A Reason to Live

Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA network.

Chapter 4

Later that evening…

Neal woke up and noticed it was dark in his apartment. He didn't hear anything and realized he was all alone. He remembered Peter and Elle had been there earlier, or at least he thought so. His mind seemed to be a little clearer. What had Peter told him?

I think you've had too much to drink and you must have taken some pills. That's not a good combination.

Well, that would explain a few things…Neal got out of bed, and wandered down the stairs to see if June was still up.

"How are you feeling?"

Neal looked over to see Peter, Elle and June seated in June's living room. It must not be too late then, or they wouldn't still be here.

"I'm feeling better Peter. At least I think so."

"That's good to hear. We were all worried."

Peter wanted to see how much Neal actually remembered about the day; to see how bad it had been.

"Do you know why we are both here? Do you remember what happened with Elle?"

"Honestly, I don't remember Peter; I don't remember much about the day, just bits and pieces."

Neal noticed that Elle had band-aids on both arms, and her cheeks looked a bit scratched up, but there wasn't any blood. He remembered blood, why was there blood? He felt the blood draining away from his face.

"I threw the wine bottle and it almost hit Elle…and you…"

Neal looked over at Peter and started trembling as he remembered.

"You were trying to kill me…"

"Neal, I was not trying to kill you. Why do you keep thinking that? We think you had way too much wine either last night or this morning, and you probably took some pills judging by the fact that we found an almost empty bottle of allergy medication on the counter. It's not good to mix the two and your mind was playing tricks on you."

"I don't remember any of that."

Peter noticed that Neal had an embarrassed look on his face and stood up to give him a pat on the shoulder to reassure him it was ok. He then led Neal over to an empty spot on the couch and motioned for him to sit down.

"Why don't we try to fill in some pieces for you. June said Mozzie was here last night, and that both of you were pretty tipsy. This morning when I came by I told you I needed your help on our new case, but you wouldn't get out of bed. I even invited you over for barbecued ribs, and you turned me down telling me you hated Elle's ribs; definitely odd behavior. Elle came around noon to check up on you. You threw the bottle at the door frame when she was walking in. She said you panicked and was trying to comfort you, but you fell asleep in her lap. She alerted June to your strange behavior, and June cleaned up the broken pieces of the bottle. Elle then called me, and I came over as soon as I got out of my meeting. I arrived and found Elle still on the floor with your head in her lap. I carried you to bed, because June and Elle couldn't move you. You took a nap, and when I came to check on you, you were standing in the kitchen area. You apparently thought I was there to kill you because of the wine bottle incident, and got yourself so stressed out you fainted."

"But I remember you asked me about a street? I thought something bad was going to happen there, I thought you were going to…"

Neal trailed off, not willing to finish his thought about Peter wanting him dead. He was still having a hard time believing that Peter wasn't going to physically hurt him in return for hurting Elle.

"Neal, look at me. It's a painting, not a location for me to kill you. I knew you were completely out of it, otherwise you would have known right away what painting I was talking about. However, I will admit that yes, I was mad about the wine bottle. Yes, I did want to punish you, but Elle, as usual, pointed out the error of my ways before I overreacted."

"So, what did she actually say?"

Peter felt he had scored a victory to at least get Neal more involved in the conversation rather than wallowing in his own self-pity.

"She punched me in the shoulder and threatened me with sleeping on the couch."

Neal looked over at Elle, and she nodded her head slightly as if agreeing that what Peter said was true. Peter's tone also had a touch of pride for his wife; she knew him too well. Neal gave a slight chuckle that relieved Peter immensely; maybe Neal was coming back to himself, albeit very slowly. Peter lifted Neal's chin so that he could look directly in his eyes.

"You are the best partner I've ever had. None of those Harvard grads could ever compete with you. None! You're still stuck with me for another 3 years. This is not the end of the world and I know you make a difference."

Elle gave Neal a big smile, and leaned over to give him a hug. He didn't push her away, and there were no tears streaming down his cheeks this time; Elle took that as a good sign.

"Seriously, Neal, we just wanted to help. I admit though, sitting on the floor with you surrounded by glass shards was not the way I had my day planned, but you are more important than my catering plans. They could wait another day."

Neal spoke softly, and almost shyly.

"Thank you Elle. Peter…June. I don't know what I would do without you all."

"Oh, Neal, honey, it really was no problem. We're just glad you are feeling better."

This time it was June that reached over and gave him a hug.