[for Lipton]

[notgoingtorun]

Neal had thought that his great tour of island apologies was done and over with. He hadn't accounted for the fact that significant portions of the island had lost great chunks of their memories. It didn't make sense to tell people who didn't even remember him.

And, of course, one of the people who had no idea who Neal was just happened to be Lipton. Jane might have dealt with his lies with a quiet, sad resignation, but he doubted that her husband would be quite so non-confrontational about it.

He'd already moved his belongings out of New Pemberley, but once he'd realized that everyone had their memories back, he thought it was time to find Lipton and tell him the truth, too.

"Afternoon," he said, approaching the other man once he'd tracked him down. "Have a minute? I've got something I need to talk to you about."

Comments

[notgoingtorun]

"And thank you for hearing me out," Neal said. "I know how important family is, and if I ever would have thought for a moment that me being here would have put any of you at risk, I would have left immediately." Neal hated seeing anyone else in the line of fire -- literally or metaphorically -- for things he'd done. Maybe he'd grown a conscience over the years, but the last thing he wanted was to see anyone hurt ... who didn't deserve it, at least.

"I'll leave you to your business here, but, listen, I know all this sounds real dubious coming from me, so if you ever need reassurance that ... well, I'm not just saying things to keep people happy, there's a man here on the island, his name's Peter Burke. He's an FBI agent, one of the good guys. He's been a ... mentor to me, over the past couple of years, and he knows my whole story. If you can't believe me, at least hear him out."