Moonlighting

By Peppe1951

Summary: El and Neal get over their heads in solving a mystery. Warning: Disciplining of adults. Don't like? Don't read! Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to USA; I only write about it.

Chapter 1

It was a cold and dreary day in February and Burke's Premiere Events wasn't having a good day. In fact with the nasty weather of late they weren't doing very well for most of the week. She had several cancellations due to the bad weather bring her spirits down even more than the weather had been doing; so I guess you can call what happened next the weather's fault.

El looked out the store window just in time to see a bakery truck pull up in front of Downtown Bakery and stop blocking the entrance. "That's strange," thought El as she continued to watch. No business who wanted to succeed would allow any truck to block their entrance and you would have thought that the delivery boy from their own bakery would know that.

As El watched she saw several large and rough looking men come out; all were carrying boxes of what El assumed to be pastries from the bakery. "They don't look to be the type of people to order pastries," El thought and became curious on what was happening.

She used to use this bakery all of the time but of late her customers had complained to the quality of the cupcakes and other pastries and she had to drop them. The cupcakes had been dry and the pastries hadn't tasted fresh and now as she watched the men exit with the pastries boxes she wondered if some was using the shop as a drop off spot for something illegal.

She was just about to pick up the phone to call her husband, Agent Peter Burke at the White Collar Division of the FBI when Neal Caffrey, her husband's consultant and partner sauntered in.

"Neal! What are you doing here? Is Peter around?" she asked excitedly. IF her husband was here then she wouldn't have to call him.

"Don't get excited…Peter isn't here. I just thought that I would come over and say hi," Neal said cheerfully…just a little too cheerful for El that she knew instinctly that he must have done something to piss her husband off.

"What did you do this time, Neal?" El asked in her best motherly voice.

"Me?" replied Neal with fake surprise, "why do you always assume that it was me?"

"Because I know you…now give. What did you do?" repeated El as she waited for him to confess.

"I might have gone out without his knowledge to check something out…on a current case…and got caught by security?" he finally blurted out.

"Oh, Neal…when will you learn that Peter is never going to be happy when you go without his knowledge or FBI backup. He cares about you and doesn't want any harm to come to you," scolded El as she got up and kissed Neal on the cheek.

"If he cares so much, why is it that he is always putting me in harm?" whined Neal as he absently rubbed his backside.

"The only part of you that he harms is your backside and if you would only listen to him then you wouldn't be here to get me to help you appease my husband and get you back in his good graces," replied El with a twinkle in her eyes.

With a charming smile Neal asked, "Is it working?"

El looked at him for a moment before replying, "Yes…it is working. So what do you want me to fix for him tonight to get him in a happy mood?"

"What about some of those wonderful pastries you had at your last event? Peter couldn't stop eating them. If I came in with a plate only for him maybe he would feel better," replied Neal.

"You would want those. I have to go across town to get those and he must have gained twenty pounds before I could get him away from the table," El responded good-naturedly.

Neal looked outside and asked, "Can't you get them from Downtown Bakery instead?"

"I would but their pastries haven't been so good lately…I don't know what is going on with them," El replied absentmindedly.

"Neal?" El stopped to ask, "Does anything look off there?"

Neal turned to look closer, "no, not really. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know…something just seems off. I was going to call Peter and get him to look into it when you came in," admitted El as she joined him at the window.

That piqued Neal's interest and he darted outside before El could say "stop."

El watched with bated breath as Neal casually walked into the shop. He seemed to be in there forever when he reappeared carrying a Downtown Bakery bag filled with what she imagined were some of their products.

"Well?" asked El as Neal came in munching on a cupcake.

"They are kind of dry," Neal replied as he pulled a Cannoli out and took a big bite which he immediately spit out. "The filling had soured," he explained to an astonished El, who took the bag and peered inside.

"You got one of almost everything sweet that they sell," she said with amazement.

"I wanted to be sure that the first one wasn't just a fluke," explained Neal as he pulled an éclair out and bit into it and immediately made a face as he swallowed

the supposedly sweet pastry.

"What's wrong with that one?"

"Not very sweet…either someone is new and doesn't know how to cook or they're up to something," concluded Neal.

"Well, their business is booming," pointed out El as she motioned to the bakery's entrance. "Since you been here, they must have had a half dozen customers and they have all left with boxes of their items."

"I bet they are smuggling something in those boxes; what would be a better hiding place than a bakery," concluded El. "I'm going to mention it to Peter at supper tonight."

Peter pushed back from the dinner table and sighed happily, "I don't know what I did to deserve such a wonderful dinner but if you will tell me I'll be happy to do it again."

El looked a bit guilty at the comment knowing that she had fixed his favorite pot roast plus the pastries that Neal had suggested for dessert just so she could approach her idea of his checking out the Downtown Bakery.

"The pastries were Neal's idea…something about the spanking you gave him earlier," she said nervously.

"Yeah, I should have really smoked his butt for his last attempt to help," Peter sighed. "I had to talk a long time to keep him from being punished more severely…like a visit back to the Supermax for a week or so. He's lucky to be sitting tonight."

"He just wanted to help, hon and unfortunately the illegal way is the only way he knows. Just forget about him for now. Your case is solved and everything is good with the world," soothed El as she started laying down her plan for asking him about her concerns.

While El did everything in her power to ease her husband's tensions first by getting him moved to the couch and turning on a basketball game and finally feeling him relax she asked, "Honey, you know that business has been kind of slow these last few days mainly because of the weather?"

"Uh, uh," murmured Peter as he cuddled against her as his eyes stayed on the game he was watching.

"Well, I noticed the bakery across the street…Downtown Bakery," she added a bit more to the conversation.

Peter nodded glancing swiftly at El and then back to the game.

"And I think there is something strange going on there; something that I think you should look into Peter," she blurted out all at once.

"What?" replied Peter as he realized that his wife had said something important but still had his mind on the game.

"Peter!"

Peter reluctantly turned to face his wife and noticing her look of frustration and asked, "Would you repeat your last statement please El?"

"I said that I think something odd is going on at the Downtown Bakery and would like you to look into it."

"And what do you base your feelings on?"

"Their pastries taste awful; not up to their standards. I've seen several men coming and going from that shop and all carrying boxes; they used to be so family orientated and those customers do not frequent like before," explained El earnestly.

"How do you know their pastries taste bad?"

I tried a few of them…they weren't fresh tasting, some had soured fillings and the cupcakes were dry. There is no way a bakery can stay in business with product like that," argued El.

"You were so curious that you left Burke's Premier Events to go and check the bakery out?"

"No…but Neal did," El admitted.

"How did Neal get into this…wait when did this happen?" asked Peter as something clicked.

"This afternoon after you spanked him," replied El.

"So that is where he went after I punished him; he said he needed to take a walk but he really came to you for a bit of comfort…and to bring me those pastries as a way of saying sorry?" Peter concluded after all of the pieces fell into place. "How long has he been doing this?"

"How long have you been spanking him?" El replied to his question with a question. "Peter he is a good boy; I know he deserves the spankings but he also deserves to be comforted afterwards…to know he's been forgiven."

"Okay, from now on I will give him a hug afterwards," Peter replied with a smile before turning his attention back to the game.

"Peter!"

"What…I promise that I will be nicer to Neal after I punish him…what more do you want?"

"The Bakery, Peter!"

"What bakery?"

The next thing Peter knew was that in the midst of a fantastic shot the TV screen suddenly went black.

"Honeyyyyyy," whined Peter before turning to see such a serious expression on his wife's face that he shut up immediately.

"I swear all you have to do is turn on a game and I can ask you for the moon and you will give it to me without thinking just as long as you can watch more of your precious game," El said angrily.

"You have my undivided attention now…what was it you wanted me to do, El?" Peter asked quietly.

"I want you to check into the Downtown Bakery; I think something strange is going on there…something illegal," repeated El seriously.

Peter had his wife go over her concerns again but wisely decided not to argue with her and only said that he would check it out tomorrow. She mercifully took that as a positive and left to clean up while Peter turned the game back on.