Title: (My Roots are In) The Depths of the Woods
Beta: None, all mistakes are my own
Rating: PG, for mentions of kissing - nothing detailed. M/M, M/F, M/F/M
Pairings: P/E/N
Warnings/Triggers: None
Summary: Peter goes home.
Notes: Written for a Prompt Fest IV. Prompt was Peter - Forest
Title comes from a quote by Galle
To my lovely readers - The Guardian, Heroes Don't Cry and What Remains will all be updated in the next week. I didn't forget about them!
Disclaimer: I don't own White Collar. :-(
The morning after his father's funeral, Peter sat outside on the back porch, drinking coffee as he watched the sunrise over the tops of the trees and thought back over the years of his childhood and all the times he'd spent in that chunk of forest.
He'd loved the woods as a kid. His dad had instilled that in him from an early age, taking all of his children camping, horseback riding, hiking...he encouraged them to play in the forest, to get to know it, and to respect it.
There were a lot of good memories he had of this place, and when Neal and Elizabeth joined him on the porch, Peter told them about...
Running along the trails with his sister and brothers as they played chase.
Watching the squirrels leap from tree to tree, or rooting around on the forest floor and trying to name all of them.
Hunting lessons, and learning why it was so important that the first shot is the only shot.
Hiding in the forest after a fight with his dad, finally coming home after two days expecting to be thrown out but instead welcomed back (and grounded for a month) with open arms.
Watching a doe give birth to twin fawns on a cool April morning.
Slipping and sliding through the snow covered ground as they went in search of the perfect Christmas tree.
The heart-to-heart talks with his mother in the protective cover of the "bench tree" - a tree with a long thick branch that grew sideways from the tree for almost ten feet before the branch discovered it could grow towards the sky.
His first kiss with a girl when he was eight.
His first kiss with a boy when he was thirteen.
That time with the skunk and the dog and his brother and being grounded for another month because it was really all his fault.
Building a gorgeous little playhouse for his sister - only to discover she liked her big brothers' scrap wood fort better.
The time he'd been thrown from his horse and he'd laid alone for hours with a broken leg and concussion, drifting in and out of consciousness until his father finally found him.
Practicing ballet with his little sister out there so no one could see him.
All of those stories came back to him as he sat there with Elizabeth and Neal. That afternoon he took them hiking on the trails of his childhood and he showed them the tree fort and the 'ballet' studio. He showed them the rope swing and the bridge and the favorite camp site.
Elizabeth and Neal laughed at him and with him, and as the sun began to set they kissed him, adding one final memory to the list.
fin
Going to the woods is going home.
- John Muir