(A/N): Hey, there! So here's my latest story. I hope you all enjoy! Any mistakes you find belong to me and I don't own anything.

Neal was sitting on the terrace, sipping some Italian Roast, when he heard a knock on the door.

"Coming." He regretfully placed his coffee on the table and went to open the door. It was no surprise it was Peter, picking him up for another mortgage fraud filled day at work.

"Moring." Peter greeted Neal. "You ready? Hughes said we have a new case. No mortgage fraud, I promise."

"Well, it's about time."

"You're telling me! You aren't the only one who hates those."

"Then why do we always get stuck with them?" Neal questioned.

"Because mortgage fraud is a crime and we are the law enforcers. Just 'cause we don't like it doesn't mean it goes away." Peter said as he looked at his watch. "Okay, let's get moving. We need to be in the conference room in 30."

Once they got situated into the car, Neal reached over to turn on the radio but Peter gave him a slap on the hand.

"What was that for? I called it."

"Not right now. I don't like listening to the radio in morning traffic. It's distracting."

"Whatever." Neal leaned back in his seat as Peter pulled away from the curb and drove down the street.

"Come on, you're seriously going to pout over the radio?" Peter looked at Neal. As soon as he did, the Taurus' collision warning went off and Peter quickly turned his focus back toward the road, ignoring the numerous honking coming from irritated morning commuters.

"Peter, you should really keep your eyes on the road." Neal stated with a grin.

"Can it." Peter thought for a second. "You know what? I think you are what's distracting me."

"Or maybe it's just your bad driving skills." Neal countered.

"Would you rather be taking the subway?" Peter threatened, knowing that taking the subway in the morning was the last thing Neal wanted to do.

"No."

"That's what I thought."

The rest of the car ride to the office was silent, which Peter was thankful for. When they reached the 21st floor, the team was already in the conference room looking over the new case. They were now investigating Carl Sawyers.

"At a first glance, Sawyers seems pretty clean." Peter started as he addressed the agents (and Neal) in the conference room. "But what is suspicious is that a few months ago, he started his own appraisal business. He makes appointments with clients and visits their homes to appraise whatever they think might be of value. Usually the stuff is antiques passed down to them."

"Let me guess, he's stealing whatever he appraised from his clients?" Neal asked.

"Well, yes, but it looks like he also appraised a few items considerably lower than the actually price."

"And the owners obviously don't know any better, so they think it's legit, right?" Diana spoke up.

"Correct. Then Sawyers offers to buy the said items and ends up selling them to make a large profit." Peter concluded.

"That's actually a pretty good plan." Neal admitted.

"Yeah I'll give him that, but the problem is that this is all circumstantial. What we need to do is catch him in the act." Peter turned to Neal. "You up for some undercover work?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Neal smiled as he leaned back in his chair.

The rest of the morning was spent preparing for the sting. Neal was going to go undercover as Nick Halden to try and work his way into Sawyers' business. Sawyers hired a few other men to assist him in the appraisals, and of course to break in to the client's house. The plan was for Neal to go in and impress Sawyers enough to hire him on as part of his appraisal team.

Peter was in his office finishing up some paperwork when he looked at the clock and noticed it was finally time for lunch. He logged off his computer and made his way down to Neal's desk, hoping the younger man would join him for lunch.

"Hey, you wanna get something to eat?" Peter offered.

"Sounds great, what do you have in mind?"

"There's this new Italian place down the street that Jones was just telling me about."

"Well, let's go check it out."

The restaurant turned out to be a few blocks from the office. It was one of those, nice family owned restaurants that had great service. Once seated, a young waitress went over to them.

"Hi, my name is Sydney. Can I get you two something to drink?"

"I'll just have water, please." Neal said politely.

"And for you, sir?" The waitress turned to Peter.

"Oh, I'll just have a water too."

"Alright, I'll let you both look over the menu while I get your drinks."

Neal took a look at the menu and then looked up to Peter. "Copycat."

"What?" Peter looked up from his own menu.

"You ordered water, I ordered it first."

"Seriously? Are you 12?"

"No, 8."

"Well, if you have to know, Elizabeth wants me to cut back on my caffeine intake. She says I'm too dependent on it." Peter explained.

"I'd agree with her, but you tend to be a bit cranky without your coffee." Neal pointed out.

"No, I do not."

"Yeah, you do."

"No, I don't." Peter said sternly.

"Ahem." Both men looked up to their waitress, Sydney, who was clearly witnessing the juvenile argument. She placed their waters on the table, smiled and said, "Sorry to interrupt, but are you ready for me to take your orders?"

After a quick glance at the menu, Neal decided to go with the Chicken Alfredo.

"Oh, that's my favorite." Sydney smiled.

"I'll have the lasagna." Peter said.

"Alright, those will be out shortly" Sydney placed a bowl of bread on the table and walked away.

"Didn't you order lasagna last time we ate out?" Neal asked.

"Yeah. What's wrong with that? Lasagna is a classic dish."

"This is where you say, 'Classics never go out of style'." Neal mocked.

"Shut up and eat your bread."

A little while later, Sydney brought out their food. Both dishes turned out to be fantastic and Peter noted to thank Jones for the tip. Neal insisted on paying the tab, but Peter said he'd pay since Neal did last time they ate out. When Peter reached into his jacket to pull out his wallet, he panicked for a second, not being able to find it. But, once he looked up, Neal was waving it proudly in his hands. After Peter threatened Neal with orange jumpsuits, he gave the waitress his credit card.

"And here's your receipt." Sydney handed Peter a small piece of paper and turned to Neal. "I hope you both come back."

"Oh, we will." Neal winked and Sydney blushed. Peter just rolled his eyes as they made their way out of the restaurant and back to the office.

A couple of hours later, the number of agents in the office started dwindling down as the day drew to a close. Neal, after noticing the time, headed up to Peter's office.

"Hey, you heading out soon?"

"Yeah, I was just checking up on Sawyers' men. They're all clean too, not even a parking ticket."

"That's good, right?"

"I guess so. Alright, let's get outta here. We already scheduled your meeting with Sawyers' secretary for tomorrow afternoon."

"Sounds like a plan." Neal said as both men headed out for home.

The next morning, the FBI crew was already prepping for Neal's meeting later in the afternoon. They went over the buildings and streets again and again, making sure there was no room for error. When it was an hour before the meet, all teams headed out into position. Jones and Diana took to the van while Peter drove behind with Neal in the Taurus. Once they parked a few blocks down from Sawyers' office, Peter and Neal hopped out of the car and into the van.

"Okay, I'll be with the other team." Diana announced as she made her way to the back of the van. "Good luck, Neal."

"Thanks." Neal nodded as she walked out of the van. His attention then turned to Jones, who pulled out a nice looking, fake Rolex.

"GPS?"

"Yep. With a one-way radio. We'll be able to hear everything." Jones said as he handed Neal the watch.

"Hold on, we need to pick a code word, just in case you need us to bust in." Peter said as he thought of something subtle. "How about 'weather'?"

Neal gave Peter a 'you've got to be kidding me' look. "Seriously, Peter? Do you really think we'll be discussing the weather?"

"It's just a suggestion. If you think you're so smart, what should we use?"

Neal pondered his vocabulary for a simple word. "I'll say 'drinks' if I need you guys to come in." he decided.

"Good enough for me. Here, let me go tell Diana real quick. Don't leave yet." Peter said as he quickly walked out of the van to catch up with her. Luckily, she wasn't too far. "Hey, Diana, I got the code word, its 'drinks'."

"Okay, I'll let the other team know once I get over there." She paused, taking a look at Peter's face. He looked like he was deep in thought. "Boss, is there something going on?"

"Huh? Oh, no. It's just that this seems a little too easy. I mean, why would Sawyers be willing to meet with a potential employee when he already has a whole team already doing their job?"

"I don't know, maybe he's looking to expand to increase profit?"

"That could be." Peter checked his watch. "It's almost time for Neal's meeting. I better get back. See you soon." They said their goodbyes and parted ways. When Peter got back into the van, Jones was alone.

"Hey, where's Neal?"

"He just left. Said he wanted to make a good impression by being early." Jones explained as he adjusted the speakers.

It was about 30 minutes into the meeting and Neal thought it was going great. They were discussing art as well as business. Sawyers was probably in his late 30's. He had his dirty blonde hair smoothed back to give a very professional look, as if his expensive suit and cufflinks didn't already do the job. Overall, Neal thought he seemed likeable, even though he was actually stealing from people all over Manhattan.

"It's a bit stuffy in here, don't you think? Would you care to get a little fresh air?" Sawyers asked Neal as he stood up out of his office chair.

"Of course." Neal nodded as they made their way out of the building.

"Nick, your resume is flawless. I'm impressed, and that's something people find hard to do." Sawyers smiled.

"I'm flattered, Sir, but I was hoping we could discuss any possible job openings?"

"Sure, sure. I'm sure we could work something out."

The two men made their way a few blocks away from the building when Neal spoke up.

"Don't you think we should maybe start heading back? It is getting a little late." Neal looked at his wrist that had the watch equipped with a GPS.

"No problem. I'm sure you are a busy man."

"That I am, Mr. Sawyers. And that is why I'd love to do business with you. See, I'm very dedicated to my work. But, to be honest with you, I am also looking to make some quick cash. My girlfriend has exquisite taste and it's about time I treat her to something nice." Neal explained, hoping he was convincing enough.

"I understand. I too have had that problem." Sawyers said with an empathetic tone. He paused and then pointed to a street off to the side. "Take a left here, it's a shortcut, we'll be there in just a few minutes."

"Alright." Neal said as they both continued down the narrow road. It wasn't long before Neal realized Sawyers' pace was slowing down. He turned around and saw that Sawyers had stopped walking.

"Something wrong, Sir?"

"I would have loved to work with you Nick…"

"I have a gut feeling there's a 'but' coming on." Neal interrupted.

"Always one step ahead, right?" Sawyers smirked. "Like I said, I would have loved to work with you, but I'm afraid this isn't going to work out."

"Is this one of those 'It's not you, it's me situations'?" Neal decided to throw some humor at the man. Compared to how things were moving along a few minutes ago, this meeting was going south—fast.

Surprisingly, Neal's comment granted him a chuckle from Sawyers. "Something like that." he said as he reached into the back of his pants and pulled out a gun.

"Whoa, hold on! There's no need for guns." Neal held his hands up. He desperately wanted to try and preserve his cover so he didn't say the code word just yet.

"Yes, there is, Nick. Or should I say, Neal Caffrey?" Sawyers let out another malevolent laugh. "To think I was almost fooled!"

"Oh," Neal quickly thought of how to work a deal out, "So you've heard of my work?" He gave a half smile, trying to keep the situation light despite the gun Sawyers still held.

"Not until a little bird told me that the FBI was snooping on me. He especially told me to look out for their consultant. Care to guess who that is?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Neal decided to play the innocent card. He had a hunch it wasn't going to work out.

"See, I think you do." Sawyers cocked his gun.

"Hey, uh, maybe we could talk about this over drinks? I've heard of this new bar just down th—"

"That's enough!" Sawyers shouted. "I don't like the thought of someone tricking me. So, I guess this is it Mr. Caffrey."

"Wait a minute!" Neal had already said the code word, now he needed to stall until Peter got there with backup. "You don't want to do t—" He couldn't finish. The last thing Neal heard was the report of Sawyers gun. He felt a horrible pain in his chest as he fell backwards. Neal could almost make out the noise of footsteps; running toward him or away, it didn't matter. He quickly lost his battle with consciousness.

"Whoa, hold up. There's no need for guns."

Peter stiffened as he heard Neal's conversation with Sawyers. This was just supposed to be a simple meeting. He decided to wait on busting in; maybe Neal could turn this around with that silver tongue of his. They waited but didn't like what they were hearing.

"Boss, do you think we should move in?" Jones questioned.

"Hey, uh, maybe we could talk about this over drinks? I've heard of this new bar just down th—"

"There!" Peter shouted as he heard Neal say the code word over the speakers. "I'm going in." He got up and went for the back doors to the van.

"Hold on, Peter! Diana and the others are closer, they can handle it." Jones assured him.

"Yeah, I'm sure they can, but with Neal, nothing is simp—" Peter was cut off by a distinct report of a gun and a groan coming from the speakers. At that moment, he didn't have to think twice about jumping out of the van and running over to Neal. Peter paid no attention to Jones shouting at him. All that mattered now was getting over to his fallen partner.

Back in the van, Jones sighed as he saw Peter run out. He picked up his radio and held down the button. "All teams move in. We have a man down. Suspect is armed and dangerous."

(A/N): Dun, dun, dun! Haha, so I hope you liked the first chapter. I'm almost done with the last chapter, so this is pretty much already written. Thanks for reading and I'll try to update soon.