(Chapter 3)

Elizabeth reached over and hugged the young man as he paused in his story. His eyes didn't meet hers as they once did, something missing or maybe he was embarrassed. Neal just let her hug him as he sat there stiffly and she finally let go. Peter ran a hand through his hair as he heard the story and let out a quiet breath of surprise if not anger at what had happened. Neal had been through so much and his tone was a far cry from the old con he knew who smiled all the time. This person was harder, colder almost but still Neal. They were all quiet a moment before Elizabeth stood.

"Let me get some more coffee. I'll only be a moment..."

Her voice trailed off as she moved towards the kitchen leaving the two men alone. Peter was looking at his friend but Neal's eyes remained lowered, staring into his empty cup as he held it between his thin fingers.

"Neal, I..."

He didn't know what to say. He couldn't say he was sorry. He had searched for the young man every day he could, looking in morgues and checking every possible place before it was evident Neal was gone. He knew the young man hadn't run and now that he knew the truth, Peter wanted to find Lynkos and kill the man himself. He felt his hands clench on the edge of the table as he felt eyes on him and saw Neal staring at him.

"He's dead."

Peter blinked, relaxing his grip on the edge of the dining table as the young man put the cup down and stood. He looked nervous as if he wasn't sure how to be anymore.

"Neal, if I had known... I looked day and night..."

He wanted to justify things but he couldn't. He hadn't failed the young man although in his heart he felt as if he had by not continuing to look when he'd finally lost hope. Neal shook his head.

"I don't blame you, Peter. I... went after them when I should have stayed back. It was my choice and I have to live with what happened."

Peter stood and reached to touch his friend on the shoulder but Neal shrugged away, a look of pain on his face. There was something in the way his partner looked that made him move closer and grasp the young man's arm firmly.

"Neal... you can tell me what happened. It's just you and me. We can go somewhere private if you don't want Elizabeth to hear. Just us."

Neal shook his head.

"Statute of limitations... I won't incriminate myself or the others. They were just doing what he asked of them."

He paused and looked up with those bright blue eyes of his.

"... What I asked of them."

Peter felt his jaw drop and then he nodded, letting go and sitting back down. He understood the young man's hesitation now.

"Did you kill anyone?"

There was silence, Peter waiting till he heard the loud intake of breath and then looked up to see Neal nod with a cold gaze. The young man's hands were clenched at his sides which meant it had been something unexpected, unplanned. Peter could guess how and why if not who.

"Besides him... did you kill anyone, Neal?"

He watched the young man relax some and shake his head. Peter sighed in relief and smiled up at him.

"Then that makes things simple. Are they expecting you back?"

Neal shook his head.

"They left. I made sure of it. Some of them had been taken against their will. Immigrants mostly without papers. They just wanted to go back home..."

Neal's voice was quiet but still clear as Peter watched him look at the back door, the young man moving slightly towards it.

"Neal... stay for dessert. Elizabeth made pie."

He saw his friend hesitate if only a moment before he nodded and went back to sit down. Peter smiled as Neal seemed to relax a bit more and leaned back in the chair. El chose to come back at that moment a smile on her face as she brought out a fresh ewer of coffee, pouring some into everyone's cups and placed a pie in the middle of the table.

"I just fixed up the guest room Neal. You should see the new colors. Peter did all the painting for me. I think you'll like it."

Neal looked up and nodded with a nearly sincere smile on his face. Peter could see some of his friend's old facade returning but the sparkle was yet to reappear.

"I'd love to see it, Elizabeth."

El grinned as she stood with Neal and they started upstairs. Peter sat at the table and sipped at his coffee deep in thought. He should be calling Hughes about this and letting him know that Neal was alive but it was past his release date so the young man was technically a free man. He owed nothing to Peter any more so the fact he was here was a miracle in itself. He didn't understand it and yet he did.

"Peter, honey?"

He turned and stood as his wife walked back, wrapping her arms around him. Neal was no where to be seen as he looked up at her curiously.

"He had to use the bathroom. I showed him where the towels and stuff were. I still had some of his clothes from the last visit."

Elizabeth was holding up pretty well despite the shock, her body trembling some against his as he stood up and held her tightly.

"He's really back, Peter? He seems so different. Changed almost."

Her voice was soft and shaky as she thought about what the young man had told them. He was still surprised by it all, so much to absorb after so much time apart.

"Neal will be ok. I'm certain of it."

()()()

Neal sat on the edge of the tub. He looked at the small pile of clothing on the counter, his clothing. Something had changed and yet everything was the same. Peter had taken him back as had El as if he had never left. They seemed as shocked by everything but still willing to accept him. In all actuality he was a free man. He could have stayed on that ship and sailed off to some unknown place like the rest of the crew but something had drawn him back. His time with the Bureau was finished, all the records he had seen declared Neal Caffrey as dead. Neal had looked into himself before he attempted to contact Peter. Maybe it was old habits dying hard but he had found a small all night cyber cafe and looked himself up by hacking into the FBI database. It hadn't been a true hack seeing that he just used Peter's password (knowing the man never changed anything) to get in and see what was up with his file. It had been an eye opener to know they had done as much work on trying to find him as they had. After 9 months missing, they had reported him not only MIA but dead. The evidence had been too obvious to think otherwise but at least Conners and that gang of his had gone away for good. They were convicted of his murder as a Federal employee which had been argued till it became fact by Hughes. Neal smiled at that as he thought about Hughes fighting to be sure they were convicted of his death. They had spent so much time just searching for him, he thought as he finally started to disrobe and gingerly pull off his clothing. He still ached quite a bit from his time on board but he had had his revenge on Lynkos even if it hadn't been planned. The man ended up being keel hauled by his own hubris.

Just under a year ago...

His body had ached after the keel hauling, Lynkos men dragging him back up and finding him alive. He coughed up water till his chest ached and he felt himself held up between strong arms. Lynkos stood there as he opened his eyes, the man smiling coldly at him.

"You're tougher than you look. Shackle him below and make sure he can't get out this time!"

Lynkos kept him imprisoned, feeding him little as he kept him manacled in the hull of the boat. Neal was kept for his mind, his ideas if they were good keeping him alive. They kept him manacled below with little interaction, some of the men sneaking him food off and on as he helped a few of them with problems. It started out with curiosity but as more of them passed the word of his helpfulness he had more clandestine visitors. They were impressed with his mind and his stories, a few playing cards with him when Lynkos would leave the ship for supplies. He slowly drew a kind of fan club among the men although they were still too afraid of Lynkos to do much for him when he was around. He had made them fearful but Neal knew he was just a bully and it would only take the right man to bring him down.

Neal had finally had enough. It had been six months of torture by Lynkos hand, more mental torment than anything as he was kept half-starved and with just enough water to live on. He had convinced one of the men who befriended him on board to leave him a book for a few hours. It was long enough as he pulled out the small metal clip he had noticed on a page and used it to pick at his manacles. He was rusty at picking locks, weak from lack of food and water but he managed to free himself of his restraints within half an hour. He hid the clip inside his shirt sleeve for any future necessity as he headed for the hatch and quietly opened it up. When Lynkos was away, the men would visit him regularly but keep the latch unlocked to the hull. Neal knew it was nighttime so he could sneak about, the few men on board in the far cabin up top drinking and talking. There was a radio playing music from some foreign country as he quietly moved to the rear of the boat where they had stowed the life raft he used before. He could just slip off ship quietly and nobody the wiser as he pulled a life jacket on and carried the heavy raft to the edge.

"Yankee..."

Neal paused hearing his nickname from Andre. He heard the cock of a gun afterwards and turned to see the little French guy staring at him curiously. There was a kind of suspicion there but fear too. The man feared for their own lives if he were to leave while Lynkos was away. He would do to them what he had seen done to that one man who had been hanging over the side that first time he'd escaped the hull. The horrific image had stayed with him all these months and he could see that same terror in Andre's eyes.

"I can't stay here. Come with me... they won't know. Two men can go faster than one."

He was pleading with the man when he heard the gun uncock.

"Go, Yankee but if you are caught, you will be killed and one of us with you. Are you willing to hurt someone for your freedom?"

He knew they all were prisoners of a kind to Lynkos, many of them having admitted to him at one time or other in their chats they had been found by the captain when they were hiding from immigration. He had promised them money and a new life but had enslaved them to the ship and smuggling. They all had families they wished to return to or lives they'd like to live but were afraid from past experience to escape from the man who had already killed several crewmen to serve as examples. Andre was no different. He had been on the run from immigration and stumbled onto Lynkos and the idea of protection and fast money. Neal saw the fear there but also something else.

"I don't want to hurt anyone. I want to go home. Don't you want to go home? I'd go to prison before I stay here another day."

Neal was desperate and the man nodded.

"Go. I will find a way to hide your escape Yankee."

Neal thanked him but it was short lived as they heard a horn blast and realized Lynkos was coming already. Both men froze as Neal tried to think what to do and Andre turned to see the light flashing from the boat in the distance.

()()()

Neal went back below at Andre's urgings, the French man no longer holding the gun on him as a threat but just asking him. He agreed knowing it would be worse for everyone if he tried to escape now or was found running free by Lynkos. He had Andre help him place the manacles on again before the man left and locked up the hatch just as they heard the footsteps of Lynkos and the others who had gone with him return. It had been in the nick of time, literally as he sat in the hull and sighed tiredly. He would have another chance, the clip he had hidden in his sleeve still there.

It wasn't too soon after Lynkos return that the hatch was unlocked and the captain entered the dimly lit enclosure to gawk at his captured con. Neal gazed up at the man with little fear as his chin was taken up in one large hand and held tightly.

"There is a flush to your cheeks. What have you been doing when I am gone?"

The man smiled menacingly at him as someone was tossed to his feet and he saw it was Andre. Someone must have seen them or why would they be doing this. Neal kept his face bland without speaking. Lynkos smiled back darkly.

"We shall have to do what captains of old did on ships. Bring them both up."

Neal was freed from the post but still manacled as they dragged both him and Andre up to the top and he was tied to the mast in a kneeling position, arms bound up and over his head to the post.

"If you are truly innocent of what was told, take the first hit Andre."

Neal was tied fast to the post so he couldn't move or turn to see what was going on as he felt something hit him hard across the back. He stifled a cry but it was followed by several more lashings as everyone was forced to take a turn with Lynkos last of all. The captain moved closer to his ear and whispered:

"You cannot turn them against me. They are mine to control."

Neal turned his head as best he could and glared at the man which only made Lynkos hit him harder till he passed out from the pain. It was only a few minutes of unconsciousness as he was rudely and painfully wakened by something burning on his back.

"Vodka is a great antiseptic. Shame to waste it but it is two fold. Take him below!"

Neal was dragged back to his hole, arms pulled overhead as he was forced to a kneeling position, his legs also manacled to the floor. His back stung from the alcohol that had been poured on it as he slumped against his bindings. Pain or no pain he knew he still had to escaped this place. He wouldn't give in to the man if it was the last thing he did. Someone had been looking for him even if his memory was still fuzzy. He could find Mozzie to help him.

Mozzie...

Neal returned to the present, realizing he was in the shower, the hot water soaking into his aching body. He still saw the bruises there and scarring tissue from his many injuries. Most were healing just fine but he would have tokens of his time with Lynkos. He turned off the water and started to towel off with a wince at times where he still hurt. He pulled on the clean underwear and clothes that he knew were his own and left the bathroom. He could hear voices below talking as he moved towards the guestroom.

"It sounds like he's out of the bathroom. You should go talk to him, Peter."

It was Elizabeth speaking, her voice full of concern for him. He wasn't sure why he had come back here to them. Maybe because once he had remembered who he was he knew he had nowhere else to turn to. He had run for so long perhaps he finally found the one place he could stay. Neal shook his head at the thought, skittish at thinking he belonged anywhere. He was free now. He could just disappear...

"Neal?"

He looked up to see Peter standing there in the doorway. Neal noticed the agent looking uncertain of something as he sat on the edge of the bed and waited. Peter was still quiet when he realized what it was he was waiting for.

"Come in Peter."

The agent nodded with a relieved look before crossing the threshold and standing some feet from him. They were quiet a moment before the agent cleared his throat.

"I know your time with the Bureau officially ended some time ago..."

Peter's face flushed some as if searching for the right words. It was hard for both of them to find the words to speak and Neal still felt like some stranger here despite the feeling of being home.

"It's ok, Peter. I'll figure something out."

He yawned seeing Peter remain a moment then nod as if taking that as a sign the conversation was over. The agent seemed cowed by the distance between them now as he turned to leave. Neal made to curl up on the bed as Peter looked back at him one last time.

"It's good to have you back, Neal."

Peter was smiling softly at him before he closed the door and Neal was left alone. He lay on the bed thinking about being here again. Of all the people he wanted to see, he came to see Peter first. He had tried to contact Mozzie but the numbers he had were all out of service. Figures with his being dead why wouldn't his friend change numbers. He wondered if Mozz stayed in contact with El and Peter but hadn't asked yet as he tried to find ways to broach the topic of coming back to life after a year of being gone. And what about June? He hadn't asked about his benefactor. She had always been there for him. Neal sighed quietly pulling the blanket over him as he curled up underneath and started to relax. There was a sense of security here despite his uncertainty as he started to doze off.