roadrunnermuses | open } { mistletoe meme

[ She nods gratefully at the refill and takes a sip before shifting her weight and looking curiously at Neal. ]

How often do those unexpected surprises come into play for you? Because you're definitely an unexpected variable, Caffrey.

More often than you think. It's not much of a challenge if all your marks are idiots.

[And the caliber of your skill is tied to the caliber of the people you con.]

And there are some variables you just can't recover from.

[Adler being one of them.]

Yeah, I can see how it would get boring after a while if they're all idiots. If every homicide was the same I'd be bored. [ Is this the time to be joking about work? Probably not. Since when does she act like a normal person, anyway? Well, Angell used to keep her in line... but she's gone and if Anna thinks about it too much she might crawl back into the bottle. Adam had a hard enough go of it pulling her out the first time.

Her brows knit in a mixture of curiosity and concern at the last sentence, head tilting slightly as she studies him. It's the same tilt she does when she studies a crime scene; a weird little quirk.]

Was it a woman? The variable.

Yes and no. Adler being a crook in his own right changed the trajectory of the kinds of jobs I would take. But Kate was the reason I got caught.

[It never gets easier to talk about her as though she's no longer there. But she is gone, to a place where he can't get her back, and as complicated as loving her was, he still misses her.]

[ Anna knows a little about Neal's past from his arrest record and bits of information she's gotten from Peter, but she's never brought it up before.

It's a difficult topic - Kate and Adler - and she feels a little bad for bringing the conversation that way. So she does what she does best - she deflects and redirects the conversation. ] I don't see Agent Burke. Is he stuck working?

No, El had another event across town so they're coming late. They should be here soon.

[Granted, Peter could have shown up without his wife, but Neal thinks he's doing him the courtesy of not putting the most obvious cop in the room with all his criminal friends.]

Holiday season is a busy one for event planners.

Oh, good. I've been dyin' to meet the infamous Mrs. Suit.

[ She sips at her wine, shrugging a little. ] Tends to be just as busy for us as well. I get it.

El is a delight. I think you'll really enjoy her.

[She is Mozzie's BFF for a reason.]

Though if anyone ever told me they didn't enjoy Elizabeth Burke, I would assume that there was something wrong with them.

I keep hearing great things, I'm sure I'll love her. I also keep hearing that I need to make more friends, so... two birds, one stone.

I could probably introduce you to a few people around here - if you're feeling less discriminating about your choice of company.

[Because this is mostly the crime side of the party. Alex, June, a few other thief friends - all good people but all definitely criminals.]

[ She's not that discriminating about her choice of company! Anna absolutely adores June, finds "Mr. Havisham" rather entertaining, and Alex? Well, okay, she's not super fond. Something about the way Alex looks at Neal just bristles Anna's nerves, but she's not going to bother figuring out why. ]

You make me sound like an antisocial Grinch. [ Okay, he wouldn't be entirely wrong... ]

Not at all.

[He smirks a bit.]

I just think aside from me and the people you're arresting, you don't exactly socialize much with the criminal element.

I mean, I try not to make a habit of it. 'You are who you spend time with' and all that. We don't exactly have a lot in common, either.

[ Does that make Neal an exception to the rule? Absolutely. But like hell is she admitting that. ]

I wouldn't say that.

[They do have the law in common, after all. It's just that his friends tend to like breaking it rather than upholding it.]

And I hope the first part isn't true.

[He does not want to become a cop anytime soon.]

I'm pretty sure you're safe there, Caffrey. I don't think the "law enforcement bug" is gonna bite you anytime soon.

[ Shaking her head a little in amusement, she leans back against the bar and scans the room. Her free hand lifts to idly tuck a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. ]

Oh, that's already been and gone.

[It's hard to forget that once upon a time he was so close to being on Anna's side of the table. He's so grateful that he was diverted because despite the ups and downs he's happier where he is now, but he doesn't forget.]

I was one tough conversation away from joining the academy when I was eighteen.

[ Well, that certainly captured her attention. She actually looks surprised for once. ]

Wait... You?

[ Narrowing her eyes, she tilts her glass at him suspiciously. ]

Now you're just tryin' to pull one over on me.

Nope. My dad was a cop. When I was a kid, I wanted to follow in his footsteps.

[Emphasis being on when he was a child.

As much as looking back on his childhood, he knows that the other side of the law was always where he was going to land, part of him still wanted to do good, do right, help people.

And then Ellen shattered all of his illusions about Sam, and fate righted it's course again.]

[ Anna's suspicious look softens as she latches onto his particular choice of words. Linguistics give away a lot more than people think. ]

What changed?

I got told who my father actually was. He was a cop. But he was dirty, and the reason that I had grown up in witness protection. Ellen, his former partner, knew that the minute I stepped into the academy, his entire sordid history would be dropped on my head, and she didn't want me to go in unprepared.

[And being an eighteen year-old boy getting his hero shattered in front of him, he did what would become his signature move. He ran the fuck away.]

I left witsec and went to New York to try and find my own way in the world. I met Mozzie, and the rest is history.

[ For once, Anna doesn't know what to say. It's shocking to hear, but the more she'll think about it, the easier it will become to fit a few more puzzle pieces.

There's an empathetic expression as she places a hand on his forearm gently. Here she thought her daddy issues were bad. ] I, uh... I'm so sorry. Can't say I blame you for the choices you made after that.

[Neal shrugs.]

It all worked out for the best. Except for the time Sam framed Peter for murder but Mozzie and I got him out.

[ Her brows shoot up at that. She just has so many questions. ]

He did- you did- Mozzie did what now?

[ She glances back over her shoulder when she hears a swell of music coming from the other room. ]

[Neal raises a hand because yeah, that comment needs more context.]

Sam, my father, came back into my life a couple of years ago. It did not end well. He killed someone and Peter took the fall for it, and Sam took off never to be seen again.

[Because he's a dick.]

But Mozzie and I ... found evidence that exonerated Peter. So we got him out.

[ Found evidence... yeah, she's not gonna pull on that thread right now. Her brows knit, nose scrunching a little in disdain. ]

Piece of shit. He ever comes back to New York and I may consider shootin' out his kneecaps.

[ All talk, really. Anna's too much of a straight arrow to actually follow through on such threats. ]

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