Neal Caffrey one shots | White Collar

Prosthetic

{A/N} I'm back! Sorry that it took so long... I simply could not find any inspiration for this story.

Anyway, this story includes some flashbacks to a traumatic event. It does not go into detail, nor will there be any panic attacks. I still found it important to say it as it may be triggering to some. Your mental health is important. 

Disclaimer!: The facts in this story are built on information that I found on the internet, I am not an expert on the loss of limbs or prosthetics. Please let me know if I made a mistake and I will edit it!

Have fun reading, and be careful.

When it happened, Neal knew it was a terrible, tragic accident, and he also knew that it would change his life forever. It was just one of those wrong time, wrong place situations.

He had been in prison for two years, and he had made friends with almost every inmate there. He was in the yard when the fight broke out. One of the guys, a big guy made of muscle, was thrown into an old rusty pipe. Neal, who happened to stand way too close to it, caught it falling. But the pipe ripped pieces of wall with it and Neal found himself buried underneath. In the end it took the inmates and guards three hours to free him, but in that time he already knew his life was about to be changed for good. Later, when he was admitted to the hospital and had woken up from surgery, he learned that they'd had to amputate his right leg, just above the knee. It was broken in so many places that there was simply nothing the doctors could do.

He spent the next months working on his physical therapy. He, strangely enough, took the news of losing his leg rather well and within a year his therapist signed him up for a prosthetic. It took a while for him to get used to that. He was almost completely back on his game when he escaped.

And then he started working for the FBI. He'd thought that Peter knew about his situation, but the man never commented on it. Not until he saw the fake leg in person.

It was for a case. They were chasing a bad guy that thought it'd be smart to try and outrun a dozen FBI agents. Neal just happened to round a corner, trying to cut the guy's path when said bad guy ran into him. They tumbled across the pavement, all the while fighting. Neal felt the straps holding the prosthesis to his leg slip off but he was too busy fighting for his life. Then finally Neal managed to punch the guy hard in the face, successfully knocking the man unconscious.

'Neal!' he heard his handler yell.

Neal looked up and saw his team run towards him and the criminal. He also spotted his prosthetic laying a few feet out of his reach.

Peter glanced at it with confusion written on his face but he then turned his attention on his CI. 'You okay?' he asked, taking in the sight of Neal. There was blood oozing out of his lip, and he had a few cuts on his face but other than that he seemed fine.

'Yeah, just a few scratches.' Neal answered, sitting up. 'Mind helping me out with that?' he asked then, nodding towards the prosthesis laying behind the agent.

Peter turned back to look at what Neal was pointing to and then looked at the ex-con. 'That's yours?' he asked.

Neal blinked, surprise and hurt crossing his face. 'Yeah, who else only has one leg?' he asked. Of all the people who would mock him for missing a limb, he never expected Peter to be one of them.

'What?' Peter muttered in shock.

Neal sighed, just great. He shakily tried to stand up, regaining his balance every so often and then jumped towards the fake leg. He sat back down and rolled up his pants, thanking Byron for wearing loose fitted pants. He felt Peter's gaze on him the entire time but chose to ignore it. Surely the agent already knew, so why was he making such a big deal out of it?