A/N: Spoilers for the final in Jewel (#29)! I wrote Jump, Jester, and Jousting before the final, but I don't think there's anything in them that contradicts the final.

26. Jump

"If you ever do that again," Peter grabbed Neal by the collar of his jacket, shaking him a little. "I really will put you back in jail."

"But Peter…" Neal protested, hands held up in placation.

"I don't want to hear it," Peter let him go. "I'd rather have you in jail than splattered all over the pavement."

"So now is not a good time to tell you that I've jumped from much higher places?" Neal asked innocently.

27. Jester

I had been a bad day in a hundred little ways, from the caterer bringing the wrong silverware to the bride breaking her heel ten minutes before the ceremony. By the time Elizabeth got home, all she wanted was a hot bath, a bottle of good wine, and her bed, preferably occupied by her husband.

What she got was an empty house and a hungry dog. Needless to say, she was somewhat disgruntled.

She knew the hours Peter's work required. She had known it before she had ever married him, and she usually didn't hold that against him, but tonight she decided it was high time she did.

Her husband was less than cooperative in this end. His phone went straight to voice mail. She supposed she should have taken the hint, but it was not a hint taking sort of night, so she called his partner instead.

"Elizabeth?" Neal was clearly surprised to have her on the line.

"Is Peter there?" she asked, not caring if she sounded angry.

"Here as in in the building somewhere, but I don't know where," Neal sounded suspiciously oblivious to her ire. "He's got me working in archives, trying to match MOs on jewelry heists."

Elizabeth was about to tell him she didn't care, because for all that Neal could do an outstanding impression of a kicked puppy, he actually had remarkably thick skin. He tended to only take things personally when they actually were.

Neal though had other ideas, and he cut her off before she could open her mouth. "It's downright criminal that some of these guys haven't been caught. There was one guy who tried to get the manager to open the vault using a banana."

"A banana?" Elizabeth asked, despite herself.

"Yeah," Neal confirmed.

"And he got away?" Elizabeth asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, and this other guy…."

Initially, Elizabeth tried to resisted distraction. She wanted to yell at her husband, not be entertained by a conman and a stack of files that bore testament to human idiocy. Neal was very good at what he did though, and almost before she knew it, she was laughing with the phone tucked between her shoulder and ear while she filled Satchamo's bowl.

"Hey, Peter's here," Neal broke off mid-sentence. "I'll tell him to pick up a bottle of Riesling on his way home. Bye Elizabeth."

Neal hung up before she could answer, leaving her trying to figure out at just what point in the conversation she had mentioned wanting wine.

By the time Peter got home, looking slightly bewildered by the wine bottle in his hand, Elizabeth had taken a nice hot bath and put on her favorite pajamas and was ready to have a glass of wine with her husband.

The day might have been a loss, but the night, at least, was looking up.

28. Jousting

In all honesty, the game had been getting boring.

Neal had pulled his first major job at the age of 24. It had been thrilling and new and most importantly, successful on all counts. By the forth job, it had started to become routine. By the sixth he was thinking of retiring. Then he decided to diversify his job prospects. It was then that he moved from forging legal papers and stealing antiquities to forging paintings.

Art was inherently rewarding for him. Coupled with the thrill of getting away with it, he had been able to entertain himself for quite a while.

By the time Peter had been assigned his case, he had been getting bored again. It had almost become routine. He had pushed for more intricate heist, had forged higher profile paintings, but even that wasn't enough.

But suddenly he had had an FBI agent shadowing his every step. It was like graduating from playing hide and seek on the play ground to champion level chess, and for the first time, he had had to work to win. For the first time, he couldn't be sure that he was going to get away with it.

He was ecstatic, and he expressed his gratitude in pizza delivered to car windows, fine bottles of wine left at the door of shabby hotel rooms, and birthday cards. Every job was a thrill, because it meant facing off against the first person who had ever really been able to keep up with him.

He was caught off guard by the discovery that the game was just as challenging and thrilling when it was played from the other side, and he suspected that as long as he was playing on Peter's team, he would never have to worry about getting bored again.

29. Jewel

Neal had never been much of a jewel thief. He had stolen a few here and there, but he had quickly become bored with stealing rocks. He had remained prone to pieces of jewelry from antiquity, something about the history behind them and the people who had worn them, but the rocks themselves, not so much.

He had known jewel thieves though. Not the low class, money grubbing ones, but the high class ones, the ones who stole for the art, or in this case, the sparkle. The look on their faces when they saw a perfect cut was probably about the same look he got on his face when he saw an original Di Vinci.

It was probably about the same look that Peter currently had on his face, and he was most definitely not looking at any rock.

Elizabeth had finally managed to talk Peter into coming to one of her charity events, and Peter, not surprisingly, was running late. Actually, he probably wouldn't have made it at all, except that Elizabeth had invited Neal, and Neal had made Peter bring his tux with him to work. Otherwise, there would have been no hope.

Because they were late, Peter was only now getting his first look at Elizabeth as she came down the marble stairway in her formal attire. And if the expression on his face was any indication, it was quite a look.

That was the look, the one Neal had seen on the faces of jewel thieves everywhere, the look of someone who appreciated both value and beauty.

Elizabeth, who had been looking just a little annoyed, spotted Peter, saw the way he was looking at her, and smiled brighter than the hope diamond. Peter was already making his way through the crowd with a speed that he usually reserved for chasing criminals.

Neal set his shoulder against a marble pillar at the edge of the room, took a sip of wine, and was almost amused.

It wasn't just that Peter thought Elizabeth was beautiful, or smart, or supportive, or a hundred other things worth commending. She was all those things, but when Peter looked at her that wasn't what he saw. What he saw was the center of his world, the one thing he could not live without, and at moments like this, it seemed as if she was not only the center of his world, but his whole world.

It bothered Neal that he couldn't remember Kate ever looking at him like that. It bothered him more that he would never have the chance to find out if it had been there and he had just missed it. He knew she hadn't missed his looks.

Elizabeth caught his eye from across the room and smiled. Certainly not the same smile she had given Peter, but it was warm and friendly in the way Elizabeth usually was. Neal raised his glass to her and mouthed 'you're welcome.'

Elizabeth laughed softly and tucked herself back against her husband's side, leaving Neal feeling alone in the crowd.

30. Just

"But it just…" Neal started.

"I don't want to hear it," Peter huffed.

"But I just…"

"Neal," Peter warned.

"It's just that…"

"Neal stop talking," Peter glared, cutting off Neal's next protest with a hand over his mouth, "just this once."