Interestingly this was my first White Collar fanfic. Also I don't think I've said it before here but I'm always open to prompts. No guarantees but if you want to hmu (gen pls) I'm willing to hear them!
Diana supposed it wasn't the worst day she could have gone to work sick. No undercover work was planned or anything particularly strenuous. But a Thursday in the tiny van, with the aching pressure that sat in her sinuses, the sandpaper that was coating her throat, and the ache behind her eyes, was still extremely unappealing.
Well, such was the life of an FBI agent, she thought wryly as she splashed water on her face and downed some ibuprofen after a meager breakfast. She had survived Quantico, she would survive this.
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"Morning Diana!" Diana glowered at Neal who was far too cheerful in her opinion as they stepped into the elevator,
"Caffrey." She acknowledged. He raised his eyebrows,
"Whoa, you sound a bit rough."
"Thanks Caffrey, I didn't ask for your opinion." Her tone was curt and she knew it was unfair to take out her misery out on the CI, but she was past caring. Neal held the door for her as they stepped through the glass double doors into the office, both immediately receiving the double finger point from Peter.
She sat as far away from the fluorescent lights as possible in the conference room as Peter greeted them,
"Morning folks, things are gonna look a little different today than we had planned. I have an unexpected meeting all day with Hughes and some of the higher-ups and I put Jones on the Rackner case."
"Does this mean I get the day off then?" Neal flashed a grin. Peter shook his head,
"Sorry Neal, you're in the van with Diana today, since I moved Jones." Neal groaned dramatically,
"Can't I work Jones's case?" Peter narrowed his eyes,
"That was dangerously close to a whine Neal, do you need a juice box while I call mommy?"
Diana sighed, hopes of a quiet day in the van crumbled, but figured an appeal didn't hurt anything,
"Boss I'd rather be alone than have him squirming around all day. I'll be so distracted I won't catch anything." Neal seized on this, just as eager to get out of the task as Diana was to push him off,
"Yeah Peter, you know I squirm and Diana will be so distracted she won't catch anything." His eyes were opened innocently in an expression that had never once worked in Peter and wasn't ever going to. Peter gave his you'll-do-what-I-tell-you-to-do-Caffrey smile,
"Well this will be a wonderful learning opportunity for you, and help you leave your bad habits of squirming behind." Neal sulked,
"Are you seriously putting me in the van just to teach me patience?"
"No, I'm putting you in the van because two people is better than one, even when one of them's you, and teaching you patience is an added benefit. Cowboy up Caffrey and get to the van, I have things to do." Peter dismissed them.
Diana pulled herself out of the chair reluctantly, and walked through the office, trailed by a moping Neal.
"I'm well aware of the fact that the van is your personal hell Neal, but I will put you in cuffs if you're too annoying so grab some paper and get ready for a day of origami, don't even think about talking." The threat was not serious and both of them knew it, but it was a bit over the top all the same.
"Someone's in a good mood." Neal sulked, grabbing a pad of paper. Diana felt slightly guilty which did not combine well with her headache and she opened the door to the van with more force than necessary.
"Get in."
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Thankfully Neal had clearly gotten the message that Diana wasn't in the mood for any messing around, and, to his credit, he was doing his pretty well. He listened in on the FBI equipment while quietly folding Origami figures and Diana only had to swat his bouncing knee a few times and stomp on his foot twice.
Ironically, as the morning turned to afternoon, Diana was the one who began breaking the silence with an occasional cough or sneeze, something she was aware she would have yelled at Neal for doing. But the CI only looked up after about the third sniff and offered her a tissue.
The hours of staring at the screen and listening to static had taken its toll and the nasty headache from that morning had returned with a vengeance, settling behind her eyes and at the base of her head. She stifled a small whimper of pain as she dropped her head in her hands and pressed her fingers into her eyes. She could hear Neal lean over,
"You okay Diana?" His voice was gentle. She sat up determined not to let Neal see her being beaten by a small headache.
"I'm fine Caffrey." She punctuated the sentence with a cough and turned away, staring back at the monitor. Neal was not so easily put off,
"Christie might say otherwise."
"Yeah well, Christie's not here."
"I say otherwise then." He looked sympathetic and held out his hand, "may I?" She rolled her eyes,
"If you'll shut up." He gently felt her forehead with the back of his hand and frowned,
"You do feel a little warm." A sneeze overtook her before she could answer and then another one which painfully exacerbated her headache and she closed her eyes for a few moments. Neal was looking at her with concern as she opened them, "you really don't look good, Diana."
"Well I'm not trying to win a beauty contest here, not everyone can look like they just stepped off a magazine cover like you." She snapped, turning away from him sharply, annoyed with the fact that she had let herself seem vulnerable far more vulnerable than she was comfortable with and even more annoyed with herself that she cared what a criminal thought about her at all.
Her throat felt like sandpaper as she coughed and she reached for her water bottle. It was empty. "Great." She tossed it aside with a bit more force than necessary.
"Do you want mine?" Neal held out an unopened bottle
Diana turned on him, the pent up frustration and illness exploding on the nearest subject,
"Look, I'm not sure what type of con you're trying to pull with me Caffrey but buttering me up isn't gonna—" she stopped, seeing the genuine hurt that flickered across his face for an instant before immediately being hidden away. She had gone too far. The remark wasn't excused by her illness, and she had hurt him. She sighed, "I'm sorry Caffrey, that was uncalled for." He gave a slight nod in acknowledgment of her apology but turned away. Silence pervaded the van for a long moment before Neal asked quietly,
"Can I take a walk for a few minutes?" Diana nodded wearily,
"Yeah. Take 15."
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The quiet in the van was less pleasant than Diana had hoped it would be. Instead of enjoying the silence, she stared at the screen, not really paying attention to the stakeout but thinking about the momentary expression that had crossed Neal's face at her accusation.
What would it be like, she wondered, to always be assumed to have ulterior motives, even when your actions were genuinely sincere? He had chosen the path of a con, she knew that, but it no doubt was a lonely one. And maybe...maybe he was trying to leave it.
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The door opened seventeen minutes later and Neal came in, ladened with plastic bags.
"I thought you were going on a walk, not a shopping spree." She carefully made sure her words had no bite. The CI shrugged,
"The CVS was only a few blocks away." He opened the bag and pulled out several boxes, piling them on the counter. Ibuprofen, tissues, cough drops, and Sudafed, everything to help with her symptoms. He handed her a steaming cup of warm tea from a nearby coffee shop, placing a coffee aside for himself. She soaked up the warmth of the cup through her hands, shivering slightly and staring for a moment at the items she had been needing the whole day. She looked up,
"You didn't have to do this."
"I know."
"I'll pay you back tomorrow."
"No need." She looked down for a moment,
"Thank you, Neal."
"No problem." She picked up the bottle of ibuprofen almost hesitantly, but he stopped her with a quick gesture, "not a good idea to take that on an empty stomach." He pulled out a boxed sandwich, not fast food, but from the picturesque sandwich shop down the street, "Here. I hope you like Turkey." She gave a small laugh,
"Normally I do, but my sinuses are so plugged I probably couldn't tell turkey apart from, well, dog meat." Neal gave a slight wince,
"Yeahhhh, no, you definitely could. The textures are so different—" he broke off as she stared at him, "what?"
"You've actually tried dog?" Neal laughed,
"Yeah, Moz and I were...allegedly...pulling a job in China and had to get on the good side of a few people over dinner..."
"I'm guessing it's not your favorite dish from your reaction." He grimaced,
"Not by a long shot." Diana laughed,
"So how'd the dinner go?"
"Well I managed to keep it down until after we left, so quite successfully I'd say." He grinned and Diana laughed a bit hoarsely, picking up the sandwich and taking a bite before putting it back down, looking seriously at the CI.
"For what it's worth Neal, I really am sorry about what I said. You're a great part of our team and...a good friend. I know that not everything is a con." Neal responded with a teasing half-smile his true reaction to her words unreadable,
"Considering everything it was a fair accusation." Diana shook her head,
"No, it wasn't." The CI cocked his head slightly and his expression shifted imperceptibly,
"Maybe it was." He looked down, "I won't say that it didn't cross my mind that helping you wouldn't help me with something I may want later."
"But that wasn't why you did it."
"How do you know?"
The question seemed to be a challenge on the face of it, maybe a bit teasing, but Diana could see a genuine question in the CI's eyes along with something else. It struck her suddenly, Neal didn't know why he had done it. He didn't know why he was caring for her so kindly, he didn't know if everything he did was for a con or because he cared. He was asking Diana for help figuring it out.
"I know because you told me. If you wanted to con me you wouldn't point out that you wanted to con me."
"Unless I know that's the best way to con you." Diana laughed and Neal gave a wry smile, acknowledging the absurdity of the comment.
"You'll drive yourself crazy going in circles like that Caffrey, don't think about it too hard. If you care about the reason you're doing it, that's enough for me." She shivered slightly and wrapped her hands back around the tea, putting aside the empty sandwich box, "Now if you'll kindly hand me some of those drugs over there." He handed her the ibuprofen,
"Take a break Diana, I can watch for a while." She shook her head,
"It's fine Caffrey, the medicine should be enough to get me through."
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The next thing Diana knew, the door to the van was opening and she recognized Clinton Jones's voice quietly talking with Neal's. She opened her eyes in groggy confusion and sat up. A blanket, normally used for shock victims, had been scrounged up from some corner of the van and laid across her shoulders. Where her head had been resting on the desk was a neatly folded expensive suit jacket in place of a pillow.
She started slightly as someone placed a hand on her shoulder. Jones smiled,
"Hey Diana, I finished up the Rackner case so I came to take over."
"But-" Neal interrupted her protest,
"Peter says take an early weekend and don't bother coming in tomorrow." He smiled and gently helped her up and out of the van, "rest up Diana, we'll see you on Monday."
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Diana sat writing a case file the following Monday morning, blowing her nose occasionally, but feeling much better. She looked up as Neal passed her desk and morosely sat at his own, followed by Peter who stopped and dropped a thick file on her desk.
"What's wrong with him?" She questioned, gesturing, amused, at Neal. Peter looked over,
"Caffrey? He's just sulking because I told him I couldn't take him to see some new exhibit that's leaving the museum soon. It's outside his radius." He added unnecessarily. Diana looked up,
"Can he go if an agent takes him?"
"Sure," Peter shrugged, "if he can find someone. What, you wanna take him?" He laughed but Diana cocked her head
"Maybe. Could be fun."
"Didn't you see it when it opened?" Peter looked suspicious and Diana laughed,
"Yeah, yeah I did. But it was good, Peter. I want to see it again." Peter was skeptical,
"Sure..."
"Okay, and maybe I think it would be nice for Neal to have non-lawbreaking enjoyment." Peter rolled his eyes,
"You've got a point there. Well, you're certainly welcome to take him. Have fun, I personally don't think there's much to it..." he walked away, shaking his head.
Diana made her way over to Neal who quickly put down the rubber band ball he had been bouncing moodily and made a great show of being busy,
"Caffrey." He looked up and grinned,
"Hi Diana, I didn't notice you." She rolled her eyes,
"You heard the Plateau exhibit?" Neal shrugged,
"Eh, overrated." Diana's grinned,
"You wanna go see it with me?" He looked up,
"Seriously?"
"Yeah seriously."
"Didn't you see it with Christie?"
"I wanna see it again." He flashed her a classic Caffrey smile,
"Does 7 work?"