Thank you all for sticking with me through this whole story. For those of you who have read my past stories, I know I've said this before, but I really do mean it: You guys make me so happy everyday, when I see you've read my story and especially when I get comments. I would write no matter if people read my stories or not, but the fact that you have still amazes me and humbles me, and pushes me to write more. So here's a very sincere thank you to all of you.

Here are some notes that were not crucial to the story, but I knew as I was writing and I wanted to share with you:

-When Elizabeth leaves Neal's hospital room to make a phone call, she contacts Mozzie. That's how he knew where Neal was.

-Although Mozzie promised to help Neal through his deafness, he did urge Neal to at least tell his doctors in case there was something that could be done about it.

-Neal hid his deafness from Peter and Elizabeth at the hospital, at first, simply because he was never totally conscious enough to give enough clues for them to figure it out- this was from a combination of the pain and the drugs. After his talk with Mozzie, he feigned sleep often to avoid the Burkes finding out. Eventually they had to go to work, and when they left his side he was able to tell the doctors and get the tests run to figure out what was wrong. Doctor-patient confidentiality kept Peter from finding out from the doctors.

-The smuggler remains unnamed because I never felt that the story was about him. The bomb was a way to make Neal deaf, and have to deal with the consequences. However, I do know that his daughter was unharmed, and although he recieved several years in prison, his wife was let off with fines and community service. She quickly divorced her husband and committed to going straight in order to best take care of her daughter.

-The reason that the smuggler's daughter was unhurt while Neal received such a terrible injury just had to do with the space between them when the bomb went off. I imagined Neal helping the girl out of the basement, his footing slipping in an attempt to get her out as quick as possible. She got a head start while he tried to regain his footing before he could run off behind her.

-When all is said and done, and Neal can hear, the only people who ever knew that he couldn't were Peter, Diana, Elizabeth, Mozzie, and June.

-Neal got in a habit of watching people's lips as they spoke. It went away for the most part, after a while, but occasionally, especially when something reminded him of the bomb that took his hearing, he watched someone's lips in addition to listening. This is what happened when he visited the smuggler in prison.

-The visit to the incarcerated smuggler was at the smuggler's request- he had heard from his lawyer that Neal had been hospitalized due to the bomb, and felt bad. He wanted to thank Neal for saving his daughter's life. He never knew how close Neal was to never truly recovering from the bomb.

-Finally: Yes, this incident did make Neal an even better conman. If that was possible.