I do not own White Collar or Leverage.

Neal POV

Neal Caffery was wondering what was going on in New York City this week. First, Sara Ellis had "died" in an explosion (he had been a thief for too long to believe that a person was dead until the body was seen and tested to the moon to believe that they had really died). Then, he was visiting a museum (to actually see an exhibit, not case it, though some things were cataloged anyway), and swore that he saw Parker. He could not believe that she was in New York City, but before he could approach her to catch up, she was gone. What was going to happen next?

Neal had met Parker about ten years ago in the Louvre. They had both gone there with the plan to steal a few of the less popular pieces. Neal had some forgeries to replace them with, and Parker was just going to take them, along with a famous one for money. They had ended up chatting for hours before they had to go or risk being caught (of course they had not left empty-handed, each taking quite the haul). They had met up several times since then and it was always a blast to catch up and exchange stories (about themselves and rumors they had heard).

Neal quickly picked up some subs for himself and the rest of his team, and then headed back to the office, trying to put thoughts of Parker out of his mind. He needed to have his head in the game. He couldn't help but think that Parker was in some way connected but this was nothing like her normal MO. What was she doing in New York City right now?

Neal walked up to Peter's office, where he was talking to Diana. By the look on his face, she was not giving him the news that he wanted to hear. I knocked on the doorframe and Peter and Diana looked up. I held up the bag of subs and they gathered their things. Peter locked some things in his desk and brought others to the conference room where Jones was waiting.

The subs were distributed and everyone took a few bites before Jones started to speak, "So, I talked to the police detective in charge of the case, and he said that the FBI could handle the case as it was someone on our team that was taken out. I talked to Hughs briefly and he said it was not a conflict of interest so the case is a go and we can work on it until it goes cold." As much as I hated that Sara was not present any longer, I couldn't help but be happy. No mortgage fraud cases for the next few days. At least it was an interesting case.

Diana spoke up next, "I called a police detective that has had contact with Jimmy Black in the past. He said that he took out the Marcus brothers and that he thought that another detective may have called him in. The detective that I spoke to could not find any online records of the case even though he remembered a bunch of it. There must be a hacker involved, Boss."

Peter nodded in agreement, and then spoke, "So the Japanese bara bonds, Jimmy Black, and the murder of Sara Ellis are all connected, is there anything else that could be connected to the case?"

The others shook their head but there had been something else that had been bugging Neal. It was the feel of the city. It had shifted slightly, but he wasn't sure if it was good or bad. He quickly tried to put it to words for the benefit of the others, "Something has gotten the criminal underground pretty riled up. Some team or something that is the biggest and baddest of Boston has come here and I have no idea why. I have seen some odd people around, and I heard rumors of some others going into hiding. It is a mess."

Peter POV

Peter blinked, having been slightly sarcastic when he asked if there was anything else that could possibly be connected to this case. They did not need another criminal group coming in here and making a mess of the case. There was too much on the line. Sara may not have been his best friend but she was a good person and riled Neal up like nothing else. It was quite funny to watch his reaction to seeing her.

Peter spoke slowly, unsure if he actually wanted the answer or not to the question he was asking, "Did the rumors mention anyone by name, or were they vague due to fear?" Some criminals were so scared of others, they were never referred to by names. He hoped this wasn't the case and he would have something concrete to go on as nicknames were not always the best starting place and sometimes each person called them something different.

Neal was silent for a moment as if he was running the rumors through his head in order to see if there was anything concrete present in them. He then spoke, "no one is mentioned by name but some of them mention something about leverage?" he says almost questioning if he had heard them correctly.

"What does leverage have to do with criminals? Are they leveraging people out of their homes? Are they leveraging money out of accounts? The theories are endless," Jones said, proving that the one clue that they had was in no way concrete as it could be used in many different connotations.

Peter spoke frustratedly, becoming slightly more excited as he spoke, "well it is the only lead on this group. Let's put them aside and look at the crime scene to see if there is any chance that Sara could have survived and is in hiding. After all, there was no body found, not even a badly charred one." On that note, everyone finished their lunches and pulled the case files toward them, eager to look at the evidence found at the scene of Sara Ellis' house.

AN: Hey guys! I had some inspiration and wrote another chapter. It was a bit of a filler but allows people to become suspicious of the narrative in play and show that the leverage team makes small waves wherever they go. It will be interesting to see some of each team interact in the future as we may see a reprisal and Parker and Hardison's FBI identity. Keep the comments and suggestions coming. I enjoy every one of them. ~Jenn008

AN2: Minor edits were made. A new chapter is looking more and more likely. ~Jenn008