White Collar: The Labyrinth ch 10
Chapter Ten
Trapped in the murky space between asleep and awake Neal was dragged into full consciousness by a sudden blaze of pain down his shoulder that ran a chill over his skin. After a difficult and uneasy sleep punctuated by nightmares Neal woke to find his situation barely improved from the torments of the unconscious world. Opening his eyes he panicked for a split second when he was greeted by darkness. Remembering the blindfold Neal reached up to remove it but was quickly stopped by a lance of pain. Closing his blind eyes Neal took a moment to focus on something that didn't hurt in order to help him cope with everything else that did. Still curled up against Peter Neal was grateful to be warm, recalling how violently he'd been shaking earlier. There was something about being cold that magnified any misery beyond reasonable limits. At the other end of the spectrum there was something about being warm that helped eased any pain.
Turning his attention to his surroundings the steady rise and fall of Peter's chest told him that Peter had fallen asleep. Neal didn't care that no one had been on watch while they both slept but he knew it was going to upset Peter that he hadn't managed to stay vigilant. Not wanting to disturb Peter's much needed rest Neal stayed still as Peter's gentle breathing slowly rocked him back to sleep.
Managing a dreamless sleep Neal surfaced more refreshed an unknown time later, and he started the process of analyzing his condition once again with greater calm. This time Peter was obviously awake, he kept shifting his weight and position slightly in an attempt to find a more comfortable position without waking his charge. Neal took a deep breath to let Peter know he was awake before he tried to move. Peter responded by releasing the tight hold he had around Neal's waist and quickly reaching up and removing the tie over Neal's eyes for him. When Neal struggled to sit up after a long night in one position Peter gave him a gentle push. Pulling away Neal was embarrassed to discover he'd drooled fairly heavily down Peter's chest during the night.
"Sorry." Neal apologized sheepishly.
"It's fine." Peter smiled slightly as he rubbed the saliva off with the back of his hand. "Satchmo does the same thing to me when we nap on the couch together."
"Elizabeth allows him up on the couch?" Neal asked surprised.
"Only if I act as a buffer between him and the upholstery."
Neal snickered as he sat back and started to stretch the kinks out of his aching muscles. Leaning forward Peter slowly started to do the same after the long night on the hard floor. Neal grimaced as blood started to trickle from Peter's split lip again. Peter pressed one of his gauze wrapped wrists against his lip revealing that the gauze had already soaked through with blood during the night. Despite the sticky nature of the gauze it helped stopped his lip from bleeding. Worse than both his lip and his wrists Neal looked critically at the horseshoe bite mark on Peter's forearm that was swollen and cherry red.
"I'll live." Peter said drying noticing the look Neal was giving the injury. "It looks worse than it is, it will heal quickly. It's not my first human bite."
"Really?"
"During my first year as a probationary Agent." Peter pulled his left knee up to his chest and pulled up his pant leg revealing a very faint scar just below his calf on either side of twin semi-circles. "An arrest gone comically wrong, I did not hear the end of this for a very long time."
"A literal ankle bitter?"
"It was a weird day." Peter admitted. "I did learn a valuable lesson: a defeated threat is not the same as a neutralized one."
"'Cut off a snake's head and it still has the power to bite.'."
"Exactly." Peter nodded solemnly. "How's your shoulder?"
"It hurts, but I can move it." Neal raised his arm to prove his point with a wince of pain.
"Can I see?"
Neal answered by turning around to expose his back to Peter. After warning him that he was going to do so Peter peeled away the bloody bandage. Neal couldn't find the courage to look over his shoulder at the damage, afraid of making the pain worse by visualizing it. Peter gently touched the outside margin of one of the larger cut to see if it would easily bleed and made a noise of approval when it stayed sealed. The steri-strips had done a good job of helping the wounds and the clotting factor in Neal's blood had done the rest of the job.
"Well?" Neal asked.
"It's actually not as bad as I thought it would be. The glass must have been fairly clean."
"It had alcohol on it." Neal pointed out.
"We still need to keep it clean. Go take a shower, we can replace the bandage and the gauze around your wrists afterward."
"Peter…"
"I will take one as well, after you." Peter assured.
"Just making sure."
"Brush your teeth while you're at it."
"Is my breath that offensive already?" Neal smiled.
"Survival is a game of inches, an infected tooth could be a death sent…" Peter didn't finish his negatively worded thought and switched tactics. "Little things are going to keep us alive, Neal. Keeping clean, sleeping well, staying warm…remaining positive."
Peter's tone suggested he was having a some trouble with his last suggestion at the moment. Neal smiled confidently to show he wasn't anywhere near giving up hope just yet. Peter's expression warmed slightly, but Neal had a feeling that Peter had suggested the shower to have some time alone more than anything else. The hardest part about any long con was keeping up appearances over time, sometimes you needed a break from the facade. Peter would do his best to remain appearing strong as long as Neal was watching, but he needed a chance to release his own anxiety in order to deal with it.
Giving Peter some space as well as genuinely needing a shower Neal got to his feet. After making sure he wasn't going to pass out Neal headed through the archway to the short hall way. He knew that one door held a small pantry, but he wasn't sure what the other door held. Both doors had been slightly ajar when they'd returned from the ring to let them know they'd been unlocked but Neal had been in no condition to care at the time. Curiosity burning Neal opened the door on the left and looked in on a small gym set up complete with a treadmill, a weight bench, various weights, and a large punching bag hanging from the ceiling on a thick chain. Jake clearly wanted them to keep fit for the ring, and the only way they were going to last long was if they complied.
Trying not to think about when their tormentor returned to take them back into the ring Neal closed the door and went into the bathroom. Removing his pants and boxers Neal already wasn't looking forward to crawling back into the dirty clothes. Noticing that the only two towels they had were both covered in dried blood Neal realized that keeping clean was going to be a lot harder than just a quick shower. Neal wasn't sure yet how 'winning' in the ring worked, they had just been given supplies this last time but if in the future they could request items some clean clothes might have to be at the top of the list.
After removing the gauze around his wrists to expose the gory wounds Neal turned on the shower and was overjoyed to find it pleasantly warm. It was a little thing, but Neal had the feeling that the warm shower water rather than being forced under an icy spray was going to be one of those 'little things' that was going to help them get through this ordeal. Ducking under the water Neal let it run through his dark hair for a few minutes. His scalp was sore from both Jake and Campbell taking advantage of his hair's medium length as a convenient hand hold. With no way to cut it shorter Neal knew he had to do better keeping it out of reach, but he wasn't sure how exactly to prevent opponents from exploiting the weakness. Rinsing the blood and dried sweat out of his hair he made a mental note to ask Peter if he had any advice on the matter.
With his hair clean Neal braced his palms against the wall to keep on his feet as he leaned forward to allow the shower spray to rain down on his tattered shoulder. The cuts protested at first but were soon soothed by the drumming heat of the water. Head bowed Neal fell into a slight trance as he watched the water at his feet swirl red with blood as it escaped down the drain. He couldn't help but wonder where the water went and if anyone would notice its sickly hue. When the water ran clear again Neal shook his head to clear it before reaching up and turning the water off. He tilted his head back and ran his hands over his hair to squeeze as much of the water out of it as he could. Picking up one of the stained towels he gingerly dried himself off with it. Pulling on his pants Neal didn't exactly feel clean, but he was far better than he had when he'd started.
There were two toothbrushes in a cup on the sink along with a tube of toothpaste. Arbitrarily claiming the green one as he own he left the red one for Peter, hoping that they'd be able to remember which was which. Considering that they'd both basically been bathing in each others blood accidentally sharing a toothbrush occasionally shouldn't really matter but the thought still turned Neal's stomach. After brushing his teeth Neal felt noticeably better. Opening the medicine cabinet Neal found an electric razor and decided there was no harm in clearing away the rough five o'clock shadow he'd developed.
Washed, minty fresh, and now clean shaven Neal finally looked directly into the mirror surface of the medicine cabinet. He had been avoiding his reflection, fearful of what he'd find. His hair was being unruly, and his left cheek had developed a dark bruise, but all in all he still recognized himself. It wasn't until he glanced down that his mind had a bit of trouble with his body image as he stared at the hexagon maze pattern burned into his skin. Never having had any tattoos or other body modification Neal wasn't prepared for the odd mental jolt that came with his internal self image not matching perfectly with the appearance of the man in the mirror. For reasons he didn't understand looking down at the intricate brand mark didn't have the same startlingly effect as looking at it in the mirror. The clashing images of expectations versus reality made his reflection suddenly feel very alien.
Turning away from the mirror Neal returned to the hall and opened the door to the pantry that Peter had retrieved the bottle of Ensure from the night before. Looking at their options Neal wrinkled his nose and fully understood why the thick vanilla drink had been Peter's first choice. There were five bottles left confirming Neal's suspicions that Peter had barely eaten since the start of their captivity. Although he was currently beyond the point of actually being hungry Neal picked up two of the bottles and headed back into the front room to share.
Neal's heart sank when he found Peter sitting in the corner staring sightlessly into the middle distance. The obvious sign of stress wasn't a surprise, but it was still difficult to witness. When the subway rumbled up over head Peter closed his eyes and swore under his breath. Neal didn't understand why the noise had upset him, during the day the subway passed overhead about every twenty minutes, but Peter had reacted to the sound like it had personally insulting him somehow.
"Peter?"
"That's the first subway I've heard in at least an hour."
"So? Wait…" Neal stopped cold as he realized the implications. "Did we…did we sleep through an entire day?"
"We did." Peter nodded vacantly. "We've been down here at least seventy-two hours."
Peter fell into a heavy silence that Neal instantly understood. When it came to violent kidnapping case the first forty-eight hours were the most critical, however it was at the seventy-two hour mark that the chances of recovering the missing person dropped dangerously close to zero. The FBI wouldn't give up on their Agent after just three days, but they also couldn't devote full department resources to finding them forever. Neal had another chilling realization when Peter started anxiously twisting his wedding band. As hard as the first two days would have been for her Elizabeth's imagination would be outright torturing her now as the odds quickly stacked up against her lost spouse.
Clearly having the same thought Peter closed his eyes as they brightened with tears. He released a heavy controlled breath the way he always did when he was stressed or angry. When he opened his eyes again he had managed to somehow regain his composure. Despite having almost just witnessed it Neal couldn't even imagine Peter breaking down into tears. Even when Keller had kidnapped Elizabeth Peter's mood had oscillated between terrified concern and barely contained murderous rage, but no tears were spilt.
Not knowing what else to do or how to help Neal sat down in front of Peter and offered him a smile in a desperate attempt to lightening his mood. Peter automatically mimicked Neal's tight lipped smile, but his dark eyes remained understandably sorrowful. It was unproductive to ask Peter what was wrong, the problem was obvious and if he wanted to talk about it he would do so without being asked. Remaining silent Neal reached out and carefully put his hand over Peter's hopping the physical contact would accomplish what words would ultimately fail to convey. Looking down at Neal's hand Peter's eyes lost focus for a moment before he shook his head and visibly pulled himself out of his own dark thoughts. Bringing his eyes up to meet Neal's Peter had a renewed conviction burning in them.
"I'm not going to just disappear on Elizabeth forever." Peter stated firmly.
"Of course you aren't." Neal replied confidently. "Firstly: you'd never do that to her."
"And secondly?"
"I won't let you."
Chapter 11: (Soon)
Trapped in the murky space between asleep and awake Neal was dragged into full consciousness by a sudden blaze of pain down his shoulder that ran a chill over his skin. After a difficult and uneasy sleep punctuated by nightmares Neal woke to find his situation barely improved from the torments of the unconscious world. Opening his eyes he panicked for a split second when he was greeted by darkness. Remembering the blindfold Neal reached up to remove it but was quickly stopped by a lance of pain. Closing his blind eyes Neal took a moment to focus on something that didn't hurt in order to help him cope with everything else that did. Still curled up against Peter Neal was grateful to be warm, recalling how violently he'd been shaking earlier. There was something about being cold that magnified any misery beyond reasonable limits. At the other end of the spectrum there was something about being warm that helped eased any pain.
Turning his attention to his surroundings the steady rise and fall of Peter's chest told him that Peter had fallen asleep. Neal didn't care that no one had been on watch while they both slept but he knew it was going to upset Peter that he hadn't managed to stay vigilant. Not wanting to disturb Peter's much needed rest Neal stayed still as Peter's gentle breathing slowly rocked him back to sleep.
Managing a dreamless sleep Neal surfaced more refreshed an unknown time later, and he started the process of analyzing his condition once again with greater calm. This time Peter was obviously awake, he kept shifting his weight and position slightly in an attempt to find a more comfortable position without waking his charge. Neal took a deep breath to let Peter know he was awake before he tried to move. Peter responded by releasing the tight hold he had around Neal's waist and quickly reaching up and removing the tie over Neal's eyes for him. When Neal struggled to sit up after a long night in one position Peter gave him a gentle push. Pulling away Neal was embarrassed to discover he'd drooled fairly heavily down Peter's chest during the night.
"Sorry." Neal apologized sheepishly.
"It's fine." Peter smiled slightly as he rubbed the saliva off with the back of his hand. "Satchmo does the same thing to me when we nap on the couch together."
"Elizabeth allows him up on the couch?" Neal asked surprised.
"Only if I act as a buffer between him and the upholstery."
Neal snickered as he sat back and started to stretch the kinks out of his aching muscles. Leaning forward Peter slowly started to do the same after the long night on the hard floor. Neal grimaced as blood started to trickle from Peter's split lip again. Peter pressed one of his gauze wrapped wrists against his lip revealing that the gauze had already soaked through with blood during the night. Despite the sticky nature of the gauze it helped stopped his lip from bleeding. Worse than both his lip and his wrists Neal looked critically at the horseshoe bite mark on Peter's forearm that was swollen and cherry red.
"I'll live." Peter said drying noticing the look Neal was giving the injury. "It looks worse than it is, it will heal quickly. It's not my first human bite."
"Really?"
"During my first year as a probationary Agent." Peter pulled his left knee up to his chest and pulled up his pant leg revealing a very faint scar just below his calf on either side of twin semi-circles. "An arrest gone comically wrong, I did not hear the end of this for a very long time."
"A literal ankle bitter?"
"It was a weird day." Peter admitted. "I did learn a valuable lesson: a defeated threat is not the same as a neutralized one."
"'Cut off a snake's head and it still has the power to bite.'."
"Exactly." Peter nodded solemnly. "How's your shoulder?"
"It hurts, but I can move it." Neal raised his arm to prove his point with a wince of pain.
"Can I see?"
Neal answered by turning around to expose his back to Peter. After warning him that he was going to do so Peter peeled away the bloody bandage. Neal couldn't find the courage to look over his shoulder at the damage, afraid of making the pain worse by visualizing it. Peter gently touched the outside margin of one of the larger cut to see if it would easily bleed and made a noise of approval when it stayed sealed. The steri-strips had done a good job of helping the wounds and the clotting factor in Neal's blood had done the rest of the job.
"Well?" Neal asked.
"It's actually not as bad as I thought it would be. The glass must have been fairly clean."
"It had alcohol on it." Neal pointed out.
"We still need to keep it clean. Go take a shower, we can replace the bandage and the gauze around your wrists afterward."
"Peter…"
"I will take one as well, after you." Peter assured.
"Just making sure."
"Brush your teeth while you're at it."
"Is my breath that offensive already?" Neal smiled.
"Survival is a game of inches, an infected tooth could be a death sent…" Peter didn't finish his negatively worded thought and switched tactics. "Little things are going to keep us alive, Neal. Keeping clean, sleeping well, staying warm…remaining positive."
Peter's tone suggested he was having a some trouble with his last suggestion at the moment. Neal smiled confidently to show he wasn't anywhere near giving up hope just yet. Peter's expression warmed slightly, but Neal had a feeling that Peter had suggested the shower to have some time alone more than anything else. The hardest part about any long con was keeping up appearances over time, sometimes you needed a break from the facade. Peter would do his best to remain appearing strong as long as Neal was watching, but he needed a chance to release his own anxiety in order to deal with it.
Giving Peter some space as well as genuinely needing a shower Neal got to his feet. After making sure he wasn't going to pass out Neal headed through the archway to the short hall way. He knew that one door held a small pantry, but he wasn't sure what the other door held. Both doors had been slightly ajar when they'd returned from the ring to let them know they'd been unlocked but Neal had been in no condition to care at the time. Curiosity burning Neal opened the door on the left and looked in on a small gym set up complete with a treadmill, a weight bench, various weights, and a large punching bag hanging from the ceiling on a thick chain. Jake clearly wanted them to keep fit for the ring, and the only way they were going to last long was if they complied.
Trying not to think about when their tormentor returned to take them back into the ring Neal closed the door and went into the bathroom. Removing his pants and boxers Neal already wasn't looking forward to crawling back into the dirty clothes. Noticing that the only two towels they had were both covered in dried blood Neal realized that keeping clean was going to be a lot harder than just a quick shower. Neal wasn't sure yet how 'winning' in the ring worked, they had just been given supplies this last time but if in the future they could request items some clean clothes might have to be at the top of the list.
After removing the gauze around his wrists to expose the gory wounds Neal turned on the shower and was overjoyed to find it pleasantly warm. It was a little thing, but Neal had the feeling that the warm shower water rather than being forced under an icy spray was going to be one of those 'little things' that was going to help them get through this ordeal. Ducking under the water Neal let it run through his dark hair for a few minutes. His scalp was sore from both Jake and Campbell taking advantage of his hair's medium length as a convenient hand hold. With no way to cut it shorter Neal knew he had to do better keeping it out of reach, but he wasn't sure how exactly to prevent opponents from exploiting the weakness. Rinsing the blood and dried sweat out of his hair he made a mental note to ask Peter if he had any advice on the matter.
With his hair clean Neal braced his palms against the wall to keep on his feet as he leaned forward to allow the shower spray to rain down on his tattered shoulder. The cuts protested at first but were soon soothed by the drumming heat of the water. Head bowed Neal fell into a slight trance as he watched the water at his feet swirl red with blood as it escaped down the drain. He couldn't help but wonder where the water went and if anyone would notice its sickly hue. When the water ran clear again Neal shook his head to clear it before reaching up and turning the water off. He tilted his head back and ran his hands over his hair to squeeze as much of the water out of it as he could. Picking up one of the stained towels he gingerly dried himself off with it. Pulling on his pants Neal didn't exactly feel clean, but he was far better than he had when he'd started.
There were two toothbrushes in a cup on the sink along with a tube of toothpaste. Arbitrarily claiming the green one as he own he left the red one for Peter, hoping that they'd be able to remember which was which. Considering that they'd both basically been bathing in each others blood accidentally sharing a toothbrush occasionally shouldn't really matter but the thought still turned Neal's stomach. After brushing his teeth Neal felt noticeably better. Opening the medicine cabinet Neal found an electric razor and decided there was no harm in clearing away the rough five o'clock shadow he'd developed.
Washed, minty fresh, and now clean shaven Neal finally looked directly into the mirror surface of the medicine cabinet. He had been avoiding his reflection, fearful of what he'd find. His hair was being unruly, and his left cheek had developed a dark bruise, but all in all he still recognized himself. It wasn't until he glanced down that his mind had a bit of trouble with his body image as he stared at the hexagon maze pattern burned into his skin. Never having had any tattoos or other body modification Neal wasn't prepared for the odd mental jolt that came with his internal self image not matching perfectly with the appearance of the man in the mirror. For reasons he didn't understand looking down at the intricate brand mark didn't have the same startlingly effect as looking at it in the mirror. The clashing images of expectations versus reality made his reflection suddenly feel very alien.
Turning away from the mirror Neal returned to the hall and opened the door to the pantry that Peter had retrieved the bottle of Ensure from the night before. Looking at their options Neal wrinkled his nose and fully understood why the thick vanilla drink had been Peter's first choice. There were five bottles left confirming Neal's suspicions that Peter had barely eaten since the start of their captivity. Although he was currently beyond the point of actually being hungry Neal picked up two of the bottles and headed back into the front room to share.
Neal's heart sank when he found Peter sitting in the corner staring sightlessly into the middle distance. The obvious sign of stress wasn't a surprise, but it was still difficult to witness. When the subway rumbled up over head Peter closed his eyes and swore under his breath. Neal didn't understand why the noise had upset him, during the day the subway passed overhead about every twenty minutes, but Peter had reacted to the sound like it had personally insulting him somehow.
"Peter?"
"That's the first subway I've heard in at least an hour."
"So? Wait…" Neal stopped cold as he realized the implications. "Did we…did we sleep through an entire day?"
"We did." Peter nodded vacantly. "We've been down here at least seventy-two hours."
Peter fell into a heavy silence that Neal instantly understood. When it came to violent kidnapping case the first forty-eight hours were the most critical, however it was at the seventy-two hour mark that the chances of recovering the missing person dropped dangerously close to zero. The FBI wouldn't give up on their Agent after just three days, but they also couldn't devote full department resources to finding them forever. Neal had another chilling realization when Peter started anxiously twisting his wedding band. As hard as the first two days would have been for her Elizabeth's imagination would be outright torturing her now as the odds quickly stacked up against her lost spouse.
Clearly having the same thought Peter closed his eyes as they brightened with tears. He released a heavy controlled breath the way he always did when he was stressed or angry. When he opened his eyes again he had managed to somehow regain his composure. Despite having almost just witnessed it Neal couldn't even imagine Peter breaking down into tears. Even when Keller had kidnapped Elizabeth Peter's mood had oscillated between terrified concern and barely contained murderous rage, but no tears were spilt.
Not knowing what else to do or how to help Neal sat down in front of Peter and offered him a smile in a desperate attempt to lightening his mood. Peter automatically mimicked Neal's tight lipped smile, but his dark eyes remained understandably sorrowful. It was unproductive to ask Peter what was wrong, the problem was obvious and if he wanted to talk about it he would do so without being asked. Remaining silent Neal reached out and carefully put his hand over Peter's hopping the physical contact would accomplish what words would ultimately fail to convey. Looking down at Neal's hand Peter's eyes lost focus for a moment before he shook his head and visibly pulled himself out of his own dark thoughts. Bringing his eyes up to meet Neal's Peter had a renewed conviction burning in them.
"I'm not going to just disappear on Elizabeth forever." Peter stated firmly.
"Of course you aren't." Neal replied confidently. "Firstly: you'd never do that to her."
"And secondly?"
"I won't let you."
Chapter 11: (Soon)