Sheenianni's journal

Title: Complicit
Author’s Name: sheenianni
Fandom: White Collar
Characters/Pairings: Peter, Neal, Mozzie; minor appearances Diana and Kramer
Rating: PG
Genre: Angst, friendship, family
Spoilers: Season 3
Content Notice: None
Word Count: ~ 1,700
Beta-read: treonb
Summary: When Elizabeth falls terminally ill, Peter and Neal will do everything in their power to save her life – including taking the Nazi loot to pay for her very new and extremely expensive experimental treatment. But given the circumstances, there is no way that their actions will go unnoticed and soon the FBI is on their trail… AU to season 3; everything happened pretty much the same, except Keller never came back to NY; instead, El got sick. A fill to this prompt at collarcorner.




The thing is, they both panicked when they should have kept a clear head. And yet even now as the consequences of their crime are about to catch up with them, Peter still isn’t sure he could have done anything differently.

He remembers the bitter disappointment he felt when he discovered that someone had sold a Degas on the black market. He had called Kramer, and together they had worked the case – they had almost caught Neal, as Peter found out a few weeks later. The night they recovered the forgery, Peter went to confront Neal at his apartment. There was a huge hourglass on his desk, Neal was still denying everything and Mozzie was gone.

Kramer went back to DC, and Neal and Peter went on together, but the trust between them was still broken by accusations, theft and lies.

And then Elizabeth got sick.

She was disappearing right in front of Peter’s eyes; her body, her mind, her spirit… In three weeks, she went from a healthy person to someone who was having trouble recognizing people. The doctors told them there was no hope and that El had only a month left. That was when Mozzie reappeared, spouting crazy stories of experimental treatments and a cure.

The first time, Peter yelled and chucked him out of the door. Two days after that, he was close to tears as he came to Neal’s apartment, and then he followed Mozzie and Neal to an old warehouse to pick the pieces of the treasure that they could sell to pay for the treatment.

“SHE IS MY WIFE!” Peter had roared, while Neal had said: “It can go from my share” as Mozzie spoke against rash actions.

“You think I care any less than the two of you?! But we can’t just use that money without creating a paper trail first–”

“Watch me!” “Not today, Moz.”

Mozzie raised his arms in despair. “Three days, okay? Give me three days. We can launder it somehow–”

“There’s no time,” Neal shook his head.

“We’ll all end up in jail–”

“I’ll rather die in prison than watch El lose her mind,” spoke Peter sincerely.

That settled it.

They tried to be careful in moving the pieces, but they were in a hurry and there wasn’t time. Hale could usually be trusted, and true to his reputation he hadn’t cracked under Peter's or Kramer’s pressure with the Degas, but he was on the FBI radar now and it would be dangerous to use him this soon again. So they went to Rusty to sell a few pieces, and when the money still wasn’t enough, Peter removed Neal’s anklet and Neal went to New Jersey to fence a few of the paintings himself.

“She squeezed my hand today,” Peter said in awe three weeks after they sold the first portion of the loot. Neal had tears in his eyes, and even Mozzie could barely keep the emotion off his face.

“How much for the next two weeks?” asked Neal in a steady voice.

“Four million,” replied Peter, and his voice shook a bit. If he didn’t know Neal and Moz, if they hadn’t stolen the treasure –

“I’ll handle it,” said Mozzie. He shot the two of them a dark glance. “I’ll try to be more discreet than the two of you.”

The treatment continued, and El kept gaining back weight, then slowly started interacting more with her surroundings, until the day when she spoke to Peter again–

And it might have all worked, thinks Peter. If the news of El’s illness weren’t public knowledge, or if they had somehow managed to fabricate how she had gotten her treatment, or if he hadn’t been so determined to prove that Neal had the treasure back before everything went to hell…

* * *

He called both Neal and Mozzie the moment he discovered that Kramer was back in town.

“He knows I used the treasure to pay for the treatment,” Peter told them. In a few short sentences, he recalled the talk with his former mentor. “Either I stole it myself, or I was quietly complicit in Neal’s actions. He is not going to let this go.”

“Bastard,” Mozzie spat out. “See, Suit? This is what you get for involving yourself with The Man!”

“I would take it back this very second if I could, Mozzie.”

“How much longer before Elizabeth is completely cured?” asked Neal calmly.

“Four months, or there’s a danger it could come back,” said Mozzie grimly.

Peter shook his head. “We can’t stall him for this long. He’s already digging into my financials–”

“– they won’t hold up. I told you; I tried to do damage control after the fact, but since you couldn’t wait–”

“You did the best you could. We appreciate it, Moz,” said Neal sincerely.

“We won’t last four months,” Peter shook his head. “Hell, I doubt we can last two weeks at the speed Kramer is going through everything.”

“We’ll have to give him something.” Neal’s voice is steady despite the paleness of his face. “Peter, we’ll use me–”

“No. No, Neal, no way. If anyone is going down for this, it should be me.”

“You need to be around for Elizabeth,” Neal reminded him. “She’ll need you as she is recovering –”

“Excuse me,” Mozzie cleared his throat, “but are the two of you really talking about sacrificing yourself?”

“You have a better idea, Mozzie?” asked Peter.

“We could just remove him from the picture. I know a way to hire someone –”

“You’re talking about taking a hit out on Kramer,” stated Neal shakily.

“Couldn’t happen to a better person,” murmured Mozzie.

“No, absolutely not. No way,” Peter shook his head. “Not on my watch. I can do the time–”

“Will you stop trying to fall on your sword here?” said Mozzie exasperatedly.

“I’m not going to condone a murder, Mozzie!” exclaimed Peter.

“It wouldn’t work anyway,” said Neal when he found his voice. “It would just draw more attention to us. Besides, if anyone’s responsible for this, it’s me–”

“Are you insane?!” Mozzie interrupted. “Did you infect her? Did you develop this disease? Did you in any way cause El to get sick? That’s right – you didn’t, so stop trying to throw your life away and help me come up with a solution!”

“Mozzie’s right,” said Peter at last, surprising all three of them. “You shouldn’t go down for helping me save Elizabeth.”

“Neither should you,” Neal pointed out. “You wouldn’t have used the treasure unless you absolutely had to. Would you convict someone else if he were in your place?”

“The law–”

“Screw the law!” said Neal forcefully. “Do you really want to leave Elizabeth alone in this, Peter?”

And for the first time in his life Peter couldn’t find it in himself to oppose Neal’s argument.

There was silence.

“Okay,” Mozzie had said at last. “Here is what we’re going to do…”

* * *

It’s been a horrible few months, thinks Peter as he toys with his FBI badge.

As per their plan, Neal has run just a week after Kramer’s arrival in New York. Ever since then, Peter has been living in disgrace and under suspicion; the only reason he was still on the team was thanks to the fact that he was an expert at Caffrey-catching. Kramer told him repeatedly that the only way to redeem himself was to put Neal behind bars for life, while Hughes has discreetly advised him to get a lawyer ASAP. And so Peter navigates the FBI waters, searching for Neal with almost everything he has and praying that he won’t catch him, but he has to make it look good; the treatments have been paid for in advance and El still has two months of them left…

Peter tells her as soon as she regains her mental capacity. They will have to leave – as soon as El’s treatments are over, Mozzie will be there to take them to some place unknown. They can’t pack their things, they can’t sell the house – they can’t even say goodbye to their friends and families or find a new caregiver for Satchmo, because they’re all under tight scrutiny and even the smallest things can raise suspicion. A clean break, Mozzie has insisted – and Peter might be willing to stand trial for his actions, but El won’t let him. He is losing his whole life as he knew it, except for his wife and his best friend – and it’s because of them that this is bearable, that he can even look at himself in the mirror and not feel shame, because Peter can’t sacrifice Neal anymore than he can sacrifice El, and anyone who would expect him to do so doesn’t know him at all.

He reminds himself of all Neal has put on the line for them. He is risking his freedom, and he has sacrificed his life in New York and any chances at having a legal future that wasn’t based on a lie. Peter knows Neal and Sara were on the edge of something real before El became sick, and Neal threw that away too – they even put Mozzie in the crosshairs to carry out their plan. Peter knows, and he still thinks it’s worth it – as long as he sees El laugh at him every day, as long as he sees her alive and growing stronger long after she should have been dead – it is worth it. It is so much worth it, and he would do it all again if he had to.

Now he just has to make it through the next two months.

“We have a new lead on Caffrey in Tokyo,” Kramer informs him coldly as Peter comes to the office that day.

Peter nods grimly. “That’s great news, Phil. Okay, let’s nail this son of a bitch.”

“‘Son of a bitch’? You should tone it down a bit,” murmurs Diana when the two of them meet by the coffee machine.

Peter gives her a blank look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Diana shakes her head. “Good luck, boss.”

Peter waits until she walks away before allowing himself a small smile. Then he schools his face back into a determined expression and goes back to continue the manhunt.

THE END