"Neal? Hey, I know you're in there. I'm coming in."

The addressed culprit flinched. This agent had some kind of crime radar, Caffrey thought. He always called or dropped in when you were in the middle of something you just knew he'd consider wrong. Or at least risky. Or, like most of the times, both.

Neal slumped to the floor, tools already in hands and wearing his welding goggles. Game over – even though he hasn't started yet to open the safe locker. He should have known better. It was just not possible to fool Burke for long. It's been only a matter of time until he got caught. Now, he was done in.

The FBI agent stuck his head in the door. He hesitated a moment spotting the CI on the floor before he heaved a sigh and walked over. "Hey", he said again, sitting down next to the picture of misery. "Need rescuing?"

Caffrey smiled with a grim sense of humor. "No, thanks. I'm just dressed up for a fancy-dress party. But I guess I'm going to miss the fun."

He removed the goggles revealing eyes void of hope. "I'm sorry. I've let you down. Again. Afraid I'm beyond rescuing."

Against all odds, Peter wasn't willing yet to give up on him. "Not so fast, tell me the full story. Why have you tried to steal these gems? What's your business with Hagen? And last but not least, why is my wife alone in your apartment when according to your GPS you're sitting right there at your kitchen table?"

Just then and there, feeling relief to unburden his conscience in combination with desperation regarding the expectableexpecting the consequences, Neal confided his troubles. He didn't omit any discriminating detail, explaining the con he had run to free Peter, the coin heist, messing around with evidence, even the latest crimes the FBI agent hasn't had the vaguest notion of.

Peter was truly shocked to learn the full extent of Neal's accompliceship. He had already guessed that the consultant was entangled in criminal activities. Only, he has had no idea that Caffrey was in it up to his eyebrows. One well-meant, although very foolish, mischief had consequently led to the next, even more foolish and more serious mischief to cover up.

"Neal, it might have taken a while to clear my name without bribing someone or producing forged evidence. But I'm sure the truth would have come out. Since I haven't killed Pratt, I would have stood trial to prove my innocence." Burke was almost a hundred percent convinced that he spoke the truth. Still, with the murder weapon and gunshot residue at his hands, he had been utterly relieved when the voice message had turned up putting him in the clear. It couldn't be denied that the bare possibility of a wrongful conviction had existed.

Finally, Neal's confession was complete. "You see, it has been my father's fault that you were sent to jail, and he wasn't exactly about to put things right. So, I had to come up with something to protect you. Desperate times call for desperate measures!"

The FBI agent sighed wearily. "Is this an endless loop? How many times have I told you that lying to me is never protecting me! Joining forces with Curtis Hagen is dealing with the devil. He is a criminal. Most certainly, you must have known that he won't volunteer to free the agent who had arrested him in the first place out of genuine philanthropy?"

The consultant flared up. "Yeah, he is a criminal. So am I. What of it?"

Peter eventually began to understand. "Very well, that's what it's all about. I called you a criminal. I'm sorry if I have hurt you. I'm not good at these things, you know, elaborating on human relations. It's true enough, I do have mixed feelings about our ... relationship."

He wriggled like an eel. Neal couldn't help smiling while watching how uncomfortable this conversation made his former handler.

Still, the older man was aware he had to explain his motifs. "I have noticed that... you're in my life ... at my house, with my wife, in my office. However, you are a criminal. I hate to say that I can't even call you ex-criminal, considering the fact that we're sitting in a vault without authorization right now. You have a very strange notion about what's right and wrong. To me, it's either right or wrong, a clear-cut issue. Plus, I believe in law and order. I really do. As a federal agent, it's my responsibility to keep you on the straight and narrow. Though, I feel too far gone to do this unbiased any more."

Named criminal nodded silently. "All right, Agent Burke. Then, it's plain and simple. You've caught me red-handed. Go ahead, take the necessary, uncompromising action. Arrest me! I've just stopped to count the score. What is it? 4:0?"

Named agent gazed at him. "Don't be stupid. I've tried to teach you first of all about values and rules. But if you make a mistake, I don't want you to rot in prison. Most of the times, you're intentions have been good. I haven't given up hope yet that you might learn from your mistakes. Even more, I have to admit that you do good deeds as well, actually lots of it. Therefore, no, I'm not going to arrest you."

Neal felt reassured. Still, he teased the FBI agent. "So, this is not only about your extraordinarily high closure rate thanks to my assistance?"

Peter gave him a wry look but didn't comment on the remark.

So the (not really) ex-criminal went on, speaking in a soft voice. "There must be a limit to the mistakes one person can make. At some time or another, when I get to the end of them, I'll be through with 'em. Don't you think?"

Burke nodded with a glimmer of hope. "That's a very comforting thought. I'd love to see that day..."

Attempting to redefine the status of their relationship Caffrey came back to an old issue of dispute. "So where are we now? Trust and verify? Or in the absence of trust, at least faith?"

Surprisingly, the agent heaved a sigh. "We'll need a bit of pixie dust as add-on."

Neal's confusion was obvious. "Pixie dust? You're nuts?"

Peter chuckled, quoting J.M. Barrie. "No, Peter Pan. All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust. Pixie dust, miracle, magic spell whatever is at hand will do. If you would have answered my phone calls earlier on, or read my text messages, you knew that this job is a trap. You were framed. For now, I'm afraid there's no way out, for either of us."

"Who has framed me? The Dutchman?"

"Probably, Hagen has framed you, too. Although, I was talking about your current handler. Seigel has joined forces with Hagen. He has set up a stake out to catch you in the act. Two teams will be waiting for you when you're going to leave the building. I don't want to withhold the fact that I have authorized the stake out. Of course, that was before I learned about the connection between you, the Dutchman and Seigel. I still have no clue about the reason behind all this."

The consultant needed a couple of moments to digest the information. "Wow, I haven't seen this coming. Mozzie warned me a couple of times that Seigel might be a new breed of human mutant robots, developed by the government, on a test mission in the field. Maybe, I should've taken heed of his warning. Nevertheless, this isn't your fault. You don't have to take the blame. Now go!"

Peter gave him a pat on the shoulder. "No way. I didn't have a choice when you created false evidences to get me out of jail. So I couldn't opt in or out. But I know what's happening now. And I'm choosing to stay with you. We're in this together."

After a short while, Neal's survival instincts kicked in. "Come on, let's get out of here. I might be a criminal. But at least, I'm a good one. I'm not walking into a crime recklessly without an escape plan. We should disappear from the scene before it's getting crowded."

Both men left the vault climbing upstairs to the ground floor. Instead of heading to the lobby, Neal led them through narrow corridors into the private area ignoring all the "Staff Only" signs along the way. Finally, they've reached a fire exit. After Caffrey has disabled the alarm, he hit the push bar. Only, the door didn't open as expected. He tried again and again, but to no effect.

"I don't understand this. It's an emergency exit. It has to open. Mozzie has tested it himself. Now, it seems to be blocked. I don't know why." Neal reached for his phone to check if his friend has sent an update or any further information.

Although, he had received a message it was not from Mozzie. After reading the message, he showed it to Peter. "I guess you were right assuming that Hagen has set me up..."

The agent read the message. "I remember you've taken a liking to locked doors. Even though, this is no inch thick Lexan glass I thought you'd appreciate the effort."

"What a sick bastard." Just as he has passed the mobile back to its owner, they heard shouts from outside "FBI. Drop your weapons and come out."

Burke knew his former partner long enough to read his face. Therefore, he wasn't fooled by the stoic look but saw the younger man was scared. Fear has never been a good advisor. If Caffrey would lose his head, that could be dangerous to deal with.

"Neal, no reason to panic! Technically, we're just in the staff quarters. You haven't stolen the gem stones. I'm here with you to back you up. Seigel can't arrest you. We'll just go out there to sort things out. Let's do it the right way. We're not Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid confronting the Bolivian Army. I'm the ASAC accompanied by my consultant, out there is the FBI. There's no need to worry."

The CI was obviously reluctant to turn around and walk straight up to a team of armed federal agents. But he masked his concerns with a flippant comment. "Sorry Butch, for a moment there I thought we were in trouble."

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Author's Note:

Before I forget to mention: the last line is a quote from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I don't own anything. Neither from that movie nor from White Collar. This is to my constant regret, but most probably won't come as a surprise to you...

Thank you for your reviews (and all those silent readers, too). Love to see the feedback.

Next chapter will have quite a bit of whump. It's possible that I have to change the rating. We'll see. As for now, my story is fanfiction, not the screenplay of future episodes. Until recently, I thought there is no need to mention this. Some messages made me change my mind.