A Conspiracy You Should Have Seen Coming

by tlhup

Summary:

Of all he's been suspicious of in his life, it was out of the question for Mozzie to believe Neal faked his own death?
Or
It was the greatest, worst, and final con of Neal Caffrey’s life. He'd tied all loose ends and, with the take down of the Pink Panthers, earned his freedom in a rather final way. The guilt at what he'd done to his friends, though, nagged at him.
So he set the clues into motion to bring back the person who'd always been there for him.

Notes:

Okay, this is my first fic, it kind of needs to be more than i was imagining it being, so I guess I'll keep going. Not really a writer, but the end of the show snuck up on me, I accidentally watched it, and I have Feelings about it and how OOC it was.

Chapter 1: Beginning at the End

It was the greatest, worst, and final con of Neal Caffrey’s life.

A little over a year ago, he’d faked his death after bringing down the Pink Panthers, tying all loose ends in a very final way. It nagged at him sometimes, the guilt at what he’d done to his friends, the people in his life who’d always seen the best in him. Neal hated to think of how he’d betrayed them.

In his weakness, for one person he knew would take his death very hard, he had left a clue, the key to the con. Even though there was the risk that Peter would, as he had so often before, track him to the ends of the earth, Neal also recognized that Peter felt bad that the FBI had taken advantage of the situation, keeping him trapped to be used as a tool while baiting him with freedom they’d never allow him so long as he was useful. Neal hoped with the key left as a part of his ‘personal effects’, Peter would find the shipping container and realize that this was the endgame. The takedown of the Pink Panthers had indeed earned Neal his freedom, in a way the contract never could.

However, he did feel terrible for what his ‘death’ would do to Mozzie. His oldest and closest friend, there was just no way he could take the chance that his con would be exposed when Mozzie was absolutely fine- or worse, mysteriously vanished- at his ‘death’. He needed a genuine reaction and a time for it to cool down for the ruse to take. Mozzie, for all he was, was not that great a liar or a poker face.

Still, he couldn’t leave his best friend with a sudden tragedy and no closure, especially when he was pretty sure Peter wouldn’t say anything, whether trying to avoid a wild goose chase ending in more heartache and a freshly reopened wound, or to avoid suspicions being raised that Neal wasn’t dead. No, Mozzie deserved the truth, and he deserved it in a way that would keep them both safe and free to live as they’d always planned.