A/N: I wanted to write something... it's just a quick little oneshot.
Disclaimer: White Collar unfortunately does not & never will belong to me.
Love
Peter Burke loved his wife.
That was fact.
Simple. Non-negotiable. Unchanging.
The sky was blue, the grass was green and Peter loved Elizabeth.
Love was a funny thing though and it came in many forms.
He realized this in a moment, an instant in time when everything changed.
Sparkling bright blue eyes gleaming in amusement.
A flash of teeth, a charming grin.
A gun.
Blood.
And his heart had stopped, his breath caught in his throat.
Neal.
It was in the gut-wrenching agony of that moment that Peter knew he loved Neal Caffrey, that the former con-artist, thief that he was, had stolen a piece of his heart.
Loved him as surely as he loved Elizabeth, though in a very different way.
Elizabeth was passion and grace and beauty.
Neal was dazzling intelligence and charm and wit.
And he needed them both.
Peter had always known he was fond of Neal.
Amazing what could change in an instant.
Peter Burke loved his wife.
Loved her with every breath in his body, every fiber of his being.
In that one instant though, that one moment that will be forever frozen in time, Peter knew he loved Neal Caffrey too... the thief who had conned his way into his life, the con artist who became his partner, his friend and his brother.
Peter knew all of this in an instant, a second when everything changed.
A gunshot… blood blossoming on his partner's shirt…
And Peter knew.
Neal.
Love was a funny thing and it came in many forms and sometimes… sometimes it crept up on you when you least expected it.
From the beginning Peter had realized Neal was something special and he'd realized that he was getting dangerously fond of him… he had even realized when he had started calling him friend.
Somewhere along the way though, somewhere between chasing him and catching him and taking him on as a consultant, he had somehow failed to notice that he was starting to look at the younger man as a mixture of a little brother and a son… and that he had grown to love him accordingly.
One moment was enough to ram all of those things home to him.
One moment when everything changed.
One moment that erupted in chaos and blood and changed everything.
Amazing what could change in just one moment.
Peter Burke loved his wife.
Loved her with every breath he had but she wasn't the only one anymore… there was someone else who was just as important now.
Sparkling blue eyes… a gunshot… blood…
Neal.
End.