[personal profile] aragarna
Title: Even Heroes Need to Rest
Author: Aragarna
Genre, rating: crack, humor, with a hint of h/c, gen, general audience.
Characters: Neal, Peter, Elizabeth, and a couple surprise guest stars.
Word count: ~2000
Summary: After a mission gone wrong, Neal wakes up a little confused about the situation.
Author's Note: This is an unexpected entry for the Caffrey-Burke day. Blame [livejournal.com profile] kanarek13 and [livejournal.com profile] sheenianni for it. Though I also need to thank Kanarek for the beta on incredibly short notice. Mention of fictional works are not so coincidental. This can be seen as an indirect sequel of Who's the Princess Now? or not (no need to read it to understand this one).






Even Heroes Need to Rest

The first thing Neal noticed, as he slowly regained consciousness, was the fluffiness. He was lying in the most comfortable bed he has ever been in – and he had been in the bed of a real princess before. The second thing he noticed was that he felt vaguely high. He cracked his eyes opened. Everything around him was white, but the light not so bright that it would hurt the eyes.

“Hi, Sweetie. Welcome back.”

Neal looked to his left and saw Elizabeth seated by his side, smiling softly at him. Neal smiled back, unsure of the situation.

“Do you remember what happened?”

Neal shook his head – which he regretted instantly as the room started dancing dangerously around him. Was he drunk?

“You fell down an elevator shaft. And then the building collapsed. I think there was hypothermia, unless it was severe food deprivation?”

This sounded terrible, and yet Elizabeth didn’t seem that worried. She could have been talking about the weather, her tone wouldn’t have been more casual. Neal tried to remember but his memory was all fuzzy, and he was feeling so light…

“You still need some rest,” Elizabeth said, gently patting Neal’s hand, resting on the top of the fluffy comforter.

“Where’s Peter?” he asked.

Elizabeth tilted her head and looked fondly at Neal. “He was very upset not to be able to be there for when you’d wake up, like he usually does, but he was called on a new assignment.”

“Assignment?” Neal asked, feeling sleep slowly winning over.

“You know, this time of year is always very busy, with the Big Bang season and all.”

Elizabeth was really not making any sense. Wait – usually?

-------------------------------------


Neal woke up again when he heard the door of the room opening. Peter was rolled in on a hospital bed by two men in white lab coats. Peter was conscious, though he looked extremely pale.

“Thank you, guys,” he said to the two men, who gave him a nod and left.

“What happened to you?” Neal asked, concerned by Peter’s chalk-white skin.

“Gunshot wound to the chest.”

At that moment, the door slammed open and Elizabeth rushed in to be by Peter’s side.

“Oh, Honey,” she said, brushing her fingers along his cheek.

“Hi, Hon,” Peter said, way too cheerfully for someone who just took a bullet to the chest. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

Fine?!” Neal repeated.

Peter looked at him and Neal could swear his eyes were sparkling with amusement.

“It was just a PG-13, no big deal. It was more angst than whump. Though there was lots of blood. I hate when they put so much blood. But anyway, she made sure no vital organs were hit.”

“She?”

“Bomerlover heart underscore heart ninety-eight.”

Neal opened wild eyes. Either he was losing his mind, or Peter was totally insane.

Peter and Elizabeth exchanged a look.

“I think he has memory losses again,” Elizabeth said.

Peter looked over at Neal with visible concern. “It’s getting more and more frequent.”

“I’ll get the doctor,” Elizabeth said.

“Peter, what is this place?” Neal asked when she was gone.

“Heaven,” Peter answered with obvious bliss as he cuddled farther under his fluffy comforter.

But Neal was tired of all this nonsense. “Seriously,” he said with impatience.

Peter sighed and straightened up in his bed.

“This is the FCRC, the Fictional Character Regeneration Center. And, believe me, it is the closest thing on Earth to Heaven. We’re sent here to recuperate after a rough assignment.”

“What is that thing about assignments?”

“Each time someone writes you, as a character, that’s an assignment. Luckily, not all require us to be hurt, not that we need to be hurt to come here.”

“Have I been there before?” Neal asked, remembering his conversation with Elizabeth earlier.

“Oh, yes, you’ve been here. A lot more than me, actually. You’re definitely their favorite whumpee. I do come visit you, of course, but I’m not that often brought in as a patient. But I really love this place. No danger, no drama…”

“Whumpee? What is that? Are we in a Roald Dahl story or something?”

Peter chuckled. “I didn’t make up all that vocabulary.”

“But how come I don’t remember any of this?”

Peter’s expression softened. “ See that IV line, tucked in your arm?”

Neal followed Peter’s pointed finger. An IV line was indeed connected to his right arm, filling a translucent and almost fluorescent liquid to his body.

“That’s Regenerative Fluid,” Peter explained. “Some magical drug fixing you up in no time. It’s an awesome drug, but if you take too much of it, you start experiencing some unpleasant side effects. Memory losses and confusions are some of them, also the most benign.”

So that was probably what made him feel high. He was high.

Neal swallowed the lump of anxiety in his throat. “What are the other effects?”

“You don’t want to know,” Peter said hastily.

“So did I take too much of it? That doesn’t sound like something I’d do.”

“Well, the doctors still need to patch you up after each hurtful assignments, and you get so many… It also probably doesn’t help that you’re not spending much time in here. Generally, you’re barely awake that you’re sent back out there.”

“That’s not fair!”

“The price of your success I guess.”

-------------------------------------


Elizabeth finally came back with the doctor. He was wearing a similar lab coat as the two previous men, and had a stethoscope around his neck.

“Hello, Neal, Peter,” he greeted them.

“Hello Jim,” Peter said.

The doctor checked Neal and Peter’s monitors, took their temperatures, asked them to follow his finger – up, down, left, right – then took notes in his notepad, nodding mostly to himself.

“Let’s proceed to the usual check-up,” the doctor said, moving toward Peter.

“Usual name?”

“Peter Burke,” Peter answered dutifully.

“FC ID?”

“WC-2.”

“Status?”

“Minus Six,” Peter said, rather gloomy.

“Oh I’m sorry to hear that,” the doctor said.

Peter shrugged, but Neal could see he was hurting.

“Canon death?” the doctor inquired.

“Cancellation.”

“What is that about?” Neal asked.

“The show has been cancelled. Our canon closes in six episodes.”

“Ah right.” Now that Neal remembered. A very painful moment that he had tried not to think about too much at the time. The fact that he had been recuperating from a week of being buried alive had helped, but he should probably talk to Peter about what that would mean for them concretely.

“Your turn, Neal,” the doctor said after taking a few additional notes. “Usual name?”

“Neal Caffrey.”

“FC ID?”

“Hmmm…” Neal looked over at Peter for help.

“It’s your Fictional Character ID,” Peter explained. “WC-1,” he said to the doctor. “See, doc, he’s getting all confused again.”

“I see,” the doctor said, taking more notes. “Well, maybe the cancellation will allow you to take it easy, Neal.”

“Don’t count on it too much,” Peter said. “Not right away at least. I think they just love him too much.”

The doctor glanced at Neal from above his notebook, a smile at the corner of his lips. “You can’t really blame them."

“I know, right?” Peter replied.

“All right,” the doctor said when he was finished with his notes. “You two should be able to catch lunch in the cafeteria. Have a nice day, lady, gentlemen. I hope to see you again soon. But not too soon,” he added with a wink.

“Thank you, have a nice day, doctor.”

Not five minutes after the doctor had left, and to Neal’s great disbelief, Peter energetically pushed back his covers and jumped out of bed. “Let’s go grab some lunch, then, I’m starving,” he said.

“Peter, how can you be out of bed so quickly?”

Peter shrugged. “I’m all good. And I’m sure you are too. Don’t you feel hungry?”

Now that he thought of it, Neal was feeling perfectly fine, and yes, actually, he was hungry.

-------------------------------------


Neal followed Peter and Elizabeth to the cafeteria. As they passed through neat corridors and luxurious patios everything looked strangely foreign and yet somehow familiar. The building was of a very refine modern architecture style, with a mix of glass, wood and concrete. In one of the patios, they crossed path with Tony Stark, who was a lot less impressive in flesh than Neal would have thought.

“Hey!” he greeted them, “the White Collar team!”

“Hey Tony, what’s up?” Peter asked him cheerfully.

Tony shrugged. “Pretty good. Back from a hypothermia-crash combo. The usual.”

Peter laughed. “Routine, huh?”

“Well, I still have it easier than Steve.”

“What happened to him?” Neal inquired.

“Some terrible disease, depression. All the crazy shit. I don’t really know all the details, but you know this things, takes you so long to get back to your feet, and the poor guy has barely the time to enjoy the place before being sent back.”

Neal winced. This sounded familiar.

If the building was impressive, it wasn’t until they started waiting in line in the cafeteria that Neal fully embraced Peter’s use of “heaven” to describe the place. Everything looked so appetizing that he couldn’t decide what to take. He ended ordering enough food for two consecutive lunches. And a chocolate tart.

“Oh look who’s here,” Peter said pointing to a table in the middle of the large dining room, “Rick Castle!”

“Rick!” He said to the writer as they all sat around him.

“My favorite consultant-cop crime-fighting duo!” Castle exclaimed, greeting them with a wide smile. “Well, after me and Beckett”, he quipped.

“How are you doing, Rick?” Elizabeth asked.

Rick picked a couple of French fries from his plate and turned pensive. “Well, actually I’m not sure. I mean, I sooo wanted this wedding to happen.”

“What happened?” Neal asked.

“I was kidnapped.”

“Oh welcome to the club!”

“Five minutes before the ceremony.”

“Ouch.”

“But here comes the best part. I have a two-month memory lapse. So I have no idea what happened to me. Like, canonically no ideas. Except that it’s so horrible that I don’t want to remember. For all I know, I could have been kidnapped by aliens.”

“Reavers?”

Castle turned to Neal, raising an inquiring eyebrow. “What?”

“Nothing,” Neal muttered, plunging his nose in his truffle stuffed guinea fowl.

“How about you three? A joined mission? An OT3 gone wrong?”

“Oh I’m just here visiting my boys,” Elizabeth said, a protective hand on Peter’s shoulder.

“Actually, we were both on separated missions. I was assigned with Mozzie, for once.”

“The little guy? How come we so rarely see him around?”

“You know how he is, he hates that place. Way too many Agencies represented for his liking,” Peter smirked. “He drives me crazy. I honestly much prefer being assigned with Neal.”

“You’re just saying that because that means you get to share the whump,” Castle laughed. “So about you, Neal?”

“Apparently, I fell down an elevator.”

“Wow, you always get the most crazy stuff.”

“Says the guy who’s just been kidnapped by aliens.”

A vague commotion at the door made them all look up. Two men in stern suits were coming their way.

“Burke, Caffrey, you’ve been assigned a new mission.”

“Already?” Peter protested. “We barely got here! Let me at least finish my chocolate tart!”

Both men shook their heads, though they didn’t protest as Peter grabbed his tart, encouraging Neal to get his too, before getting up.

“Sorry, gentlemen, you know what day this is.”

Neal and Peter exchanged a look.

“October 23rd. Today is your anniversary.”

“Oh,” Neal and Peter said in chorus. “Let’s go then.”

Date: 2014-10-23 10:12 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sheenianni.livejournal.com
“Hi, Hon,” Peter said, way too cheerfully for someone who just took a bullet to the chest. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

“Fine?!” Neal repeated.

Peter looked at him and Neal could swear his eyes were sparkling with amusement.

“It was just a PG-13, no big deal. It was more angst than whump. Though there was lots of blood. I hate when they put so much blood. "


:D :D :D This is priceless!!! :D :D :D ROTFLMAO :D

I think you just killed me :D

Love, love all of this; loved Neal's confusion, loved that there were other characters here (heeee, Castle and "Reavers" :D ).

Seriously, this whole piece is made of win.

(And now my lab colleagues think I'm crazy for randomly bursting in laugher. Evil you!) :D

Date: 2014-10-23 10:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Heeee thank you! ♥ So glad you enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun to write. :-)

Date: 2014-10-23 11:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pipilj.livejournal.com
hehe this was awesome. loved how matter of fact El was about Neal's injuries. I was grinning through out while reading

Date: 2014-10-23 11:13 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] nywcgirl
OK, this was seriously funny. Very original, love it...

Date: 2014-10-23 12:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Thank you!! :-) Glad I made you smile! :-)

Date: 2014-10-23 12:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Thank you!! :-)

Date: 2014-10-23 02:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] reve-silencieux.livejournal.com
*snicker* Oh the poor boys. We do whump them too much. This was great. I'd quote my favorite line, but there were too many of them!

I think I just love how matter of fact they all are about it. Glad they're used to it because I don't think we'll be stopping for a while!

Date: 2014-10-23 02:53 pm (UTC)
elrhiarhodan: (Default)
From: [personal profile] elrhiarhodan
FLAILS!!!

You've killed me *ded* with the awesomeness!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poor Neal, so confused. And awesome Peter - so matter of fact about everything. We do whump him WAY too much, though!

Thank you for this delightful shattering of the fourth wall!

Date: 2014-10-23 03:20 pm (UTC)
kanarek13: (Default)
From: [personal profile] kanarek13
I just re-read this and seriously, it just gets more awesome with each turn, LOL.

Yeah, I can't pick a favorite line, the whole fic is epic. Although I must say the one little line that did stand out was Castle asking about an OT3 gone wrong, LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now my brain is trying to supply all the possible scenarios for whump resulting from OT3 gone wrong...LOL

Love it, it's genius :D

Date: 2014-10-23 03:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pooh-collector.livejournal.com
That was by far the funniest thing I've read in a long time!

Thank you for all the wonderful references, like ratings and the Reavers, LOL!

And, hmmm, an elevator shaft you say?

Date: 2014-10-23 05:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sinkwriter.livejournal.com
HAHAHAHAHA

This was amusing to read. And it's going to make me pause every time I finish reading someone's story... where do the characters go next? Apparently there's lots of bureaucracy involved. LOL. "WC-1" and "WC-2," I love it. (And Castle's confusing plotline that doesn't have any canonical sense or answers - HA! So true.)

Fun read, thank you!

Date: 2014-10-23 06:07 pm (UTC)
leesa_perrie: two cheetahs facing camera and cuddling (Peter not hear)
From: [personal profile] leesa_perrie
LOL!! Oh, this was brilliant!! Total and utter genius!!! Castle and the reavers comment cracked me up, as well as the nonchalence of the characters! And poor Peter was teamed up with Mozzie for a change, but it was only a PG13 so the chest wound wasn't too bad, lol!! Crazy, wonderful crack - just what the doctor ordered! :D :D
Edited Date: 2014-10-23 06:07 pm (UTC)

Date: 2014-10-23 06:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
lol yeah I doubt we'll stop any time soon... To Neal's despair and Peter's amusement. ;-)

Date: 2014-10-23 06:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
*grin* thank you! :-D

We do whump Neal too much, even I couldn't help adding some whump to that crack fic for him. ;-)

Date: 2014-10-23 07:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
heee thank you ♥

LOL about the OT3 gone wrong!

Thanks again for the brainstorming, the beta and the mention of Castle, that was really inspiring! LOL

Date: 2014-10-23 07:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Thank you!

heee sorry about the elevator. I hope you don't mind. ;-) I didn't remember it was your CB fic. It just came to my mind because there was a lot of talk about elevator whumps recently ;-)

Date: 2014-10-23 07:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pooh-collector.livejournal.com
I didn't mind at all! It's like you created continuity between the CB Day ficcage.

Continuity for the win!

Date: 2014-10-23 07:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Heee thanks!

I don't know if you're following Castle, but it's actually true that he doesn't know what happened to him (pretty sure it's not Reavers though LOL). Moght be a little too meta to seriously think about this, but I just figured that as a character, he can't know things his canon self doesn't, which I thought would be truly funny.

Date: 2014-10-23 07:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
LOL thank you!! :-)

I plead guilty for being one of those to put them in terrible situations that are miraculously not too bad (like a gunshot that doesn't touch any organ....)

Date: 2014-10-23 07:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
and Caffrey-Burke for the win! \o/

Date: 2014-10-23 08:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nieseryjna.livejournal.com
Oh so wonderful, crazy and funny and now I'm bursting laughing every few moments lol job well done!

Date: 2014-10-23 08:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
*grin* thank you !! :D

Date: 2014-10-23 11:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sandy79.livejournal.com
:D This is soooo funny, I'm still wiping my eyes while typing XD I love both Neal's confusion and the matter-of-factly attitude of both Burke's. And then you go and top that all with appearances by my favorite Avenger and another funny consultant (which both practically screams for some crossovers, just mentioning it here). But I don't really get the reference with the "Reavers" (has that something to do with "The Walking Dead"?) Anyway, I love this story, like it's big brother (sister) "Who's the Princess now?" to pieces! Thanks for sharing it!

Date: 2014-10-24 04:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sg-lab.livejournal.com
OMG, that was hilarious. Loved the appearance of Castle and Tony Stark.

Date: 2014-10-24 06:49 am (UTC)
sapphire2309: (Default)
From: [personal profile] sapphire2309
HAHAHA! This is so good!! Loved it :DDD Poor Neal, always on assignment, someone needs to give him all the cuddles in the world :3 But damn, I loved how cool Peter was about the whole thing! XD

Date: 2014-10-24 10:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Heee thank you!
I know, right? a Castle-White Collar crossover would *so* work and I can just picture it!

Reavers is a Firefly joke. Firefly was a TV show with a young Nathan Fillion, and reavers are those terrible monsters you never see but everyone is terrible afraid of. They do things you'd rather forget.

Date: 2014-10-24 10:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Thank you!! :-)

Date: 2014-10-24 10:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Thank you! :-)
Yeah poor baby... We should give him a break... should we?

Date: 2014-10-25 01:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kessiebabe.livejournal.com
That was too funny.

Now I´m nearly a bit sorry for Whumping Neal. But only nearly. ;-)

Date: 2014-10-25 10:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dennih23.livejournal.com
LOL – we do like to whump our boys just a little bit – especially Neal although Peter does get some of the love too. Love Neal’s confusion and Peter nonchalance – great story :D

Date: 2014-10-25 03:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joy2190.livejournal.com
Oh my goodness, this is so much fun and so cleverly done. It's also begging for artwork!

Date: 2014-10-25 11:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scarym1.livejournal.com
LOL!!!!!!! What a great line - “You know, this time of year is always very busy, with the Big Bang season and all.”

I also love how they ran into Castle and he told them about his kidnapping and Neal mentioned Reavers. : ) : )

Date: 2014-10-26 10:30 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] treonb.livejournal.com
LOL! This is excellent! Poor Peter, I think he's actually jealous of Neal ;-)

Date: 2014-10-26 09:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
LOL yeah... nearly only ;-)
I almost added a conversation where Neal asked if this memory loss counted as whump. ;-)

Date: 2014-10-26 09:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Than you! :-)
We do love to whhump our boys. ;-)

Date: 2014-10-26 09:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
lol that's true. I didn't have time, but I need to make some art for it now :-)
thank you! glad you enjoyed it: :-)

Date: 2014-10-26 09:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Heee thank you!! :-)

Not sure everyone got the reavers reference, but I couldn't help it. ;-)

Date: 2014-10-26 09:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Thank you!

LOL oh I'm pretty sure Peter doesn't mind receiving less attention than Neal in this particular case. ;-)

Date: 2014-10-27 03:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sahiya.livejournal.com
Hee! Those poor boys, we really are hard on them.

Date: 2014-10-27 03:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Yes we are! But that's because we love them ;-)

Date: 2014-10-28 01:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladyrose42.livejournal.com
I love when fans bust on fanfic Even better when the characters when are confused or in on the joke. Throwing in other fandoms is icing on the cake. Terrific job.

Date: 2014-10-28 02:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Thank you!! ♥

Date: 2015-07-12 09:48 pm (UTC)
sherylyn: (Default)
From: [personal profile] sherylyn
This is tooooooo funny!! Geez, what those poor guys go through!!

Date: 2015-07-12 09:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
*grin* Thank you!! :D

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