NOTE: I'm still really enjoying writing this, thank you all for following along in this increasingly long journey! Hugs!


Chapter Seventy-eight

"Nobody move…nobody breathe…"

With a look of pure deliberation Neal poured all of his concentration into the task at hand. This was his tenth attempt and it was the first time he'd even come close to succeeding. Taking a deep breath and holding it Neal fought to steady the quivering tremors in his hands that were main cause of his repeated failure. Sitting on the edge of the bed with his arm over Elizabeth's shoulders Peter watched with all the attention of a viewing the last seconds of a close sports game. Lounging on the couch Mozzie watched with a doubtful expression having already voiced his concern about Neal's strategy on several occasions. However with victory a heartbeat away a palpable silence had fallen over the room.

Unable to stand the tension that had suddenly thickened the air Satchmo got to his padded feet. Peter tried to catch the dog's collar but the Labrador was too quick. With all of his focus on his hands Neal didn't even notice the predator approach. Like Godzilla destroying Tokyo Satchmo nosed the delicately arranged house of cards Neal was building on the floor and toppled it before Neal could place the final card on the roof.

"Oh, bad dog, Satchmo!" Neal laughed.

Wagging his tail at the attention Satchmo stepped on the pile of cards littering the floor as he pressed his head against Neal's chest in an open invitation for him to scratch behind his ears. Dropping the last card Neal laughed again and ruffled the fur around Satchmo's neck. Peter smiled at hearing Neal truly laugh without any of the anxiety or sorrow that had infected any minor chuckling he had done over the past few months. Also pleased to be getting a positive response out of Neal Satchmo pushed harder against him and nearly succeeded in tipping him over as well. Getting to his feet Peter came over and mock rescued Neal from his dog.

"Easy there, Satchmo, Neal doesn't weigh much more than you do these days."

"I do feel like I wouldn't have a chance against a stiff breeze anymore."

"You could barely take one on before all this." Peter chuckled mockingly.

"You both need to eat more." Mozzie pointed out.

"I agree." Elizabeth nodded.

"Ugh." Neal stuck his tongue out. "I don't think I can stomach much more hospital food."

"I am getting a little tired of unsalted chicken broth." Peter agreed.

"And that paste that they keep trying to pass off as mashed potatoes." Neal wrinkled his nose.

"Knock, knock." Dr Azarov called from just out side the door.

Peter looked to Neal hoping he would invite the doctor inside and was pleased when Neal didn't hesitate to do so. Helping them with seeing the sky had gone a long way to getting Neal to trust the doctor since she had proved herself as a fellow rule breaker.

"I have good news for you both." Azarov smiled. "If you two are comfortable with it we can let you go home tomorrow."

"I'm comfortable with it." Neal answered instantly.

"There would be a few conditions to your discharge." Azarov added in a practiced paternal voice.

"A conditional release," Mozzie smiled "you're used to that Neal."

"I am and I'm ready to agree to just about anything at this point."

Azarov laid out the conditions of both of them continuing with their antibiotics, setting up follow up appointments, sticking to a diet plan, and above all agreeing to return to the ER at the first hint of a fever or increased pain. Peter felt strong enough to be leaving but he worried about Neal considering he'd only really accepted medical attention for twenty-four hours.

"Agent Burke?" Azarov asked concerned. "Are you okay with all this? I don't want you feeling like we are kicking you out. If you feel you need more time under observation or even if you'd rather go to a rehab instead of directly home I can make either option happen."

"I am *not* under any circumstances going to a rehab." Neal said firmly. "Peter, please, it's time to go home."

"I agree." Peter gave in not wanting to start another fight.

"I will get everything ready." Azarov said.

"I need to get the house ready." Elizabeth said as she looked down at Satchmo. "There's still bits of couch everywhere, and there's almost nothing to eat in the fridge."

"I have a handout for you on how to best feed these two over the next few months." Azarov assured. "Recovering from starvation is no easy task and too much too soon can be dangerous."

"I'll help you get everything set up." Mozzie volunteered. "Neal, I'll swing by your place as well."

"Thank you."

Elizabeth looked to Peter as if she expected him to say something when Mozzie mentioned Neal's apartment but he just smiled at her reassuringly. Elizabeth smiled understandingly before giving him a kiss and taking Mozzie up on his offer for help. Elizabeth and Mozzie took Satchmo with them and although he was reluctant to leave at first he perked up at the prospect of a walk. With everyone else gone Peter turned his attention to Neal who was still sitting on the floor among the scattered cards. Neal was improving but there were still a lot of little things that still worried Peter like the fact that Neal still made himself comfortable on the floor rather than on the furniture.

"It's going to be a long night," Neal chuckled "I can't wait to get out of here."

"About that…"

"Peter?" Neal asked nervously.

"Neal, I think you should come home with Elizabeth and I."

"What?"

"Not forever, but just at first. Please."

"I think you might want to run this by Elizabeth first." Neal deflected.

"I have."

"Peter, thank you, really, but I'll be okay. I promise."

"It's not just you, Neal, I'd feel better if you were with us. I don't want you to be alone if you start to hallucinate again."

"I haven't hallucinated in like...twelve hours. That's not very impressive is it?"

"No, and it's been closer to nine hours."

"How about we meet in the middle on this? I'll have Mozzie stay with me."

Peter was trying to decide if Neal's idea was an acceptable compromise or not when Agent Walsh announced himself at the door. Seizing the opportunity to take Peter's indecision as an answer in his favor Neal told Walsh he could join them. Walsh stepped into the room with a thick file folder in his hands with a color coding on it that turned Peter's stomach as he instantly recognized as a kidnapping case. Walsh glanced around the room before furrowing his brow at finding Neal sitting on the floor surrounded in playing cards. Peter stepped closer and offered his hand to Neal to help him up.

"Do you need me to leave?" Neal asked Walsh once he was on his feet.

"No, actually I came here to ask you a favor."

"What do you need?"

"I need another drawing of Jake, on that doesn't look so…psychotic."

"I can do that, but I won't look as much like him." Neal said only half jokingly.

"Why would you need that?" Peter asked suspiciously. "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry, Agent, I can't tell you."

"I understand." Peter nodded. "Neal, do you mind doing the drawing?"

"I can do it. I just need…" Neal stopped when Walsh pulled a few sheets of paper out of the file in his hands along with a pen from his pocket. "Thank you. Give me a few minutes."

"Take your time. I need it basically expressionless."

"I'll try."

Neal took the pages and sat down on the floor again so that he'd have a flat surface to work on. While Neal recreated his previous drawing of Jake without the aggressive expression Peter looked at Walsh expectantly. There was only one reason that the Agent would need a more neutral expression drawing. Walsh looked at Peter and nodded slightly before opening the file and casually flipping through it as if he was reading it himself. Since Peter wasn't a currently instated Agent he couldn't be legally involved in the new case file and Agent Walsh couldn't directly share any information about it with him. However when Walsh turned to the victim's photo Peter put all the pieces into place. Peter looked sharply up at Walsh who nodded again. Peter sighed heavily, he hated being proven right about Jake.

Neal looked up from his half finished drawing at Peter in concern. Peter flashed him a somewhat unconvincing smile. Neal narrowed his eyes for a moment but didn't press Peter for an explanation and just went back to completing the drawing. The new image of Jake that Neal was working on still had a menacing glint in his dark eyes but it was far more like a conventional police drawing than the original.

Peter shifted his weight as his internal agitation started to manifest itself physically. Seeing that he had upset Peter Walsh flipped a few more pages until he came to a blank interview form and he smiled. Peter relaxed as he realized that they must have found Jake's latest victim alive and that Walsh's next move was to go interview him. He had feared that Walsh was just using the cover story of needing a new drawing of Jake to tell Peter about the lead but now he knew he also needed it to show the victim. It wouldn't be fair to show the young man in the file the snarling version of his attacker for him to identify.

Peter wanted to hold out hope that Jake wasn't responsible for the kidnapping but the fact that Walsh had been given the case and that victim looked so much like Neal told him it was likely Jake. His real concern was that now that Jake had somehow lost his Neal replacement that he was likely to go out and find another.

"Okay." Neal said as he got to his feet. "Best I can do."

"It's perfect, thank you Mr. Caffrey."

"Neal." Neal corrected.

"Thank you, Neal." Walsh said sincerely as he took the drawing and carefully added it to the file. "Peter, please tell your wife that her friend says hello and that she's being very helpful."

"Friend?"

"She'll know what it means."

"I'll tell her. Thank you, Alan."

Walsh smiled brightly and offered both men a quick nod of respect before heading back out. Left behind Peter couldn't help but wish that he was able to be a more active participate in the case. He hadn't really given any thought to if he'd return to being an Agent once he recovered but he found himself champing at the bit now so he hoped that was a good sign that he'd be ready again when the time came.

"Why do I get the feeling that Agent Walsh didn't really need that drawing?" Neal asked knowingly.

"He needed it." Peter assured.

"Yeah, but he could have had one of the FBI artists use my original to make a new one."

"Maybe he didn't think of it." Peter said evasively.

"Peter." Neal said in a warning tone.

"Okay." Peter sighed. "...Agent Walsh wanted me to know that they may have a lead on Jake."

"Really?" Neal asked hopefully. "Wait, why couldn't he talk to us about it? We're the main witnesses."

"Not in this case." Peter said sadly.

"Wha…oh no, Jake kidnapped someone didn't he? That's why they need the drawing, to see if any witnesses recognize him."

"It's for the victim to identify him, they found him."

"But not Jake."

"No."

As much as Peter appreciated Walsh coming to update him on the case he hated seeing the effect it was having on Neal. Beginning to panic at the thought of Jake still being out in the world and actively tormenting people Neal started struggling for breath. When Neal turned to seek out the corner of the room Peter reached out and stopped him. When Neal didn't prove stable enough to stay on his feet Peter backed him up to get him to sit on the small CCU couch to prevent him from sitting on the floor again. Sitting down next to him Peter put his arm over Neal's shoulders to help calm him. Neal swore under his heavy breath as he started shaking.

"Breathe, Neal."

"This is my fault."

"What? No, no. This is on Jake."

"But I could have prevented this, I had a chance to kill him. None of this would have ever happened."

"You're right, none of this ever would have happened." Peter said seriously. "We wouldn't be sitting here. I would never have seen Elizabeth again because we never would have escaped the Labyrinth if you'd killed Jake."

"Peter…"

"And even if we had you would have never forgiven yourself. You did the right thing."

"But he's still hurting people and we are the ones who let him out."

"That's still faulty logic, Neal."

"I know." Neal admitted with a sigh. "What are we going to do?"

"We are going to focus on the fact that we get to go home tomorrow."