Big Brother –Part 4
I apologize for taking so long to finish this one up. I have not been inspired lately with this one. My plot bunnies are busy, as always, they are busy getting ready for the fall. They are stocking up on carrots and putting on their extra fur coats. No time to help a struggling fanfic writer, keep her stories up to date. At any rate, I hope you enjoy what I have come up with. JL
The rest, for me, was just the paperwork. I had already moved on in my head. Then next day, in the morning I was giving my resignation at BPD. That evening, I was filling out the necessary paperwork in the HR at NCIS. I haven't seen or spoken to Price since."
"Wow, that's a lot to walk away from." Diana said. "But, it's good you got out when you did. Oh, Wendy…I guess…."
Diana watched Tony's expression change.
"Never mind." She said.
Tony shook his head. "No, it's okay. She left me. I told her about the big changes coming in my life, and she didn't want to be a part of them. She didn't want to leave Baltimore."
"D.C. is not that far away." Diana knew that for a fact.
"No, but for her it was leaving the neighborhood. But, more than that, it was the lifestyle. Mommy and Daddy have truckloads of money. I had a civil servant's salary."
"Wasn't she a teacher?" Diana asked.
"Mommy and Daddy didn't approve of her marrying commoners. She could only date them." Tony replied.
Diana couldn't help but grin. "You're better off."
The NCIS agent nodded. "I think so, too."
"That's why you never wanted to talk about her." Neal said, nodding.
"Just an unfortunate blip on the radar." Tony stated.
Diana nodded. "Had a few of those."
"Well, I know you didn't come to New York just to propose to Diana." Peter started.
"No, I didn't. I came to check on Neal. I heard he had this deal in New York, and I wanted to check in on him. It's been a few years since we've seen one another."
"What did he tell you?" Peter asked.
"Well, I know about James Bonds. He told me about Kate. I know about Keller and the kidnappings. He told me about Adler and the U-boat. Oh, and about Mozzie and, of course, June."
"He's told you a lot." Peter replied.
"He trusts me to be his brother/his friend first and an agent second." Tony stated. "And most of the time I can do that. It depends on what he tells me."
"He's very good at double talk…." Peter started.
"Hey, I'm standing right here!" Neal reminded them.
Tony nodded, then continued. "I know who Neal is, Peter. I know what he is. And, if need be, I can arrest him. I can turn him in, and I can do it without any qualms. If it keeps him from going to far and getting in too deep, then I've saved him from himself."
"It's not that easy." Peter admitted.
Neal sighed loudly to show his annoyance. "I just love it when people talk about me as if I'm not in the room."
Tony looked at Neal and chuckled. He continued. "No, it's not. He can be a charmer when he wants and when he tries and does good, you can almost forget what it is he's done." The he shook his head. "He made a conscious choice, Agent Burke. And as much as I dislike his choice, I love my little adopted brother. I…there is a part of him that is as good as gold. And there is a part that reeks. I cannot balance the two and I told him not to try if he's just doing it because it's what we expect of him. I told him that that was just the same as any other con he might be pulling. If he's here, he should be here, working with you because he wants to be. He needs to be getting more out of it than the mere fact it gets him out of prison. I think, in the beginning that was all it was. He just wanted to be out to find Kate. But, it became a lot more than that. He finally had somebody who looked to him for answers. Someone who valued his opinion."
Peter smiled.
Neal seemed to have suddenly found the carpet in the conference room very interesting.
"He gets the thrill of pulling off the crime without all those nasty legal repercussions." Tony paused, causing Neal to look up. "Is that about right?"
Neal lifted his head, sheepishly. He looked at Peter then at Tony. "You don't know me."
"Oh, little bro, you are not unlike any other criminal out there, in this one respect. You don't want to get caught."
"Well, yeah." Neal replied. "What's your point?"
"Simple, the longer you get away with crimes, the longer you think that you can continue to get away with crimes. And, the cockier you get. The cockier you get, the more likely you are to get caught." You start to think those stupid cops, agents, whatever, can never crack this, whatever this new plan is, it's brilliant."
By the time Tony was finished, Neal was finding the carpet insanely interesting again.
Tony chuckled. "Glad to see that never happened to you."
Neal mumbled something that sounded very close to 'Whatever.'
Tony stuck out his hand to Peter. They shook. "I am very glad to meet you. I can see you are looking out for Neal. I am very grateful to you for that." He gave his business card to Peter. He wrote his personal phone number on the back. "I'll be checking in with him and you from time to time."
Tony then turned to Diana. "Ms. Barrigon-DiNozzo, thank you for the long wonderful honeymoon. But, I gotta tell you. I'm dating other women."
Diana have Tony a huge hug. "Hey, me too! But, we'll go out to dinner before you leave town."
Tony nodded. "Sounds good."
Neal looked at Tony, then back to Peter. "Can he stay, Peter? Tony's never seen me…work."
Peter looked at Tony. He smiled. He really liked Tony, it was just something about him. He loved the fact he knew who was on his wall. He loved the fact Tony had come all this way to check on his friend. He loved he Diana knew him and liked him. He had someone else as a source of information about the man.
"I'll ask Agent Hughes." Peter replied. "He'll just have to call the Director. It shouldn't be a problem."
THE END of this adventure!
MORE ADVENTURES TO COME!