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Neal walked into Peter's office early the following morning. Peter noticed that he wasn't wearing one of his usual suits. Instead, he was wearing a simple button down shirt with khakis. His hair was messier than it usually was. He looked several years younger, and, of course, that was the point.
"I'm not feeling so good this morning. I think I might head home early," Neal said as he nervously sat down across from his partner. His foot was tapping frantically on the floor.
"I don't think so," Peter shook his head. "No way am I explaining to your mother why you're not here."
"Fine, but can I least go out and get some coffee?"
"No. You're staying right here, where I can keep an eye on you," Peter glared at him playfully, but Neal didn't look amused. He gave an overdramatic sigh and folded his arms across his chest.
"Maybe she's not coming," Neal suggested, turning around to look down at the empty bullpen.
"Trust me, she's coming," Peter assured, and before Neal could argue he was interrupted by a sudden outburst from downstairs. Both stood up and crossed to the large glass window that overlooked the whole office. A young girl had stormed into the bullpen, followed closely by a few agents, trying to calm her down.
"Where is he?" she screamed angrily at a defenseless intern who had crossed her path. The intern froze and looked around for help from one of the older agents. "Where is Nick Halden, or Neal Caffrey, or whatever the hell he's going by this week?" she turned on Diana who had allowed herself to laugh at Neal being addressed by a girl with such hostility. "Where is he?" Diana looked up to Peter's office and, seeing both of them standing in the window, motioned for them to join her and the girl.
"Is that a friend of yours?" Peter asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yep. That would be my sister," Neal groaned. Peter nudged him forward and they went to join the others. Neal barely even made it to the bottom step before the girl strode over to him. She did not have the same relieved look his mother had had upon seeing her supposedly dead son. Peter immediately jumped out of her path. She reached Neal, stared up at him, and slapped him across the face with, what sounded like, a great deal of force.
"Okay. I deserved that," Neal said. The girl made a motion as if she were going to hit him again, but he held up his hands in surrender. "Kristen, please. Let me explain."
"Explain?" she practically shrieked at him. "Explain what? Explain why our mother, my mother, came home yesterday completely hysterical because her son, the son who we thought died ten years ago, was living, perfectly healthy and alive, in the same god damn city as us, and we didn't even know about it? Explain why you ran away, changed your name, and abandoned us?" she stood before him, breathing heavily and waiting intently for his response.
"I didn't mean for you to find out," Neal said calmly. He knew that all eyes were on him now.
"Oh. You didn't mean for us to find out? Well, doesn't that just explain everything?" Kristen laughed cynically. "We buried you. Did you know that? We had a funeral and everything. You have a gravestone in the town cemetery. Right next to Neal and Tyler. We thought that's what you would have wanted," her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "You know, after we thought you died, I did everything to take care of her because I know that's what you did when your dad died. I spent the past ten years trying to be like you, and you've been here the whole time, pretending to be someone completely different."
"Kris, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say," Neal tried to reach out and touch her shoulder, but she shoved his hand away.
"I don't want you to say anything," she brought her voice down to a low growl. "Just stay away from Mom and stay the hell away from me," with that, she turned on her heels and left. The office fell silent. Everyone was staring blankly at Neal. He wanted nothing more than to follow her, but he knew he had to leave her alone now. He owed her that much.
"Well, that could have gone better," Neal mumbled to Peter. He hadn't seen his sister since she was five years old and, as happy as he was to see that she had become a strong, independent young woman, it killed him to have her look at him like that. Growing up, she loved him more than anything. Her large brown eyes had never looked upon him with anything other than complete adoration, until now, at least. Her eyes had bore into him with pure, unrecognizable hatred. He would have doubted that it actually was his sister, if she hadn't grown into an exact replica of their mother.
Five minutes later, Neal was seated at one of the many seats in the conference room. Peter stood, staring out the window. He had managed to get everyone back to work and had practically shoved Neal back up the stairs. Diana entered the room with an ice pack and handed it to Neal.
"I thought you could use this," she said, trying to suppress a smirk.
"Gee thanks," Neal mumbled. He took the ice pack from her. His head was throbbing. Apparently, Kristen had hit him harder than he thought.
"Can we get back to work, please?" Peter asked impatiently. He wasn't mad at Neal. Not anymore. It was quite the opposite, in fact. Although Neal would never admit it, this was killing him. The best way to get him through this was with a great deal of distractions. Luckily, the FBI was the number one source for distractions. "Did you figure out that jewelry heist?"
"Not yet. I haven't really been looking into it," the truth was, he had been avoiding it. "Maybe you should find someone else to help you on this one."
"Sorry, Neal. You don't get to pick and choose your cases. That's not a part of our arrangement. Either figure this out from the office or put your family issues on hold for the time being and check out that crime scene with me," Peter couldn't help but feeling a little guilty. He hated telling Neal what to do, being his handler. But he had Neal's best interest in mind. Didn't that count for something?
"Fine," Neal said coldly, and he left the conference room, heading back to his own desk.
Kristen stormed into the two bedroom apartment she shared with her mother and slammed the door angrily. The walls shook, threatening the picture frames that hung by the door. Kathryn poked her head out of her bedroom at the sound of the commotion. Her daughter gave her an annoyed look, sighed loudly, and threw her hands up as she crossed to the kitchen. Kathryn joined her.
"Where were you this morning? The school called. They said you didn't show up to class. Care to explain?" Kathryn said accusingly.
"I went to see him," Kristen's gaze dropped to the floor. She couldn't look into her mother's eyes. Not right now. She couldn't look at them and not see him.
"Nick?" Kathryn's anger vanished at the mention of her son. "I told him I wouldn't tell you. Was he mad? Does he still want to see me?"
"He wasn't mad. I was," Kristen folded her arms across her chest. "I don't think you should see him, Mom."
Kathryn frowned. "What are you talking about? I thought this would make you happy."
"Happy? Am I the only one who even remembers what he did? He abandoned us, Mom. He let us think he was dead. How can you just forgive him? He obviously doesn't want us. Why should we want him?" Kristen quickly brushed away a tear from the corner of her eye. She was clenching her fists so tightly, that her finger nails were beginning to draw blood.
"Because he's your brother," Kathryn said sternly. Of course, she had been having the same thoughts as her daughter, but she couldn't bring herself to face them.
"No he's not," Kristen dropped her yelling and spoke calmly to her brother. "Nick Halden was my brother. I looked Neal Caffrey up last night, Mom, and you want to know what came up? A mug shot. He's been arrested," Kathryn was about to defend him, but the younger girl cut her off. "And not for something minor like loitering or shop lifting. He went to prison for four years for bond forgery. He escaped from a maximum security prison three months before his sentence was up for god-know-what. He's not an FBI agent. He's a consultant. A criminal."
"I don't believe you," Kathryn said after thinking about what her daughter had just told her for several minutes.
"Then by all means, go do a background check on him. His alleged crimes are even more interesting."
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