"He who angers you, conquers you." -Elizabeth Kenny

Prologue: One Troublesome Stain

Neal was always on time, that was one thing Peter had to hand to the man. Peter would tell him a tell and the next morning, the conman would show up at Peter's door bright and early, always wearing his stupid hat.

So there Neal was, right on time; eight o' clock on the dot. Peter sighed as he saw the hat.

"If you're going to wear that hat everyday, you should at least get a different color. Gray gets old after a while," Peter said as the conman took his usual seat.

"Hey, I happen to like this color. Its boring like all you folks."

"I resent that. I actually have a very exciting life sometimes."

Neal rolled his eyes. "Yeah, filing papers and going through records...so much fun."

"It's been a slow week, but once we get a case, you've seen how fun it can get."

"All right, you guys aren't that boring. Only occasionally, like right now."

"This isn't boring," Peter said.

Neal rolled his eyes once again, "Dude, we are having a conversation about hat colors...yeah, it's boring."

"You know what Neal, nobody asked you," Peter said, feeling his patience being tested. He had not had a very good morning so far and the conman was not making it any better.

"Sorry Peter," Neal said and went silent for once. Peter silently thank God that Neal was giving him some peace and quiet. Peter had come home late once again last night and Elizabeth had been mad. It was even worse this time because they had company over and it made Elizabeth look bad that her husband was late. He had only been forty-five minutes late, but to Elizabeth it could have been a decade.

"What's the game plan for today?" Neal asked, breaking the peaceful silence.

Peter mentally flinched as his partner started to talk. Once he started, he couldn't stop. "Just organizing some things."

"Oh cool." After a few minutes of Peter typing away, Neal began to whistle. It was quiet, but then got louder...and louder...and louder.

Peter slammed his hands on his keyboard. "Would it kill you to be silent for just a few minutes? Seriously Neal!"

Neal sank into his chair as Peter raised his voice. "I take it you aren't in the best mood this morning?"

"Oh well ding-ding, you got that right. Now just sit there and be quiet so I can get some work done!" Peter had finally found his breaking point and it took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He was usually a level headed guy, but sometimes, working with a bunch of idiots dressed as cartoons got to you.

"So I'm just going to sit here all day? You know, I could be doing better things with my time. I could be out shopping for a new hat. Now that you mentioned it, I do need a few new hats with different colors. Do you think orange would be a good color?" Neal said, smirking as Peter tensed.

"No? Yeah, me too. Too bright, it would stand out in a crowd. I think just another gray hate like this one would be good. I'm into those dull colors, y'know?" Neal continued on talking, having a very good time in having a one-sided conversation with himself.

"Peter are you listening to me? I feel kinda weird talking to myself. I really need your help on this. Choosing hat colors is a very big decision and picking the wrong one would mean bad consequences for the rest of my life maybe! I might even need therapy and you know how expensive that is. Well, only if you go to the good ones." Neal knew it was cruel to mess with his partner when he was obviously having a bad day, but he couldn't help it. Messing with Peter was just so much fun sometimes.

"You know what I think Neal?" Neal nodded, smiling like an idiot. "I think you need to shut up! All I ask for is some peace and quiet while I try to get my work done, but you can't even do that one simple task! I've done a lot for you, but when I ask for something from you, you can't do it. I should put you back in jail!" Neal's smile fell at this statement. Peter had made that threat plenty of times before, but never when he was this angry. He was worried the FBI agent might actually do that.

"But I won't." Peter was standing now and was starting to pace and wring his hands together. "I want you to work with Jones for the day. Help him out and just follow what he says. I want a good report back from Jones and if not, well, those two miles on your tracker can be easily changed."

"Peter-" Neal started, standing up.

Peter cut him off. "I don't want to hear it Caffery." Neal took a step back when Peter used his last name. This morning had quickly gone from all right to down right terrible. "Just go to Jones' office and follow his orders. I don't want to see you for the rest of the day. Go."

Neal nodded and avoided eye contact as he made his way to Jones' office. He knocked twice on the door and was still staring at the floor when Jones looked up. There was a stain on the ground that they should really clean up, he thought.

"What do you need?" Jones asked and Neal could hear the surprise in his voice.

"Peter sent me to work for you for the day. Just to help out and stuff." That stain seemed to be taunting Neal as he stared at it and he just really wished that someone would get some Oxiclean or something and clean it up.

"What did you do know?"

"Apparently I was too annoying..." Neal trailed off. He was now starting to wonder what the stain once was and how did it get there? It was probably sauce from one of Jones' sandwiches, Neal thought.

"All right, I have some things that you can do for me," Jones said. "Come on in."

Neal walked in, leaving the stain behind, but he still thought about it. He would ask someone to clean it up soon.

Author's Note: God bless anyone who made it through all that. I swear, it gets better...hopefully. Feedback is good.

Kai