Chapter 11
'I can't believe Neal made this. It's delicious!' El said as she finished up the last crumbs of the chocolate cheesecake that, up to a few seconds ago, had been on her plate
'Well, right now he's going all out to tempt me with all the foods I love just to get me to eat' Sara said as she pushed away her plate with half her piece of cake still intact
'Are you still feeling sick?' El asked, concerned
'Well, I haven't had morning sickness in four days, so fingers crossed' answered Sara 'but my appetite really fluctuates a lot so I kind of have to go with the flow'
Elizabeth Burke looked over at Sara Ellis, a woman she'd always admired for her strength and courage and who had recently crossed that line from mere acquaintance to good friend. She realized she'd put off the inevitable discussion long enough. She'd wanted to come clean to Sara the second she's stepped into the apartment but she was embarrassed about what she'd done and they had somehow managed to spend an hour chatting about everything but the elephant in the room, although said elephant was only visible to her eyes.
'Sara, you know when I cancelled lunch last week' Elizabeth began as Sara nodded, unaware of the confession that was coming
'Well, I wasn't being totally honest with you' she said, anxious to get things out in the open before her courage evaporated 'The truth is, I wasn't sick'
'Okay' Sara said as she waited for the rest of the explanation
'Remember when I told you about the commendation dinner?' El continued
'Yeah, next weekend, right?' Sara answered
'Well, I shouldn't have told you' El began 'at least not until Peter gave me the green light. You see, there's been some dispute as to whether or not Neal would be allowed to attend with the rest of the team'
Sara's eyes clouded over as she thought back to Neal's concerns; maybe his suspicions hadn't been so over the top after all.
'Peter wanted to wait until he got a definitive answer from DC before talking to Neal about it and I kind of... spilled the beans prematurely' El continued as things started to come into focus for Sara
'So I panicked and I thought the best I could do was... avoid you until we knew for sure' El finally confessed
'And?' Sara asked, afraid of the answer
Elizabeth shook her head. 'Peter and Reese Hughes went all the way up the line but the brass in DC won't budge'
'Oh, my God. Poor Neal!' Sara said imagining how her boyfriend would feel when he heard
'But that's not fair' she continued 'Peter's always saying how their closure rate has almost doubled since Neal joined the team'
'I agree' El said 'and Peter is devastated'
Sara just stared ahead past Elizabeth as she began to imagine the impact that decision would have on Neal. He still struggled with feelings of self-worth, hiding behind that mask of his to keep from showing any pain or hurt. Being told he wasn't worthy of recognition along with his colleagues would just feed into those feelings of insecurity, that fear that he could never be anything but a criminal, doomed to repeat his past illicit behaviors.
Since she'd gotten pregnant, she'd begun to see changes in Neal; he'd started to make some headway in his struggle to do the right thing, motivated by the desire to be the kind of man their child would be proud of someday. They'd spent many nights talking about Neal's fears that he might be undeserving of a 'normal' life, of becoming a dad and Sara could tell Neal was gaining confidence when she looked into his excited eyes as they talked about their future.
'Sara, I'm so sorry. And I'm sorry I lied to you; there's no excuse for that' El admitted
Sara snapped back to reality, meeting El's gaze and seeing the sadness there. She nodded in response to her friend's apology.
'Neal has such a good heart and he's still paying for the mistakes he made a long time ago. Sometimes, he feels like he'll never be able to leave the past behind him' Sara admitted to her friend
Elizabeth listened, filled with shame and sadness. The only difference between someone like Neal Caffrey and the three of them was the fact that Neal hadn't had a strong role model growing up; without a positive model, he'd ventured down a rudderless path which had led him to his current predicament. He was paying a bitter price for his poor choices, swimming counter stream and just trying to keep his head above water. Finding a way to survive for a charming, intelligent man like Neal had been easy as long as he kept that mask firmly on his face. But he'd been working hard to show his true colors to Sara and now, events were conspiring to prove to him that once that mask was removed, he wasn't worthy of the same things as everyone else around him.
Elizabeth reached out to touch Sara's hand but the gesture did little to placate Sara who found herself thinking ahead to what words of wisdom she could possibly find to comfort Neal when he eventually made his way home.
WCWCWC
'You have a lot of talent' Neal said as he took in some of the many works of art on Marnie's walls
'Well, like I said, I like to dabble' she responded as she sat across the couch from the two men
Neal sat with his arm draped over the back of the couch, his hand lying limply on Peter's shoulder as the older man sipped his beer. They had agreed that, at some point, Peter would leave the room ostensibly to use the facilities, leaving Neal to see what Marnie's proposal entailed.
There was a knock at the door and Marnie stood to answer.
'Oh, that'll be my brother. I invited him over so we could talk about that... project I mentioned' she said as she momentarily left the room to answer the door
Peter and Neal exchanged looks as they waited, Neal giving his partner a head nod towards the washroom. This would be a good time for Neal to be left alone with the woman; he was wearing his trusty one way communication device on his wrist and Jones was nearby in the van recording the proceedings, much to Peter's chagrin.
Neal had been playing up their relationship since they'd arrived, mostly just to annoy Peter. He'd mentioned Peter's boring job as an accountant, the trip they'd taken to Maine last summer and Peter's propensity for sleeping late on weekends when Neal wanted to go antiquing. Two could play that game, Peter thought and after a while, he'd begun to get into it, commenting on Neal's snoring (which he admitted he found annoying yet endearing) and the way Neal left his socks on their bedroom floor (which he found annoying and not the least bit endearing).
If Caffrey was going to have some fun at his expense, so could he.
'Boys, this is my brother, Scott' said Marnie when she returned with a young man on her arm 'He works over at the Marvel Gallery'
Peter and Neal managed to keep straight faces at the mention of the gallery's name, imagining the look on Jones' face as he sat listening in the van a block away. The connection was now obvious; all they needed to do now was wait for Marnie to plot and carry out her next switch, something which seemed destined to happen. The couple got up to shake hands with the newcomer and Peter remained standing as everyone took a seat.
'Can I use your washroom?' he asked as Marnie directed him down the hall
'I'll be back in a minute, babe' he said to Neal as he squeezed his CI's hand
He was having fun giving Neal a taste of his own medicine although he knew he would never hear the end of it back at the office when they finally went through and listened to the tapes.
'Hurry back' Neal said, squeezing back – a little too hard
The moment Peter left the room, Marnie leaned in towards Neal. She only had a few minutes to make her pitch and she didn't want to waste a second.
'Look, Nick' she said, her voice low 'We've heard about your exploits and your special talents. Are you interested in making a little cash on the side?'
'I'm all ears' Neal said with a look of mischief
'Well, Scott and I have a little project going that I think you'll find interesting – and lucrative' the young woman said as Neal smiled his luminous Caffrey smile
WCWCWC
It was well past ten o'clock, their business concluded when Neal and Peter finally stood to leave. They'd gotten more than they'd hoped for; Marnie had admitted to Neal (Nick) that she and her brother had already switched out four paintings from the prep room at the museum with forgeries, two of which she'd painted herself. The painting they were targeting next was more intricate and when she'd first met Nick, she'd googled him only to find that he'd been arrested for forging paintings, excellent forgeries and she'd hatched the plan to approach him to collaborate on the caper for a very tidy sum.
'Marnie, thanks for having us over' Neal said as he smiled at his co-worker 'But my big bear here, he gets really grumpy if he doesn't get a full seven hours of sleep...' he added, lacing his arm in Peter's
'Oh, honey, stop it! You're embarrassing me' Peter said with a shy smile 'I'm sure Marnie doesn't want to hear about that - or about your annoying habit of trimming your toenails at the kitchen table'
Neal glared at Peter and Marnie gave them both a look of disdain. If she'd been sweet on Neal up to this point, that vivid image had been more than enough to put a damper on any romantic notions she might have had to begin with.
She walked them out, telling Nick she'd see him in the morning and she watched as the couple made their way down the hall, bickering.
WCWCWC
'Toenails? Really, Peter?' Neal said as they walked one block over to where the van sat waiting for them
'You started it' Peter responded as they stepped in
'Well, hello you two lovebirds' Jones called out to them as they came into view
Peter rolled his eyes at him. 'If you ever repeat any of this...' he began before Jones interrupted
'I don't have to repeat it Peter, it's all been recorded for posterity' he reminded his boss with a sly smile
'We have an admission of guilt' Neal said, filling in Peter as to what had transpired when he'd left the room 'but the case will be a lot more solid if we catch her making a swap'
Peter nodded in agreement; he liked his cases airtight.
'Did you find anything in the bedroom?' he asked
Peter shook his head. 'There were more copies lying around but I don't know if any of them match the paintings at the museum'
'She wants to swap this one out by Friday' Neal said as he showed the two agents the piece of paper with the title of the painting he had just been hired to forge
'Do you have time to get it done by then?' Peter asked
'Do I have a choice?' Neal responded with an eyebrow raise
'So where are you two boys off to now? Drinks? Clubbing?' Jones asked, teasing them mercilessly
'Home' Peter said without hesitation 'to the women we love'
And with that, the two men exited the van and walked the few steps to Peter's car, climbing in. Unbeknownst to Neal, Peter had one last topic of discussion he needed to tackle before they made their way back to Riverside Drive. Peter started the car and prayed he'd be inspired to find the right words to say; words that wouldn't totally devastate his CI.
TBC
