Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own White Collar

I was sitting on a very nice couch, in my not-so-nice clothes, petting the head of a big old yellow lab. His name's Sachmo.

I heard Elizabeth and him talking quietly in the kitchen. I had moved from the stool to the living room to give them some privacy. I was going to make an escape, but it was still thundering outside. Every muscle in my body was screaming to run, hide, leave, do anything than just sit there. I made a move to stand up, but before I could take a step, Elizabeth came in.

She offered me a smile, which I returned half-heartedly. I ran my fingers through my messy hair and kept looking down. "I'll go now," I said, still not meeting her eyes. I stepped over Sachmo, heading towards the door.

"Wait."

I stopped, it was his voice. The FBI agent's voice. I bit my lip and slowly turned around to look at him. He was standing beside Elizabeth, arm over her shoulder. I could tell that he was very protective of her.

"It's-" He took a moment before setting his shoulders and continuing. "It's still raining, how about you stay. Just until it lightens back up."

Elizabeth nudged him with her elbow and he shot her a look. She returned it with a smile. He sighed and then added, "Would you like to have… dinner with us?"

I panicked.

"Oh, no no no! That's really not necessary! I mean, you've already bandaged my hands-" I lifted them up to show my point, and I began to back away, "So thank you so much for the offer, but honestly-" I froze. I gritted my teeth and then continued, "I'm fine."

"See?" He said, turning to Elizabeth. "She's fine."

Elizabeth huffed before turning her shockingly warm gaze upon me and off her husband. "Please, it would be our pleasure. I insist. Besides, I happen to know for a fact, that you're probably really hungry."

It was that moment when my stomach let out a low growl. My cheeks grew pink and I sighed. I could tell he had a corner of his mouth lifted up.

"Alright." I said softly.

"What was that?" She asked, smiling.

I looked up, meeting her eyes and smiled on my own. "Yes." I said louder.

"Great! Now, how about you help me get dinner started?"

~!~

"Alright, now, just add the salt and pepper, and then stir occasionally." Elizabeth said, looking over my shoulder at the pot of mashed potatoes. I nodded and added the salt and pepper.

"So, Katherine…"

I internally winced. Peter, aka, the man who I had pickpocketed last week, was sitting on the counter, studying me. I could tell he was rather reluctant to leave his wife alone with me. It hurt my feelings a little bit, but I would have reacted the same way.

"Does your supervisor know where you are?"

Elizabeth looked up, "Supervisor?"

Before Peter could open his mouth, I answered her. "Mrs. Tate. She's, um, in charge of the older kid's cases." I looked up, meeting her bright blue eyes. "At the orphanage."

I waited for the reaction, the gasp, the shocked look, the pity.

"Oh… Does she know where you are, though?" Elizabeth said, continuing with the salad she was making. She put all different kinds of vegetables into it, cucumbers, yellow peppers, tomatoes.

I bit my lip, wondering how I should answer.

"Katherine," Peter said, tensing up slightly. I turned around to face the both of them. Taking a deep breath, I answered, "Nope."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Hmph." He crossed his arms across his chest.

"Peter, would you please get the plates out?" Elizabeth asked. He nodded and stood up. I could tell he still wanted to ask me questions.

"Katherine, could you help him set the table as well? I think that I can handle everything from here."

I wanted to protest, I should've protested, but instead I did as I was told, and quickly found the silverware and placed them on the table. Once the glasses were set on the table, Elizabeth placed the rest of the food on the table and we all sat down.

I could Peter was uncomfortable with me there; I was a thief, a rogue to him. I was not supposed to be sitting at his dinner table with his nice and warm wife, in his very nicely decorated house, eating the very delicious plate of food before me.

I took a bite of the mashed potatoes, the one dish I contributed to the meal. Peter hadn't touched his food, but kept looking at me.

"Katherine," Elizabeth said, smiling. She was trying to break the awkward silence. "How old are you?"

I casted Peter a careful look before answering. "I'm 15."

"How long have you've been in the system?" Peter asked.

"Peter!" Elizabeth said, hitting him lightly on the arm.

"Oh no, no, that's fine." I let out a small smirk, "It's a legitimate question." I took a bite of the chicken. I almost let out a moan; it'd been so long since I had chicken. "I was, uh, admitted around…" I pretended to think for a moment. "It was a while ago." I finished, not wanting to go into details exactly.

Luckily for me, they didn't push any further.

"Do you go to school?" Elizabeth asked, after a couple of minutes of silence.

I had taken my last bite of chicken, so I just nodded. I did go to school. Almost.

I could hear the rain settling down. I had to get out of here. It was suffocating me. I didn't belong here, not in a place like this.

I quickly ate the rest of my food. I barely noticed that I actually felt full. I cleaned my plate completely, and stood up quickly. I moved so fast, that Elizabeth and Peter didn't have time to say anything. I removed my plates; utensils and put them in the sink. I took one last gulp of the water (even their water tasted better) from my glass and then put that in the sink as well.

"Thank you for your hospitality." I said quickly. I knew that I probably should have stayed, but I should've left earlier. I really did not have to be here. I didn't belong here.

did i?

I grabbed my jacket from where it had been on the couch and rushed out the door. I didn't even let them say goodbye to me.

~!~

"Where have you've been?!" Mrs. Hate/Tate screeched at me. Her face was red, and she had her shoes on. Was she about to go outside to look for me? Not likely.

"Away from here." I said, growling out my answer. I was soaking wet. Not a single inch of me was dry. Midway on my way back, the rain suddenly started pouring again. I was stuck looking around New York for a familiar sign before I finally found Central Park. I managed to head back from there. I stomped past Mrs. Tate and ran up the stairs. "I'm going to get dressed." I muttered.

"You missed dinner!" She shouted back up the stairs.

"I'm not hungry!" I yelled back before slamming the girl's dormitory door.

Heads shot up, eyes widened and questions started to pour out of their mouths. Suzie didn't look up from where she was playing solitaire. Her hair was perfectly puffed up in blonde curls, and her pajamas looked precious, even though they were the standard grey shirts and gym shorts that they handed out to all residents.

"'M rather not in the mood." I grumbled before peeling off my jacket and throwing it onto my bed. I ruffled my hair; it was at the point where it kept getting into my eyes. I needed to cut it again.

"Bad day?" Suzie asked. Her bed was right beside mine. "Did you get caught again?" Her eyes flickered up and she smiled.

I fell back unto my bed, looking up at the ceiling. I could feel my wet clothes creep into my sheet. Now I would sleep on wet sheets all night.

"Rine." Suzie said. I could hear her slight concern. So small that it was barely resident in her voice.

I didn't look at her, and instead curled up on my side. My dark red shirt was stuck to my skin, my jeans felt heavy. I didn't even bother to take off my shoes.

"Seriously Riny, enough with the dramatics."

"Night Suz." And with that, I simple closed my eyes. Tired to the bone.

~!~

A week passed. I still had barely left the orphanage. Not for lack of trying, believe me. Mrs. Tate had been keeping a closer eye on me than I had been used to. We kept having new rents come in as well. Seems like folks were feeling lonely.

In fact, yesterday, we had an adoption.

"I thought I might find you up here."

"How did it end up like this?"

"That's a very deep philosophical question. I recommend the monks for that."

"Katherine-"

"Suz. Can we just pretend?"

Suzie, dear dear Suzie. With her golden curls, big blue eyes, pink mouth, fair skin. Looked like a real china doll. It had been only a matter of time.

Suzie fell silent and I sat beside her. We were on the roof of the orphanage. I could see the sun setting against the city skyline. "You gonna miss it?"

"Everything!" She blurted out, and then she curled up in a ball, her knees by her chest, and her cheek resting on the top of her right knee.

"First Kaiden-"

"Suz, I'm not going to die if you're not here." I reminded her. I leaned back and tried to ignore the deepening pain in my heart.

Suzie had been adopted yesterday. By a single mother. She had three dogs and two cats. I sure hoped she was nice to Suzie. Four weeks ago, Kaiden was adopted. Now Suzie was leaving as well.

"You're going to get adopted." Suzie said firmly.

I rolled my eyes and then winced. "Please, don't make any promises."

Suzie looked up at me, her eyes tearing up. "Don't cry." I cooed, reaching over and grabbed her hand. "It's not the end, Suz."

"This sucks." She declared. I laughed, and nodded.

"Honey, just wait. Soon this place is going to be a distant memory."

Suzie gaped at me. "How can you say that?" She asked, shocked.

I gave her a rueful smile. "Because it will be. I give it a month, a week tops. You're not going to remember this place."

Suzie shook her head fiercely. "No, no no! I could never forget you, or Kaiden, or Lu-"

"Why hasn't Kaiden written then?"

Suzie was silent for a moment. "What do you mean?" She asked gravely.

I bit back a bitter laugh. "It's been a month since he left. So where are the letters he promised?" I stood up, and stretched. "Face the grit and the gravel," I opened my arms wide, gesturing to the crappy place that was below us. "No one ever wants to remember this place. We cut the ties we had here, we replace out memories with new ones."

"Katherine!"

"Who ever wanted to be here, Susan?! Who could ever want to come back here? I wouldn't."

Suzie didn't answer me. "I thought so." I said. I turned on my heel. "Go and pack up, she'll be here soon."

~!~

"Alright, Susan. one last round of goodbyes and then you're off!" Mrs. Tate said brightly. Suzie rolled her eyes, and shouldered her bags. She gave her new mother a side glance before sighing. Down the list she went, hugging each of us carefully. We all murmured our goodbyes to her.

When it came to me, the last person in the line she stopped.

Smack!

Suzie's hand was still in the air, and my cheek was sporting a bright red handprint. I worked my jaw, "You can still pack a hit, can't you, Suz?"

"Shut up, you bitch."

My eyes brows rose. "Well do continue, then, sweet angel." I was spiting her further on.

Her face turned red. "You listen to me, and you listen to me, Rine. I refuse to forget about you, alright? You're going to be wrong, got it? I will come back here, I will write letters and dammit all, you WILL GET ADOPTED KATHERINE ANGEL RIDER!"

Everyone was silent.

"My middle name's not Angel."

Suzie cracked a smile and so did I. "Good luck, Susan Frances Murphy." I knocked fists with her, and then gave her a quick hug.

She turned smartly on her heel, a trick she taught me, and continued out the door, and out of my life.

I tilted my head and smiled grimly. "Be careful with that one!" I called out to her new mother. "She may look like a rose, but she's got a lot of thorns."

Her mother, who had perfect blonde hair and small brown eyes smiled. She was the perfect image of a housewife, small and mousy. She gave me a wicked grin and rolled up her shirt. On the side was a tattoo of skull.

"Rock on." I said solemnly.

She nodded and left.

That was the last time I ever saw Suzie. Well, for a while anyway.

~!~

"I need to get out." I muttered.

"Uh, Katherine?"

I turned to look down at the small redheaded boy at my side. He was scared out of his pants-shaky hands, biting of the lip, shuffling feet.

I nodded for him to continue, and after taking a deep breath he told me, "I've got something for you…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pamphlet.

"What's this?" I asked, grabbing it. The words blurred and I angrily wiped at my eyes. Tears were lining in my eyes. Again. I gritted my teeth and began to read.

"It's a pamphlet for a circus." The little boy interrupted.

I looked at him, "Why would I-" I froze. "That's rather brilliant, Franklin. Thank you." I gave the boy, Franklin, a smile.

The pamphlet said it started tomorrow at 5, in Winchester Garden Parks. A perfect picking place.

I barely noticed that Franklin had walked away. Or the tears that slowly started to crawl down my face. This was a job that Kaiden and I would have done together, most likely. I wiped the tears again. I didn't want to cry.

Taking a deep breath, I spoke harshly and deliberately. "I will not cry."

And so I did not.

That's it! No Neal in this one, sorry about that. Actually, Neal won't appear at least two or more chapters ahead. It will follow the the TV show pretty closely, as close as I can. But this is not so much about Neal and Peter as it is about Katherine. And no, Katherine is not Kate. Their names are the same though, I will admit that. But she is referred to as Katherine, Rine, Riny, etc.

Now on to the very lovely person who reviewed my story! Albeit, it took me a while to translate it, here you go, Meire! PS: For my English fans, my response is in Portuguese. So if you want to know what it is, simply

Meire: Neal vai entrar, eu prometo. Mas devo avisá-lo agora, que isso não será principalmente sobre Neal em tudo. Ha, Neal não vai ser uma criança nesta, ele vai ser o seu habitual auto encantador. Obrigada pela revisão! Este capítulo é dedicado a você!

With that out of the way, it's time to say-

-GP2 OUT!