aragarna | [Fanfiction] Agents and Consultants

Title: Agents and Consultants
Author: Aragarna
Characters: Clinton Jones, Peter Burke
Genre, rating: angst and fluff, gen, G.
Word count: 849
Spoilers: up to finale episode.
Summary: After what happened with Neal, Peter refuses to let Jones take a new CI.
Author's Note: Written for runthecon filling the prompts New beginnings, and

pipilj's "Every cloud has a silver lining". It also fills the A new start square of my second Gen Bingo card. I'm tagging

sheenianni with the prompt "unexpected".

Peter came back from his meeting just before lunch, and from the deep frown and slightly exasperated look on his face, it hadn’t been a happy meeting. Jones had a pretty good idea of the nature of the disagreement between Peter and the higher-ups. It had been the same for the past eight months. Bancroft wanted Peter to authorize a new CI Program, but Peter categorically refused to sign it. It didn’t matter that their closure rate was dropping, that Jones was all for it, that they could really use the expert insights of a criminal, and that they had the perfect candidate – the young Scott ‘Robin Hoody’ Rivers. Peter would not accept the responsibility of taking a new CI on his team.

Peter stopped by the coffee machine in the bullpen and Jones walked down the stairs to catch up with him.

“That bad, huh?” he asked.

Peter let go a heavy sigh. “Yes, that bad.”

Jones himself had tried several times to convince Peter to sign up for Scott’s deal, to no avail. Of course, he understood where his boss was coming from, and he had dropped the matter. It was just too much of a sensitive topic, still, for Peter. Peter knew better than anyone what an asset a good CI could be, but also the heavy responsibility of bringing in an untrained civilian.

Losing Neal in such a tragic turn of events had weighed a lot on Peter. It was like a little part of him died with his CI and friend. He seemed to be doing better these days, though. The birth of his little one had brought back joy and excitement in his life, and helped Peter move on by filling the void that Caffrey had left. There was still a lingering melancholy glittering in his eyes every once in a while, but Peter had happily embraced fatherhood as a new chapter of his life.

Except he would still not take a new CI.

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

A couple months later, when Peter unexpectedly asked for some time off and left right away, Jones got a little concerned. It wasn’t like Peter to disappear like this without any explanation. Jones’ gut was telling him something was going on.

Peter reappeared four days later. He was already in his office when Jones arrived that morning, hard at work, catching up on his paperwork. Jones lightly knocked on the door. Peter looked up and with a smile, gestured Jones to come in. He seemed in a good mood, despite the fatigue visible in the lines on his face.

“Hi, Jones,” he greeted his agent. “Everything went fine while I was gone?”

His tone was light and cheery.

Jones smiled back. “No disasters to report.”

Peter nodded. “Good, that’s good.”

He rummaged through the pile of papers spread in front of him on his desk and retrieved one that he handed to Jones.

Jones took it. It was the form for the CI program, completed and signed. The agent looked up, surprised.

“Are you sure about this?”

A brief light sparkled in Peter’s eyes. “Yes. You were right, we need a new CI.”

Jones remained dumbfounded for a moment, but slowly, his surprise turned into suspicion. He went to close the door, sat down on the chair opposite to his boss and took a good look at him. He seemed a bit tired, but more at peace that he had in a very long time, as if the burden that had weighted on him had been lifted. Though right now he was also a little bit on the defensive, holding Jones’ gaze defiantly, in a way that reminded the young agent of… the time when Peter was covering for Caffrey.

Jones frowned. But Caffrey was dead. Or was he?

“Peter?”

Peter sighed and seemed to pounder what to say.

“Yes, Neal is alive,” he said finally.

Jones’ jaw dropped in shock. Questions spiraled through his mind. How was it possible? Was it all part of an elaborate plan? How could he do that to them? To Peter? How could Peter accept this?

But in the end, he asked the only question that truly mattered for now. “Are you okay?”

Peter shrugged. “It’s complicated. But I think I am. Or I will be.”

“And are you okay with it?”

A soft smile brushed Peter’s lips. “I had an eight hour flight to think about it, and yes, I think so. It does beat Neal being dead.”

“And is he…” Jones started

“The engineer of Le Louvre’s brand new security system,” Peter said, pride audible in his voice.

Now, that was an unexpected turn of events…

“Are you going to see him again?” Jones asked.

“Probably.”

Jones got up. He wasn’t sure what to think of all of this, but Peter seemed happy, and that’s all what really mattered. “I’m happy for you, Peter.”

Peter pointed at the form in Jones’ hands. “It’s your turn now. Let’s just hope your partnership will be a little less eventful…”

“You two did set the bar pretty high,” Jones said with a grin.

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From:

reve-silencieux.livejournal.com

Oh, I love this idea! Both the CI program and using Robin Hoody, but that Peter would be so resistant to it. I'm glad Jones was perceptive though, and he handled it just right. There will be anger, but you have to look at the silver lining of it all. ;-)

From:

china_shop

Aww, lovely! This is just exactly right. *hearts Clinton and his concern for Peter so much*

From:

[Fanfiction] Agents and Consultants

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