By the Book

Chapter 20

Chapter 20 Reunion

Peter's car, Connecticut. January 8, 2004 – Thursday night

To Neal, it felt like he'd lost a game of hot potato with Peter's cell phone. Peter gripped the steering wheel tightly in a show of needing to keep his attention on the road on this snowy night. Henry, with one arm in a sling and generally slowed down by pain medications, appeared entirely absorbed in removing the wrapper around his hamburger.

In the backseat of the car, Neal held the phone with an emotion approaching horror. "Um. Hello, Mrs. Winslow," he said to a woman he didn't remember at all, but who was his mother's twin sister. "I'm... My name is Neal. Henry is, um... He's kind of busy, I guess. And a little out of it. I mean, he's fine. Compared to what he told me about breaking his leg on his tenth birthday, this is nothing."

"What happened?" asked the woman with his mother's voice.

"There's a winter storm going on here, and the snow covered most of the parking lot. That's why we didn't see the ice. He slipped and fractured a bone in his lower left arm."

"An accident?"

"Yes, ma'am. We took him to the hospital, and they x-rayed it. He has a cast now, and they gave him something for the pain and he's... um, sleepy, mostly. We got him a hamburger and he's really absorbed in trying to eat it with one hand."

"Are you with the FBI?"

"By with them, you mean..."

"Do you work for the FBI?"

"Yeah. Um, I mean yes, ma'am. Sort of." Where had his reputed silver tongue gone? He couldn't remember the last time he'd stumbled this much over his words. He hated to imagine what his aunt must think of him. "It's only been a few weeks. I don't feel real, yet. I keep messing up, even when I think I'm doing the right thing. But I have a badge." Oh, great. He was rambling. Why hadn't he faked an accent to keep her from remembering this conversation if they ever met in person? "I'm sorry we didn't call you from the hospital."

"I'm surprised the hospital didn't call me, as Henry's emergency contact. Clearly they didn't call his father. Robert learned about it when the techs at his office texted him."

"Oh. That's because Henry gave a different contact."

"Really?" In the background, Neal could hear what sounded like texting. He could only guess what would happen when someone replied with the name of the emergency contact Henry had given.

"I should go," Neal said, eager to get off the line before she saw his last name. Henry's father had hidden his animosity at first, but he hated Neal. That had been rough, but Neal didn't think he could handle hearing this woman with his mother's voice call him a worthless criminal like his old man. Even remembering Robert's voice made Neal cringe a little. "When Henry's more alert I'll remind him to call you."

"Wait! Did you say your name was Neal?" She paused a moment, and while Neal held his breath rather than answer she continued, "Tell me your last name."

"It's not important." Neal looked up, catching Peter's watchful eyes in the rearview mirror. The words I'm no one died on his lips. He had a feeling Peter wouldn't approve of saying that. "Caffrey."

"Neal," she said in a voice so laden with emotions it would take an hour to name them all. "Meredith's Neal."

"Yes, ma'am."

It sounded like she was laughing and crying at the same time. "You can call me Aunt Noelle, sweetie."

"I don't think I can. Not yet." He hated to disappoint her, but it was the truth. He'd rushed into thinking of Robert as an uncle and a father figure, with disastrous results. Now he approached the idea of family much more cautiously.