Christmas Day
Peter woke up to the smell of coffee and the sound of someone fiddling in the kitchen. He smiled and pulled his wife closer to him. Then he realized something: if El was in bed with him, then who was in the kitchen?
He let go of El and sat up. El stirred and blinked up at him. "Honey, what's wrong?"
"There's someone in the kitchen," Peter said.
El frowned. "Then the coffee wasn't you?"
"No." Peter shook his head and got out of bed. "Stay here." Peter grabbed his gun and carefully headed downstairs. El followed a few steps behind him. He reached the kitchen and peered around the corner. He sighed and put his gun down on the table before entering the room. "Neal."
"You're awake," Neal said in surprise. He put a pan of cinnamon buns down on the counter and smiled at them. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, Neal," El said as she entered the kitchen, heading straight over to hug him.
"Merry Christmas," Peter echoed. "What are you doing here?"
"Making you breakfast?" Neal said. He carefully plucked out three cinnamon buns and put them on separate plates before nodding to the coffee mugs. "Come on, it's about time to open presents."
"We're not eating in the living room," Peter said.
"Oh, but, Peter, it's Christmas," El said. "It'll be fine."
"Presents, Peter," Neal reminded, slipping past the agent with his plate and his mug of coffee.
El kissed his cheek before following after Neal with her own breakfast. Peter sighed and grabbed his serving before going after them. El was seated on the couch, but Neal had made himself home on the floor in front of the Christmas tree and the pile of presents.
"All right, let's get this started," Peter said after taking a gulp of his coffee.
Neal picked up the first gift and handed it to El. Peter's gift to El was a crystal figurine and several books that she had wanted. A pet stocking for Satchmo was unwrapped and the toys inside were handed over to the dog. Mozzie's gifts to the Burkes were also unwrapped, a few classical cds and a bottle of good wine for them both. Neal's grin as he handed them over showed that he had already unwrapped his own gift from Mozzie earlier in the day.
Finally, Neal handed over his gift to them, a large, rectangular, flat package. Peter held it in place as El tore the paper off of it. She gasped and Peter sputtered when the present was revealed to be Monet's Terrasse à Sainte-Adresse.
"This is not," Peter started before he stopped.
"Oh, Neal," El said. "It's wonderful."
"You painted this," Peter said, grinning and shaking his head in amazement. Neal ducked his head, but returned the grin. "It's a really great job."
"We'll hang it over the fireplace," El said as Peter put it aside. El handed Neal a pile of presents. "These are for you, Neal."
"Thank you," Neal said. He unwrapped them, finding them to be some books, a few cds, and tickets to an art gallery that had just recently opened up. "A bit outside my radius," he commented.
"Don't worry about that," El said.
"And that brings us to the final gift of the day," Peter said. "The one that you have not sneaked a peak at."
"I've never," Neal protested.
Peter raised an eyebrow. "I know you; you've known what we've got you ever since we bought them."
"If you say so," Neal said in a doubtful voice.
"Well, here's one gift you couldn't have peaked at," Peter said. He handed Neal an envelope.
Neal opened it, scanned the document and then gaped. "Peter, this is... Unbelievable."
"Don't get too used to it; if you act up, they'll take it away," Peter said. "But then, you've been behaving well so far, which is why I was able to get them to agree to it."
"What is it?" El asked, peering over Neal's shoulder at the document.
"Peter increased my radius," Neal said.
"More places for you to get in trouble," Peter grumbled. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," Neal replied.
"Merry Christmas," El said. "Now, let's get cleaned up and Peter and I have to get changed before the rest of the gang gets here."
"I'll clean up, you two go get dressed," Neal said, bounding up to his feet. Satchmo came over and Neal patted him. "I'll even take Satchmo out for his walk."
"You do that," Peter said. He shook his head, smiled, and followed El up the stairs. Who would have thought that he would enjoy spending Christmas with a Con?