Telepathy Troubles

Having Neal Caffrey as a consultant caused more intrigue than Peter had expected, and it wasn't due to his tendency to commit crimes. No, it was because Neal had a tendency to react oddly with no apparent cause. The mystery aroused the team's curiosity and they tried to figure it out, but no one seemed to get the right information and the mystery persisted.

Jones had been carrying on a lively conversation with Neal as they sat in the van on surveillance duty. They'd turned their work into a game in an effort to keep their attention on the boring silence while their suspect took a nap on the couch in his office.

Then, in mid-word, Neal went silent and his face went slack and unresponsive while his eyes had a distant look.

Unsure what was happening, Jones questioned Neal. When he didn't get a response, he waved a hand in Neal's face before hesitantly resorting to slapping him.

Nothing, Neal didn't even twitch!

Pulling out his phone, Jones took a picture of Neal before taking a short video.

A little creeped out, Jones texted Peter and showed him what he meant by Neal being unresponsive.

They were both starting to get worried when Neal came back into focus with a sigh as he sagged into his seat.

"What was that?!" Jones questioned once Neal was blinking sluggishly. Whatever had happened, it had drained him of his previous energy.

"Nothing, not that I could explain anyway." Neal waved his concern off and promised that he was fine.

Updating Peter, Jones was relieved to see Neal pick up some of his energy again after a brief rest, a snack, and sipping some water.

When he felt better, Neal picked up their conversation and tried to act like nothing had happened, but Jones was too affected to be able to put on the same performance.

In response, to the mystery, Peter made Neal do desk duty for a week and either randomly checked on him personally or had June pop in to make sure he was okay for almost two weeks.

Diana was showing Neal a back room that their team almost never used when Neal suddenly crumpled to the floor with an "Oomph!" and his arms reflexively wrapped around his middle.

"Neal, are you okay? What's wrong?" Diana could have sworn he'd been sucker punched in the gut, but there was no one there! Confused, she passed off the random thought that an invisible person had hit Neal, a concept of the movie she'd seen the night before, but there wasn't any indication of something like that other than Neal's reaction, that is, if something like that were even possible.

Settling on the floor, Neal stayed down and coughed as he tried to regain his breath on a wheeze.

Helping him as if he'd been punched, Diana could tell that his body was physically reacting to a punch, but she had no idea why.

Slowly, Neal managed to regain his composure, but he remained seated and didn't seem to be paying attention to his environment. Instead, he looked very focused internally, like he was trying to figure out what had happened too.

Taking a picture, Diana knew Neal wasn't paying attention to her when he didn't react. Then she texted both Jones and Peter. She wanted to know if this was anything like the last time when Neal had reacted with Jones.

Unfortunately, this was something different so they could only add to the mystery instead of getting closer to solving it.

After about twenty minutes, Neal seemed to shake whatever it was off and get up. Sighing as he saw Diana with her phone and warily watching him, he just asked, "How long is my sentence this time?"

"Are you going to explain what is happening?" Diana frowned at him while updating the others.

"No, I can't explain it," Neal shrugged. He was used to this, but no one ever believed him if he tried to explain what was happening.

"Peter wants to see you," Diana directed him off to the boss's office so that he could confirm for himself that Neal was okay while determining his sentence.

This time, it was two weeks of desk duty.

Much to the chagrin of the team, Neal being in the office proved to be more determinantal than helpful.

First, his arm randomly jerked out in a meeting which sent Blake's coffee spilling everywhere.

It was very hot and fresh so Blake scrambled to clean up before he got burned by the liquid in his clothes, others scrambled to move papers and clean the mess, but Neal was oblivious despite burning his wrist as it sat in the coffee.

Peter had taken Neal to get his wrist cleaned up and bandaged, but Neal didn't notice until he'd nearly finished and he never explained what had caused his sudden reaction.

After that, everyone gave him a wide berth if they were carrying anything, and wary glances to make sure he wouldn't unintentionally hit them.

As the notes continued to build, various members of the team noted that Neal often seemed to be conversing with himself.

When this happened, Neal had been seen showing various facial expressions such as rolling his eyes, muttering, and smirking with no apparent instigation.

Most agents thought he was mulling on something, they'd all done similar things at various points, but some worried that he might have something like a head injury or mental illness that was causing his strange behavior.

No matter what theory the team came up with, Neal always denied it being the cause of his behavior before reassuring them that he was alright.

It was a case where Neal needed to go into the field as one of his aliases that released him from desk duty despite Peter's reservations.

Although Peter had wanted to put a camera on and go in instead, he had to admit that he didn't have Neal's knowledge of gems and a camera couldn't convey the minute details that Neal would need.

Putting on glasses and picking up a picture of his alleged wife and kid, Neal donned his George Devore persona in preparation for viewing the stolen gems.

With everything in place, Neal went into the meeting and posed as a fence to their suspects. He was to view the gems, verify if they were the stolen merchandise, and then state the code word to direct the waiting team's response.

Everything went fine until Neal was stating the code word. He paused mid-sentence again which left everyone else hanging in an awkward balance.

"He's got an earbud, he's with the Feds!" One suspect accused him before pulling out his gun.

Zoning back in, Neal tried to diffuse the situation, but it was too late as the suspect fired his gun and attempted to flee.

Dismayed, Peter rushed to Neal's side to find his CI dealing with a bullet in his arm.

"I'm alright, Peter." Neal hissed through the pain as he tried to stem the blood flow.

"And you wonder why we don't trust you when you say that?" Peter growled sarcastically. "You're bleeding pretty good, but it doesn't seem to have hit any arteries." He worked to do the necessary first response to make sure Neal would be alright while the team dealt with their suspects.

Taking Neal to the hospital, Peter knew his injury wasn't life-threatening, but it also needed to be professionally treated.

It took a while, but eventually, Neal's arm had been treated and put into a sling. With the paperwork done at the hospital and their visit complete, Peter gave Neal a lift home to his place.

"Just what you love, a homemade meal and a pile of paperwork." Peter was still frowning as he settled Neal on the couch.

Neal could follow what he said, but he wasn't the most focused thanks to the prescription-grade pain medicine. His eyes tracked Peter's movement, but he didn't respond to his words.

When Neal's phone rang, Peter was tempted to answer it, but he passed it to Neal instead. "Hey, Neal, someone is calling you."

Rolling his eyes after reading the caller ID, Neal answered the call. "You didn't have to call you know; I could hear you the whole time."

Puzzled, Peter wasn't sure if that was the medicine talking or not, but Neal wasn't making sense.

"Well, you shouldn't have distracted me. I was doing just fine up until that point. For your information, I am trained and experienced at these sorts of things." The conversation went on further before Neal snorted over whatever was being said. "He's one to talk... you're one to talk. How many times have you been shot in your government work? This is my first time."

Listening, Peter really wished he had the context to fill the gaps in. He sensed that vital information was passing under his nose, but he couldn't grasp it.

As Neal's eyes began to droop, Peter wondered if he was going to get to talk to the mystery person, or persons, on the other end, but when Neal drifted off, he picked up the phone to find that the call had been disconnected.

Sighing as he carefully tucked Neal in on the couch, Peter muttered about how Neal was causing more premature gray hair for him. However, he also knew that Neal would probably sleep through the night so the paperwork and food would just have to wait.

Finally, Neal returned to the office on desk duty while his injury finished healing.

Watching him keenly, the team noticed that his mysterious behavior seemed to have ended, but they didn't trust that to be the case.

Accompanying Neal to lunch, Peter, Jones, and Diana hoped to work on him for more information to ease their concerns. But, their plans were derailed when a car sped up trying to intentionally hit a pedestrian.

Then a lot happened at once!

The man evaded injury from the speeding car, but he was knocked down by the car in the next lane as they slammed on their brakes but still pushed him off balance.

Peter caught Neal as he sagged with a grunt of pain, Diana called in the speeding car to send the police after them, and Jones ran ahead to check on the intended victim.

"His case might kill us all," Neal grumbled, but he once again insisted that he was alright. "Catch up to Jones and that will begin the explanation," Neal waved Peter's argument away.

Curious, Peter walked Neal up to where Jones had assisted the intended victim to the sidewalk.

Looking back and forth, Peter and Jones both noticed that the men were identical and both favoring the same ankle.

"What is going on?" Jones was the first to exclaim.

"This is why I couldn't explain it, at least one of the reasons anyway." Neal annoyed them by explaining too slowly. "Meet my younger identical twin brother. Bryce, this is Peter and Jones."

Although they were intrigued as Diana joined them, Neal still hadn't explained anything beyond their similar appearance.

"Have you ever heard of twins having connections? Like, being able to sense things about each other, communicating telepathically, and in general, being very connected?" At their frowns, Neal continued, "My brothers and I are the strongest of such connections known to modern science. We can talk telepathically, which is why I've seemed to zone out or talk to myself. You may have noticed that we can feel what the other feels, particularly when we're caught by surprise, so I physically react to whatever is happening to my brothers just like they do to me. When our connection is fully open, it is like we are three people in one instead of identical triplets. This is helpful when we need each other's skills, but a problem if more than one of us is in trouble at the same time."

They were shocked and almost unbelieving as they stared at Neal, but how could he make something like that up? Science had explored such connections to validate the possibility, but the specifics were mind-boggling!

"The other part I can't really explain is what my brothers do in the government. Their work is beyond your clearance levels," Neal shrugged.

Having dealt with his ankle, Bryce knew he'd be sore, but he wasn't hurt. "I just turned my ankle; it will be fine. My brothers and I, we've dealt with public corruption trying to kill us for most of our lives, so we don't tell anyone about each other if we can help it. So, don't push my brother into explaining when he doesn't want to."

Trying to shake off the sock, Peter finally shook Bryce's hand and introduced himself. "On one condition, I want to know when there is a risk, whether it's a risk of your enemies coming after Neal, or an increased risk in things like this. I can't help him take precautions if I don't know it's necessary."

Neal and Bryce both zoned out, so Peter assumed they were conferring on how to handle his request.

"Agreed," Neal stated before asking for two of Peter's business cards. Writing on one, he put his brother's contact information and handed it back to Peter. On the other, he wrote Peter's personal information in addition to his work information and passed it to his brother.

Before they could extend the invitation for Bryce to join them for lunch, he declined. "It's best we don't make too much of a scene for there being multiple of us, so I'll be on my way." Although he was still walking gingerly, Bryce directed that he'd submit a report on what happened before signaling for a cab.

Seeing Mozzie as the driver, Peter turned a questioning look on Neal.

"Mozzie is actually Junior's friend, but we've become friends too since my brother asked him to watch out for me," Neal shrugged as he got up and began the ginger walk to the café. As he went, his limp soon subsided and he was able to resume his normal gait. "Bryce closed the connection so I don't feel his pain anymore, but Mozzie is with him so we don't have to worry."

Relieved, Peter shifted his concern from Neal walking on his sympathetically injured ankle to the reveals. "To make sure I have this straight, you are the middle brother, which makes you Danny, your older brother is James, and your younger brother is Bryce. The agency triplets? This also brings me to understand why there are rumors of why strange things happen around you three. Is that the basics of everything?"

Surprised, Neal turned to look at him and assess his reaction. "You've heard of us I see. Well, what do you think?" He kept his focus on Peter as he waited for his reaction.

"I think you might be more trouble than Caffrey, triple the trouble," Peter smirked as Neal rolled his eyes.

"Ha-ha, aren't you punny? But, seriously, what do you think?" Neal wasn't amused and remained focused on Peter's response to his reveals.

Growing serious, Peter reached out and put a hand on Neal's shoulder. "I'm glad to learn who you are, that you have your brothers so active in your life, even if they might be too connected sometimes, and I'm particularly glad you don't have a brain tumor or something." He couldn't help but grin again.

"You can't stay serious right now can you?" Neal looked between their amused expressions.

Chuckling, Peter put an arm across Neal's shoulders while expressing everyone's thoughts. "You are our friend, why can't we be happy to know you're okay and not going to keel over on us due to a brain tumor or something? Then I've heard of you and your brothers, so I just learned a lot about you."

Finally relaxing, Neal smiled and shook his head, but he allowed Peter to pull him closer for a sideways hug before they walked through the door into the café.

Pouting a little once their orders were placed, Diana huffed playfully at Neal. "I haven't heard of your brothers, but I assume you aren't answering questions?"

"Not really, you heard that we're in danger often enough due to our looks and connections, but also due to our father's enemies. It's too dangerous to let much information get out about us. What I told you outside is more than I've ever told anyone, at least, beyond a few government people to avoid making things worse." Neal shifted to take a drink before he continued, "Sometimes I've wanted to tell you guys, but no one believed us growing up, and it really is very dangerous."

"We get it, Neal. We're just glad you've shared the basics with us, that alleviates a lot of our worries." Jones tipped his drink at him before the conversation shifted to more normal topics.

When they returned to the office, everyone noticed how Peter, Jones, Diana, and Neal were more relaxed.

"Don't worry, everybody, Neal is fine. I know the cause of his strange behavior, but I won't be elaborating either, the cause is need to know for a list of reasons. In the future, Neal will let me know when there is reason to be extra observant, but things can come up at any time. Don't press him, just let me know if you have any questions." Peter announced to the office at large which caused a lot of tension to be released.

Hauling Neal up to Hughes' office, Peter insisted on the boss being given the barest information necessary to prevent future issues as well.

Fortunately, Hughes had also heard of the triplets and trusted Peter to handle the situation.

With the initial concerns resolved, Peter sent Neal back to work.

Settling in himself, Peter had a backlog of work to catch up on. Since he'd been paying so much attention to Neal and the mystery, he had neglected to keep up on his workload.

Glancing up again, Peter was relieved to see the space below resume something of its normal processes. The team no longer needed to worry so much about Neal, he knew more about his friend, and he'd be brought into the loop if there was something to worry about.

Receiving a text from Mozzie, he found himself invited to a safe house to further discuss the case that had caused the reveal of the triplets. He'd be off the books assistance to watch Neal's back but he looked forward to meeting the famous triplets, his friend's brothers.

Accepting the invitation, Peter smiled when he saw Neal glance at him.

Neal smiled a relieved smile back before going back to work.

Following suit, Peter still had his own work to do before he added the other case. Even if he wouldn't be working it directly, he'd be supporting Neal and his brothers, and his partner knew he'd have his back so he would do as much as possible.

At the end of the day, Peter met Neal at his desk for the trip to Mozzie's safe house.

"Have your brothers told you anything about what's planned?" Peter appreciated knowing the general secrets of the triplets, but he didn't know what could be expected.

"Not really, James and Bryce will both meet us at Mozzie's. With how dangerous this is getting it's probably best to have us all on hand to handle it." Neal seemed calmer than he'd been in quite a while, indicating that he was also relieved to have the secrets out.

Knowing that he'd get more information when they caught up to the others, Peter enjoyed the quiet comradery. He'd been rather wound up in his worry about his friend, and although the cause for concern had not been alleviated, he was at least aware of what it was.

When they arrived at the safe house, Peter let Neal lead since he was more familiar with the place.

Upon entering the main room, Peter was intrigued to see Bryce sitting in a chair with his leg up and ice on his ankle. James sat across from him at the table and was processing paperwork. Behind them, Mozzie was preparing their food since it was about time to eat.

Greeting Mozzie and moving to help with the cooking, Neal directed Peter to take a seat.

Officially introducing himself to James and acknowledging Bryce, Peter started the conversation by asking if they were okay with telling him something about themselves.

As expected, the triplets went silent to have one of their conversations, so when they concluded with a decision, Peter wasn't surprised to be regaled with their general stories.

Although he already knew a good deal of the information, Peter still found it interesting to learn that James was the eldest, army, NSA, and into sports. Bryce was CIA, the youngest, computer engineer with an accounting degree, a track star, and he was into nerdy pursuits such as comic books and video games. What he found the most interesting was that Neal was Neal's birthname, he was FBI, interested in art, and he wasn't actually inclined to commit crimes. He enjoyed learning more about the man he considered his best friend.

When they finished eating, Peter knew the serious part of the meeting was about to begin.

Since Mozzie had active participation, Peter learned that he was connected to the NSA through more than just James, which meant he was likely Winters, but he never confirmed it.

With their combined skills, Peter was certain the case would be closed quickly with everyone kept safe. Then things would resume a semblance of normal on the surface, but they would never be the same. Something Peter was happy with!

Thank you, everyone, for reading, commenting, leaving kudos, choosing to favorite, and following :D

Alrighty, I haven't had any requests so I'll start posting "Cute Creative Concepts" starting next week followed by "Twins versus Twins." At that point, I'll open my more recent stories, that are edited and ready, for choice. I hope you enjoy :D

My management has informed me that the expected workload is going to double when a new standard comes down...They're sending a special trainer from corporate in an effort to assist associates in achieving it since no one comes remotely close to that level of perfection and constant maximum efficiency. An additional incentive to hope for our business endeavors to go ahead and motivation to look for an alternative means of employment to cover any financial gaps :P