I know I say the same thing every chapter, but it's true! I had a ton of fun writing this fic! Thank you to everyone who has come along for the ride!

"In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends." ~ John Churton Collins

It took four emergency responders about half an hour, but finally Neal was taken out of that small space. They put him on a backboard and carried him out of the devastated building. If his arm hadn't been crushed under the weight of the debris, Neal probably would have walked away relatively unscathed, just like Hannah.

She hadn't wanted to leave Neal, but eventually Joe, the police officer, convinced Hannah that she needed to be out of the way so they could get Neal out. She had been taken outside and examined by the medics.

Once he had been carried out of the wreckage, the EMTs put Neal onto a stretcher and rolled it toward an ambulance. When Hannah finally saw Neal again she ran from the responder she'd been paired with.

"Neal!" the girl bounced up, trying to see her new friend but the EMTs taking care of him were blocking her view.

"Hannah!" Neal extended his good arm out to her. He turned to the man who was attempting to wrap his mangled arm, "Has anyone found Agent Clinton Jones of the white collar division yet? This is his daughter."

"We evacuated the upper floors a while ago. They came out the opposite side of the building though. If he is waiting for his daughter, he's probably over there."

"Can you find someone to take her to him? I'm sure Jones is worried sick about her."

The woman who had been sitting with Hannah before walked over. "Why don't we go look for your daddy?"

"Wait!" she exclaimed. The six year old then turned to the men that were attending to Neal, "He's going to be okay, right?"

Neal answered her before the EMT could open his mouth, "I'm going to be just fine, Hannah. I'll see you later, okay? Go find your dad."

The woman led the girl away before she had a chance to respond. All she could do was wave goodbye.

The men loaded Neal into the ambulance. He had been the last injured person to be removed from the building.

During the ride to the hospital Neal laid silent, thinking. The pain meds he'd been injected with were certainly doing their job. He reflected upon his situation. The limited ability of his left arm was certainly going to alter his habits for some time. Right now he just hoped that the injury was a temporary one. He was sure that the doctors were going to need to operate on it, but now he began to think about negative hypotheticals. What if they had to amputate it? What if the damage was so severe his arm would never be the same?

This got him thinking about the people in his life. He didn't have any family to speak of. Sure, his parents were out there somewhere, but they didn't count. Ellen, the woman he regarded as a family member, almost as a second mother, was gone. Kate… why did he always think of her when bad things happened? Kate, his first love, the woman that he had intended to propose to was long dead. Love… that made him think of Sara. Sure, their relationship was that of an on-again-off-gain nature, but he had been thinking about her more and more lately, especially now that Ellen had been killed. And there was always Mozzie and June. Those two would almost certainly be the ones to take care of him as he recovered from this. IF he recovered from this. God, these thoughts were getting too depressing. Neal gave up and tried to allow his mind to wander to other things as the gentle rocking of the ambulance and the sedative effect of the drugs relaxed his body.

Neal opened his eyes. 'Yes, eyes plural,' he thought, happy that the blood and gunk were gone. He took in the four green walls and the off-white ceiling tiles of the small room he found himself in. 'Must be the surgery recovery room,' he observed. He couldn't feel his left arm, but he glanced down and saw that it was still attached to his body, albeit wrapped up.

He then noticed the man sitting in the chair across from him.

"Jones," he said. The word came out a little raspy.

"Hey Caffrey, you're up! Forgive me for not getting out of my chair." He used his head to motion downwards at the young girl sleeping in his lap. Hannah's head was snuggled up against her father's shoulder, his arms wrapped around her.

"How's she doing?" Neal asked.

"The medics checked her over and said she was fine. I took her home and she took a much needed bath. But then she told me we had to come visit you in the hospital, so here we are."

"That's sweet." Neal smiled. Even if he was single and had no family, it was nice to know that at least one person cared. He thought it funny that the person was the six year old daughter of an FBI agent whose job it was to keep him in line.

"Neal, you have got to give me some lessons. Every woman who comes into contact with you falls in love with you instantly. Even first graders!" Jones laughed. "Seriously though, Caffrey, thank you for what you did today. You took great care of her and drove the fear away even though you were trapped and hurt. I don't know how I can ever make it up to you, you saved her life."

"I didn't save her life. She wasn't even hurt." Neal choked on his words, he didn't want to cry. "If anything, she saved mine. I can't imagine how terrible it would have been to be alone down there."

Jones shook his head, "I'm glad it was you though, Neal. Could you imagine Hughes or Peter stuck with her?" He couldn't stop himself from laughing at his own joke.

Neal laughed too, "She's quite the character, that's for sure. Hey Jones, I was thinking about something. I remember meeting that woman, Isabelle was it? Where does she fall into all this? Sorry, you don't have to answer that if it's too personal."

"Eva was my 'rebound', so to say, from Isabelle. I even brought her along to their wedding, kinda as an I-can-do-better-than-you move. What can I say? I was young and stupid back then."

Neal would have responded but a nurse walked into the room. "Sorry to interrupt," she smiled toward Jones, "but I'm going to have to ask you to leave as we check over your friend."

"That's fine. When you're done will it be okay if I bring everyone in?"

"Yes, as long as Mr. Caffrey is alright with that."

Neal looked at Jones suspiciously, "What do you mean by 'everyone'?"

Clinton got up from his chair and readjusted his hold on Hannah's sleeping form. "You'll see. Oh, by the way, Hannah brought your hat back for you. I'll just leave it in this chair."

'God, Jones wasn't kidding when he said "everyone,"' thought Neal as he watched the seventh, and final, person file in and surround his hospital bed. Jones, Hannah (now awake and holding her father's hand), Peter, Elizabeth, Diana, Mozzie, and lastly Sara were now all crowded in around him.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" asked Elizabeth, concern written across her face.

"Okay, we're going to need a few ground rules here," started Neal, who was now sitting up in his bed, "First of all, I am fine, so please don't ask again. I'm dead serious, Moz." He saw his bald friend was about to open his mouth to protest. "Ugh, there are so many of you! Okay, number two, no crying. If anyone cries you're just going to make me cry and I can't be crying in front of all of you!" This comment caused Diana, Sara, and Jones to smile. "Peter, where do I start with you? Okay, stop making that face. I know you're concerned, but as I already stated, I am fine, so you need to stop." Neal smiled as El stroked her husband's arm. "Okay, I think that covers the bases. Just don't smother me!"

When Neal finished, four voices all spit questions at him simultaneously, but it was too much at one time and he didn't catch any of it. He noticed that Hannah had raised her hand, as if she were trying to get a teacher's attention.

"Yes, Hannah?" He smiled.

"Neal, can I sit on your bed and give you a hug?"

Several of the people in the room laughed.

"Of course you can, Hannah." The girl climbed up onto the hospital bed and sat beside her friend. He wrapped his arm around her, "Now why don't you tell everyone the story about what happened to us today?"

Neal was glad that Hannah was there. She took some of the attention off of him and that was a welcome relief. 'I guess I was wrong before, these people all came here out of concern for my wellbeing. I'm not alone. I have all of my family and friends right here.'

Diana then Mozzie were among the first to leave. Everyone had stayed at least an hour talking in the hospital room. Neal had no idea how long they'd all been waiting for him to wake up in the first place.

Jones eventually decided to bring their visit to an end, "Hannah, I think it is way past your bedtime. Mine too! Why don't you tell Neal goodbye?"

She was barely awake as it was. For the past half hour she'd been growing increasingly quieter. Neal's breathing at her side lulled her so much that she could barely keep her eyes open.

Hannah gave Neal a kiss on the cheek, "Goodnight, Neal. I'm gonna see you soon, right?"

Neal whispered in the girl's ear, "Yes, I'll see you soon. Don't let your dad forget that he promised you a Build-a-Bear. Goodbye, Hannah."

The little girl giggled and smiled as she walked out of the room with her father, causing the remaining visitors to wonder just what Neal had said to her.

Now it was down to just Sara and the Burkes. "I'm going to go get some coffee, does anybody want anything?" proposed Sara.

El smiled, "No, I think we're going to be heading out soon. Thanks for the offer though."

Peter gestured toward the hospital room's TV. "Do you see the remote for this thing?"

Neal found it sitting on the bedside table, "You're not going to turn on some game, are you?" He asked before surrendering the remote.

"No, I just wanted to see if there was any more news coverage of today's event. We had the TV on in the waiting room. I've been making some calls, trying to hear more about the bomb, see if they have any suspects, that kind of thing. They found the guy. He was killed in the explosion, dressed as a janitor. The theory right now is that it didn't go according to plan. Only half of it detonated, something like that. I'm sure he wanted to whole building to come down!"

"Well thank God it didn't, hon!" exclaimed Elizabeth.

Peter flipped through the channels, "See, CNN is still covering it."

Neal read the screen, '17 KILLED AND 64 WOUNDED IN NYC EXPLOSION'

The image changed from showing the building they worked in to showing what looked like a dumpy apartment. Words were carved into the walls. The commentator spoke, "The bomber, who police have identified as James O'Leary, seems to have been seeking revenge upon the FBI. Michael and Tony O'Leary, James' step-brother and cousin were convicted of bank fraud in the 1980s. The FBI was involved in the massive operation. The O'Leary Duo is still legendary today. James had carved into the walls, quote: 'the FBI has ruined our family name'. Meanwhile…"

Neal had heard enough, "Turn it off Peter, I think I get the gist of it."

"But," Peter started to protest until he saw the expression on Neal's face. "Okay." He shut the television off. "Doesn't make much sense, does it?" he asked quietly.

"Crazy people will do crazy things. But seventeen dead?" He shook his head in disgust.

"And there's no one to seek revenge upon anyway! There aren't many agents still around from thirty years ago, well except for Hughes. That man has been there forever!"

El smirked at the comment about Reese. "Okay, Peter, I think we should head on home now. Remember, Neal said he was fine, actually, repeatedly! I think we've outstayed our welcome."

Peter nodded. Sara quietly reentered the room.

Elizabeth walked over and gave Neal a hug, "We'll come see you tomorrow, okay? You know I'm gonna bake something for you, so what do you want?"

"You don't have to make me anything, El." Neal protested.

"Fine, I'll surprise you." Mrs. Burke wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Neal chuckled, "Goodnight, you two. Thank you for visiting me, it really means a lot."

They said their goodbyes and walked out hand in hand.

"So, it looks like it's just the two of us now." Sara pointed out as she sat down on the side of Neal's bed. She had been very quiet with the whole gang around. "I know you don't want to hear it, but I'm glad you're okay, Neal."

The End

I'm done! I'm really done! I'm kinda sad now. But that feeling of fulfillment when you've completed a story always helps with that.

I might as well do this here… I am a registered Beta reader… If you like my writing style and need help with a fic, send me a PM. Even if you just need advice or have questions, I can help you out!

Please review…. Maybe it will help with some feelings of withdrawal.