AN: Don't kill me. I'm sorry it took so long to update, but LOOK! It's a chapter!

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing.

"Hi, I'm Neal Caffrey, it's nice to meet you." Neal stepped forward and shook Annabe-Shannon's hand. He tried not to focus on the fact that she was wearing a necklace with an owl charm on it…along with a few beads which looked very (very) familiar.

"Shannon Thina, really nice to meet you too. Are you an agent?"

Neal winced good-naturely, though in reality, he felt as though his whole life was on the life, depending on what Annabeth-Now-Shannon thought of him. "I'm a CI."

"You're a criminal consultant? For the FBI? That's fairly impressive." Shannon smiled at him and for a moment, he felt as though he was flying (without any fear of being hit by lightning).

He laughed. "Not many people think so, but I thank you for the compliment."

Shannon studied him carefully, and he had to keep reminding himself that it was Shannon looking at him. No matter how familiarly her blonde curls glistened in the sun, or the way her grey eyes shined, wise beyond her years, it wasn't Annabeth looking at him. It was Shannon, though she may be in Annabeth's body, it was Shannon. "Do I know you from somewhere? You look really familiar…"

Neal smiled easily at her. "A pretty thing like you? I'm sure I'd remember." And he did. He remembered everything. But Annab-Shannon didn't need to know that.

"You probably saw his picture in the newspaper… His arrest was a pretty big deal." Peter interjected.

"Stop bragging, Agent Burke, it's beneath you." Neal grinned, though he was wondering if the second mention of his criminal past would somehow change Shannon's opinion of him.

"Perhaps…" Shannon spoke thoughtfully while playing around with the owl charm on her necklace. It was then that Rachel cleared her throat awkwardly… She had never been very good at handling awkward silences.

"Hi, I'm Rachel Dare."

"Shannon Thina… Are you a CI or an agent?"

Rachel laughed. "I'm actually one of Neal's friends… I'm just here to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Why would he do that?"

"His family's in town… It's enough to get anyone on edge." Rachel sent the girl a wink, and Shannon smiled, though it seemed slightly forced as her brow was furrowed. Neal prayed that she didn't suddenly remember Rachel.

"So, as far as I understand, you have the designs for the Adler building, correct?" Neal asked, grinning at Shannon as they all sat down at the conference table.

"Yes, I do. The only thing is, I don't exactly know where it is." She admitted, sliding a folder across the table, which Neal picked up and looked through. He tried not to gape when he realized that many of the designs were identical to rooms in the Labyrinth, or designs from Daedalus's laptop. It proved that she at least, did remember something… Even if not consciously.

"Wow. It's really complex… Peter, have you seen this?"

The agent nodded. "It seems to me, we'll need a princess and a roll of string to navigate it." Rachel looked as though she was trying not to laugh or be flattered. She had, of course, been the 'princess' during the Labyrinth quest, and she knew it.

Shannon smiled slightly. "I thought about all that, which is why I designed a kind of cheat entrance. I hid it in the workings, so it wouldn't be obvious to anyone building it, but it just seemed too much like a prison to me, so I decided that it was the right thing to do."

Neal stared at the designs. "Where is it?"

"Right there." Anna-Shannon pointed. "See that hole for air? It's a lot larger than it needs to be, and from there, you have access to the center of the fortress, where you can figure out how to get anywhere else."

"It's genius." Neal breathed, studying the plans, and in that moment he was more sure than ever that the woman sitting before him could not be anyone other than his Wise Girl.

"It's all very well and good, but we still have no clue where the location of it is. It could be in Wisconsin for all we know." Peter reminded them.

Rachel smiled mysteriously. "Oh, don't worry about that. Neal's family is pretty good with finding such things."

"They should be. I have a feeling he's not the only criminal." Peter muttered under his breath.

Neal raised his eyebrows amusingly while someone leaped to his defense. Surprisingly, it wasn't Rachel.

"Agent Burke, I find that completely inappropriate and beyond rude." Shannon spoke with a frown. "How could you possibly infer anything about his family?"

"You haven't met his cousins." Peter defended himself and crossed his arms.

"It's not of importance, Miss Thina. All that matters is finding Sally Jackson as soon as possible." Neal spoke, though his insides were humming from happiness. Though Annabeth was actually somewhat defending herself (as twisted as it was to think about, his family was her family), she didn't know it, and that meant that she was directly defending him.

"Sally Jackson?" Shannon asked, her eyes widening.

"Yes, do you know her?" Peter pressed, searching for a connection in Sally Jackson's file.

"No… No. I don't think so… Just, the name sounds really familiar." Rachel and Neal exchanged a quick glance, which Peter caught, but didn't comment on.

"She was in the papers before for a sculpture she had created… Perhaps that's where you heard of her." Neal suggested, his heart pounding from the lie.

"No, it sounds familiar in the way that architecture felt familiar… There's some connection to it from before I was Shannon Thina." Neal gulped but decided to speak.

"If so, then maybe when we find her, she can explain the connection."

"A good a plan as any, I suppose." Shannon agreed, though her face was still thoughtful.

"Who are you going to send to find out the location?" Peter asked Neal, sensing the need for a subject change. "Nico or Thalia?"

"Nico already knows, though if she wished, Thalia could find out within a few hours." Neal spoke, grinning.

Shannon started a bit at the names, then looked beyond confused as to why she had been startled. At that moment, Neal could have hit Peter for his slip-up. It would be better for now if Annabeth didn't remember… He could explain everything to her later, where he could tell her the full story and hope that she didn't hate him.

"So you know the location?"

"Yes. Here are the coordinates." Neal quickly scribbled down the location before flashing a smile at Shannon and shaking her hand. "I really should get going, I don't trust my cousins in my apartment alone."

"You're not going to do anything stupid, are you?" Peter asked, narrowing his eyes at him.

"Of course he isn't, Agent Burke, not with me around." Rachel smiled.

"Send me video evidence showing that Nico isn't either, and I'll believe you." Peter spoke.

"Done and done." Neal promised before smiling once more down at Shannon. "It was really nice meeting you, Miss Thina, I hope you find out the answers you're looking for."

"You too, Mr. Caffrey, and I hope I do as well."

"You dealt with that better than I thought you would." Rachel confided to Percy as they started walking back to his apartment.

"I think I'm going to throw up."

"Spoke too soon… But she thinks we sound and look familiar! That's a good thing!"

"I also promised her my mother would tell her of the connection they have. Is that a good thing as well?"

Rachel winced. "You could always ask your mother to let you tell her?"

"Nothing about this endeavor could possibly go well, regardless of who tells her." Percy spoke pessimistically.

"Yes, yes, yes, did you get the plans?"

He took out a sheet of paper from her purse. "Here. I took the extra copy from the file."

"How'd you get it into my purse?"

"Not every thief is a son of Hermes…"

"Did you get the plans, Lover Boy?" Nico asked Percy, snapping him out of his mindless staring into space.

"Lover Boy?"

"You're thinking about Annabeth, aren't you?"

"No."

"Yes, he is." Rachel spoke, grabbing a tub of ice cream from the fridge. Thalia looked up as soon as she did so, as though she could sense the sugary goodness.

"Is that chocolate swirl?"

Rachel nodded, grabbing a very large spoon from a drawer. "Yep."

"Grab me a spoon."

Rachel did so, grabbing an equally large spoon from the same drawer. "Here."

They then proceeded to attack the large carton of ice cream with their equally large spoons.

"Why are they attacking that ice cream?" Nico spoke with an almost disgusted fascination.

"Their friend turned out to be alive, well, and completely ignorant as to their existence. Plus they're running the risk of never having blue chocolate chip cookies again." Percy explained, smiling bitterly. "Here are the plans." He handed them to Nico who smirked at the sight of them.

"I'll leave the girls to their ice cream and go get your mother."

Percy stood up so fast that his chair toppled over. "What? I thought I was going with you!"

Nico shrugged, his face showing some guilt. "I lied. You'd just hold me back. It's for your mother, Percy."

"I'm going with you Nico." Percy insisted, stepping forward intimidatingly while his hand strayed to the pen in his pocket.

"No. You're not. Thalia, it's time."

"Thalia?" Percy whirled around to face his other cousin.

"Sorry, Percy… It's for Sally." Then his hand was suddenly handcuffed to the chair, and though he strained at them, the handcuffs did not budge. Thalia knelt beside him and smiled at him sadly. "Celestial bronze, Seaweed Brain… It's not going to budge."

Percy continued struggling, though after a moment or two, he stopped, due to a voice in his head that sounded like Annabeth. "Nico, if something happens to her, I swear on the River Styx, I will hurt you."

"I get it. Nothing will happen, I promise."

Percy's eyes widened as Nico took out the Yankee hat and stuck it on his head determinedly, the bright white of it contrasting strongly with his dark clothes. "You didn't swear."

Nico's voice floated out to him though the boy's body wasn't visible. "No. I didn't."

"Is Mr. Caffrey's family, by chance, involved with the mob or some other organized crime group?" Shannon asked Agent Burke bemusedly as Neal left the building.

"I'm actually not quite sure." He answered.

"Don't they usually have some type of gang wear? Or symbol or something?" Miss Thina asked, quite amused now.

The agent burst out laughing. "Usually, yes, but not Neal's family as far as I…" He trailed off, staring far off into space.

"As far as you know?"

"It might just be a theory, but I think… He, and the two cousins I've met all have the same necklace. It's just like a string, but with beads on it… It might just be a coincidence. Pretend I never said anything. I'm always far too talkative, ask my wife."

Shannon had been staring at him open-mouthedly since the middle of his rant. She put up a hand and touched the owl charm of her necklace… It had quiite a few beads, with the first being a pine tree, and the last a small image of the empire state building with tiny lettering around the edges. In the middle of the beads was a small owl charm. It was both her most prized possession, and the only thing she retained from her past. She had thought that under Mr. Caffrey's suit, she had glimpsed something like it, but dismissed it as her eyes playing tricks on her… But now…

"Oh, sorry, Agent Burke, I have to go. I have a very important meeting with a client in half an hour and I still have to get all of the materials prepared!" She lied deftly before quickly saying her goodbyes to the friendly middle-aged agent and leaving.

Neal Caffrey knew something about her past…. And she would be damned if she didn't find out what.

Don't kill me for spending far too long writing this chapter... It just wouldn't come, and I had to force it out. I'm sorry, but at least it's all finally here!

Seriously, though. I'm sorry, and don't kill me.

-Marie

PS: I'd love to hear what you guys think of this chapter!