal's apartment. Orion would not have been happy if he was around to learn that Mozzie didn't intervene when he knew Chuck was in danger. Except, Mozzie wasn't Bryce and didn't mind leaving Chuck to his own devices. He had his hands full with other things. Now, if only he could stop thinking about it.

Neal sighed and placed his paint palette down on the stool next to him. It was almost time to get a new one as colour was spread, blended and dotted on this one like a modern masterpiece on wood.

"Okay, I can hear the gears turning from here. What's going on, Mozzie?" Neal asked.

Mozzie shook his head. "You don't want to hear this."

"Moz. You're my friend. Of course I want to hear about what's bothering you." Neal gave him the soulful eyes. He was worried. Mozzie didn't keep worries from him, preferring to air them as soon as possible in order to have the 'I told you so' moment later on.

"It's about the dead." Their code for a dead alias. There was only one dead alias that could cause Mozzie so much worry. Because, while he was dead for Neal, Mozzie still had one foot in Bryce's world.

Neal was silent as he weighed up Mozzie's worry and his own desire to not bring Bryce up ever again. He sighed.

"Let's hear it."

"Chuck's taking on Volkoff!" Mozzie burst out.

"...what?" Neal was horrified. He had heard about Volkoff and both he and Mozzie knew about what had happened with Agent Frost. How could they not with how Stephen had dropped in every few weeks? The whereabouts of his wife had come up a few times. "He's going to get himself killed."

Mozzie nodded solemnly.

"That's a really bad idea." Neal looked moments away from cracking his anklet and catching the next flight to Burbank.

"Can't be any worse than what happened with Shaw," Mozzie mused, realising a moment too late that he never really went into what happened with Shaw and the circumstances of Orion's death.

Neal demanded to know. Mozzie eventually gave in.

"You think you can get to Burbank?" Neal questioned. "Offer your services to Chuck's team?"

"No," Mozzie said. There was no way he was going to leave Neal in New York without him. Mozzie had confirmed that Kate had talked to Fowler right before the explosion which killed her. Plus, Neal needed him to help decode the music box's music code.

Neal did something stupid. Mozzie had expected it but he had expected 'Neal stupid'; getting the attraction of the wrong person or conning his way back into jail, not 'Bryce stupid'; stealing a gun to go after a bad guy.

The CIA wouldn't protect a dead agent gone rogue. Mozzie wouldn't be able to protect Bryce if he had been stupid enough to get caught.

Mozzie could only count his blessings, even if they did come in the form of suits. The Suit had just managed to get Neal calmed down enough to be placed under house arrest, enforced by the Lady Suit.

Of course, Mozzie had heard all of this second hand, from Mrs Suit, after waking up from a coma. He had been shot while everything went down.

"Did you get him?" he asked Neal, after establishing whether he was in the system or not. Mozzie didn't want the CIA banging down the door in order to find out why he had been shot.

"Not yet," Neal admitted in a tired tone. There was more to the story there but Mozzie knew he could get it out of Mrs. Suit.

"So, what were you thinking, Neal?" Mozzie demanded to know. "Because it certainly didn't look like Bryce is dead."

Neal flinched at the name. "…I know. I just don't know. It seemed much easier when I had my own badge, even if the odds of having to kill and be killed are much higher. Peter's been suspended and I know Bryce would have been able to wave his badge and get the decision reversed or call in a couple of favours or even bring Peter over to the 'dark side'."

"Nope. The Suit would not like the CIA. There's a competitive air to the CIA."

"What about us, Moz? We're not competitive."

"We were cons before spies, non frère."