A Cage For The Mind, a White Collar fanfiction

[s2309]

Title: A Cage For The Mind
Characters(Pairings): Neal Caffrey, Kate Moreau (Neal/Kate)
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~500
Spoilers: Pilot
Disclaimer: White Collar is Jeff Eastin’s brainchild. Not mine.
Summary: Cages, physical and not.
Author's Note: This is for the prompt "Cages" on my hc_bingo card. Apologies for being AWOL, I was out of town for a bit. And I promise everybody reading this that the next fill for an hc_bingo prompt will not be barely over 500 words. Just putting it out there.


Neal didn’t really get the point of prison.

The idea was solid and everything, but sticking him in an 8 by 10 cell for four years surrounded by some of the worst men on the planet wasn’t going to freeze his brain into submission. Honestly, the only way to stop him from conning and forging was to break all his fingers.

No, that wasn’t true. His silver tongue and million dollar smile would still get him great friends.

The point was, trying to rob him of his personality, his individuality, did nothing towards curbing his desire to paint art that someone else had created, to take things that weren’t his to take, to be exactly where he shouldn’t be.

At least, that’s what he thought when he was three months in.

-:-

And now? He would happily give up his paintbrush to be able to touch Kate, feel her in his arms and not have to pretend that a cold, feelingless lump of glass was her skin. Even now when he couldn’t even touch the glass. Especially now.

The funny thing was, if they’d let him go now, he’d find Kate, fix whatever was wrong and never con anybody again. But they weren’t going to let him go now. They would let him go three months later, when Kate would be gone, when he could do nothing to help her because she’d already be gone, and he would con his way to oblivion because his fellow dreamer would be gone.

Or he could break out of Supermax.

Neal took his chance and slipped into the staff bathroom.

No going back now. The ride he was on went all the way up, till it either hit the ceiling or managed to break through it.

-:-

When he was two years in, he became obsessed with the bars on his cage. An 8 by 10 without bars would be a dream for some New Yorkers. An 8 by 10 with them, on the other hand...

He sketched them in blue, in pink, in grey, spent hours caressing them with long, bony fingers,  even (accidentally) banged his head into them once in an effort to understand why he hated them so much.

His study lasted six months, eleven days and twenty three hours and resulted in the eloquent conclusion I don’t freaking know.

Was it that they kept him in or that they kept others out? Was it that he could get through them, but it was pointless because there were people on the other side who would put him right back where he started? Or was it simply the oppressive, metallic colour?

He wished his traitorous brain had never thought up the question.



He thought about the bars on his cage because he didn’t want to think about how he couldn’t move even when there weren’t bars in front of him.

Also, there was an empty bottle of Bordeaux sitting next to him that he really wished could be replaced by the woman who had left it there.

Comments

[leesa_perrie]

Love the way his view on prison changes as time goes on, and oh, the ending! Poor Neal *hugs him* You've really captured him well here.

[sapphire2309]

Thank you so much!!
I couldn't resist writing that ending. Neal whumps so prettily!
I'm so, so happy you thought so.

[elrhiarhodan]

Beautiful - you've really given us the evolution of Neal and his mind and what he needs.

Thank you for this.

[sapphire2309]

Thank you for reading!
This was more about his mind than the bars to me. And that look he had in the Pilot. He really didn't care, he just wanted Kate. Or an explanation.

[embroiderama]

Aw, Neal. I really like how you got into his head here, and ending it where you did is perfect.

[sapphire2309]

Thank you so much! That was what I was aiming for, glad you liked it =D

[doctor-fangeek.livejournal.com]

Very nice! I really like the evolution from the 1st part to the second, and then poor, sad Neal and his wine bottle. ::hugs Neal::

[sapphire2309]

Thank you so much!!
I think the scene with the wine bottle is something of an universal favourite from the Pilot :)

[kanarek13]

Wow, you are on a roll. Such a wonderful study, it just feels like exactly the things that would go through his brilliant mind and the things he would do to process things.

Thank you for posting :D Looking forward to next stories :D

[sapphire2309]

I am, and I'm loving it! =D
I think Neal does what's right for him, if not what's exactly in accordance with the law or his own safety. Most of the time. When it's his free will controlling him.
Thank you for reading!

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

awww {{{Neal}}}
beautiful piece !!

[sapphire2309]

Thank you!! I think I owe Neal an apology.

[fatale.livejournal.com]

Bitchin' title and totally appropriate for the fic and for Neal.

[sapphire2309]

Thanks (insert term of endearment I haven't quite figured out but will soon here)! Lovely to hear that =D

[reve-silencieux.livejournal.com]

I want to be all insightful and say something very deep, but honestly, Neal did all the thinking here. ;-) I liked the progression and had to laugh at his thoughts in the beginning. It's too true! Prison will just make him be more careful in the future. And of course, he would have to make a study of it and draw them too. Very much a Neal thing to do. Loved it.

[sapphire2309]

Thank you =)
Neal wasn't exactly clued in to exactly what prison does to you in the beginning.
Of course =D

[accrues.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaaargh, this is so gorgeous. I particularly love this line:
and he would con his way to oblivion because his fellow dreamer would be gone.

Two parts: 'con his way to oblivion', ie. the whole point of his imprisonment (according to the law) would be null, and also because the way he went after Fowler, with that mindless single-directed obsession just reflects how he feels about losing Kate. Then 'his fellow dreamer' because that is exactly how he feels about Kate. Not necessarily that she's the best person for him to be with, but that she and he dream for better things, different things, but they dream for the same thing.

:3 gorgeous.

[sapphire2309]

Wow. I didn't even notice that when I wrote it. I was obsessing more on the repetition of 'she will be gone' in various forms and if it read awkwardly. I'm so happy you liked it!

Thanks for reading :)

[sinfulslasher]

Whoa, this is amazing and goes straight into my favorites folder!

Love Neal's thoughts and mental evolution regarding his very own personal cage (and really, the only one he's really sitting in his the mental cage, not the one with the bars). Awesome!

[sapphire2309]

I'm awed that you liked it so much. I reread your comment like, five times before it made sense.

Thank you so very much.

[semisweetsoul.livejournal.com]

Prison won't erase his desires to do what put him there in the first place. He'll find out that what he misses the most is Kate, and freedom, and the constant bustle that filled his life, that imprisonment replaced with boredom.

Lovely! Neal found out the hard way how much he cared about Kate.

Nice read. Thanks for sharing :)

[sapphire2309]

Thanks for reading!

The thing is, if they'd let him out before Kate completed her disappearing act, he would've actually tried to go legit (at least, in my head). There's nothing he wouldn't do for her when he was so in love. He'd probably find some way to make enough money on the straight and narrow to get her a Cote d'Azure paradise anyway.