She woke up with smells of coffee and breakfast. She groggily sits up from the couch, a blanket over her that wasn't there when she had fallen asleep watching some classical movie Neal loves the night before. She saw files and papers scattered over Neal's bed. Alden wasn't where he was last night. She stood up, still in jeans and a t-shirt from the day before.
Neal turns around, smiling when he sees her. He hands her a mug, coffee filled to the brim inside. She looks down at it, shaking her head with a light smile.
When Neal sees this, he says, "you ok?"
She looks up. "Why are you doing this?"
I don't deserve this. He has no idea I'm actually involved in this case. I'm the reason this case is even here, interrupting Neal's life. It won't be long until Peter finds out, which means Neal will know as soon as he does. Then I have to leave.
"It's only polite, you are temporarily living here."
Yeah. Temporary. More like a few hours until Peter finds my prints on the gun.
"I know but-" she starts.
"Hey, it's my job. I know what you're dealing with being in this case for no reason."
She sighs, forcing a smile. Neal, you have no idea. "Thank you."
Just then, June walks in, Alden and her pug on leashes.
"Hello, Lilly. I just walked him for you- he's a lovely dog." She smiles.
At this point, Daphne is lost for words.
"Oh- my God- you didn't have to do that-"
"Oh, it was my pleasure." She hands her the leash.
Daphne bites her lip, choking back some emotion she didn't feel she deserved.
"Thank you anyway, June. It's lovely to meet you."
June nods, and gracefully walks herself and her dog back downstairs.
"So," Neal speaks up. "Where are we going?"
"What?"
"Y'know, that thing we planned... Where do you want to go?"
"Oh-that, of course."
Her initial thought was somewhere farther than she'd normally go, but realizing Neal's anklet and her new found suspicion for taxis, she said, "let's just walk somewhere."
"Sounds good to me."
...............................................
"Tell me more about yourself, Lilly."
"Already into those 'first date' surface level conversations, are we?"
"Well, it doesn't have to be," he suggests.
"What do you want to know?" She looks ahead of her, seeing the never-ending street in front of them, shops to the side of it that no one's heard of. The light from the rising sun shone through some of the smaller buildings.
"Start with your childhood. Just let it go from there."
She nods. "Okay, well, I was born in Utah with two parents, until I turned three and was thrown into the foster system. I was sent here, to Manhattan.
Neal looks at her, surprised eyes and probably a lot of questions. She was staring in front of her as she said these things.
"The foster home owner, Ella Brinks, adopted me when I was 5. I learned everything from her, and when I was 12 my birth mother came to take me back."
"Lilly, you don't have to-"
"No, Neal, it's okay. It's not hard to talk about now, and besides, I want you to know."
If i'm leaving soon to escape him and the FBI, I don't care how much he knows about me. If he finds Daphne, he knows everything. It's best he hears it from me.
"Both me and Ella refused, of course. A week or so after legally winning the fight, she kidnapped me. I remember everything so vividly. The police didn't do shit to find me. Ella told me she went to the FBI-"
Neal was even more alert as she said this.
"They were able to track me in two weeks. My birth mom was convicted of kidnapping and child abuse. 8 years later, when I was 20, Ella died." She pauses, taking a moment. "It took me a long time to come to terms with it, and I still am. I found myself staying, living here, moving from place to place and having to create this life for myself."
Neal takes her hand. They pause. "I'm sorry all that happened to you."
"Don't apologize. I'm alright, besides, everyone goes through shit, thats just mine."
He brings her into a hug. She bites her lip over his shoulder, choking back slight tears him and their conversation were bringing.
As the hug was released, Daphne realized they were standing outside of a cafe.
Neal looks back from the cafe and questionably glances at Daphne. "Do you want to-"
"Sure."
...............................................
"You haven't been on a date since you were 8 years old?"
"Yes! I'm serious, me and this boy in my foster home set up a table in the middle of the living room. After like an hour of pretending to eat really fancy food in almost silence, he literally looks at me and says, 'is this our first date?' so of course I said yes."
Neal laughs.
"It went great for a couple of eight year olds."
He chuckles, smiling wildly. "I mean why wouldn't it. Eight year olds don't have filters when they're on first dates."
"Well yeah because mingling eight year olds are very common," she laughs.
Neal grins. He stops, thinking for a moment and then says, "you know Mozzie grew up in the foster system too?"
"Oh, I could tell."
"Really? It's that obvious?"
"I mean, yeah. It wasn't to you?"
"Me and Moz met playing Find the Lady at a corner somewhere in Queens. He had fake hair and a goatee. It wasn't"
She laughs. "Okay, I can see that."
"Sorry about yesterday," Neal says, referring to Moz.
"Oh that was fine, I don't mind him at all."
"Well good. Cause he's around a lot."
"I want to get to know him better, actually."
"You do?" He scoffs. "You're the first, then."
A waitress who looked about 18 came up to them, handing them the bill. She stands for a minute, creating light awkwardness as she looks at Daphne. She finally says, "hey, have I seen you before?"
Daphne's stomach lurches. She stays calm, at least on the outside. "I don't think so..."
"No, I swear, I've seen you before."
"I guess I have that kind of face."
The waitress shrugs, walking away.
Neal leans forward. "Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah," she responds, questioning to herself if it's about her.
"You don't seem to care that I'm a criminal. Why?"
She thinks about this for a moment. I guess I haven't, have I?
"I don't know. I've known a couple criminals in the past, I'm related to criminals. Not all of them live up to their label. I've known you for a little bit, now. I know you aren't some psychopath. You're Neal."
He seems to need to take in this small amount of information. He stares at her, in awe and confusion at her answer. "Not everyone looks at me that way."
"I know, the name 'criminal' goes a long way in most people's minds at first glance, but not mine. I try not to judge on labels. It's character and actions I care about."
He shoots a grateful smile. Just as he does, his phone buzzes. Neal shoots a questioning glance at Daphne.
"Go ahead," she waves.
He pulls it out, checking the message.
"It's Peter. He says they just got a call. The prints on the gun will come in in about an hour."
Daphne swallows. It's over. I have to run.
"You have to go to the office now, then?"
"Yeah, but I can take my time," he says. "I'll walk you back to the house."
...............................................
Neal opens the door to his apartment, leading her in.
She turns and faces him once she's inside. He asks, "Stay here until I get back?"
She nods, knowing the weight of that lie. He starts to turn, but she stops him, saying "Neal-"
Daphne what the hell are you doing... she asks herself.
He turns back, their faces closer than anticipated. Daphne stares at him for a moment, calming her breaths. He leans in until she abruptly closes the gap between their lips. His hand wraps behind her, kissing harder. Her hands softly raise to his face until she steadily releases the kiss. Shit. Why did I do that.
Neal smiles at her, and she tries to return the look, hiding her sentiment toward the fact she could have just made his life a lot harder for him in the near future. And not only that, but her own as well.
Why does he have to make this so difficult.
"I'll see you soon," Daphne tries, attempting to cope.
He begins to smile, opening his mouth to respond when his phone rings. He reluctantly pulls it out, answering.
"Hey Peter," he says, a tone of annoyance hidden in his voice.
"Are you with Lilly?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Come to the office. Hurry, Neal. You'll want to see this. Uh- by yourself."
"Alright.. I'll be there soon."
He hangs up. "See you soon," he smiles, a new found glow to it as he exits the apartment. The door shuts. Daphne stares at it. She bites her lip, the tears beginning to flow. She attempts to wipe her eyes and contain her feeling. Alden runs in from the balcony. He sits next to to her. "We got to go, Alden."
...............................................
Neal walks into the office, a smirk on his face and his focus everywhere but on work. He makes his way up to the boardroom, and he enters. To his confusion he sees a disappointed and a crushed-looking Peter sitting on the table, looking at the monitor. He looks at Neal, and shakes his head. Neal finishes making his way in there, looking at the screen. Neal's heart drops and his mind stirs as he sees the mugshot of Lilly Reid plastered on the screen with information surrounding it.
But the name Lilly Reid wasn't on the mugshot, her name was Daphne Ryan, a convicted criminal.
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Why am I the most boring writer EVER OMF
Hello there Lovies, I hope you liked this chapter. (i didn't, I'm like falling asleep rn)
and LOOK. EXACTLY A WEEK APART FROM LAST WEEK AND ITS GONNA STAY THAT WAY.
Because guess what you guys, I'm still AHEAD you guys. Chapter 6 is already typed, but I don't like releasing too many chapters at once in case something in the story changes and I need to go back and fix it.
Please vote or follow if you enjoyed, and I love seeing all of your lovely comments so thank you so much for that and all of the support. See you next week. :)