Chapter 2
AN: Thanks, you guys, for liking the story and for requesting a continuation. A special thanks to Guest (Barb) for the story ideas. I think this 'Both Sides of Burke' chapter will deal with the agent side versus the friend side.
Peter sighed. "You're right, Neal. Things…this shouldn't be this hard."
"What does that mean? What are you going to do?" Neal asked, though he was sure he knew the answer.
"I'll give you a week, Neal." Peter said, resigning himself to the situation. "You'll stay on anklet, and you'll continue to work with White Collar. But you have a week."
Neal swallowed hard. He was going back. He wasn't sure how he felt. He nodded his head and then turned and left Peter's office.
Neal's week passed quickly. He got his affairs in order, making the necessary arrangements. But the hardest part had been telling June. He had told her that same evening. He needed her to get used to the idea as much as he needed to get used to it.
June had been very upset. She had threatened to harm Peter until Neal told her that it had pretty much been a mutual decision. That calmed her down. But, it did nothing to quell her fears for his safety. She knew very little of the prison system. But, she did know that Neal going back in, as a known snitch, would not, could not bode well for his health. She begged him to reconsider his decision. She begged him to go talk to Peter again; maybe they could work out whatever the problems were.
When June saw that her pleas to the conman were not working, she went to work on Peter. June talked to Peter several times of the course of that week, over the phone and in person. She tried her best to get him to reconsider. She told him how much Neal had come to mean to her. She reminded the agent of all the good work the young man had done. And, she reminded the agent of how much good he had done in the community.
But, in the end, the day came. And June had to let him go. They had a tearful goodbye. She told him she loved him and that he would always have a home. And, she told him that whenever he got released he could come back. She said she would wait on him, no matter how long it took.
Elizabeth took the news only slightly better than June. She reflected back on the statement she had made to her husband. It had been made in anger. But she felt it could happen. She knew that what Neal did for the FBI was not without its risks. El had still been surprised when Peter told El of the conversation that he and Neal had had in his office. She had pleaded with her husband to work things out with Neal. She had told him that there was still a chance. But, she told him, everything had to be out in the open.
El talked to Neal several times during that week. She even took him out for lunch so that they could just relax and talk. She told him that she would miss him terribly and that she loved him. She would greatly miss the man she who had come to be her baby brother.
Mozzie had been inconsolable. He could not wrap his mind around Neal's reasons for going back. What could be better than freedom? Sure it was hard, Neal was working with Suits. That, in Mozzie's mind, would always be hard, unbearable even, But, you put up with the bad things, the Suits, to get the good things, freedom.
Peter had considered the situation. He considered it very carefully. Neal had made of profound statement. 'It shouldn't be this hard to do the right thing.' And Neal was right. Of course, Neal was looking at it from the criminal side of things. But it had been hard from Peter's side of things too. The agent had never thought his very career would be in jeopardy, just from taking the young man on as his C.I. But, that had been the case, at times. And that did not sit well with Peter, at all. The agent was not used to another person being able to call the shots when it came to his future as an agent.
WC WC WC WC WC
The month that Neal had been gone had been rough one. They had so many cases that Neal could have solved by just reading the file. And, it was quiet, too damned quiet, in Peter's opinion. He missed the young man's energy. The senior agent had no idea that the young man's absence would leave such a void.
Peter snatched the phone from its cradle. He had been chest deep in work all morning. His morning had been taken up by phone calls and files. He was about to give whoever it was the results of his burgeoning bad mood, until he recognized the voice on the other end of the line. And she seemed to be crying.
"June?"
"You should be so very proud of yourself, Agent Burke." June said.
Peter shook his head. He had no idea what in the world June was talking about. "What? What are you…?"
"Watch the news, Agent Burke, just pick a channel, it's on all of them." She said, her anger as evident as her tears. "…top story of the day." She said, before hanging up on him.
Peter got up from his desk, still confused as he went next door to the conference room. He turned the big flat screen on to CNN. Instantly, he was bombarded by live coverage of Neal's prison. It had not been an escape. But, a riot of sorts, five inmates had gotten into the isolation cell of another inmate, reputed to be a snitch. He had been attacked and savagely beaten.
The altercation had been recorded, via cell phone, by the guard whom the inmates had 'overpowered.' The guard then, bragging on how he took care of snitches, posted the video to social media. It didn't take long for a federal agent to see the video and report it to his superiors. Meanwhile, astute reporters were also viewing the video, many of whom deciding to investigate, in case the altercation was actually real and not just a 'put on' for the camera. Much to everyone's horror, the video was 100% authentic.
Peter called Diana and Jones up to the conference room. He caught them up on the horror that was unfolding and then instructed them to do all that they could to find out who the victim had been.
Peter dropped into a chair, head in his hands, as Diana and Jones confirmed his worse fears. He groaned outwardly as they filled him in on Neal's injuries and his current status. The conman was currently in surgery, and his prognosis was not good.
TBC