Chapter 3

"Will he be okay?" El asked worriedly.

"Yep, he'll be sore for a few days but that paddling should keep him from doing anything that stupid again…or at least for the near future; with Neal you can't be sure that it will have the lasting effect we hope for," replied Peter.

"Now why did he take Reece's car?" asked Elizabeth.

"He said it was to help Sara get her items back to her apartment; but I have to wonder if he didn't have some other motive. He told me once that he had never lied to me…straight out lying. He also admitted that he may not have told me the whole truth all of the time. I think that this time it falls into this category. I think he has told me only part of the truth this time and the rest will appear at a later date; I just hope that it won't earn him another paddling," replied Peter as he cuddled his wife.

The next few days told Hughes that Neal had been punished efficiently for "borrowing "his car without permission as Neal winced when sitting or walked gingerly down the stairs. The first day it was real but by the third day he was acting the part of a well punished individual.

"Stop with the play acting Neal, Hughes isn't stupid he's going to figure out that you have recovered from your paddling and that you are only faking it," ordered Peter. "Now have a sit we have a new case," he added as he handed Neal a folder.

Neal shrugged his shoulders but did as he was told and focused on the case at hand…or at least focused somewhat on the case. The rest of his mind was wondering about the flight information that had been sent to Sara that he had been unable to recover the other night. He was worried that Sara had to have opened the package by now and was probably even now checking it out. He knew he should just admit to Peter what he had done but with the paddling still on his mind…and his butt still a bit sore he wasn't just ready to admit the whole truth just yet.

It took Sara the rest of the week before she discovered that it was Caffrey who had requested the information she now had in her hand. "Now what are you up to Caffrey," she thought to herself. "Why is this information so important to you?" It was then that the real motive of why Caffrey had offered to take her home after that last case…it was to get his hands on this report.

"We'll just see what Peter has to say about this," she eventually decided after having thoughts of what she would like to do to Neal, among them was beating him with her defensive tool, it had done its job when she had confronted that car thief when she first met with Burke and Caffrey. "I bet I could get the information on the Rafael that you stole if I used my little friend on your butt," she thought with a smile but then realized that if she did the information couldn't be introduced at court so she concluded that she would give it to Peter to handle.

"Your butt's going to be cooked soon Caffrey," she said as she packed up the file to take to Burke. She left for the FBI soon afterwards.

Sara was going to turn the FAA package over to Peter but when she arrives and saw Neal sitting at his desk playing with his hat she couldn't help herself but confront him about the package.

"Caffrey what are you up to?" she asked angrily.

Neal looked at her and replied, "I'm waiting for Peter to get off the phone with Elizabeth," as he swirled the hat on his finger.

"I'm serious Caffrey," Sara said a bit louder.

"About what?"

"This," spat Sara as she waved the FAA package in front of Neal's face. "You should have known that I would find out that it was you that was responsible for having this sent to me. You used this whole case as a means to an end didn't you?"

While Peter was finishing his conversation with his wife he noticed the exchange between Neal and Sara and grew concerned as the interchange got louder. "El I've got to close it seems that Neal and Sara have decided not to play nice; I had better put it to a end before Sara hurts Neal…I Love you El," concluded Peter as he brought his conversation to an end.

A loud whistle interrupted Neal's and Sara's argument and they looked up with shock. "Get up here…NOW!" ordered Peter who waited by the door as they two combatants entered his office. He closed the door behind Neal and wait as they each took a chair before he returned to his chair behind the desk.

"What part of 'play nice' didn't you understand, Neal?" he asked his consultant.

"It wasn't me that started it Peter, "replied Neal.

Peter turned to Sara and asked, "Okay, what did he do to set you off?" holding up his hand to forestall Neal's complaint.

Sara pulled the FAA package out of her purse and laid it in front of Peter. "He conned the FAA into sending this to me and conned us all in his attempt to get his hands on it…it almost worked, too…at least the part of getting his hands on it. He had to find out that when I 'died' my mail would be held until my death was investigated so that was the motivation he used to get the case closed. My resurrection brought the case to an end and put the mail in my hands where he 'borrowed' a car to take me home so he could steal it," explained Sara angrily.

Peter had listened as he glanced at the package. He knew what was in it and why Neal was so desperate to get his hands on it. It disturbed him that Neal had used them again to get his hands on it but he could sympathize with the reasoning behind the action.

"Neal, please step out while I discuss this with Sara…and Neal don't leave the building; we will have another discussion about all of this later," he ordered and waited as Neal left.

"Sara what I have to tell you will help you understand why Neal did what he did…it doesn't excuse it but I think you should know," began Peter as he paused to consider his words.