Brother Love

Part 21

The Cop and The Con Series

AN:Hey Everybody,

I have decided not to write a second part to Brother, Who Art Thou?The main reason being is it was not going in the direction I wanted it to.I had no intention of doing any bashing at all when I first thought about writing the story.But I went there.Since I addressed the disrespect thing in Doctor DiNozzo itself, I don't feel like I needed to address it anymore in this story.

I know this decision disappoints many of you, but I would rather put out a story I am happy with.Plus, about 50% of you said that the crossover didn't work for you.So, all that said, I won't be continuing with Part 2.

Thanks for understanding.

Having said that, these stories are in no particular order.But this one follows the Season 5 White Collar Finale.For this story NCIS's MCRT is Gibbs, Tony, Tim and Kate.I think her profiling skills will come in handy here.

Tony was concerned. He dialed the number again. He knew Gibbs' eyes were on him. But his gut was telling him something was wrong.

"DiNozzo…." Gibbs started.

"Boss, I know. But, I…I can't get Neal to answer his phone. We always talk to one another. And it's been on Thursday night, for months, without fail. This is the first time. I can't…Neal's and Peter's phones are going to voicemail. And I can't get June.

June looked at her phone. She saw Tony's name on the caller ID. She should talk to the young man. She knew she should. But she didn't want to raise alarms. Neal did usually come back to the apartment at night. And she had been surprised when she had brought coffee up to an empty apartment. But he was a grown man. He didn't have to come home every night. And June would feel like an idiot if he was just 'spending the night' somewhere, and she had called the Calvary.

But…if something was wrong…. June thought for a second. She then made a call.

Tony jumped a little when his phone rang. He answered seeing it was June who was calling.

"Good morning, June." Tony said.

"Hello, Tony." June replied trying to keep the worry out of her voice.

"Is something wrong?" Tony asked, picking up on it immediately.

"I don't want…Neal is a grown man…he could have…." June trailed off, her worry evident.

"Neal didn't call me last night, June. We've talked to one another every Thursday night for months." Tony replied.

"I brought coffee up. He wasn't home, Tony." June explained. "But I didn't want to worry. He is a grown man. And it's not time for work yet, Peter hasn't called." She sighed. "Maybe I'm just…."

Tony shook his head even though June could not see him. "No June, you're not overreacting, something's wrong."

Tony looked at Gibbs. Gibbs could see the worry on Tony's face. And he nodded, giving Tony permission to go.

"I'm on my way."

June shook her head vigorously. "Tony, that's not…."

"I have to make sure that he's okay." Tony replied simply.

Gibbs followed Tony to the elevator. He grinned, knowing what Gibbs was doing, but he asked anyway. "What are you doing?"

"…taking a flight to NYC." Gibbs replied, not looking at Tony as they entered the elevator.

"Thanks, Gibbs." Tony replied. "…but what about Tim and Kate…and Vance."

Gibbs shook his head. "They can work cold cases. And I'll call Vance from the plane. What's he gonna do?"

"You didn't have to do this, you know. I don't even know there's anything wrong, for sure." Tony shook his head. "I just…."

"I trust your gut almost as much as mine. And he usually came home?" Gibbs asked.

"That's the impression I got." Tony stated.

Gibbs nodded. "If he's home, we'll say we came on official business. If he's missing, we'll help find him."

Tony nodded, staring at his phone. He tried it one more time, and it went directly to voice mail.

Tony and Gibbs took a taxi to the Federal Building in New York. Peter wasn't in his office. And the entire division seemed to be on alert.

Diana came into the office. She stopped short when she saw Tony. She gave him a hug. She then greeted Gibbs. "Did Peter call you? Do we have a joint project with NCIS?" She continued to her desk and hurriedly gathered files.

"No and no." Tony replied. "I'm here about Neal.

Diana stopped and looked at Tony. "Have you heard from him?"

Tony shook his head.

"He didn't come in this morning. Peter thinks he's run." Diana shook her head.

"He wouldn't do that." Tony said immediately.

"You don't know what's gone on here." Diana replied.

Tony blew out a breath. "I know more than I should."

Diana looked at Tony.

Tony hesitated. "I think I should be telling this to Peter."

Diana called Peter and he showed up at the office a little while later. Peter greeted Tony and Gibbs and then he got down to business. "I've been to the apartment. I talked to June. Mozzie has no idea…." Peter said trailing off.

"Little bald man?" Tony asked. He knew Mozzie was Neal's best friend in New York. But Tony had only seen him once.

Peter nodded. "Diana said you had something to tell me."

Tony nodded. "But I'm sure it's not anything you don't already know. Neal told me things you probably wouldn't want anybody to know. I just…I wanted you to know that I know…probably more than I should."

Peter looked at Tony. That was most definitely a loaded statement. A lot of 'not so legal' things had happened and Peter wondered just which, if any, of those events Tony knew about.

Tony knew Peter's expression. "Neal told me there was illegality. But he didn't go into detail."

Peter sighed, the statement left for a wide interpretation.

"We're here to help, Peter." Tony replied. "Neal wouldn't…he wouldn't run. I don't know what happened. But he…he was happy here. He had mentioned wanting to be a paid consultant. He was going to talk to you about going off anklet. He…I told him that that would be a great thing." Tony replied. "He wanted me to go over the pros and cons with him. We both decided, in the end, the pros far outweighed the cons."

Peter sighed. "Neal talked to me, and I passed it on to the higher ups. They looked over Neal's records, well, our solve rate and decided that they didn't want to release him early.

"He's earned it, Peter." Tony said, angrily.

"How can they do that?" Gibbs asked.

"They decided that Neal was far too valuable to the bureau. I told Neal and he was very upset. He had been imagining himself free. He was…excited about it. And he really thought he had it. When I told him, he was so disappointed."

"Aren't you supposed to be in our neck of the woods?" Gibbs asked. Tony had told him about what Neal had said about Peter's job.

Peter nodded. "I was, but I didn't take the job after I gave Neal the news. Plus, I'm not a desk jockey."

Gibbs nodded, he understood the sentiment. He had been asked, several times, why he didn't advance up the ladder.

"What can we do?" Tony asked.

Peter shook his head. The division was just gearing up, running down leads, Diana and Jones had talked to June, extensively. Peter talked to Mozzie. It became obvious, quickly, that neither knew what to think about Neal's sudden absence. They also had ears on the street, but they had not heard anything just yet.

"We're in the waiting period, waiting to get news to act on. There's no news on the street, thus far." Peter sighed.

Tony shook his head. "He didn't run, Peter." He paused. "I know it sounds like I'm covering for him. But he's…something else happened."

NCIS/WC NCIS/WC NCIS/WC NCIS/WC NCIS/WC

Neal had refused. And he had paid the price. The man who was on the park bench. The one who had been standing on the street corner when he walked past. That man had offered him a good percentage of the take. A great percentage actually, but he was done. He had to be. He had no intention of becoming a cliché, and a bad one at that. He was not the poster boy for 'Once A Criminal, Always A Criminal.' And he would prove it. That is, if he survived this.

The man was not someone Neal had ever had any dealings with. But that, of course, had nothing to do with the man knowing of him. Neal's business, former business, was one driven by reputation. And Neal's had been huge, even though he was working with the FBI. Those who knew of the entanglement, surprisingly, kept Neal's involvement to themselves. Most likely because they wanted to see how long it would take for Neal to slip up, and what a colossal mess it would make for the Feds to clean up, but that aside, it was probably one of the best kept secrets in greater New York.

Neal was starting to lose track of his days. Though he thought it had been two days since he was taken. He hoped Peter was looking for him, that he didn't think he had just run. In the past, even when he had run, Neal could depend on Peter to come and find him. But lately, with the way things were between them, he was actually not even sure Peter would care enough to look. That scared Neal a little. If he didn't get rescued, quickly, he thought he would die from his injuries.

Neal jerked his head up as his eyes popped open. The man closed the bottle of smelling salts and slipped it back into his pocket as Neal looked up.

"I hope I made my point with you Neal. I wasn't asking for your help. I wasn't offering you any sort of deal. I was giving you an ultimatum…do the job or die." The man from the park, using an admitted alias of Kevin Stevens said. "You know too much already."

Neal looked Stevens in the eye. He had no idea how long the FBI planned now to keep him on their leash, since they had denied him his freedom. The thought of 4 more years, it seemed like a life time. Two years was too long. He wanted to be free. He deserved to be free. He shook his head, knowing his reaction would not go over well. He just hoped he could hold on until he was rescued…if he was rescued.

NCIS/WC NCIS/WC NCIS/WC NCIS/WC NCIS/WC

Tony had practically moved in at June's and Gibbs had come with the deal. It made June feel better to have somebody there, in Neal's absence. And it helped to have somebody around who cared as much about Neal as she did.

But it had now been days since Neal was last seen. The FBI was ready to write Neal off. The Burkes were having doubts. Mozzie was coming up with conspiracy theories. Tony and Gibbs seemed to be the only ones trying to find Neal. And June was worrying enough for all of them.

The problem was twofold and layered. If you went with the kidnap scenario, nobody had any idea who kidnapped Neal. And nobody knew the reason for the kidnapping. Therefore they had no clues as to where to look or who to look for. Diana and Jones had reviewed Neal's recent cases for suspects, and they, for the most part, had been accounted for.

If Neal ran, well, he could be anywhere. And Peter could find him, maybe, again. But it might take another few years. Peter was not sure he wanted to invest that in someone who would only turn and run again, if given a chance. He and El had discussed the 'Neal' situation, more than once. And even with distance between them, El could almost feel his husband's growing…discontent. She had felt the same way before she left New York. She had hoped though that things would go back to normal over time. But, it didn't seem, that that was happening.

El, of course, was concerned about Neal. There was always the possibility that he was actually kidnapped, being held somewhere, tortured. But to Peter, it seemed more than likely that he had just left. It was far more likely that since Neal didn't get the answer he wanted, that he was just gone. And, if Peter really thought about it, he knew Mozzie wouldn't tell him where Neal was. And it's likely June wouldn't either. June would protect Neal because she would want news from him. And Neal would need to know that he could trust her before he tried to get her any word of any kind. And, of course, all he had to do was let Mozzie know where he was. Mozzie could pull up stakes and be gone quickly. And he would be untraceable.

TBC