Notes: Thanks for reading everyone. I wasn't expecting such a response since I hadn't posted anything in almost a year. I forgot to mention that I'll be posting new chapters every 3 days. At this rate, the tale will be told by the start of FEB as there's 5 chapters.


Chapter 2


Neal opened his eyes and his heart started racing. Either he was going crazy or he was dreaming. But it didn't matter which, he was running out of time.

"Moz, it happened again." Neal couldn't smile this time. "I'm going back to June's. Meet me there."

When this ended, Neal wanted Mozzie there.

He walked up to Peter's office and told him he was going to be sick. He spun a story of how he had passed out in the hallway and needed to go back to June's. Peter believed him but said he would come with.

"Can't have you fainting around June's with no one to look after you."

"That's why I called Mozzie." Neal saw the disbelieving look on Peter's face. No doubt he thought they were up to something. "Mozzie makes a good, although fussy, nurse."

"I'm sure." Peter sounded like he didn't believe him.

"Really! It comes from not relying on the health system and doctors."

Peter hummed as if made sense, even if he didn't agree with Mozzie's choices.

Neal sent a message to Mozzie, warning him that Peter was coming with him.

When they walked into the apartment, Mozzie was waiting at the table. He was rowing and had pages of notes in front of him. Neal sighed when he saw them. While he had given Mozzie the information to help in his search, sparse though it was, it still hurt to have Mozzie dig into his secrets.

Even though they were secrets to him as well.

"What's all this?" Peter asked as most of it was in a code he didn't know.

"I'm trying to unravel the government secrets that held Neal hostage."

"Government secrets?"

Neal didn't like the disapproving eyebrow raise.

"I know it's crazy but I've been having vivid dreams. I shared them with Mozzie and he started on this."

Mozzie nodded along, able to see that Neal was hiding that fainting and vanishing from the Suit.

"I have a new name to add," Neal said. "Bryce."

He did not want to add that it was his and he could use Peter's presence as a reason not to add that information.

"Bryce… and Chuck," Mozzie mused. "Not very helpful names. No last names?"

Neal shook his head. Peter also shook his head but for a different reason.

"Go to bed, Neal," he said. After all, Neal had said he was sick. "And leave Mozzie to his… research."

"I investigate more things in a day than you do," Mozzie said in offence.

Neal drifted off to the sweet tones of a conman and an FBI agent complaining about their work.


Bryce had been himself for two days now. He fell asleep to darkness, not to a world of conmen and FBI agents. He woke in the hospital, to days of physical rehab and visits from Chuck. Chuck bounced through the door with a grin. Bryce smiled back. He was touched by how happy Chuck was that he was awake; even though he mourned a life that seemed less and less real as time went on.

"Hi Chuck. No Sarah?"

"She's still not comfortable with seeing you awake after losing you again. You've got to stop dying."

"Agreed. It's not fun on my side either." Two days of being Bryce had caused Neal's life to fade like a dream as he recalled more and more. Knowledge and skills became easier and easier to recall, although he still retained knowledge of Neal's life that he hoped never fully faded.

"You've told her that I've moved on, right?"

Chuck laughed. "Yes. And she still wants to wait."

Bryce sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I guess she'll visit eventually." Or he'd be gone. It would be sad to not see her before leaving but he wasn't going to push.

"Well, it'll be difficult to not see you once you're discharged."

"Huh?" Were they doing a mission together or something? He hoped the CIA wouldn't put him back in the field that quickly.

"Bryce... you're staying at our place after you are discharged."

Chuck said it like it was a no-brainer but Bryce was floored by the easy offer.

"You never said. What if Sarah doesn't like it?"

"She can get over it."

Bryce stared at Chuck with his mouth hanging open. That was a very not-Chuck thing to say. Chuck laughed at his expression.

"She's already agreed. We can't have you running off to get hurt again until you've healed from this time."

"Oh." Bryce didn't know what to say. No one had really cared if he properly healed before. There may have been Mozzie and Peter, June and El, but they cared about Neal and weren't real anyway. "Thanks."

"Not a problem buddy! I have some new video games to introduce you to."

That sounded like a great distraction.


Living with Chuck was great. It was like going back to their college days but with the addition of an extra person. Sarah often ended up laying the straight man in their trio. Bryce was even able to coordinate their missions and monitor from the house.

The house has been a surprise. Not that Chuck had one, Bryce always knew Chuck would, but that he seemed to find the perfect one. It reminded Bryce of Peter's townhouse, just bigger because it wasn't a townhouse on a New York street.

A wave of sickness hit him and he sighed. It was stupid to be homesick for a life that didn't exist. He was a spy! He was supposed to change identities easily.

His moods hadn't gone unnoticed. Chuck suggested he get a job at the Buy More.

"I'm not exactly Customer Service material. I doubt your boss will hire me."

Chuck grinned. It was the same grin he used whenever he beat Bryce at 'Gotch'ya!'

"That's easy enough. You're a spy, you can handle acting the role of the perfect salesperson. And I own the Buy More so I can hire you."

"You own the Buy More?"

Chuck told him the grand tale of how he became the Shadow Owner of his own workplace.


Bryce tugged at his white collar. Being in the Nerd Herd was not where he imagined his career going.

How was he going to do this? Bryce might be a spy but rarely did that lead to customer service positions. Assets were the ones in those positions.

"Um, hello?" A nervous lady walked over to his desk. She clutched her laptop to her chest. "My computer isn't working."

Neal smiled. He wanted to smooth out her worries.

"Well, pass it here and we'll get it working." He took the computer and tried to turn it on. The screen remained dark. He prattled on as he tried a few different things, telling her what he was doing as he tried it.

He checked the brand and pulled out a charger.

It turned on! He left it for a few moments before pulling it out.

When the screen stayed on, he asked, "do you have a charger at home?"

"No! I bought it online. It didn't come with one and so it doesn't need it."

Neal hummed. "Your laptop seems to like this one," he hefted his charger. "buy you deserve something new. I'll cut you a deal on a new charger to get your laptop running, one that works just as well as this!" And he dashed off to grab one before she could say anything more.


"Wow, Bryce! You did good today."

Bryce gave Chuck a tired smile in return. Once he was free from work, he felt the energy drain from his body. It was tiring work and he had long stopped caring if he thought himself as Bryce or Neal during work.

It wasn't like the customers used his name. His co-workers still called him 'New Guy'.

Chuck was one of the few people who called him 'Bryce'.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Just tired."

"Toughen up, Larkin." Casey had been listening.

"No one cares, Casey!"

"Don't fight, guys." Chuck stepped between them. "Even Casey had his growing pains when he first started."

"Isn't it normal to go home tired?"

"You go home?"

"Casey." Bryce was surprised at the tough of authority that entered Chuck's voice. He was a leader, just better at being commanding only when needed.

"I do, in fact, go home," Bryce snapped at Casey. Even if he spent most of the night out at bars and clubs, just soaking up the atmosphere. "I was home for game night." And when he was home, he was gaming. Or sleeping.

It felt like college all over again. Except he didn't enjoy sleeping as much now.

"On that note, Sarah wanted me to make sure you were going to be home for dinner tonight."

Bryce shrugged and went. Hanging with Chuck and Sarah was always good. He was strangely used to being a third to a couple. He didn't want to think about why.