Peter hated feeling jittery. He hated it mostly because the only time he felt that way was when things were out of his control. Well, not so much out of control as not controllable. When Neal was undercover Peter had very little control of what Neal did and how he did it and that was fine, because if Neal made a mistake he would be there to make it right, but this was different.

First of all, it was Neal's first case as an independent contractor, so not only was he under additional pressure to perform, if something went wrong there would be no tracker to follow. Not that they hadn't had to deal with that issue before, but at least the tracker had always given him a starting point. And second, the situation was... was...

"I don't like it."

Neal looked up to catch Peter's eyes. He was holding a mini-recorder in place while Diana rolled tape around his chest to keep it in place. "I don't think we have many options at this point, Peter. Lehmann wants me and Marianna to come alone and according to Jones none of our transmitters are going to work down there."

"Yeah and neither are your cell phones. If you have to run for it, you'll have nearly a half-mile of tunnel to get through before you hit a platform."

Neal grimaced, "I just bought these shoes, too."

Peter pulled his most serious, 'I'm serious, Neal' face.

Neal smiled at him winningly, the smile disappearing when Diana snapped the tape with a sharp tug before giving Neal a smile of her own. "You're all ready. Marianna will meet you at the tunnel entrance in five."

"Thanks Diana," Peter said as Neal nodded at her, an affectionately rye expression on both their faces as she exited the truck to get into position.

"If they try to search you..."

"They've searched me three times already. If he didn't trust us he wouldn't be showing us his stash."

"Or, he's taking you down there to kill you."

"Well, there is that possibility. Thanks for bringing it up."

Peter could move around now that Diana was out of the truck, so he stood to force Neal's attention. He was tugging his shirt over his shoulders as Peter came to a stop in front of him. "I mean it Neal, keep your eyes open. Don't let Marianna get you distracted. Remember, she may have her own agenda," Neal had left his tie hanging on the corner of a console, still partially knotted, so Peter grabbed it as Neal finished buttoning up his shirt. "If you get a whiff of anything," Peter gave the tie to Neal after he buttoned his collar, "I wish you would just carry a gun."

Neal pulled the tie down around his ears, "Peter you know how I feel about..." Neal stopped speaking abruptly when Peter tugged on the tie, pulling to make sure it was straight and tight, just the way Neal always wore it. Peter felt Neal's Adam's apple bob against his knuckles as he swallowed and turned his face to the side. He had a slight flush creeping up his neck and Peter worried that he had pulled the tie too tight, so he put his index finger in between the skin of Neal's neck and the fabric of his collar to loosen it, pulling back when the skin on skin contact made his stomach feel like it had just dropped to his knees.

"Are you okay, Peter?" Neal asked his voice tight.

"I'm fine." Peter said feeling discombobulated. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," He answered pulling his suit coat from a nearby chair and turning to tug it over his shoulders. Peter still felt his stomach churning as Neal adjusted the coat and stuffed his shirt tail into his pants. Peter shook his head to clear it. He couldn't let his confusion about his reactions to Neal cloud his mind. He needed to concentrate on the task at hand.

He smiled tightly at Neal when he turned to face him. The flush was fading as Neal slipped into the persona of Alex Turner, arms dealer and bad guy, effectively distancing himself from Peter. Neal's natural ability to turn personas on and off with ease was one of the things that made him a good…no a great con man. The fact that he felt the need to slip into his Turner persona now told Peter that he wasn't the only one who felt out his depth at the moment.

Peter really wanted to say something, but he needed time to think about what the hell it was he wanted to say, so instead he gave Neal a gruff, "See you, later," as he exited the truck.

"I knew this was a bad idea!"

Peter's feet were soaking wet because, of course, he'd run right through a puddle of water that Jones had somehow managed to miss as they pursued their target deeper and deeper into the long stretch of abandoned subway tunnel. He knew the moment was coming when he'd have to make the call to pull back, call in backup and set up a formal search for Lehmann, but he wanted to give Neal just one more minute to pull off a miracle and make his way back to them.

If Lehmann found a way out while they were twiddling their thumbs trying to organize a search, he'd have no reason to keep Neal alive.

He couldn't think about that now. He and Jones both slowed to a stop as they came an intersection, listening for an indication of which direction Lehmann and Neal could have gone. Diana was still at the platform tending to a wounded Marianna. By the time she had emerged from the tunnel, she had not seen Neal in almost five minutes. A lot could happen to Neal in five... two hard clanks echoed through the tunnel. Jones was two steps closer to the sound and was edging around a corner leading to another branch of the tunnel, his gun at half-mast as he moved slowly, trying to stay in shadow.

There was another hard clang, this time closer and followed by a guttural grunt. That was Neal. Peter was past Jones and into the tunnel before Jones could stop him. "Peter," He hissed as Peter came into the tunnel to find Lehmann lifting a two by four over a prone form.

Peter's bullet caught Lehmann in shoulder, sending him spinning. He hit the ground hard as Neal scrambled away.

Jones started barking orders at Lehmann to stay down and not to move the moment he hit the ground, his gun pointing at the man's back as he ran over and put a foot on his wounded shoulder to keep him still. Peter cuffed him, despite his protests about his injured arm as Jones searched him for his weapon.

"I got the gun away from him." Neal said breathlessly from the tunnel wall. Neal was sweating, dirty and out of breath but his face brightened when their eyes met, letting Peter know that he was alright. "I think it's over there, but I didn't see where it landed."

Lehmann let loose a string of curses that Peter only partially understood since his German was more than a little rusty. "Jones get Diana on the walkie and get the rest of the team down here." Peter said as he walked, half-crouched to Neal.

"Are you alright?" Peter asked as he dropped to his knees in front of Neal. Now that he was close enough to see more detail, he could see a large bruise forming on the side of Neal's face.

"Yeah, he clocked me with the gun when I made a grab for it."

Peter was so furious his hand was shaking as he swept the hair off Neal's brow. "We'll get someone to look at it." He said, letting his fingers trace the side of Neal's face, caressing the outer edge of the reddened skin.

Neal cleared his throat as he turned his eyes up, probably to look at Jones -who was probably wondering just what the hell he was seeing. Peter drew his hand back slowly. He wasn't going to act like a kid who had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar, even though he felt like one.

"Diana's on her way with the rest of the team and the EMT's. They should be here in less than two minutes." He reported dutifully, though Peter could hear something in his voice that said he was concerned.

Neal tried to stand, so Peter took a few steps away to give him room to move. Neal's eyes were distant as he straightened. Peter knew he was trying to process his strange behavior toward him and make it make sense. Peter could sympathize because he was trying to do the same thing.

"Peter, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Huh, yeah sure." Peter looked around to see if something had gone horribly wrong while he'd been checking on Neal and Marianna while the EMT's checked them out. Hughes never came to a site unless things had really gone to hell. Which they had, he supposed, but no more than usual.

"Is something wrong, Sir?" He asked as Hughes beckoned him behind the special ops truck.

He didn't answer right away which was making Peter more than a little concerned. His face must have betrayed his concern, "I just wanted you know that Lehmann's on his way to the hospital. His wound in not life-threatening, but Peter," Hughes look uncharacteristically unsure, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to put you on leave until the investigation into the shooting is done."

"What? That was a clean shoot."

"I know, I know, but this is your first shooting since El passed. They'd hang me if I didn't put you on leave, especially since Neal was involved."

"Neal?"

"Peter do you know how many Officer Involved Shooting's you had on your record before you started working with Neal?"

Peter didn't really want to answer that, "The cases Neal works are inherently more dangerous."

"They are," Hughes nodded his agreement, "but you can't tell me that your relationship with Neal didn't affect your decision to shoot, instead of issuing the standard cease and desist first."

Peter felt an uncomfortable squirm in his stomach, "He might have killed Neal."

"Or he might have dropped his weapon and stepped away."

Peter felt himself flush, "I didn't have time to think about maybes."

"Yeah, Jones said as much." Hughes shook his head at Peter's startled breath, "He's not betraying you, Peter. His official story in going to match yours word for word, but off the record he's concerned that maybe after the way Neal helped you and El... that maybe you've lost some perspective when it comes to working with him."

"He's my friend and coworker. I would do the same for anyone else." Peter was confident in his words and let it show in his voice.

Hughes exhaled through his nose heavily, "Peter, it's been less than a year since El passed, you're still a little raw and you came back to work too soon. Take the time to think about your job and get a little distance from everything, Neal included, and see if you don't find yourself looking at everything a little differently. Okay?"

"Sure," Peter said, though he wasn't sure he wanted time to think and the thought of being away from Neal for so long...

"Good. We'll see you in two weeks then."

"What? You want me to leave now?"

"By the end of the day I want your badge and gun on my desk." Hughes said turning to leave with a curt nod.

"By the end of the day?" Peter muttered as Hughes walked away.