Chapter 1

As he pulled his coat tighter around him Neal walked down the dark sidewalk in a familiar neighborhood in Cobble Hill; in five months everything looked the same except for the leaves changing colors. Arriving at the steps he was looking for he grabbed the handrail and walked up the stairs and took a deep breath before he rang the doorbell a few times until the lights in the house came on. Looking up as the front door opened Neal gave a weak smile at his partner's wife. "Hey Elizabeth… can I come in?" Neal asked his hair damp from the mist that was falling over the city. "NEAL! Of course you can come in," exclaimed El as she pulled the ex-con in and sat him on the couch beside her. "Where have you been it's been five months since I've seen you last?"

"I've been around… I never left the city really I just started dressing down is all… is Peter here I kind of need to talk to him," he said looking down again at his hands. Elizabeth got up and made her way upstairs and returned with some dry towels and a change of Neal's clothes he used to keep there and her husband who didn't look pleased to hear that his former partner was sitting downstairs after being missing for almost six months. "You better have one hell of a good reason to throw away all that hard work we did to the point where now I'm supposed to arrest you and bring you back to jail," Peter said as he stood behind the arm chair watching the younger man fidget and play with the pull cord on the hoodie he was wearing under his coat. Neal looked down at his feet and tried to hide he was crying. "I shouldn't have come…I need to leave…" the ex con said getting up slowly and making a beeline for the front door only to be stopped by a hand on his arm.

"Neal what's wrong… one day you're fine and the next you take off and there is no sign of you for months and then you decide to show up at my front door at five in the morning," Peter said in a softer and concerned voice. He had been so worried about his ex-partner and friend and even more so now that Neal was acting stranger than usual. "Forget it…I'm going; just let me go," Neal begged as he struggled to free himself from his partner's grasp. "Damn it Neal stop being such a child and running away from your problems. If you need help then just tell me already what is so damn important that you risk coming here when you know I'm looking for you to arrest you!" Peter yelled trying to get some information out of Neal by throwing him off his game but all it did was cause Neal to start crying. "I'm sorry…. I have to go," he said managing to get out the front door and disappear into the early morning before Peter could stop him. Hiding in the shadows Neal sat on the wet ground and crossed his legs shaking as he let the tears fall; with his head down Neal felt something furry bump up against him and looking up Neal saw Peter standing before him with Satchmo and an umbrella. "Look I searched for you for months before I was ordered to stop, there is no way in hell I'm letting you run away again. Now come on you don't have to tell me what's wrong but at least come back," Peter said lowering his flashlight beam.

Getting up from the ground with help Neal gave a weak smile as Peter put an arm around him. "How about some coffee when we get back you look like you could use it," Peter said knowing that the ex con couldn't resist coffee. "No thank you I stopped drinking coffee," Neal said as he got inside and sat on the couch and looked around and looked for Elizabeth. "El went upstairs to give us some time alone to talk, and what did you say you've stopped drinking coffee? This has to be a dream because you always drink coffee," Peter said as he came back into the living room with a cup for himself as he sat down across the coffee table from Neal. "How did you evade the FBI for five months and manage to stay in the city?" Peter asked truly curious.

Sniffling lightly the ex con sat that gathering his thoughts. "It was actually pretty easy to hide in plain sight especially when the FBI is looking for someone who is a con artist and frequents art museums…all I did was dress like a regular guy and avoid my usual haunts and you never saw me. Although I saw you whenever you guys got close," he admitted getting comfortable on the couch "Okay so you have explained the how, now why don't you fill me in on the why you ran away?" Peter asked trying to interrogate but sound like he was just worried.

"You said all I had to do was come back and I didn't have to tell you anything and I'm not ready to say anything yet…we barely have a friendship right now as it is and this would just destroy it as is. As soon as the sun rises I'll go and you never have to deal with us again," Neal said as he kept his gaze on the steam rising from the coffee mug. Peter moved around the table and sat beside his partner. "Nothing you can say will drive a bigger wedge between us than you taking off for five months," he said reaching over and putting a hand on Neal's only to have him flinch at the touch. "Do you remember the night we spent working late in the office…when we ended up letting the tension get to us," Neal said slowly breaking the ice around him as he slowly stood up and unzipped the hoodie and pulled it off.

Peter looked his friend over and saw the difference in his friend right away. The usual toned body had given way to the rounded curve of a belly under a large tee shirt. "So you got a little fat, is that you ran away because you're not the hot stud you used to be?" Peter asked looking Neal over his eyes returning to Neal's stomach. Giving a chuckle Neal grabbed Peter's hand and moved his hand to his small round stomach and held it there when the other man tried to pull away and waited until he felt it. Keeping the hand there Neal sighed and looked up. "Yeah… you felt what you think you felt," Neal said finally pulling away and standing to the side a hand carefully over the spot where Peter's was.

"I didn't run away because I gained weight Peter… I ran away because I'm pregnant," Neal said his eyes still shining with tears as he rubbed the spot softly. "It's yours… when I found out I panicked that you wouldn't understand so I cut my anklet and ran for it," Neal explained waiting for the other shoe to drop and Peter to freak out. "You're a guy; how can you be pregnant, and this is too clichéd a one night stand in the office and you end up like this?" Peter asked sitting down and putting his head down to catch his breath. "It's a long story that has to do with a disorder that gives me both reproductive organs so if you're done diving into my personal life I'll be going," Neal said grabbing his hoodie and put it on. "Hang on…you're not going out there it isn't safe for you two, you're staying here until that comes out," Peter said trying to wrap his head around the news still.

Zipping the hoodie up Neal shoved his hands in the pockets "Don't worry about me I'm safer when I'm not with you, and now that you know my reason for running I'm leaving the city, Mozzie has a plane waiting we're going somewhere safe so please don't worry I'm not going to steal anymore," Neal said pulling something out of his pocket and dropped it on the coffee table. "Maybe we'll see each other again someday Peter," Neal said giving a weak smile. Moving toward the door Neal stopped and turned back to Peter. "Before I go do you want to know the sex?" Neal asked wondering if Peter even cared. Seeing a nod from Peter the ex con gave the tiniest smile. "It's going to be a boy," he said before opening the door and left the house to hopefully find a cab that early in the morning.

Elizabeth came downstairs and picked up the small post card sized picture of the ultrasound and looked at it. "So you're going to be a father… this is odd then again knowing Neal has always brought strange things into our lives," Elizabeth said walking into the kitchen and clipped the picture to the fridge. "So you're not mad or upset about me sleeping with Neal?" Peter asked a little shocked. "Of course not, Neal is a very handsome man and it was only a matter of time before it happened," she said with a smile. "You should get in touch with Mozzie and ask him where Neal has been staying, you need to talk to be there for him in his I guess you can call it a delicate situation," Elizabeth remarked calmly. "I'll call him later when people usually are awake, right now I'm going back to bed," Peter groaned as he went back upstairs.

By eight in the morning Peter was in his office looking at the postcard sized photo before shoving it back in the book on his desk when Diana came in. "You look like a man on a mission what's up?" Diana asked sitting across from Peter. "Nothing…just thinking about where Neal could be hiding and with no cases really popping up I thought I would just try to see if I could find him again," Peter said not telling the full truth. "You miss him don't you?" she asked trying to read the face she was looking at. Folding his fingers in front of his mouth Peter sighed and thought back to the night before when Neal dropped the bombshell of being pregnant on him "Diana…I'm worried about Neal, he came by my house last night and he said he was leaving the city I need you and Jones to look for any private flights that left any airport or were scheduled to at five-thirty this morning," Peter said looking at the book on his desk. "But for the time being keep this between you and Jones and me."

Standing up Diana was nearly knocked over when Jones came rushing into the office. "Peter… there are two agents here to see you from downstairs and seems serious about wanting to talk to you alone, I've seen them around their part of a task force for violent crimes," Jones said warning Peter as the two agents walked in giving off an aura that they wanted to be alone with Peter although they knew the other two agents weren't going to leave so they shut the door to keep the five agents separated from anyone else. "Agent Burke we're agents Parker and Gershwin from V.C.T.F, we've been tracking a man who we've called the gamer he plays with his victims and there is always two of them one is the player the other is the pawn and ten times out of ten the pawn never makes it," Parker said as he pulled a DVD from his jacket.

"I don't get what this has to do with the White Collar division?" Peter asked as the disk was thrown on his desk in the case. "It doesn't have anything to do with the division just you Burke…you're the player which means whoever is on this DVD is the pawn," Gershwin said leaning against the closed door. Worried about who was the pawn Peter put the DVD into his computer and played it. Right away Peter felt his stomach drop as he saw Neal in a large glass box.

"Hello Agent Burke, you don't know me but I sure know all about you as you can see I have your con… by now those agents from V.C.T.F have warned you about me what you probably don't know is that box Caffrey is in is completely sealed Plexiglas box and by starting this DVD you have sent a signal to this computer here which is counting down the next seventy-two hours. The vent that is on top of that box is closed now and air is being pumped in via the hose and tank you see on the right side of the screen. You will get three clues to find us and every hour that passes that you don't find him the pump puts less air into the box and Caffrey slowly suffocates… as soon as this video is over you will be connected to a live web cam so you can watch as you fail. By the way I have three rules that you must follow unless you want Caffrey to suffer sudden death. One don't try to track the live feed, two look for us on your own and finally three have fun," the voice behind the camera said as the screen went blank before a web page came up showing a live feed of Neal in the box with the laptop in view counting down the seconds.