all my stumbling phrases never amounted to anything worth this feeling...

Title: She's Just Like The Weather, Can't Hold Her Together.
Characters (Pairings) Sara Ellis, Neal Caffrey (Sara/Neal)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1465
Disclaimer: White Collar is Jeff Eastin's brainchild. Not mine.
Summary: It's mildly alarming, really, how badly Sara's dealt with Neal's death.
Content Notes: Anorexia. Reference to suicide. Hallucinations.
Author's Note: Title from Landscape by Florence + the Machine.
For the mini fest at wc_women_fest. S6 finale tag.
It's past midnight, and I'm not in a good headspace. Proceed with caution. (There is light, though.)

( Sara doesn't breathe. )

Title: Tomorrow Is A Different Day
Characters (Pairings): Kate Moreau, Neal Caffrey, Peter Burke, Alexandra Hunter, Vincent Adler, Garrett Fowler (Kate/Neal)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 4990
Spoilers: For Kate's storyline through seasons 1 and 2
Disclaimer: White Collar is Jeff Eastin's brainchild. Not mine.
Summary: Kate's spent her whole life investing in her tomorrow.
Author's Note: This is for runthecon, for the prompt 'tomorrow is another day' from aragarna.
Title's from Avril Lavigne's Tomorrow. There are lyrics from Halsey's album BADLANDS all over the story. They serve as sort of introductions to the various little disconnected pieces. So this isn't exactly a songfic, buuut it kinda is.
Many, many thanks to reve_silencieux for the speedy proofread and the cheerleading!
I should mention that this is a slightly old idea, and it had around 300-400 words written in advance, but this thing be looong (LOOK AT THAT WORDCOUNT, GUYS), so I don't think it makes that much of an impact? I mean, I knew the direction the story was headed in, but I had very few actual words written in advance, so. I hope that's okay?

As seems to perpetually be the case with me, this story isn't complete. Yes, you read that right. Almost 5k words and this monster wants more. Piece of shit.
Slightly spoilery content note-like thing (spoils a character arc): I know the first sentence is what it is, but Kate isn't vilified in this story. She loves Neal. She means well. She's allowed to be angry, and think freely, and do things that may hurt Neal without her realizing it. Peter, who is the antagonist of her story, is on the receiving end of much of her anger, but that doesn't make either of the two characters evil. They're just different people who happen to have made terrible first impressions on each other. Not every human on the planet has to get along like a house on fire. And finally, I'm sorry if Peter seems out of character to you, but I stand by his characterization in this fic.
I kinda sorta borrowed the "ornamental, not functional" idea from this really painful insult delivered by the President to the First Lady on Scandal. I wouldn't have mentioned it, but I couldn't find any alternate wording, so. :P
This is a bit of a bricolage, but I enjoyed writing it, so. :D

Also, it's 2 am, I haven't given this fic my usual final once-over because I'd like to sleep, please forgive mistakes and clumsy phrasing and such. ETA - Edited!

( She loves him less than he loves her. )

Title: Dragon Breathing Fire
Characters (Pairings): Neal Caffrey, Rachel Turner (Rachel/Neal, with major consent issues)
Rating: R
Word Count: 2088
Spoilers: Through Season 5
Content Notes: Kidnapping, violence, food + water deprivation, psychological judo, reference to future offscreen noncon. (spoilers ahoy)
Disclaimer: White Collar is Jeff Eastin's brainchild. Not mine.
Summary: Neal seems to have forgotten that when Rachel plays, she plays to win.
Author's Note: This is all for the very kind hurinhouse, who asked to know how the scene set in Get With The Program continues. I obligingly scared the shit out of myself by writing this monster.
Title from Don't Hurt Yourself by Beyoncé featuring Jack White. (LISTEN TO LEMONADE, Y'ALL).
The first snippet thing starts right where Get With The Program stops, so it probably won't make sense if you don't read that part.
As before, Rachel is OOC in that she isn't restrained by her love for Neal. Also as before, no cheerful rainbow unicorns to be found here. There is, however, flagrant abuse of italics. Proceed with caution.

( Rachel takes in Neal's terrified expression with amusement. )

Title: Siren Song
Characters (Pairings): Peter Burke
Rating: G
Word Count: 155
Spoilers: For the series.
Disclaimer: White Collar is Jeff Eastin's brainchild. Not mine.
Summary: The siren song of fieldwork.
Author's Note: For the poem prompt Sea Fever by John Masefield for weekly quick fic #9 at writerverse.

( Now that he knows Neal's alive, everything changes. )

Title: Can't Hold You Closer Than This
Characters (Pairings): Sara Ellis, Neal Caffrey, filler OCs (Sara/Neal)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 4272
Spoilers: Till at least 4x16
Beta: The lovely percygranger. She saw this fic when it was about 2K, and gave me plenty of wonderful advice. It is now 4K. Any and all remaining mistakes are obviously mine. And a special thank you to reve_silencieux, who caught a few crucial errors while reading the finished fic!
Disclaimer: White Collar is Jeff Eastin's brainchild. Not mine.
Summary: Sara may never learn how to fake love, but she’s always known how to fake okay. (And by the end of this story, maybe she won't even need to do that.)
Author's Note: The title is a slightly modified lyric from Eavesdrop by The Civil Wars.
This story has been in the works since July 2014. Here's proof. It has since hopped 'verses, grown quite a bit, and matured. Sara sounds much more like herself in this story than she did in the very first version.
I'll probably write Neal's side of the story (i.e. his recovery) sometime, but if this story is any indicator, you can expect to see it in October 2017. Oops.
For more in this verse, click here.

( There’s no buffer of familiar faces in London, no one she can count on or trust or talk to. )

Title: Belief
Characters (Pairings): Mozzie
Rating: G
Word Count: 202
Spoilers: For parts of Season 2
Disclaimer: White Collar is Jeff Eastin's brainchild. Not mine.
Summary: Why Mozzie believes in conspiracies.
Author's Note: Written for Challenge 10 - Weekly Quick Fic 4 - and the prompts Integrity and Dramatics at writerverse.

( There were so many people Mozzie's age, but none he could confide in. )

Title: North Light Comes
Characters (Pairings): Neal Caffrey, Peter Burke, Elizabeth Burke (Peter/El).
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1169
Spoilers: Vague for S3 & 4. Minor reference to S05E04.
Disclaimer: White Collar is Jeff Eastin's brainchild. Not mine.
Author's Note: Set post anklet, ignoring S6. Written for Challenge 14 in the current Writerverse phase. Title is a lyric from Overcome by Better Than Ezra.
This is basically proof of life. Posting from phone, I apologise for any mistakes in advance. Will tag + xpost + edit this on Monday, because phone.
This is a (very short) sequel to When All Else In You Turns And Runs, in which Neal has essential tremor, restricted to his right hand during this fic and the previous one. I'm fairly sure that that fic is in my masterpost, for anyone who wants to read it before this.
This is not the first time I've written a drunk/dazed Neal on the Burkes' doorstep. I think he's adorable when he's a little loopy and craving affection. Recurring theme, will try not to repeat, etc.
Can you tell that it's late and I'm a little loopy myself?


( Neal shivered as he paced across the length of the Burkes' doorstep. )

Title: the one who's always and never alone
Characters (Pairings): Neal Caffrey
Rating: PG
Word Count: 104
Spoilers: Vague for S6 finale
Song prompt: Girl With The Red Balloon - The Civil Wars
Disclaimer: White Collar is Jeff Eastin's brainchild. Not mine.
Summary: He's surrounded by people and it still hurts.
Author's Note: This is a repost for tagging purposes - this was originally posted as part of Five drabbles (+ a little extra), but is also a S6 tag, and since I don't want that entire post in my S6 finale tag tag, I'm reposting this.
For more finale tags, click here.

( Neal has learned that being alone has nothing to do with being around people. )

Title: Someone To Rely On
Characters (Pairings): Diana Berrigan, Neal Caffrey, Mozzie.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1190
Spoilers: 5x02, for Diana's plotline.
Warnings: Vague descriptions of assault, a little blood.
Disclaimer: White Collar is Jeff Eastin's brainchild. Not mine.
Summary: How Diana lost her hearing and found something far more precious.
Author's Note: Title from Somewhere Only We Know by Lily Allen (originally by Keane, but I'm listening to her version). Set post-S5 in a vague no-kidnapping AU.
For Day 3 of halfamoon, for the prompt Lost and Found, Diana losing her hearing and finding something far more precious (why does this look like a c&p of my summary, MAYBE BECAUSE IT IS). Remember that little commentfic I promised to expand? This is that. Never say I never carry out any of my promises (I DON'T THO). Except research happened in between, so there are differences. And my writing style has gone wonky again (WHY CAN IT NEVER STAY STRAIGHT, I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M DOING ANYMORE), so yeah.
Which also makes this for the 'loss of hearing' square on an hc_bingo card Which has now gone into amnesty. Sigh. Anyhow.
Clearly, I'm in a weird mood.
I hope this gradually increasing word count thing isn't a holding pattern, or I may just be totally screwed.


( "Something's wrong," Mozzie says when Neal picks up the phone. )

Title: Not This Time
Characters (Pairings): Neal Caffrey
Rating: PG
Word Count: 350
Disclaimer: White Collar is Jeff Eastin's brainchild. Not mine.
Summary: The only real thing wrong with Neal is that he's young. And that's something time can always cure. Will he let it?
Author's Note: The summary is a modified version of this prompt from comment_fic (which tigriswolf, the prompter, mentioned is from Jack Schaffer's 'Shane'). I thought of the title because of a lyric from Christina Perri's Butterfly, and then immediately heard Taylor Swift singing "Not this time" (from I Know Places). Music. *sigh*. This is for Challenge 16a at writerverse. I see this as set in S2, after Countermeasures, but you can read it however you like :)

( Neal's been in a dance with time ever since he ran away from home. )