The Thinnest Strand

Author: Cheryl W.

Disclaimer: I do not own Neal, or Peter or any rights to White Collar, nor am I making any profit from this story.

Author's Note: Well I penned this first chapter back when my muse and I were on speaking terms. I'm dusting it off now before the season resumes and it turns totally AU.

Summary: After El's rescue, when Peter and Neal's ties are nearly severed, they come to discover the true strength of their friendship. No Slash.

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Chapter 1: Elevator

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Sometimes fate is heartless, that's what Neal Caffery thinks when the elevator slides to a halt and none other than Peter Burke is standing there waiting for a ride. For an instant, their eyes meet before Neal's drop to the floor of the elevator. He can not bear to see the anger, disappointment, disgust in his one-time friend's eyes, never again.

So it's Peter's shoes that bear his inspection. New shoes. That distracts Neal for a little while, the thought that Peter broke down and bought new shoes. The man who was wearing the same suit both times he caught him. Thrifty was one of Peter's favorite things about himself. 'Maybe he's not thrifty anymore. Maybe he's living large now that his career isn't hanging in the balance because some convict on a leash was threatening to end his career in one careless, selfish act. Well, that might be the one good thing that came out of this: Peter finally caring about fashion.'

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Whatever Peter Burke thought he would feel when he saw Neal Caffery again, it wasn't this. Wasn't this punched in the gut, winded feeling. Goodness knows it wasn't because Neal held his eye contact. No, the man's blue eyes were skittering away before it barely registered they had landed on him. And now, Caffery was as still as one of his clay statues, his head bowed, his hat obscuring what his pose did not.

They were strangers sharing an elevator, worse, people who felt like strangers but who would never be. No matter what had happened, he knew Neal Caffery. Knew his favorite drink, the expression he wore when he was forced to do something he didn't want to, the look in his eyes when he was scared. A look that was in the blue eyes he barely had the chance to glimpse.

'Neal's not afraid of me,' Peter scoffed at his wonky conclusion. A lot had happened between him and Neal, unforgiveable things, maybe, but that didn't mean that Neal thought he would hurt him. Even at the realization that Keller had kidnapped El because of Neal's lies, even when his whole world was shattering because of the kid's con games, he hadn't laid a hand on Neal. Not a punch, not even a rough shove. Had not touched him at all.

Peter frowned at that. It was true, he hadn't touched Neal. Not in anger….or in kindness, had not grabbed the younger man's arm when he stumbled after the blow to the head he had gotten in his scuffle with Keller for the gun. And not when he had been handcuffed and pushed into the back of a FBI Ford for questioning and for one in-depth inquisition of why he went off his anklet. Albeit that his going AWOL had resulted in El's safe return and Keller's capture.

'El wouldn't have been in danger if it weren't for Neal, for his greed, his addiction to pulling a con job even on the people who cared about him most,' Peter bitterly defended his own stoic addition to the inquisition. Like his wife had said, it was Neal's mess and he had to clean it up. 'And yet El and I got dragged right into it. El got hurt.' He didn't want to acknowledge that El would have been hurt worse, maybe killed if Caffery hadn't faced off with Keller, been willing to sacrifice his life for his wife's.

For that act alone, Peter knew he had to say something to Caffrey, if only it were the last thing he said to the man he once affectionately thought of as younger brother, a surrogate son. But as he turned around, opened his mouth to begin, the elevator came to a halt and the doors opened. And just like the smooth operator he was, Caffrey maneuvered by him without making eye contact or touching him.

Knowing that this was the 'now or never' moment, Peter reached out, intended to snag Neal's arm. But Caffrey, sensing his intent, skittishly jerked away, hastily retreated until his back slammed into the open elevator doors and then he slipped out the door, his eyes never raising to Peter's.

As the doors shut, at his last glimpse of Neal was the well-tailored back of his suit, Peter closed his eyes in anguish, in confusion. He couldn't trust Neal, he couldn't work with Neal anymore, couldn't pretend that everything that had happened could be forgiven.

'Then why do I feel like the bad guy. Why do I suddenly hate the job I used to love. Why do I miss the guy that's given me nothing but heartbreak?' But he couldn't let that lie stand. 'It's not been all heartbreak and you know it. And that's the problem. He's the best friend I've ever had, the only friend of mine that El even tolerates, the smartest, most loyal partner an agent could ask for. And, no matter what he's done, I miss him. Really miss him.'

Stepping off onto the White Collar Crime floor, Peter Burke didn't offer one good morning, didn't even raise his head from his shoes. New shoes that were killing his feet, shoes that he wouldn't have needed if he hadn't taken a five hour stroll in the downpour over the weekend, trying to figure out if he had done the right thing in refusing to continue to work with Neal, of letting the Organized Crime Unit throw Neal to the wolves anytime they needed an undercover operative, of not just sending the conman packing back to his cell. And seeing Caffrey today, it didn't make any of it clearer, only ended up muddying the water further. But then again, making Peter second guess himself, that was just who Neal Caffrey was.

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Tbc

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Thanks for reading and I would love to know if you want more. I have the storyline planned out in my head, sort of, but I need some feedback to see if I'm got anybody's interest. Also, there is a good chance this story will NOT be finished before the new season starts and therefore will be going AU. Hope that's OK.

Have a great evening!

Cheryl W.