Discovering Fakes


"We deal with a lot of knockoffs. Ask me what I know about a Prada bag sometime."

Meandering through the store after his wife, Peter wasn't particularly interested in the fancy products. Most were out of their price range, and the few that were remotely affordable didn't feel right for Elizabeth. Still, he watched her 'ooh' and 'aah' over the products as she shopped for a client. It was one of those odd errands she had been sent on, and she managed to talk Peter into accompanying her for the pleasure of spending time with him while he was available.

Bored by the shopping aspect of their time together, Peter distracted himself by people watching. It was more interesting and held his attention better than the feminine inspired products did.

When a gust of something like expensive perfume hit him, Peter turned to pay attention to the woman who had just entered the shop. He noticed that something was off with the scent, it was close, but a knock off. The question was whether or not it was a legal knock off.

She meandered around for a moment before disappearing into the back of the store where he could hear her greet an employee as a friend. His eavesdropping explained why she was there, but didn't answer his questions pertaining to the authenticity of her perfume.

Returning his focus to his wife, he smiled as she asked him for his opinion. "It's probably nice for someone, but it doesn't… feel like you." He was careful with his wording. She deserved the best, but some things just didn't fit her. His wife was unique and special, so she deserved something that highlighted her. Not something designed to suit someone else.

Teasing him, she pretended to be offended. "Are you saying I don't deserve Prada?"

"The devil wears Prada, you deserve something better." He played along with a humorous expression. "Besides, you'd be surprised how many Prada's get knocked off making them less unique and special, you deserve better than that."

Smiling to reveal that she had been messing with him, Elizabeth liked his response. "Nice save, hon."

Laughing with her, Peter barely saw what happened next coming, but there wasn't time to react.

Elizabeth turned around and ran right into the woman from before, the one with the knock off perfume.

Apologizing, Elizabeth tried to keep the peace, but it didn't work.

The woman looked aghast as she realized her outfit had been doused with the expensive perfume she had opened to smell. It was the real thing, and would be pricey to pay for. "You… how could you. You just spilled that all over me!" Then she went into a rude rant blaming everything on Elizabeth, even though she was the one who had come up behind her as she was moving.

Stunned, Elizabeth hadn't expected to be treated so poorly, especially when it was a mutually caused accident and she had apologized for her part in it.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Peter broke in carefully.

For a moment, Elizabeth expected Peter to come to her defense, but then she was surprised at how he reacted to the woman turning her look of furry on him.

"I don't mean to be rude, but I believe your bag there is an illegal knock off."

Landing into him, the woman let him know what she thought of him. "And don't you think I'm going to fall for your ploy that my Prada is fake. That isn't going to prevent me from charging you and your wife for this dress while my friend charges you for the perfume!"

Pulling his badge, Peter quieted her rant rather quickly. "Special Agent Peter Burke, FBI White Collar. Your perfume is also a knock off."

Spluttering, the woman was torn between telling him off, and believing him, because his badge looked rather real.

Observing from the sidelines, Elizabeth felt a little forgotten. Peter had zoned in on the potential crime, and had seemingly overlooked how the woman had mistreated his wife.

Waiting patiently by, she listened as Peter was allowed to see the woman's purse. Showing her it was a fake, he was walking her through the basic points.

"See, the zipper pull here has threads sticking off at the top, and the seams aren't perfectly spaced. That flaw is carried over here to the end of the purse, here at the corner, and again here along the zipper." Peter carefully pointed with a pen. "The metal décor doesn't match, this one is darker with a different logo embedded in it, and several have rust along the edges. Your logo on the front is material instead of the metal that is required for an authentic Prada, and there is no notch in the R indicating that they used the wrong font, which also explains the spacing being off balance. Those aren't even mentioning the challenge you had with the zipper when you tried to prove its authenticity, or the problems with the liner that I can now see close up." Peter laid out the facts carefully with each one being something proven with the bag itself.

As the woman got closer to tears, Elizabeth began to feel torn. On one side, the woman had been very rude and unnecessary in her behavior, but on the other, she had been taken advantage of by someone and was obviously feeling violated. Based on the shocked expression she was wearing, this series of reveals was going to take some adjusting to before she would know how to handle them.

Even as Peter glanced at her with an almost helpless expression, she was proud of her brilliant and cool headed FBI Agent. He had taken the brunt of the woman's anger, caught a crime, and was working his way through the uncomfortable situation. Anger he could handle, but crying? His lack of skill with women in general was adorable.

As the manager approached, Peter and the woman turned their focus to her.

"I believe there was an issue over here with a spilled perfume bottle?" She let them know that she had been watching and only another customer had prevented her from participating in the conversation sooner.

The woman was less angry about the perfume and rather flustered in general. Suddenly questioning the validity of her wardrobe, she was less worried about a single article.

Peter calmly described the situation exactly as the manager had witnessed it.

Discussing options with the manager, Peter settled on the cost of the perfume being split evenly, while the woman got to keep the remaining perfume to cover the expense of the dress. With all parties in agreement, the situation began to dissolve.

With the expenses covered and the perfumed wrapped to finalize the sale, the manager left them to return to her work.

Trying to get a little more information from the woman and stem her tears, Peter kept his focus on business. Asking her where she bought the bag, if it had a dust cover, what the authentication card looked like, and other questions that could help discover the source, he put together a basic lead to follow.

Then he had to ask, "Did you purchase your perfume at the same store?"

Looking horrified, the woman remembered that he had mentioned her perfume being a knock off too. Getting angry through her tears, she worried how many things she had purchased from them that were fake.

Soothing her frustrations, Peter asked if she could compile any receipts and perhaps a few articles to bring down to the Federal Plaza building for them to use as evidence. Promising that all would be returned to her, he gave her his card and some last advice to help her handle the situation.

Throwing in some suggestions about calming tea and the pleasure of justice being served, Elizabeth tried to help one last time before the woman left.

Free to continue their shopping, Elizabeth watched Peter as he suddenly realized that his actions could have come off with the appearance of ignoring his wife. "Should I ask what my punishment is?"

Laughing as she kissed him, Elizabeth let him know that she wasn't angry with him. "Hmm, I might have to think on that." Her expression was mischievous. "She did give you a good run, and you were so kind to turn her anger onto yourself."

"Would it help if I remind you what will happen should this case go official?" At her amused glance he continued. "Neal will quiz me on fashion, which would lead to comments about my suits, and that would evolve into other general teasing." Peter hoped she wouldn't make him suffer too badly. "Perhaps I can add in the promise of lunch for the two of us to help make up for this interruption?"

"Ooh, that does help. When this case is over, you'll have to bring Neal along so that he can tell me how everything progressed from his perspective." She grinned evilly at Peter's expression.

Peter knew he was getting off too easy before. "Oh, so that is how you're going to play this." Shaking his head, he still couldn't help but smile. Being teased by his wife and best friend over lunch wasn't too bad.

"You know you love it." She grinned impudently up at her husband. It was entertaining to see him flounder around women, but a lot more fun to watch his teasing banter with Neal. The con brought a competitive spark to her husband like almost nothing else did.

Kissing her, Peter whispered. "You can be quite the minx Mrs. Burke."

Finishing their shopping, the two continued through a lazy afternoon. Peter wanted to begin researching, but that could at least wait until Monday. The case wasn't even official, and he had a beautiful wife to pay attention to.


Standing in the office on Monday, Peter had researched the information. He was certain they could close the case, they just needed their star witness to show up.

Moving to stand beside him as he arrived, Neal said "Well, you told me to ask you what you knew about Prada, I guess now I get to find out."

Peter wasn't amused. "Very funny, Neal."

Smiling, Neal enjoyed heckling Peter. It was just another part of their working and friendly relationship.

Rolling his eyes, Peter tossed him his notebook so that he could skim the summary of details he had collected.

Passing it back, Neal turned to see the woman coming off of the elevator. "Looks like your morning meeting just arrived."

Exiting the elevator, the woman wasn't impressed with her surroundings, but she was hopeful that maybe the crime would be rectified. Marching into the office, she passed her arms full of stuff to Neal without paying any attention to him. Then she directed Peter that she wanted to get the official stuff over with.

Leading her off to a conference room, Peter glanced back over his shoulder while gesturing for Neal to get started on the other side of the case.

Turning to Jones and Diana, Neal smirked. "This is going to be fun."

"Don't Neal. You tease Peter often enough." Diana chided him.

"That's the fun of it." Neal wagged his eye brows at her comically. Messing with Peter was the main fun that he had with his work.

"You're just lucky he doesn't throw you back in prison." Jones muttered as he took some of the products for them to start looking through.

Sharing the load, the three of them moved to a conference room and began spreading the articles acrossed the table. There were a variety of products. Some were perfume, others were hand bags, while yet others were various clothing items.

Sorting through them, Neal began noticing that there were a variety of high end products in the mix, but that matched the purchase location of a fancy department store where she claimed to frequent.

Eventually, Neal started making comments again. "I bet Elizabeth enjoys taking him shopping. Peter can always prevent her from being taken advantage of by nasty forgers." He smirked at Peter's annoyed expression in the reflection on the window. "Maybe you should use that fashion sense to improve your own wardrobe?"

"Considering that you have been one of those 'nasty forgers,' I wouldn't be so hasty to crack comments. Besides, Elizabeth does appreciate my knowledge of fashion as well as my simple taste." Peter snapped back. Then he grumbled. "We don't all dress like cartoons."

"Harsh." Neal pretended to look hurt.

"You'll get over it." Peter wasn't falling for that ploy and tried to redirect the conversation to their work. "Come upstairs."

"She turning to mush and tears on you?" Neal asked getting a little more serious. He was aware that Peter wasn't good at handling crying women.

Knowing his weakness, it was times like this that it was good to have Neal as his partner. The man was a handsome charmer who was smooth with the ladies. He could handle teary eyed women, and either calm them down, or use their tears to his advantage, depending on the situation. "How about you be helpful and lay on the charm to calm her down?"

Smiling softly, Neal walked in to introduce himself. He knew that Peter appreciated his skills. "Hello, my name is Neal Caffrey. I'm a colleague of Peter's."

The woman had been giving her official statement and rehashing every embarrassing moment concerning the counterfeit merchandise. It brought her to tears.

Looking up to see Neal, she tried to regain her control and began dabbling at her eyes to clear the tears away. Talking to him, she was more pleasant, even flirtatious, as she fixed up her makeup and straightened her hair.

Complimenting her smoothly, Neal encouraged her smiles and directed the conversation through her shopping habits and purchase choices. It was a much easier way to gather information than Peter's tendency to interrogate.

Working quickly, he helped finish the official side of the conversation with her.

Then when it was time for her to go, Peter reminded her that she had his number and encouraged her to call him any time if anything else came to mind pertaining to the case.

"Can I have his number too?" The woman pointed at Neal with a sultry smile.

Smiling pleasantly, Neal stepped forward and took Peter's card from where she had pulled it out. Flipping it over, he scribbled his number on the back before returning it to her with a wink.

Looking through her eye lashes at him, she tried to catch his attention so that he would watch her leave.

Obliging for a moment, Neal soon turned back to Peter who was rolling his eyes at him.

"Do you always have to flirt with the witnesses?" He sighed.

"They feel more comfortable, give information easier, and leave more desirous of coming back should we need them. That's more than I can say for your interrogations." Neal bantered as they walked back towards the other two members of the team.

"They also come back when we don't need them." Peter pointed out.

"Hey, that was only one time. Besides, it turned out that she was faking more than we originally thought." Neal defended himself.

"Perhaps more than you originally thought." Jones said having heard the end of the conversation.

"Peter has a legendary reputation for catching counterfeits." Diana added from where she was checking out a perfume bottle. "He caught you and your bonds after all."

"Never bet against the gut." Jones added.

"Really…" Neal smirked. It was like he had a secret that he was certain they didn't know.

Patting him on the back, Peter joked. "Really, I even know a few things about you that you haven't told me."

"Are you sure? Because I'm pretty certain that I have secrets you couldn't even fathom." Neal tried playing with Peter.

Playing him right back, Peter look him in the eyes. "I know, but I've fathomed the biggest." Then he smiled and directed the group to work.

Looking at him sideways, Neal was trying to gage Peter's words. That wasn't all jest, but he couldn't possibly have guessed… could he? Nah, that was too surreal to even think of. Shaking his head, Neal returned to work, but he kept it in the back of his mind. It was never a good thing to let meaningful and mysterious conversations like that go without discovering the depths of what had transpired.

Grinning at the table, Peter knew he had played out more than he had planned, but it was hard to resist messing with Neal. He could still see Neal's expression of surprised confusion. Planting the idea that he might know something Neal didn't want him to, was too much fun not to play with.

"Alright, you two. If you can stop playing your mind games, maybe we can get some work done?" Diana chided with a smile as she tried to redirect their energy. "You act like my brothers."

"I didn't know you had any siblings." Neal turned his play onto her.

"If I did, Peter would be the elder brother while you would be the younger ragging him on." She tossed a bag at him.

"Enough." Peter interrupted. As much as he enjoyed the banter, Diana did have a point. "She's right, we have work to do."

Amused, the group got more focused, for the time being, and finished sorting through the various items.

Discussing strategy, Peter suggested that Neal reach out to his contacts on the street.

Throwing in some ideas of his own, Neal promised to reach out. "I'll talk to Mozzie tonight."

With their evidence piling towards a strong beginning, the team went home for the evening after a long day.


Walking into the town house, Peter put his things away and went looking for his wife. Finding her in the kitchen, he noticed that she was taking things out of various containers again. "Trying a new caterer?"

Turning around to greet him, Elizabeth began directing him on how to help get the meal ready. "No, these are leftovers from the event this afternoon. I figured it would be nice to take it easy and cheat for dinner." She knew that he would enjoy an easy and relaxing evening after what was most likely a trying day.

"You know me well." Peter smiled at her. "Neal teased me as much as I expected."

Noticing his frown, Elizabeth inquired after its cause.

"I slipped, hinted a little too much. One of his secrets… he doesn't hide the truth as well as he thinks, and I can sense that there is more to the story than he gives. If I'm right, he has a huge secret that he doesn't want blown." Peter wasn't getting too specific.

"Is it bad?" Elizabeth got worried.

"No… not really. Hughes thinks it could have huge ramifications, but thinks it would be a good thing if it were true. It's so far out there though that he doesn't believe it likely." Peter smiled. "He even bet me twenty dollars that I was wrong."

"Brave man. Considering that your instinct is famous, he must be very certain." Elizabeth cocked her head. She was becoming extremely curious what this secret and bet were about.

Opening his mouth to explain, Peter felt his phone go off and had to check to see who it was. Seeing Neal on the caller ID, he paused the conversation to answer. "Yeah, Neal?"

Listening, he then answered. "No, Mozzie can't have the evidence to run tests on." Another pause. "I don't care if he believes it is being used to smuggle classified information. In fact, that would give me more incentive not to share it with him!" Peter was adamant.

The conversation went on a little longer, and Elizabeth listened to Peter's side in the hopes of garnering as much information as possible. When Peter hung up, he was shaking his head.

"Mozzie, it's always conspiracy theories and outlandish theories with him." Peter shook his head.

"What was that about?"

Frustrated, Peter grumbled. "Mozzie, he wants us to give him some of the evidence because he is certain that it's being used to transfer classified information."

Concerned, Elizabeth wondered what that could entail.

Seeing her expression, Peter tried to relieve her fears before she could go too far down those trails. "That shouldn't be an issue. Besides, we dealt with a case like that in Fashion Week, but it isn't as common as television shows make it out to be."

Distracted from their previous conversation, Elizabeth hoped he was right. Settling down to their dinner and some relaxing time as a couple, they tried to enjoy their evening.


Thank you everyone for reading :D

This is my version of the Prada story in companion to Quinis' "Peter Verses the Secrets in the Fake Bag." You'll recognize some similar bone structures to the stories, because we both wrote the general plot, but the stories progress differently as we each took them in our own directions. My story has four chapters that I will be posting over the coming weekends. The mystery with Neal took over in mine too, but Peter still gets to show off his Prada knowledge ;)

This week, we are having our Christmas dinner, so I decided to post early in tandem with the day Quinis posted.