New chapter, yay!

After three hours of resisting the pull of sleep, and undoubtedly more nightmares, Neal's body gave in and he fell into a restless slumber.

He was alone this time. Just him and the timer, counting down one agonizing second at a time.

He heard a door open, but the large metal one that led to freedom, but brought fear and pain didn't move. And it didn't sound like that one either. He could feel something shift under him, but no one was there and nothing was moving.

Then he felt someone touch him and his eyes shot open and the nightmare was gone, only to be replaced by another one, a real one.

Someone was looming over him - no, not just someone, it was 'Snake'. He tried to recoil back but Snake's hands wrapped around his throat and he couldn't move - couldn't breathe.

His hands shot up to the mans much larger ones and tried to pull them away, but they held fast, no matter what he did. The man was far larger and far stronger than Neal was.

The urge to breathe was overpowering. He had to get a breath in, had to get some air in his lungs or he'll...

The dim light coming from the streetlights outside the window were becoming duller. The man that was crushing the life out of him was becoming fuzzier. He couldn't yell for Peter - he couldn't even breathe.

He knew he wouldn't be able to stop the man from killing him, so he let go of the suffocating hands and reached for the nightstand. If he could just knock something off... The sound that the lamp caused when it hit the ground was quite loud and Neal hoped Peter heard that because he was his only hope now.

His vision telescoped until he could only see Snake's eyes. They looked nothing like Keller's when he was causing Neal pain; they were lifeless, like a cold-blooded killer. It was less terrifying to look at than Keller's sadistically delighted ones, but not by much.

Just as the last of his vision was completely filled with darkness, he heard the wonderful sound of his savior. "Neal!"

He couldn't really see what was happening, but he felt the crushing weight against his throat disappear and he could breathe again. He greedily sucked in lungful after lungful of the sweet, sweet air he desperately needed.

The gasping soon turned to coughing and he turned onto his side and serendipitously got to see the last part of the action when his vision cleared. Peter was on top of Snake who was lying face-down on the floor. Peter was tying his hands with some sort of cord he probably found on the floor. Peter had the situation under control and Neal was grateful to have him around to save him time and time again.

After making sure Snake wasn't going anywhere, Peter came up to the bed and crouched down so he was eye level with Neal. He put a comforting hand on Neal's back as the last of the coughs left Neal one painful spasm at a time.

"Hey, buddy. Are you ok?" Peter asked.

Neal nodded and tried to speak, but that caused him to go into another coughing fit.

"Don't talk just yet," Peter said and if Neal wasn't so focused on trying to breathe between each cough he would have rolled his eyes. Great advice.

"Peter, did Neal have another nightmare?" Elizabeth asked, appearing at the door, still half asleep. Then she saw the large man on the floor of her guest bedroom and she was completely awake. "Peter, what's going on?" She asked a little frantically.

Peter got up from his spot by Neal and went over to his wife. "El, call an ambulance," he said in a voice far too calm for the situation. He looked back to Snake and added "and the police."

Ambulance? Neal didn't think he needed an ambulance. He cleared his throat - damn that hurts - and attempted to talk. "I don't need an ambulance, guys. I'm fine," he said, his voice very raspy, but by the look on their faces they didn't believe him for a second.

"El?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, I'll be back," she said and left.

Neal looked over to Snake to see that he wasn't moving. "Did you knock him out?" Neal asked.

"Yeah," Peter said, then pointed at Neal. "What did I say about talking?"

"Since when do I listen to you?" Neal joked despite nearly being murdered only minutes ago. The reality of the situation hadn't really sunken in yet.

Peter smiled and shook his head. "I think you should start trying - It would be a lot easier on the both of us," he said and Neal smiled as well.

WCWCWCWC

Peter watched the man Neal called 'Snake' to make sure he didn't wake up and try to escape until the police arrived and he let them take care of him. He had Neal to watch over so he didn't really care about him anymore.

The paramedics checked Neal out when they got there and said his throat was badly bruised but it didn't seem like there was anything wrong with his breathing, and Neal jumped on that immediately, saying that he was fine and didn't need to go back to the hospital.

Peter consulted the paramedics and they said he should be fine but to watch out for any symptoms that may appear, but it was unlikely as they probably would have already showed up by now. Peter couldn't say no to Neal when he looked so young and vulnerable - again - so he told the paramedics he would watch out for any breathing problems.

Neal was sitting on the couch with his feet pulled up under him and a blanket around his shoulders, looking a little shell-shocked, when Peter came back from seeing the paramedics off.

"Hey," Peter said quietly. Neal turned and gave Peter a shaky smile.

Peter could see the hand-shaped bruises already forming on the younger mans throat and it made him angry all over again. Angry at Keller, angry at the man that Neal called Snake and angry at himself for not seeing this coming.

He had been so stupid and it nearly cost Neal his life. "I should have had someone watching the house. I'm sorry, Neal," Peter said as he sat down in the chair across from the younger man.

"It's not your fault, Peter. If anything, it's mine," Neal said.

"How is it your fault?" Peter asked. That didn't make any sense.

"You didn't really know that there was even a threat anymore, not really. I could have told you, but I didn't want to relive any of what happened." There was a haunted look in Neal's eyes and Peter guessed he was reliving what happened now, whether he was trying to or not. He shook his head a little and the look mostly disappeared.

"You told me you saw another person; I should have acted on that," Peter said.

"You had no reason to believe he would try to kill me," Neal said, his voice shaking a little at the end. "That wasn't even what Keller wanted before."

"I still should have done something."

Neal was quiet for a moment. "How about this: I'll stop blaming myself for what happened if you stop blaming yourself. How's that sound?"

Peter nodded after a second. "Sounds good to me." If Neal was happier with that plan, Peter would be more than happy to stop blaming himself.

Peter found it strange that Neal was the one trying to make everything better when it was Peter's job to do that as Neal was the hurt one.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I don't think I'll be able to sleep, so maybe I should go and give my statement now," Neal said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Neal didn't look all that much put together and Peter was concerned what that would do to his state of mind.

"I think I should get it over with," Neal said, "so I can move on." He looked both hopeful to get it over with and terrified of reliving it at the same time. "I know You've been pushing off the interview and sketch artist for me because you wanted to give me time, and I'm thankful for that, but I don't think it can be pushed off any longer."

It was hard enough to go through what he went through the first time, going through it again, even though he's just talking about it, is not something to look forward to, but Peter completely understood why Neal wanted to move on.

"Besides, I think this needs documented," Neal said and waved vaguely at his neck.

He was right, they do need the evidence to put Snake away. Peter was definitely going to do all he can to lock that bastard up for a long time. He came into his house and hurt his friend while he was sleeping in the next room. The thought made him feel sick. And if he can tie him to Keller, then that would be even better.

"Ok, we'll go after breakfast," Peter stated and got up to go to the kitchen where El was making coffee and getting out cereal boxes. He could hear Neal get up and follow and he was happy to know that Neal listened to him. It would definitely make his life easier if the kid did what he was told.

I'm not too sure where to go from here, so if you guys have any suggestions, I would love to hear them! How much longer should this story go on?