Free Fall Swap

From Guest:

Maybe you can do one where Peter finds out about Bryce by Neal and him switching places durning the time he was arrested in free fall

Notes: Remember that this isn't the last one. The next story will be posted under a new story in the collection.

Neal's face was plastered on the cover of every newspaper. His escape had gotten him more publicity than his arrest.

It made the FBI look bad but Peter could care less. Right now, he was focused on finding Neal before Fowler did. He couldn't do much from the office, where OPR were watching his every move so, he went home.

"Still haven't found Neal. We got a detail outside," he commented, a little irked at the FBI for wasting resources watching his house.

"I noticed," El greeted him in a distracted way. She kept glancing towards the kitchen door and Peter had the luck to notice a shadow moving beyond it.

"He's in the kitchen, isn't he?" Peter questioned in a sigh. He spent ages trying to figure out where Neal would go and the fool ran straight for his house. Didn't he know how much trouble he could get El in? "Please tell me you didn't help him sneak in."

"I wouldn't have had to sneak him in if there weren't those people sitting at our house," El said in an innocent manner, although Peter could hear flickers of the same irked feeling he had.

"You lied to the FBI!"

"Honey, I did not lie to the FBI. There was just a lot of milk and cookies and pleasant, distracting conversation while Neal slipped around the back."

"That's adding and abetting, El!" Peter hissed to her, hoping that the agents outside hadn't bugged his home.

"Just listen to him," El said, disappearing into the kitchen. A sheepish Neal walked out a few moments later. Peter narrowed his eyes at him and suppressed the urge to cuff him and hear him out back at the FBI.

"Five minutes."

As Neal explained that someone had set him up and were watching the Burke's house, Peter got on board with the plan to clear Neal's name. He was also burning with fury that Fowler thought it was okay to illegally bug his house. Peter was going to show him just who he was messing with and just how the justice system worked.

"But, you can't just walk around New York without getting caught," Peter sighed, wondering how they would solve this.

Neal smirked and passed him a burner phone.

"Don't worry about me," he said, "there's someone taking a chance on the fact that I'm innocent." Peter raised his eyebrows in surprise. He was upset that he hadn't really considered it until he had a chance to talk to Neal and that someone else had more faith in his CI than he did but, at the same time, he suspected that Neal had conned an innocent person.

"My number's in there and I'll call you if I find anything." With that said, Neal left.

Peter didn't like it when Fowler walked into his office the next morning. The man gave off an aura of corruption and Peter had to swallow back his anger.

"Guess what, Burke? Turns out my men are more efficient than yours," he said with that self-serving smile which made Peter's skin crawl.

His words did make him curious though. Peter stood up and followed him out to the bullpen.

And his heart stopped at the sight of Neal Caffrey in chains.

"We found him," Fowler said in a pleased manner, "and it only took us one day." Peter glared at him for the subtle jab about how it took him over three years to catch Neal then, he looked down at Neal, worried. However, there was something off. Neal didn't even acknowledge him, his cold blue eyes scanning the room like everyone was an enemy.

Peter went back into his office and hurriedly searched his bag for the phone Neal gave him. He didn't really understand why but, he felt the need to confirm that it was really Neal down there. He hit the speed dial and waited with his heart in his throat.

It dialled and rang. And rang.

"Hey Peter," Neal greeted in a pleasant manner which made Peter feel a little sick with relief. He stood at the window wall of his office and watch the Neal down in the bullpen be pulled away to interrogation. "I see you've met my twin."

"Neal, you can't just hire a double to take your place!" Peter scolded. He knew that the double would get called out sooner or later and that it would make Fowler look like a fool so he wasn't too mad about it.

Maybe he just had faith that Neal knew what he was doing, for once.

"Not just a double, my twin. My literal twin. His name is Bryce and I hope you'll take care of him."

"Neal, you cannot switch out of our deal by using your twin!" Peter scolded, this time a little scared that Neal had conned him and was going to run while they were occupied with Bryce.

"Relax, I'm not going anywhere," Neal said, "Bryce is the guy I told you about yesterday. He believes I'm innocent so, he's going to distract the FBI's manhunt for me while we solve this case."

Peter sighed in relief. Neal wasn't going to run. Now all they had to do was solve the case and things could go back to normal. Hopefully.

Solve the case... "Neal, meet me at the store, let's figure out how you allegedly pulled this off."

They managed to find a tunnel from the scene of the crime, to a street camera, to an image of their real crook and finally to the stolen diamond necklace.

Meanwhile, Fowler managed to get nothing from Bryce. When news of the arrest reached them, Bryce finally suggested that they take his fingerprints and revealed that he was not Neal.

He took great pleasure in pointing out every flaw in Fowler's actions; the first being that he didn't have Bryce fingerprinted, the second being that he didn't ask a single question about the location of the original necklace and the third was that he kept talking down to him.

Bryce was even annoyed enough to put on a bit of a show and bow to Fowler as he left the interrogation room.

"So, trust and verify?" he questioned Peter and Neal who were standing behind Neal's desk and having a hushed discussion.

"What?" Peter questioned with a confused expression.

"How do you DO that?" Neal asked in exasperation.

Bryce smirked and said that he would never tell. He knew that Neal would find the bug hidden on his desk, eventually. So, he turned to Peter.

"Bryce Larkin," he introduced himself, shaking the other agent's hand.

"Peter Burke," Peter responded a little mystified at meeting Neal's twin. It was like having another Neal, although this one didn't seem like the loose canon Neal was. He was more composed and almost at home in a office filled with agents. "So, Bryce, is your living more honest than Neal's?"

For some reason, Neal started laughing while Bryce gave a wry smile.

"Some people wouldn't say so. I'm an accountant at Manhattan Mutual."

"An accountant?" Peter said a surprised way. He raised his eyebrows at Diana who was listening over Bryce's shoulder. She looked just as mystified. Beside him, Neal also looked surprised.

"Here?" Neal squeaked, instantly attracting the attention of the office. No one had ever heard Neal Caffrey's voice go that high.

"Yeah. I was transferred in order to give my trainee a chance to shine."

"And you're okay with that?" Peter questioned as it was an odd reason to transfer. Especially to another city, as he guessed from Neal's surprise.

"Well, yeah." Bryce shrugged. "He's one of the best people I know but, he wouldn't be able to be great unless I left. I believe he'll be amazing without my shadow." He sounded wistful.

"Wow. You really care about people's accounts that much?" Jones questioned in a combination of sarcastic and suspicious.

"No," Bryce responded in a slightly offended way, "I care more about giving my friend a chance to succeed."

"Well, I'm sure El and I would love to have you around for dinner," Peter suggested with a smile. He choose to ignore the offended flash on Neal's face and the 'nos' he kept mouthing.

"As long as Neal comes, sure," Bryce responded and they both turned to stare at Neal as he sighed dramatically. Neal slumped and ran his hand through his hair.

"Fine," he mumbled.

"Come on, Neal," Bryce said, placing a hand on his shoulder which Neal immediately shrugged off. "We'll have time to catch up and I can meet your friends. It'll be fun."

"It'll be fun when I get to meet your friends," Neal grumbled.

"That's not how it works," Peter informed him in a hushed voice. He knew that from dinners with family and family-in-law. Neal sighed in a way that told Peter that he also knew that.