(Author's Note: So here's chapter 5 everyone! As usual, I'd love to hear what you think! Enjoy, and please review.)

Special thanks to Lia Walker and Ultracape for their helpful comments so far!

"Neal…" Elizabeth's voice trailed off, as she clutched her husband's hand. Peter himself couldn't speak, and seemed to be frozen in place by the scene in front of them.

Part of it was the stillness. Neal could have passed for dead if all of his monitors weren't proving otherwise. His familiar blue eyes were shut, face scarily pale. The only sound came from the steady beeping of his heart monitor.

Elizabeth had never realized someone could be so…broken. Because that was all she saw when she looked at Neal. His right leg was encased in a cast, and propped up. The other foot was also bandaged. His left arm was now in a sling, his other in a cast. On his face was an oxygen tube, snaking around to the back of his head. There were wires too, IV lines and other ones, keeping Neal alive. Pillows supported his neck and back. She knew that he was broken on the inside too. His heart. No amount of painkillers could heal his grief, but Elizabeth knew that they would help him get through it. And eventually…he would.

Peter felt sick. Looking at Neal…it was like he had personally broken his limbs, caused the bruising on his face, taken the color and life from his face. Peter's shoes seemed to be frozen to the floor, preventing him from moving any closer to Neal than the doorway. The younger man looked like he was in so much pain, lying still and limp on the bed.

"Excuse me; are you Peter and Elizabeth Burke?" Standing behind them was a tall, 40-something man wearing a long, white coat. "I'm Dr. Bradley, Neal's doctor."

"It's nice to meet you," choked out Peter. No it wasn't. If Neal had never fallen, they wouldn't have had to meet at all.

Dr. Bradley gave the two a reassuring smile. "I just wanted to tell you that Mr. Caffrey is in the best possible care. As you can see, he is badly injured right now. The surgery went pretty well however, but there is still a long way to go. Mr. Caffrey has a lot of painkillers in him, so he will be asleep for a while longer. I'll be around to check on him in a little bit."

"Thank you, doctor." whispered Elizabeth, still holding Peter's hand. Dr. Bradley placed a comforting hand on her shoulder for a moment, then left the room.

The two Burkes walked over to Neal's bedside, and sat down in the two chairs on either side of it. Peter took Neal's free hand, while Elizabeth gently stroked his black hair. For a while, neither of them talked. They just looked at the sleeping face of a man who had turned from a criminal to Peter's best friend. Waiting for him to wake up so they knew he was still there.

Finally, Peter spoke. "El, this is all my fault." His wife tried to interrupt, but he continued. "On top of the roof…he was there because of Kate. He didn't want to live anymore. And then I said something stupid because I was trying to get him to come back inside, but he got angry…so he went to the edge…But I tried to convince him to get off the edge except he slipped. If I hadn't made him so angry he never would have fallen." Peter didn't try to hide the tears in his eyes.

"Honey…it's not your fault, okay? This whole thing goes back to Kate, and there was nothing you could have done to prevent that accident. Besides, if you hadn't gone there, he would have jumped by himself…and that would be worse. We just have to help him get over Kate." Elizabeth hadn't heard this part of the story before, but she still knew that Neal would probably have killed himself if Peter hadn't shown up to talk to him. This was one of the times she was thankful for his tracking anklet, and Peter's habit of checking his location every so often.

Peter was about to reply, but then they noticed Neal stirring.

"Hey Neal, can you open your eyes?" Peter asked. The weak man let out a soft moan, as his eyes slowly flickered open. He slowly looked at his surroundings, looking slightly dazed.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" El asked softly.

The injured consultant attempted to speak. "Peter…I…s'rry…"

The two Burkes exchanged glances before Peter replied. "Don't worry kid, it's not your fault okay? Don't worry about any of that right now."

Neal murmured something else that they couldn't understand, before slipping back to sleep.

Everything…hurt. That was the first conscious thought Neal had upon waking. His entire body felt like it had been pelted with bowling balls. Or maybe two ton boulders. Either way, he didn't think he would be able to move a muscle without passing out again from pain. He could feel Peter holding his hand that wasn't resting in a sling. Neal really didn't want to open his eyes, but he could hear the voices of Peter and Elizabeth coaxing him to, so he managed it with great difficulty. Everything seemed to be spinning. How strange. Through tired eyes, he could see the two Burkes sitting on either side of him, with worried expressions on their face. Neal wanted to talk to them, to apologize for causing this much trouble. "Peter…I…s'rry…"

Peter had told him not to worry, that it wasn't his fault. Too weary at the moment to argue, he tried to say, "Tell Moz I'm okay." before drifting off into blackness again.