The Offer

Sitting through another interrogation, Peter was able to clear himself since he had the fingerprints matching his files, and a security video showed him in the park when the alleged attack occurred.

However, what everyone found disturbing, was the marks on Neal's face better matching the marks of a fist than the arm of a chair. Security footage showed a shadow in the room with him, but no sign of Peter entering the conference room. The doppelganger had entered the office and had evaded being caught.

This caused Neal to become even more distant and distrusting, so much so that even Jones and Diana weren't able to approach without causing a twitch or a reaction.

Pulling away, they kept a distance and the office turned into a hole of silence. People went about their work, but there wasn't bantering conversation, no one felt like laughing, and the work was barely being managed with the feeling of dread permeating the atmosphere. Something was happening around them, but the team wasn't sure what or how to react to the elusive threat.

Reaching a point where he was tired of watching Neal's maneuvers, it was genius how well he managed to avoid putting his back to anyone too close to him, Peter decided to do something about it.

Ducking into Hughes' office, he laid a document on the desk. "Am I over thinking this, or is this a good idea for him?" Peter stood in agitation while his boss picked up the document and began to read it over.

Recognizing it fairly quickly, Hughes lowered it and looked at Peter over the top. "Are you sure about this? Just because he wouldn't be with the team anymore doesn't mean it would remove him from being targeted by your doppelganger… it also means he could feel even more insecure working amongst people he doesn't know."

"I know, which is part of why I might be over thinking this, but shouldn't I at least give him the choice? Feeling trapped on the team while having so much distrust… it's got to be getting to him. He doesn't deserve to be thrown back into prison because I'm being targeted by someone who looks like me, but he shouldn't be forced to remain here where he obviously feels the need to protect himself from everyone." Peter was somewhere between growling in frustration and pleading in concern. His consultant spent his days doing minor paperwork and dealing with the repercussions of what had been done to him, but he no longer showed any almost friendly inclinations towards Peter. There wasn't the feeling of his eyes following him about, no silent conversations at a distance, instead, he would observe where he was and avoid him as thoroughly as possible.

Understanding Peter's plight, Hughes gave his approval. "Go ahead and give him the choice, then if he wants a transfer to another team, I'll do what I can to make it happen."

"Thank you, Reese." Peter looked grateful despite the hurt tone to his voice. He clearly wasn't thrilled at what the situation had come to.

"Just remember, whether he takes it or not, doesn't mean he'll be protected from your doppelganger. We didn't know about him until it became apparent he was responsible for torturing Neal. It's entirely possible you are both targets being attacked in different ways." Hughes warned. This was a strange situation and no one knew what to expect of it.

Sighing, Peter knew he was right, but there wasn't much that could be done. "There's no winning in this it seems…"

"We'll work through this, but it's going to take time." Hughes tried to provide what little comfort he could.

Nodding, Peter left his office and took the walk down towards Neal's desk. The con man wasn't there so it was the perfect time to make his approach. Since Peter had agreed to take the deal, it made sense that he should be the one to offer the alteration. Whether Neal would accept or not would depend on him.

Turning to leave the office, Peter went home for the evening.

Although Neal had received his offer to transfer handler and teams, Peter had yet to hear anything from him. The man seemed to be contemplating his odds or making plans on how to take advantage of the transfer. Whatever he was doing, he hadn't turned the form in or handed it back as rejected.

Uncertain of what to do, Peter endeavored to continue working like nothing had changed, but that wasn't possible. He found himself checking with Hughes on a daily basis to see if the form had been turned it, watching Neal whenever he was working at his desk, and fretting over what might be running through his consultant's head.

Fortunately, there wasn't much work to disrupt. They were only doing cold cases and any backlogged paperwork that needed to be managed. It kept them busy and barely useful, but it was safer than having the doppelganger manipulate something or for any other agents to pull off some secret agenda.

The days passed, and although the monotony was getting to the team, the case wasn't making enough progress for OPR and the investigators to feel satisfied.

Walking into the Bureau, Peter pushed the button for his floor and stood with some other agents preparing to ride up to the appropriate offices. Stepping into the car when the doors opened, Peter felt his gut tingling when only three others besides himself were present. Not understanding why he said his floor to the man pressing the buttons and tried to keep some distance from the strangers.

When the elevator dinged for the sixteenth floor and the doors opened to reveal a mirror image of himself, Peter knew he was in trouble.

Using his surprise, two the men in the elevator grabbed him while the third slid a needle into his neck.

Feeling the sluggish workings of his brain, Peter knew it wasn't entirely knocking him out, but it was making him unable to fight what they were doing.

Moving quickly and efficiently, the men escorted Peter off of the elevator and into an empty conference room. There they stripped him of his suit and replaced it with a prison jumpsuit. While the three men were occupied with that, his doppelganger put his suit on and adjusted his hair to match Peter's look. Throwing in the finishing touches, the men chained Peter, duct taped his mouth and put a masking cover over his head to obscure his identity for their transportation.

"Now we can complete the mission. I'll impersonate Burke here and set him up for the fall guy. Then if Caffrey gets in our way, we'll take out his family. This should be simple and straightforward." The doppelganger gave his orders and directed the group on their way.

Having changed to pose as prisoner transport Marshalls, the men split up with two guiding Peter towards his office while the third departed to arrange their getaway.

While they rode the elevator up towards his floor, one of the guards leaned in towards Peter and whispered a threat. If he didn't comply by walking with them or if he tried to signal one of his team, then Neal Caffrey was dead, and maybe Mrs. Burke too.

Unable to fight them with the drug in his system, Peter was forced to comply for the moment.

As the elevator dinged the twenty-first floor, Peter felt the two men beside him move closer and walk him out of the car. Turning into the White Collar Offices, Hughes was there by the door fending off the investigating agents with the remark that a call had been placed. Peter needed to retrieve some document from his office for the agents transporting a criminal so he was only doing a quick task pertaining to an active case. With the cover in place, the doppelganger hurried up to Peter's office and began working on his computer.

Meanwhile, the real Peter stood drugged and bound standing on the floor below forced to watch in still silence. Although he could move to walk, the drug made him too relaxed to move beyond the necessary and the tape prevented him from speaking clearly even if he tried.

Time seemed to pass slowly. It was only a few minutes, but the circumstances made it drag out like hours.

Then Elizabeth walked into the office from behind him. Listening, Peter heard her tell the agents he had forgotten his lunch before she was directed up to his office.

Mentally kicking himself, Peter wished he had remembered to grab the bag from the counter. It was deviled ham and his favorite, something she had made in the hopes of cheering him up.

Watching helplessly, he saw her cross the office, walk up the stairs, and head towards his office.

Once she was about to reach the door, the doppelganger opened it and moved to exit the office with his nose in a file of documents.

Taking one look at him, Elizabeth seemed to sense the difference and moved away from him towards the conference room at her back.

"Hi, Elizabeth, what's in the bag?" The doppelganger pretended to notice her and smiled happily.

Blinking, Elizabeth's eyes were wide and she clearly didn't know what to do.

Sensing something off, the entire office stopped to look up at the landing while the fake guards moved closer to Peter to ensure he couldn't escape.

The man took one step forwards towards Elizabeth, and then the conference room door was yanked open by a furious Neal.

Striding forward to stand in the middle, Neal poked the paper into the doppelganger's chest. "You know what, Peter? I think I will take you up on that offer of transfer, I don't want to work with you again, ever!"

Horrified, Peter was afraid. Not only was his doppelganger impersonating him in the office for some crime, but he had both Elizabeth and Neal right in front of him, within his reach where he could easily hurt either of them, if not both. It didn't help that their plan to alienate Neal appeared to have worked because he had just fulfilled one of Peter's worst fears by asking for a transfer. He was losing his best friend.

"I'll have this turned in shortly." The doppelganger promised before moving toward the stairs. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get these documents to the transport agents."

"You didn't read the name on the paper," Neal sneered while standing in his way.

Complied to look, the man lifted the form and read through what Neal had written. His eyes opened a bit wider and his posture froze for just a moment, then he readjusted to whatever had been written there. "Are you certain you want to do this? There are risks involved…" His voice lowered to threatening.

"Everything is just… peachy, or at least that's the circumstances according to an old friend, so yes, yes I want to do this, Kieran." Neal planted his feet while remaining between the man and Elizabeth.

Fixated on what was happening, Peter didn't know what Neal meant but hoped Caleb and the others had managed to remove the threat against his family. Because according to what had been said on the sixteenth floor, it was Neal's family at stake.

Dropping the document and his stance, the man faced Neal while allowing his voice to change into a rougher, more dangerous tone. "So, you aren't his doppelganger after all."

"You do know you aren't going to get away with this, don't you? Chuck has my family so your leverage there is gone. I'm between you and Mrs. Burke." Then Neal pulled a tranquilizing pistol out from behind his back to shoot the two agents holding Peter. "And your men no longer have hands-on access to Peter."

"You can't stop it, it's already done, and we both know our training means no prison can hold us forever." The man apparently named Kieran, took a threatening step towards Neal.

"Are you sure you successfully accomplished your mission? I'm protégé to a particular someone…" Neal seemed to be alluding to secrets that only made sense to him and this Kieran. "You only messed with the false mainframe. The FBI database is still secure, and you only have my creative writing to show for all of this effort. It would seem the organization invested a great deal into you, but you couldn't control me, weren't able to kill me when that became obvious, didn't give them the treasure, failed to frame Burke, or didn't even manage to get them the data you were sent in for. They probably aren't going to be overly forgiving of your failures."

Whipping a knife out from behind his back, Kieran sliced at Neal's arm trying to cut him. Then with his other arm, the flicked a syringe full of liquid at Neal.

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