Suspension Lifted

Riding the elevator up, it was the first time Peter had been in the Federal Building since before he had gone to pursue the lead on their painting case. Sighing, he was glad things were beginning to regain a sense of normalcy, even though he knew the situation wasn't over yet.

Thinking back to his time in suspension, when he was unable to leave a limited radius, visit Neal, or have anything to do with official work, Peter had been utterly bored. There were only so many 'honey-do' lists and conversations about the new client Mary Frost that he could take.

In an effort to keep him entertained, Elizabeth had regaled him with conversations about her hands on, particular, and the demanding client who insisted on accompanying her everywhere in order to get the details arranged for her event.

For a while, Mary proved a distraction as Peter tried to fit her into the puzzle slowly being revealed around him, but when he couldn't place her beyond the guess that she was connected to Caleb, it got more frustrating than distracting. If he was going to figure out who connected where, then he would need more pieces of the puzzle, and that wasn't happening fast enough.

The other means of distraction his lovely wife had tried to employ was projects around the house. They gave him something to do with his hands, and some of them took his mind off of his troubles for a little while. However, like everything else, it wasn't enough to last for long.

How could he ignore the anklet chaffing with every move, the best friend he wanted to apologize to, or the imposter making his life miserable? The truth was, Peter had too much on his mind to settle, and instead found himself often struggling to focus on his task if it wasn't engaging enough.

When things got too bad, Elizabeth called in the cavalry. This usually consisted of Mozzie who let him know how Neal was doing, hinted to efforts being made to handle the doppelganger, and generally annoyed him out of his funk with his usual banter about conspiracies.

One interesting point was when Mozzie mouthed a comment to himself unaware Peter could see his lips to read them. It was another piece Peter had added to his collection because it didn't make sense. 'I've heard rumors, but if they're right, then even a stake through the heart won't stop this guy.'

Did that mean he wasn't a vampire, or what? Why would people be stabbing his doppelganger through with a stake anyway? Asking Mozzie didn't do any good, because he just said it wasn't to be revealed yet.

With more puzzles and few answers, Peter stepped off of the elevator. Stopping in front of the glass doors leading to the office, he stood and watched the people buzzing around.

Jones was talking to Diana while they were working on something in a folder. Hughes was up in his office talking on the phone. Most of the office was buzzing about like normal. But then there was Neal. He was also back in the office having finished his medical leave and been cleared of the treasure with the reveal of the doppelganger turning suspicions onto Peter.

Focusing on his consultant, Peter knew it was going to be a rocky situation. Neal believed he only pretended to care about him, thought he had thrown him away, and reacted to him as his torturer.

According to Mozzie, Neal was having trouble putting his back to anyone and was often twitching or jumping at the slightest provocation. The Bureau was forcing him to seek help for his PTSD and Hughes had enforced desk duty to keep the consultant in the office until the situation had cleared up.

Knowing there was no sense in wasting any more time; Peter reached out and pushed the door open to walk in.

"Hey, boss." Jones greeted causing Diana to look up.

"Good to see you back, Peter." She smiled as she added to the greeting.

"It's good to be back. Things aren't all right yet, but at least some things are better." Peter's telling glance towards Neal indicated where his mind went. Neal hadn't even looked at him.

Taking a few moments to start filling him in on what had transpired in his absence, Jones and Diana were trying to make him feel welcome and attempted to distract him from Neal's lack of acknowledgment.

Then Hughes interrupted their conversation. "Burke." He barked to get his attention before double finger pointing towards his office. Not waiting for Peter, Hughes ducked back in and took his seat.

"I guess it's time to learn what parameters I'll be working under. Since we don't know what my doppelganger is up to, I'm not going to be back in the field yet either." Peter shrugged before glancing at Neal again and walking up the stairs.

Reaching Hughes' office, he was directed to close the door and take a seat.

"Is this about my working parameters?" Peter asked as a conversation starter.

"In part, but that was already discussed when you were released from the suspension. Since your fingerprints are not found on the capsule in any place beyond where you were recorded touching it during the rescue, and the other points touched by your doppelganger show a different set of identification, that got you released from prison on suspension. Then getting the footage sorted against your timetable and learning that you were often accounted for at other locations during the torture, and you were acquitted of the torture and treasure theft. However, since we still don't know what your doppelganger is trying to do, you are restricted to working in the office with the hopes of the added security preventing him from impersonating you officially." Hughes recounted the known details Peter was already aware of.

"Which leads me to my second reason for this meeting, there are several agencies watching what happens through this. We have undercover agents from multiple fields and divisions hidden who knows where." Hughes waved his hands about lightly. "I haven't been cleared to know any details, but I have heard whispers and rumors. This means you need to be careful, Peter. If they think you are your doppelganger, or if you do anything they find suspicious, it could go badly for you." The older agent warned.

Nodding his head, Peter had known others were watching, but he hadn't known about the official side. "Neal has friends involved too, like the guards who protected me in prison. People previously completely off of the radar are coming out to make sure this works out alright. Maybe some of them are official, or maybe they are in addition to these other agency representatives. However, there is no shortage of attention and mystery surrounding this."

Agreeing with him, Hughes knew it was a big case. "I want you to report to me every day. Keep me up to date on what's happening and what you can about what you know. We both know you won't share everything, but the more we know, hopefully, the more prepared we can be." Hughes made arrangements for daily meetings, but also left an opening for Peter to protect those helping them from the shadows.

Grateful for the understanding, Peter finished the meeting and got up to walk to his office. As he crossed the landing, he felt like he was being watched. Pausing to look down, he quickly found Neal's eyes on him.

With a softening expression, Peter looked sadly at his friend and nodded. He knew Neal wouldn't talk to him, but maybe he could convey some of his feelings.

At first, Neal only looked back at him, but after a moment he nodded quickly and returned to his work.

It wasn't forgiveness, but it was a start towards communication.

Continuing on to his office, Peter opened the door and relished the familiarity of returning to his domain. This was his space, his computer, his things, and hopefully, the doppelganger wouldn't be able to tarnish it by impersonating him here.

Sitting down to his desk, he started the computer up and began getting settled into work.

Through the morning, he felt like he was being watched from time to time, and it always turned out to be Neal. Peter would look up, and Neal would turn his head away. After the first few times, Peter knew who was watching him so he stopped looking up as much and let Neal do whatever he pleased. A glance of his own to acknowledge the consultant, and then he would continue to work.

If Neal wanted to stare at him from time to time to process the images running through his head, then Peter wasn't going to stop him. He only hoped the man would get his apprehensions dealt with and allow him to apologize someday.

As the day drew on, Peter once again felt Neal's eyes on him. Unable to speak to the man, he pulled out a piece of paper and started writing. Maybe if he wrote his apology out time and time again, he could work through some of his own guilt until he could actually tell Neal directly.

Jotting down the words, Peter let his emotions pour out.

'I'm so sorry, Neal. You never should have gone through this, and I can't help but feel like it's my fault since I didn't believe you when you told the truth. Maybe they wouldn't have gotten you if I hadn't sent you to prison? Maybe they would focus on framing me instead of hurting you in the process? It makes me sick to think of how they tortured you, it's so hard just writing that word in reference to what's been done to you, which is only made worse by the knowledge that they made you believe I wouldn't only be okay with condoning this behavior, but that I would actually participate in carrying it out! In reality Neal, I would never approve of this being done to anyone, let alone you. There is nothing you could ever do that would make a reaction like this okay. I understand why you don't want anything to do with me right now, but I hope you'll give me a second chance to prove that when you feel better.'

Finishing his note, Peter sat with his pencil resting on the paper. It didn't entirely help, but he did feel a little better for expressing his feelings with the hope Neal would read it someday.

Glancing down towards his consultant, Peter was surprised to see Neal not only watching him but that he continued to watch and didn't turn away as he had been.

Lifting an eyebrow, Neal seemed to question what he had been writing.

Peter tilted his head and made an expression to indicate that he had a lot he couldn't say. Then motioning his hand, he indicated writing before shrugging.

Jumping half out of his skin, Neal reacted to an agent passing too close when he was distracted. Spooked, he returned to his jittery state and didn't look towards Peter anymore because he was too busy watching the surroundings closer to his desk.

Sighing, Peter felt like he was taking two steps back every time he thought he might be making progress towards regaining Neal's trust. Slipping the letter to the side and putting it under his folders, he figured there wasn't much chance of the man reading it so he buried it under the piles of paperwork he still had to do.

Turning his focus onto said paperwork, Peter went to work for a while, but it was his turn to periodically check on Neal.

Glancing up every other folder or so, Peter noticed that Neal was being hypersensitive to what was going on around him. He glanced up whenever any sound didn't seem right to him, twitched when something louder happened like a phone ringing, and if he had to be up from his desk he didn't look comfortable. Walking with a stiff posture and roving eyes, he conveyed a coiled spring ready to jump into action while also being aware of everything going on around him. It wasn't his usual conman smooth operations, but it still befitted a man of his history and skills.

Then Neal was called into a meeting being held in the conference room. Since they were keeping Peter and Neal apart, only one was going to such meetings at a time and the team was alternating between who participated to keep it fair. This one was Neal's turn.

Going out to grab some lunch, Peter took his time while trying to shake the feeling that something was wrong. Neal was safe with the team, Neal's friends had Elizabeth protected, and there was nothing going on with him, so what could the issue be?

When it was time for him to return to the office, he noticed that most of the team was back to work, but Neal's desk was still empty.

"Where's Neal?" He asked Diana.

"He fell asleep in the meeting. We left him in the conference room leaned over against his hand." She shrugging lightly, Diana wasn't going to begrudge him a nap after everything he had been through. "If he feels safer here, then we aren't going to complain if he takes a nap or two while dealing with the after-effects of the torture they put him through."

Nodding, Peter glanced up towards the room in question and could easily imagine Neal leaning over against his fist while he slept through a boring meeting. Smiling lightly, he agreed with her before commenting "He would love the leeway to sleep through a meeting, but hopefully he doesn't expect it when life gets back to normal."

"Too bad I couldn't join him. With your doppelganger running around, we aren't doing much until the situation is cleared." Diana jested in return.

Interrupted by the sound of Neal leaving the conference room, they both looked up to see him walking out holding a hand to his eye.

Leaving Peter to watch from a distance, Diana went to check on their friend. Asking what happened, she pulled his hand down to look at his eye for herself.

Neal shrugged at Peter while he answered her question as to what happened. "I think I had a dream about Peter punching me, but I woke up on the floor with my eye hurting. Must've reacted to the dream and hit something when I fell out of the chair."

Turning around to look at Peter as well, Diana knew this meant another level of investigation into Peter and his doppelganger.

Hanging his head, Peter stood back away from Neal before allowing himself to be guided away by the investigating agents. With the open case going, they were waiting around the office for the slightest hint of the doppelganger and were handy the instant Neal mention the possibility that the mystery man had been inside the Bureau.

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