"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Peter. He had set up the laptop with the jump drive containing the official record of what had happened at the table. They had cleared the table of breakfast dishes and had talked for awhile about it. "I mean I am okay with you seeing it since Neal is, but I mean it's not exactly a fun watch and I don't want any of it to scare you."
"I can handle it." said El, being unsure of exactly that, but wanting to know what Neal and Peter are both dealing with. "I promise I will be fine, Peter, just hit play." She adjusts the headphones as neither wanted Neal to accidentally hear it upstairs and have to listen to it. She braces herself as she hears Neal recite his name.
A little while later, El sits down the headphones and wipes some tears from her eyes. It had been much harder than she had even expected to sit through the whole thing and watch Neal's face on the video. She felt herself grow furious about Keetes - especially with what Peter had leaked about who Keetes does - and couldn't resist wishing him dead.
"You okay hun?" asked Peter, putting his arm around his wife.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." said El, unsure if she will ever forget anything she heard. "I really hope you catch this guy and nail him to the damn wall though. He deserves it after what I heard there."
"I agree." said Peter. "I want Keetes in prison permanently...and I have no plans to drop this case until that happens."
"Poor Neal, really." said El. "While no one is a fan of having FBI agents outside their home 24/7, I am glad he's here and we're all together."
"I am too. I can't help but worry...to the extent I have set Neal's anklet to alert if he even leaves the house." said Peter. "I didn't tell him as well I didn't want him to think I didn't trust him, though I wouldn't be totally shocked if he figured out a way to break out out of boredom if nothing else. At least this way I can sleep at night."
"Peter, you flatter me." said Neal, carefully walking up to the table and noticing the laptop. "I take it that means what I think it does?"
"Neal, how the hell did you make it down the stairs?" asked Peter, a little furious considering Neal's injuries. "You could have asked for help."
"I got bored and you know I like mystery." said Neal with a shrug. Truth was halfway down the stairs, he had been tempted to turn around and go back from pain, but it would have been as painful to walk back up as come back down. Sitting and scooting down on his butt had seriously made his ribs feel like he was dying. "Trust me, no plans to try it again." He sat down with a grimace. "You didn't answer my question though."
"It does." said El, clearing the table of the laptop and putting it on her desk in the kitchen, handing Peter the jump drive. "So hopefully you at least learned your lesson in needing help on the stairs?"
"I promise El, I won't try it again until at least my ribs are healed." said Neal.
"Then you got about 4 weeks to wait." said Peter, patting Neal's shoulder. While he wanted to lecture Neal, he could see Neal was in enough pain and had learned the lesson better than Peter lecturing him would have. "And that's for the ribs. Your arm should take similar, but you likely 3+ months with the leg. So you might as well get used to it."
"Hey, at least I didn't try to bring the tray down with me." said Neal, jokingly, though he had considered it momentarily upstairs.
"At least let me help you to the couch." said Peter. He gets Neal settled on the couch, wondering why Neal has to be so damn stubborn. He sits down next to him. "And how much did you overhear?"
"Some, mostly about the anklet, though I'm not sure I care considering I doubt I could walk a full block." said Neal, sounding a little sad. "What did Hughes think?"
"Since we're doing the honest thing, Hughes wanted you in Witness Protection." said Peter. He spies the annoyed look on Neal's face. "Yeah, I knew you wouldn't want it either and really with Keetes background, likely all three of us would need to go at least. And I really want to catch this guy."
"I have to ask, how much more time off are the marshals going to give me before they want me in lock-up." said Neal, looking Peter straight in the eyes. "I'm not an idiot, I know the deal only works if I'm actually working and I haven't in almost three weeks."
"You're right. Hughes has pushed for more time and we have another week until he has to show you are at least doing something...and admittedly I'm almost out of vacation time, though Hughes would overlook that." said Peter. "Though the plan is for Diana or Jones to drop off cases for us to both work on from home and collect them each morning. Hughes was able to calm them down with that, though I doubt they are fully happy. Are you up to working on cases again? I know you hate desk duty, which this essentially is, but you have to admit my house is nicer than your desk at work." He had to admit he worried about putting his partner back to work again, but Neal had been helping with some cold cases Peter had collected for busy work for himself.
"I am not the type to enjoy daytime TV forever and I've done enough reading and sketching lately to fill a gallery." said Neal. "I'd be ready to start on cases immediately...or at least tomorrow. I would rather be useful than lie in bed, Peter, and you know that."
Peter gives Neal a long look before agreeing. "Okay, I'll let Hughes know. We might as well enjoy the weekend first however." said Peter. "What's just two more days at this point?" He gives Neal a pat on the shoulder and flips on the TV, still worried about Neal being pushed back into work.
"I made some sandwiches. It's about lunchtime and figured you two were probably hungry." said El, handing each man a plate. All three sit and eat their lunch, both Burke's worrying about Neal and Neal lost in thought about everything Peter had said. He ends up drifting off on the couch after lunch.