I got connected to the internet at a Hy-Vee in town, so now you guys get a chapter! It's not as long as most of the others, but I have been spending time with my family, so writing has taken the back-burner. But I do have over half of the next chapter done.

I would like to tip my hat to caseyIf123's loyalty by taking the words from their comment and putting it in this chapter, and because I liked them. I hope that's ok!

I would also like to thank everyone else's comments - they encourage me to continue this story!

A lot of people wanted some more parental Peter and Elizabeth, so I tried to put that in there too.

There are minor spoilers for the movie Maverick in this chapter. It's a movie set in old west times about a guy that wants to play in a poker competition. My mom used to play it all the time, so I know it pretty well.

The rubber-band ball was not entertaining for very long, so Neal picked up his hat and played with it for a while. That got boring after a few minutes, so he picked up Peter's favorite pen and took it apart - he always liked to do that to see how things worked. After he put the pen back together, he took out his phone and played a round of solitaire - not easy with two splints.

Peter seemed to be taking forever, but he didn't hear any yelling so he figured it was going ok. It was just so boring to wait, and keeping his mind occupied was something he needed right then.

Right when he was considering going into Hughes' office just to have something to do, he heard Peter yelling and decided it wouldn't be a good idea to go in there as he was probably the subject of the argument.

Since he had nothing else to do, he listened in as best as he could. He definitely heard the words 'Caffrey' and 'Keller', which wasn't surprising, but the word 'prison' was.

Neal knew now that Peter wouldn't put him in jail, but Hughes was a different story. Hughes knows that Neal's unorthodox ways are partly responsible for the high closure rate him and Peter have, but all of the not quite legal plans look bad on the division. No one wants to be thought of as the guy that can't control a criminal they authorized to be let out of jail.

Neal was probably over thinking the whole thing, but 'once bitten, twice shy.'

The yelling finally stopped and Peter walked into his office a minute later. Neal didn't bother getting up from Peter's chair - the agent wouldn't tell a wounded man to get out of a nice and comfortable chair to sit in a much less comfortable one, right?

"Hey, what's the word?" Neal asked.

"Hughes is ok with the statement you gave, so we just need to get your neck photographed and we'll, uh, go out to eat or something," Peter said as he stood restlessly in the doorway. His whole body language either said he really needed to go to the bathroom, or had something to say but didn't want to say it. Neal guessed it was the latter.

"What aren't you telling me?" Neal asked.

Peter sighed. "Hughes got a call from Warden Haskley - the warden from the prison Keller is in," he said hesitantly.

'Did Keller escape?' Neal wondered immediately. 'He had done it before.' A terrifying thought popped into his head suddenly. 'Would he come after me?'

Peter had stopped talking - he obviously didn't want to tell Neal what the warden said. "And?" Neal prompted. The suspense was killing him.

"Uh, Keller wants to meet with you," Peter said. That was definitely less terrifying than having Keller on the loose, but also very confusing. Why did Keller want to see him?

"You obviously don't have to go," Peter continued, "but it's your choice."

"Can I get back to you on that?" Neal asked after a moment.

Peter seemed confused as to why Neal didn't just say no and be done with Keller, but he nodded anyway. "Yeah, that sounds fine."

"So, you said something about food?" Neal said after a minute.

"Yeah, I'm starving," Peter said, then looked apologetically at Neal. "But first we need to get pictures of your neck." He waved vaguely at his own neck.

"Right, of course," Neal said, probably a little too fast. Then he definitely got up too fast, causing pain to shoot through his abdomen. He wrapped an arm around his middle and steadied himself on Peter's desk.

"You ok?" Peter asked, concerned.

Neal nodded, then straightened. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just got up too fast," he said, then started walking towards a still concerned looking Peter. "Let's go," he said when Peter looked like he wouldn't move.

"Right," Peter said, then lead the way to the waiting ERT.

WCWCWCWC

When they took pictures of Neal's neck, he couldn't help but flinch when the lights flashed, but he got through that eventually. Just knowing he was being documented and put in a file somewhere just made him feel like he was just a crime scene. Or worse yet, a victim.

Since Neal was still on medical leave and Peter was given time off, both men had nothing else to do but go home.

One of Elizabeth's clients had to reschedule their appointment so she got home earlier than expected. Since they were all going to be home at the same time, they all decided to eat at home.

When Neal and Peter arrived at the Burkes, Elizabeth was at the dining room table working on her laptop.

"Hey, guys, how was the office? Are they surviving without you guys?" Elizabeth asked.

"They're getting along, but I don't know if they'll solve any cases without me," Neal said, then quickly changed his words. "I mean us."

"Yeah, right. You know, cases were solved before you got here," Peter said, then smiled. "A good example would be yours."

"Yes, but they weren't nearly as fun," Neal said with a smile of his own.

Peter's silence was answer enough.

"What are we going to eat?" Neal asked as he wandered into the kitchen and opened random cabinet doors.

"I thought we could have spaghetti and meatballs. How's that sound?" Elizabeth said. "I know it's a little early for dinner, but it's a little late for lunch, too." She walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a box of angel hair spaghetti.

"That sounds delicious," Neal said. "What do you want me to do? I can start on the meatballs if you want."

"I want you to go into the living room and find a nice show to watch while me and Peter work on dinner," El said, her tone kind but uncompromising.

"I can help, Elizabeth," Neal insisted.

"Neal, you aren't allowed to disobey my wife, so you'd better listen to her," Peter said sternly, hands on his hips.

Neal looked helplessly back and forth from Peter to Elizabeth, but he could see that they were not backing down, so he relented and went into the living room and turned on the TV. Truth be told, he was exhausted. The stress of the day really wore him out. And he had a decision to make - one he really didn't want to make.

WCWCWCWC

Instead of doing what he was told to do, Neal tried to read the Burkes' lips as he knew that they would be talking about him and his 'mini breakdown'. But he was not nearly as good at it as Mozzie, so he only caught a few words, most of which were about the meal they were making.

When Peter and Elizabeth finished dinner Neal was allowed to enter the dining room so he could eat.

Dinner was delicious, of course. Elizabeth really knew what she was doing when it came to spices for the meatballs, and Peter got the consistency of the sauce just right.

Once dinner was finished and the dishes were put in the dishwasher (Neal was not allowed to help with that either), all three of them went into the living room. Elizabeth and Neal sat on the outer edges of the couch while Peter sat in the middle.

"What do you want to watch, Neal?" Elizabeth asked.

"I Don't get a say in this?" Peter asked.

"Neal is a guest in this house, so he gets to pick what to watch," Elizabeth said. Neal smiled smugly at Peter for winning the unspoken argument.

"I don't think there's anything on right now, so how about a movie?" Neal said.

"That sounds like a good idea. We've collected quite a few movies through the years, so I'm sure we'll have something good to watch," Elizabeth said.

"Do you have Maverick?" Neal asked.

"Of course you would want to watch a movie about poker," Peter said, exasperated.

"It's not only about poker, Peter. It's about adventure and love and luck," Neal told Peter.

"It wasn't luck - he cheated," Peter said.

"Really, Peter?" Neal said. "It was mostly skill and some luck."

"If the camera angles weren't all wrong you'd be able to see him slip that ace up his sleeve," Peter said.

"You guys do realize you're arguing about a fictional poker competition where the writers of the movie decided on what happened, right?" Elizabeth asked.

Peter and Neal looked at Elizabeth, then at each other like they wanted to continue their argument, but decided against it.

"Is that what you want to watch, Neal? Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah - if you have it," Neal said.

"Yeah, we have it. I think it's upstairs - I'll go get it," she said, then left.

Neal and Peter didn't speak for a minute until Peter broke the silence. "Have you made a decision?" He asked, referring to seeing Keller.

Neal sighed. "Yeah... I think I should see him," he said.

"Why?" Peter asked. There wasn't any anger or confusion in his voice - it was honest curiosity.

"I think it would help give me closure," he said shyly. "And he probably wouldn't stop asking anyway."

Peter nodded slowly. "Ok. I'll tell Hughes tomorrow." He didn't ask any more questions - he just accepted Neal's decision.

Elizabeth came back down a minute later with Mavericks DVD case. She popped the disk into the player and the commentary from both men started.

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