Title: Between a Rock and a Hard Place.

Summary: Before Neal Caffrey became a confidential informant for the FBI, he was a con man and an expert in special acquisitions. Some people are unhappy with that development. A few more than others.

Characters: Neal Caffrey & Peter Burke.

Warnings: Aftermath of violence, threats, and non-graphic injuries.

Notes: None.

...

Neal barely had time to react before Peter was bargaining into the loft after only a couple of quick, sharp knocks to announce his arrival. He wasn't supposed to be here yet, so Neal hadn't bothered to lock the door- a mistake he would be sure not to make again in the future.

If June were home she would have kept Peter busy downstairs with small talk and generous offers of coffee while she sent one of the maids to warn him of his handler's early arrival. As it was, Neal barely had time to put down the concealer and move away from the mirror before Peter spotted him.

"Neal! You better be ready to go soon because we have-" Peter came to a sudden stop as soon as he saw him. "What the hell happened to you?"

Neal resisted the urge to look down at himself or even try uselessly to cover his body with his hands. Ice took care of the worst of the swelling and the concealer Mozzie got for him did wonders to make his face look almost perfect, but he hadn't planned for Peter to see the rainbow of bruises and grazes that should have been hidden under his clothes. It was bad enough that the marks on his hands would remain visible.

He knew it was a lost cause by now, but Neal still finished putting on his white undershirt before turning around, exchanging a grimace for a smile. "Peter! You're early."

"What happened?" Peter demanded once again as he frowned down at his now-covered chest.

"Just a little bruising, it's fine," Neal dismissed as he reached for the pristine pinstriped shirt still on its hanger and put it on. Hopefully, Peter had been too distracted by the hideous large bruise on his back to have missed the rest. Mozzie had certainly been horrified but mesmerized when he saw it. "We have a new case?"

"Just a little-" Peter clenched his jaw as he stared at him with narrowed eyes. "You have five seconds to tell me why you're black and blue all over."

Or what? Neal almost challenged. He remained silent. The last thing he needed right now was to antagonize Peter or make him think he was up to something.

"That's a bit of a stretch, don't you think? It's really not-"

"Try again," Peter cut in, his grim expression making it clear he wasn't going to let this go.

Neal stopped himself from crossing his arms (which would have been quite a painful move) and flicked his eyes to the side. He said nothing for a moment, Peter's unwavering gaze almost a physical weight he had to endure as he finished buttoning his shirt.

When he finally looked back at Peter there was a wry twitch at the corner of his lips. "Someone beat me around a bit, obviously."

"Why?"

"Why do people do anything? Because they can, because they want to. It's a-"

"Neal," Peter growled in warning.

He resisted the urge to sigh. Well, then. "I was on my way here after going to the gym last night when this huge man came out of nowhere, and things turned very bad very quickly. He got tired eventually and that was it," Neal explained simply. None of that was even a lie. "It wasn't that bad, really."

"Right," Peter scoffed. He stared at him with narrowed eyes. "I don't suppose you actually went to a hospital or see a doctor to make sure of that."

"Nothing is broken," He offered with a smile that was only a touch tentative. It would be hard to convince Peter everything was alright, but not impossible. "A couple of ribs are tender, but it's mostly just bruises and scrapes. Mozzie came over and checked me out too."

"So the little guy is a doctor now."

Neal shrugged- or tried to. He turned his face to the side to hide a grimace. "Moz knows his stuff, and he has experience dealing with this kind of thing."

It looked like Peter had plenty he wanted to say in response to that, but in the end, he let it go. "Since I didn't get a call last night, I'm going to assume there's no report with the NYPD either."

This time it was Neal's turn to scoff. "Come on, Peter. Do you honestly think the cops would have cared about some ex-con getting beat down a little?"

Peter didn't bother to refute that, which was an answer all on its own. Neal's only response was a grim smile. He had known he was right, of course, but it still stung a little to get confirmation he no longer had the same basic rights as everyone else. Well, nothing to do about it now.

"What did you get yourself mixed in this time?" Peter tiredly asked, rubbing his forehead.

Neal frowned. "Why do you always assume I-"

"Damn it, Neal! I want the truth. Either you tell me right now what the hell happened or I'm going to check out your tracker and go from there." Peter glared at him. "And you know I'm not going to stop until I find out what happened."

He pushed to the back of his mind Peter's distrust and his annoyance and took a moment to wonder how far the Agent may get with that. It took only a few seconds for Neal to realize it didn't matter. He couldn't take that risk. Not now. Neal hadn't known what he would tell him just minutes before, but now it was clear there was only one thing he could say.

The truth.

"My deal with the FBI is not exactly a secret," Neal said with obvious reluctance in his voice. He half expected Peter to interrupt any moment now and demand him to get to the point but, thankfully, he didn't. "Some of my old acquaintances have heard about it, and they have some concerns about how far my cooperation with the Feds may go and how much that may affect them."

"They threatened you?" Was Peter's inmediate response.

"Not exactly," Neal answered quietly. "It was more like a friendly warning about not making any decisions I may later regret. And also a reminder that my involvement with the FBI isn't exactly a secure or permanent thing."

"So they beat you up to make sure you're not going to roll on them," He surmised bluntly.

"Something like that."

Peter didn't bother to hide the anger that poured off him in waves as he stood silent and still for a long time, hands resting on his hips and a deep scowl on his face.

At least the anger wasn't directed at him, Neal thought as he waited patiently, not even daring to move to finish getting ready.

"Alright. Let's go. You can sit with a sketch artist so we can identify this guy." Neal opened his mouth to protest but Peter spoke again. "What am I saying? You can do the sketch yourself and then we can run it through the system." He met his gaze. "We're going to get this guy."

"Peter-"

"I know you're not used to asking for help when you're in trouble," Peter said, cutting off his protests. "But you can do it now. It doesn't matter how it happened, you're with the FBI now, and we take care of our own."

Neal could only stare at his handler after he heard the words. Peter didn't even like it when Neal called them partners, so for him to come out and say Neal was with the FBI was a big deal. He didn't even try to stop the smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He probably shouldn't tease him about that now. Maybe later.

"I appreciate what you're saying, Peter, I really do, but that's not going to work." Peter was just about to protest, but this time it was Neal's turn to stop him. "He was just some random henchman, and he didn't even tell me who sent him, so even if you catch him it wouldn't change anything."

"We'll get a name out of him. Or I'm sure you have some ideas about who may be behind this," Peter added, eyebrows raised.

Neal stared at him. "So you think doing exactly what they warned me not to do is the best course of action here."

"You can't let them cower you, Neal."

"That's not what this is about." He wondered how someone as smart as Peter could be missing the point. "What's wrong with just doing what they want, which is exactly what I was planning to do anyway? You have to know it's stupid to look for trouble when we don't have to."

Peter didn't shut that down right away, which prompted Neal to try to sell the idea further.

"We agreed from the beginning that I would help you solve cases and that you wouldn't press me to talk about anything I may or may not have been involved in before." It was Neal who proposed the deal, but he made sure Peter knew he wouldn't be willing to give up anyone from his past before anything was decided.

They both knew it wasn't in Peter's nature to just let things rest, especially FBI or Neal related things, but he was also a pragmatic guy, and he couldn't just ignore everything he had just told him.

"It's okay," Neal said with an encouraging smile.

"This," Peter pointed at him with a glare, "is not okay."

"Okay, it's not," Neal agreed easily because, well, it wasn't. His body was like one big, tender bruise, and he felt almost as bad as he had that one time he was beaten up in prison at the start of his sentence. To say he was displeased about all of this was an understatement. "But this was just a warning, and since I have no plans to talk about the things I allegedly did in the past or the people allegedly involved, everything should be fine."

"I don't like this."

Neal felt a little tug at his chest. He was pretty sure this was about more than letting the bad guys get away with it. "I know you don't, but I'm asking you to let this go. Please."

"Alright," Peter finally agreed, looking anything but happy. "I wouldn't pursue this, for now, but only if you go to a hospital or a clinic."

Neal blinked. "I'm fine, Peter."

He ignored him. "That's the deal, buddy. Take it or leave it."

Despite the fact he was getting what he wanted, Neal still hesitated. He hated hospitals and doctors almost as much as he hated prison and about ninety-seven percent of its inmates, but if that was what it took to get Peter to let this go he would have to cowboy up. Besides, Peter was telling him to go to a clinic, but that didn't mean he had to let a doctor check him up.

"Alright. I'll swing by on my way home."

Peter smirked- he actually smirked. "Nice try, pal, but I'm taking you right now."

"Now?" Neal's eyebrows went up. "I thought you said we have a new case."

"We do," Peter accepted with a nod. "But I'm sure Jones and Cruz wouldn't mind holding up the fort while we take a little detour."

It sounded like he didn't have much of a choice, Neal thought with a slight frown. But honestly, it may all be worth it if he got some painkillers. The guy that usually supplied Mozzie with any medical stuff they may need had been MIA, and Neal had declined when Moz offered him one of his many natural concoctions, not wanting to risk any surprising side effects when he had to be at the office all day pretending everything was alright.

"Alright. I'll go wherever you want if you promise to drop this. I mean it, Peter," Neal added, tone and expression turning serious. "No going behind my back because you think you know best or having Jones or Cruz or any of the Harvard crew look into this for you."

He watched him with narrowed eyes. "You're taking this pretty seriously."

"That's because I know you, Peter," Neal said with a pointed look. "Besides, I really don't think this needs to be more complicated than it already is."

"Alright," Peter said after a moment, his gaze never leaving Neal's face. "I'm going to follow your lead on this, but you have to tell me if something like this ever happens again. I need your word on that. And you will also warn me if whoever did this-" He cut himself off with an eye roll. "If whoever you suspect of doing this ever comes into our radar. I need to know, Neal."

Well, that was unfortunate. Not really unexpected, but unfortunate all the same. Neal didn't like lying to Peter, so agreeing now would mean the problem would simply be delayed. Not an ideal outcome, but probably the best he could hope for now that Peter knew what happened. And who knew? Maybe he and Mozzie could come up with a plan, if not to make the problem go away, maybe make it less dire for him.

"Alright. I will tell you if they ever become relevant for a case."

"Good." Peter looked down at his watch. "Now let's go. We have a busy day ahead of ourselves."

Neal stopped himself from telling Peter they could always skip the trip to the hospital. It would be just a waste of breath.

As they left the loft together, Neal couldn't stop himself from remembering something Mozzie had mentioned last night. That they had been lucky this time. Lucky that his old acquaintances had been more worried about what he may tell to the FBI rather than what he could tell them about the FBI.

He dreaded the moment someone realized that and used it against them.

...

a/n: Thank you so much everyone for reading, and for the comments I received since my last update. It's very rewarding to know people are still stumbling across this collection and taking the time to read it. I hope you will continue to enjoy it!