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

A/N: Reviews make me happy!

Chapter 8:

"I really don't have a death wish Peter."

"Too bad. When June, Elle and I were talking at June's place while you were sleeping off whatever alcohol and drugs you had in your system, June suggested that in order to help you cope after Kate's death we needed to find a reason for you to live. Both Elle and I agreed, but now the tables have turned. I need you to convince me. Why should I spare you? Convince me why you are so valuable; why I shouldn't follow these leads."

"What did Amber tell you?"

"That's for me to know and you to never find out. I could consider her a confidential informant or possibly classify it at a higher security level. Either way, you don't really need to know."

"I know you too well Peter, if you had anything on me you would be duty bound to arrest me right now."

"The wheels of justice grind slowly. I wouldn't underestimate me."

"Touché."

"Why did you take the painting?"

"We discussed this earlier; I had nothing to do with the theft of the painting."

"Semantics, Neal, Semantics. I know you were in the museum. I know that Jacob Van Nuys was your partner in this theft. I know that somehow he ended up with the Vermeer in his possession, and your forgery is hanging on the wall in the Rijksmuseum."

Neal stood up and walked around the desk to Peter, extending his hands together in front of him.

"Show me the evidence and you can arrest me. No guns, no fanfare, just peaceful like the last time."

"You're not even going to try and defend yourself are you?"

"There's no point Peter, you are obviously convinced I did this. You keep telling me you are indifferent to my charm, so clearly it's a waste of breath. All I'm asking for is proof. Have they taken down the alleged forgery in the Rijksmuseum? Have they found any initials?"

"Neal, you are putting me in a very difficult position here. I asked you to give me a reason why I should care. Do you want to live, or do you want to rot to death back in prison? I'm tending toward the latter."

"Are you going to arrest me or not?"

"Neal, at this moment, I really wish I could shoot you and be done with it. It's people like you who make a laughing stock out of the phrase 'innocent until proven guilty'."

Neal lowered his hands, confident Peter wasn't going to arrest him or shoot him.

"Could we maybe stick with poison or drugs or something a little less violent? I'd really hate for the blood to ruin my suit. You'd have to explain it to June."

Neal noticed that Peter was about to blow a blood vessel in his forehead; he really hadn't meant to make him that mad.

"JONES!"

Jones came running up the stairs, taking in Peter's face about to have a coronary, and Neal's look of slight boredom.

"You are to stay with Caffrey until I return. Understood? No exceptions!"

"Yes, sir."

Peter stormed down the stairs.

"Peter!"

Peter turned around to see Neal leaning over the railing giving him the double finger point.

"You don't get to do that."

"Just come back here for a minute. Ok? Are you really going to try and get a warrant to search my place?"

"How could you possibly know that?"

"O come on, Peter. It's written all over your face. You're dying to get evidence on me."

"I am not 'dying' for this evidence Neal, I'm doing my job and following leads."

"Well then let me make this easy on you. Stop wasting the time waiting for a judge, go search my place yourself. I'll even call June and tell her to expect you."

"What kind of con are you pulling now, Neal?"

"I'm trying to be cooperative. You're treating me like I'm a hostile witness and there's no need for that."

"You'd better not be sending Mozzie over there first."

"If he is over there he'll be drinking my wine or fast asleep on the couch. Be careful. He scares easily. You do know you're not going to find anything, right?"

"Yeah, I'm sure that's the same thing you said to Sara Ellis; am I right?"

"That was an unfortunate miscommunication. I'm glad you got that cleared up."

"Neal, this time I won't be pressuring anyone to drop any charges. Is that understood? I will let them arrest you."

"You let them arrest me last time."

"You know what I mean."

"Oh, Oh. I have a great idea! I should come over for dinner tonight, you know, Elizabeth could grill her barbecued ribs. My place would be vacant for whomever to search. I bet Jones and Diana could handle that. You could sit at your table and watch me eat ribs and of course you and Elle would eat to."

"You have got to be kidding me."

"What? You don't like your wife's ribs? How is this not a win-win situation for both of us? I get Elle's mouth-watering delicious ribs and you get to search my place. How's that for give and take. I mean could it actually work out any better? I know Elle would love to see me."

"Let me think about it. I need some air."

Peter turned around and walked out the door, hitting the down button on the elevator a little harder than necessary. Working with Neal was definitely elevating his blood pressure and he knew his doctor was going to have words with him at his next physical if he didn't learn to calm down.

Back in the office Jones looked curiously at Neal.

"Care to explain?"

"Not really."

"Let me guess, it has something to do with your new case, and that dark haired lady that came in earlier?"

"Jones, you really need to stop hanging around with Peter so much. He's beginning to wear off on you."

"So, Peter had me check out this lady; pretty impressive. She's an art restorer and works at a small museum here in New York City. She and her father have lived here for a few years. Clean record, no priors. She doesn't seem the type to run with your crowd though. Her father is another story though. I'm guessing you're more familiar with his line of work."

"I don't need to be babysat Jones, believe it or not, I actually am an adult too."

"See, unlike you, I actually like Peter, and when he asks me to do a favor, I do it. I don't go off complaining or whining about how unfair something is."

"Who said I didn't like Peter?"

"Yeah, I can see you've got that mutual respect thing going here. First you storm off in a cloud of dust, and then a while later he does the same thing. You two really need to get your buttons changed so that you don't keep setting each other's off."

"Cute analogy Jones. Appreciate it."

"I'm serious."

"Never doubted you for a minute."

"I can see why Peter left."

"Come on Jones, I couldn't possibly be that annoying!"

"DIANA!"

"Ok. Ok. I apologize. I really don't want her kicking my butt. I swear I'll behave."

Diana appeared at the door, looking curiously at Jones.

"Sorry to bother you, It's nothing I can't handle. Never mind."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

As Diana went back to her desk, Jones turned back to Neal, who still had that annoyingly innocent look on his face.

"Neal, you don't have the slightest clue how to behave."

"I'm a quick learner."

"It's not about learning Neal, it's about doing…and doing it for more than 5 minutes."

"Oh, right. I can see the problem there."

"So, what is Peter so mad about?"

"We were having a not-so-hypothetical discussion about one of my alleged works. I told him he would be duty bound to arrest me if he had evidence of this alleged heist. He didn't. I'm not sure if he was mad that he didn't have evidence, or mad because I told him to arrest me and he wouldn't. It's all very confusing."

"Yeah, I'm becoming familiar with that feeling."

"You know, we could go out and get some fresh air; that would be really nice."

"Very funny Neal."

"Seriously Jones. Peter didn't say we had to stay here, he just said you had to stay with me. So, if you want fresh air, I'm not turning down the opportunity."

"I'm not about to let you two cross paths if he's down there."

"Yeah, I guess that could get a little messy, but I'm sure you would protect me. Peter was threatening to shoot me earlier. You could stand in front of me, and I'm sure Peter wouldn't shoot through you. I told him to use something a little less bloody like poison or such. I mean really, shooting someone lacks class; it's much too messy, and it would ruin my suit."

"Peter's really going to owe me for this."

"You think so?"

"I know so. So what did you say that made Peter run off like this?"

"Well, there were several things; I'm just not sure which one of them actually did it."

Neal noticed a slight smile on Jones' face, but commended the agent for keeping his laughter to himself.

"Ahhh…and you just agreed to let him search your place?"

"Did you see the look on his face? Priceless. He was completely bewildered that I would actually let him search my place without forcing him to get a search warrant. He feels obligated to track down certain leads from this very attractive brunette and he's afraid he'll find something to implicate me and end our partnership."

"You don't seem to be worried at all."

"No reason to be. There's nothing there. As if I would be dumb enough to endanger June by storing questionable items on the premises."