Emergency Waiting
Once they finally reached the hospital, Peter was relieved to see that Neal was breathing on his own, but only just. He still needed help between the damage from the torture and his broken sternum.
Going to the restroom, Peter wasn't surprised to find himself leaning over a stool as he lost everything he'd managed to eat earlier in the day. It hadn't been easy retaining a semblance of normal. Not while he'd been searching to arrest his best friend. So, he hadn't been eating much which meant that it didn't take long to empty his stomach.
When he'd finished, he cleaned up and moved out to the waiting room.
Taking a seat, he ran his hands over his face before leaning into his fingers.
"Hey, you're sitting in my seat, move."
He vaguely heard a voice, but he couldn't bring himself to care who'd said it or who they were addressing.
Dropping one hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out only to have it grabbed out of his fingers.
Following the movement up, he found a guy standing over him with his pants hanging off of his hips, his stained shirt didn't cover the protruding belly that was showing out from underneath it, and his hair was greasy as it hung in strings to his shoulders. His hand held the phone to the side as he glared down, "I said, you're in my seat, move!"
Standing up, Peter was in no mood to be pushed around by a bully. "Give me back my phone before I arrest you for robbing a Federal Agent!" He put his hand out firmly, but his tone and voice should have been more than enough to scare the man into compliance without the need to go any further.
"Like you're a federal..." the man started to sneer.
Shifting his coat back to reveal the badge on his hip and the gun in its holder, Peter kept his eyes on the man to reinforce his order.
"Agent..." It was clearly dawning on the man that he was picking a fight with the wrong person! Backing down, he gave the phone back before turning and walking away with a grumble.
A few of the other people in the room commented so the bully had apparently been making his rounds, but Peter only nodded in general as he took his seat again.
Making his call, he got his wife on the line and asked her to meet him at the hospital, "It's, Neal."
He couldn't talk more; he was too upset as he had to put his head back into his hands once he'd disconnected from talking to her. It was taking everything he had not to let his emotions get out of control.
Eventually, Elizabeth arrived and he felt her hands touching him as she took the seat next to him, "Talk to me, hon. What happened?"
Looking up, he realized that she was a little blurry so he wiped the tears out of his eyes and tried to clear his throat. "We went to make the arrest, we had concrete evidence to indicate that Neal had stolen the treasure and run. However, when we found him..."
Squeezing his hand, she encouraged him to keep talking.
Holding her hands for dear life, Peter needed her strength to handle the emotions. "He, he said that he thought I was too late, and then he coded. They've tortured him nearly to death and I don't know if he's right or not... I might have been too late." The tears took over again and he hugged his wife so that he could hide his face into her hair while feeling her arms around him.
Crying into his shoulder, Elizabeth also needed the release. She hadn't seen Neal, but she knew that things weren't okay, that their friend could die from what he'd endured.
Hearing snarky comments, Peter recognized the voice of the man who'd tried to take his phone before as he sulked in another chair across the room.
Whispering, Elizabeth asked him what the man's problem was.
"I apparently took his chair so he tried to take my phone. He wasn't here and there was no indication that he'd been sitting here. He just seems to be a bully looking to pick a fight; others have made comments about him since I've been out here." Peter whispered back as he ducked his head against her shoulder for a moment more.
"Hey, boss."
He heard Diana's voice so he looked up to see his agents approaching. "What, Diana?"
"We think you need to see this. The place was wiped clean, other than the torture room, but we've got a team going over it with a fine-tooth comb to see if there is anything that can be found to indicate who is responsible. However, there is a live video feed that was trained on Neal the entire time." Jones stood with his hands held in front of him.
"Have you watched it?" Peter didn't want to leave the hospital, at least not until he'd confirmed that Neal was alive and settled into a room.
"Enough to know what was happening. You aren't going to like it." Diana added her take on the situation. "Have you heard anything on Neal?"
"No, he made it to the hospital and he'd been breathing on his own again. He's in surgery, but no other information is available yet." He ran his hands over his face wiping the remaining tears away. "Let me guess, Neal was abducted and used as the fall guy so we've been on the wrong track this whole time?"
Looking at their shoes, Jones and Diana nodded.
"The videos have a live feed playing in the background... whoever they are, they have been in our offices at the bureau. Hughes has a tech team combing through looking for the pinhole cameras and bugs they used for that. However, it shows exactly where we were and what we were saying... they were showing Neal that we were hunting for him while they were torturing him." Jones added to the bad news with an unexpected twist.
Shooting up to his feet, Peter wasn't happy. "What? They were in our offices?"
Holding up his hands, Jones indicated that he should calm down. "Hughes is coordinating another investigation. He's got a team looking through the office, OPR is going through everyone who's been in the offices with security, and he's also reached out to other agencies to see if anyone can add anything helpful. The bases are covered, but we thought you should know the initial information while we wait for the rest of it to come back."
"This was just a big setup where we were played and Neal paid the price. Although I want to know what's on that feed... I also don't want to know. It means that I'll have to hear my investigation while watching what Neal was put through in the meantime." Peter knew he'd watch that feed given the chance, he wanted to know what had happened to Neal, but he wasn't looking forward to it.
"Whoever inflicted the torture wore a mask so we don't have anything on who they were. Whatever we've walked into here, they're professional and nothing I've ever heard of." Diana shivered along with the rest of them.
Falling quiet, the others could hear the man making comments across the room so it wasn't but a second before Diana turned her glare on the man. "I'm sorely tempted to arrest him, I'm sure I could make something stick."
Rubbing his hand across his temples to alleviate the headache forming there, Peter discouraged her. "He's just a bully, don't waste your energy on him. I'd rather we keep our focus on Neal and this case."
"If you're sure," Jones also postured to show off his badge and weapon to discourage the man from bothering them.
"I'm sure," Peter moved to wrap his free arm around Elizabeth as she moved to stand by his side in concern.
"It was a matter of chance," Hughes said as he approached the group with a wearied expression. "My contacts in the NSA have the rest of the case information and are sending some representatives from DC up."
Turning to his boss, Peter cocked his head.
Dropping his voice to avoid attracting attention, Hughes didn't want to air the whole situation in a public setting. "A rogue group of agents picked up on your investigation and reached the same conclusion faster than you did. They had a plan in place to get the treasure without attracting attention by using Neal, and they might have gotten away with it if Neal wasn't a deep-cover task force agent. Whoever he and Mozzie are, Mozzie picked up on the trouble and pursued through other channels leaving us to play the decoy. I'm not happy about it, but those responsible are in custody and the case should wrap up pretty quickly."
Shocked again, Peter hadn't expected Neal to be an undercover agent, but he was glad that Mozzie had been on the right track ensuring that things were taken care of. "I don't like it either. We could have been helping instead of adding to Neal's torture, but I'm sure Mozzie figured it was better this way since he was able to work completely under the radar and pursue those responsible without them seeing him coming."
Sagging into his side, Elizabeth was relieved that those responsible were in custody, but things were still a mess.
Rubbing her shoulder with the arm he had around her, Peter appreciated knowing that things were progressing at an unusually rapid pace, but he was still worried about Neal.
"Party of Neal Caffrey?" A nurse walked out into the room and walked their way since it was obvious who was there based on the entire group turning in her direction.
"If you'll follow me, the doctor would like to see you." She gave them a moment before leading them into a back area where they crammed into a small office.
After a moment, the doctor entered the space and took a seat looking confused by the number of people.
Flashing his badge, Peter took the lead. "Neal is my consultant and partner and as my CI, I have legal representation for him. This is my wife and our team, but they're also cleared to know the information on him. Please, tell us how Neal is." His voice was pleading by the time he finished, but he didn't care.
Going through the information, the doctor updated them that Neal wasn't well, but he was stable, and he had a chance for a recovery given the time. He had a broken sternum, but there were also several puncture wounds from being poked and minor stabbings, he had burns, and a litany of bruises. That was in addition to the damage done by being shackled to the wall and malnourishment since they intended for him to die in the long run. All in all, the man had been strong to hold out so long!
"We have Caffrey in a medically induced coma to allow his sternum time to heal and give his body some much-needed rest after all of the trauma he's been through. In a few days, we'll see if he's ready to be let out of the coma, or if his body needs more time. He's being settled into a room, but you'll be able to see him in a little bit." The doctor finished updating them on his condition before sending them back to the waiting room.
Seeing that the seat he'd previously had was still open, despite the complaints of the ER bully, Peter just shook his head and returned to the space. The others moved to various seats around him.
"I'd like to see him before I go back to the office, but I get the feeling you'll be sticking around. Do you need some time off, Peter?" Hughes asked from his seat next to him.
Almost shaking his head, Peter then saw Neal's bloodied body underneath his hands and heard the crack as he broke him so he switched to nodding yes. "But, I'd like updates and I'd like to see that feed. It won't undo me falling for their ploy, but knowing what they did to him, it will help me know what he needs, what I need to apologize for."
Putting a hand on his shoulder, Hughes kept it there companionably for comfort. "Understood. I'm sure Jones and Diana will keep in touch and I'll send a copy of the video as soon as possible. It won't be pretty from what I've seen of it, so be careful when and where you watch it."
Elizabeth squeezed his hand tighter from his other side as Hughes spoke; she was upset by the implication of what had been done to Neal.
Nodding, Peter knew it was one of those things that his wife didn't need to see for her sanctity of mind and he had no intention of letting her know the full depth of how that room had looked with Neal hanging on the wall surrounded by splatters of his blood on the white surfaces. The stark contrast had burned itself into Peter's retinas and his wife didn't need the same nightmare material. This was one of those times where protecting her was more important than sharing the full truth.
"Hon," Elizabeth's voice was shaking, but she swallowed when he looked up at her. "I'd, I'd like to see something of it, even if it's just a picture of how Neal was when you found him. You're going to try and protect me, but I'm going to have to deal with the fallout from both of you, so I'd like to understand even just a little of where you're coming from."
"El," his voice was pleading; he wanted her to let this one go, to avoid hurting her since she wouldn't be able to forget that imagery once she saw it. "Hon, I only saw the aftermath, and it's not something I think you should see. This isn't the type of thing we typically come across in the FBI, but it would fuel nightmares for the rest of your life." Peter tried to warn her away from it, to get her to give up on the idea of seeing any of it.
"Here," another voice joined the conversation, and an envelope was handed to Elizabeth by a hand covered in rings.
Glaring up at Mozzie, Peter didn't appreciate him bypassing his wishes and subjecting his wife to the horrors that Neal had endured.
Elizabeth's gasp had his focus turning back to her as she looked at the photos.
Blinking, Peter recognized that it was the same setup as the space where Neal had been held, but this one wasn't blood-spattered, it was pristine white, as if it hadn't been used. Looking up at Mozzie, he quirked his brow in question.
"That's from the facility where my teams picked them up. It's not the one where Neal was tortured, but it's the same setup. El, Peter is right, the real situation isn't something that you should be seeing. Neal and I, our agencies are much more prone to encountering things like this, he's particularly trained and sadly experienced too. I wouldn't let the suit see it, but I think he should know what Neal's endured since he was used as a part of the torture and he'll be working closely with Neal when he resumes his active services. Knowing what he's dealing with and what to look out for in Neal will make it easier for both of them." Then he pulled a box of tissues and passed them to Elizabeth as she began to cry in earnest since her imagination now had more to work on for what Neal might have gone through.
Frustrated, it was still more than Peter wanted, but at least this was a cleaner way to satisfy her desire to know something of what would be bothering him and Neal without all the gore of the blood covering everything.
Their group descended into an awkward silence as each dealt with their own emotions.
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