A\N: In my most recent White Collar story: Finding things that are lost, Alex thought about her and Neal and Paris, where they were going to visit together before he went to be with Sara in London after his anklet came off. This is an AU for the season 6 finale because I sobbed when Neal died and I really wanted him to be reunited with Sara in London.
I hope you enjoy this one, Angels.
Neal Caffery walks through Heathrowe Airport, scanning the crowds for the woman that has been waiting for him for the last 2 years and three months.
It's been three months since he got his anklet taken off him and to say it's been a whirlwind three months is an understatement. He spent 2 months in New York with Peter, Elizabeth, their son who they named after him, Diana, baby Theo, Jones, June, Mozzie and the other people in his life, going beyond what his three mile radius once was and adjusting to life as a paid CI for the FBI White Collar Division, moving out of Junes and into his own place, then he spent a month in Paris with Alex before he jetted off to London to be with Sara for the reminder of his time off, before he started his new job for the FBI with Peter, Diana and Jones and he was going to ask Sara to come back home with him.
He spots her standing at the back of Arrivals with a smile on her face. A smile crawls along his own face as he makes his way through the crowds to her. He can't believe she's waited for him. She kept her promise to him. He remembers the day she made that promise to him over Skype, that she'd wait for him, for however long he needed to become adjusted to life without an anklet strapped to his ankle.
Flashback:
He looks at Sara, a tired smile on his face. It's been a long day for the CI.
"I'll wait for you, Neal, for however long you need me to wait for you because you deserve to be loved. I promise to wait, whether it's two years, three years, five years, for however long you need to become adjusted to life without a monitoring device tracking you." The woman on the screen tells him with a watery smile. He nods to Sara.
"I don't know how long I'll need Sara but thank you." He replies around a yawn, Sara chuckles. "Go get some sleep, Caffery, I'll talk to you tomorrow, I love you." Sara says. After Kate died, he never thought he'd hear those three words from anyone again.
"I love you too, Sara." He whispers to her even though no one is in the apartment with him.
With one last smile, Sara hangs up and Neal falls asleep with thoughts of a life they spoke about on the balcony of the Empire State building flowing through his head.
Neal reaches Sara and hooks an arm around her waist and pulls her towards him, their lips inches apart. He hesitates in kissing her because he doesn't want to rush this, rush her into something they haven't done in two years and three months. Sara just chuckles, her breath is warm and tastes like coffee and chocolate, before pressing her lips to his own, kissing him in the middle of an airport in London. He kisses her back, not caring who sees them, they ignore the looks they get when they pull away, he rests his forehead against hers, and stares into her eyes.
"Thank you for waiting for me, Sara." He says in a quiet voice, Sara only sighs with the smile on her face.
"You're welcome, Neal. Welcome to London, Mr Caffery."
He laughs, unwinds his arm from her waist, takes one of her hands in hers and walks toward the baggage claim with Sara.
He didn't bring much with him to London from New York, or from Paris, seeing as he'll be back in New York in two weeks.
Sara's apartment in London is nice, maybe more so than her old one in New York. It has windows stretching from floor to ceiling, the early morning winter sunlight streams in from outside. He closes the apartment door behind him and watches Sara walk around the apartment. He grabs his phone from his pocket and checks it for messages.
He has a message from everyone in their group chat, wishing him luck in London, with Sara. He slips the phone into his pocket, he'll read their messages later. He needs to be focused on Sara right now.
"Do you want a coffee or anything?" Asks Sara. He moves away from the door and follows her voice into the kitchen. Sara's back to him as she makes him a drink even though he never answered her question.
"Make yourself at home, Neal." Sara tells him and he does: he slips off his shoes, takes off his jacket and sits down on the large L shaped white couch in the middle of the open living room/kitchen and closes his eyes.
It's been a long three months for the ex-con and it's starting to catch up with him. He feels Sara sit beside him, leaning into his side. He sighs into her hair, he's missed this.
They're both silent, each wrapped up in their own thoughts, until he catches Sara staring at him. He smiles.
"What?" He questions, Sara doesn't answer, she only kisses him deeply. He smiles into the kiss. Kissing Sara has been something he's missed since she moved here.
He breaks the kiss when air needs to become a necessity. He lifts a hand to brush the hair out of her eyes.
"I wanna ask you something but you don't have to give me an answer right now, just take your time and think about it, okay?" He begins, Sara nods. "Will you come to New York with me? Will you be with me in New York?" He asks, looking as the shock crosses across her face, Sara just looks at Neal before kissing him again. Neal kisses her back, Sara falls on top of him when he falls back.
"I love you, Sara." Neal says into the kiss, Sara smiles, her arms winding around his neck, her fingers playing with the hairs on the nape of his neck.
"I love you too, Neal." She replies.
Two weeks in London have gone by like lightning and before he or Sara know it, they're kissing goodbye in the airport.
Sara sighs as she hugs him. "I don't want you to go even though I know you need to go." She says into his shoulder. Neal kisses her hair.
"I don't wanna go either, but now that I'm not chained, I can come visit whenever I can. I promise." He pulls away from the love of her life and cups her face and kisses her one last time before he goes back to New York.
His flight is called and he knows he has to go before he doesn't.
"I love you, Sara Ellis, don't forget that." He says quietly. Sara nods.
"I love you too, Neal Caffery." She replies as she breaks their joined hands and he walks to board his flight back home.
With one last smile for Sara, he vanishes out of her line of sight.
A month has passed since he spent two weeks in London, and he misses Sara every day. He's been working with Peter and the rest of the team and solving more and more cases each week and even though they call and talk as often as they can, it's hard because of the different time zones.
He's working up in the conference room, asking Diana about babysitting Theo this weekend while she goes out on a date when the door opens to reveal a smirking Peter. Neal sighs at his friend. "I can't work this weekend, I'm babysitting my eldest godson." He says.
Once Neal had got off his anklet, Diana, Peter and Elizabeth had all named Neal the godfather of Theo and Neal, something which he never thought they'd do but it proved to him so far he come in the last 6 years, that they trusted him to watch their sons and raise them if something happened to them.
Peter just chuckles. "We know, you've been bragging about it all day. No, there is someone to see you. Come on." With a look at Diana, both of them follow Peter out of the conference room to the bullpen where he spots a familiar figure standing at his desk.
Sara.
He walks through the bullpen to his desk and stops in front of her. It's Sara who speaks first.
"So, my apartment in London is having some work done, and I've handed in my resignation to the London office, know anywhere I can stay until I can get a new place?" She asks, Neal chuckles, shakes his head and lowers his lips to hers.
Neal and Sara ignore the cheers and claps around them and continue kissing until they need air. He stares at her, a smile on his face. "I have a place with a guest room or you can just stay in my room." He offers, Sara smirks.
"Is that your way of asking me to move in with you, Caffery?" Sara asks slyly, Neal nods and kisses her again. They break away a lot sooner when Neal feels eyes on him.
He grabs his keys from his desk and slides his house key off the chain and hands it to Sara. "Take this, get yourself settled, do what you need to do, I'll call when I'm on my way home." He tells her, Sara nods once, kisses him chastely and leaves the White Collar Division.
Peter let him leave early with Sara being at his place. He arrives at his apartment and opens the door and smiles at what greets him: Sara cooking at the stove.
"Hey, honey, I'm home." He teases as the front door closes behind him. Sara turns around from the stove and smiles.
"Welcome home, Mr Caffery." She says, moving away from the stove and coming to kiss him.
"I could get used to this." He says into the kiss.
Three hours later, after a delicious dinner and one round of love making, Sara is asleep in his arms, her head pillowed on his chest the way it was in London.
He could get used to this.
A\N: I'm on a White Collar kick at the minute so expect to see more of this fandom in the near future. I hope you Angels are having a good week and enjoy this oneshot.