AN: Oh my, I am sooooooooooo so so soooo so sorry! Please don't hate me. I kinda fell off the map with this story. I could most certainly go into a rant of all the things that happened and such, but you're obviously here to read the story, so: Onward!
Also, let me know if the story flow is still going smoothly. It felt a little awkward writing this chapter, since I haven't written this storyline for a while. I'll leave you to it then. : )
"Glad you found the time to join us, agent Ferins. Everyone, conference room, now!" The old man growled, climbing the stairs and going straight into the mentioned room. The rest followed quickly, not wanting to make the man anymore upset than he already was.
Quickly and quietly, both FBI teams situated themselves on opposite sides of the conference table with Neal and Haley on the New York team's side. The Vegas agent, who had been identified as Kreegan, glared at Haley and mouthed 'traitor' at her which she acknowledged by sticking her tongue out at him before grabbing Neal's hand. He smiled at her and squeezed it. Before Kreegan could say or do anything in retaliation, Hughes began to address everyone.
"First of all, I'd just like to say I am not, in the slightest bit, impressed by your team's behavior, agent Ferins." The Agent in Charge began, "And I don't care how you might do things in Vegas, but around here we typically observe common curtsey. So while you and your team are here you will respect me and my agents, as well as standard FBI operating procedure. Are we clear?"
"Yes sir." Was the reply.
"Now that that's out of the way, everyone, this is Special Agents Dane Ferins," Hughes officially introduced the lead Vegas agent who nodded in acknowledgement, "George Kreegan," the shortest Vegas agent preformed a mock salute, "And Theodore Ramirez." The bulky Hispanic gave a little wave.
"This is my Senior Agent, Peter Burke and his team; Agents Diana Barrigan and Clinton Jones, and our consultant: Neal Caffrey." Neal winked at the agents, who bristled slightly. "And I believe you already know Ms. Jones down there."
"Unfortunately." Ramirez and Kreegan sighed together, earning a glare from their boss.
"All your fault." Haley quipped with a grin.
"Since when?" Kreegan asked.
"Since Dane decided it was a good idea to start digging into my past. I'd very much rather that stay buried, thank you much."
Hughes cleared his throat loudly, and everyone focused on him, but not before Neal and Haley exchanged a quick glance and wink.
"Now, how many of you are familiar with Edmund Spockerelli?"
Haley's hand shot into the air while everyone else nodded solemnly.
"That's the guy who organized several high stake heists and ended up killing off everyone involved, including some innocent bystanders, right?" Jones asked.
"Yes. We received an anonymous tip this morning that Spockerelli is planning a new heist in New York, and is resorting to kidnapping and extortion to get the help he wants, since no one in their right mind would willingly take part." He handed out copies of the case files. "I want all of you to go through these and try to figure out what he's going to go after and who he might try to recruit for this thing." He saw Peter open his mouth to say something, "This case takes priority. If you can link any other cases to it, be my guest. The more we can get on this guy, the better, since there isn't a whole lot to begin with. If you need me, I'll be in my office." With that he walked out of the conference room, leaving the two teams in an awkward silence.
"sooo, how've you been Dane? It's been awhile." Neal said nonchalantly, as he began to read over the case file he'd been handed.
"Can it, Caffrey."
"Agent Ferins, Neal is a valuable member of my team; I'm going to ask you to treat him with the same respect you would show one of my agents." Peter told the agent across from him. Dane's lips thinned into a tight line, but he nodded in affirmation.
"You done got told!" Haley's voice sang out from behind the file that was in front of her face. She flipped it down onto the table and got up, making her way towards the windows.
"Ask before you mark up their windows, Hales." Ramirez said to Haley in a soft voice. Peter noted that she had some sort of pencil in her hand.
"What is that?"
"It's a china marker; it can write on glass and be scrubbed off later. She uses it as part of her thinking process, you know, writing it out and stuff." Neal explained to Peter.
"How do you know that? You two planning a heist or something?" Kreegan sneered.
"She showed me the pictures of her office from the Fletcher case." Neal said shortly, a mock hurt look on his face.
"Oh that one was a bitch." Haley mumbled as she tapped the end of the pencil on the window, "You mind?" she asked, looking at Peter.
"Mind what?"
"If I write on the windows."
"Can't you just use paper?"
"This is more environmentally friendly. Trust me, I did paper for a case once and the ADA almost bit my head off after going through a quarter of it."
"I remember that, you ran out of that office so fast I thought you were the Flash for a minute." Kreegan joked.
"Here's an idea, how's about we all shut up and work quietly." Ferins suggested irritably.
"I like that idea." Peter said, looking at Neal, who looked back at him innocently before picking up the file again.
"First of all: I need a yes or no on the window thing." Annoyance was evident in Haley's voice as she spoke.
"Yeah, sure, whatever." Peter waved his hand dismissively.
"Secondly, quiet? Dane, I know it's been awhile, but you should know better. I don't have my phone, which means I don't have my music, which means…"
She paused as Dane held an iPod out to her.
"Unless your taste in music has done a complete 180, no thanks."
"Oh come on, it's not that bad." Ferins sighed, putting the device back in his pocket. Haley started writing something on the window as she replied,
"Yeah, sure, and I love blood and violence."
The room became quiet, save the noise of flipping papers and Haley tapping out musical rhythms when she wasn't writing something on the window. Twenty minutes passed before Haley took a step back from the window, where small writing took up a four foot square area and several pictures were taped up.
"All done!" She declared. Everyone looked up curiously.
"All done with what?" Peter asked confused. He got up and made his way over to look at the window. He saw that the pictures were head shots, several of whom he recognized instantly. "Why are Neal, Mozzie, Gary and Alex up here?"
"Those are some of the people Eddie wants for his little heist. I also included some possible targets that line up with the time frame he's working on."
"So he's already approached you about this then, Zee? When was that?" Dane asked, turning back from the window.
"Two months ago. Haven't seen him face-to-face though, thank gods."
"Wait, is this what you were talking about last night at the crime scene?" Diana asked as she studied the pictures.
"Yup." Was the simple reply.
"You've known about this the whole time?" Peter asked angrily, and was about to continue a rant on how she should have said something a lot sooner, when something else occurred to him, "You know Spockerelli personally, don't you."
Haley put her hands in the air, "You got me. I dated the asshole. Albeit that was like, twelve years ago at this point. But yeah, what can I say? I was young and dumb. However, I know firsthand how violent he can get when he doesn't get his way, so I'm going to do whatever I can to stop him."
"Haley." Neal said quietly, concern evident in voice as he pulled her into a hug, "You never said anything about being in an abusive relationship. Are you sure you even want to deal with this stuff? I'd understand if you needed to get out of the city, or the country even."
She smiled softly at him. "That's probably because it wasn't an abusive relationship. It just ended… badly."
"How's that?"
"Two bullets to the chest. Luckily for her, it happened in an upscale neighborhood in Miami and a vacationing trauma doctor found her right away." Ferins explained calmly as he sat back down. Neal and the New York team stared in shock between the agent and Haley.
"Be more dramatic will you." The consultant huffed, "Anyways; my pain, your gain. At the moment at least, right? I have a totally crazy, totally something I would do, plan for ya though."
"What might that be, Zee?" Dane asked caustiously.
"You really shouldn't call me that in front of company you know, they might get the wrong idea about me."
"The plan, Zee, what is it?"
"Oh yeah. So check this out: I call Eddie and make a 'deal' with him for my… services." She said simply with a grin.