Thanks everyone who's story alerted or favorited or reviewed! You make my day!
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from White Collar. None what so ever, no likeness, nothing.. Sadly.. That right belongs to the shows amazing creator Jeff Eastin! But I do own my OC's.
Authors Note: Hi! Here's the next chappie! I hope you all enjoy it! And sorry, but yes, there is a Cliffie! Only a few chaps left!
Chapter 12: The Anklet
It had been three days since Neal had been brought into the ER. Well if you want to get technical, four nights and three days. During that time, Jones and Diana had come by, each wanting to see for themselves how Neal was doing, and to bring Peter and Elizabeth clothes. They had never left, neither wanting to. They wanted to be there for Neal when he woke up, not if but when. The doctor, who's name they found out was Damon Carmichael, had told them that Neal was getting better. He even took the respirator out, saying that Neal should be waking up at anytime.
Peter was looking out the window, something he'd been doing a lot of, when there was a knock on the door. He turned around, seeing Hughes walk inside, a bag in his hand.
"Reese." Peter said, shaking his hand. Hughes nodded and looked over at Neal.
"No change?" Peter shook his head.
"Doctor Carmichael said that he should be waking up anytime now." "Good. Where's El?" He asked, looking around the room.
"She went to get some coffee." Hughes nodded. "Any news on Burton?"
"No, we still haven't found him. We've got everyone looking for him though."
Peter nodded. "What's in the bag?" Hughes took a deep breath. He opened the bag and reached in, pulling out a tracking anklet. "You've got to be kidding."
"I'm sorry, but I'm not." "He's in a coma! He's not going to be running anywhere!" Peter yelled.
"Yes, but he'll be waking up soon, and he could want to run."
"This is ridiculous." Peter said, shaking his head. "No. I won't put it on him."
"You don't have to." Hughes said and walked over to Neal's bedside. He lifted the blanket and placed the tracker on Neal's ankle.
"Reese, you can't do this." Peter protested.
"I have no choice, Peter." He said, walking back over to him. "I'm sorry, but it had to be done." Peter shook his head.
"Reese, I think you should leave." Hughes looked at him.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. You just put a tracking anklet on a man in a coma. You obviously don't trust him, after everything that he's done for us."
"Burke." Hughes said, his tone a warning.
" I'll let Diana or Jones know when Neal wakes up." Peter said and turned away from Hughes, scowling. Hughes huffed and shook his head. He left, just as Elizabeth came back in, carrying two coffee cups. She walked over to Peter, glancing at Neal along the way.
"What did Reese want? He looked pretty mad." She said, handing a cup to Peter.
"He put an anklet on Neal." Elizabeth's mouth dropped open.
"What?" She asked, overly confused. "Why?"
"He said since Neal will be waking up soon, he'll want to run. Said, he didn't have a choice." Peter spat, still angry with him.
"I can't believe he did that… Neal isn't going to run, he wouldn't-" Elizabeth said, shaking her head.
"I know hun, I know." Peter sighed, looking over at the young CI. There was a knock at the door, and a doctor, dressed head to toe in scrubs came in. Elizabeth and Peter turned to look at him.
"I'm sorry, but I'll have to ask you two to wait in the lobby, I need to do a thorough check over on Mr. Caffrey." The doctor said.
"Okay… Where's doctor Carmichael?" Peter asked, a little wary of the doctor.
"He's in a surgery right now. I'm doctor Dean, and I'll be the one doing Mr. Caffrey's check-up today."
"Okay." Elizabeth said, looking at Peter. "Let's go get some lunch, I'm starving." Peter nodded.
"Okay. Make sure to let us know if anything changes." Dr. Dean nodded. Peter and Elizabeth headed to the door, each glancing at Neal before they left.
"We'll be right back, buddy." Peter said and closed the door.
As soon as the door closed, and the doctor was sure that the Burke's were gone, he took the scrubs off of his face and grinned a maniacal grin.