Author's Notes: Wow! I'm stupified, stunned, shocked or whatever else you want to call my amazement about the amount of reviews the last chapter recieved! Thank you sooo very much and now, here is your reward... an update the very next day! There is some bad news for those of you that follow the story Untimely Phobia because I have decided to put that story on hold for now. I will update it but that will be a while. I apologize and feel terrible about this...

Neal: I'm not.

Me: Don't worry Neal, I'll make sure you regret saying that whenever I do update that story...

Neal: ~pouts~

The sounds of ambulances, fire trucks and police sirens wailed through the stricken streets that surrounded the husk of what had once been a deli. There was a shocked silence and the traffic stopped completely in front of the shell. Onlookers could only gaze in horrified disbelief.

The deli had been a popular restaurant and quite a few of the people stopped in traffic had been on their way to the deli. They pitied any unlucky person that had still been inside of it.

Those that had been inside were gazing in a mournful manner at the ruins. The young man that had saved them had yet to show himself. Many were looking around hopefully, waiting for the suave stranger to come strolling down a side-street with a crooked smile on his face, baby and all. But many of them knew that no one could have possibly survived that blast.

Jill knelt by the ruins of the back door and trailed her fingertips along what had once been the door knob with a small sob. She had seen the look in Neal's eyes (she knew him and Peter because they used the deli so frequently that the two men had befriended her) when he was reaching for the knob. The baby had been cradled in his arms, the bomb removed. He had looked pale and carried his shoulder in a pained fashion as he used it to cushion the infant's head.

Her shoulders shook as she picked up a cell phone that was half buried by the rubble. It was her phone, and she realized that the men must have dropped it on the way out. Jill picked it up and dialed a number into the device before holding it to her ear.

"May I speak to Agent Burke?"

Neal Caffrey inhaled sharply in pain as his consciousness returned. There was a crushing weight pinning the entire lower half of his body down and his shoulder was on fire. Something was jammed into his side and the con artist struggled to draw air into his lungs. Something moved against his good side and he flinched in surprise. A pair of big green eyes looked up at him as the infant attempted to snuggle closer to him. The kid seemed to realize that Neal had saved his life.

The con's back was on fire (with pain not literal fire) and he attempted to shift into a better position. He coughed hoarsely and grimaced when it felt like his throat was about to rip open because of the coughing. Swallowing hurt and breathing was agony.

He clenched his fist as he tried to ride out a wave of pain, his head tilted back and his body slightly arched. The wave was over quickly and Neal felt his taut muscles relax slightly. Twisting to the side as much as he dared, Neal did his best to examine the baby. "I really need to start calling you something other than kid, or baby." Neal muttered, addressing the child next to him.

There was a soft gurgling noise from the infant's mouth and Neal felt his lips being tugged upwards into a smile. "I don't think you want me to call you that kid."

The infant's tiny fist found his fingers and wrapped around one of them and Neal could feel the baby shivering. Crap. How was he supposed to warm the kid up when he couldn't even move?

With a low groan Neal forced his arms to push his upper body into a semi-sitting position. The pain was horrible but Neal did his best to push it out of the forefront of his mind, concern for the baby was stronger.

"How about Jay?"

There was an indignant gurgle.

"Nick?... no? ok then…"

"Charlie?" Neal's eyes lit up when the infant seemed to agree with the name. "Well, nice to meet you Charlie. I'm Neal, Neal Caffrey. Of course people sometimes call me other things that aren't so nice but…."

Speaking of people, I need to make someone realize that we're down here or else we'll end up dying anyways. Reaching into his pocket, Neal produced a severely battered cell phone and sighed in relief when it worked. Thank you God.

He dialed a familiar set of numbers and put it one speaker so that he didn't have to hold it. Leaning over, Neal picked up the baby after checking for any serious injuries, and cradled him in his good arm. Charlie curled up against young man's stomach, the shivers slowly starting to fade.

"P'ter?"

Peter Burke fumbled for the phone while at the same time trying to keep the car on the road. The ringing had startled him, his mind wrapped up in the explosion that he had heard over the phone shortly before he had been disconnected.

Flashback

"Alright Neal, get out of there and I'll meet you there in a couple of minutes. Ok?"

There was a pained gasp before he heard Neal reply with a breathy, "Yeah," as the younger man started to head out of the building. Peter was reassured by the sound of Neal's footsteps and felt a wave of relief. His partner had gotten out of there ali—wait what was that noise?

"A bomb Peter. As in B-O-M-B. Also known as a weapon that goes KABOOM and you all fall dead." The single sentence ran through Peter's head and the agent could feel the blood drain from his face. ::Oh God no, please!::

"NEAL! Neal answer me!" He screamed into the receiver of the phone, ignoring the fact that the line had already been disconnected.

A sense of despair swept over Peter and the agent blinked rapidly. Neal was dead.

Neal Caffrey, master art forger and legendary con artist was dead because of him. He had killed his best friend, partner and son in one day. All it had taken was a single action made out of brashness.

What hurt the worst was that Neal had probably died thinking that Peter hated him. The last thing Peter had ever told his partner was a cold order to get lunch then find his own way to get back to work.

He closed his eyes, the look of hurt on Neal's face when the agent had cut him off in the middle of a word by driving away. ::This can't be happening.::

Not to Neal.

Neal was the invincible and talented con artist turned criminal informant. Just like a character out of a comic book, fedora and all. Neal was a Superman in his own unique way.

A picture of the younger man's trademark grin flashed across Peter's conscience and he hit the steering wheel angrily. He should have just told Neal what was going on instead of trying to figure how to while snipping his head off at the same time.

::I'm so sorry Neal:: If Peter had been the kind of man like Neal had been then he wouldn't have been ashamed by the tears that streaked down his face.

He had no reason to be ashamed, Peter knew that, but he also knew that he was going to have to be the rock that the rest of his team and his wife could lean on once they got the news.

That is if they wanted anything to do with him…

End Flashback

Flipping open the cell phone Peter answered with a pained, "May I ask who's calling?"

"P'ter?" Neal is that really you? It can't be… Peter's eyes widened and he quickly corrected the Taurus' path so that the car would stay on the road. There was an angry honk from behind him.

"Neal?"

"Mhmm?" Caffrey's voice sounded incredibly weak and extremely pained.

"Neal!"

"Don' wear 'y n'me out Peteh…" Peter felt his heart wrench painfully as Neal attempted to lighten the situation up a little bit.

"If you insist." The agent teased kindly.

"H'rts." Neal's tone was plaintive.

"Where are you buddy?" Peter asked as he pulled up in front of the demolished deli.

There was a hitch in Neal's breathing before a wet coughing fit took over. There were a couple of pained gasps before Neal summoned enough strength to answer. "'nder the 'uilding."

Oh God, was the only coherent thought that ran through the agent's mind.

"Hang in there buddy. I'll get you out of there, I promise!" The silence on the other side of the line scared Peter and he wished… no he could!

"Neal, I want you to hang up and then call me back using the video call. Ok?" Peter hoped desperately that Neal would understand what he was saying.

"Ok." The other man's voice was too breathy for Peter's liking.

The call disconnected and the next few minutes felt like hours as Peter waited for his partner to call him back. Finally his phone rang and Peter answered it quickly.

Jesus Neal, Peter swore mentally as he took in the image of his partner's battered body. He had known just by hearing Neal's voice that things were bad…but actually seeing the damage afflicted on his friend's body sickened Peter. "Neal, what hurts the most?" Peter knew asking the younger man what hurt in general was an idiotic question.

"My back."

Peter winced and brought the car to a stop, his face paling noticeably as he took in the ruins of the deli. How had Neal survived something like that? Lucky bastard.

"Where?"

"Lower back…Peter?"

"Yeah buddy?"

The camera turned away from Neal, shaking slightly, as the con artist brought it around so that it was looking at a small infant. Then it moved so that Peter could see that Neal was pinned down to the ground by several large slabs of cement from the waist down.

Peter closed his eyes and shook his head miserably. There was nothing he could do to help his friend except to keep him talking.

"You have any diapers?" The question was weak but filled with amusement.

"Any what?"

"Diapers, known as the things babies tend to crap in. Do we need to have the same type of discussion as before?" The tone was sarcastic and exasperated at the same time.

"Why the hell would I have diapers?"

Neal looked like he was about to say something before deciding against it. Suddenly the camera was jostled roughly and then it seemed to be going closer and closer to a mouth. There was a frantic, "No! Don't….give that back….Charlie I'm…you!"

Peter smirked and decided that he liked this baby because the infant was putting Neal in his mentor's shoes.

Then the camera gave the agent a flattering view of the inside of a baby's mouth. Peter's smirk faded into a look of disgust and was saved from the drooling inside of the mouth when Neal grabbed the phone and wiped it off on his shirt.

"Sorry about that."

Peter simply grinned in response. "Neal, you scared the crap out of me."

Neal knew that Peter wasn't talking about the camera incident just now. "I figured that from the sound of your voice when you answered the phone." The younger man lay back down weakly, unable to hide the grimace on his face as his abused body adjusted itself to the new position. Neal set the phone up against an adjacent piece of rubble so that Peter would be able to see him without tiring his arm.

"I'll get you out of there."

Neal smiled softly, trust and admiration shining in his eyes. "I know you will Peter." The younger man's body went limp and Peter freaked.

No matter how loud or how many times the agent screamed his friend's name, there was no response…

Author's Notes: I know its not as long as the first chapter but then again, that chapter was over 4.000 words... anywho... did you like it? Hate it? I tried to throw in some humor to lighten things up a little but you guys will have to let me know if it worked or not. Just to clear something up about the last chapter, the other people never called the cops when Neal was knocked out because they didn't have the guts. They were all within an easy target zone range and didn't want to be killed and end up having accomplished nothing...

Please leave me a review!