This is a shorter update than typical – couldn't make my way through editing more! I apologize but maybe that's for the better!

Chapter 6

Diana was waiting outside of the conference room, looking just slightly impatient as she observed Neal and Peter's approach. She had her arms crossed over her chest, a folder tucked against her side.

"I thought you said to meet at nine," she told Peter with a look that was an equal mix of question and curiosity as they came within earshot. Her voice held just the slightest hint of accusation. "Did I mishear you?"

"No, you didn't…" Peter acknowledged as they reached her side. He gave her an apologetic look. "My fault. Busy morning."

"I bet…" she replied a little inquisitively as she glanced between her boss and his CI.

"For the record, I reminded him more than once of the time," Neal offered her earnestly with a brief shrug. She simply rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head with clear skepticism.

"Sure you did," she said sarcastically.

"Okay, okay… We're three minutes past the hour," Peter responded patiently with an appeasing tone as he looked between the two of them. "You," he said to Neal with a pointed look, "do me a favor and drop the 'for the record' act when you're full of crap." As Neal feigned confusion at the claim, Peter then turned his attention to Diana. "You all set? Everyone in there already?"

"Yes," she affirmed. "We're ready to go. I just thought you and I would have a chance to catch-up before we got started..."

Peter nodded, glancing once more at his wristwatch. "I know," he replied with a sigh. "Sorry about that." Looking thoughtful for a moment, he turned his head towards Neal, who remained at his side. Then he said, "Go ahead in, Neal. Give me a minute with Diana. We'll be right there."

Neal's eyes shifted from his handler to Diana slowly, expression not changing aside from briefly pressing his lips together. Then without comment he nodded and moved to walk away from them into the conference room a few feet away. Peter's eyes followed his movement, and then he also stepped closer to the doorway to briefly scan the room. There were about eight other agents already seated and chatting amongst themselves while waiting.

He quickly tallied the attendance before turning his full attention to Diana.

"Two minutes," he told her. "What's up?"

"So…" she began. "I heard you had an interesting night with him." She spoke now without hiding her inquisitiveness, smiling slightly. She raised her eyebrows at him. "Want to share?"

Peter paused, digesting the question and assessing her demeanor. "With Neal?" He watched her nod as her expression also become slightly more interested. "Alright," he continued slowly. "I see. I'm assuming Jones mentioned something? You don't have to rat him out, but I suspect it was him…" As Diana said nothing but continued to observe him with a slightly wider smile, Peter said, "Well, it was nothing. Just a mix-up on the anklet."

"Mix-up," she repeated slowly. She tilted her head. "With the anklet? Doesn't sound like nothing. Didn't you tell him the second that anklet indicated anything, even a different shade of green, that he'd be back behind bars?"

"I may have said that," Peter started, "but now we've both learned that there are actually some technicalities…"

"Technicalities?" she repeated. "Really? You sound like him."

As Diana raised her eyebrows, he gave her a look. "Diana. It's fine…" he replied. "Whatever Jones might have implied, Neal didn't actually do anything. You know he wouldn't even be here if he had."

"That's probably true. But either way…" Diana said slowly, "I've never seen you make so many house calls before, Boss. Isn't it a little… distracting?"

Distracting. That was a word for it. Peter simply offered a patient smile. "What can I say…? He's just…" he slowly trailed off and then paused before continuing the thought. He shook his head. "Look. We're off topic. This isn't what you wanted to talk about, is it?"

"It is."

He exhaled a slightly exasperated breath. He rolled his eyes at her. "Diana. Really?"

"What?" she retorted, chuckling. "Boss, you've been unnaturally preoccupied with stuff like this since he's been working for you, and I just–"

"Enough," he cut her off, though his voice remained composed and gentle. "I'm not preoccupied." He knew his agents were increasingly curious about Neal and his interactions with him. He also knew he'd feel the same way if he were observing it from an outside perspective himself. "If something about him concerns you, I'll be sure to let you know. Until then, you do what you're doing and ignore the rumor mill." He paused. "Unless you actually know of something he's doing that I should know about."

"Got it," Diana responded with a smile. "And so far he's actually generally kept his nose clean."

"Just remember with him that 'generally' isn't good enough," Peter remarked wryly. "By the time there's a hint of something, he could be in possession of the crowned jewels." He then made a face. "Do not tell him I said that."

"You mean, don't tell him you don't trust him?" Diana smirked.

"I do trust him," Peter replied automatically, a little defensively. As Diana studied him, he said, "I wouldn't have considered this deal if there was no trust there."

She sighed. "Right. Well, I'll certainly let you know if I hear of anything," she affirmed.

Peter nodded. "Thanks. You can tell Jones to mind his own business too." He then nodded his head towards the room. "Getting back on topic – You want to take them through it? Anything you want to run by me first?"

She paused and then let out a deep breath, dropping her arms to her side. "If you got my messages, then you're relatively up to speed." She gestured to the folder in her hand. "It's all in here plus what we talked about yesterday."

"Good," he responded. "You take the lead then."

Neal felt eyes on him as soon as he left Peter and Diana's company to enter the conference room on his own. While he wished to have a way to avoid it, he also felt a sinking feeling of dread at the same time. He didn't want to say it took courage to walk in alone, because he didn't need courage. Certainly not for simply walking into a room. Courage was for things much bigger then this. Courage was for things that got the adrenaline pumping. This wasn't that. But this also wasn't an ideal scenario either. As much as he hated to admit it, he had been hoping to enter the room with them, and not alone. And that was an odd concept to admit to himself, because everything he did was usually alone, even when he was physically with other people. This time, he realized that while heading towards the conference room with Peter, he had been expecting to appear 'with' them, which in itself was … what? Comforting? Distracting? A sure sign of weakness?

Being 'with' Peter had actually been a benefit in his experience so far. He had to admit that. The other agents acted differently when Peter was there.

He then told himself, briefly playing his own devil's advocate, that maybe it was better not to have the constant association. He didn't have to always be with Peter. In fact, while being with Peter ensured other agents treated him a certain way, he was also certain at the same time that it was that association with Peter that earned him some of the issues with other agents.

It didn't matter now, because this time there was no point to weigh which option was better. He had no choice. He would be entering the lion's den on his own.

In the room were just over a handful of agents, and he recognized a few of them from the crime scene a couple days ago. That last interaction wasn't one of his finer moments. It could have been, but Peter undermining his instinct and incessantly lecturing him had somewhat altered the originally envisioned outcome of his effort. He still felt a small sense of irritation, and embarrassment, at the recent memory.

He'd encountered a mixed spectrum of interactions and experiences with the agents he'd been introduced to at the Bureau thus far. He learned early on that introducing himself was somewhat pointless. They knew who he was. He had no options of identities here. Most knew exactly who he was and what his role was. It was evident immediately that there were a variety of opinions on CIs, and Neal wasn't sure whether that was typical, taught at the academy, or maybe was related to specific experiences. He didn't know who to ask to find out. He had asked Mozzie, but that had resulted in a long tirade about not trusting any of them, rather than a real answer.

As he moved further into the room, where most occupants seemed caught up in their own side discussions, he noticed two of the agents exchange a few whispered words and then a chuckle, eyes seemingly fixated to him.

He had no issues with blatantly making eye contact with both of those agents as he crossed the room, though he did nothing else to respond. The direct eye contact seemed to make at least one of them feel uncomfortable and they quickly looked away. The other seemed to take a moment before simply rolling their eyes but then also lowering their gaze.

Neal reminded himself that the words and chuckle could easily have nothing to do with him. Looking at him during their exchange could have simply been coincidence. He had just walked into the room, after all. The association could just be in his mind, falsely correlating the eye contact with some other ulterior motive and commentary.

Ignoring them, he approached the first empty chair he could see, just a couple feet away. He focused on that chair, but then paused when the agent sitting beside it suddenly put his arm across it, blocking his access.

"Not today," the man said, looking up with a small smirk. "Sorry, man, but I don't feel like being pickpocketed at the moment."

A few other agents laughed.

Neal ignored the quip, giving a tight smile, and moved a chair past him, silently pulling it out from the table and settling into the piece of furniture without giving in to any emotion. He wanted to respond but knew it wasn't wise. Besides, he was far too used to the comments at this point, especially ones like these. They were exactly what happened when Peter wasn't in the room with him.

Tell me if anyone gives you a hard time, Peter had told him a couple times at some point during one of his first days. Neal had digested the comment and thought about it occasionally. He wasn't sure what constituted a 'hard time.' Probably not words.

He didn't have long to think about it this time.

"Alright," came the familiar voice of his handler from the doorway. Peter walked in with Diana just behind him, and they stayed at the front of the room, the audience of agents seated at the table ahead of them now turning to their attention. Peter continued to speak. "Thanks everyone for coming together on short notice this morning. I apologize that we're starting a few minutes later than planned, but I think once Diana gives you all the background, you'll understand it's been a quick turnaround in the last twenty-four hours, and we have a lot ahead of us to take these guys down."

Quick turnaround in the last twenty-four hours? Neal focused on that statement. The last twenty-four hours replayed themselves in his mind. In his own personal experience, those hours had little to nothing to do with the case. Especially the last twelve. He resisted a frown as he tried to focus on Diana, who now started to speak.

"As most of you know," she began, "a couple days ago we were able to apprehend a key suspect in the forgeries case that we've had open for the last couple of months. This was a critical takedown for us after a lot of work tracking him down, and a number of you were involved in both his identification and apprehension."

"To be fair, in the end he made it pretty easy," one agent responded with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah, that guy got sloppy," commented another one of the agents towards the front of the room. "He had a good start but a messy ending."

"Tends to happen after you chase someone long enough," Peter replied.

Neal happened to catch Peter's eye at the moment he made the comment, and narrowed his eyes slightly. Peter gave him a quick smirk that was barely detectable as he turned back to Diana. "Now that we have him in custody is where things are getting interesting…" Peter stated to the room.

"Exactly," Diana agreed. "This guy now seems willing to do anything to avoid personally being held culpable, and as a result, he's talking. A lot. He's giving us names, account numbers, addresses, you name it. He's one of the most open suspects we've ever had." She paused. "A few of you have been involved in verifying this information." She made eye contact with a few of the agents sitting in front of her. "However… Some of this verification is going to require us to actually go to some of these properties in person."

Neal sat up a little straighter in his chair. Here we go. The details seemed to correlate to the vague reference Peter had made regarding a trip outside of the city.

Diana walked a few feet over as she spoke. "Now, this is where we'll need some help. The properties happen to be spread out geographically, though most are in the tri-state area. We need to quickly assess them. We're prioritizing the review by the emphasis he put on the locations. Like I said, he's being pretty open. Some of the locations are weekend residences, and some of them are commercial. There are about twenty locations in total."

"Twenty?" echoed a female agent. "What are these guys – real estate junkies?"

"The properties are all in different names," Diana continued. "While there's clearly a connection, we're not exactly sure what. Or what's located at each place."

"What if he made up the addresses?" another agent asked.

"Always possible," Diana commented. "But some are definitely legit and something might be there. That's where we come in. I'll circulate the full list with all of the details we know after this meeting. Regarding the owners or tenants of the properties, some of the names are known aliases of the guys in the ring we've been investigating. A few of the addresses were already on our list. Some of the names are new. They are likely aliases as well, but names that weren't previously on our radar. We're obviously doing background checks on those new names now. A few of the owners are corporations. We're trying to find out what we can about those."

"So how do we check these locations out?" another agent asked.

"Exactly," Diana began. "Like I said, this is where we need some help. We'll need to divide the properties and do a recon over the next few days. And we need to move fast. If anyone gets a tip that we're onto these undisclosed locations, then they can quickly eradicate records and any other evidence that could be within those walls. We can't have that happen."

"We've divided up the locations," Peter chimed in, glancing around the room. "As Diana mentioned, most are in the tri-state area, but a couple are not. If there are any travel restrictions or commitments you have over the next few days that require you to be in the city, then tell me now. We need all of your support on this in order to be successful."

"You say a few days…" began one of the agents next to Neal. "How many days exactly? I have a wedding I need to attend this weekend."

"We hope to be done by the end of the weekend," Peter replied. "But we'll try to assign you one of the closer locations." He looked across the expressions of the other agents. "If anyone else has a similar situation like that, let Diana or me know. We can't make many exceptions, but we'll do our best."

"What about him?" the agent directly across from Neal asked, nodding his head towards him. As Neal looked up and made eye contact, the man added, "Why is he here? How can he help with a one mile radius?"

"It's two miles," Neal retorted, glaring across the table. He then felt foolish to even make the correction. He felt heat rise in his face. Out loud the comment sounded childish and it reinforced the lack of autonomy he continued to feel.

"Ooh, two miles," the same agent responded back with a cocky smirk. It was clear the response simply offered more fodder for sarcasm. "My mistake, Caffrey. What is that, like twenty blocks?"

Neal narrowed his eyes, feeling an angry rise of emotion inside him that he knew he had to curtail. He skillfully pushed that aside and instead smiled good-naturedly. He pulsated with annoyance but exuded suave confidence with ease. "It's sixteen to twenty-four depending on the neighborhood," he responded factually, tone smooth and without pause. "But your wife would know that."

A few of the other agents started to laugh at the insinuation in Neal's few words, while the instigating agent suddenly looked livid.

"Enough," Peter interjected before any other comments could be exchanged. He shot Neal a warning look before also sending a discouraging headshake to the other agent. "Given the limited amount of time we have here, I'd focus on your own assignments and not the technicalities of other people's work releases."

Neal breathed out a silent but exasperated breath.

"So when can we see our assignments?" asked a female agent.

"I have them right here." Diana smiled and raised the folder in her hand that had been tucked under her arm. She then turned her head towards the agent that had raised concern over weekend commitments. "John, we may need to swap you with someone depending on where you landed... Can't remember offhand."

"Sure, no problem," John replied, shrugging. "Thanks."

With that she moved closer to the table and dropped the folder on it. She flipped it open and started to pull a page at a time and hand them out. "Alright… Here we go…. This one's Chris." She handed the paper to the third agent from her. "Tom." That paper went across the table. "Patty."

Neal watched all the papers get distributed, names methodically read out loud. Slowly emptying the folder, Diana moving around the room to those that were out of her reach.

"Some of you are lucky enough to have more than one assignment," Peter spoke as she continued to hand out the papers. "That's based on the geography and what we felt made sense."

"On the back of the assignments," Diana continued, handing out the final piece of paper to a woman at the front of the table, "is a checklist. This is the type of information we need you to collect. There are questions to be answered by anyone that is present at the properties. Be detailed. Take notes and photos. For some of the locations, we're in the process of securing warrants. For example, a couple of you have storage lockers. You'll have to request the key or code, and the warrant will expedite this."

Empty-handed and still feeling a little annoyed from the recent exchange, Neal watched the other agents eagerly reviewing their assignments. He remained quiet and folded his hands on the table in front of him.

"West Virginia?" one of the agents spoke up with a groan. "Seriously?"

Diana chuckled. "Hey, it's actually a beautiful state if you give it a chance…" she responded. "Like I said, not all of the locations are in the tri-state area."

"Well lucky me…" he muttered.

"Hey, at least you didn't get Newark," replied another man. "I thought for a minute I'd see some greener pastures as a result of this at least."

"Reserve your opinions of these cities for TripAdvisor, guys. Focus. Review your locations, and work with Diana to coordinate travel," Peter spoke, dismissing the lighthearted commentary. "We need to move forward first thing tomorrow morning. Like we said, time is of the essence here. We'll have one more debrief later today. Until then, prepare yourselves and let us know if you have any questions." He looked around the room once more and then said, "None? Okay. Otherwise you're all dismissed. Please be back in this room at four p.m. this afternoon."

With that there were a series of chairs pushed back with the creaks and groans of furniture, as well as murmuring voices as the agents made an effort to disband. There was rustled movement around the room as agents briefly compared notes on where they would be headed the next day before ultimately moving towards the door to exit into the hall outside.

Neal stayed seated and carefully watched the other agents leave the room. He made mental notes on their interactions, particularly on who seemed to gravitate to whom. Meanwhile, Diana closed the now empty folder and picked it up from the table.

"I didn't get an assignment." Neal spoke once the only other remaining people in the room were Diana and Peter. "Was that intentional?"

"Yes. You don't get your own. Your assignment is my assignment," Peter replied.

"But you didn't get an assignment," Neal replied, nodding at Peter's empty hands.

Peter smiled at him. "Sure, I did. We got the best one."

"I made sure of that," Diana affirmed with a chuckle. "Can't send my boss to West Virginia or Newark, after all."

"So the alternative is… what?" Neal asked skeptically. He wanted to feel enthusiastic towards the developing case but after the brief meeting there weren't enough details yet. He glanced at Diana after her statement, but she offered no clues.

"You'll see. Let's talk in my office," Peter responded, gesturing to him to stand.

Frowning slightly, Neal rose from his chair and slowly moved around the table to close the distance between him and the pair. His ankle felt stiff as he walked. "You're being mysterious," he accused them both. He could tell Peter enjoyed withholding the information. Perhaps that was a power play. Knowledge was power. He was about to make another comment, but as he neared the man, Peter reached out and took him firmly by the shoulder with his right hand.

"And, Neal?" the older man began.

"Yeah?" Neal looked at his handler with raised eyebrows, a little surprised by his physical hold. He glanced down at the hand, which was gentle but firm.

"No wife jokes, okay?" Peter replied, now squeezing his shoulder. "I told you before. Don't let them get to you."

"No one got to me," Neal objected, a little defensively.

"Don't."

"They didn't. Besides, it was barely a wife joke," Neal responded. "I don't think half of them even got it." He shrugged off Peter's hold, and the hand lifted and then dropped to Peter's side. Neal continued, "I took a guess he was even married. He wasn't even wearing a ring."

"Well, he is. Married with kids." Peter shook his head. "I'm going to tell you again. Ignore the jokes."

Ignore the jokes, Neal repeated in his head. The jokes drove him crazy. Especially the ones that happened when Peter wasn't in the room. Those always dug harder. Or when conversations were cut short simply because he entered a room or neared the water cooler. Peter didn't know the extent of the jokes and affronts he put up with, never mind in detail. But Neal stiffened his jaw and simply nodded. "No wife jokes," he repeated. "Got it."

"How about no any jokes," Peter replied, eyeing him steadily. "Not with them. It's not worth it. Having you around is still a new concept to some of them. They'll move onto something else soon enough. Prove you can contribute, and you won't have to worry about it."

"So… That means nothing like this." Neal raised his hand.

Peter's eyes moved to the hand, observing the wallet Neal had in his grip. He sighed resolutely and worked his jaw. "I'm guessing that's not yours," he said a little stiffly.

"No," Neal agreed. He smirked. "Mine? Peter… C'mon. The quality of this leather is horrible."

Peter looked frustrated. "Didn't I just say to prove you can contribute?"

Diana meanwhile looked impressed. "Hey, how'd you do that, Neal? You didn't even get up," she said, shaking her head slightly in disbelief.

Neal shrugged. "He walked by me, and—" He stopped when Peter abruptly took the wallet from his hand. "Hey," he objected, empty hand still raised.

"Hey?" Peter echoed. "What – you want it back? It's not yours." Peter shook his head. "You know, Neal. They might lay off you a little bit it you didn't prove them right."

"Prove them right?" Neal asked.

"Think about it," Peter replied, a little tersely. "You think behaving like a criminal is going to get you points around here?"

"I didn't know there was a point system here," Neal said, tone facetious but expression nonchalant.

A look of irritation crossed Peter's face at the response. "Neal, you think it's funny?"

Neal shrugged. Peter sounded and looked annoyed. He also appeared to be waiting for an answer, which caught Neal slightly by surprise. He tried to keep the discussion lighthearted. "That sounds like a rhetorical question, Peter."

"Well, it's actually not," Peter responded dryly. "Try playing by the rules for a full twenty-four hours for once, Neal."

Before Neal could respond, Diana chimed in. "Well, in my mind, it's harmless and Brian deserves it," she commented, exchanging a look with both men. As Peter sent her a discouraging frown, she gave a shrug and continued. "The guy's an asshole, Peter. Even you know that. It's a harmless prank."

"The guy's a good agent," Peter replied.

"Doesn't change the fact about his personality," she replied.

"Pickpocketing," Peter answered, raising the wallet in his hand emphatically, "is illegal. Don't encourage him."

Diana sighed and reached to take the raised wallet from her superior. "I will do the honors of returning it," she told him. She then turned and gave Neal a wink. "I'll tell him he dropped it." She then commented more sternly, "But don't do it again." She turned back to Peter. "See? Not encouraging."

Peter simply shook his head, and remained silent as Diana moved away from them to leave the room.

"I like Diana," Neal told his handler, smiling.

"You can't do that, Neal," Peter replied with a sigh. "It's not okay. Selective misdemeanors are still misdemeanors."

"Fine," Neal acknowledged, a little dismissively but dropping the smile. There were some things Peter didn't take kindly to joking about. Breaking the law, even barely, was one of them. Before showing the pair the wallet, he had reconsidered, hesitating whether to admit to the act, but then had been unable to hold back. It had been an achievement to take the wallet so quickly undetected. Now he wished he'd kept it to himself. "I get it. I'm sorry. Let's talk about the case."

"The case," Peter replied, tone a little cautious. "Are you going to be like this on the case?"

"Be like what?" Neal asked, a little warily. He studied Peter's expression and then said, "How about this –I'll ask you first before I take anyone's wallet."

"Neal…" Peter's eyes judged him, tone forewarning.

"What?" Neal responded defensively. "Peter… Come on. You're going to regret giving me a hard time about this when you actually need me to do it…"

"Come on?" Peter just sighed. "I doubt that I'll actually need you to do it, Neal."

Neal simply stared back at him, brow just slightly furrowed.

"Just think a few steps ahead, Neal," Peter told him.

"I always do."

"Keep me in mind."

Neal made a face. That was an interesting nuance.

Peter continued to study him and then quickly decided to drop the current topic. "Okay, enough of that. Do you want to talk about the case or not?"

"Yes," Neal affirmed. "I do."

"Good. Follow me." Peter started to walk towards the door and Neal followed. "We actually have a couple locations we need to check out…"

We, Neal echoed in his mind. 'We' was a good thing.

"Two things first though," Peter continued.

Contingencies, Neal's mind processed. Contingencies were never good. "Like what?" he asked, masking his apprehension.

"Well, neither of us had coffee this morning," Peter began. "So you can start with that."

"Meaning what? I'm not your butler," Neal replied.

Peter laughed out loud at the comment. "Butler. No… No, you're not…" he said. "Intern?" Peter offered, turning to glance at Neal as he walked, taking in the younger man's expression of disdain and uneasiness. "Either way. I know you want it – you can get me one while you're at it."

"Fine," Neal allowed somewhat begrudgingly. "And? You said two things."

"Oh yeah. The second is the anklet, Neal. If Mozzie doesn't deliver, then you can consider your assignment pending."

"Pending."

"Let's avoid having to define that, okay?"

"Okay." Neal sighed.