A/N: I've decided that I'm going to pair Lizzy with Jones. Nothing will be happening until Season 2 at the earliest, but probably nearer to the beginning of Season 3. Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Free Fall

"So the guy who had Kate is in the FBI," Mozzie recapped, walking next to her on the sidewalk. "This confirms everything."

"Take it easy, Moz," she sighed hopelessly. She knew that once she'd told him he would begin rallying against 'the man' again.

"You lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas," he quoted at her stubbornly.

She snorted. "I could live without the fortune cookie commentary."

"Now you understand my fear of the man," he continued before she could say anything. "You're back with us, my friend. The fearful masses, welcome back. Do you have any suspects?"

"How many field offices does the FBI have?" She asked, suspected that he would know.

"Fifty-six," he answered immediately. There were times when Mozzie's paranoia came in handy. "Not including resident agencies."

"Then I have a lot of suspects," she told him easily.

"How do we draw them out?" He questioned thoughtfully, no doubt already planning something that would narrow down their suspect list.

"We don't," she smiled at his surprised look. "It's his move."

Her phone rang before he could reply. It was Peter telling her to meet him at an expensive clothing boutique. When they got there, the manager met them and explained that he thought the most exotic pink diamond in the world that they were displaying might have been stolen and a forgery left in its place.

His reasoning behind his suspicion was the security footage of the vault where the diamond was kept before the showing. Lizzy appraised the necklace and told them all that it was a fake, which caused Peter to confiscate the forged necklace and the security footage. She suspected that the FBI wouldn't find any prints on the scene, the man who stole the real diamond must have been a professional.

Once they were back in the office, Peter was called into Hughes office where he was talking with someone from the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR for short), the FBI's version of internal affairs. None of them looked happy about what they were talking about, but Peter acted normally when he came over to see how her list of possible suspects was going.

With his help, she narrowed it down to Adrian Tulane who was the only one she thought could pull off such a good forgery. Tulane handed them a file containing his flight details as soon as they went to talk to him. She was a bit excited to meet him because he was practically a celebrity in the con world. She was a big fan of his 'alleged' work.

She was frustrated and angry that Peter thought she was the thief, especially since she was the only one on their list of possibilities. It wouldn't have been so bad if she'd actually done it, but she had a tracker on for goodness sake, she hadn't stolen anything – that hadn't gotten back to its owner – since leaving prison.

Mozzie managed to distract her by going through what he'd learnt by looking into everyone. He had asked if she'd stolen the diamond, offering to be her fence is she needed one, but she'd assured him that she hadn't stolen it. She wasn't annoyed that he'd asked, but if she had she would have told him and asked for his help in planning everything. She wouldn't have been caught on camera.

"We can try to grab him when he goes to fence it," Lizzy told Peter while they were sat in his office. It was an idea that she'd gotten when Mozzie had offered to be her fence. He would be disgusted to hear that he was helping her give ideas to the feds, but if it meant it got her off the suspect list then she hoped he'd forgive her.

"It's a unique piece," Peter denied, shaking his head. "It's too hot for the market right now."

"Alberni is an interesting angle because the market there is less rigid," she offered, trying to think of the different places where someone could fence an expensive necklace like that.

Jones entered the room while she was speaking and whispered something in Peter's ear, she stopped talking to let Peter hear whatever it was that was so important. Fowler, the man from OPR, barged in before she could continue.

"Neal Caffrey, you're under arrest," he announced, striding forward to handcuff her.

"What?" She cried, looking between the approaching Fowler and Peter who was looking accusingly at her.

"We found the signature NC micro-printed on the fake diamond," Fowler told them all. "It matches the signature we found on the counterfeit bonds he made. See? It's good work, Agent Burke. Let's go."

"Stop," Peter interrupted, blocking Fowlers path. "He's my responsibility."

"Peter," she stared at him, feeling betrayal and hurt well up inside of her.

"You have the right to remain silent," Peter said, referring to her rights.

"I didn't do this," she denied, shaking her head in frustration when he didn't believe her, telling her to stay quiet. She panicked when it became apparent that she was going back to jail; there was no way Mozzie could help her if he didn't know she was arrested. Thankfully, the medic and guards must have remembered her from last time, since they didn't do a full check again and just passed her through to her cell.

Peter came to visit her while in jail. She insisted to him that she'd been set up; she could see in his eyes that he wanted to believe her, but the evidence pointed towards her having done it. Either way, he was shooed out of the room by Mozzie who was her lawyer. If her case actually went to court, then she'd be doomed because Mozzie was a terrible lawyer, but it was a great cover for what they had planned.

Peter actually looked half amused when he saw her swan dive out of the window and escape prison for the second time. The second part of her plan involved trusting Peter, something she wasn't completely comfortable doing, but she didn't really have a choice.

Lizzy was beyond relieved when Peter allowed her a minuet to explain herself. Sure it wasn't a lot of time, but just the fact that he was willing to listen to her was good enough for her. He was understandably upset when she'd told him that his house was bugged. However, he seemed resigned when she admitted to be looking for Kate.

"Nice disguise, Jacko," Peter teased once she'd turned up at the jewellery shop as instructed.

She glared at him. If she'd wanted to, she could have just walked around as herself and no one would have known it was her, not even Peter. "I never really liked this picture," she held up the newspaper, deciding not to mention that he'd never seen through her so-called 'bad' disguise.

Once inside the vault that she'd apparently robbed, it was easy to find out how the real thief had done everything. From there it was unbelievably simple to find out who'd committed the crime and, soon enough, Lizzy was back in the conference room drinking champagne out of a paper cup to celebrate the fact that she was off the hook for this particular theft.

"Mozzie," she picked up the phone with a sigh after breaking away from the celebration to answer the phone in Peter's office. "I told you; just sign the papers for me."

"Neal," the one word froze Lizzy in her spot. "It's me."

There was no need to ask for clarification. She would recognize Kate's voice anyway. Frustratingly, Kate didn't offer any details that she hadn't already known, just telling her that she couldn't trust anyone. Lizzy wondered, pessimistically, if that included Kate.

When she told Mozzie, he gave her a room number where there was a possibility that Kate could be. He was convinced – as usual – that it was a conspiracy involving Fowler. For once, Lizzy was inclined to agree with him. Unfortunately, she didn't get any information from the hotel room and Kate hadn't been there, just Fowler.

A/N: I hate this chapter; it's far too short and changes practically nothing. However, it was either update this or nothing. There might not be an update next week because I'm extremely busy at the moment. I'll try my best to write and update as usual, but I apologize in advance if I can't.