June
Neal sat in the back seat of the car, leaning forward, looking between the front seats. Jones checked in with their surveillance team by radio, as Diana watched with binoculars. Neal fidgeted with controls on a camera, then set it down on his lap, rubbing his fingers together.
He was tired and his muscles were sore. His wrists were angry and painful. The long lens on the camera was heavy, and his arms burned holding it up. His fingers were stiff and throbbed when he held the camera. He was wondering why he hadn't called out, when Diana spoke up.
Diana pointed, "there."
Jones and Diana got out, and Neal started taking pictures. Diana turned back to Neal, "stay in the car."
Neal rolled his eyes.
Diana sighed, shut the door, and ran after Jones.
Two hours later Diana looked around, while Jones and Reyes escorted the thief to be taken away in a squad car. She went back over to her car, but didn't see Neal sitting in the back. Of course.
She pulled up his tracking data on her phone. It showed that he was right next to her. She looked around again, leaned against her car.
Jones came up to her, "ready to go?"
"As soon as I find Neal. I don't know where he went. It says his anklet is right here."
Jones leaned slightly to the right, and looked in the back seat, "uh, Diana?"
Diana turned around and looked. Neal was in fact there, just lying down, fast asleep. She looked back at Jones, "I can't believe it. He actually stayed in the car."
She and Jones got in, and she drove back to the FBI. When they arrived at the building, she opened the back driver's side door, gently shaking Neal's shoulder.
He didn't stir at all. Diana shook him again, and a third time. He kept sleeping.
Diana looked at Jones, who shrugged. Diana patted Neal's cheek, "hey, Neal. Neal."
Neal finally grumbled a protest.
"Neal, we're back at the office. Unless you want to sleep in my car tonight, it's time to wake up."
Neal opened his eyes and looked up at Diana, "what?"
"We're back at the office."
He sat up, "oh. Shit, okay."
"You need to get more sleep."
"Feels like all I do is sleep," he said, grumpily, "doesn't help."
Neal put his feet out of the car, and shakily stood. He shuffled around to the back of the car. Diana opened the trunk and got his chair out. Neal sat down, and unlocked the wheels.
Diana locked her car and then caught up with Neal and Jones on the way into the building.
What had to be many hours later, Neal found himself woken again. He had fallen asleep in a conference room, arms crossed on the table, head in his elbow, waiting for Diana to get off the phone so he could ask if he could go home.
Someone was shaking him, but not Diana.
He raised his head, blearily. The offices outside the conference room were dark. He looked at his watch, it was almost ten at night. Hughes was standing next to him, looking concerned
"Caffrey? I think it's about time you went home, don't you?"
Neal looked up at the older man, "I was waiting for Diana to get off the call with the State Department."
"Diana's upstairs neighbor's bathtub overflowed and she had to go home urgently."
"Oh," said Neal, "Well, at least El is in Montreal with Peter, so nobody is waiting on me."
Hughes chuckled slightly, "Come on, Caffrey. I'll give you a ride home."
"Really?" Said Neal, surprised.
Hughes shrugged. Neal pushed himself away from the table, and followed Hughes out of the conference room.
"You've been conducting yourself well, you know. I've read the reports. I heard you've even been teaching Agent Perry some things," said Hughes, as they headed to the freight elevator.
"I'm not sure Diana approves of that last bit," said Neal with a laugh.
"I actually wondered if you'd be interested in doing so for more of our Junior agents."
"Are we really having the "if you can't do, teach" conversation?" asked Neal, suddenly much less relaxed, "just because I fell asleep in a conference room?"
"No," said Hughes, putting his hand on Neal's shoulder as they boarded the elevator, "Agent Perry recently solved an eleven year old case that resulted in the recovery of a vault of artifacts that had been smuggled out of Afghanistan, which also let us put a known human trafficker behind bars. When I congratulated him, he attributed it to the skills you taught him. He even swore they were legal. We could use more agents with skills like that."
"Oh," said Neal, a little softly, "I guess I'll think about it."
"You should know, Peter used to mentor, before he had you as a CI. It really has nothing to do with whether you can or cannot 'do'," said Hughes, "it's has to do with whether you can teach."
"Then…I guess, sure."
Hughes squeezed his shoulder, "I appreciate it. Reyes already expressed interest. Apparently there was some tension and frustration until it was explained that Perry's position as your runner was supposed to have been punitive."
Neal laughed, as the elevator opened. They went around to the lobby, and headed to the parking garage.
"I'm just around this corner," said Hughes.
They turned that corner, and saw a row of cars, each with a placard above the parking spot, most of them quite expensive.
"Ah, the VIP section," said Neal, eyeing the cars.
"Don't make me regret this," said Hughes, sternly.
Neal laughed, "could I break into one and pull away? Yeah. But my immune system hates my ankles too much for me to have any fun driving anymore."
"I'm–partially–sad to hear that."
Neal laughed again, "I appreciate the honesty."
Hughes stopped beside a powder blue classic convertible. Neal looked at it, then up at Hughes, "'67 mustang? Wow, nice."
Hughes shrugged, "she was a fixer upper, needed a lot of engine work. Pretty happy with how it all turned out."
Neal got in. Hughes put the wheelchair in the trunk, got in, and started the engine. Neal leaned back in the seat, grinning slightly at the sound. Hughes had done an excellent job restoring it.
They pulled out onto the streets, Neal leaned on the door, watching lights blaze by, red in front of them, white and yellow coming towards them. It was a warm night, for once he wasn't cold at all. Wind ruffled his hair as they broke free of traffic for a bit. Neal hadn't realized how much he had missed this.
Hughes turned the radio on to some classics station, and Al Green came over the radio. Neal looked over at the older man, "why are you doing this?"
Hughes glanced at him for a second, then looked back at the road, and shrugged, "why not? I was leaving, you needed a ride. I thought you might have more fun in this car than in a cab."
Neal watched neon signs go by, listened to music, and finally replied, "thank you."
He started to relax and just enjoy the drive. There was a little bit of mist, fog, coming down to street level, which turned the individual headlights into softly glowing streamers of red and gold. A tiny bit of a sprinkle started, but just enough to freshen his face in the warm, humid breeze.
A smile Neal didn't plan at all spread across his face.
