Since I refuse to go back on my word AGAIN about the number of chapters, this is a longer one. Hope you like it okay. It was sort of a challenge to write and I guess that is why it got so long. Thanks to all who are reading and reviewing; favoriting and following.

I own nothing but the mistakes for which I accept all responsibility.

Chapter Nine

Agent Burke led the way into the room. "This is Derek Andrews," he said. "The man who saved your life."

Derek stepped into the room behind him to meet Neal Caffrey. Recovering from surgery and on pain medications, the blue eyes that studied him were still more clear than Derek had ever seen them. The open emotion he had seen in that face hours before was no longer present. After talking with Burke, he hadn't expected it to be.

"Neal Caffrey," the voice was raspy but his former house guest looked much better than he had when the medics had carried him out of the cabin. He was still pale, the skin beneath the blue eyes was dark, and the bruise covering his forehead was black. He extended a hand to Derek. It was free except for the blood pressure cup on the upper arm. The other had the IV's hooked up to it; an oxygen clip was attached to his index finger. "Pleased to meet you," He smiled politely, "but I guess I was more pleased last night. Don't really remember it, but thank you."

Derek moved closer to the bed, took the hand and shook it. "You are very welcome. Its nice to actually meet you, Neal."

"You introduced yourself to him last night as Nick," Burke explained.

"I did?" There was a momentary look of confusion on the pale face but it passed quickly. "I guess its because that's who the people who took me thought I was."

"Then you told him you were Neal," Burke informed him. "You waffled out and back all night." There was a twinkle in his eyes, " Nick, Neal, Nick, Neal."

"I waffled?" Astonished blue eyes turned to Derek. Apparently Neal Caffrey didn't waffle under any circumstances. "Did I really?"

"Well, yes, but you weren't exactly yourself." Derek immediately rethought his choice of words at the snort of laughter from Burke and the pained look on the young man's face. "I mean," he corrected, "you were injured and running a high fever."

"Never thought I would see the day," Burke shook his head in mock sadness, "when the great Neal Caffrey, conman extraordinare, would be unable to keep his story straight."

The look of incredulous disbelief the younger man sent to the agent made Derek smile. "Excuse me," he said, hand gesturing at himself, "Multiple stab wounds and a concussion. A pardonable lapse, I would think."

"Not even a story, really," Burke continued, "Just your name. And you couldn't keep it straight."

"Infection and the fever were also factors," Derek supplied, attempting to make up for the you weren't yourself comment. The pale face was suddenly transformed by a bright smile. The look was one of triumph, pleased at having gained Derek as an ally against Burke. Derek got the impression that these two enjoyed one upping each other and that the competition could at times become ruthless. He tried to reconcile that to the image of the two of them earlier at the cabin.

"See, multiple stab wounds, concussion, Infection and fever. Pardonable," Neal reiterated. "And no reflection what so ever on my conman extraordinaire status." He spoke to Derek again. "Thanks for saving me-twice. Once from death," his blue eyes danced with mischief as he regarded his friend, "and again from being ridiculed by Agent Burke as I lay here recovering from my near death experience."

Derek's eyebrow raised slightly at hearing Neal call his friend Agent Burke. Not one time in the many hours he had spent with the man had he called him that. It had always been Peter. Had he called him Agent Burke, much of Derek's confusion would have been avoided. But now apparently it was Agent Burke. He wasn't sure if it was a formality for his benefit or not.

"Again, you are quite welcome," Derek said "on both counts. It was an interesting way to spend the evening hours, I must say."

"Interesting?" Neal scoffed. "I doubt that. Usually I am quite interesting, but as you said, I wasn't myself." He grimaced at the phrase and the memory that came with it, "I waffled. Did I do anything else that I'm likely to hear about?" His eyes briefly flitted to Agent Burke. Derek smiled at the teasing tone of voice but also picked up on the not-so-teasing look in the blue eyes.

It was a subtle look of unease; part expression and part body language. Derek had learned from Agent Burke the basics of Neal's story. He knew that the young man had a talent for keeping a confident demeanor at all times and that it was a rare occasion for that façade to slip. Even obviously not at the top of his game, the expression was almost imperceptible. Had Derek not spent so much time with the man, and had he not genuinely been studying his reactions closely, he would have never seen it.

How much Neal remembered about the hours spent in the cabin was unclear. But during that time his façade had more than slipped; it had fallen completely away. He had been bothered that he waffled and was concerned about any other deviations from usual behavior. Pardonable or not, the man clearly didn't like lapses in his usual ability to remain in control.

"Not really," Derek didn't lie; Neal may had sobbed in his arms but he wouldn't hear about that from anyone. Derek knew he would be mortified those moments of absolute vulnerability. "You didn't say much." He looked at the young man curiously. One aspect of Neal's deviation from the usual he was willing to explore. "Except to brag on your friend here. You had complete confidence that he would find you. I half expected him to arrive in tights and a cape."

That elicited a smile from Burke and a blush of color from Neal before he rolled his eyes, "Of course I had total confidence that Peter would find me: I come equipped with a GPS tracking device. Anyone with the appropriate app on their phone could have found me."

"Speaking of," Burke returned to where his jacket lay. "Now that you have finished with all your shenanigans here in the hospital, it is time to re-equip you with said device." He held up the tracking device which had apparently been removed it at some point after Neal's arrival at the hospital. There was a smugness to his expression; a response, Derek felt sure, to Neal's sarcasm.

Neal again rolled his eyes, and stuck his leg out from the covers. The movement caused him to grunt in pain and the look of smugness on Burke's face melted in an instant to one of concern. Neal quickly regained his composure, giving Burke a nod of reassurance. There between them for just a moment, Derek saw a shadow of what he had seen before. Again, it was almost imperceptible.

"Only you would refer to MRI's and surgery as shenanigans." Neal commented wryly. Burke fastened the tracker to Neal's ankle. Derek got the distinct impression the tracking device was not Neal's favorite accessory and that Agent Burke was well aware of it. Still, Neal's expression as he watched the agent fasten it to his ankle showed ambivalence. Derek wasn't the only one who noticed it.

"You were actually glad you had this on yesterday, weren't you?" Burke commented.

"For once, yes." Neal confessed. "I knew you would track it and come sav…" He stopped suddenly, a flash of something in his face that reminded Derek of the night before. But it was quickly gone, "come find me." He finished. Derek knew he had been going to say 'come save me'. That was the theme he had picked up on last night; Neal knew Peter would come save him. From his attacker, from the Marshals. From anything apparently and he didn't think a blizzard would stop the man. It wasn't fevered delirium that produced Neal's confidence in Peter: It was how he truly felt. And he felt it now. The raging fever only allowed him to express it. And he had shown that trust this morning to this very man. And this morning, this very man had held his hand, stroked his head, and spoke soft and comforting words to him. But now, the fever under control, Neal's emotions were as well. Derek felt sure Burke had caught the waiver of feeling in his friends eyes but no soft or comforting words were forthcoming.

"You better believe it. I will always track you down," Burke's tone was anything but soft, having finished his task, he pulled the blanket back over Neal's leg. "I will not have you disappearing on my watch. I would never hear the end of it. If they didn't fire me, they would definitely demote me. I'd probably be sitting at your desk, you know, as far from a position of power as you can get."

Neal grinned, the banter between the men alleviating his discomfort. "It's not bad. Near the door, convenient for coffee runs." He looked at Derek, explaining "Office coffee? Outside coffee runs are a must." Back to Burke, "And my rubber band ball is in the drawer. Tossing it helps you focus while sorting out those refreshing and stimulating mortgage fraud cases." His tone suggested he felt about mortgage fraud the way he did office coffee. Not a fan.

"You keep the rubber band ball and I will keep my office upstairs." Burke replied. Derek watched and listened as the two men talked, and marveled at how different their relationship seemed now as opposed to this morning.

Derek knew very well how Neal felt about Agent Burke, but had he not seen it before with his own eyes, nothing in the exchange between them now would have indicated the dept of that feeling. And the same could be said of Agent Burke. Had he not seen the gentle care in which he had treated Neal only that morning, he wouldn't have believed it. In this room, he teased and needled the younger man.

Burke had told him at the cabin that Neal was like a son to him. With that in mind he had replayed Neal's behavior during those long hours. Under extreme duress, Neal relied on Peter more as a father than a partner or even a friend. He had been like a kid in trouble, trusting that his dad would come and help him and Peter had arrived on the scene in just that capacity. That was the way that Derek had experienced their relationship: a trusting son and a protective father.

But now that Neal's façade was mostly back in place, Agent Burke's was as well. Their relationship now presented as that of partners and friends, but there was a tension at times between them that indicated the relationship of prisoner and keeper as well. Derek knew the emotional relationship between these two was strong, but he could tell that expressing it in any honest way was a problem for then both. He indicated to Burke that he was indeed ready to get back to his cabin, hopefully to sleep for twenty four straight hours.

"I am glad you are going to be okay, Neal" Derek said, reaching over and squeezing the man's shoulder. The familiarity of the gesture produced an awkward, almost embarrassed look on the young man's face. Derek smiled, reminding himself that the twelve hours he had spent bonding with Neal hadn't been a mutual thing. He also knew full well that outward expressions of emotions were not something that Neal Caffrey usually engaged in. This being said, the blue eyes that met his showed genuine gratitude.

"Thank you," Neal's said quietly, "And thank you again for saving my life."

"You are very welcome," Derek answered. "It has been a real pleasure to meet you, Neal Caffrey." Both of you, he added in his head.