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Neal was late.
Peter checked his watch once more, silently wondering where his CI was. If he took much longer to come to the office Peter would be forced to check his tracker, if only for appearance’s sake – though, if he were completely honest with himself, also to appease his worries. Although Peter was not a man prone to nervousness – in fact, he was very much known for the opposite, having made a name for himself as the agent that always kept his cool – by now Neal had turned out to be very much a danger magnet, so assuming something bad had happened was not as unreasonable as it should have been.
On the other hand, the cause for Neal’s tardiness might also just be a young lady who had stayed the night and needed to be bid farewell „in a proper way, Peter – no, not that! A gentleman offers a lady breakfast without rushing her, and yes, that does take precedence over some boring cold case files.“
Feeling more lighthearted and already composing an appropriately sarcastic reprimand in his head, Peter focused back on his colleagues and their guest.
Wallace West, an energetic CSI with bright red hair, was at the New York White Collar office to introduce some new procedures for working on crime scenes, owing to both recent technological advancements and a wish for better interdepartmental collaboration.
At the moment Mr. West was working on optimizing his outline for the seminar with the help of Peter, Diana and Jones. Peter had asked Neal to join them in the conference room as well, since his knack for people could prove to be useful.
„I apologize for my distraction, Mr. West. My Criminal Informant was supposed to join and help us, but he seems to be running late.“
„Nothing to apologize for, Agent Burke. I can be a bit scatter-brained myself,“ the man said with a grin. It was not exactly the word Peter would have used to describe himself, but he appreciated the man’s understanding nonetheless. He nodded his gratitude and returned to their task, resolved to stay focused for the next twenty minutes at least.
As it turned out, there would be no possibility of that.
While explaining the merits of a follow up seminar, West suddenly stopped speaking, staring over Peter’s shoulder in the direction of the door. He had gone completely still for the first time this morning.
Peter turned to see what had the scientist so transfixed, only to find that Neal had finally arrived and promptly locked gazes with him. The conman seemed thrown off as well, his perpetual smile vanishing while the color drained from his face. He started opening his mouth. Then, quickly changing his mind, he turned around abruptly and left the way he had come.
„Bastard!“ the CSI pressed out from between gritted teeth before bolting after Neal.
„I guess we just stumbled upon another one of Neal’s past transgressions,“ Diana said amusedly.
Peter said nothing. He had seen the hurt on their guest’s face and how it had turned into rage. He felt like the issue might be a more personal one than what Diana was insinuating.
Jones‘ thoughts seemed to be running along a similar line. „I don’t know, Diana, that looks really serious,“ he said as they witnessed Mr. West catching up with Neal near the exit and confronting him with an air of accusation. Some of the agents working in the bullpen took an interest in what was happening. „That guy seemed so chill earlier. What could Neal have done to set him off like that?“
By now, West was nearly shouting at Neal, gesticulating wildly. Then, from one moment to the next he turned their argument physical by shoving the conman backwards strongly enough to make the usually so graceful man stumble for a moment. Peter opened the glass door to leave the conference room, ready to step in. He was not going to let his CI get hurt, no matter what he might have done to that man in the past. But before he had even reached the landing the scene changed, making him stop in his tracks. Neal had stepped close to Mr. West and taken his hands in his own, speaking intently. It was rare for Peter to be able to read Neal’s body language and trust in its sincerity, but somehow, in this moment, he was absolutely sure that Neal was honestly apologizing for something he deeply regretted. That act itself was so out of character for the conman Peter knew that he felt he was being granted a glimpse of the man beyond what he was familiar with. He had always been aware that there was much more to Neal, hidden behind the disarming smiles and charming attitude, but this was the first time he could actually see some of it.
The two men were now sharing an embrace, arms locked tightly around each other without a hint of self-consciousness.
Diana gave voice to their astonishment, „Right, now I’ve seen everything.“
They had seen Neal hug before, but not often, as he was not much of the hugging type, and usually only women. And this was a real, heartfelt embrace. It went on for longer than just a few seconds, making some of the agents watching feel uncomfortably voyeuristic.
„Now I really want to know how they know each other,“ Jones said with a low voice.
The men broke up their embrace and were coming back towards the waiting agents, walking close to each other.
„We‘ll find out. Let’s see what they say,“ Peter said.
He welcomed Neal with a raised eyebrow. Neal answered with an innocent smile, as though oblivious to the silent question. It was typical Neal, pretending everything was completely normal and daring everyone to question it while not even trying to hide the evidence of happy tears and how his body kept leaning slightly towards Mr. West.
With a sigh, Peter asked, „What was that, Neal?“
„What was what?“
„You know exactly what I mean. Spill.“
Neal seemed reluctant to answer while standing in full view of every agent in the bullpen, so they moved back into the conference room. He positioned himself to face Peter, Diana and Jones. „This really has nothing to do with any of my – alleged – past crimes, so I’m not actually obliged to tell you about it, Peter,“ he said seriously. „But I do consider all three of you close friends, so I will.“
Peter would be lying if he said that statement didn’t touch him. He could tell that Diana and Jones felt similarly.
„Wally and I are best friends, we’ve know each other for years, and he just found out that I’m not dead anymore. So I guess I deserved to be shouted at.“ He shot a self-deprecating smile at West, who snorted.
„You guess?“, he shot back.
Peter looked between the two of them, trying to understand what Neal was saying, but his brain refused to cooperate. That short statement had raised far more questions than it answered.
„Wait, wait, go back a sec there! What do you mean, dead? Why? How – wait, anymore?!“, Jones exclaimed.
Neal turned back towards them with a shit-eating grin. „Sorry, that’s above your paygrade.“
Peter raised his eyebrow doubtfully. „Mhm, sure,“ he said dryly.
„Really, Peter, that’s all I can tell you. So,“ he changed the subject without any subtlety, „I can see you were busy here, let’s get back to that, stop wasting time.“
„Who was the one wasting time?“ Diana grumbled good-naturedly.
None of them were buying what Neal was selling, but he was undoubtedly right in that they did actually have something to do, so Peter decided to let it rest – for now. He gestured towards his agents and they, together with West, went back to the table where they had left their things. On the way there, Diana seemed to feel that a teasing remark was necessary. „So, Mr. West, let’s hope you don’t turn out to be a criminal in disguise, what with you being such close friends with Caffrey here.“
West took it good-humoredly. „Nothing to worry about. D-Neal here never managed to drag me into his lifestyle. I’m as boringly normal as they come!“, he laughed.
Peter held Neal back for a moment. „You know that I won’t give up trying to find out what you are hiding.“
„Trying being the operative word here. Good luck, Peter.“ Neal grinned. „Maybe I’ll even tell you one day.“
As Neal turned and joined the others Peter watched him, smiling slightly. Neal might be trying to hide it (and failing) or he might not even be aware of it, but to Peter it was obvious that since the emotional confrontation with Mr. West there was a lightness to him that had not previously been there, like a heavy burden had been lifted.
A happy outcome for both of them, Peter thought, his smile turning into a mischievous smirk for a moment. With Mr. West as his starting point he was certain to beat Neal once more in his little game and figure out what he was hiding. The man was not as good at keeping secrets as Neal, considering his near slip-up. Peter had not commented on it but he had definitely caught it. Not to mention the other agents in the bullpen that the CI seemed to have forgotten about who had heard some of the exchange. Neal’s past was a puzzle, and the biggest pieces of it yet were in Peter’s reach, which would lead him to the rest of them.
Neal’s secrets would not stay secrets for much longer.