After Neal had told Peter his father was a dirty cop, Peter could not help but pry. Peter showed up at Neal's that night. He knocked on the door two or three times and was about to kick the door down because he knew Neal was home when the door opened. Neal leaned against the door way, a look of amusement on his face.

"Peter. What can I do for you this lovely night?"

"Cut the crap, Neal."

Neal smirked and stepped out of the way to let Peter enter. Peter sat down at the table and stared at Neal.

"What?" Neal said, sounding somewhat annoyed.

"What?"

"You're staring at me!"

"No I wasn't."

"Yes you were."

"I think I'd know if I was staring at you and I wasn't."

"I think I'd know if you were staring at me too and you were."

"I was simply observing."

"Observing what?" Neal questioned with a gleam of mischief in his eye.

"Just you. You're acting…different."

"Am I? Must just be distracted with the case and everything."

"So…what's your mother like?"

Neal cast a somewhat irritated look at Peter. "What is it with you?"

"I'm just curious. I mean, you told me your father was a cop, what about your mom?"

"Why are you son interested?"

"Because I spent three years hunting you down and couldn't find a damn thing about you before your 18th birthday." At that, Neal smiled.

"Well, my mystique is part of my charm."

"What is it you're trying to hide?"

"Hide? Peter, I'm not hiding anything. I simply don't enjoy talking about my personal life."

"Why? If there's nothing to hide, why don't you like to talk about it?"

"Well, I don't know everything about you. Tell me about your parents."

"You're changing the subject."

"Yes I am, but if I am telling you about my past why don't you tell me about yours?" Neal asked with a grin.

"Fine." Peter agreed with a huff of annoyance. "What do you want to know?"

Neal smiled, happy to have gotten his way. When Peter saw the ex con's grin, he immediately regretted his choice. "Well, what's your father like?"

"He was a good man. He was a professor."

"Really? What did he teach?"

"History. He taught a lot about World War II and the Civil War." Peter chuckled to himself. "I bet you two would have gotten along real well."

"I'm sorry, Peter." Peter was startled at the con's unexpected words.

"For what?"

"Your father….uh, passed."

Peter was quiet momentarily. "How'd you know that?"

"You said we would have gotten along real well."

Peter had to laugh at that. Leave it to Neal to pick up on that. "Yeah. Yeah, he did. About 10 years ago."

Neal stared at Peter for a moment. "I'm sorry, Peter."

"Thank you." After a too long silence, Peter said, "I answered your question. You have to answer mine now."

"Are we really playing twenty questions?"

Peter chuckled slightly, "Yeah, I guess we are."

"Well, in that case, you owe me like four more answers."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"Well, we're starting over then. So, your father died when you were two? No memories of him, then?"

Neal's jaw noticeably clenched. He sighed heavily. "Peter, I have something to tell you."

I know this is short, think of it as more of a teaser if it's continued. Let me know your thoughts(: