Archive of Our Own ^beta

Neal really should have asked Peter information about this case. He heard something about NSA being called in and only investigated as far as figuring out that it wasn't John Casey or any of his affiliates being called in. Then he had relaxed.

He had forgotten about the other NSA agent he knew. The one he hadn't thought was in the area.

“This is my CI, Neal Caffrey.”

“Neal Caffrey?” Bryce Larkin Sr looked from his wife to Neal and frowned.

Neal twitched. Lips pulling a little too tight and an almost eye twitch.

Larkin glared at Neal. Jones moved to stand but aborted a moment later. Neal shouldn’t be in danger from their collaborator.

“He’s not helping with the case, is he?” Larkin asked. He waved the folder in his hand. “I’m not handing this information over if he’s your help.”

“Uh, mind if we ask why?” Diana asked.

Neal’s eyes shot to Peter, as if begging him not to say the next part. However, the message either missed its mark or came too late as Peter already said the words they all saw coming:

“Did Neal steal something from you?”

“Steal? Explain,” Larkin growled. His wife in the background echoed ‘steal?’ in a heartbroken voice. “He a criminal?”

“A forger,” Peter said. “Among other things. If that’s an issue, we can have him sit outside.”

“I think not.” Larkin turned to Neal and stepped closer. “Well, Bryce,” he emphasised the name and Neal actually flinched. “Your mother thought you were dead. Guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, huh? Ran off and threw away everything we gave you to be a criminal. However you managed to fake your death, I don’t care.” Larkin waved the folder in front of Neal’s face. “As long as you’re here, the FBI isn’t getting these files.” Larkin turned to Peter. “If you know what’s good for you and this department, you’ll throw him back into whatever hole he climbed out of. He’s just going to bite the hand that feeds him and hurt you in the process.”

Larkin stormed out, taking his wife and daughter with him. The young adult turned back and waved with a smile.

“Bye, Bryce!” she said cheerfully. It was complete whiplash from the absolute storm that the older Larkin had just unleashed in the room.

Neal had just lost them important information on the case. They needed the NSA's information and it had taken Peter weeks of filling out forms and contacting people to get it.

The condition was that their agent deliver the information.

Their agent wasn't willing to hand it over.

“Sorry Peter. I never thought they would send him,” Neal said.

“If you're sorry, you'll answer my question: who is he? He said something about your mother-”

“My mother is his wife,” Neal answered, motioning to the door. “And he's my step-father. Peter, I never would have been in this room had I known they would send him.”

The rest of the agents were silent. Probably because Neal was actually sharing information about his past.

“Did we just meet your parents?”

“You could say that.”

“He said something about you being dead?”

“He also called me Bryce, I think you can figure out that rest.”

“Neal.”

“Peter, he's serious. There's a Bryce Larkin who died in a-” Diana snorted, “a bank robbery. He worked in the bank.”

Peter sighed and pinched his nose. “Of course.”

Neal thought about that death and wondered, he could maybe fix this. But, it would mean reaching out to another person he hadn’t wanted to see.

“Neal,” Peter said, “I understand that you didn't plan for this to happen however, is there any way to you can convince your father to hand the files over?”

Neal thought about it. His step-father was still as hard headed as he had been when Neal had been growing up.

“I doubt it.”

“You're a conman? Are you seriously saying you can't con a man?” Jones huffed.

“Not that man.”

“Neal,” Diana asked. “Did they go to your funeral?”

“What?” Neal wasn't the only one confused at that question. Jones and Peter also looked at her.

A little of the tension vanished from the air.

“This article, there's a funeral mentioned. Did they go?”

Neal hesitated. How would he know? How had he never thought about it?

Deep down, he knew why.

“I don't know. I was incapacitated at the time.”

“What does that mean?” Jones questioned in a baffled tone.

“I was unaware of the news of my death and funeral. So I have no idea who attended.”

“Okay, everyone, we're getting off track. Jones, reach out to some of your contacts and see if there's another way to get those case files. I'll see if Hughes can file a grievance against the NSA for the agent they sent.”

“That'll take months. Adkins will be gone by then!” Neal protested to Peter.

“It’s the best options we have, unless ‘Agent Larkin’ gives up the information.”

Neal was mad. He was often mad at his step-father but had learnt years ago that it didn’t change anything. His step-father was the one who made sure his mother and sister were looked after. He gave Neal his name. He had been the adult and Neal had been the child.

Neal looked at the number he had dialed. All he had to do was press ‘call’ and he might be able to get one over on his step-father for the first time. He wasn’t a kid anymore.

Didn’t make his heart beat any less rapidly as he thought about upsetting the man. He would not be happy that Neal tried going around his back.

This wasn’t Ellen. He wasn’t a kid anymore.

And Chuck? Chuck had done amazing things. Things Neal couldn’t have had imagined when sending him the intersect.

He pressed ‘call’. The number dialed. The phone rang. Once, twice, three times…

Maybe he should just hang up-

“Hello?” Chuck picked up! “Hello?” After a moment of silence, the phone started beeping rapid tonal beeps.

Wait. Was Chuck throwing random number inputs like he was a robocaller?

“Chuck! I’m not a robot!”

The beeps stopped. “Who are you then?”

“Chuck, it’s me.” He spoke a phrase in Klingon that basically asked for Chuck’s allegiance. Chuck responded in the positive.

After Neal explained why he was calling and what he needed to achieve, Chuck promised to be in New York as soon as he could be.

“But, if I find out that you’re not who you say you are, you will regret pretending to be him.”

That was an ominous goodbye. Neal actually felt a little intimidated. Good for Chuck.

Neal wanted to call out sick but he knew that wouldn't be okay. Not the day after he almost cost them the case. Chuck's team was on their way but he couldn't tell the team that and he also didn't know when they would arrive.

“Hey Moz, you might want to make yourself scarce the next few days.”

Mozzie was currently seated at his dinning table, drinking wine.

“Why's that mon frère?”

“My family is in town.”

Mozzie poured him a glass, which Neal refused.

“You've never really spoken about them before.”

“Never thought I would see them again,” Neal responded with a shrug. “But my step-father brought the information for the latest case-”

“I thought you said that information was coming from the NSA?”

“He works for the NSA.”

Mozzie hummed in thought. “Do you think he'll get you off the anklet?”

Neal let out a bitter laugh. The man didn't even bother to get him out of PE when he had broken his leg back in middle school.

”I'm not crazy enough to ask. Just, don't let him catch you here, Moz.”

Mozzie gave him a silent look before agreeing. Neal had no idea what Moz was thinking. He hoped his friend realised he was serious.

Neal opened his front door, took in Casey’s appearance and then slammed the door in his face.

“Larkin,” Casey growled from the other side of the door.

Neal’s heart was thudding in his chest. Flight or fight was settling on fight.

Then he heard Chuck’s voice. He opened the door again to Chuck pushing Casey out of the way.

“Hi?” Chuck said nervously.

Neal sighed and motioned for them to come in. If Casey was letting Chuck manhandle him like that, then Casey was probably safe to be around. For now.

“Larkin,” Casey growled again.

“Caffrey,” Neal corrected. “Surely you know that if you’re here.”

“Didn't know what to expect,” Casey responded, walking in and making himself at home.

Chuck and Neal stared at each other for a moment before Chuck smiled.

“Good to see you alive, buddy.”

Neal nodded in response. “So, did you get the files?”

“Of course we did,” Casey grunted.

“Although we should deliver them to the FBI ourselves, like you asked,” Chuck sighed. “I wanted to check beforehand if it really was you and I didn't want to have our reunion in the FBI office.”

“There's not much to our reunion. I'm still here. Just with a 2 mile radius.”

Casey snorted a laugh that made Neal's head wipe around and wish he had a knife to throw at him.

“Yeah, we read the files.”

Neal sighed to Chuck, “why did you bring him?”

“Probably not my best idea. Especially since we're going to talk. No guns.”

Casey sighed. “Well, we've confirmed that it's the annoying roach so I'm going to leave.”

“Tell Sarah I'll be back later.”

Casey grunted as he let himself out. Neal motioned towards the door.

“You're not going to follow him?”

“I'm here to talk.” Chuck took a seat at the table and motioned for Neal to join him. For an instant, Neal flashed back to Peter making a similar motion. With a sigh, he sat down.

”You never did talk about your family much,” Chuck commented with a frown. “And your dad is in town, causing you to reach out to us after years of us thinking you're in dead.”

“There's not much to talk about. They thought I was dead.”

“You didn't die in college. So why didn't I hear about them?”

Neal frowned. ”I moved away for college, it happens. Tell me about you and Sarah. How's that going?”

“We broke up,” Chuck shrugged.

Neal felt his eyes widen. ”What? But you two were good together! What happened?”

Chuck started laughing and pointed to the ring on his finger. A wedding band. “I'm sorry for the joke. We did break up a few times, especially after you died and I became a spy but we did eventually sort it out and get married.”

Neal breathed a sigh of relief. At least his distraction had worked and he hadn't stepped on an emotional landmine.

“So how did this happen?”

“This?”

“Neal Caffrey, forger and con-man.”

“Some of it was seeing whether I could do it and some of it was CIA missions.”

“Getting arrested?”

“Was retiring the role because Director Graham found out about it. We couldn't have a CIA agent that heavily on the FBI radar. How did things with Fulcrum and the Ring go?”

“Crushed them.”

“Wow. I never imagined that when I sent you the Intersect.”

“What did you imagine?” Chuck mused, staring at him. He leaned forward, interested in what Neal would say next.

Neal thought about it. It had been a while since he had thought about Chuck. “I guess... protecting the Intersect while living a normal life. I believed you had it in you to not get intertwined in the CIA's missions. Especially with your father around.”

Chuck's gaze turned down to the table. “Yeah, he was pretty insistant on not getting intertwined in the CIA. He actually had me go off-grid with him once.”

Neal was not surprised. Orion and Mozzie would have made great friends. Thankfully, he knew better than to introduce them.

“You did well though. I think you're a more famous spy than I ever was. As famous as spies get anyway.” Neal knew where to listen to get information. Mozzie was good at it too. It was interesting to hear stories about himself or Chuck from a 3rd party.

Neal got up and walked over to the fridge. “You want something to drink?” he said, holding up a beer.

“Sure. Not too much though. Beckman has us on a mission tomorrow night.”

“Right after visiting that FBI?”

“Something like that. I'm being sent in with Sarah and Casey will man the van so it should go alright.”

“As long as it doesn't have anything to do with the guy that information will put away, I think we're good.” Neal didn't know how he would explain it to Peter if the CIA swooped in and arrested their suspect.

Despite it having nothing to do with White Collar's case, Chuck insisted, this upcoming mission did give him a bad feeling. Maybe he was just feeling left out.

Neal wanted to ignore his step-father when he came into the office. However, the least he could do was book out a room and let the rest of the agents work in privacy.

“Your team needs these files, don't they?” Bryce Sr said as he waved the manilla folder.

“And you said you weren't going to give them to us.”

“I never said that. I had a look into 'Neal Caffrey' and found a coward of a man. Bond forgery? Disgusting. We thought you were working in a bank.”

Neal tried not to sigh. If he did, this talk would start from the beginning again. He let his step-father tell him about how he had to apologise, to his mother and his step-father, and agree to stop working for the FBI, even though his work release plan relied on it.

“You made your poor mother mourn your death while you travelled the world and took things from others like you deserved them. You don't deserve anything. You're lucky I provided for you-“

There was a knock on the door. Neal's heart leap. Would he be able to leave now?

Peter walked in.

“I need this room,” he said, Diana walking in behind him. She helped guide Mr Larkin out. “Stay here, Neal.”

Neal sat back down and took a breath. He uncurled his hands from where they had been balled up before him.

“Yes, Peter?” he said as plesantly as he could manage.

Peter raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

“Was he going to give us the files?”

“Probably not.”

“Then you don't need to be in a room alone with him.”

“I'd rather not be out there either.” The last thing Neal wanted was for the agents to have to deal with his step-father’s lectures.

There was a silent battle of the wills for a few moments before Diana spoke up.

“How about Peter comes in next time?”

“I doubt there will be a next time-”

“If there is a next time, I will be here,” Peter said. “You're not to meet with him in these rooms alone.”

“Okay?” Neal questioned.

“And don't worry about the information. I'm sure we'll find another way to get it.”

Neal's chest warmed a little at Peter taking the hit for his mistakes.

“It's okay. I have a feeling we'll get that information another way too,” he said. When he stood up this time, no one told him to stay before he left the room.

Shockingly, Chuck, Sarah and Casey were outside. None of them looked happy and Sarah still had a hand on Casey's wrist. Keeping his hand off whatever weapon he had been reaching for.

“Hey Neal!” Chuck greeted, the small frown on his face turning to a genuine smile at the sight of his friend.

“Caffrey, what did the worse Larkin want?” Casey requested.

“To let me know that he wasn't going to give me the files Peter requested,” Neal sighed. He didn't spot the way Peter shook his head at Chuck over his shoulder.

“You know Agent Carmichael?” Jones asked.

“Yeah!” Chuck interrupted before Neal could speak. “Neal's skills have helped me out more than once.”

This wasn't the backstory they agreed on but Neal didn't get where he was by letting something like this sway him.

“That’s interesting. The little guy know?” Jones asked.

Chuck raised an eyebrow at Neal.

“No, Mozzie doesn’t know. He doesn’t like Suits, remember?”

“I’m assuming you were forging identities for the NSA without his knowledge then?”

Neal grinned at Jones. “I wasn’t forging identities for the NSA. I don’t even like them.”

“Considering who your step-father is, that makes sense.”

Neal glared at Chuck, who at least bothered to look embarrassed after his comment.

“Why are you here anyway?” At least he could use this to segue into the real topic.

“About that,” Sarah said, holding out a folder towards Peter. “I heard that an agent of the NSA has been rather rude to the FBI. We’re here as a joint taskforce to ensure cooperation.”

“Are you saying that Larkin Sr is operating outside of orders right now?” Peter asked as he took the file. Neal was shocked by the question. He hadn’t actually considered that.

Sarah frowned. “We haven’t been told whether that’s the case.”

“Surely the NSA isn’t condoning an agent using personal issues to block an investigation,” Jones questioned with a frown. He crossed his arms and glared at the entrance.

“We haven’t been told so we can’t interfere. Chuck has a history of interferance,” Sarah explained.

“Jones, report to Hughes. Perhaps the NSA will be more forthcoming through official means.”

Neal winced. He knew that Hughes likely had some connections with the NSA. If his step-father ended up having issues with his work, he would certainly hunt Neal down for it.

“Regardless, the information was promised to your team so here,” Sarah handed out a folder and a USB stick. “They are redacted however, there should be enough information there for your case to continue.”

“Thank you, Agent Carmichel. Agent Berrigan, can you take these and start assessing the information,” Peter responded. “I don’t want to loose any further time on this case.”

Diana nodded. Just Peter, Neal and Chuck’s team were left. Although the other agents milling about were certainly trying to listen in.

“I do have some questions better asked in my office,” Peter said. He motioned for all of them to follow him.

“Am I right in assuming that Neal made you all aware of this situation?” Peter asked the room once the door was closed.

“Yep,” Chuck responded. “We actually thought he was dead until he called.”

Neal sighed. “Chuck-”

“Diana did find some news articles related to that,” Peter mused, placing a printout onto the table.

“Oh, yeah. I remember that.”

“Chuck,” this time it was Sarah who spoke in a warning tone. A tone Chuck completely ignored.

“That was his first ‘death’. I’m talking about the one a few years later, after he recovered from that one.”

“Chuck,” Neal groaned.

“What? He knows the name Bryce Larkin, he found one death and his boss has connections to the NSA so they’ll probably find the rest later on. I’ll leave them to discover the fun stuff but he at least needs to know that you tend to be reckless with your safety.”

“Neal?” Peter asked in a disapproving voice.

“Peter, you have a list of my ‘deaths’ in my file.”

“And I’ve never doubted that those were fake.”

Neal smiled but it didn’t seem to be working. He didn’t lie to Peter, it was one of the rules he made up for himself.

Peter sighed and turned to Chuck. “Who was ‘Bryce Larkin’ to you?”

“Oh, my worst enemy,” Chuck said with a laugh.

Peter was surprised by that. Neal was surprised that Peter instantly seemed to doubt Chuck’s words.

“No, really,” Chuck said when Peter expressed disbelief. “He got me kicked out of Stanford by framing me for cheating. It kept me from being recuited into the CIA but I didn’t know that at the time.”

“Bartowski,” Casey growled.

“What? He’s Neal’s handler and I have non-disclosure agreements for him to sign.”

“You have what?”

Chuck brought out the papers and waved them at Neal. “NDAs. For Agent Burke and maybe Agents Berrigan and Jones as well. Apparently Beckman looked into this office and decided that they would eventually find out about Bryce Larkin.”

“That would be because of Hughes,” Peter realised.

“Yeah, something about how she owes him a number of favours and he will probably cash one in for information about Bryce Larkin Jr. Although, she’s tempted to give him information on Bryce Larkin Sr if he’s not specific enough.”

“I would have liked to know about that before now,” Neal said. He had been hoping that he could make it through this without the FBI making the Bryce Larkin, CIA connection. But he guessed that the best he could hope for was Beckman knowing and doing nothing about it.

“Oh yeah, she wants you to work off the rest of your sentence as a ‘consequence for getting caught’ and something about how your teachers should have taught you better than that-”

Peter groaned and muttered something under his breath at that one.

“-but once you’re off the FBI leash, she’ll talk to you about what you want to do next.”

“What? She’s not immediately putting me back to work?” Neal questioned.

Chuck shrugged. “Maybe she’s learnt to listen somewhere between you stealing from a government facility and I having Russian milita on call.”

“Russion milita? Chuck, what the?”

Casey growled. “Don’t ask.”

“Casey?”

“Don’t.”

“You just don’t want him to know about your new deadly bedmate,” Chuck joked. At least, Neal thought it was a joke. While a deadly bedmate would make sense, Neal just couldn’t see Casey connecting with another person in that way.

“Despite how Chuck is saying it, I think Beckman wants to leave the choice up to you.” Sarah looked to Peter. “I do believe the FBI will be able to put in a bid for an inter-agency transfer.”

Peter sighed. He turned to Neal. “I will accept whatever decision you make. I’m not sure the FBI can offer anything close to whatever life-” he waved at Chuck’s team, “-this team has-”

“Yeah, no,” Neal said. For a moment, Peter’s expression fell. “I’m not going to be anywhere near Chuck’s team.” The corners of Peter’s mouth lifted at that.

“You wound me,” Chuck gasped.

Neal glared. “Come on, Chuck. I’ve been dead for years. I don’t think I want to be called ‘Bryce Larkin’ again. Also, Casey shot me.”

“What’s a bullet between whatever you two are?”

“I’m sure we can just update your file to ‘Neal Caffrey’,” Sarah said as the voice of reason.

Neal thought about that for a moment. “I kind of want that, but for the FBI.”

“Neal?” Peter questioned, sensing some kind of plot here.

Neal grinned at him. “Can you imagine Ruiz’s face if I became Agent Neal Caffrey?”

Hughes informed all agents to not mention that they had received the requested information. This included to the agent originally tasked with dropping it off. Neal shrugged at that. An agent did ask his feelings on it but he didn’t really care for his step-father to know. The man had created this situation with his refusal to just leave Neal out of it.

And maybe Neal was a little annoyed that he had to call Chuck in because of his family issues.

It didn’t stop his step-father from returning the next day. This time he brought his mother as well. And he managed to time it to when Peter was stuck in a meeting with Hughes.

“What do you mean, I’m not allowed to use the meeting rooms?” Larkin Sr said to Jones, his voice raising.

“Agent Burke has stated that yourself and Neal are not to be in those rooms.”

“So I get cut off because that brat my wife nurtured is a thief? Did you forget that I have information you need? You agents aren’t worth your badges.”

Neal’s pen snapped. He slipped it into the drawer and wondered if it would be worth grabbing another.

“Ridiculous. Do you see the trouble you’ve caused?” And now he was talking to Neal. Better to get this mess out of the office since he didn’t want his family making any more of a scene.

“How about I go get coffee?” Neal said to Diana, interrupting her about to say something to his step-father. “We can talk about this over coffee,” he said to his step-father.

“I’d rather not treat your or be treated by you,” his step-father sneered. “But if you’d rather take this elsewhere, grab your things and let’s go.”

Neal grabbed his hat and jacket-

“Caffrey!” Peter bellowed down into the bullpen. “Here, now!”

“Can’t disobey the boss,” Diana told him, shoving him towards the stairs and away from his step-father.

“We’ll take care of him,” Jones whispered to him as he went by. It didn’t elevate the dark, heavy feeling in Neal’s gut, even though their concern warmed his heart. They were just making things more complicated.

“Sit down,” Peter said as soon as he was in the office and the blinds were drawn. “Remember to breathe.”

“I’m fine Peter,” Neal sighed.

“Is he always like that?”

Neal looked towards where he was certain his step-father was kicking up a fuss, even though he couldn’t see it through the blinds. “He did just find out that, not only did I not die a heroic death in a bank robbery, I’m the bank robber.”

“You robbed the bank to cause Bryce Larkin’s death?” Peter asked, pulling out the news article and frowning over it.

Neal was not surprised he had kept it. “That would make a good cover but no, you know I wouldn’t run the risk of being labelled a murder.”

Peter let out an exhale that was somewhere between a sigh and a laugh. “How did Bryce Larkin die then? If you don’t mind me asking?”

“Shot in the chest by John Casey. While stealing something that you’ll not find in any paperwork anywhere.”

Peter raised an eyebrow. Neal waved his hand at the desk.

“I can see my files there, Peter. Even heavily redacted as they are, I’m sure you can read between the lines.”

Peter picked up the files. “Yeah, I was surprised at that. Hughes handed me these this morning. Even with my clearance and the NDAs Chuck had us sign, a lot of this is still redacted. How high was your clearance when you were operating?”

Neal chuckled. “High.”

“And I’m guessing from your step-father’s meltdown out there, he has no idea?”

“Keeping them out of it was for the best.”

“Even your will went to your partner and not your family.”

That was in the file? Neal frowned. “They did not need to know and the information would only put them in danger.” He was also worried about how his step-father might use that information. He wouldn’t put it past his step-father to accidentally trigger a Ring or Fulcrum investigation into them if he had known.

“As your friend, I don’t like how he treats you,” Peter said. “As an agent, I’m horrified at how he’s letting his personal issues cloud his judgement.”

“He’s not-”

“He’s NSA,” Peter interrupted. “I wouldn’t say he has access to the same resources Hughes does but he should have enough to find out that a Bryce Larkin that is not him, is a highly valued agent. Not to mention how he’s not letting us have the files because he saw you.”

“I wasn’t highly valued. I just had access to stuff that others wanted.”

“And you survived,” Peter said. Then after a moment added, “even if people think you didn’t.” He grabbed a few cases they were working on and placed them in front of Neal. “Now, get to work on these. You’re not leaving this office until he’s gone. I already have Diana on standby to get lunch if he doesn’t leave by then.”

Neal’s step-father did leave. Taking his mother with him. Neal couldn’t remember the last time he had spoken with her. It didn’t matter though. What mattered was getting the case closed.

“Seriously?” he groaned to Jones.

“Sorry man, Boss’ orders. At least they’re not sending you back to prison.”

Neal bit back a comment about how maybe they should. He expected to be taken off the active case, after the mess his step-father and himself had caused. But to be taken off all active cases? Now he could only consult?

“What am I supposed to do then?”

“It’s only for a few days,” Jones informed him. “Maybe just hang around Peter’s office? I’m sure Peter can find things for you to do that aren’t cases.”

“Yeah, boring things.”

“I’ve got to ask, is this how you acted in your other job, back as Bryce Larkin?”

Neal shrugged. “It didn’t really matter. Bryce was what he needed to be.”

“So no, but also, you were putting up a front.”

“Don’t we all? It’s not like Neal Caffrey is all of me either.”

“Yeah, the computer programming courses in Bryce Larkin’s transcript kind of gave that away.”

Who gave them those? Maybe Neal did need to talk to General Beckman. “Don’t ask me to program anything, I haven’t touched a computer outside of work in decades. I get Mozzie to do stuff like that as he’s a lot more up to date than I am.”

“Maybe you should use this time to update the little guy?” Jones suggested instead.

Neal was left wondering if that was Jones’ plan all along or if the conversation had just naturally made its way there.

“Mon frère, what’s going on? You tell me stay away and then tell me to come and to bring the bug extermination gear. Do you suspect the suits have brought in bugs?”

“Not the usual suits,” Neal said to Mozzie as he let him in. “Do the extermination first and then we’ll talk. I don’t want to say anything if someone is listening.”

Neal sipped the wine he had bought for Mozzie while Moz check the place for bugs. As he suspected, there was one slipped into his apartment. The fact that it had been placed under his table and then covered with a woodgrain sticker to hid it, kind of annoyed him. He really should have been able to spot that.

“Seriously, Chuck? Which of your team were responsible for this?” he mused out loud, well aware that whomever was on the other end was probably able to hear it. He bet it was a Casey.

Neal smashed it under his glass and then dropped it into the wine. He also, out of pettiness, sent a picture to Chuck. Maybe it wasn’t his team, he’d know soon.

“I refuse to believe there’s only one,” Mozzie said, checking his readings again.

“No, it was probably expected that I’d find it,” Neal informed him.

Mozzie said down and frowned at Neal. “What’s going on? This wasn’t the suits.”

“No. It wasn’t. Moz, do you know anything about something called ‘The Intersect’?” It almost hurt him to say it out loud but he had a feeling Mozzie might have heard rumours.

Mozzie immediately recognised the name and started rambling, “the supercomputer the government is hiding? The one that supposibly makes anyone able to do anything and puts sleeper agents everywhere?” He froze and turned to Neal. “You didn’t get turned into a sleeper agent, did you?”

Neal laughed, a low bark as he shook his head. “Well, the intersect doesn’t work exactly like that.” Although it wouldn’t surprise him if someone did figure out how to manipulate people with it. “It’s more like, compressing lots of information and having a processor to process and make connections between those pieces of information. And that processor can also be a human brain for best effectiveness.”

“And how do you know that?” Mozzie asked.

“Remember that time I asked you for plans of a certain building and I didn’t tell you why? Then I disappeared for almost a year?”

“Yeah. I was really worried you got spirited away into a secret government facility and I’d never see you again.”

“That building was the one that the Intersect was stored in. I stole it and sent it away. And then I got caught by a rogue CIA organisation. That’s why I ended up disappearing.”

Mozzie’s mouth hung open.

“I was rescued by an old friend. And then I was held in the secret government facility.” Neal paused for dramatic effect. “Which I then escaped from.”

After a few moments, Mozzie asked, “why are you telling me this now?”

“Things happened and the CIA was under the impression that I was dead. But that’s recently changed and they know I’m alive now. I wanted to let you know because… I know how you feel about shadows and suits.”

“If you’re telling me this, I assume running is not an option?”

“I don’t intend to run. Side effect of working for the CIA, I find I don’t want to run. I’d rather face my consequences head on.” After a pause. “Once they catch up to me, that is.”

“Violently?”

Neal almost spilled his wine in surprise. “No! No way. I was going to turn myself into that old friend. I think I technically already have. Anyway, he’s Orion’s son-”

“I’ve heard of Orion. Did he work for the government?”

“He did. I only enlisted because he asked me to look after his son.”

Mozzie hummed in thought. “You know he’s still alive?”

“What? He was dead?”

“Asked me to help him fake his death a few years back. He was worried about his past catching up with him and he needed an out. Died in Chuck’s arms.”

“Oh for-” Neal didn’t know what to say to that. He poured himself some more wine because he really needed it. “You better hope that bug is dead. I’d be mad at Orion pulling that stunt if I hadn’t done the exact same thing.”

“He did say he got the idea from a ‘Bryce Larkin’.”

“That was me.”

“He said some other things about you.”

“I don’t want to know. Wine?”

“Please. We’re going to need to tonight.”

If Mozzie was already helping Orion behind the scenes, maybe he would be more okay with Neal having been Bryce Larkin than he thought.

“I don’t think this is what the FBI had in mind when they took away your work,” Chuck sighed as he and Bryce sat at a cafe.

“I’m having a coffee with my friend who flew in to see me. Seems normal enough?” Neal responded, sipping his coffee. It was so much better than the stuff from the office. Maybe he would take some back to Jones and Diana?

“Nothing is normal with us, not even back in college,” Chuck responded, thinking of late night gaming sessions and programming nonsense.

“I think I see the target,” Bryce mused, slipping out of the booth. He walked over to where a young man had just sat down with his bag.

Chuck pushed past him, tripped and spilled his coffee all over the target.

“Chuck!” The worry and frustration in Neal’s voice was real. This wasn’t exactly the plan but it was close enough. The target was distracted while Neal shoved a USB into his laptop for a few moments. He got it in on the first try too.

“I’m so sorry,” Chuck said honestly as he pat down the target with serviettes. He kept repeating it.

“You’re such a klutz,” Neal sighed, wiping down the table and placing himself between the laptop and the target while the files copied over. He spilled as he wiped, covering the bench, which would now also need wiping before the target could sit back down.

“I know!” Chuck wailed. Somehow he made that seem natural. “This is worse than the time I knocked all the professor’s papers off the desk back in college!”

“Why is that the immediate thing you think of? That wasn’t even that bad.”

“You’re not the one people were laughing at. And you heard him, he spent hours the night before putting everything into order because it printed without page numbers and he had already dropped it.”

“You also hadn’t slept the night before.” Neal wasn’t sure why he remembered that but he did. “You stayed up all night playing Grand Theft Auto.”

“Thankfully I didn’t have to explain that to the professor,” Chuck said with a sigh.

Neal pulled out the USB and slipped it into his pocket before wiping around the laptop.

“Don’t touch that!” the target said, grabbing the laptop off the table.

“Sorry man!” Neal said, holding his arms up. “You know what? I’m going to get my friend here another coffee. He certainly needs it.”

“Thanks,” Chuck whined like a pathetic puppy.

“I’m supposed to be better than this!” Chuck lamented to the sky.

“We got the intel, it’s fine,” Neal said, trying to cheer him up. “It’s probably a better distraction than what I was going to do.”

“You were just going to talk to him and somehow manage everything without him noticing,” Chuck sighed.

“Bryce!” A voice barked.

Neal’s heart sunk.

“Isn’t that your name?” Chuck spat back, quickly going from ‘woe is me’ to ‘protect’. “Leave Neal alone.”

“And you conned whoever this is as well? And what was that nonsense inside? I almost made your mother and sister leave after witnessing that.”

“Just ignore it,” Neal said, biting back the ‘like you did me while I was growing up’. If only he knew how good teenage him had it. “We have to go.”

Chuck’s van pulled up and they jumped in. Unfortunately, Neal’s step-father grabbed his arm.

“Hey!”

“We’ve got to go!” Sarah shouted from the front seat.

“Larkin,” Casey growled, pulling Neal’s step-father in and slamming the doors shut on them all as Sarah pulled out into traffic.

“Kidnapping!” Neal’s step-father shouted.

“Well, we had to leave quickly!” Chuck said back.

“If the target gets any idea of what actually happened back there, all our intel and this mission becomes useless,” Casey said with a pointed glare at Neal’s step-father. “You will keep your mouth shut, Larkin. You have no clearance here.”

“And he does?”

Neal flinched as his step-father pointed to him.

“His clearance is higher than yours. Maybe look up the name ‘Bryce Larkin’ in the agencies sometime?” Casey said before shoving Neal’s step-father out onto the street as Sarah pulled up for a moment.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Neal sighed. Two cases his family had ruined for him so far.

Neal decided that he should show himself at the office. Especially after the paperwork Hughes had surprised him with the previous night.

“I think my step-father will probably come back,” he said to Jones, Diana and Peter when they questioned it.

Peter frowned. “Then work in my office for now. Jones can handle him if he arrives.”

Neal shook his head. “That defeats the whole purpose of me coming in. I can’t get him to leave if I’m in your office.”

“Neal, you shouldn’t have to get your step-father to leave,” Peter explained with a sigh. Neal’s manipulative personality was being spun in a new light the last few days. If it had been the only way he could get his step-father to do anything civily then it made sense that Neal’s default state was manipulative.

“He can’t stay. He’ll distract people from their work. And I’m not supposed to use the meeting rooms.”

“If he comes in, I’ll shoot him,” Casey said from the entrance. A few agents’ flinched at the blantant threat. That kind of attitude was why the FBI had issues working with the NSA at times.

“Casey,” Chuck said with a sigh.

“I’ll collect the Bryce Larkin set.”

“Casey!” Sarah said in a scolding tone.

“I’m not surprised the NSA doesn’t want to confirm if you’re an active agent when you act like that,” Neal’s step-father said as he walked in. Neal’s half-sister and mother behind him.

The mood in the room instantly dropped and Neal felt guilty for it.

“I’m part of his team,” Casey said, pointing a thumb at Chuck. “They won’t confirm it because I don’t take orders straight from them anymore.”

Neal was actually impressed about that. The Casey he had known would never have made that statement, true or not.

“And your team helps criminals?” Neal’s step-father said with a raised eyebrow and a look at Neal.

Neal frowned a little.

“They helped the FBI,” Hughes announced from atop the bullpen. Everyone’s eyes went to him as he looked down upon them all. “And I believe you were told to not return, Mr Larkin.”

Neal’s step-father flinched at the ‘mister’. Like he and Hughes knew something the rest of them didn’t.

“As for Caffrey,” Hughes said, the corner of his mouth turning up. “All approved. HR will be up in 30 minutes with a welcome pack.”

“Seriously? That was fast.”

“Aw, man, seriously?” Chuck whined.

“Best of luck next time, Agent Carmichael,” Hughes said. “Agent Caffrey will be placed with Agent Burke as partners.”

The room filled with mutters. Agent? Partners?

Jones turned to Neal and Neal grinned at him, pulling up his pant leg.

“Hughes took it off last night, when I accepted a role with the FBI as Agent Caffrey. They’re pulling across and combining my records as Bryce Larkin.”

“You could have come work for me,” Chuck pointed out. “I also offered you a role.”

"Chuck, he already said no," Sarah reminded him.

Neal nodded in agreement. “I happen to like New York and the FBI.”

“Weirdo,” Casey grunted.

Sarah smiled. “I’m glad you’ve found a place to belong. Chuck will get over it.”

“Sarah!” Chuck whined again.

Neal hummed. He pulled out a card from his pocket. “Turns out, I might have someone else interested in what you guys do. If you can figure out the riddle and meet him on his terms that is.”

“The little guy?” Jones said in a hushed tone as Sarah took the card. Chuck’s team didn’t look convinced though.

“There’s another agent lurking in the guy’s shadow. His specialty seems to be helping people ‘retire’ by faking their deaths.” Mozzie wouldn’t be upset if he tempted them a little, would he? “I consider him a brother so if something happens to him, I’ll use up the little bit of leave the FBI is now giving me to hunt you down.”

“Neal!” Peter huffed, because he had to. He knew that Neal would hurt anyone who tried to hurt Mozzie. But he did need to set an example.

“If you’re recommending him, I guess we should try,” Chuck mused.

“I recommended you and look how that turned out.”

“That wasn’t a recommendation. That was smuggling,” Chuck said grumpily.

Sarah laughed. “He’s just upset that you’re not coming back with us.”

“Explain. Now,” Neal’s step-father growled. Although it didn’t sound very intimidating, just very stressed. He likely had already figured out part of it.

“Neal Caffrey accepted a role at the FBI last night, by the sounds of it,” Peter said with a grin. “After a long, successful career that ended with him under General Beckman’s command. Considering I listended to Hughes rant and rave for parts of yesterday, he’s going to be a valuable asset to the team.”

“We already knew that part,” Diana said with a roll of her eyes. “It’s Caffrey.”

“Uh, yeah,” Neal said to his step-father. “I accepted a role with the FBI.”

“You’re a criminal!”

“Turns out there’s some extenuating circumstances around that,” Neal said. Although it’s really just that Hughes and Beckman exploited their powers to get his sentence reduced and forgiven in order to keep the CIA, NSA and FBI from fighting over him for the next few years. Neal didn’t want to meet the poor judge who had to sign off on that mess. “My criminal record has been sealed for now.”

“Oh my,” his mother gasped in a whisper.

His step-father’s face turned red, then almost purple.

“A thief is cooler than an agent,” his half-sister huffed.

“Well, I was a spy for a bit there,” Neal decided to say.

She frowned and then shrugged. “You do you.” She turned to her father. “Dad, I’m bored and you keep coming here, day after day. Can we just leave? I want to actually see New York.”

Larkin Sr took a deep breath and let his daughter almost pull and push him away. Neal’s mother looked from him to them and back before following them out.

“Do you think they’ll come back?” Jones asked the room.

“He’s scheduled for a flight back tomorrow,” Sarah said. “And a hearing on his actions here. So probably not.”

Neal felt like he could finally breathe. Maybe he’ll send them a card come Christmas but he hopefully won’t see them again. “Thank goodness. This was a mess.”

Chuck and co. were kept them busy enough by Mozzie. Moz kept them running around and trying to get his trust before he led them to a very specific safe house right on the day their flight out was scheduled. Neal wasn’t going to ask how Mozzie got the flight information. He was just glad Mozzie was still willing to talk to him after he was officially an FBI agent.

Neal also didn’t have to see his family again, they made their flights out of New York and the FBI office was also glad for that.

It didn’t take long for the news of Peter’s new, but not new, partner to make the rounds. Neal decided to play up the conman personality for a bit to really get some agents upset but he toned it down around his team, becoming more natural around them. They were close like a family should be, even if Neal was frustrated because Peter made him do all the closure paperwork for the case his step-father interfered with.

And Ruiz's face was worth it. Jones managed to set it as Peter's phone background for a week, after which Peter managed to convince another agent to change it back to a photo of El.