Full Circle

Chapter 1 - Making Waves

Chapter Description: Neal's father is hanging out in New York City, and no one is sure why. Neal decides to find out what James Bennett is up to. And of course Neal has a complicated scheme in mind, because a simple, straightforward scheme wouldn't be nearly as fun.

A/N: This story begins moments after Tsunami by Silbrith ends. In that story, Neal was the victim of a mind-control plot in which he believed he was trapped underwater.

White Collar offices. July 7, 2006. Friday afternoon.

Time to make some waves, Neal Caffrey thought. It felt like he'd been a pawn in the schemes of others recently, and now he wanted to take charge. He had a project in mind that needed to stay off the radar of the FBI, at least for now. Step one was to pull together a crew, and with that in mind he stepped into an empty conference room to call Henry.

Burke Townhouse. Friday evening.

Elizabeth Burke plucked the remote control out of her husband's hand and muted the baseball game that he'd been ignoring. "Let's take Satchmo for a walk and talk through whatever has you so worried," she suggested.

Peter nodded. "Good idea." Once they had Satchmo on a leash, they meandered down the sidewalk letting the Labrador set the pace. It was a warm summer evening, still half an hour before sunset.

"Is Neal okay?" El prompted. Earlier that week villains had abducted Neal, using virtual reality techniques to convince him that he was being held captive underwater. All of Neal's friends had been worried about him.

"He seems to be," Peter said, "but there's something bothering me."

"We could invite him over," El suggested.

Peter shook his head. "He's spending the weekend visiting waterparks with Henry. Before he left for the day, he told me they're going to one in New Jersey this evening, and they plan to hit a couple more before they come back to New York."

At first El was surprised that Neal would want to be immersed in water so soon after his ordeal, but then she remembered a story she'd been told. "That's how he spent his eighteenth birthday. Henry took him to a waterpark."

"Right," Peter confirmed.

More of the details were coming back to El now. Neal had nearly drowned shortly before that birthday, and Henry decided to counter the trauma with positive experiences in the water. "Do you think Neal's not ready to be in the water?" She had a lot of confidence in Henry Winslow, who was something between a brother and a cousin to Neal, and who had an advanced degree in psychology. But she had even more confidence in Peter's intuition. Members of his team claimed it was unwise to bet against Peter's gut.

"He'll be fine," Peter said. "Henry will make sure of it." He paused to let Satchmo sniff a tree.

El didn't say anything when they started walking again. She could tell that Peter was puzzling through something, and now that he'd reached that stage it was best to give him time to think.

"Sara returned to London," Peter said at last. "She's supposed to move back to New York in a couple of months."

A few weeks ago, Neal and Sara Ellis had gotten engaged. They were considering a wedding around Thanksgiving, and Sara had already called El to talk about event planning options. "They're good for each other," El acknowledged, going for a non-committal response while Peter continued his puzzling.

"There was something about Neal this afternoon," Peter said, "that reminded me of how he used to be, back when we first started working together. Something... reckless."

El nodded. "Marriage is a big commitment. If he has anything remaining from his past that might pose a danger to Sara, I could see him taking steps before they get married to deal with it."