"Neal you're never paying..." said Peter, looking back as he noticed his partner wasn't walking by his side any more. He spotted Neal laying on the ground nearby. "Neal, are you okay?"
"Besides destroying all of my pride?" said Neal, with a hiss. He had been walking with Peter back to the office and hadn't noticed the step up on the sidewalk and had tripped and fallen. With a grimace and a bit of help from Peter, he managed to get back to standing and he sighed as he noticed a rip on the knee of his pants.
"We should go and..." said Peter.
Neal interrupted. "If you say the word hospital, I will bring you the wrong case files for a week. I'm fine." His leg was killing him, but as he was able to bear weight, he figured nothing was broken. He had caught himself with his hands and left side and leg. He noticed a look from Peter. "I'll be fine at least. Let's go."
The rest of the day, Peter couldn't help but look down at Neal from his office. He had decided not to push a hospital trip as he knew how much Neal hated doctors and hospitals. He however couldn't help but feel concerned. He noticed Neal looking up at him with an annoyed look and he tried to concentrate on the file in front of him again.
"So are you sure you don't want to get checked out?" said Peter, walking out of the building with Neal and to where he parked his car. "Before you say anything, I didn't say the word you hate."
"You have been spending far too much time with Mozzie...and I'll be fine Peter." said Neal, not being able to help a smile and carefully got seated in the car. "I plan to have an early dinner and go straight to bed and try not to remember the fall from earlier. Plus El would be upset if you missed dinner again on the account of me."
"El would understand, but fine." said Peter. Both men stayed quiet the rest of the drive to June's mansion. As he pulled up, he said "At least let me help you inside."
"Peter, you worry too much. You're going to get even more grey hair." said Neal, forcing himself to get out of the car as if he wasn't in pain. "I'll see you tomorrow and see, I even brought a mortgage fraud case home in case I got bored." He waved a folder before turning and walking inside.
Once Neal had climbed all the stairs up to his apartment, he had started to wish he had taken Peter up on the hospital trip. He poured himself a generous serving of wine and sipped at it, glad June was out of town visiting Samantha and Mozzie was busy on a job. He laughed thinking how much Mozzie would hate what they do being referred to as a job. He heated up some dinner and ate quickly and got ready for bed as he finished a second serving of wine.
Neal woke a few times in the night in pain, but managed to mostly sleep. By the time he woke up the next morning, he started to sit up when he realized how much his back hurt. Letting himself lay in bed a little longer, he assessed what all hurt. His lower back felt like murder, both shoulders hurt but especially the left and also the upper left arm. His left leg also was chiming in that it hurt a lot. He looked down and saw a decent size bruise. He looked at the clock and realized it was early. He decided on a hot shower to hopefully ease up some of the pain. Not even a very long shower helped much and he ended up slipping on a robe and collapsing on the sofa, not quite being able to make it all the way back to the bed. He couldn't help but wonder how a small fall could make him feel like an old man and he was more than sure he was walking like one.
Peter got to Neal's a little early, hoping his consultant hadn't been hiding too much from him the day before and knowing from his own injuries he had gotten from time to time the next day was always worse. He walked up to Neal's door and knocked, not getting a response. "Neal, it's Peter." He knocked a few more times and still didn't get a response. "Fine, I'm coming in." Peter walked in and looked around the large loft. He shook his head, still not sure how Neal managed to swing this. He spotted Neal on the sofa. "Neal, why didn't you answer the door?" He was answered with a groan as Neal's eyes were shut, but he was clearly awake. "Are you okay?"
"Just shoot me." said Neal, looking up at Peter. He knew he wouldn't be able to hide any of this pain from Peter, so he had answered honestly. "Seriously, I'd feel better."
"I would have to fill out far too much paperwork." joked Peter, trying to lighten the mood as he walked over. "Anyway you can stand up?"
"Can I or do I want to?" said Neal. "Because those are two totally different questions."
Peter rolled his eyes. He managed to help Neal into a seated position. "You're going to the hospital and no messing with case files." said Peter, as he grabbed some of Neal's everyday clothes from the armoire. He settled on track pants and a t-shirt. "Can you get these on?"
Neal shocked Peter by managing to get both on, however slowly and clearly causing himself a lot of pain in trying. Peter tossed a pair of slip on shoes to the floor at Neal's feet so he could easily get them on. "You know, I'm not totally helpless Peter." said Neal wincing as he put the shoes on, trying to help his pride.
"Nothing wrong in a friend wanting to help a friend, Neal." said Peter. "Now back to the question from earlier, can you stand?" He watched Neal struggle to stand and then collapse on the sofa, resulting in a yelp of pain. "I'm going to take that as a no." Peter managed to get Neal back to a standing position and together they managed to get down the stairs.
Peter got Neal quickly to the hospital and after all the appropriate forms were filled out - filled out by Peter as he knew Neal would put down a fake name - he got seated as Neal got a room to be checked out. He pulled out his phone and texted El where he was. He also texted Hughes saying he and Neal would need the day off. Getting responses from both, he sat back and waited until a nurse called for him to go back as the doctor had finished an examination.
"So as I've seen you two before, I figured you would want to be here for the results." said Dr Reilly, trying not to laugh at the two men both giving each other looks. Peter's was of a 'don't lie Neal' while Neal's was of a 'I'll be fine'. "Honestly, Neal will be fine. He's strained a few muscles and honestly with some rest and some over-the-counter painkillers, he should be fine. He'll have pain, but he'll be okay."
"Told you I was fine." said Neal, who had somehow managed to get himself dressed again.
"Says the guy who couldn't get off his sofa this morning." said Peter. He looked at the doctor. "Really, nothing's broken? Should he stay in the hospital?" He gave Neal a no-nonsense look.
"It would be unnecessary. I do think he should take at least 2-3 days off and get some rest, but otherwise, he'll be fine." said Dr Reilly, handing Peter a discharge sheet. "Though he probably should have someone stay with him a day or two. He was given some Tyenol 3 to make the ride home a little easier." The doctor left the room.
"So anyways I'm going back to June's or am I staying at Casa de Burke's?" said Neal, hopping off the table and immediately regretting his actions. "I can always get..."
"I already know June is out of town, so no stretching the truth in any fashion." said Peter, stopping Neal before he got a chance. "And let's face it, Mozzie couldn't lift you or help you around. You are staying with me and El." He texted El as he talked with Neal. "I'll talk to Hughes and get you a few days off to rest."
"While I would normally fight you on that, not today." said Neal. "Though I really don't think I need that much time off."
"Paper here says a recommendation of three days." said Peter, showing Neal the paper, but keeping a hold of it. He knew Neal would love to 'lose' it somehow. "But I will get Diana to drop off some cases so you don't get too bored."
Pulling up to June's to pick up a few things, Neal started in on staying at June's. "All my stuff is here and everything. I'll be fine Peter." Neal can't resist trying to get Peter to do things his way.
"Yeah, nope. No can do." said Peter, unfastening his belt. "I'm not even letting you go upstairs as I know I will have to drag you back down. I'm going to grab a few things and then we'll be off." Peter quickly gathered some necessities, tossing in the small bag the book on Neal's nightstand along with the sketchpad and set of pencils lying to the side of the easel. Tossing the bag in the backseat of the car, he notices Neal has fallen asleep. Deciding to let his friend sleep, he starts the car and drives home.