Premier danseur noble
Author: NYWCgirl
Fandom: White Collar
Pairing: None
Characters: Neal, Peter, El, June, Sara, Mozzie,...
Warning/genre: au, friendship, hurt/comfort, injuries, ballet
Spoilers: none
Rating: NC-13
Author's Notes: This fic is written for Kanarek13´s birthday who said she wanted to read about Neal as a ballet dancer.
Note, that I am no ballet dancer, never practiced it as a girl, so if there are mistakes, please let me know and we can change them.
Word Count: ~3050 (so far)
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine…
Summary: Peter Burke is assigned to a task force that investigates the murder of several ballet dancers.
Chapter 1 can be found on AO3 as well.
“Peter, come in.”
Peter enters the office of Violent crimes. Ruiz is already seated.
“We have another one. We think he is moving up and we expect him to hit New York any day.”
“Would make sense, it is the Holiday season, so there will be a lot of performances.”
“Yeah, so that is why we are sending you guys undercover.”
“What?”
“Is there a problem, agent Ruiz?”
“No sir, I…”
“Burke, we arranged for you to go undercover as a the new assistant of one of the physical therapists at City Ballet.”
“I don´t know anything about physical therapy.”
“I thought you played baseball. You must know something. If not, I suggest, you read up on it then.
“I can´t wait to massage some of those flexible girls.” Ruiz chips in.
“Ruiz, you are going to metropolitan ballet company, there is a place as a stage hand.”
Ruiz laughs at Burke. “Good luck massaging those fairies.”
* * *
Peter enters the building where City Ballet is rehearsing the Nut Cracker. He can hear landings on the hard wooden floors, and the points of the ballerinas. He never realized ballet made so much noise.
He walks towards the stage and stops by the side, observing, he is not the only one, there are a lot of people present, coaches, alternate casts, trainers and colleagues.
A couple is at the moment at center stage, he recognizes them as Neal Caffrey and Sara Ellis. They are dancing their pas de deux, but it doesn´t look to go very well. The coaches barrage them with minute adjustments. Fingers need to be raised, insteps stretched. Peter notices one thing, the dancers are not asked about their opinion. He was told by their inside contact that Caffrey and Ellis are the stars of the company. But all he can see is that sometimes they mutter together, but otherwise they wait, patient as packhorses, for each new set of corrections. An extrinsic looking man is sitting in the audience, silent, observing. Peter can´t see details, but he guesses he is the Ballet Master, Teddy Winters. Next to his right is an African American woman.
It is not at all what he expected. They take a new run and it all looks so effortless. It is only because Peter stands so close to the dancers that he can see them breath heavy and the sweat forming on their faces.
The coach gives them a toilet break and Both Sara and Neal quickly put on leg warmers before taking a break.
“And you are?” a woman approaches Peter.
“My name is Peter Delacourt, I am the new Physical therapist assistant.”
“Oh good, please tend to Neal, I think he sprained something, he is off today.”
“Sure, no problem.”
He walks off in the direction he saw Neal leave and finds him in one of the dressing rooms. He is massaging his ankle.
“Can I help? The name is Peter, I am the new physical therapist.”
“Hi, Neal. I´m fine.”
“You don´t look fine. Let me have a look.”
“OK, if you insist, I landed funny this morning and it hurts on the outside of my foot and my ankle feels unstable.” Neal says with rolling eyes. ‘It is nothing I haven´t danced through before.”
“You probably landing on your ankle in the rolled out position.” Peter states. “By the look of your foot, you are a veteran in this, so you must know RICE.”
He can see Neal studying him. They he laughs and shrugs his shoulders. “Let´s go, I need to get back, we will deal with this tonight after rehearsal.”
“I don´t think…”
“What? that it is not a good idea to dance on it? Is this your first time in Ballet?”
“Yes, actually, I used to work for a baseball team.”
Neal laughs, muttering something about sissies while walking back to the stage. There is almost no limp in his gait. Wow, Peter was told that these dancers are tough as nails, but he didn´t expect it to be like this.
Sara is already waiting and the coach is not please by the looks of it.
It is almost seven o´clock when the coaches calls it a night. Neal walks back to the changing room where Peter is already waiting for him with an ice bag.
“You know, twenty minutes on, twenty off. Elevate your foot tonight. I can bandage the ankle before you leave, so there is some compression tonight.”
Neal looks tired.
“Thanks.” Neal accepts the ice bag and keeps it on his ankle while he tries to get into a sweater.
“Here, let me hold that for you while your put on something warm.
“Thanks.”
* * *
The next morning, Peter is already in the dressing room before nine, he was told the ballet dancers would arrive somewhere between nine and ten o´clock.
He is massaging one of the other dancers, when Neal enters.
“Goodmorning, Peter, Yuri.” Neal says while putting his stuff away.
Neal pulls up his sweater over his head and his T-shirt rides up. Underneath Peter can see some impressive abs. Neal chats to the other dancers while taking off his jeans and boxer shorts. Peter wants to look away, giving Neal some privacy, but then realizes these dancers are so used to people touching them and commenting on their physique that they are just not shy anymore. Neal pulls up what looks like a thong, but a bit different.
One of the other dancers is also watching Neal.
“Need a hand to swoop and scoop?”
Neal laughs amused. “I think I can manage.”
Peter doesn´t get it until he sees Neal take hold of his balls and adjust them in the tongue until they are astatically pleasing. He watches himself in the mirror and seems to be content. He then puts on some tights and thick legwarmers, finishing with his dance shoes.
“How is the ankle doing?” It is all Peter can think of asking.
“Better, thanks for the taping, it feels more stable.”
Neal leaves the dressing room and walks to one of the classes. After one hour he comes in for a quick change of T-shirt and then he is off to rehearsal. Since all the dancers are busy at the moment, Peter has time to study them. It is also part of his job, one of his instructors has explained. The FBI provided a crash course in physical therapy and he asked a friend of his to tell him everything he needed to know about Ballet. Elizabeth had laughed when Peter had asked her to tell him everything she knew about ballet. She had promised to tell him everything she knew, in exchange for a ticket to the ballet.
Sara and Neal are dancing and they look so in sync with each other. Sara is beautiful and elegant, she dances on her points as if she was born with them. Peter has found out which dancer is playing what part in the ballet and it turns out that Sara has the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Neal is her cavalier. Peter understood from Elizabeth that they dance the most famous grand pas de deux in ballet and Peter has to admit, they do it fantastic. Neal seems to be in better shape than yesterday. When Elizabeth had called Peter last night how his first day at the ballet had been, she had been envious that he had met Neal Caffery. He had only laughed.
When it is way past lunch time and Peter´s stomach is growling, Sara and Neal finally are allowed a break and other dancers take the stage to practice. Neal kisses Sara on the cheek and they are off to their dressing rooms. Peter follows Neal into it.
“Neal, you seem to be in better shape, shall I help you cool down?”
“No thanks Peter, I am off to the swimming pool for my lunch break.”
Peter is a bit baffled, he is swimming during his lunch break? There is no excuse to follow Neal, so he calls the bureau for an agent to follow Neal to the swimming pool without letting him know.
Peter goes back to the dancers and can see Sara sitting to the side watching the other dancers and eating what appears to be lunch. Peter supposes they can´t eat much more if they want to stay this thin, but still, it sort of shocks him how little they eat.
A red headed woman walks up to Sara, she is definitely not a dancer by the way she is dressed and Peter slowly walks closer, but Sara laughs and accepts the booklet and pen the woman presents to her and signs it. A selfie and the woman is gone again.
By now Neal is also back. He waves at Peter before walking to one of the training spaces.
* * *
Peter is getting exhausted. Between the ballet hours and the FBI, there is not much time for sleep anymore. There has been no move on any of the dancers, so Peter can only hope their killer is done. There is talk at the FBI about calling the protection details off the various ballet companies.
Peter excuses himself from the meeting because he promised Neal to go to breakfast together. They are meeting up in a local coffee shop that caters to the dancers. When Peter arrives, Neal is already sitting in a booth at the back. He quickly walks over and takes a seat across from Neal.
Neal gives him a smile. “Good morning, are you OK? You seem tired”
“Yeah, not enough sleep I guess.”
“Important stuff?”
“No, I just went a baseball game last night, and then we ended up in a bar, you know how it works.” He explains while studying the menu.
When Neal doesn´t respond immediately, he looks up.
“No, I don´t know how that works.”
“What do you mean?”
“Peter, how long have you worked in ballet?”
Peter doesn´t respond, he has a feeling Neal will know he is lying. So he goes for the safe answer. “Why?”
“Nice deflection, but most ballet dancers don´t socialize with outsiders. Outsiders mostly don´t understand what it takes to make in the arts, the diets, long hours, performances, etc. and all of this for minimum wage, IF you are an AGMA member. Otherwise you may not even make minimum wage.”
“Well, maybe I should take you with me. Have some good old fashion fun.”
Neal studies him and then laughs. “ I would really like that. Sounds like fun.”
The waitress comes to take their order and Peter orders an omelette, he really would rather order pancakes, but by now he knows how little dancers eat and he thinks it is inappropriate to eat something so full of carbs in front of Neal.
“Your usual, Neal?”
“Yes thanks Sally.”
Once they are back alone, they chat about the ballet world and how different it is from other sports. Sally comes back with Peter´s omelette and Neal´s order. When Peter sees it, he laughs out loud.
“What?” Neal asks with his most innocent face.
“I somehow expected ballet dancers to be on strict diets.”
Neal smiles a bit sheepishly. “I need to be very careful of what I eat, because I’ve got a very high metabolism. If I don´t eat, I go really skinny and weak. The girls are at risk if I´m not strong enough to lift them.”
“I hadn´t thought of that. But why do you swim during your lunch breaks, people tell me it is to burn more calories.”
“What? No of course not. I enjoy swimming, it gets me in the right headspace. It has nothing to do with burning calories, far from it. After I leave the swimming pool I need to eat calories and proteins. ”
“I am glad we cleared that out, I was getting worried and even thought of talking to the dietitian.”
“He knows how many calories I take in on a daily basis, so I am covered.” Neal laughs.
Neal sort of inhales his food. Peter has to admit, he enjoys Neal´s company. He is not as self-centred as Peter had suspected him to be and he has a great sense of humour.
“Let´s go otherwise I will be late for warming up. And I will need a back rub.” Neal leaves in the air what he means by it. He gets up and Peter wants to grab his coat and their faces end up real close. Peter wants to pull back, but Neal smiles and gives him a quick kiss.
On their way back, Peter sees something out of the corner of his eye, he thinks it is the red headed girl he saw during practice but when he turns to face her, there is nobody.
* * *
When Peter enters the exercise room, he finds the dancers at the bares. They are all doing the same moves and Peter can hear someone call out. It is Mozzie, one of the ballet masters and he is not pleased this morning, Peter can tell by the tone of his voice.
“NO, back to the beginning. Plié, turn-out, fifth position, Plié.... Gentleman, make yourselves ready for Grand jeté. Good. Neal. Tour en l´air. Yuri, your turn. Good. Now centre practice.”
Peter looks in fascination at the bodies of the dancers. Their muscles are well defined in their tights, which by now he understands is the purpose of the tights, you are supposed to see the muscles as they move.
“Wow, does Neal have great ballon, or what?” A woman next to Peter asks.
“Sorry?”
“He has great ballon.”
“Yeah sure.” Peter says a bit hesitantly.
“OK, so not a ballet connoisseur.”
“You can tell, hum? What does it mean?”
“Neal sort of lingers in the air, like he defies gravity for a moment.”
“He sure does.”
“That is what makes him a great dancer.” The woman remarks.
When peter turns to look at her, she is gone. Peter scans the space, but she already left.
* * *
“Peter!”
Peter turns around and Neal comes jogging towards him.
“Hi Neal, what is up?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner on Friday?”
“Sorry Neal, I can´t, I have plans with Elizabeth.”
Peter can see Neal´s face fall.
“Of course, I… Never mind.”
Neal looks embarrassed.
“No, it´s not a date or anything. Why don´t you join us?”
“Nah, I don´t want to be a third wheel.”
Peter rolls his eyes. “It´s just a dinner date among friends. Join us, I think Elizabeth will be thrilled that you would join us.”
“She would?”
“Yeah, it´s fine. Do you meet us there or do you want me to pick you up?”
“Just text me the address.”
“Fine, see you on Friday.”
* * *
Peter and El are already in the restaurant they picked and chatting about their lives over drinks.
“Didn´t you say Neal was coming?” El inquires.
“Yeah, I saw him briefly this morning and he told me he would see us tonight, so he was aware of it this morning.”
Suddenly a big smile appears on El´s face. “Oh wait, I think I see him entering.”
Peter turns and can also see Neal talking to the host, who points in their direction. Neal smiles while walking over.
“Sorry I am late, Mozzie kept us busy. Hi, I´m Neal. You must be Elizabeth” Neal takes El´s hand and gives it a kiss. Unbelievable, Peter can see El blush.
“Hi Peter.” Neal gives him a kiss on the cheek. Now it is Peter´s turn to blush, when El looks with a smug grin on her face.
“Shall we order, I´m starving.” Neal announces.
They order and talk, it turns out they don’t have much in common which makes the conversation more interesting. Neal promises to arrange tickets for Elizabeth. And is surprised to find out that Peter hadn´t lied and that they not a couple, just good friends.
Somewhere during dinner they are interrupted by someone that wants a selfie. Neal politely asks the fan to wait until he finished eating. Peter laughs at the interruption, but it happens a couple of more times and although Neal keeps polite, Peter gets annoyed.
“How can you stand them?”
“What, the balletomanes?”
“That is what they are called?”
“Yes, fans of the ballet, balletomanes. If you perform arts, you are depend on fans and people who come to see you. So yes, I find it annoying when they disturb me during dinner but I always try to be polite and give them a chance to get an autograph or selfie, but on my terms. It is part of the job.”
“Wow, I never thought of it that way.”
The three of them are having a great time until Elizabeth notices that the waiters are waiting for them to leave. They are the last in the restaurant so Peter asks the check and they leave.
“Want to come over for a nightcap?” Neal asks.
“Sorry, I have to go, I have to get up early tomorrow morning, so I´ll pass.” Elizabeth announces.
“Oh come on Peter, one drink won´t kill you.”
Neal says goodbye to the men and whispers in Peter´s ear to go for it.
“Bye Neal.”
“Bye Elizabeth, I will take care of those tickets I promised.” He kisses her on the cheek.
* * *
“Our killer has still not struck again. Or he stopped or he is planning something and I am fearing ‘the something’.” Peter says during the morning briefing.
“Can we maybe draw him out?” Jones suggest.
“I wouldn´t know how, we still have no pattern in the killings. Our profilers are still drawing up their reports. But I think we need to be on the lookout for a balletomane.”
“A what?”
“A ballet fan, I have a gut feeling it is a woman.”
“Women don´t tend to be this type of serial killers.”
“I know, but my gut tells me otherwise.” Peter sighs.
“How is the atmosphere in the company?”
“Good, they don´t really let it distract them.”
“OK, well, that is it then, we will see each other again next Thursday.”
To be continued…
Fandom: White Collar
Pairing: None
Characters: Neal, Peter, El, June, Sara, Mozzie,...
Warning/genre: au, friendship, hurt/comfort, injuries, ballet
Spoilers: none
Rating: NC-13
Author's Notes: This fic is written for Kanarek13´s birthday who said she wanted to read about Neal as a ballet dancer.
Note, that I am no ballet dancer, never practiced it as a girl, so if there are mistakes, please let me know and we can change them.
Word Count: ~3050 (so far)
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine…
Summary: Peter Burke is assigned to a task force that investigates the murder of several ballet dancers.
Chapter 1 can be found on AO3 as well.
“Peter, come in.”
Peter enters the office of Violent crimes. Ruiz is already seated.
“We have another one. We think he is moving up and we expect him to hit New York any day.”
“Would make sense, it is the Holiday season, so there will be a lot of performances.”
“Yeah, so that is why we are sending you guys undercover.”
“What?”
“Is there a problem, agent Ruiz?”
“No sir, I…”
“Burke, we arranged for you to go undercover as a the new assistant of one of the physical therapists at City Ballet.”
“I don´t know anything about physical therapy.”
“I thought you played baseball. You must know something. If not, I suggest, you read up on it then.
“I can´t wait to massage some of those flexible girls.” Ruiz chips in.
“Ruiz, you are going to metropolitan ballet company, there is a place as a stage hand.”
Ruiz laughs at Burke. “Good luck massaging those fairies.”
* * *
Peter enters the building where City Ballet is rehearsing the Nut Cracker. He can hear landings on the hard wooden floors, and the points of the ballerinas. He never realized ballet made so much noise.
He walks towards the stage and stops by the side, observing, he is not the only one, there are a lot of people present, coaches, alternate casts, trainers and colleagues.
A couple is at the moment at center stage, he recognizes them as Neal Caffrey and Sara Ellis. They are dancing their pas de deux, but it doesn´t look to go very well. The coaches barrage them with minute adjustments. Fingers need to be raised, insteps stretched. Peter notices one thing, the dancers are not asked about their opinion. He was told by their inside contact that Caffrey and Ellis are the stars of the company. But all he can see is that sometimes they mutter together, but otherwise they wait, patient as packhorses, for each new set of corrections. An extrinsic looking man is sitting in the audience, silent, observing. Peter can´t see details, but he guesses he is the Ballet Master, Teddy Winters. Next to his right is an African American woman.
It is not at all what he expected. They take a new run and it all looks so effortless. It is only because Peter stands so close to the dancers that he can see them breath heavy and the sweat forming on their faces.
The coach gives them a toilet break and Both Sara and Neal quickly put on leg warmers before taking a break.
“And you are?” a woman approaches Peter.
“My name is Peter Delacourt, I am the new Physical therapist assistant.”
“Oh good, please tend to Neal, I think he sprained something, he is off today.”
“Sure, no problem.”
He walks off in the direction he saw Neal leave and finds him in one of the dressing rooms. He is massaging his ankle.
“Can I help? The name is Peter, I am the new physical therapist.”
“Hi, Neal. I´m fine.”
“You don´t look fine. Let me have a look.”
“OK, if you insist, I landed funny this morning and it hurts on the outside of my foot and my ankle feels unstable.” Neal says with rolling eyes. ‘It is nothing I haven´t danced through before.”
“You probably landing on your ankle in the rolled out position.” Peter states. “By the look of your foot, you are a veteran in this, so you must know RICE.”
He can see Neal studying him. They he laughs and shrugs his shoulders. “Let´s go, I need to get back, we will deal with this tonight after rehearsal.”
“I don´t think…”
“What? that it is not a good idea to dance on it? Is this your first time in Ballet?”
“Yes, actually, I used to work for a baseball team.”
Neal laughs, muttering something about sissies while walking back to the stage. There is almost no limp in his gait. Wow, Peter was told that these dancers are tough as nails, but he didn´t expect it to be like this.
Sara is already waiting and the coach is not please by the looks of it.
It is almost seven o´clock when the coaches calls it a night. Neal walks back to the changing room where Peter is already waiting for him with an ice bag.
“You know, twenty minutes on, twenty off. Elevate your foot tonight. I can bandage the ankle before you leave, so there is some compression tonight.”
Neal looks tired.
“Thanks.” Neal accepts the ice bag and keeps it on his ankle while he tries to get into a sweater.
“Here, let me hold that for you while your put on something warm.
“Thanks.”
* * *
The next morning, Peter is already in the dressing room before nine, he was told the ballet dancers would arrive somewhere between nine and ten o´clock.
He is massaging one of the other dancers, when Neal enters.
“Goodmorning, Peter, Yuri.” Neal says while putting his stuff away.
Neal pulls up his sweater over his head and his T-shirt rides up. Underneath Peter can see some impressive abs. Neal chats to the other dancers while taking off his jeans and boxer shorts. Peter wants to look away, giving Neal some privacy, but then realizes these dancers are so used to people touching them and commenting on their physique that they are just not shy anymore. Neal pulls up what looks like a thong, but a bit different.
One of the other dancers is also watching Neal.
“Need a hand to swoop and scoop?”
Neal laughs amused. “I think I can manage.”
Peter doesn´t get it until he sees Neal take hold of his balls and adjust them in the tongue until they are astatically pleasing. He watches himself in the mirror and seems to be content. He then puts on some tights and thick legwarmers, finishing with his dance shoes.
“How is the ankle doing?” It is all Peter can think of asking.
“Better, thanks for the taping, it feels more stable.”
Neal leaves the dressing room and walks to one of the classes. After one hour he comes in for a quick change of T-shirt and then he is off to rehearsal. Since all the dancers are busy at the moment, Peter has time to study them. It is also part of his job, one of his instructors has explained. The FBI provided a crash course in physical therapy and he asked a friend of his to tell him everything he needed to know about Ballet. Elizabeth had laughed when Peter had asked her to tell him everything she knew about ballet. She had promised to tell him everything she knew, in exchange for a ticket to the ballet.
Sara and Neal are dancing and they look so in sync with each other. Sara is beautiful and elegant, she dances on her points as if she was born with them. Peter has found out which dancer is playing what part in the ballet and it turns out that Sara has the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Neal is her cavalier. Peter understood from Elizabeth that they dance the most famous grand pas de deux in ballet and Peter has to admit, they do it fantastic. Neal seems to be in better shape than yesterday. When Elizabeth had called Peter last night how his first day at the ballet had been, she had been envious that he had met Neal Caffery. He had only laughed.
When it is way past lunch time and Peter´s stomach is growling, Sara and Neal finally are allowed a break and other dancers take the stage to practice. Neal kisses Sara on the cheek and they are off to their dressing rooms. Peter follows Neal into it.
“Neal, you seem to be in better shape, shall I help you cool down?”
“No thanks Peter, I am off to the swimming pool for my lunch break.”
Peter is a bit baffled, he is swimming during his lunch break? There is no excuse to follow Neal, so he calls the bureau for an agent to follow Neal to the swimming pool without letting him know.
Peter goes back to the dancers and can see Sara sitting to the side watching the other dancers and eating what appears to be lunch. Peter supposes they can´t eat much more if they want to stay this thin, but still, it sort of shocks him how little they eat.
A red headed woman walks up to Sara, she is definitely not a dancer by the way she is dressed and Peter slowly walks closer, but Sara laughs and accepts the booklet and pen the woman presents to her and signs it. A selfie and the woman is gone again.
By now Neal is also back. He waves at Peter before walking to one of the training spaces.
* * *
Peter is getting exhausted. Between the ballet hours and the FBI, there is not much time for sleep anymore. There has been no move on any of the dancers, so Peter can only hope their killer is done. There is talk at the FBI about calling the protection details off the various ballet companies.
Peter excuses himself from the meeting because he promised Neal to go to breakfast together. They are meeting up in a local coffee shop that caters to the dancers. When Peter arrives, Neal is already sitting in a booth at the back. He quickly walks over and takes a seat across from Neal.
Neal gives him a smile. “Good morning, are you OK? You seem tired”
“Yeah, not enough sleep I guess.”
“Important stuff?”
“No, I just went a baseball game last night, and then we ended up in a bar, you know how it works.” He explains while studying the menu.
When Neal doesn´t respond immediately, he looks up.
“No, I don´t know how that works.”
“What do you mean?”
“Peter, how long have you worked in ballet?”
Peter doesn´t respond, he has a feeling Neal will know he is lying. So he goes for the safe answer. “Why?”
“Nice deflection, but most ballet dancers don´t socialize with outsiders. Outsiders mostly don´t understand what it takes to make in the arts, the diets, long hours, performances, etc. and all of this for minimum wage, IF you are an AGMA member. Otherwise you may not even make minimum wage.”
“Well, maybe I should take you with me. Have some good old fashion fun.”
Neal studies him and then laughs. “ I would really like that. Sounds like fun.”
The waitress comes to take their order and Peter orders an omelette, he really would rather order pancakes, but by now he knows how little dancers eat and he thinks it is inappropriate to eat something so full of carbs in front of Neal.
“Your usual, Neal?”
“Yes thanks Sally.”
Once they are back alone, they chat about the ballet world and how different it is from other sports. Sally comes back with Peter´s omelette and Neal´s order. When Peter sees it, he laughs out loud.
“What?” Neal asks with his most innocent face.
“I somehow expected ballet dancers to be on strict diets.”
Neal smiles a bit sheepishly. “I need to be very careful of what I eat, because I’ve got a very high metabolism. If I don´t eat, I go really skinny and weak. The girls are at risk if I´m not strong enough to lift them.”
“I hadn´t thought of that. But why do you swim during your lunch breaks, people tell me it is to burn more calories.”
“What? No of course not. I enjoy swimming, it gets me in the right headspace. It has nothing to do with burning calories, far from it. After I leave the swimming pool I need to eat calories and proteins. ”
“I am glad we cleared that out, I was getting worried and even thought of talking to the dietitian.”
“He knows how many calories I take in on a daily basis, so I am covered.” Neal laughs.
Neal sort of inhales his food. Peter has to admit, he enjoys Neal´s company. He is not as self-centred as Peter had suspected him to be and he has a great sense of humour.
“Let´s go otherwise I will be late for warming up. And I will need a back rub.” Neal leaves in the air what he means by it. He gets up and Peter wants to grab his coat and their faces end up real close. Peter wants to pull back, but Neal smiles and gives him a quick kiss.
On their way back, Peter sees something out of the corner of his eye, he thinks it is the red headed girl he saw during practice but when he turns to face her, there is nobody.
* * *
When Peter enters the exercise room, he finds the dancers at the bares. They are all doing the same moves and Peter can hear someone call out. It is Mozzie, one of the ballet masters and he is not pleased this morning, Peter can tell by the tone of his voice.
“NO, back to the beginning. Plié, turn-out, fifth position, Plié.... Gentleman, make yourselves ready for Grand jeté. Good. Neal. Tour en l´air. Yuri, your turn. Good. Now centre practice.”
Peter looks in fascination at the bodies of the dancers. Their muscles are well defined in their tights, which by now he understands is the purpose of the tights, you are supposed to see the muscles as they move.
“Wow, does Neal have great ballon, or what?” A woman next to Peter asks.
“Sorry?”
“He has great ballon.”
“Yeah sure.” Peter says a bit hesitantly.
“OK, so not a ballet connoisseur.”
“You can tell, hum? What does it mean?”
“Neal sort of lingers in the air, like he defies gravity for a moment.”
“He sure does.”
“That is what makes him a great dancer.” The woman remarks.
When peter turns to look at her, she is gone. Peter scans the space, but she already left.
* * *
“Peter!”
Peter turns around and Neal comes jogging towards him.
“Hi Neal, what is up?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner on Friday?”
“Sorry Neal, I can´t, I have plans with Elizabeth.”
Peter can see Neal´s face fall.
“Of course, I… Never mind.”
Neal looks embarrassed.
“No, it´s not a date or anything. Why don´t you join us?”
“Nah, I don´t want to be a third wheel.”
Peter rolls his eyes. “It´s just a dinner date among friends. Join us, I think Elizabeth will be thrilled that you would join us.”
“She would?”
“Yeah, it´s fine. Do you meet us there or do you want me to pick you up?”
“Just text me the address.”
“Fine, see you on Friday.”
* * *
Peter and El are already in the restaurant they picked and chatting about their lives over drinks.
“Didn´t you say Neal was coming?” El inquires.
“Yeah, I saw him briefly this morning and he told me he would see us tonight, so he was aware of it this morning.”
Suddenly a big smile appears on El´s face. “Oh wait, I think I see him entering.”
Peter turns and can also see Neal talking to the host, who points in their direction. Neal smiles while walking over.
“Sorry I am late, Mozzie kept us busy. Hi, I´m Neal. You must be Elizabeth” Neal takes El´s hand and gives it a kiss. Unbelievable, Peter can see El blush.
“Hi Peter.” Neal gives him a kiss on the cheek. Now it is Peter´s turn to blush, when El looks with a smug grin on her face.
“Shall we order, I´m starving.” Neal announces.
They order and talk, it turns out they don’t have much in common which makes the conversation more interesting. Neal promises to arrange tickets for Elizabeth. And is surprised to find out that Peter hadn´t lied and that they not a couple, just good friends.
Somewhere during dinner they are interrupted by someone that wants a selfie. Neal politely asks the fan to wait until he finished eating. Peter laughs at the interruption, but it happens a couple of more times and although Neal keeps polite, Peter gets annoyed.
“How can you stand them?”
“What, the balletomanes?”
“That is what they are called?”
“Yes, fans of the ballet, balletomanes. If you perform arts, you are depend on fans and people who come to see you. So yes, I find it annoying when they disturb me during dinner but I always try to be polite and give them a chance to get an autograph or selfie, but on my terms. It is part of the job.”
“Wow, I never thought of it that way.”
The three of them are having a great time until Elizabeth notices that the waiters are waiting for them to leave. They are the last in the restaurant so Peter asks the check and they leave.
“Want to come over for a nightcap?” Neal asks.
“Sorry, I have to go, I have to get up early tomorrow morning, so I´ll pass.” Elizabeth announces.
“Oh come on Peter, one drink won´t kill you.”
Neal says goodbye to the men and whispers in Peter´s ear to go for it.
“Bye Neal.”
“Bye Elizabeth, I will take care of those tickets I promised.” He kisses her on the cheek.
* * *
“Our killer has still not struck again. Or he stopped or he is planning something and I am fearing ‘the something’.” Peter says during the morning briefing.
“Can we maybe draw him out?” Jones suggest.
“I wouldn´t know how, we still have no pattern in the killings. Our profilers are still drawing up their reports. But I think we need to be on the lookout for a balletomane.”
“A what?”
“A ballet fan, I have a gut feeling it is a woman.”
“Women don´t tend to be this type of serial killers.”
“I know, but my gut tells me otherwise.” Peter sighs.
“How is the atmosphere in the company?”
“Good, they don´t really let it distract them.”
“OK, well, that is it then, we will see each other again next Thursday.”
To be continued…