Peter sat beside Neal's bed. He had been there for hours watching Neal sleep and making sure Neal's vitals remained stable. Peter had limited medical training but knew for right now that Neal's color looked better and his fever was down. As Peter watched Neal all he could do was think about some of the events that had happened over the last month and especially over the last week. Peter was happy that in the end the FBI caught the bad guy, but angry that it had come at the expense of Neal's health. Peter told everyone they were using a bad plan, but of course since Neal was an ex-con the FBI forgot some of their own safety procedures. According to many at the FBI Neal's life wasn't worth as much as the other agents they employed. This made Peter's blood boil. The FBI always seemed to selectively forget how many cases Neal had solved for them or helped them solve. Peter just hoped there would be many more after this one.

Peter got out of the chair, stretched and walked over to the window. New York was so beautiful at night, especially from June's house. Sometimes the city's attractiveness did make him want to move into the city. This way he and L could stop wasting time driving each day. Still, it wasn't bad having some distance between where he worked and the FBI and right now he wanted a lot of distance from the FBI.

Peter yawned and started walking around again to keep from falling asleep. He was so tired and just wanted to go home and curl up beside L. He knew even if he did go home to finally sleep later he wouldn't sleep. He would close his eyes and be haunted by dreams of all the last months activities. Anyway with Neal so sick now there was no way Peter could leave Neal. He may not even be able to make himself leave Neal when Mozz came over to take his place. Still, he had promised L he would come home before going to work, but he wondered if he could keep his promise. He wondered if he could go to work tomorrow, knowing Neal was lying there and not better. Sometimes Peter hated the FBI and the things that they put their agents and families through. This last case was enough to make Peter want to quit, but thankfully with the support of L he had come through almost okay. It was Neal who wasn't okay. He may never be the same again no matter how much he, L, Mozz, or June loved him.

"Peter are you still here? Please tell me I am not in jail anymore." Neal started coughing and trying to sit up. He fell back onto the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. "Peter my stomach and head hurts. They did something to me." Neal held his stomach while rolling onto his side trying to get the pain in his body to stop. "What the hell did they do to me?" Neal looked for Peter but could barely see him walking across the room. Neal's eyes were blurry with tears and he was tired." Neal groaned but was too tired to scream.

Peter walked over to the chair by Neal's bed, pushed it as close to the bed as he could get it and sat down by Neal. Peter wished L was still here. She was much better at taking care of people when they were sick, but she had already gone home for the night. L had been a rock for all of them and Peter didn't want her getting run down and sick. Peter rubbed Neal's arm and shoulder as he quietly tried to put Neal back to sleep. "Neal they have been giving you some bad stuff and it is going to take some time to wear off. I am sorry Neal it is going to make you pretty sick for a few days. You had almost a months worth of it in your body. You were in the hospital, but you ran away and wouldn't stay. You had us all scared to death. When we finally found you, you made us promise not to take you back." It still scared Peter to death thinking about when Neal disappeared from the hospital two days ago. They couldn't find Neal anywhere and Peter didn't think he would ever see his partner alive again.

Peter kept rubbing Neal's shoulder and arm until he calmed down and went back to sleep. The pain episodes were getting shorter and shorter which meant the drugs were finally wearing off. The doctors told Peter the best way for Neal to make it through these episodes were to have him sleep as much as possible. If Neal had stayed in the hospital the doctors were even going to put him into a medically induced coma. Peter saw Neal shivering and covered him back up. He then felt Neal's forehead and couldn't believe that Neal was running a fever again. "Damn Neal get better and quit running fevers." Peter was frustrated. The Neal laying in this bed was not the Neal he knew. The Neal he knew never stopped talking or running around. This was not his Neal. All during the month when Neal was in that damn prison he told everyone something was very wrong. Prison was horrible but Neal shouldn't have been landing in the prison clinic every few days. Hughes just kept telling Peter that the real world had made Neal weak and he would toughen up. Peter knew that Neal's cover had been blown.

Peter sat back in the chair. He felt responsible for Neal and couldn't believe he had let this happen to him. Would Neal forgive him after all of this? Would Neal want to work with Peter again after everything he had been through? Only time would tell, but it did worry Peter.