February

Peter's phone rang, he picked it up, "Agent Burke."

"Hi, Peter. It's Sara. I was wondering if I could borrow Neal's expertise for a few days?"

"Sara, how are you?"

"I'm pretty good. Chasing down whoever stole a few Dutch masters."

"I'm glad to hear that. You'll need to talk to Diana to borrow Neal, she took over the team about a year ago."

"Oh wow, good for her. What are you doing now?"

"Art crimes liaison to Interpol."

"Oooh, I might have some things to ask you later, then. I'll call you back later after I talk to Diana."

"I look forward to it."


About twenty minutes later there was a knock on his door. He looked up. Neal was there, looking slightly anxious.

"Hey," said Peter warmly, getting up to give Neal a quick kiss as the younger man came in.

"Hey," said Neal, "I just thought you should know, Diana has me working with Sara this week."

"Great," said Peter, thinking that Neal could really use the change of pace as Diana's caseload hadn't been thrilling recently, "I knew she wanted you, I'm glad Diana said yes."

"So…I know that's awkward…" continued Neal, hesitantly.

Peter blinked at Neal, then shook his head, "it's not awkward, it's fine. She called me first, I told her to call Diana. I'm glad you're going to work with her, she's good for you."

"You don't mind me spending a week with my ex?"

"I don't own your time or affections. Any more than I own El's. I was happy when El started dating you, because it made both of you happy. I'd be happy if you went out with Sara again, you enjoy each other, and I like seeing you happy. I love you, I know you love me, and you're being honest with me. That's all I need, Neal. We'll figure the rest out with trust and communication."

Neal looked at his hands in his lap for a moment, then nodded slightly, "I don't really plan to, but thank you."

Peter kissed Neal's temple, "have fun with Sara, hon."

Neal grinned at him and headed out, then paused, and wheeled backwards into Peter's office again, "I'm gonna call El and tell her too."

"She'll tell you the same thing, but I'm sure she'll appreciate the communication."

Neal looked at Peter for a long moment, watching the older man absently sorting papers on his desk.

"Peter?"

Peter looked back up, "yeah?"

"I really…is this a test?"

Peter shook his head, "no."

Peter got up, and came around his desk, knelt, taking Neal's hands, "Elizabeth and I had a short engagement. We were head over heels. The first six months of our marriage was a fantasy whirlwind. But as I have an inkling you've noticed, she just likes sex more than I do. I wanted to make her happy but I was miserable and it was ruining the joy we did have. So we decided to try an open relationship, and it made all the difference. I wouldn't ask something different of you."

Neal kissed Peter's cheek, "you're such a sweetheart."


Sara walked into the FBI. Neal's desk was empty, an ancient to-go coffee sitting there, she headed up to what has been Peter's office. She saw Diana at the desk, the door open, so she knocked on the door frame.

Diana looked up, and smiled when she saw Sara, "hi, come on in. Neal should be back soon, he's down in records with Agent Perry."

"Great," said Sara, "I'm thinking we'll go undercover–"

Diana held up a hand, "hold on. Sorry, you said you needed Neal's expertise. He doesn't go undercover anymore."

"Oh. Well. I guess I could go by myself, or with someone else."

"I can make Jones or Reyes available."

"That could work. Why isn't Neal going undercover?"

"You haven't seen him for a while, I take it?"

Sara frowned, "well, no, I haven't been in the country for over a year. I came back to ask for Neal's help because I'm stuck."

"Ah, fair enough. Well, his only real operational defense has always been running away and he hasn't been running for a while because of some medical trouble. You'll have to ask him for the details, he's not exactly forthcoming with me."

"So he's…is he okay?"

"He's had a rough time of it, physically. But he is pretty happy. Especially since Peter took the art crimes position."

"Oh that reminds me, I said I would call Peter back with questions about that."

"Well, you can probably just ask him tonight." Diana looked at her clock, "okay, I sent them for a record almost an hour ago, let's go see what's up."

Sara followed Diana down the steps. Diana paused and looked up at her, "just so you aren't surprised, he's using a wheelchair. Unless he's been gone this long because he decided to try not doing that and it went poorly, which has happened before. But that's what Agent Perry going with him is supposed to prevent, so…"

Sara didn't immediately follow Diana down the rest of the steps, slightly stunned. It was hard to picture. She shook her head and caught up.

"So a really rough time," said Sara.

"Yeah," said Diana, as they walked across the bullpen, "but he's been pretty happy."

They got into the elevator, went down a floor. Sara followed Diana around a corner and into a room, not really knowing what to expect.

They opened the door, and stepped inside. Neal was there, and a baby-faced but large agent. Neal was sitting on one of the straight backed records room chairs. There was a wheelchair with a powder blue frame parked in a corner. Neal was handcuffed with his hands behind himself. The agent was kneeling behind him, apparently trying to unlock them.

Diana gave a sigh, "well, I suppose there are worse things I could have found you doing, but care to explain?"

"I made a point about how position matters when picking handcuffs," said Neal, "I failed to account for the fact position also matters to my wrists. So Perry is getting an impromptu lesson."

"It hasn't been going well," admitted Perry.

Diana pulled out her keys and unlocked the cuffs, confiscating them. She pushed Neal's chair over, parked it, locked it. Neal spent a moment moving his wrists, rubbing them. Then he got into the wheelchair, unlocked it, and faced the door. He noticed Sara behind Diana, and his face lit up, "hey. Diana said someone stole some Dutch paintings?"

"I think so. They were loaned to a private enthusiast, and we believe the paintings that were returned are not the originals. I need your help to prove it."

Neal grinned, "should be fun."

"I've gotta find a way to get you in front of them though, I had a plan but I didn't realize you weren't going undercover."

"Fair," said Neal, "though I keep telling Diana, if the only criteria is running away, I'm actually faster in this than I was on foot."

"Until you hit a staircase," said Diana, tiredly.

"Technically I can almost go down a couple steps now."

Neal leaned back carefully, pushing back and forth slightly on the big wheels, and got the front wheels up a few inches in a small wheelie.

Diana looked at Perry, "did you get the files?"

"Uh, not yet."

"Okay. You get the files, bring them to my office. Neal, stop that and come on."

Diana marched Neal out with hands on his shoulders, not pushing him forward in the chair but shoving lightly at him like she would have done if he was walking.

They headed out, Diana and Neal went a different direction than to the bullpen. Sara followed them. They entered a freight elevator, Neal turned it on with a key.


Many hours later, Sara and Neal headed out of the banker's office. Sara walked beside Neal and asked him, "what do you think? He had motive but I don't know if he could have pulled it off?"

"Um," said Neal, quietly, "I think you're right, he doesn't know enough to have gotten them past security."

Sara looked down at him, surprised by his soft tone. He looked a little pale, eyes a little dry and red, under eyes a little puffy and dark. Unlike that morning he pushed himself forward with a big effort, and stopped occasionally to rub his wrists and hands.

Sara put her hand on his arm, and he stopped moving to look up at her as she asked, "hey, are you alright?"

He grinned at her, "since when are you the worrying type?"

She shrugged, "I'm not, but I promised Diana I would return you in one piece."

Neal laughed, and patted her hand, "well I'm all here. I just get tired."

"You look like you're in pain."

"Wow, going hard with the flattery, I see."

"Neal."

"Yeah, some," he said, with a shrug, "I'm always in some pain. Sometimes I'm in more pain. What of it?"

She shrugged, "I don't know, I was maybe going to offer to push?"

Neal studied her for a long minute, as they stayed stopped in the hall, then slowly nodded, "I would appreciate that."

Sara let go of his arm to move her hands to the chair. It didn't have handles, she just pressed against the seat back, as Neal got himself started, and kept him going to the end of the hall, where they stopped to wait for the elevator.

Sara absently put her hands on Neal's shoulders as they waited. She was surprised by how tight his neck and shoulders were. She wondered how much pain was "some pain" for him.

He tilted his head back to look up at her, "Sara, I can feel you stressing. I'm fine."

"You aren't though. I get it, you're okay, you're trucking along. But you aren't fine and I feel bad that working my case made you hurt."

"It didn't. It's just the end of the afternoon. It doesn't matter what I was doing, I would be tired and in pain in the afternoon. Unless I stay in bed half the week, I will be tired and in pain a lot of the time. Barring major medical advancements, it will probably be like that for the rest of my life. So that's just…my fine."

Sara kissed his cheek, "sorry. I'll try to think of it that way."

He kissed her briefly on the lips. She straightened, "Diana told me you were dating someone?"

He nodded, "yes. Sorry if that crossed a line. Though both of them independently suggested I go out with you."

"Both, wow. What lucky women. You planning to tell them about each other?"

Neal laughed, and Sara raised an eyebrow.

"It's not like that. It's been all about consent. Also, it's Peter and Elizabeth."

"Oh," said Sara, and thought about it for a moment, then chuckled, "well that sounds nice."

Neal nodded, and smiled big and genuine, "it really is."

"But you wanted to go out with me, too?"

Neal laughed again, "not exactly. I told them you and I would be working together again just as a head's up and they both suggested I should go out with you should it come up."

Neal dating Peter and Elizabeth was pretty easy to wrap her head around. Neal preemptively checking in with a significant other to tell them he was involved with something that they might want to know about…that would take more time for Sara to come to terms with.

"Well that was nice of them."

Neal got a look on his face, pensive, wrapped up in his thoughts. He finally looked back up at her, "they're the best thing that ever happened to me. I get to be loved for being who I am. If this keeps going, some day I might even figure out who that is."

Sara stared down at him, as he jabbed his thumb at the elevator button again, since it seemed like far too long for it to have taken to come.

"Neal, do you want to get dinner?"

Neal looked up at her, a little surprised, "sure?"

The elevator finally came, and they got in. Sara pushed the button for the ground floor.

Neal pulled out his phone, "I'll just text Elizabeth that I won't be home, it's her turn to cook tonight."

Sara bit her lip a little, and put her hand on his shoulder, "if you'd been like this when we dated it might have worked out.

Neal smiled, slightly wryly, "I don't know that I could have gotten here without El and Peter. It's been a group effort. But I do feel bad that I didn't give you the honesty you deserved."

Sara rubbed his arm a little, "people grow. I'm happy to see you happy."