elrhiarhodan

Title: Close Your Eyes and Think of Me (call out my name)
Author: elrhiarhodan
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Peter Burke, Neal Caffrey, Elizabeth Burke, Diana Berrigan, Clinton Jones, Reese Hughes, Mozzie, Sally, Peter/Elizabeth, Peter/Neal, Peter/Elizabeth/Neal
Written For: White Collar Big Bang, Round 4
Disclaimer: I do not own White Collar or its characters.
Spoilers: Minor references to events in Judgment Day, Wanted
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: Physical Hurt/Comfort, Serious Injury, Separation, Loneliness, Angst, UST
Word Count: ~28,600
Art Credit: kanarek13, and you can find all of the fantastic art for this on her Journal.
Beta Credit: coffeethyme4me, rabidchild67
Summary: After the anklet comes off, Neal decides he needs to leave New York. He’s too much in love with Peter to stay, and Peter is too conflicted about his own feelings to try and convince him not to leave. Neal ends up in Montreux, Switzerland, and discovers that freedom his meaningless without anyone to share it with. Before he can go home, his life is changed in an instant, and the changes are terrible and permanent.

Author’s Notes: This story began as an idea I had well over a year ago. I had even posed the question to my flist on where it should be set. Many thanks to elainasaunt for her suggestion to set it in Montreux, which worked perfectly.

Writing physical H/C doesn’t come naturally to me, so I’ve had a lot of cheerleading along the way. First and always, when it comes to laying on the hurt, is rabidchild67, she helped me sort out some of my issues early on, and even though this story sat for a long time, her words of wisdom stuck with me. Also very special thanks to both dmk0064 and arsenicjade. These ladies are also H/C queens who helped me get the wheels of this story going after it stalled in a great fit of uncertainty.

Of course, it goes without saying that nothing would have been written without my cheerleaders and dearest friends, jrosemary and coffeethyme4me. Their encouragement made everything possible.

A very special thank you to kanarek13, who created all of the lovely art you see here – the cover, the banners and the icons.

Title from the Carol King classic, You’ve Got a Friend.

Part One On DW | On LJ
Part Two On DW | On LJ
Part Three On DW | On LJ
Part Four On DW | On LJ
Part Five On DW | On LJ
Epilogue On DW | On LJ