AN: So it's later than I promised, but funnily enough I've been working on this since I posted the last chapter. Just didn't have as much time as I realized! Also, I realized that the links were down in the profiles, so my tumblr if anyone is interested is currently aryaspecter. tumblr. com. no spaces. Enjoy!

Chapter Nineteen – Meet the New Boss

She stood on the steel walkway and looked down into the startled set of faces peering at her. Some she recognized, some she did not.

"Katie?"

"Sarah. It's been a while." She smiled down at the shell shocked, still gorgeous, blonde. "It's actually Kate now too, I suppose I should remind you. Covers and all that."

Walking down the metal stairs, she got a better look around the room. It was like any other CIA substation she'd been too. Boring as hell, if you didn't count the state of the art technology of course. And Sarah, who was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. She threw her arms around her and closed her eyes, leaning into her old friend.

"I missed you," Sarah whispered in her ear, squeezing her tightly, giving as good as she got from Kate.

"I missed you too." Kate gently pulled out of the hug and held her at arm's length, looking her over. "You look good."

Sarah smiled, pleased with the compliment. In turn, she took in her attire, baggy and worn hoodie, obviously well used running shoes, messy hair, and sweat beginning to gather in various places on her body. Not very attractive, but Kate didn't care and neither did she.

"So do you," she replied, laughing. Someone cleared their throat behind them, and Kate watched in amusement as Sarah shot a poisonous glare at a tall, rather lanky, man. She already knew who he was. Knew who everyone was, actually.

"You must be Agent Bartowski. I've been waiting to meet you for a long time," she said, holding out her hand and Chuck shook it after a slightly wary look at it. His grip was strong, but not as strong as hers. Without saying anything else, she spun around and let her eyes settle on the gruff looking military man.

"And Colonel John Casey. I'm a huge fan of your work." She smiled at him brightly, which seemed to throw the man off a bit. Or maybe it was the compliment. When she shook his hand, she leaned in and whispered, "Did you really take out an entire mercenary camp in Brazil using only a poison dart frog and twig?"

An amused expression twisted Casey's face, and before he let go of her hand he leaned closer and said, "Always hide your water supply."

She laughed, the sound loud in the quiet room despite the amount of people in it. Ignoring them, she spotted a tall and rather handsome looking man, who had one arm in a sling, off to the side. His dark eyes scrutinized her as she approached him and held out a hand, which he shook with his only good one.

"The man behind the team. Special Agent Shaw, nice to meet you. I've heard good things about you. All of you, actually." She turned to address everyone as a whole, and realized there were two others in the room. "Agent Fowler. And, Agent Jones? I…wasn't informed that you were involved in this operation."

The agent opened his mouth to reply, but a familiar voice behind her beat him too it.

"There've been a few….modifications to the operation."

"Neal!" She spun around, and threw herself into his arms. There was a grunt of pain from him, but he didn't let go, only tightened his hold on her.

"Kate." The relief in his voice was palpable. He drew back after a moment and held her at arm's length, grey eyes scanning her form. "You look, well, sporty."

There was a teasing lilt to his voice that made her laugh, and he smiled when he saw it. God, it had been a long time since she'd seen that. It'd been a long time since she'd seen him, and she looked closely at him too.

The gauntness around his face and eyes was something she'd seen before on him, and hoped never to again. He looked well rested, though still seemed a little spaced out. Not quite the usual Neal (she had an easier time referring to him as that now), but at least he was alive. She knew Aaron Carson, and while he wasn't the best The Ring had to offer, not by a long shot, he was determined and angry. The last part was the most dangerous. It made him all the more unpredictable.

"Don't I?" she asked, grinning back, and feeling pleased when she saw a bit of light return to his face. "Are we ready to start now then? I can't imagine who else….." She trailed off in surprised silence when she saw who walked through the doors behind Neal. "I didn't…."

"As Jones can attest to, there've been a few, uh, last minute additions." Neal awkwardly ran a hand through his hair and gestured to Peter and Elizabeth Burke behind him.

"Rather reluctant additions," Elizabeth said, coming over to her and holding out a hand, which Kate took. "But additions, none the less."

"Well, the more the merrier…I suppose." She turned to Peter and said, "Look, about that gun-"

"Don't." He held up a hand that stopped her in her tracks. "Neal told me some things, reluctantly, but he still told me. You thought I was Ring, and I don't blame you for that. You were just doing your job. I just wished you two'd told me earlier. But I understand why now."

She was at a bit of a loss, so she just cautiously nodded. "Good…I'm glad. I know how much Neal hated lying to you." She glanced at him and he shot her a warning look, which she ignored. "It wasn't easy. I hope the transition is as smooth as possible."

"It'll have to be for this to work," Neal said, looking grave. He understood the implications of what she said. They had to work together, as a team. Or it would be impossible. He knew she was right. But it was still hard to realize that she knew. Spies, particularly ones like Bryce Larkin, were used to working alone, or with a small team.

She addressed the room as a whole. "Now, as you are all aware, I am the team leader for this mission. I expect all decisions to be differed to me, although you can go to your own team leader first, and then they can report to me. As long as I'm in the know. More information will be in the mission briefs. Wherever they are. You have until tonight to read them."

"Assigning homework on the first day?" Chuck asked, and she had to smile at that.

"You bet your pretty little ass I am."

"But what about us?" Peter asked her, gesturing to Neal and Jones. "The Bureau is expecting us to go in. We can't just throw the job aside. And there's no way I'm leaving El alone. What if Carson is watching the house?"

"Well, you go back. You, Neal, and Jones are clear to go back and work the case from the FBI's angle. We're taking Daniel out of the game though, sorry," she addressed the injured man, who shrugged, "and sending in Chuck and Sarah. Covers and stuff are in the briefs, which probably weren't sent yet. You two will be posing as Department of Homeland Security agents, not a huge stretch from CIA, but considering we want to work with the FBI this time, and we can't technically work domestically…."

"What about Elizabeth?" The question came from Sarah.

"Fowler's team will handle her protection detail. They were our backup, and I trust them."

"Enough with my wife's life?" She met Peter's hard stare with one of her own.

"I personally vetted for each of those men. I know they have my back, and they'd rather die than have one of their charges die under their watch. So yes, Burke, enough with Elizabeth's life. If you don't like it, well then, by all means, let me make some popcorn before you tell her she needs to stay in an underground bunker for the next two weeks, cause it'll be very entertaining to see you get your ass handed to you by your wife."

He gave her a nasty look, then his wife a nervous one. It was clear that El was going to protest being locked away, so he just nodded a weary acceptance.

"Fine, just… fine. I barely know you, and my only impressions aren't good considering you held me at gunpoint last time-"

"Honest mistake," she muttered.

"- but if Neal trusts you, I'll try to put aside my unease. For now. But if you do something to challenge that…" he trailed off, a threatening tone to his voice. She raised her hands in defense.

"Got it. Don't fuck up."

"The covers?" Chuck asked, diverting her attention back to what they had been talking about before.

"Right. Um, well you and Sarah are posing as DHS taking over the Carson case, after one of Peter's searches triggered an alert. Neal and Peter, you two will jointly work with them, though at this point Chuck and Sarah will handle observing Carson. I need you two, and Jones, for something else."

"What?" Jones looked afraid to ask, and she caught the worried look in Peter's eyes as well.

"You're going to be getting a laptop full of the dossier's of FBI agents working in the White Collar department, and the New York branch in general. I need you three to go through them; Neal the Intersect will help a lot here. But he doesn't have the inside information that you and Peter have, Jones. There's a traitor within the Bureau, and we need to find them before they find us."

"What's your job then?" Casey asked, gruffly.

"I'm the inside man."

"Woman." Neal corrected.

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes good naturedly. "I'm already stationed as a higher up's lover, what fun that is. He's the leader of the New York faction of the Ring."

"You know that for sure?" Peter asked.

"Considering I'm a member of the Ring and have participated in more than a few operations involving him, yes. I'm positive. We have enough evidence to convict him of treason if we wanted to."

"But why don't you?" El glanced at her in confusion.

"Because she wants to know how deep it goes," Neal replied, answering for Kate. "How bad the corruption really is."

"And then what?" Peter questioned him.

"And then we see where we go from there. The more of these bastards we can bring down the better." Looking around at the assembled crew, she continued, "Everyone got their missions? Good, go team."

She just hoped they didn't bring down themselves in the process.

"Remember, call me right away if you need anything." He looked into his wife's eyes and was relieved to see that while she seemed nervous, her gaze was hard as ice. "If I don't answer within an hour, call Neal or Sarah. If they don't answer, you call Hughes. Got it, hun?"

"Got it, hun," El repeated to him in the affirmative. She shot a glance over his shoulder, where Peter knew Neal was standing, waiting by the car. "Stay safe. You and Neal. Watch his back."

"What about my back?" he asked, teasingly indignant.

"I've already had this conversation with him. Without the…" she gestured with her head down to where he had his arms twined around her waist, and her own around his back. "Didn't want to give the poor guy more bruises."

He winced at that. He'd been witness to Neal getting his makeup done earlier, and the man's body bore more marks then it had the night before, the injuries developing akin to a film developing; more and more of the picture was revealed as time passed. It was rather horrifying. And painful he was sure, though Neal had said nothing about it. He certainly understood El's holding back from what he knew she desperately wanted to do- hug him.

"Probably for the best," he said. Then he pulled her into a tight hug. He wasn't sure how long it would be before he'd see her in person again, and be able to just hold her. He didn't want to dwell on that.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"I'll talk to you soon, yeah?"

He glanced at Neal, who was leaning against the car casually, trying not to listen in for which Peter was thankful. Damn the man though. For doing this to them, for this happening. He looked back at El, and gently brushed a stray hair away from her face.

"Yeah," he said, hoping his words were true.

"I never thought I'd see that expression on Bryce Larkin's face." Chuck watched the man, wide-eyed, as he sat in their new car waiting to drive with Peter to the Bureau.

"He really cares about them," Sarah said quietly. "I can see why. They're good for him."

"How are they taking it you think?"

"Elizabeth is taking it better than Peter, at the moment. He's had more contact with Bryce as Neal than she has, and from what I saw and heard, Peter understands, but he feels betrayed."

"Understandable," he said, then frowned. "I remember when I found out Bryce was a spy."

She glanced at him. "How did you feel?"

"Overwhelmed," he said after a short pause. "Of course I was on a rooftop with two highly trained government agents, and had red dots on my chest, so scared shitless is another phrase I'd use."

They watched as Peter hugged Elizabeth, and Chuck consciously forced himself not to lip read the man.

"Betrayal is a strong emotion," Sarah said quietly. "You think Burke can work through it and complete the mission?"

"Short answer? Yeah, he can do it."

"And the long one?"

"He'll work through it, and get the job done. But there are fractures in the trust between the two. I don't know what'll happen after this, but I can't see them working together like they did before. Dynamics have changed, and Peter can't deal with that yet."