Title: On Hold
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: PG
Length: 300
Summary: Neal has a job to do



"This is cruel and unusual punishment," Neal said. He was standing in Peter's office.

Peter leaned back in his seat to take a look at Neal. "It's not cruel and it's not unusual," he replied. "And it's definitely not punishment."

"Really?" Neal huffed. "Sure fooled me."

"This is the FBI, Neal. We don't get to do fun things all the time," Peter answered back. "How is this any different from sitting in the van all night?"

Sitting in the van, at least Neal could have long conversations with the other agents. There was usually a suspect to watch. If things were really bad, he could go out for a coffee run. But he didn't expect Peter to understand that. "Why don't you get one of your probies to do it?"

"The probies are not here to do your dirty work for you," Peter shot back. "Besides, they're busy rewriting reports. Do you prefer to do that?"

That was a toughie. Neal wavered, but apparently it was a theoretical question. Before Neal could make a decision, Peter continued, "If you weren't wasting your time standing here and whining, you could have been done with this by now."

"I'm not whining," Neal whined. "It's a waste of my time and abilities to-"

Peter had enough. "Go! Now!" he ordered.

Neal went back to his desk. He shot a glance towards Peter's office, only to find his handler staring back at him, obviously watching his every move. It was now too late to try and pass the task to somebody else on the team.

Sitting down, he stared at the phone for a minute, then dialed a number. Soft music answered him back, along with an over-exuberant voice. "Welcome to Mutual Insurance! Please press 1 for new accounts, press 2 for claims, press 3 for administration. Otherwise dial the extension required now. Thank you!"

Neal sighed, and pressed 3.