ok sorry again for the wait.

I almost started crying when I realized we had 5 months before the new season of white collar started so I have been spacing out the episodes so am only on "by the book". So I'm sorry if this directly contradicts anything that was said in any episodes after that. On a related note, you all know this but I just thought I would put it out there. This story started out cannon but is now AU since season 2 started and all this did not happen

as always thanks to my beta, Jaspers-girl-and-u-no-it, without whom you would not be able to sit through the story because the spelling and grammar were so bad. (see last chapter for proof)

Neal's POV

It only took a second to find the man we were looking for. He was pacing back and forth screaming into a phone. My stomach dropped a notch when I saw how upset he was. Whatever was going on, it was not good.

I looked at Peter, took a deep breath, and started forward

"I DON'T CARE… JUST GET IT DONE!" he yelled slamming the phone down.

"Garret, what's going on here?"

"It's none of your business, Burk. Stay out of things that don't concern you for once."

"If it concerns Kate it concerns me," I interjected, "and Peter is helping me out so it does concern him."

"Great, this is exactly what I need right now," he mumbled to himself.

"Kate left us a message telling us to talk to you. Now what do you know about all this?"

He seemed to internally debate himself for a half a second, let out a small sigh and gestured to the chairs across from his desk.

"Ok, we don't have a lot of time, so you're going to keep you mouths shut and listen."

I was far too interested in finding out how this connected to Kate to argue.

"Twenty-five years ago my wife was expecting a baby and we were ecstatic. We planned everything—the nursery, the crib, everything. Several months later she had a miscarriage, or so I thought. When she died I went through her belongings and found a letter she wrote to me. Turns out she lied. She never wanted a kid, and as soon as it was possible she had a c-section and put the child up for adoption.

Peter and I exchanged a look wondering what this had to do with anything.

As you can imagine I was anxious to find her. That year I went off the grid after my wife's death wasn't to mourn her. It was to find my daughter. I didn't have enough resources to track her down on my own, so I joined OPR. I used every resource the FBI had to track her down and I finally found her. It turns out that she was adopted by a nice family in New York; the Moreau's."

"Wait a second. Kate's your… daughter?" I asked, stunned.

"What did I say about interrupting? " he asked annoyed.

Peter shot me a warning glance.

"And to answer your question, yes, but she doesn't know that. When I found that information someone else figured it out as well and blackmailed me with it. I had to get him the amber music box or he would kill her. I tried to keep her safe, under constant watch, but she wouldn't tell me were it was so I had to play the bad guy and threaten her. Even if she hates me it was worth it to keep her safe."

"Who found out?"

"Some drug lord named Samuel Green had a spy in OPR's ranks."

"Samuel? What exactly is in the music box?"

"It's some new recipe for cocaine and he is very interested in it."

"That's what all this is about?" I asked.

"With Samuel involved what else did you expect?" Peter asked me.

"I don't know, but it wasn't this. I guess drugs seem so petty—so common." I struggled to find the words. "It's such a stupid reason to have a target on your back."

"Money is the ultimate motivator, and the drug cartel would pay a hefty sum," Peter reminded me.

Fowler nodded in agreement. "So what are we going to do now?"

Kate's POV

I turned the corner and the FBI head quarters came into view. What was I going to do? Just walk in and ask to talk to Neal?

Turns out I didn't have to make that decision, because at that moment I was grabbed from behind. I stepped on my attacker's toe and he loosened his grip on me enough so I could see his face. It was the large goon from the shipyard. How had they found me?

A crowd was approaching and I had one shot to time this perfectly. One, two, three. I kicked him in his "sensitive" area and took a step back disappearing into the crowd.

There was no way I could go back to the FBI headquarters with those guys staking out the place. I had to find another way in. The only way I could think of was to find an active crime scene with Bureau involvement, and that could take a while.

Ugh.

How is it that when you're trying to pull off a heist every freaking officer in New York is attracted to you like honey, but when you actually need one they all seem to have the day off.

I was walking down Fifth Avenue an hour later when I passed a newspaper stand. A headline caught my eye. "Attempted Robbery At Met."

That could work. It was a white collar crime, and it wasn't that far from here. I just hoped the feds hadn't cleared out by now.

Finally something was going my way. The yellow crime scene tape was still up. I approached it carefully looking for Burk, but he wasn't around. The guy who seemed to be in charge was walking towards me.

"Can I help you?"

"I hope so. Do you know a Peter Burk?"

"Yes, but he's following up a lead on another case with a colleague. I'm Agent Jones. Is there something you need help with?"

"My name's Kate Monroe, and I really need to speak to agent Burk if that's okay." I smiled at the shocked look I was getting. He nodded and turned around to make a phone call

I hope you all like where I went with this chapter. I don't think this has been done before. The next chapter will be Neal and Kate's reunion and then I desided to do an epilogue.