A/N: Another Neal/Alex oneshot! I love this couple and liked them more than I liked him with Kate. Alex knew the real Neal in a way Kate and Sara never did. This oneshot is me letting my fingers do the typing for me. I sorta have an idea where this one's gonna go but I'm not 100% as to what direction it'll take.
Out of the Neal Caffery pairings in White Collar, Neal/Alex are my OTP with Neal/Sara slightly behind them but out Alex and Sara, I'd say Alex was his Happily Ever After.
This oneshot takes place during a thunderstorm. I'm not sure how long it'll be but with my Neal/Alex muse chances are it'll be a long one, as it'll be riddled with flashbacks.
Enjoy, Angels.
Thunder and rain are lashing down on the city, the dark storm clouds colour the city black, or very, very dark grey that it's nearly black.
He's sitting on the couch, his trouser pants rolled up so the tracker is visible. He stares at it with a look of disgust. He doesn't know why he's still here, why he hasn't cut it and ditched this city. Kate is dead, no one White Collar likes nor trusts him, not even Jones and Diana, nor should they. The only ones who genuinely like and trust him are June, Mozzie and Alex, but they've left him: June is away on vacation with her family, Moz is out of the country, and he hasn't seen Alex since she visited him in prison, a visit that ended in their worst argument ever.
Flashback:
"Neal." Bobby says. Neal looks up from the book he's reading and looks at the only guard he likes.
"Yeah, Bobby?" He asks, his voice is quiet. He hears the door of his cell buzzing open.
"You've got a visitor waiting for you." The guard says. He scoffs and goes back to reading his book, trying to focus on the words in front of him. He doesn't want to see Peter or Elizabeth or Moz or June or even Jones (who has only visited once before). He only broke out of this place because Kate was missing. Now that Kate is dead, he'll serve his four years in prison. Kate was the only reason he broke out, now that she's dead, nothing matters anymore. He might as well stay inside for the rest of his life.
"Who is it?" The conman finally asks, unable to focus on anything other than who's waiting for him. He wonders if it's June or even Diana this time who is his visitor. Everyone is still trying to convince him to take his old deal back, now that everyone knows he didn't have anything to do with Kate's death, he hears that Peter, Jones, Lauren, Hughes and Diana, who he only worked with that one time on the Dutchman case, all spoke up for him and said that he didn't kill Kate. Mozzie has given up trying to talk him into taking his deal back, his oldest friend said he had enough of trying to change his mind when it was set, but knew the one person who could change his mind, other than Kate and Peter. There's only one other person who can make him change his mind, some say not even Kate had the ability to do it as well, but Moz wouldn't dare bring them here. He doesn't want them here.
"Someone called Alex Hunter." Bobby says, Neal closes his book and looks at the guard, his eyes narrowed. Damn it, Mozzie. The former con man thinks angrily. I don't want Alex anywhere here.
Alex has never visited him in prison, not when he was convicted of Bond Forgery and not when Peter thought he stole the pink diamond, (though he doubts Mozzie told her about the diamond mishap), but to be fair he didn't visit her in the hospital when she cut her arm escaping the Copenhagen Palace and he did cut her out when he ended things with her and started things with Kate, but he also wanted to keep her safe, safe from Peter coming after her once he locked him up.
He's only ever wanted to keep Alex, and Kate, safe from Peter and the FBI.
He tosses his book aside, stands up and walks out of his cell, Bobby trailing after him.
Ales is sitting in front of the two way window, a phone in her hand and a look of concern on her pretty face.
"Neal." She whispers, Neal flashes her a tired grin before his eyes go hard. "Alex, what the hell are you doing here?" He asks his oldest friend.
"What does it look like?" She shoots back rhetorically "I'm here for you. I got a call from Moz and Peter telling me that the Marshals stuck you in here after Kate died because they think you did it, before they cleared you. And now that they've cleared you and got your old deal back, you won't take it. Why won't you take it?" She asks him, Neal only sighs.
"Kate's dead, she was the only reason I told Peter about the deal in the first place. Now that she's dead I don't need the deal anymore. And they should be glad I'm in here, that way they don't need to ruin their careers for a fraud like me." Neal spits, Alex's eyes widen before her face turns into a frightening glare.
"Are you kidding me?" She barks, before he can say that he's not kidding, she's already speaking. "I got a call from Mozzie begging me to come here, to change your mind about getting out of here and getting back to being Peter's partner and putting bad guys away. They're all waiting for you to come home, Neal. Peter, Elizabeth, June, Jones, Lauren, Diana, Hughes, Mozzie, me. You've wormed your way into their hearts. Peter, Jones, Lauren, Diana, Hughes are all waiting for you back at the bureau, June still has your apartment exactly how you left it, Elizabeth is worried out of her mind about you in this place. Mozzie is bland and doesn't talk as much. I'm worried about you. I know you loved Kate but rotting away in this place won't bring her back, nothing will bring her back, but out there you can do some good." Alex says, Neal holds back a scoff.
"I don't care, Alex! Nothing matters anymore. Kate is dead, I watched as she was blown up in front of me. I was blamed for her death just because I'm a criminal. I'm nothing to the FBI but a pet, a trained dog who runs and fetches things for them when it suits them, then chained up until they need me again. I'm not doing it again." He snaps at his friend who only shakes her head.
"Everyone wants you home because they care about you, Neal. I care about you more than you will ever know, why do you think I'm here? I care about you, I always have, so please take the deal? For me, please? Kate's gone, but I'm not, I'm still here and I'm begging you to reconsider taking the deal. Let us get you home." Alex says, begging, looking heartbroken as two tears leave both her eyes. Neal looks into her eyes, his grip on the phone white. Alex has only begged him once and she didn't look like she does now: she looks like she'll cry any minute if he says no to her. He sighs and meets her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Alex, I'm not taking the deal, and you can tell everyone else that too. Be happy, Alex." Neal says softly before he hangs the phone, stands up and walks away back to his cell, hearing Alex shout after him, her heels following him as far as she can go on the other side of the glass.
"NEAL!" Alex shouts tearfully is the last thing he hears before the doors close, her heartbroken face and her shouting his name echo in his mind, more so than Kate's jet explosion.
A knock and the boom of thunder rumbling outside bring him out of the past and back into the present. He closes the book, puts it on the coffee table and walks over to the apartment door. He opens it and his eyes widen at the wet figure.
It's Alex.
She's soaked to the bone, her hair plastered to her face and her neck, her clothes are heavy with rainwater, rain droplets fall down her face like tears. He takes one look at her, steps aside and opens the door wider. "Get in here." He orders before rushing to the bathroom to get her a towel to at least dry her hair and her face.
He hands her the towel and watches as she wordlessly starts to dry her hair. This is the first time they've seen each other since he was released from prison.
"Why don't you warm up in my shower while I get you some dry clothes?" Even though it's posed as a question, it's an order. Alex nods and heads into the bathroom, Neal waits until he hears the shower running before he goes into his bedroom and pulls out a pair of sweatpants, a long sleeved t-shirt, a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of socks before taking the clothing down to the laundry room of June's house and putting them in the dryer.
Alex is wrapped in a towel and sitting on his bed when he returns with the warm items of clothing.
"You showered fast." He comments, handing her the pile. "You'll have to go braless unless you want me to quickly dry it." He says, Alex shakes her head. "You know, better than anyone, I like things fast and I can go braless for a few days, it doesn't bother me, it doesn't look like I'm going out there anytime soon." Alex says, nudging her head in the direction of the window where the city is still black with clouds, rain still pelting down, the thunder still rumbling in the distance.
He watches as she dresses, the clothes swallowing her, her eyes on his. He leaves his room and sits back on the couch, his blue eyes catching the device around his ankle. He hates this thing but he only agreed to it again because of Alex. "Neal." Alex says as she sits down next to him.
They remain silent, the sounds outside the only sounds that surround them until a yawn overtakes Alex that makes Neal smile. "Time for bed?" He asks rhetorically, standing up and holding out a hand. Alex nods, takes his hand and allows herself to be pulled up off the couch and into his bedroom. Neal takes the side closer to the door out of habit when they were together while Alex takes the side closer to the window which has the curtains drawn. He wraps his arms around Alex and holds her as they drift off to sleep. Well he does, he doesn't know Alex stays awake until dawn approaches, unable to sleep without his screams echoing in her head and sending her into nightmares that feel so, so real.
A\N: This was originally a oneshot, as stated above, but since writing it, I've discovered that I have so much that I want to do with this couple. I'm not sure how long this story will be but I can already tell that it'll have a few chapters, which of course will be updated when I get time seeing as I've got youth group, appointments, my family, my boyfriend, trying to watch How To Get Away With Murder before it gets taken off Netflix, reading fanfics and physical books and writing other stories.
I hope you Angels have a good week, Angels and enjoy this first chapter. In chapter 2 it will jump from Neal to Alex's POVs, enjoy my Angels.