(Neal POV)

Neal was feeling pretty lousy. He could feel every tiny bump that the car made, and it was giving him a headache. He tried to sit up, but quickly realized that that made it worse. Noises were drifting through the air, but he couldn't quite understand them yet. The van came to a stop suddenly, sending Neal crashing to the far wall. Then he was none too gently hauled to his feet and dragged outside.

With only one eye cracked open, all Neal could see was a dark warehouse (like he didn't see that coming) made of brick that was damp and smelled like mold. Neal could vaguely hear waves crashing and the horn of a tugboat in the distance, but that was all he got location wise.

The two burly guys from behind him shoved him forward. When Neal recovered, he felt the cold, round, and metal point of a silencer from a gun on his back. He grimaced. He hated guns with all his heart. They were too violent, too... messy. They...

And that's when he remembered what had happened.

Oh no.

He had killed someone.

Well, it wasn't technically him, anyways.

But still.

It was all his fault.

Neal looked up to realize that they'd traveled from the area the car was in and he hadn't paid attention. Great. That's what he got for feeling guilty. He couldn't focus on that now, so he'd have to push those thoughts aside.

The room that they entered had a table in the middle with a lot of Chinese food on it, and a heavy bald guy sitting at it. Then Neal looked over and saw the girl. So that must be Lindsay. The guys behind him roughly grabbed him and shoved him down next to her. He landed kind of on his face, which was embarrassing. She immediately scrambled over to him and helped him up.

"Hey," she whispered urgently. "You okay?" Her brown hair was a little ragged, and she seemed tired and a tiny bit scared, but she held herself with a confidence and defiance that made Neal smile to himself.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Neal replied. He suddenly realized how bad he must've looked (at least, in his standards). "Listen, I'm here to help you. I'm with the FBI."

Lindsay looked unconvinced. "And who's gonna help you?"

Good point.

"Uh... yeah, not the greatest rescue, I know."

"But the FBI knows we're here, right?"

Dang it. She was making him look even more like a failure.

"Well, no. But their best agent is looking for us. Trust me, if anyone can find me, it's him."

Lindsay looked hopeful, if a little intrigued. "Really?"

Neal have her a reassuring nod, then glanced behind her at the heavy goon who was slurping away at his noodles. "Good manners," he commented sarcastically. And then, as another insult, "You know, you should chew your food!"

Lindsay stifled a giggle and whispered to Neal, "Foul, right? He burps when he swallows!"

He looked at her approvingly. "Nice," he said.

The door burst open just then to reveal none other than Wilkes himself- with a couple of giant men behind him, of course.

Wilkes walked up to the two of them, his eyes never leaving Neal. "Well, Caffrey, you almost blew round one." Neal stiffened at that and almost let forth an inhuman growl. He didn't, but only because he's Neal Caffrey. Wilkes continued, "Luckily for you I was still able to get in there and get the information I needed. Otherwise the consequences would have been... severe."

Neal scoffed. "Well, that's just great. Now that I'm off the hook and you've gotten your info, I can just relax all day with my pal Lindsay here."

Wilkes smirked. Neal didn't like that. "Oh, there are still gonna be consequences. But since you only partially failed, she's-" he indicated Lindsay with a jerk of his chin "-gonna be the one to get them."

Lindsay's face paled considerably and Neal jumped to his feet with his hands splayed out in front of himself, as if to ward them off. "No," Neal stated firmly. "I was the one who failed, so take it out on me, not her."

"Neal," Wilkes slapped a hand on Neal's shoulder as if they were old buddies. "If you do something wrong, you gotta learn the hard way not to do it again. Otherwise you could be tempted to do the same thing again." The hand on Neal's shoulder shook him once, almost playfully, and then shoved him to one side, making him lose his balance.

He had to save this girl from any pain. This couldn't be like Kathy all over again. This would not be his fault.

"No, whatever you do, do it to me. I don't care, just leave her out of this."

The two thugs came out of nowhere from behind Neal and grabbed his arms so that he couldn't move. As much as Neal struggled and kicked, he couldn't get them off of him. Wilkes traveled behind them lazily and grabbed ahold of Lindsay's arm. She cried out and struggled in his grip, but it was vice like. Neal was turned around to view them and shoved on his knees, being held in place.

"See Neal, this is gonna be our deal," Wilkes said. Lindsay continued squirming in his grip while Neal remained pinned in place. "Every time you screw up a little bit, each time you make a mistake, Lindsay here is gonna pay the price. Of course it'll depend on how big a mistake it is, but you get the picture. Now, if you completely fail, or refuse to do what I ask, you're gonna take the punishment, and she's gonna die. Are we cl-"

SMACK

Lindsay's free arm swung around with surprising power and clobbered Wilkes in the ear. He cried out and released her, but only since his ears were now ringing. One of the cronies holding Neal released his arm and quickly restrained Lindsay, pinning her arms behind her back. Neal's free arm immediately swung for his own thug, but was caught and restrained by the fat bald thug who had been eating Chinese.

Wilkes angrily straightened up and stormed over to Lindsay.

"I was only gonna break a finger, but this is what you get now!"

Lindsay's arm was straightened out, and she struggled in vain to get loose again.

"NO!" Neal yelled, realizing what was going to happen.

Wilkes' foot swung down on top of the arm...

(Peter POV)

Peter parked his car outside of his home and wearily got out, feeling his eyes droop with fatigue. He reached back inside the car to grab the two copies of the videos and paused. Hopefully Elizabeth and Mozzie wouldn't react too badly when they watched what was on them. Sure, they had each been through a lot and experienced a lot before, but... But this was personal. This was Neal, whom they were very close with. He knew from personal experience that watching someone else go through something hard was sometimes much harder than going through it yourself.

Shrugging, Peter resumed retrieving them and walked to the door. They had asked to see them-well, Mozzie had- so, Peter would let them watch them. And besides, he could use an extra pair of outside minds to examine the footage.

As soon as Peter opened the door, El was all over him with questions.

"Did you bring them? Are there any updates? Do we know how Neal is doing? Can you put the videos in?" She answered the first and last question for herself, for when she spotted them she practically ripped them out of his hands and ran to the TV.

Unsurprisingly, Mozzie was sitting on their couch, seemingly calm but deep in thought as he sipped from his glass of wine procured from who knows where (Peter only ever drank beers, so it must've been from Elizabeth's stock). Moz apparently was too occupied to notice Peter until he sat down beside him.

"AAAH!" Mozzie shouted suddenly, making Peter jump back up in alarm, looking for the source of the thing that made him scream like that. But Mozzie just blinked once- twice- and looked up at Peter with surprise. "Oh, hello Suit. When did you get here? I was just going through my thoughts and memories on Wilkes, but I don't have much. I assume you brought the videos?" he said, just as El got it all hooked up and the screen came to life with the picture of Lindsay.

"Ah. Perfect." Mozzie took a sip of his wine.

Peter incredulously looked back and forth from Moz to El in disbelief, but his wife just shrugged and hurried back to take a seat on the other side.

Peter took his time and carefully lowered himself onto the couch. Looking over for a reaction from the small man, he finally determined it safe, took a seat, and pressed play.

The video of Lindsay talking to her father had no effect on Mozzie or Peter, but he could feel Elizabeth tense up as she watched it.

Peter comfortingly put his arm around her and gave a gentle squeeze, which she returned.

Mozzie seemed to be trying to analyze it, his brow furrowing in concentration. After it finished playing, Mozzie gave a slight "aha" and turned to say, "She's near water."

Peter grunted a little and mumbled, "Tell me something I don't know."

"Oh." Mozzie shrank back a little before turning a little and saying, "But, did you know that it's in a little community of buildings that are all pretty much the same in structure?"

This made Peter turn. "How do you know that?"

Mozzie shrugged. "If you really listen, you can tell from the echoes of the tugboat sound that it bounces and is reflected off of many buildings in the same area. For ears like your own, I'd suggest slowing down the sound and isolating it to pick it up."

Realizing that his mouth was agape, Peter snapped it shut and shook his head. "Well, Moz, I'll take your word for it. I'll tell the Bureau as soon as I get back."

Elizabeth quickly changed out the dvd for the flash drive containing the security footage of Neal. As this picture popped up, both Mozzie and El sat forward in expectation.

Peter cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Uh... I, uh, have to warn you that this one is a little more... intense than the last one..."

Mozzie shushed him and pressed play. "Oh please, Suit. If I thought I couldn't handle it, I would've never asked you."

"...well, I think you still would've, since you don't trust the Bureau to do anything right."

"Touché."

"Moz, Peter, quiet!"

The video started just as Peter remembered, with Neal running up the the building.

"What's he doing?" Elizabeth questioned, but was shushed again by Mozzie.

Elizabeth questioned again and again what was happening, but when the resounding crash occurred and Kathy's chair tipped over, the room became silent as they watched a trembling Neal, along with Wilkes who showed up.

"So they weren't threatening Neal or Lindsay," Elizabeth said softly. "That's why Neal became so desperate. Has... has he ever seen something like that before?"

Peter stopped to think about that. He'd never considered that something like this might damage Neal more on the inside than on the outside. "No," he answered, so softly that Mozzie and El had to strain to hear him. "Not that I know of."

"Suit," Mozzie interrupted, "Neal tries to stay clear of all violence, especially murder- just death in general. He's a great conman, so he'll be able to hide what he's feeling, but... I don't think that Neal is prepared mentally for this. It could shock or damage him."

And with that, the room fell silent.

(Neal POV)

Neal felt awful.

Lindsey was trying her best, and was actually managing to keep strong, even though every movement of her wrongly-bent arm elicited a small hiss of breath or a stifled yell. But when she sat normally, she glared at the fat guy so hard, a hole was going to start to form in the back of his head.

She didn't blame Neal at all, which made him feel a little better, but that didn't stop him from blaming himself. Every time he glanced at her cradling her arm, a fresh wave a guilt swept over him, along with a tiny bit of nausea. Right after Wilkes broke Lindsay's arm, right after her terrible, drawn out, scream, the first thing that she had done was roll over and throw up. And Neal couldn't blame her. He wouldn't admit it, but he was seriously considering doing the same thing. It was just bent so... wrong.

So after one final kick-to-the-ground goodbye to Neal, Wilkes and his men had sauntered out. Neal had scrambled over to Lindsay, eyes wide and stammering his apologies over and over again. Tears had leaked out of her eyes as she tried not to pass out.

It had gotten better, and she had propped herself against the wall and now was trying to get some seriously needed sleep. Neal had his arm around her, eyes closing from exhaustion while Lindsay slid down from the wall onto the floor. Her eyes finally closed for good, and she began to breathe deeply and evenly, with the occasionally cringe from jostling her arm.

Neal couldn't bring himself to look at her. He felt like such a failure.

This was almost definitely what Wilkes wanted, for Neal to blame himself. But he couldn't help it. First Kathy, and now Lindsay. Every time, all Neal wanted to do was to protect them, but all he managed to do was kill one and break the other. Of course, Lindsay was still very strong-willed and determined, but that didn't make Neal feel better about himself. He kept telling himself that this was Wilkes' fault, that he did this, but even Neal couldn't con himself to believe that. It was his fault that they both suffered.

All his fault.

Abruptly, the door opened and in stepped Wilkes, accompanied by his ever present two cronies. They made their way across the small room, and Wilkes crouched in front of Neal.

"So," Neal started, "are you here to break the other arm? Because Lindsay told me to tell you that that wasn't cool."

A ghost of a smile passed over Wilkes' face as he responded, "I'm sure she did. Actually, I'm here for part two of our operation. You didn't think you'd get out of it, did you?"

That was exactly what Neal had been hoping, but he didn't let it show.

"So, are you in? Because, if not, I would be fine in breaking the other arm, as well as yours- to begin with, of course."

Neal glanced down at the peaceful form of Lindsay. As much as he didn't want to leave her here alone and do Wilkes' dirty work, he also didn't want to be responsible for another injury.

Sighing, Neal put out his hand and Wilkes hauled him up. "I guess I'm in for another round."

Wilkes clapped him on the back. "I always knew you were smart, Caffrey. I knew that you'd come around with the right incentive. And we've finally found it, haven't we, boys?" The men around the room chuckled on command, and Wilkes flashed a smile. "Come on," he gestured for Neal to follow him.

They walked from the room, traveling through hallways and once even stepping outside before entering another similar building. This one, however, contained the same van from before, as well as another one. The new van was painted a deep navy blue, with an electricity company logo on the outside.

As he was pushed toward the van, Neal felt himself tense up a little. Of course it didn't show on the outside, but he felt his muscles clench up in anticipation. Each time he went in the van, he got tased.

Getting tased hurt.

A lot.

Then Neal reprimanded himself. He could take a little electricity! Be a man, and take it like one. If anything, Neal told himself, he deserved to be hurt. This sobered him up. Yes... He deserved what was coming to him. He'd caused so much pain, and death... this was only fair.

Nobody else needed to suffer.

Just him.

Of course, he'd prefer not to get hurt, but if anyone deserved it, it was him.

So Neal clambered into the blue van. The interior was practically the same, so he took up the spot in the middle and slid down.

This drive, however, he wasn't tased.

He'd almost been anticipating it.

Instead, Wilkes provided him with a fresh suit jacket, shirt, and tie, and briefed him on what he was going to do. Neal nodded in all the right places and was fine with everything until Wilkes handed him the gun.

"No. Absolutely not."

Wilkes just stared. Neal was wondering if Wilkes was going to punch him, shoot him, or both, when Wilkes just rolled his eyes and started taking out all of the bullets. "There. Are you satisfied now? Just hold the gun up to his back or head or whatever and get the case for me. Capiesh? He doesn't have to know that your gun isn't loaded, so you can 'feel good about yourself' or whatever. Just get it done."

Neal mutely nodded and took the empty piece, tucking it into his waistband expertly. As he moved to get out of the van, Wilkes stopped him once more.

"Oh, and Caffrey. The Feds are probably here right now. See, I know you were all comfy with them in the past, but for this operation, you're not going to make contact. At all. And just to insure that," he gestured to his two cronies to get out, "these two are gonna be inside. And I'll be outside watching your every move."

Well crap.

Neal had been hoping that Wilkes would over-estimate Peter and assume that they weren't here, or at least not be supervising him. Outwardly, Neal took all this info resolutely, with just his lips tightening slightly. Inwardly, Neal started to calculate all of the different ways that he could subtly pass a message to Peter. He could still pull this off.

Again, Neal went to climb out, and again, he was stopped. "What now, Wilkes? I'm pretty sure I can handle this without a hitch."

A corner or Wilkes' mouth twitched. "I'm sure you can. In fact, I think you're so good, that you'll manage to pull this off, leave your handler a message, and dupe my guys while you're at it. Which is why they won't be following you everywhere."

Neal's heart skipped a beat.

"They'll be following Peter."

No...

"So," Wilkes continued. "With that in mind, you're gonna take this," he handed Neal an earpiece, "and this," a small camera to go with his tie clip, "and be a good con-man and go get me that case. And remember, anything goes wrong, your camera goes out, you turn your head in the wrong direction, I don't care what, and my guys will shoot Peter. And then we'll break Lindsay's other arm, just for good measure."

Neal was shaking, trying to control his emotions. He trembled furiously, and found it extremely difficult to try and stop himself. Wilkes had pretty much just said checkmate in Neal's mind. Wilkes had known that whatever he did, Neal would still try and slip out of it.

But not with Peter.

He would not let the next person to die be Peter. Lauren, Jones, Elizabeth... yeah, even El... Would all blame him for Peter's death. He would blame himself as well.

But Neal knew that that wasn't the real reason why he couldn't let Peter die.

Peter... Wasn't like anyone else. He could trust Peter. He cared about Peter in ways that he couldn't care about anyone else- not Mozzie, not even Kate. Peter was... well... Neal had come to think of him as the only father figure in his life. Peter was his best friend.

So Neal subconsciously decided that he would do whatever Wilkes told him to.