One of the Best

Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA.

A/N: So here's another chapter…I hope you enjoy it. Thanks again to all of you who took the time to review it and give me some pointers, and thanks to everyone who has it on story alert. I hope you are not disappointed!

Chapter 3

"I have good news and bad news."

Dr. Worthington looked up at both Peter and Elle standing next to Neal's bed.

"Which would you like first?"

"Good."

"Bad."

"Fine. Whatever. Start with the good news, Doctor."

Peter mumbled, letting his wife win again. Elle shot him a grateful look.

"The swelling has gone down, and we've determined that Neal has a broken back. This means that some bones around the spinal cord have been broken, but not the spine itself."

"I thought this was supposed to be the good news?"

Peter looked at Dr. Worthington with budding anger, and the doctor looked quite confused.

"Would you rather have him be a quadriplegic? I don't think so."

Elle realized her husband wasn't handling the good news very well, and the doctor's attitude wasn't helping. Peter was already stressed out to the max, and Elle was afraid that just one more word or action that he perceived as negative would send him over the edge. Peter had his arm around her, and she could feel him tense up. What could she possibly do to release that tension before it exploded and destroyed everything around her…including the doctor?

Elle turned in his arms, and gave him a big bear hug, squeezing him as tight as she possibly could before letting go.

"See honey, this means that Neal is not paralyzed, right doctor? That sounds great!"

Elle didn't think her cheery comment would fool Peter, but she just had to distract him long enough that he could have a chance to calm down and stop shooting daggers at the doctor with his eyes.

"Yes. In Neal's case, it looks like there was serious bruising, or contusions as they are called, that were very evident on the MRI, but the spine itself seems to be intact. With proper medication, and plenty of rest, the bones around the spine should heal as well as the bruising."

When neither Peter nor Elle said anything - both still trying to decide how good this news was - Dr. Worthington felt the need to clarify.

"This really is the good news. He should be able to fully function over an extended period of time, as long as he is allowed to recover slowly. He will need to have surgery, in the next day or two, and make sure everything is lining up correctly, but it's a fairly safe procedure. If I may say, Neal is one very very lucky guy."

"Well, I just can't wait to hear the bad news then."

Peter muttered this loud enough for both Elle and Dr. Worthington to hear. Elle was gripping his hand attempting to keep him as calm as possible, but not sure she was succeeding.

"I understand your frustration, Agent Burke. I really do. We are doing the best we can. What is troubling is the fact that he hasn't woken up yet; that could be an indication of a serious brain injury. Unfortunately, we aren't sure how serious until he wakes up."

Elle let go of Peter's hand and reached out for the doctor's.

"Thank you. Really, we do appreciate everything you have done for Neal."

Dr. Worthington shook her hand, smiled briefly and walked out the door breathing a sigh of relief that the conversation was over. He had offered them as much hope as he possibly could, but he was still deeply concerned for Neal.

##

Peter felt another headache coming on. He was reminded of Neal's comment about wearing a hat just so he could take more naps to avoid these headaches. It was amusing that even unconscious Neal could still manage to haunt him. Peter then remembered their last conversation before heading out to investigate MEC Company and his face got noticeably paler.

"When you & Elizabeth bought your home, did you take pictures of it before you bought it?"

"I don't remember, Elle takes all the pictures. I don't even know how to use our camera."

Neal snorted, trying to cover his laughter, "So, this must be why Jones takes all the surveillance photos?"

Peter glared at him, not willing to admit that at one time he had taken some surveillance photos of Elle before they were married, but Neal would have way too much fun with that information. In response, he simply reached over and pushed Neal's feet off the desk. It was only Neal's quick thinking that allowed him not to fall backward with his chair or break his neck at his sudden change in position.

Once Neal had righted himself, had both feet securely on the floor, and his hat back on his head, he gave Peter a nasty glare. "Hey, careful, you don't want to lose all my expert knowledge from a freak accident where I break my neck, do you? Honestly, Peter, I don't know why I put up with you."

Elle noticed that all of the sudden Peter had gotten really pale. She grabbed his hand once more and looked up into his eyes.

"Peter, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"It's nothing, Elle."

Elle gave him a stern I've-been-married-to-you-way-too-long-to-fool-me look.

Peter relented under her gaze.

"It's…It's just something Neal had said several days ago, before we went to investigate this company. He had been annoying me as usual over this mortgage case, and had his feet on my desk again. I nicely asked him to remove them, but he had several sarcastic comments, and eventually I got really annoyed and just shoved them off. Apparently, he wasn't expecting me to do that because the whole chair tipped over but he managed to catch himself from falling. He got angry and asked me if I wanted to lose all of his 'expert knowledge' by causing a freak accident where I could have broken his neck."

Peter stopped to take a deep breath.

"It's just too bizarre; he couldn't possibly have known what would happen."

"I agree, he couldn't have known. Pushing his feet off your desk may not have been an accident, but I know you didn't mean to hurt him and I know Neal knows that too, but accidents do happen, Peter, and you can't do anything to prevent them."

"Don't you think I know that? That's just it, Elle, I don't think what happened at that company was an accident. I think someone pushed those tubes over. I heard footsteps and they weren't Neal's, but I never saw anyone. It happened so fast, and I just wasn't quick enough, it's my fault. He's my responsibility, and I didn't protect him!"

"Peter, you really need to stop beating yourself up over this. You got him to the hospital, and he's getting the medical attention he needs. It's not like you just left him there and went after the bad guy. Did you tell Jones and Diana what happened?"

"Yeah, they didn't find anything at the warehouse though; no footprints, no fingerprints and the racks didn't have any indication that something was cut releasing the tubes, so plausibly it could have just been an accident. There's nothing more there to find…it's just a dead end."

Elle was trying to think of a way to get Peter's mind off the case for a few minutes so that this guilt trip wouldn't turn into something more morbid and drive him crazy; his stress level was already maxed out.

"Would you run down to the cafeteria and grab me a coffee? You look as if you might need one yourself."

Peter wasn't sure if she was trying to get him to leave and being nice about it, or if she really thought he needed coffee…his brain was too muddled to think clearly. He realized his headache had only gotten worse thinking about Neal. He could only hope that the coffee would help to postpone the exhaustion he felt.

"Yeah, I guess that might help. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Peter turned and walked out the door. He returned a few minutes later, and stopped just inside the door. Elle was sitting next to Neal's bed, with her hands folded, and he could see her lips moving, realizing a second later that she must be praying. Peter felt guilty that all this time he had been worrying and trying to find out who was behind this and he hadn't even said a quick prayer for Neal's recovery. He wasn't sure anyone would listen. He had stopped going to mass long ago, but he realized he desperately wanted someone to help; a higher power to believe in that would let Neal come back to them. He quietly set down the two coffees and made his way over to Elle. He knelt down and took her hands. She stopped and looked up at him with tears in her eyes. He quietly offered a short prayer:

"God, if you can hear me, it's Peter. I know I haven't talked to you in a long, long time, but I'm begging for you to help Neal. He is closer to me than a brother, he's like a son, and I so desperately want him to come back to us. I feel helpless, and I need your help, both Elle and I, we need strength to help Neal through this. Please make him well. Amen."

Elle looked up at Peter, and realized he was crying as well.

"Thank you."

Peter pulled her into his chest and they both cried tears of hope.