[ the dance is the best part, in neal's opinion. his fatal flaw (...one of them) is he loves attention too damn much to slip away from the chase while he still can. so he ruthlessly keeps any hint of smile from his face and flexes his right hand, gingerly, then shoves it in a pocket before pulling it out again and smoothing down his shirt. after that satisfyingly fun cocktail of mixed signals, he almost grins-- sherlock's move. ]

A good friend of mine is always reminding me that 'can' isn't always a synonym for 'should'. I stand by the original statement.

[ neal takes all that in, his attention sharpening as he combs through the facts, trying to decide what to believe before just mentally filing it all away for later. ]

Where would I even start on specifics? [ his chuckle is wry and self-depreciating and one hundred percent fake. ] I'm not used to alien abduction taking place outside my TV... and the front page of the Post, once and a while.