Personal Belongings

Settling in on the couch after dinner, Neal patted Satchmo on the head as he meandered by for some attention. Breathing deeply, he once again relished the feeling of having a family, his friends, and the ability to be more honest with them than he had in the past.

"Why are you so content tonight?" Elizabeth asked.

Smiling, Neal answered. "I never thought that I would have this… a family, my friends, and the ability to be at least somewhat honest with everyone."

"Has there been any news of a decision yet?" Peter questioned whether or not Neal could tell them anything.

"That is actually part of what brought the topic to mind again."

"And?" Peter and Elizabeth both prompted.

"I don't get to tell you everything. For one, the bosses don't feel that you need to know why I am assigned to play Caffrey. However, I do get to tell you some things…" Neal began.

"So, get to telling us." Elizabeth settled in like he was going to tell some great story while Peter looked keenly interested.

Laughing, Neal just smiled at them. "What? So you want me to settle in and tell you the rest of my life story in one sitting?"

Beginning to see how unrealistic that was of them, the others got less excited.

"Okay, then how are you going to tell us this stuff that you can now share?" Peter asked.

"Uh…" Neal opened his mouth to explain, and then he closed it again as he thought.

"What about…" Elizabeth started to suggest a way, but then she furrowed her brows.

"…about?" Neal questioned her.

She was a little nervous as she tried to figure out how to suggest her idea. "Do you have a place of you own, besides the loft at June's?"

Surprised, Neal hadn't expected that question or direction of conversation to come up. "No. I have been moving around a lot, so I either live out of my character's accommodations, or a hotel room between assignments."

Frowning, Peter wondered. "What do you do with your personal stuff then? Keep it all in your suit case?"

Snorting, Neal threw an amused glance at him. "I have known the type, but I keep a few boxes of personal possessions in a storage unit."

Lighting up again, Elizabeth knew how to solve everything.

Questioning her sudden resurge in enthusiasm, Neal cocked his brow at her.

"Where is that storage unit located at?" Elizabeth started to share her idea.

"I like to keep it near whatever base I am stationed to work out of, so it is here in the city." Neal still didn't know where she was taking the conversation.

Glancing at Peter, Elizabeth had a silent conversation with her husband. Seeing his face light up too, she knew that she had his permission to offer. Turning to Neal, she made her suggestion. "What if you brought your things here? You could use it to share pieces of who you are with us, we could make sure they are safe, and it would give you an anchor here with the family."

Taken by surprise again, Neal hadn't thought of imposing on them like that. Turning to Peter, he also had a silent conversation as he looked for his opinion.

"We would love it if you brought them here Neal. There is an empty corner of the attic that you can claim for your stuff and we promise not to mess with it if you don't want us to." Peter looked hopeful. Since Neal was his new found little brother, he was eager to get to know him and make up for lost time.

"If it isn't too much trouble for you." Neal wasn't sure what to think about that situation.

Noticing his frown, Peter backtracked. "You don't have to if you don't want to." He felt a little hurt that his brother might not want to open up to him or trust him with his personal belongings.

Startled, Neal realized that he needed to explain more. "Peter, it's not that I don't trust you, or don't want to tell you who I am now that I am allowed to share more. It's more like… well, it feels like moving in and that is what is feeling weird to me. I mean, did you ever think that you would be offering a part of your home to me? You used to have issues if you even saw me here, so this is a big difference from how our relationship used to be."

Relaxing enough to chuckle slightly, Peter could see where he was coming from. "Becoming friends and finding that we are brothers did a lot to change that Neal." Pausing to get a good look at Neal, he extended the offer again, but in a gentler fashion. "It's an open invitation Neal, should you ever want to take us up on it."

Having adjusted to the idea some more, Neal didn't react so strongly. Throwing in a smirk, he added some humor to lighten the situation. "It would save me paying rent."

"We'll take that as a yes then." Elizabeth stated happily. "How about we make a day of it tomorrow?"

This time it was Peter's turn to frown. "Why tomorrow?"

"Oh, stop it. You know that you are curious to get to know him. Besides, it shouldn't take long and then you can curl up with your game if you still want to." Elizabeth teased her husband into better compliance.

Amused, Neal simply sat back to observe their marital banter.

"Fine, maybe Neal will even watch the game with me." Peter threw a playful glance at Neal to pull him into the banter.

"I may not be as against sports as my Caffrey character, but I'm still not the most avid fan of watching a game… I'd rather play." Neal threw the unexpected response in to throw Peter off.

Beaming, Peter could imagine all kinds of fun coming from that.

"You're now on his list of people to call when there is the chance to play a game…" Elizabeth warned Neal playfully.

Playing cocky, Neal wasn't daunted. "He isn't the only athlete in the family, so I do have some strengths up my sleeve that he doesn't know about yet."

Determined, Peter was going to give him a call the next time there was a chance to play.

Redirecting the conversation, Elizabeth had some questions for Neal. "What name are you going to be using now that you know more of what is going to be happening?"

"Neal Caffrey is still going to be my public name until the purpose of the character is complete, but on the personal front, I am going to be switched over to my birth name and acknowledged as your brother." He answered.

"Are you still going to work with us on the team?" Peter wanted to know if he was still going to get to work with his little brother.

"My assignment is to work with the team for at least as long as I am on this operation… so for the foreseeable future." Neal reassured them.

Letting out the breath that he had been holding, Peter liked the news.

"You aren't getting rid of me so easily, even if I do get reassigned. Who else is going to randomly show up to steal the toy out of your cereal box?" Neal teased.

Smiling, Peter had a different response than he had had in the past. "Just don't flash fake badges in my face all of the time."

Laughing, the group fell into general conversation for the rest of the evening before making their plans for getting together in the morning.

Hearing the knock on his door, Neal moved to open it. Seeing who his guests were, he wasn't the least bit surprised to see that Peter and Chuck had arrived to haul him off to his storage unit.

"Come on Neal. We are supposed to be picking up your stuff and getting back while Elizabeth and Sarah make lunch." Peter instructed.

Stretching, Neal was amused by his bossy elder brother. "So, this has become a party has it?"

"Yep, Sarah and I are on board for getting to know you better too." Chuck agreed. "Besides, since we are assigned to be your backup protection, we are going to be around for a bit anyway."

"How is your business at home being taken care of while you are here?" Neal asked as he grabbed a few things for the day.

"Why do you think Morgan hasn't been harassing you?" Chuck answered with a question.

"Huh, it has been very quiet." Neal noted. Noticing that Peter was remaining rather quiet too, he wasn't surprised to see him sipping on a cup of June's Italian roast. "Help yourself Peter." He teased knowing that Peter had gotten it from his breakfast.

"Thank you… I already did." Peter smirked.

Grabbing a cup for himself, Chuck decided to have a sample of the reputed coffee. "Mmm, this is good."

Huffing at their behavior, Neal finished grabbing his things before grabbing a cup to go. "I might as well grab some before you two finish it off."

Taking that as an invitation, Peter and Chuck did just that.

With the coffee finished, the group took off in Peter's car for the trip to the storage unit.

Settling into the car, Peter asked for directions and programmed their destination into his GPS. Navigating the city traffic, he settled back and listened to the conversation around him while occasionally participating himself.

"Do you still have that t-shirt that I got you?" Chuck asked.

Listening for more, Peter was interested in the new information.

"Yeah… it's in the box of clothes with the other old favorites. I have several t-shirts, a sweater or two, some sweats, and my old field uniform." Neal confirmed. "Why?"

"Just asking. I still have my matching t-shirt, so I wondered if you had yours." Chuck answered.

Laughing, Neal could imagine them dressing alike in their old joke tees. "I don't think Peter is imagining what we have on those shirts… he is probably expecting something from our school, like the logo or something."

"Huh, he doesn't know about those other interests of yours yet?" Chuck observed.

"Nope, he will soon though… I also know that Elizabeth won't like at least one aspect of it too." Neal teased Peter with nothing substantial to inform him of their conversation topic. He would probably see the nerdy old t-shirt before the day was done, but until then, Neal wanted to mess with him.

Biding his time, Peter patiently waited with the knowledge that Neal would get around to telling him what he was talking about. Like any older sibling, he had quickly learned that patience was the best way to deal with younger sibling's games… eventually they would get bored and give up.

Arriving at the storage unit, Peter found a parking spot where Neal directed him to before the three of them climbed out and started walking towards the unit.

Opening the door, Neal revealed a small space that held all of his personal belongings stacked into neat little piles along one wall. "Well, these are all of my personal worldly processions… this won't take us too long to load."

Looking around at the boxes, Peter and Chuck agreed. It wouldn't even take more than one trip with the car to transport all of it… although it would take a couple of personal trips to move it to said car.

Turning the first box towards him, Peter frowned at the gibberish. "What did you label these in, code?"

Leaning over Peter's shoulder, Chuck read the label and laughed. "Seriously, you labeled your boxes in that?"

Shrugging, Neal wasn't ashamed. "Why not? It ensures that my brother won't get nosy and try to figure out what is in a box because the label looks like it might be interesting." He teased Peter.

Throwing a previous conversation at Neal, Peter wasn't fazed by the teasing accusation. "Of course not. Remember, it's only interesting because it's your stuff, so I might just have to check things out anyway." Then he smiled as he started back towards the car with his first load.

Stuck for a comeback, it took Neal minute to figure out how to respond. "That was older brother's stuff… I always understood that the younger brother's stuff was always perceived as junk." He shouted after Peter.

Laughing, Chuck balanced his assumption. "It depends on the stuff. Sometimes the older sibling sees treasure where the younger simply sees stuff, and other times you're right in that the older sibling simply perceives the younger sibling's stuff as junk. Ellie used to make me keep stuff that I didn't see the point behind, but she would also try to make me to get rid of the things that I did want, like my figurines."

"Mine are in the box that Peter just took… he would understand if they were famous baseball players, but I don't think that he is going to see why I like so many nerdy things."

"His loss." Chuck said which caused Neal to smile with him.

Passing Peter with his box, Neal smirked at Peter. "Were you even tempted to see what was in the box?" He tested.

"Other boxes of books?" Peter guessed. He had peaked enough to know that there were other boxes dividing the contents, but not enough to know what was in the boxes.

"Note to self, take more precaution if I want to keep you out of my stuff." Neal mocked in a serious voice.

Playing along, Peter replied. "Remember, I am FBI, they are being stored on my property, and I am now your big brother."

"He's got you there." Chuck said as he followed shortly behind Neal.

"I'm not so sure on that one…" Neal was already trying to devise ways to mess with Peter and keep him out of his stuff if he seriously wanted to.

Adding the boxes to the trunk, Neal and Chuck walked back to the unit. Walking in, they were just in time to see the bottom come open on the box that Peter was carrying. Dismayed, Neal watched as his clothes fluttered to the ground.

"That tape has been on them for some years… apparently it gave out." Then he impulsively tagged on another comment. "Or did you weaken it while we were walking back for a perfectly staged accident?" He asked Peter.

Raising a brow at him, Peter was skeptical. "Do you really think that I am so desperate to see your old t-shirt that I would take the time to devise such a plan?"

Holding up the t-shirt from their earlier conversation, Neal joked. "Hey, a tee that says 'Nerdy' from the periodic table is pretty cool."

Snorting, Peter found himself amused. "That is the tee in question?"

"It is a cool tee…" Chuck defended. "I not only bought him one, but I have one myself." And to prove his point, he opened his jacket to show that he was actually wearing it.

"Good idea." Neal pulled his tee on over the long sleeve shirt that he had been wearing.

Shaking his head, Peter found himself amused by their humor, even though he didn't entirely share it. "I'm more of a numbers man myself." He admitted to his inner nerd.

Teaming up, the three of them had the clothes folded and placed back into the box fairly quickly.

Once they were heading towards the car with another load, Peter joked. "No wonder we could never catch you on foot…"

"He was a track star for a reason." Chuck agreed.

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