STORY: Try To Remember - Chapter 7 + Epilogue (Sara, Peter, Neal, Diana)
Here we are, at the end of this journey. And I want to take the opportunity to thank all of you for coming along. For your reviews, kudos and comments. For your patience, when computer problems put a temporary stop to the story. Thank you again, it was a blast to write this story for you, and I hope you enjoy reading this last stretch as much as I did writing it.
Note: The image at the end was edited by me, using a screencap from kanarek13's collection.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trinity Hospital
Sara & Neal’s room
“Come on, Neal, spill it,” Peter said good-naturedly upon seeing the expectant faces of Mozzie, Elizabeth, Sara AND Penelope.
“Okay, okay, okay!” Neal raised his hands in surrender. “If you all ask so nicely, who am I to deny you your wish?” He took a deep breath. “It must have been shortly after an incident here at the hospital. Fowler came in what I used to call the ʻforgeryʼ room.” He paused, turning to Peter. “The FBI crime scene units will probably find a whole bunch of forgeries in this room. As far as I can tell…”
“…they wanted to incriminate you. Even when they had killed you, the memory would be stained with the fact that we failed in keeping you on the straight and narrow.”
Neal only nodded, swallowed and continued. “Fowler was furious, even a blind man could see that. When Bryan,” he saw Sara peaking up at his mention of the name, but he chose to ignore her for the moment, “asked him what was wrong, he told him that someone named John failed in killing Sara.” He looked at her, and for the first time ever, she saw unconditional love in his eyes. “Believe me when I say I’ve been in some really bad situations, allegedly, but I never felt so helpless as in that moment.”
“You gave them the hint with dumping her in the alley, didn’t you?” Peter asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.
“Yeah, I did,” Neal said while grabbing Sara’s hand again. “Was in that moment the only thing I could do, trying to get her out of the line of fire, so to speak.”
“And I’m glad you did,” Sara answered before planting a kiss on his stubbly cheek.
“So, how did you escape?” Mozzie tried to sound as neutral as possible, but apparently he did a lousy job, if the wide smiles on the faces around him were anything to go by.
“Well, the two of them got into a long, heated argument, and while I tried to keep my hands steady for the forgery I was working on, I also tried to get as much of their conversation as possible. They were talking about another partner, but apparently, this partner was a silent one.”
“Which also could mean that this silent partner was the one who did the tampering on your anklet’s data, letting us think for some days that you might have run on your own volition,” Peter explained.
“What changed your mind?” Neal asked.
“Sara. Or better the fact that Winston Bosch called me personally to report you missing,” Peter answered while looking at the woman in question.
“Wow,” was all that Sara got out. Apparently, her boss regarded her higher than she was led to believe.
“Yeah.” Peter turned back to Neal. “You were saying?”
“Ja, well, at some point, I lost track of their conversation. Then Fowler left, only to return shortly after, in the same sour mood as before. Once again, he was arguing with his cohort, but I didn’t catch anything, not one word, mostly because they were talking out in the hallway. All of a sudden, he comes back into the room, calling me with my name. I was fully prepared for him ordering yet another forgery, but after explaining that they were just means to a certain end, he pulled me up from the chair, out of the room, the building and down to the riverbank.” He made a pause, and as if on cue, mostly everyone else in the room uttered a gasp, knowing exactly what was about to happen.
“He finally pulled me to my knees, letting me have one final glance, or so I thought, at New York before pressing the muzzle of his gun into my neck.” On her own volition, one of his hands came up to rub over the skin where the gun touched him, and it took quite some willpower to suppress the shudder that crept up his spine. “Bryan joined us, asking why he, Fowler, wanted to kill me now. In hindsight, I have to say, good thing he did. So he ended up with a bullet in the head instead of me.” Neal paused again, this time to take a sip of water. “And he effectively provided me with the opportunity to get away. Fowler was busy with pulling the body down to the river, leaving me unguarded for some time.” He looked over at Peter, a wide smile spreading on his face. “And if anyone knows what happens when I’m unguarded, it would be you,” he said with a wink.
Peter only nodded, for once glad that Neal had the tendency and the talent to get him out of the craziest situations over and over again.
“So, you just got up and ran?” Penelope said, her voice a mixture of incredulity and approval.
“Yes, ma’am, I did,” Neal answered, and Peter had to suppress a chuckle at hearing the pride lacing the younger man’s voice. Only Neal could pull off things like that and be proud about it afterwards.
“And how did you end up at the pub?”
“I honestly don’t know. I was just there, trying to find a place to hide from Fowler. By the way, the clothes I had on me when I got here, they belong to the owner. Could anyone of you make sure that they get cleaned before I return them to him?”
“Consider it done, Neal,” Mozzie returned before any of the other even could consider Neal’s request.
“Thank you, Moz,” Neal gave back, the last part almost lost in a big yawn.
“Well, that’s our cue,” Penelope piped up. “Folks, I think it’s high on time that we give them both,” she put a hand on Neal’s and Sara’s shoulders each for emphasis, “some well-deserved rest.”
As if on cue, Neal yawned again before slumping slightly in his wheelchair. Taking the hint, Peter herded Elizabeth and Mozzie out in the hallway before coming back and helping Neal settling into the second bed.
“Sara, if anything should happen, just have the nurses call me, no matter what time it is, okay?” Peter said.
“Will do, Peter, and thank you for bringing him back to me.”
“You’re welcome, Sara, but truth be told…”
“…it’s his job to catch me, again and again and again,” Neal suddenly said sleepily, causing both Peter and Sara to chuckle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Epilogue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two weeks later
After staying in the hospital for a couple more days, Neal and Sara were finally released and handed over to June and her staff to help them recover completely. They spent most of their days lounging on the terrace, enjoying the warm weather.
Peter, Elizabeth and Mozzie were alternating in visiting them, mostly to keep them both in the loop of what was going on outside the mansion. The only time they talked about their kidnapping was when Peter informed them that they finally had found the silent partner that Neal had heard them talking about. It was Fowler’s former second in command at the OPR, and he would face a long time behind bars for participating in the crime.
But after some time, Sara noticed some kind of restlessness in Neal. Knowing that it wasn’t connected to her being here constantly in any way, she had a hunch about its true origin.
When they came back from one of their check-up appointments at the hospital, Peter was already waiting for them, a small stash of files in front of him. As expected, Neal’s eyes lit up at the prospect of working with the team again, and together, they spent the afternoon going through the cases.
After another couple of days, Neal decided to go back to working at the office, if only for half a day for the time being. Sara also made the first steps back into her work at Sterling Bosch, and if the way she was welcomed back at the office was anything to go by, her co-workers had missed her a lot.
Shortly before she was finishing her first day back, Sara got a call from Neal, telling her to meet him at the World Fair’s monument at five in the afternoon. Seeing that she had some time on her hands, she went back to her own apartment, slept a bit and took a shower, before preparing herself for the ʻdateʼ with Neal. With a last glance at the mirror next to the door, Sara left her apartment - only to run into Peter.
“Peter! What…?”
“Sorry, Sara, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Peter held his hands up for emphasis. “But Neal told me to get you.”
“How on Earth…?” she wondered, but then she saw the soft smile on Peter’s face. “Of course, he’s Neal Caffrey after all,” she said with a smile of her own.
A short time later, Peter pulled up to the curb near the monument. When she got out of the car, she was rooted to the spot. In front of her, a small table, just enough for two, was set up, already decked out for an outdoor dinner.
“Like what you see, Repo?” Neal all of sudden whispered from behind. Apparently, Sara was so enthralled by the display in front of her that she didn’t t notice him coming up to her.
“Oh yeah,” she turned around and gave Neal an appreciatively once-over, “I like it, very much.”
“Mission accomplished,” Neal replied, before pulling her close and kissing her.
Note: The image at the end was edited by me, using a screencap from kanarek13's collection.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trinity Hospital
Sara & Neal’s room
“Come on, Neal, spill it,” Peter said good-naturedly upon seeing the expectant faces of Mozzie, Elizabeth, Sara AND Penelope.
“Okay, okay, okay!” Neal raised his hands in surrender. “If you all ask so nicely, who am I to deny you your wish?” He took a deep breath. “It must have been shortly after an incident here at the hospital. Fowler came in what I used to call the ʻforgeryʼ room.” He paused, turning to Peter. “The FBI crime scene units will probably find a whole bunch of forgeries in this room. As far as I can tell…”
“…they wanted to incriminate you. Even when they had killed you, the memory would be stained with the fact that we failed in keeping you on the straight and narrow.”
Neal only nodded, swallowed and continued. “Fowler was furious, even a blind man could see that. When Bryan,” he saw Sara peaking up at his mention of the name, but he chose to ignore her for the moment, “asked him what was wrong, he told him that someone named John failed in killing Sara.” He looked at her, and for the first time ever, she saw unconditional love in his eyes. “Believe me when I say I’ve been in some really bad situations, allegedly, but I never felt so helpless as in that moment.”
“You gave them the hint with dumping her in the alley, didn’t you?” Peter asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.
“Yeah, I did,” Neal said while grabbing Sara’s hand again. “Was in that moment the only thing I could do, trying to get her out of the line of fire, so to speak.”
“And I’m glad you did,” Sara answered before planting a kiss on his stubbly cheek.
“So, how did you escape?” Mozzie tried to sound as neutral as possible, but apparently he did a lousy job, if the wide smiles on the faces around him were anything to go by.
“Well, the two of them got into a long, heated argument, and while I tried to keep my hands steady for the forgery I was working on, I also tried to get as much of their conversation as possible. They were talking about another partner, but apparently, this partner was a silent one.”
“Which also could mean that this silent partner was the one who did the tampering on your anklet’s data, letting us think for some days that you might have run on your own volition,” Peter explained.
“What changed your mind?” Neal asked.
“Sara. Or better the fact that Winston Bosch called me personally to report you missing,” Peter answered while looking at the woman in question.
“Wow,” was all that Sara got out. Apparently, her boss regarded her higher than she was led to believe.
“Yeah.” Peter turned back to Neal. “You were saying?”
“Ja, well, at some point, I lost track of their conversation. Then Fowler left, only to return shortly after, in the same sour mood as before. Once again, he was arguing with his cohort, but I didn’t catch anything, not one word, mostly because they were talking out in the hallway. All of a sudden, he comes back into the room, calling me with my name. I was fully prepared for him ordering yet another forgery, but after explaining that they were just means to a certain end, he pulled me up from the chair, out of the room, the building and down to the riverbank.” He made a pause, and as if on cue, mostly everyone else in the room uttered a gasp, knowing exactly what was about to happen.
“He finally pulled me to my knees, letting me have one final glance, or so I thought, at New York before pressing the muzzle of his gun into my neck.” On her own volition, one of his hands came up to rub over the skin where the gun touched him, and it took quite some willpower to suppress the shudder that crept up his spine. “Bryan joined us, asking why he, Fowler, wanted to kill me now. In hindsight, I have to say, good thing he did. So he ended up with a bullet in the head instead of me.” Neal paused again, this time to take a sip of water. “And he effectively provided me with the opportunity to get away. Fowler was busy with pulling the body down to the river, leaving me unguarded for some time.” He looked over at Peter, a wide smile spreading on his face. “And if anyone knows what happens when I’m unguarded, it would be you,” he said with a wink.
Peter only nodded, for once glad that Neal had the tendency and the talent to get him out of the craziest situations over and over again.
“So, you just got up and ran?” Penelope said, her voice a mixture of incredulity and approval.
“Yes, ma’am, I did,” Neal answered, and Peter had to suppress a chuckle at hearing the pride lacing the younger man’s voice. Only Neal could pull off things like that and be proud about it afterwards.
“And how did you end up at the pub?”
“I honestly don’t know. I was just there, trying to find a place to hide from Fowler. By the way, the clothes I had on me when I got here, they belong to the owner. Could anyone of you make sure that they get cleaned before I return them to him?”
“Consider it done, Neal,” Mozzie returned before any of the other even could consider Neal’s request.
“Thank you, Moz,” Neal gave back, the last part almost lost in a big yawn.
“Well, that’s our cue,” Penelope piped up. “Folks, I think it’s high on time that we give them both,” she put a hand on Neal’s and Sara’s shoulders each for emphasis, “some well-deserved rest.”
As if on cue, Neal yawned again before slumping slightly in his wheelchair. Taking the hint, Peter herded Elizabeth and Mozzie out in the hallway before coming back and helping Neal settling into the second bed.
“Sara, if anything should happen, just have the nurses call me, no matter what time it is, okay?” Peter said.
“Will do, Peter, and thank you for bringing him back to me.”
“You’re welcome, Sara, but truth be told…”
“…it’s his job to catch me, again and again and again,” Neal suddenly said sleepily, causing both Peter and Sara to chuckle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Epilogue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two weeks later
After staying in the hospital for a couple more days, Neal and Sara were finally released and handed over to June and her staff to help them recover completely. They spent most of their days lounging on the terrace, enjoying the warm weather.
Peter, Elizabeth and Mozzie were alternating in visiting them, mostly to keep them both in the loop of what was going on outside the mansion. The only time they talked about their kidnapping was when Peter informed them that they finally had found the silent partner that Neal had heard them talking about. It was Fowler’s former second in command at the OPR, and he would face a long time behind bars for participating in the crime.
But after some time, Sara noticed some kind of restlessness in Neal. Knowing that it wasn’t connected to her being here constantly in any way, she had a hunch about its true origin.
When they came back from one of their check-up appointments at the hospital, Peter was already waiting for them, a small stash of files in front of him. As expected, Neal’s eyes lit up at the prospect of working with the team again, and together, they spent the afternoon going through the cases.
After another couple of days, Neal decided to go back to working at the office, if only for half a day for the time being. Sara also made the first steps back into her work at Sterling Bosch, and if the way she was welcomed back at the office was anything to go by, her co-workers had missed her a lot.
Shortly before she was finishing her first day back, Sara got a call from Neal, telling her to meet him at the World Fair’s monument at five in the afternoon. Seeing that she had some time on her hands, she went back to her own apartment, slept a bit and took a shower, before preparing herself for the ʻdateʼ with Neal. With a last glance at the mirror next to the door, Sara left her apartment - only to run into Peter.
“Peter! What…?”
“Sorry, Sara, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Peter held his hands up for emphasis. “But Neal told me to get you.”
“How on Earth…?” she wondered, but then she saw the soft smile on Peter’s face. “Of course, he’s Neal Caffrey after all,” she said with a smile of her own.
A short time later, Peter pulled up to the curb near the monument. When she got out of the car, she was rooted to the spot. In front of her, a small table, just enough for two, was set up, already decked out for an outdoor dinner.
“Like what you see, Repo?” Neal all of sudden whispered from behind. Apparently, Sara was so enthralled by the display in front of her that she didn’t t notice him coming up to her.
“Oh yeah,” she turned around and gave Neal an appreciatively once-over, “I like it, very much.”
“Mission accomplished,” Neal replied, before pulling her close and kissing her.
