Alex looked up at the house when the cab came to a stop. She smiled as she saw the familiar house and paid the driver what she needed to. She knew she over tipped but she didn't care. She got out of the cab with her bag and went to the front door. She looked around before ringing the doorbell and waiting there with her arms wrapped around her. She was nervous; mostly because she was crossing a line that she knew shouldn't be crossed. Her mother always said to honor blood before love or friends, but she knew she couldn't now. She smiled as the door opened and she saw it was June. "Hi, um, is Neal in?" She asked quietly. She hoped that her hair was hiding her black eye and the fact that it was swelling shut.

"Yes," June said as she let Alex in. "Are you going to be staying for a while?"

"I hope so," Alex said with a smile.

"Then you should know that Peter and his wife are here," June replied.

"So the house is really safe," Alex said. "Thanks June."

"You're welcome," June said and went back to Mozzie.

Alex went up the stairs quietly, keeping close to the side as she did so. She sighed softly as she got up to Neal's room and knocked on the door. She looked around and waited a few moments before knocking again. "Come on Neal," she whispered.

Neal opened the door, only in his pants. "Um, Alex?" He asked as he looked confused.

"Let me in?" Alex asked with a bit of a smile.

"Right," Neal said and did so. He looked around the hallway before closing and locking the door. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

Alex put her bag down and sat down on the couch. She moved her hair so that Neal could see the black eye. "It's gotten dangerous where I've been. Do you mind if I crash here for the night?"

Neal moved over and gently moved more of her hair away. He looked at it worriedly and got up to get some ice. He wrapped it up in a towel and went back over to her. He sat down in front of her and gently put the ice to the black eye. He saw her wince and let her hold the ice. "What happened?"

"Kate and her temper," Alex said quietly. "I got her angry; she grabbed the nearest object and hit me with it. It's been happening since I was two and she was four. It's why my mom and dad separated for most of the year. Well, more reasons than that, but it was easier for her to just raise me."

"I've never heard you talk about your family," Neal said as he sat down on the couch.

Alex turned to face him, using the back of the couch as an arm rest. "I've never had a want to talk about them. I just – my mom was sweet. A beautiful lady and an amazing con woman and thief. It was a mutual attraction between her and dad and they got married. Two years after that, they had Kate. Two years after Kate, they had me. Kate got jealous and so they started to drift apart. Even more so as Kate tried to kill me. She wanted to be the only child and got that with dad. I got my training with my mom and when I was eleven, I got to go visit my dad for a year. Kate got to go visit mom. During all that time, they were always training us. Always making us ready for the day we would be able to come into the family business."

"That's a huge contrast to me," Neal said quietly. "If we're swapping stories."

"I know yours – the Oliver Twist turned thief by a great Fagin," Alex said.

"Shouldn't be shocked to know that's a lie then," Neal said with a bit of a smile. "My mom and aunt raised me. I was supposed to walk the straight and narrow. Then Gray happened and…well, everything's been pear shaped since. I did meet my dad though. He's a nice guy, so is my stepmom."

"I'd like to meet him," Alex said.

"You already have," Neal said. "He's the guy who has the FBI badge and a gun usually pointed in your direction."

"…your handler is your dad," Alex said.

"Yes," Neal said. "But now I know where my fascination with numbers comes from."

"I don't think I want to know," Alex said. "So, can I just crash on your couch?"

"You can take the bed, I'll sleep on the couch," Neal said. "I wouldn't feel right if you're sleeping on the couch. And I've slept on the couch before; it's not a big deal to me."

"Okay," Alex said with a smile. "Thank you."

"Let me see your eye," Neal said as he moved closer to Alex. He gently looked at the eye. "You sure you didn't get hit with something harder? Your eye was nearly swollen shut."

"I don't know," Alex says. "Neal – I – I need to tell you something."

"You know you can just say it," Neal said as he put the ice gently back on her eye.

Alex took a hold of the ice pack as Neal placed it back. "I know where the music box is. Gray has it and he was able to just open it. It looked like he understood it better than we ever could. I don't know what he's going to do with it, but I don't trust him."

"We should go and tell Peter," Neal says. "And if not Peter, then El." He looked at Alex and could tell that she was scared. "What's wrong?"

"Do you still have feelings for Kate?" Alex whispered, looking down at her hands. She didn't really want to hear the answer, if it was yes, but she had to ask. She needed to know just how far she could go.

"I used to," Neal replied. "I thought that she was everything but she died. I don't know what type of person she is now, but it's not the person I remember. And certainly not the person that I fell in love with a long time ago."

"Oh," Alex said quietly. "I'm glad to hear that."

Neal smiled and softly kissed her lips. He gently pulled her into a hug. "So…why don't we share the bed tonight?" He whispered into her ear.

Alex grinned. "I like that idea," she said quietly. She got up and let Neal lead the way into the bedroom. Even though nothing might have happened in the bedroom, the comfort was all either of them needed.

Author's Note: Hey guys – sorry that I've been absent from this fic for so long. I remembered starting it and then there was no good plot. So it took a while to come back to it. Thank you everyone for reading so far and I hope you stick around. I hope everyone likes it and has fun reading it. There is more to come and I'm going to try to finish before the return of White Collar on Tuesday.