I don't own White Collar or the characters... blah...blah...blah

Chapter Sixteen

Neal slowly opened his eyes and scanned the room. The house was quiet, but the smell of something delicious was wafting out from the kitchen. He gently let the footrest of the recliner down, unfolding himself out of the blankets he was wrapped in. He found the cane leaning against the side of the chair, and reluctantly picked it up, using it to push himself to his feet. As he hobbled through the dinning room, he caught sight of his tracking anklet sitting on the table; a hand written note was stuck under it.

Lustum fac.

Neal picked up the anklet, gazing down at it for a moment. Elizabeth came out of the kitchen, interrupting his thoughts and startling him a bit.

"Peter's working?" Neal asked, keeping his tone casual.

"He just had to run in for a sec." She pointed to the note on the table. "What does it mean?"

"It means, 'do the right thing'." Neal used the cane and the table to brace himself as he eased down into one of the chairs, and held the anklet out to Elizabeth. "I can't reach."

Neal watched as she fastened it around his ankle, seeing the little red light start blinking, indicating he was out of his radius. He couldn't help but laugh a little to himself, knowing that Peter would be notified as soon as it came online. He slumped back in the chair, keeping an eye on the blinking red light. He was starting to feel a little lightheaded from the effects of the double dose of pain medication he had taken earlier, and he curled one arm on the table, gently dropping his head down. As he felt his mind starting to succumb to the unconscious, he heard the quiet beep of his anklet coming into range.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed, I have decided to pick this up and continue on in a new story. Sorry it has taken me so long to get this up, I've been busy getting my four legged 'Neal' ready for a charity show. The weather is supposed to be bad, so maybe we'll get a few chapters done. Look for the continuation in the story, "Amelioration".