The Con Man

Andi & Neal sit in silence for what feels like an hour before another word is spoken. 'Come on.', say's Neal finally getting to his feet & grabbing for Andi's hand. 'Where are we going?', she say's as she tries to get her balance. 'To Peter.', as he begins to pull her towards the door. Finally Andi is able to get free & Neal turns to look at her. 'Come on, we can't stay here.' 'Just hold on a minute.' 'Why?' 'Um hello, my sister and her family are down the hall. I can't just leave them here.' 'Than go get them.', say's Neal. She can hear the panic & inpatients in his voice. Before she know's it she's knocking on the room that her sister, brother-in-law, & niece are sleeping. A minute later Trina is standing at the door. 'What's going on?', she asks rubbing the sleep from her eyes. 'I can't explain right now, just get Jacob and Jakole. We have to go, now!', say's Andi. Just than she hears small footsteps & than her niece is standing next to her Mom. 'Mommy what's going on?', she asks. 'Go get Daddy, we have to go with Aunt Andi.', say's Trina. Jakole takes off down the hall & get's Jacob. Before long their all sitting at the Burke's residence. 'So what your saying is this woman is out there somewhere and she's coming after my sister?', say's Trina with panic in her voice. 'Actually, no, she's more after Neal.', say's Andi. 'Either way it's not safe here in New York, Trina I hate to cut your guy's trip short but you have to leave here now.', say's Peter. 'Peter it's late, can't they leave in the morning?', say's Andi getting up from the chair she was sitting in to walk to Peter. 'Fine than, but for tonight your all staying here.', he say's. 'There's no way we can all fit in this house.', say's Jacob. 'Yes you can. We have two spare bedrooms upstairs.', say's Elizabeth. 'Fine, let's all go to bed.', say's Peter shuffling his way to the stairs. Andi noticed that Neal hadn't spoken two words since they had arrived at the Burke's. 'You okay?', she asks as they settle themselves into bed. 'Fine. Good night.', he say's kissing her on the forehead before laying down. 'Good night.', she say's back to him but he doesn't move.

The next morning Peter has Diana & Jones come to escort Trina, Jacob, & Jakole to the airport. Andi wasn't allowed to see them off & it hurt her so much but it wasn't safe. She sits at the edge of the bed that she & Neal had shared, he's gone. The stress of the situation had really set in this morning & she could see it as she hugged her sister good-bye. He had gone to help or so that's what he said when he left. 'Andi.', she hears a voice & looks up. Elizabeth steps into view holding a tray. 'I thought you might be hungry.', she say's showing her the food. 'Um no, I'm fine but thank you.', she say's wiping a tear off her cheek. 'You really need to eat.', she say's setting the tray on the dresser. Elizabeth sits down next to her & Andi get's up to get the tray. She stares at the bowl of oatmeal & toast before grabbing the spoon & taking the bowl in her hand. She takes a few bites & than looks over at her friend. 'It's good, thank you.' 'Of course. How are you doing?', she asks. 'Okay I guess. Worried more about Neal.', she say's taking a bite of a buttered piece of toast. 'Peter is too.', say's Elizabeth. 'We thought we had our lives back, but now this.', say's Andi. She goes back to eating her breakfast as she listens to Elizabeth. 'I know, I wish I could say it won't always be like this, but this is the life we live.' 'I know and I knew that when I married him, but.' 'It'll be okay Andi. They'll catch her.', she say's reassuring her friend. 'I hope so.', say's Andi before chugging down her milk.

'Do we have any idea of what happened?', asked Peter as he addresses the room of FBI agents. 'A witness said they were getting ready to transfer her and she managed to over power the guard and take off.', say's Jones. 'Do we know how the guard is?', asks Peter. 'Just a bump on the head, nothing to serious boss.', say's Diana. 'Okay, that's good.', say's Peter & it's than that Neal enter's the room & takes an empty seat close to Peter. 'Okay so as far as we know she could still be here in the city. Hit every where we know she could possibly be. Jones, I want you to form a team and have them start checking air ports. Diana, do the same and have them check the bus stations. I want eye's everywhere looking for her. One more thing, someone go talk to Krammer, he know's her better than anyone.' 'Who boss?', asks Diana. 'I don't care, anyone, just talk to him. He's looking at some hard time because of her, I don't see him with holding any information.', say's Peter. I'll talk to him.', say's Neal from where he's sitting. Peter looks down at him & than back up at the room. 'Let's move people!', he say's. The room becomes empty & Peter looks down at Neal. 'That's not going to happen. So you can let that thought go. You shouldn't even be here.', he say's to him. Neal follows him out of the conference room. 'And why not?' 'Because we both know you wouldn't be able to handle yourself and because we have this handled.' 'Yes I could and the last time I checked I work here.' 'No you couldn't. He shot Andi, I know you want more than anything to get him for that and if you do something stupid you'll end up behind bars and how is that going to help Andi?', lectures Peter. 'What am I suppose to do than Peter?', asks Neal. 'Go back to my house and stay there.' 'And do what?' 'Stay with your wife. She needs you right now.', say's Peter. 'Peter I can't just sit around doing nothing.' Peter stops walking & turns to look at Neal. 'Your going to have to this time. If we need you we know where to find you.' He know's it's a loosing battle & so Neal retreats & heads back to the Burke's.

Neal steps into the Burke's house & find's Elizabeth in the kitchen. 'Where is she?', he asks. 'Upstairs, she was tired.', say's El 'Thanks.' 'Yeah, I have to go out for somethings but didn't want to leave her alone.' 'Okay, Peter has guy's posted.' 'Yeah I know, I'm sure I won't be leaving alone either.', she say's with a smile. Elizabeth leaves & Neal goes upstairs. He stands at the door for a minute just looking at her. She's so beautiful & he hopes to himself that if they have to go through things like this much more that she won't leave. Finally he walks over & lay's down next to her. She rolls over & opens her eye's to look at him. 'Hey.', he say's forcing a smile to his lips. 'Hey.', she say's back to him. She reaches out to touch him & he pulls her close to him. 'You okay?', he asks. 'Yeah fine.', she say's forcing a smile. 'Elizabeth had to leave.' 'Yeah, I told her she didn't have to stay, Peter has this place surrounded.', she say's with a giggle. 'You okay?', she asks him. 'As I'll ever be.', he responds. She loves laying like this with him & wishes she could stay this way forever. She snuggles close to him, feeling his breath on her feels so good & she looks up & kisses him. He kisses her back & soon they are shedding their clothes. 'I love you.', he say's to her his breathing heavy. 'I love you too.', she say's kissing him. Soon they fall back both out of breath. She sits up & is draping the blanket's around her body. He get's up & starts getting dressed. She wonder's where that came from but suddenly doesn't care. They hear footsteps downstairs & Neal looks at her in a panic. 'Stay here.', he say's rushing downstairs. Andi starts grabbing for her clothes & begins frantically getting dressed. She remakes the bed & goes downstairs. Neal meets her at the bottom of the steps. 'It's just Elizabeth.' Andi releases a big breath she didn't even realize she was holding. 'Hi Andi. You feeling any better?', asks Elizabeth stepping into the living room. 'Um yeah, great. I really needed that nap.', she say's trying to hide a smile. 'Great, you wanna help me with lunch?', she asks. 'Yeah sure.', she say's back. Neal walks back upstairs to see what kind of damage they did to the room. But was very surprised to see that Andi had remade the bed & everything was still where it had been. 'Thank God.', he whispers to himself.