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“Good. You’re finally awake.”
As Neal peeled his eyelids open, he winced at the harsh lights above him. Slowly, Peter’s face came into view.
“Welcome to the world of the living.”
Glancing around, Neal could tell he was in the Burke’s home.
“P’t’r?” Neal slurred, his tongue heavy.
“Yeah, it’s me,” Peter confirmed. “What do you remember?”
“Huh?”
“You were drugged when we found you. What do you remember?”
Neal’s fingers gripped the blanket in thought. Hazy memories filtered through, although none of them made sense to him.
“You’re going to tell me where it is, or else your FBI agent gets it. Got me?”
…
“You listen well. If you ever want to see your precious CI again, you will do as I say.”
…
“Neal?”
…
“NEAL!”
…
“I’ve got a pulse!”
…
“It’s alright, kid; you’re safe now.”
…
“Neal?”
Neal blinked out of his thoughts.
“What do you remember?” Peter repeated. “What did that guy want with you?”
He took a deep breath, trying to make sense of the muddled thoughts.
“He w-wanted something,” Neal answered.
“And what was that something?”
“I-I don’t know. H-he just said he wanted ‘it’, whatever ‘it’ was.”
“You mean you don’t know?”
“No, I don’t.”
Peter hummed in thought.
“How’d you find me?” Neal questioned.
“I didn’t,” Peter admitted. “You found me .”
Seeing Neal’s face scrunched in confusion, Peter elaborated.
“When we got the ransom video, you were tapping a message on your thigh,” Peter began. “It was a bit messy since you were drugged to all hell, but Diana, Jones, and I managed to decipher it. The basic gist was that the guy was after some artefact in the Smithsonian. Within your message, you also put in the coordinates to the FBI building, which made no sense, but then you put in ‘three blocks west’.”
Peter paused, and he could see that even Neal himself was confused.
“Why would I say that?”
“Because, when we got there, you were laying on a park bench,” Peter told him.
“How did I—?”
“We don’t know. All we know is that you broke out of wherever you were. When I got to you, you were super out of it. It’d been clear you’d just escaped, and then you collapsed. You stopped moving and muttering, so I thought you’d died. You didn’t, obviously, but you scared the hell out of me.”
“Oh.”
Wait a minute.
“Hold up, muttering? What was I saying?” Neal asked.
“Again, we don’t know. It was all jumbled up together with no clear direction of what you were saying. Something about Elle and me and how you wanted to keep us safe?”
“I vaguely remember there being a threat against your lives.”
“Ah, so that explains it.”
Neal nodded.
“Do you remember anything else?”
He shrugged.
“That’s alright. I’m just glad you’re safe.”
The CI leaned his aching head against Peter’s shoulder. He wouldn’t have ever dreamed of doing something like this in the past. But now, with where his and Peter’s relationship was, he allowed himself this small luxury.
“Me too, Peter, me too.”