Fic: The Mirror Shows Not 3/? [White Collar/Chuck Crossover]
Title: The Mirror Shows Not
Author:
purplehrdwonder
Rating: PG-13
Genre/pairing: Gen, mentions of Chuck/Sarah and past Bryce/Sarah
Characters: Neal, Peter, Diana (White Collar), Bryce, Chuck, Sarah, Casey, Gertrude (Chuck)
Word count: 3,700
Summary: The day Neal Caffrey walked into his apartment to find Chuck Bartowski sitting at his table, he knew he was in trouble.
Spoilers: 3.15 for White Collar, all episodes for Chuck
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.
Chapter 3
Neal held the door to his apartment open as the group filed in ahead of him. June and Mozzie were having one of their outings tonight-as per Neal’s suggestion-so he didn’t have to worry about anyone overhearing what came next. Casey whistled lowly as Neal stepped into the apartment and shut the door behind him. He loosened his tie and pulled his jacket off. Neal went with it, leaving Bryce standing with several of the jagged pieces of his messy past.
“Living pretty good for a dead guy,” Casey said, eyeing the apartment.
“Beats the alternative,” Bryce replied, folding his coat over the sofa arm.
He headed into the kitchen and grabbed wine glasses from the cabinet. He pulled the bottle they’d picked up on the way from the restaurant from its bag and poured five glasses. He handed them around as Chuck and Sarah took seats on the sofa. Verbanski took a seat at the table while Casey chose to remain standing behind her and look as imposing as possible. Bryce, for his part, retreated back into the kitchen and leaned back against the counter. He swirled the glass of wine in his hand, not quite ready to make eye contact with the others. Dinner as Neal Caffrey was one thing, as he had his alias to hold up as a shield from the shrapnel from his previous life.
But this was the moment he’d been dreading since Chuck left his apartment the night before.
“So now what?” he asked at last.
“We kick your ass and take you back to Burbank with us,” Casey said with a smirk. He looked like he’d be more than happy to be the one to do it, too.
Bryce raised an eyebrow while Chuck sputtered, “Casey! C’mon, man!”
“Now we make our offer,” Gertrude said over the boys, as though they weren’t even present.
“Offer?” Bryce asked.
“What Casey said, minus the violence,” Chuck said, throwing a final glare in Casey’s direction before straightening his collar and leaning back into his seat. He had his wine in one hand and the other arm resting across the back of the sofa behind Sarah. “What we talked about last night. Come back with us, buddy. Back to your old life-well, minus the selling your soul to the government part,” he added.
But Bryce shook his head. “We’ve been over this, Chuck. I can’t just leave.”
“Why not?” Casey retorted. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
It was a low blow, but he wasn’t wrong. Bryce ran a hand through his hair. “I have a life here,” he said.
“Neal Caffrey has a life here,” Sarah countered with a shake of her head. “It’s not real when you’re living someone else’s life.”
“Speaking from experience, Sarah Walker?” Bryce retorted bitterly. For a moment, he felt a sense of vindictive pleasure at that-who were these people to tell him that he should give up the life he’d found that finally made him happy after giving up everything for his loved ones and his country, including his life?-but the way Sarah’s face closed off made him regret it almost immediately. “I’m sorry. That was low. I shouldn’t have said it.”
But Sarah shook her head, her voice a little strained when she spoke. “No, you’re right.”
Chuck frowned at her in concern. “Hey-”
Sarah forced a smile, and the look made Bryce’s skin crawl. He hated that he’d been the one to put it on her face, but he was nothing if not stubborn so wasn’t going to back down from the point. Sarah had married Chuck on a name she’d taken while undercover. He’d known her by several names over the course of their partnership and vice versa. He briefly wondered if she’d ever told Chuck her birth name before shoving the thought aside; that wasn’t his life anymore. If he could get through this meeting without anyone getting shot, then he could pretend it had never happened and go back to being Neal Caffrey, a con artist whose only experience with the CIA was being hunted by them for bond forgery and art theft.
“That’s the hazard of a spy’s life,” Sarah said, taking a deep sip of wine. “You can lose yourself so easily.”
There was something more to that comment, Bryce was sure, considering the way Chuck’s frown deepened as he leaned in toward Sarah, but he didn’t comment.
“Is that what you think I’ve done?” he asked instead. “Get lost in Neal Caffrey’s life?”
“That’s exactly what you’ve done, Larkin,” Casey said. “You served your country with honor only to disappear and resurface as an ex-con. Cowardice is what it is.”
Bryce clenched his jaw and his grip tightened around his wine glass. He might be a lot of things-many of them unpleasant-but a coward was not one of them. He opened his mouth to snap a retort, but then noticed the way Casey’s eyes had lit up. He was being baited. And he’d almost fell for it, dammit. He needed to get better control of himself.
He took a breath and shrugged. “Call it what you want, Colonel. I call it retirement.”
“A spy never really retires,” Gertrude said with a wan smile. “You know that, Bryce. We wouldn’t even be having this conversation otherwise.”
“I’m not a spy anymore.” His lips quirked. “I’m a conman.”
“And aren’t spies just a government-sanctioned conmen in the end?” Gertrude countered.
“Old conmen never die. Their smiles just fade away,” Bryce said softly, thinking about Mozzie and Ford. About June and Byron. And Peter and Elizabeth. He shook his head. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t leave,” he said.
“Why not?” Chuck demanded.
Bryce lifted up his pant leg to reveal the tracking anklet and shook his foot for good measure. So maybe he was feeling slightly petulant at the moment. He figured he’d earned that right with the way his life had been upended in the last two days.
“Two mile radius for one.”
“You know General Beckman would make that go away if you wanted,” Sarah replied.
“And don’t you have a commutation hearing coming up, Neal?” Verbanski added.
Bryce blinked. “How did you-”
She smirked. “My people did their homework on Neal Caffrey. We’re very thorough.”
“Commutation?” Chuck asked, looking between Bryce and Gertrude.
“My sentence could be cut short,” Bryce explained. “I was supposed to work for the FBI for the four years left on my sentence. It’s been three.”
“But a favorable ruling on the hearing would get his anklet off early,” Gertrude chimed in. “He’d be a free man.”
“For being a good little boy,” Casey added helpfully. Bryce ignored him.
Chuck’s eyes widened at that. “Then what’s stopping you?”
“If your sentence was commuted, you wouldn’t even have to burn your alias,” Sarah pointed out. “You’d be free to do what you want.”
“Like work for Carmichael Industries?”
“Or Verbanksi Corp.”
Bryce sighed. “It wouldn’t matter. Even if my sentence is commuted, and there’s no guarantee that it will be, I’m staying.”
Gertrude took a deliberate sip of wine. “Who says you have to leave?”
Bryce frowned, taken off-guard by the comment. “What?”
“Do you really think that if you get your sentence commuted and you continue working at the FBI, they’re going to pay enough to support Neal Caffrey’s expensive tastes?” Gertrude snorted. “You know what FBI agents can afford and it’s not a multi-million dollar view of Manhattan or a closetful of Devores.”
“So what are you getting at?”
“Yeah,” Chuck interjected, “what are you getting at?”
“What I’m getting at is that you stay in New York, be Neal Caffrey during the week. Play with your little FBI friends. But on the weekends, take cases with us,” Gertrude said, nodding between her and Chuck. “Catch some a white collar crook on Thursday and be in Monaco on Friday with Chuck or Rio on Saturday with me.”
“A freelance spy.” He had to admit, the idea was somewhat appealing. He hadn’t been out of the city in years. But at the same time, he’d made the choice to remain stationary for a reason.
“Exactly.” Verbanski shrugged. “You get to travel, have some fun, and you won’t be breaking any laws. No anklet to tell anyone where you are. We pay well, too.”
Chuck perked up at that. Despite being involved in the spy life, it seemed like his boyish excitement that Bryce had been so fond of in college was still there. “Yeah! It’s the best of both worlds, isn’t it?”
But despite that relief on his friend’s behalf, Bryce took a long draught of wine and shook his head. As tempting as the idea might be, there was too much at stake otherwise. “I still can’t.”
“Now you’re just being stubborn,” Chuck grumbled. “You always did dig your heels in when you thought you were right about something.”
Bryce allowed himself a brief smile at the thought of those pre-CIA college years before his expression faded into something grimmer. “I can’t leave-but it’s not for the reasons you’re thinking.”
“Then why?” Sarah pressed. “You’ve always been the best. You can’t tell me you don’t miss it. At least a little.”
He shrugged. “I get plenty of excitement working with Peter.” Casey grunted disparagingly and Bryce rolled his eyes. “But it’s not about me.”
Chuck frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Bryce put his empty wine glass down on the counter and rolled his shoulders. “I’ve got a lot of enemies-both as Bryce and as Neal. If I got back into the spy game, any of Bryce Larkin’s enemies could easily make the connection between me and my alias. They wouldn’t hesitate to come to New York.”
“You’re not scared, are you, Larkin?” Casey sneered.
“Not for myself,” Bryce retorted coolly, which shut Casey up. “I can watch my own back. But any of my enemies from my spy days could come to New York and hurt someone I care about to get to me. And I can’t take that chance. I have to be here keep an eye on them.” He shook his head. “If you found me, they could, too. And I would never forgive myself if something happened.”
“Bryce-” Sarah started.
But Bryce cut her off. “Remember my rival? The one who had the original Franklin bottle?”
“What about him?” Chuck asked.
“His name is Matthew Keller.”
Chuck’s eyes rolled back in his head and Bryce knew his gamble had paid off as Chuck flashed. Keller was dangerous enough that Bryce would have been surprised if he wasn’t in the Intersect.
“Chuck?” Sarah asked, grabbing Chuck’s knee as he came back to himself. “Did you flash?”
“Yeah,” he said, frowning at Bryce. “Matthew Keller is a dangerous dude.”
Bryce nodded. “He had Peter kidnapped right in front of me a year ago. An FBI agent. And he orchestrated the whole thing from prison. To get to me.” He shook his head. “And a couple of months ago…” He swallowed against the bitter guilt rising in his throat. Just thinking about it still made him sick. “He took Peter’s wife, Elizabeth. From her house while she was cooking dinner. All because I had something he wanted.”
It had been weeks before he’d been able to look El in the face again, and he’d nearly fled the Burke house when she’d smiled and wrapped her arms around him and told him that she didn’t blame him.
“Bryce, buddy-”
“My point is,” Bryce said, cutting Chuck off, “Keller is Neal’s deadliest rival. He might be in prison now, but any of my spy enemies are just as-if not more-dangerous. And there are a lot of them.” He made eye contact with each spy in the room before continuing. “Bryce Larkin has to stay dead-if not for me, for the people I care about.”
There was a long silent moment before Casey broke it. “That’s disgustingly noble of you, Larkin.”
Bryce flashed him a wan smile. “We all have our moments, I guess.” He winked. “I’m sure yours will come in time, Casey.”
Casey growled, but Gertrude turned and put a hand on his arm. Calling off her dog, Bryce thought with a smirk to himself. Even though the world had gone crazy around him, it was nice to know some things would always stay the same.
Once Casey reined himself in, Gertrude took a last drink of her wine and rose. “I can see we won’t change your mind on the matter. It’s a shame, letting those skills go unused, but we won’t push you.”
“Thank you,” Bryce said with a relieved nod.
“But nothing says you have to stay isolated, you know,” Chuck added, pushing himself to his feet.
“Chuck-” But Chuck gave him that soft, understanding smile that had always managed to stop Bryce in his tracks in college. And it still seemed to have the same effect now.
“We don’t want to put your friends at risk, but if you need help…”
“I’ll know who to call.”
“And even if you don’t need help…” Chuck said, trailing off.
Bryce nodded, wondering not for the first time what he’d done to deserve a friend like Chuck-even after he’d done everything he could to keep him out of his life.
“Are we all done feeling our feelings or what?” Casey grumbled.
“Hang on,” Sarah said, rising. “Bryce, can I have a minute?”
Bryce raised an eyebrow at that but nodded. Sarah gave Chuck a peck on the cheek before heading for the privacy the balcony afforded and Bryce followed. She walked over to the wall and looked over the New York skyline for a few moments before turning back to Bryce.
“It’s beautiful here.”
“It is,” he agreed neutrally. He wasn’t sure what this was about-or where the two of them stood.
“I’m glad,” she said. “You deserve some beauty in your life after everything we’ve seen.”
“And done.”
“And done,” she agreed.
“Sarah, about what I said-” Bryce started, but Sarah shook her head.
“No, it’s fine. You were right.” She drummed her fingers on the stone, looking back over the cityscape. “I think for people like us, it can take a few identities before we find out who we were really meant to be. I was a lot of people before Sarah Walker, but none of them fit like she does. It’s who I am now.” She glanced back at the apartment, where Chuck was saying something and Casey was nodding.
“Sometimes I envy people who were born as the people they were meant to be,” she said.
“Like Chuck?”
She nodded. “He’s been through a lot but has always been Chuck. It must be so… stable.”
“But now you’ve got that,” Bryce pointed out.
“And so do you,” Sarah said, looking him in the eye. It was a surprisingly intense look.
“You think I was meant to be Neal Caffrey?”
Sarah smiled; it was soft and a little sad, but it was genuine. “You think so.” She laughed then.
Bryce blinked. “What?”
“It’s just… my father’s a con artist. I grew up in that life. And now you’re one. We can’t seem to get away from it, can we?”
Bryce glanced back toward the apartment. “I think Verbanski was onto something. Spies are just government-sanctioned conmen when it comes down to it.” He’d been using a lot of his CIA skills to function in the underworld as Neal, after all-minus the violence whenever possible.
“Maybe.”
“You should probably get back to your husband,” Bryce said after a quiet moment.
Sarah started and blushed. It was rather endearing that she could still blush after everything she’d seen and done, Bryce thought idly.
“I’m sorry we sprung that on you during an undercover dinner,” she said, glancing at her ring.
But Bryce shrugged. It had been like a slap in the face when he realized that it wasn’t just a cover story, but he’d come to terms with it pretty quickly. The last time he’d seen Sarah, she’d already made her choice. And Chuck was a great guy. He couldn’t blame her for the choice. They both deserved happiness.
“It’s fine.”
Sarah shook her head. “No, it’s not.” She sighed, glancing back toward the group inside. “You know, Chuck was thinking about you a lot before the wedding.”
“He was?” That took Bryce aback.
“Besides Morgan, you were his best friend,” Sarah said. “And he wanted everyone he loved to be there. And so did I.”
“I wasn’t a very good friend.” He looked back over the city, suddenly unable to meet Sarah’s eyes. “To either of you.”
“You always do that,” Sarah said with a sigh. She followed his gaze over the balcony and slid her hand on top of his.
“Do what?”
“Make yourself into the bad guy when you’re not.” She squeezed his hand and Bryce felt a current run up his arm. He swallowed but didn’t say anything. “You sacrificed Chuck’s friendship for his safety.”
“I got him kicked out of Stanford so he could work at a Buy More,” Bryce retorted. The latter hadn’t been intentional, but intent didn’t change the result.
“To protect him from the spy life.”
“Which he ended up in anyway. Because of me.” Chuck had been the only one Bryce knew he could trust the night he fled Fulcrum with the Intersect. He’d been out of options so had sent the program to his ex-best friend when he’d been trying to keep him away from the CIA in the first place.
“He was going to get involved one way or another and you know it,” Sarah said gently. “If not because of the Intersect, then because of his parents. You gave him a weapon he could defend himself with.”
And I brought the two of you together, he thought.
“You let everyone think you’d gone rogue to protect the country,” she added. “You let me think that.”
“Well, technically I had gone rogue,” Bryce retorted with a wry smile, covering the way his insides clenched at the memory of leaving her behind. “Fulcrum wasn’t on the up-and-up as you’ll recall.”
“But you didn’t know that. And as soon as you found out, you left.”
“Sarah-”
But Sarah grabbed Bryce’s chin so that he had to look at her. He was so startled by the move that he didn’t try to shake her off.
“Don’t think I don’t know what this is, Bryce Larkin. Whenever you think you’ve screwed up, you isolate yourself in some twisted sense of penance. If a mission went south, you’d disappear for a month and go on nonstop solo missions until you thought you’d made up for it. And it’s crap.” She shook her head. “It was then and it is now. You don’t have to be by yourself, you know. You weren’t wrong.” She grinned then and reminded Bryce of Chuck. “You might be an arrogant, stubborn ass, but you did the best you could."
Bryce huffed a laugh as Sarah dropped her hand from his face. “Which time?”
“Any of them.” Her expression softened at that. “So just… you don’t have to keep punishing yourself like this. You can let people in.”
For a moment, Bryce didn’t know what to say. But he considered her words before speaking. “I’m not.”
She blinked. “What?”
“I’m not as isolated as you think,” he clarified. “I told you, I have here people that I care about. And for some remarkable reason, they put up with me.”
“It’s not so remarkable,” she said gently.
“Sarah-”
She cut him off. “Just remember that we’re a phone call away, okay?”
Bryce smiled. “You really are amazing,” he told her. “I never told you that enough, Mrs. Anderson.”
Sarah laughed at that. “You’re not so bad yourself, Mr. Anderson.”
“I really am happy for you and Chuck,” he said. “I want you both to know that.”
She smiled and leaned forward, giving him a chaste kiss on the lips. “Thank you,” she whispered.
And then she was gone, walking back into the apartment. Bryce remained where he was while Casey groused about taking so long. Soon the group was heading out the door, their business done.
“What was that?” Chuck asked as he held the door open for her.
“Closure,” she replied, stepping into the hallway.
Chuck glanced back at Bryce once more, and Bryce nodded. Chuck looked like he wanted to say something but finally just nodded in return and then was gone as well, the door clicking shut behind him. Bryce sighed and dropped into the closest chair. He rubbed his face through his hands.
It was Neal Caffrey who walked back into the apartment an hour later.
-----
The next morning, Neal walked into the office and dropped his coat off at his desk before heading up the steps to Peter’s office. Peter, pen in hand, was looking over some paperwork. Neal knocked on the open door before stepping in.
“Hey,” he said as Peter looked up.
“Morning,” Peter replied. “How was dinner last night?”
Neal slid into his usual seat. “It was fine.” He raised an eyebrow at Peter, who was watching him curiously. “What? I stayed within my radius.”
“I never said you didn’t.”
“I didn’t steal anything.”
“I never said you did.”
Neal eyed Peter curiously. “Then why are you giving me that Look?”
“What look?” Peter asked innocently.
“The ‘What Kind of Trouble Has Neal Gotten into Now?’ Look.”
Peter snorted. “In contrast to what, my ‘Neal Is a Perfect Boy Scout’ Look? Because that one doesn’t get nearly enough use if you ask me."
Neal stuck out his bottom lip. “You wound me, Peter.”
Peter rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure.”
Neal opened his mouth to retort when Diana knocked on the door. Peter looked up and Neal glanced behind him at the agent and grinned a greeting. She rolled her eyes at him.
“Yeah, Diana?” Peter said.
“Charles Carmichael and Gertrude Verbanski are here to see you, Boss,” she said.
-----
tbc…
Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
Author:
purplehrdwonder
Rating: PG-13
Genre/pairing: Gen, mentions of Chuck/Sarah and past Bryce/Sarah
Characters: Neal, Peter, Diana (White Collar), Bryce, Chuck, Sarah, Casey, Gertrude (Chuck)
Word count: 3,700
Summary: The day Neal Caffrey walked into his apartment to find Chuck Bartowski sitting at his table, he knew he was in trouble.
Spoilers: 3.15 for White Collar, all episodes for Chuck
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.
Chapter 3
Neal held the door to his apartment open as the group filed in ahead of him. June and Mozzie were having one of their outings tonight-as per Neal’s suggestion-so he didn’t have to worry about anyone overhearing what came next. Casey whistled lowly as Neal stepped into the apartment and shut the door behind him. He loosened his tie and pulled his jacket off. Neal went with it, leaving Bryce standing with several of the jagged pieces of his messy past.
“Living pretty good for a dead guy,” Casey said, eyeing the apartment.
“Beats the alternative,” Bryce replied, folding his coat over the sofa arm.
He headed into the kitchen and grabbed wine glasses from the cabinet. He pulled the bottle they’d picked up on the way from the restaurant from its bag and poured five glasses. He handed them around as Chuck and Sarah took seats on the sofa. Verbanski took a seat at the table while Casey chose to remain standing behind her and look as imposing as possible. Bryce, for his part, retreated back into the kitchen and leaned back against the counter. He swirled the glass of wine in his hand, not quite ready to make eye contact with the others. Dinner as Neal Caffrey was one thing, as he had his alias to hold up as a shield from the shrapnel from his previous life.
But this was the moment he’d been dreading since Chuck left his apartment the night before.
“So now what?” he asked at last.
“We kick your ass and take you back to Burbank with us,” Casey said with a smirk. He looked like he’d be more than happy to be the one to do it, too.
Bryce raised an eyebrow while Chuck sputtered, “Casey! C’mon, man!”
“Now we make our offer,” Gertrude said over the boys, as though they weren’t even present.
“Offer?” Bryce asked.
“What Casey said, minus the violence,” Chuck said, throwing a final glare in Casey’s direction before straightening his collar and leaning back into his seat. He had his wine in one hand and the other arm resting across the back of the sofa behind Sarah. “What we talked about last night. Come back with us, buddy. Back to your old life-well, minus the selling your soul to the government part,” he added.
But Bryce shook his head. “We’ve been over this, Chuck. I can’t just leave.”
“Why not?” Casey retorted. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
It was a low blow, but he wasn’t wrong. Bryce ran a hand through his hair. “I have a life here,” he said.
“Neal Caffrey has a life here,” Sarah countered with a shake of her head. “It’s not real when you’re living someone else’s life.”
“Speaking from experience, Sarah Walker?” Bryce retorted bitterly. For a moment, he felt a sense of vindictive pleasure at that-who were these people to tell him that he should give up the life he’d found that finally made him happy after giving up everything for his loved ones and his country, including his life?-but the way Sarah’s face closed off made him regret it almost immediately. “I’m sorry. That was low. I shouldn’t have said it.”
But Sarah shook her head, her voice a little strained when she spoke. “No, you’re right.”
Chuck frowned at her in concern. “Hey-”
Sarah forced a smile, and the look made Bryce’s skin crawl. He hated that he’d been the one to put it on her face, but he was nothing if not stubborn so wasn’t going to back down from the point. Sarah had married Chuck on a name she’d taken while undercover. He’d known her by several names over the course of their partnership and vice versa. He briefly wondered if she’d ever told Chuck her birth name before shoving the thought aside; that wasn’t his life anymore. If he could get through this meeting without anyone getting shot, then he could pretend it had never happened and go back to being Neal Caffrey, a con artist whose only experience with the CIA was being hunted by them for bond forgery and art theft.
“That’s the hazard of a spy’s life,” Sarah said, taking a deep sip of wine. “You can lose yourself so easily.”
There was something more to that comment, Bryce was sure, considering the way Chuck’s frown deepened as he leaned in toward Sarah, but he didn’t comment.
“Is that what you think I’ve done?” he asked instead. “Get lost in Neal Caffrey’s life?”
“That’s exactly what you’ve done, Larkin,” Casey said. “You served your country with honor only to disappear and resurface as an ex-con. Cowardice is what it is.”
Bryce clenched his jaw and his grip tightened around his wine glass. He might be a lot of things-many of them unpleasant-but a coward was not one of them. He opened his mouth to snap a retort, but then noticed the way Casey’s eyes had lit up. He was being baited. And he’d almost fell for it, dammit. He needed to get better control of himself.
He took a breath and shrugged. “Call it what you want, Colonel. I call it retirement.”
“A spy never really retires,” Gertrude said with a wan smile. “You know that, Bryce. We wouldn’t even be having this conversation otherwise.”
“I’m not a spy anymore.” His lips quirked. “I’m a conman.”
“And aren’t spies just a government-sanctioned conmen in the end?” Gertrude countered.
“Old conmen never die. Their smiles just fade away,” Bryce said softly, thinking about Mozzie and Ford. About June and Byron. And Peter and Elizabeth. He shook his head. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t leave,” he said.
“Why not?” Chuck demanded.
Bryce lifted up his pant leg to reveal the tracking anklet and shook his foot for good measure. So maybe he was feeling slightly petulant at the moment. He figured he’d earned that right with the way his life had been upended in the last two days.
“Two mile radius for one.”
“You know General Beckman would make that go away if you wanted,” Sarah replied.
“And don’t you have a commutation hearing coming up, Neal?” Verbanski added.
Bryce blinked. “How did you-”
She smirked. “My people did their homework on Neal Caffrey. We’re very thorough.”
“Commutation?” Chuck asked, looking between Bryce and Gertrude.
“My sentence could be cut short,” Bryce explained. “I was supposed to work for the FBI for the four years left on my sentence. It’s been three.”
“But a favorable ruling on the hearing would get his anklet off early,” Gertrude chimed in. “He’d be a free man.”
“For being a good little boy,” Casey added helpfully. Bryce ignored him.
Chuck’s eyes widened at that. “Then what’s stopping you?”
“If your sentence was commuted, you wouldn’t even have to burn your alias,” Sarah pointed out. “You’d be free to do what you want.”
“Like work for Carmichael Industries?”
“Or Verbanksi Corp.”
Bryce sighed. “It wouldn’t matter. Even if my sentence is commuted, and there’s no guarantee that it will be, I’m staying.”
Gertrude took a deliberate sip of wine. “Who says you have to leave?”
Bryce frowned, taken off-guard by the comment. “What?”
“Do you really think that if you get your sentence commuted and you continue working at the FBI, they’re going to pay enough to support Neal Caffrey’s expensive tastes?” Gertrude snorted. “You know what FBI agents can afford and it’s not a multi-million dollar view of Manhattan or a closetful of Devores.”
“So what are you getting at?”
“Yeah,” Chuck interjected, “what are you getting at?”
“What I’m getting at is that you stay in New York, be Neal Caffrey during the week. Play with your little FBI friends. But on the weekends, take cases with us,” Gertrude said, nodding between her and Chuck. “Catch some a white collar crook on Thursday and be in Monaco on Friday with Chuck or Rio on Saturday with me.”
“A freelance spy.” He had to admit, the idea was somewhat appealing. He hadn’t been out of the city in years. But at the same time, he’d made the choice to remain stationary for a reason.
“Exactly.” Verbanski shrugged. “You get to travel, have some fun, and you won’t be breaking any laws. No anklet to tell anyone where you are. We pay well, too.”
Chuck perked up at that. Despite being involved in the spy life, it seemed like his boyish excitement that Bryce had been so fond of in college was still there. “Yeah! It’s the best of both worlds, isn’t it?”
But despite that relief on his friend’s behalf, Bryce took a long draught of wine and shook his head. As tempting as the idea might be, there was too much at stake otherwise. “I still can’t.”
“Now you’re just being stubborn,” Chuck grumbled. “You always did dig your heels in when you thought you were right about something.”
Bryce allowed himself a brief smile at the thought of those pre-CIA college years before his expression faded into something grimmer. “I can’t leave-but it’s not for the reasons you’re thinking.”
“Then why?” Sarah pressed. “You’ve always been the best. You can’t tell me you don’t miss it. At least a little.”
He shrugged. “I get plenty of excitement working with Peter.” Casey grunted disparagingly and Bryce rolled his eyes. “But it’s not about me.”
Chuck frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Bryce put his empty wine glass down on the counter and rolled his shoulders. “I’ve got a lot of enemies-both as Bryce and as Neal. If I got back into the spy game, any of Bryce Larkin’s enemies could easily make the connection between me and my alias. They wouldn’t hesitate to come to New York.”
“You’re not scared, are you, Larkin?” Casey sneered.
“Not for myself,” Bryce retorted coolly, which shut Casey up. “I can watch my own back. But any of my enemies from my spy days could come to New York and hurt someone I care about to get to me. And I can’t take that chance. I have to be here keep an eye on them.” He shook his head. “If you found me, they could, too. And I would never forgive myself if something happened.”
“Bryce-” Sarah started.
But Bryce cut her off. “Remember my rival? The one who had the original Franklin bottle?”
“What about him?” Chuck asked.
“His name is Matthew Keller.”
Chuck’s eyes rolled back in his head and Bryce knew his gamble had paid off as Chuck flashed. Keller was dangerous enough that Bryce would have been surprised if he wasn’t in the Intersect.
“Chuck?” Sarah asked, grabbing Chuck’s knee as he came back to himself. “Did you flash?”
“Yeah,” he said, frowning at Bryce. “Matthew Keller is a dangerous dude.”
Bryce nodded. “He had Peter kidnapped right in front of me a year ago. An FBI agent. And he orchestrated the whole thing from prison. To get to me.” He shook his head. “And a couple of months ago…” He swallowed against the bitter guilt rising in his throat. Just thinking about it still made him sick. “He took Peter’s wife, Elizabeth. From her house while she was cooking dinner. All because I had something he wanted.”
It had been weeks before he’d been able to look El in the face again, and he’d nearly fled the Burke house when she’d smiled and wrapped her arms around him and told him that she didn’t blame him.
“Bryce, buddy-”
“My point is,” Bryce said, cutting Chuck off, “Keller is Neal’s deadliest rival. He might be in prison now, but any of my spy enemies are just as-if not more-dangerous. And there are a lot of them.” He made eye contact with each spy in the room before continuing. “Bryce Larkin has to stay dead-if not for me, for the people I care about.”
There was a long silent moment before Casey broke it. “That’s disgustingly noble of you, Larkin.”
Bryce flashed him a wan smile. “We all have our moments, I guess.” He winked. “I’m sure yours will come in time, Casey.”
Casey growled, but Gertrude turned and put a hand on his arm. Calling off her dog, Bryce thought with a smirk to himself. Even though the world had gone crazy around him, it was nice to know some things would always stay the same.
Once Casey reined himself in, Gertrude took a last drink of her wine and rose. “I can see we won’t change your mind on the matter. It’s a shame, letting those skills go unused, but we won’t push you.”
“Thank you,” Bryce said with a relieved nod.
“But nothing says you have to stay isolated, you know,” Chuck added, pushing himself to his feet.
“Chuck-” But Chuck gave him that soft, understanding smile that had always managed to stop Bryce in his tracks in college. And it still seemed to have the same effect now.
“We don’t want to put your friends at risk, but if you need help…”
“I’ll know who to call.”
“And even if you don’t need help…” Chuck said, trailing off.
Bryce nodded, wondering not for the first time what he’d done to deserve a friend like Chuck-even after he’d done everything he could to keep him out of his life.
“Are we all done feeling our feelings or what?” Casey grumbled.
“Hang on,” Sarah said, rising. “Bryce, can I have a minute?”
Bryce raised an eyebrow at that but nodded. Sarah gave Chuck a peck on the cheek before heading for the privacy the balcony afforded and Bryce followed. She walked over to the wall and looked over the New York skyline for a few moments before turning back to Bryce.
“It’s beautiful here.”
“It is,” he agreed neutrally. He wasn’t sure what this was about-or where the two of them stood.
“I’m glad,” she said. “You deserve some beauty in your life after everything we’ve seen.”
“And done.”
“And done,” she agreed.
“Sarah, about what I said-” Bryce started, but Sarah shook her head.
“No, it’s fine. You were right.” She drummed her fingers on the stone, looking back over the cityscape. “I think for people like us, it can take a few identities before we find out who we were really meant to be. I was a lot of people before Sarah Walker, but none of them fit like she does. It’s who I am now.” She glanced back at the apartment, where Chuck was saying something and Casey was nodding.
“Sometimes I envy people who were born as the people they were meant to be,” she said.
“Like Chuck?”
She nodded. “He’s been through a lot but has always been Chuck. It must be so… stable.”
“But now you’ve got that,” Bryce pointed out.
“And so do you,” Sarah said, looking him in the eye. It was a surprisingly intense look.
“You think I was meant to be Neal Caffrey?”
Sarah smiled; it was soft and a little sad, but it was genuine. “You think so.” She laughed then.
Bryce blinked. “What?”
“It’s just… my father’s a con artist. I grew up in that life. And now you’re one. We can’t seem to get away from it, can we?”
Bryce glanced back toward the apartment. “I think Verbanski was onto something. Spies are just government-sanctioned conmen when it comes down to it.” He’d been using a lot of his CIA skills to function in the underworld as Neal, after all-minus the violence whenever possible.
“Maybe.”
“You should probably get back to your husband,” Bryce said after a quiet moment.
Sarah started and blushed. It was rather endearing that she could still blush after everything she’d seen and done, Bryce thought idly.
“I’m sorry we sprung that on you during an undercover dinner,” she said, glancing at her ring.
But Bryce shrugged. It had been like a slap in the face when he realized that it wasn’t just a cover story, but he’d come to terms with it pretty quickly. The last time he’d seen Sarah, she’d already made her choice. And Chuck was a great guy. He couldn’t blame her for the choice. They both deserved happiness.
“It’s fine.”
Sarah shook her head. “No, it’s not.” She sighed, glancing back toward the group inside. “You know, Chuck was thinking about you a lot before the wedding.”
“He was?” That took Bryce aback.
“Besides Morgan, you were his best friend,” Sarah said. “And he wanted everyone he loved to be there. And so did I.”
“I wasn’t a very good friend.” He looked back over the city, suddenly unable to meet Sarah’s eyes. “To either of you.”
“You always do that,” Sarah said with a sigh. She followed his gaze over the balcony and slid her hand on top of his.
“Do what?”
“Make yourself into the bad guy when you’re not.” She squeezed his hand and Bryce felt a current run up his arm. He swallowed but didn’t say anything. “You sacrificed Chuck’s friendship for his safety.”
“I got him kicked out of Stanford so he could work at a Buy More,” Bryce retorted. The latter hadn’t been intentional, but intent didn’t change the result.
“To protect him from the spy life.”
“Which he ended up in anyway. Because of me.” Chuck had been the only one Bryce knew he could trust the night he fled Fulcrum with the Intersect. He’d been out of options so had sent the program to his ex-best friend when he’d been trying to keep him away from the CIA in the first place.
“He was going to get involved one way or another and you know it,” Sarah said gently. “If not because of the Intersect, then because of his parents. You gave him a weapon he could defend himself with.”
And I brought the two of you together, he thought.
“You let everyone think you’d gone rogue to protect the country,” she added. “You let me think that.”
“Well, technically I had gone rogue,” Bryce retorted with a wry smile, covering the way his insides clenched at the memory of leaving her behind. “Fulcrum wasn’t on the up-and-up as you’ll recall.”
“But you didn’t know that. And as soon as you found out, you left.”
“Sarah-”
But Sarah grabbed Bryce’s chin so that he had to look at her. He was so startled by the move that he didn’t try to shake her off.
“Don’t think I don’t know what this is, Bryce Larkin. Whenever you think you’ve screwed up, you isolate yourself in some twisted sense of penance. If a mission went south, you’d disappear for a month and go on nonstop solo missions until you thought you’d made up for it. And it’s crap.” She shook her head. “It was then and it is now. You don’t have to be by yourself, you know. You weren’t wrong.” She grinned then and reminded Bryce of Chuck. “You might be an arrogant, stubborn ass, but you did the best you could."
Bryce huffed a laugh as Sarah dropped her hand from his face. “Which time?”
“Any of them.” Her expression softened at that. “So just… you don’t have to keep punishing yourself like this. You can let people in.”
For a moment, Bryce didn’t know what to say. But he considered her words before speaking. “I’m not.”
She blinked. “What?”
“I’m not as isolated as you think,” he clarified. “I told you, I have here people that I care about. And for some remarkable reason, they put up with me.”
“It’s not so remarkable,” she said gently.
“Sarah-”
She cut him off. “Just remember that we’re a phone call away, okay?”
Bryce smiled. “You really are amazing,” he told her. “I never told you that enough, Mrs. Anderson.”
Sarah laughed at that. “You’re not so bad yourself, Mr. Anderson.”
“I really am happy for you and Chuck,” he said. “I want you both to know that.”
She smiled and leaned forward, giving him a chaste kiss on the lips. “Thank you,” she whispered.
And then she was gone, walking back into the apartment. Bryce remained where he was while Casey groused about taking so long. Soon the group was heading out the door, their business done.
“What was that?” Chuck asked as he held the door open for her.
“Closure,” she replied, stepping into the hallway.
Chuck glanced back at Bryce once more, and Bryce nodded. Chuck looked like he wanted to say something but finally just nodded in return and then was gone as well, the door clicking shut behind him. Bryce sighed and dropped into the closest chair. He rubbed his face through his hands.
It was Neal Caffrey who walked back into the apartment an hour later.
-----
The next morning, Neal walked into the office and dropped his coat off at his desk before heading up the steps to Peter’s office. Peter, pen in hand, was looking over some paperwork. Neal knocked on the open door before stepping in.
“Hey,” he said as Peter looked up.
“Morning,” Peter replied. “How was dinner last night?”
Neal slid into his usual seat. “It was fine.” He raised an eyebrow at Peter, who was watching him curiously. “What? I stayed within my radius.”
“I never said you didn’t.”
“I didn’t steal anything.”
“I never said you did.”
Neal eyed Peter curiously. “Then why are you giving me that Look?”
“What look?” Peter asked innocently.
“The ‘What Kind of Trouble Has Neal Gotten into Now?’ Look.”
Peter snorted. “In contrast to what, my ‘Neal Is a Perfect Boy Scout’ Look? Because that one doesn’t get nearly enough use if you ask me."
Neal stuck out his bottom lip. “You wound me, Peter.”
Peter rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure.”
Neal opened his mouth to retort when Diana knocked on the door. Peter looked up and Neal glanced behind him at the agent and grinned a greeting. She rolled her eyes at him.
“Yeah, Diana?” Peter said.
“Charles Carmichael and Gertrude Verbanski are here to see you, Boss,” she said.
-----
tbc…
Previous Chapter | Next Chapter