It happened the moment the gun was against his forehead.

The barrel stocked full of the end of the world was cold against his damp, heated skin. He had always heard people say your life flashes before your eyes when it's about to leave you. His life had one foot out the door but wasn't offering him any flashbacks of any sort. There was nothing there that would have him down on his knees, hands bound behind his back, and begging for his life, but damn if he wasn't doing it.

The man and his gun was towering over him like the sight of the FBI building for the first time, taunting and unpredictable. His smoked stained and whiskey drenched breath escaped in an amused, deep chuckle.

"Are you beggin' me, boy?"

His heart, a treasure map for trouble, pounded its way painfully up into his throat, making him swallow. He closed his eyes, squeezing them tight when the barrel was tapped against his forehead in two prompting nudges.

"Look at you, conman extraordinaire. Pfff." If the man's spit landed on him, the sweat dampening his skin made it impossible to notice. He flinched regardless at the tiny sound of disbelief, barely relishing in the cool steel being pulled apart from his forehead for the second that it was, before it once again ushered his life to the exit door. The man bent down, keeping the gun in its desired place. Neal clenched his jaw and forced himself to keep the man's gaze.

"Do you want to die?"

Neal stared at him, keeping up the foundations of the walls he spent years building.

"Ah, no response? Well, here's another question that you might be able to answer. You or her?" The gun was pulled away from his forehead, but unlike the previous second of freedom he relished before, he hated the release, because now the gun was pointed at Elizabeth Burke.

"Me! Me. You don't need to hurt her."

"Neal, don't-" Her voice sounded remarkably like Peter's, just not so deep.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye to cut her off, then looked back to the man and nodded, before leaning forward until his forehead was back against the barrel. The corner of the gunman's mouth, supporting the evidence of holding too many cigars there, lifted up.

"Atta boy."

Neal cringed, but did his best to hide it.

"You don't want to do that." Her voice was even, not supporting any evidence of panic even though she was down on her knees as well though her hands were bound in front of her. Neal leaned farther into the barrel as if it would keep the man from taking it away and putting it on her.

He chuckled, his breath once again churning Neal's stomach. "Want? Perhaps not. Now, need, on the other hand...well, yeah I need to kill him."

Neal felt a heat creep up his spine. Whether it was from situation he was currently in, or the image of the Elizabeth's stern look he knew all too well being directed at the man with the gun, he couldn't be sure.

"My husband won't let you get away with it." Neal opened his eyes, staring blankly at the blurry sight of the man's hand around the handle of the gun, and listened intently to her unwavering voice. "I won't, either."

"Darling, what exactly is it that you plan to do to save him? He's kneeling on less than a second between living and dying." The man turned his attention back to Neal and titled his head to the side in contemplation. "And from where I'm standing he's a little top-heavy on the dying side."

The gun was released from his forehead and shoved up under his chin, tilting his head back. Neal clenched his jaw tight, tasting the metallic flavor of blood dripping from the bite marks on the inside of his cheek. The man's grin widened and he met Neal's gaze.

"Do you fear me, kid?"

Neal didn't move, didn't blink. The gun was pushed farther into his throat almost making him gag, before it was cocked. His eyes moved off to the side because it was just too much, but the man nudged his chin again, forcing him to meet his stare.

"Ahh, there it is." The man kept his eyes on Neal's. "Tell me, Elizabeth, do you know what it feels like to hold someone's life in your hands? To see them look at you with nothing but fear in their eyes?"

Neal kept his gaze as harden as he could, his mask as tight as he could muster, but the gun was starting to loosen under his chin and he knew where it was to be pointed if it wasn't on him. Knowing Elizabeth wouldn't give into the man's twisted game, Neal answered for her.

"She's not a sick bastard like you."

Suddenly the gun was brought hard across his jaw, adding to the metallic flavor already in his mouth. He spit out a portion of it while listing to the side, before the man's hand brought him roughly back upright with the gun back under his chin. But this time, Neal grinned bloodily at the man's furious face.

"My apologies. Had I known you were going to hit like my ex-girlfriend, I would've said that sooner."

Elizabeth knew exactly what Neal was doing and it made her blood boil at his stubbornness. She watched the man's gun come up again to be brought back across Neal's face, before she chimed in, "Are you really going to let him get the best of you?"

The man stopped mid-stride and turned his head to look at her. His head cocked to the side, studying her face. Neal was watching her too out of the corner of his eye and when the ghost of relief crossed her face at the sight of the man dropping his hand completely as if he wasn't going to hit him again, Neal prayed the man hadn't caught it. But suddenly the gun was across his jaw in almost the same place and he was back to spitting blood until the man straightened him once more.

The man chuckled. "And to think you're married to an FBI Agent. I expected a better performance from you, sweetheart." He shrugged his shoulders, turning his attention back to Neal. "But I suppose I should give you credit for trying. It's not like you were aware of the fact that I know all about your little makeshift family."

"You know nothing." She spat and it made Neal's stomach churn even more.

"Well, why don't you help me figure it out?" The man stood up, gun still aimed at Neal, while walking behind him. Elizabeth was watching him, but her attention was on Neal. She could see his head shake a fraction of an inch, his mouth forming the word 'don't', while the man pulled him to his feet by the back of his shirt.

The gunman shoved Neal in front of Elizabeth and forced him down on his knees again. He squatted down behind him and caught the woman's gaze. Snaking his arm that held the gun around Neal's neck, he pulled out a knife from his waistband and held it a few inches out from Neal's chest.

"Let's see what this tells me."

Neal suddenly felt a burning sensation slice across his left side at the top of his ribcage as the knife slid across his skin. He did his best not to show the pain he felt and focused on the warm liquid running down his side. He took deep breaths through his nose and tried to grin at Elizabeth as if it were nothing.

"Stop." Elizabeth's voice was a ghost of a whisper.

The man leaned Neal and himself closer, causing more blood to gush from the wound.

"I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch that." The knife was once again slid across his ribcage just below the first cut. Neal gritted his teeth, letting the groan roll out of his nose in a long exhale.

"Stop." Her voice was stronger now, tears lining the bottom of her eyelids.

"Now we're getting somewhere!" He slid the knife once more, making a third cut under the first two, before letting Neal pitch forward and breath through the pain. The man twirled the knife in his hand a moment before pulling Neal back to him. He looked up at Elizabeth and smiled. "And you said I didn't know anything. Tsk. Tsk. Mrs. Burke, please don't insult my intelligence again."

Neal laughed despite of it all and it caused the man to pull him tighter against him, the knife now against his back. "Don't make me do something to make our pretty little lady cry, Neal. You and I both don't want that."

Neal could feel the blood on the knife drip onto his wrists and could feel his zip tie bindings start to slip against his skin. It was a small miracle, but it wasn't enough. If he was going to be able to slip them he was going to need more.

"Like you have it in you." Neal spat back, ignoring the incredulous look El was giving him. He felt the knife against his arm cut deep, deeper than he prepared for and he did his best to hide the scream between clenched teeth.

The man stood up, wiping the knife on a rag from his pocket, before placing it back in his waistband. He walked around Neal's hunched over form, placing the gun underneath his chin once more to make him straighten back up. He looked over at Elizabeth, who was watching Neal.

"Don't worry, Elizabeth. Peter will be here soon and you're family will be put back together and live happily ever after." His chuckle was deep and menacing and suddenly Elizabeth felt dizzy as if she was the one losing blood.

She tore her gaze from Neal and glared at the man standing above her. "You're damn right."

Had Neal been paying attention to anything but slipping his hands out of his bindings, he would have been thoroughly impressed with Elizabeth's determination, but the skin on his knuckles was peeling back as he pulled and he was focusing on not showing it on his face.

"I like you, Mrs. Burke. Hell, I even like the kid. But you're husband...well, let me put it this way... if someone killed Mr. Caffrey here, wouldn't you make sure they paid for it?" He paused for a moment as if Elizabeth would answer, but she said nothing. "Yeah, I know you would, because that's how I feel about the man that killed my son."

Neal's hand slipped free from the bind and it took everything he had to keep it behind his back. He glanced between the gunman and Elizabeth and knew things were going to take a turn for the worse.

"Peter didn't kill your son. Your son made some bad choices. Followed in his father's footsteps, and got himself in trouble. Your son did it for you. If anyone killed him...it was you."

It all happened in slow motion, the man brought the gun up to her face, pulling his thumb back to cock it and she could only watch as his trigger finger began to squeeze. She closed her eyes, thinking of Peter one last time before the gun went off.

But she felt nothing. Suddenly, her eyes sprang open and she saw Neal struggling with the gunman. She was frozen stiff, unable to move as she watched the man suddenly grab Neal around the neck once more, moving his other hand to place the gun against his head, but Neal quit trying to loosen the grip around his neck and reached for the man's gun hand and brought it down.

Wild, blue eyes met hers and she immediately started to get to her feet , but then the younger man was shaking his head and she could only start to form the protest on her tongue before Neal said, "I'm sorry," placed the gun up against the right side of his chest and pulled the trigger.

Finally, the protest left her mouth a little too late in a terrified scream as she watched both of them crumple to the floor, the gunman on his back and Neal on his side. She reached Neal first, but noticed the gunman trying to pull himself over to the discarded gun. She raced over and picked it up with her bound hands, pointing it down at the gunman who stilled.

"Give me another reason to shoot you."

He smiled, despite the crimson stain spreading across his chest. "Go ahead." He motioned towards Neal's still form and said, "It's done." He paused as his breath caught in his throat then laughed. "Oh, and Mrs. Burke? If anyone killed your son...it was you. He did it for you."

Elizabeth stared down at him, her hands shaking as she placed her thumb on the hammer of the gun and pulled it back. A few seconds passed and the man smiled at her tauntingly. She swallowed thickly before letting the gun drop to her side, pushing the hammer back up and running to Neal's side.

AN: Part 2 (Last chapter) coming this week. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!