Soooo, hey! I don't really know where this came from at all…..and it's my first White Collar/Glee crossover…I'm sure it's been done before, but I just wrote this for fun =)
Strays slightly from the WC plot in a few places; hope you don't mind.
"So this is New York, " Blaine said softly, intertwining his fingers through Kurt's, before he quickly looked around and pulled back.
"It sure is," Kurt said, grabbing Blaine's hand back and holding it tight. "A place where we can do this," Kurt whispered, leaning in and pecking him on the lips," loud and proud.
Blaine felt his eyes pool with tears. This was his "happily ever after." This is where he wanted to spend his life. Right there in New York, where he and his boyfriend could be together freely. Where they could, eventually, get married. Raise children together. And, when the time came, grow old together.
The pair kept their hands clasped together as they walked down the sidewalk. Right into a certain somebody' two mile radius.
"Neal, we have to get back to the office; there's nothing more we can do here," Peter Burke urged, motioning to the exit of the museum.
"I know there's something here, Peter. Give me a minute," Neal argued, continuing to inspect supposedly forged painting in front of him. He traced the outline of the canvas, eyes suddenly brightening.
"Here," Neal said, pointing at the upper right corner, where a speck of blank paper peeked through. "This couldn't have been made more than a couple years ago, certainly not the 100 year old canvas the original's on. Look at the crease lines."
Peter didn't even look at what Neal was pointing to; he had worked with Neal long enough to know he was right.
"I'll call Diana and Jones, tell them to get a team down here and check the surveillance tapes for when this bastard switched them. "
Neal nodded as he peeled off his gloves and flipped his hat onto his head. The two made their way outside and down the sidewalk.
"You having lunch with Elizabeth today?" Neal asked, steering around a group of younger kids.
"She's away at an event," Peter answered, following Neal down the crowded pavement. "You want to grab something quickly before we get back to the Bureau?
"Works for me." Neal flashed smile at a nearby food cart employee, walking up to the counter. Neal walked away with a hotdog and a cup of soda, hastily eating as he walked down the street. Until something caught his eye. Well, more like someone.
"Neal?" Peter asked, concerned as Neal froze in his tracks, eyes not moving from the park across the street. "Neal?"
Neal Caffrey felt time slow down. Or maybe it was just him, but suddenly, the chatter around him became muffled, the lights getting brighter. His hands released their hold on his food, but he paid no mind, even as the soda splashed against his leg.
"Neal!?" Peter called, watching as his partner began to speed off across the street and into the park. Peter followed close behind. Neal stopped on the sidewalk, a couple feet away from where two teenage boys were sitting on a bench, hands clasped together, and smiles on their faces. His eyes grew wide. Peter only watched as an array of emotions were displayed on the normally charming and cool man's face. Disbelief. Happiness. Shame. Doubt.
Blaine leaned his head against Kurt's shoulder, his eyes taking in everything around him as he and Kurt sat together, truly happy. He couldn't stop his eyes from traveling back and forth, drinking it all in. Until his muscles tensed and he shot straight up, now on his feet.
"Blaine? Sweetheart, what's wrong?"
But Blaine couldn't hear him. He couldn't do anything other than stare at the man that stood only a 10 or 15 strides away. His legs took said strides, almost without his body's permission. Kurt followed after him.
Blaine met eyes with the man that wasn't supposed to be there. That could not possibly be there. But there he was.
Kurt, much like Peter with Neal, stood at Blaine's shoulder eyes following where Blaine's stared.
"Blaine," Neal croaked in a husky voice that Peter had never heard before. Blaine's eyes widened before they pinched together in, was that anger? It sure was. Blaine's fist connected with Neal's chin before he even knew what he was doing.
"Blaine!" Kurt gasped, taking a step back.
Within seconds, Peter had Blaine's hands behind his back, restraining him from attacking his CI again.
"You're dead!" Blaine yelled. "We thought you were dead!"
Neal took the punch, turning back to look at the hysterical teenager peter was holding back.
"Let him go, Peter," Neal demanded, hand rubbing his jaw.
"He just assaulted you, Neal!"
Neal sighed, "Blaine, he wont let you go until you calm down."
Slowly but surely Blaine's breathing slowed down and he ceased his attempts to break free. Peter gently let him go, but stayed close.
"Blaine," Neal repeated, closing his eyes for a minute before opening them again, as if assuring himself that he were still there.
"Cooper," Blaine responded, his voice defeated.
"Neal?" Peter asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Who's Neal?" Blaine asked, eyes confused.
"Who're you?" Peter responded, his voice slightly cold.
"Peter, stop," Neal demanded, shooting a cold glance his way. "Damn, kid, you've developed quite the arm," Neal observed, rubbing his chin.
Kurt grasped Blaine's hand, observing, but not speaking.
"I thought I'd never see you again, B," Neal said softly, his eyes becoming misty.
"It's hard to see anyone when you're dead," Blaine responded.
"You have to know….Blaine….I never….It wasn't supposed to-….You must hate me," Neal finished, voice cracking. Within the second, Neal felt arms around him, a head pressed against his shoulder.
"I don't hate you, Cooper," Blaine said, stepping back.
"Neal?" Peter questioned.
"Cooper?" Blaine asked. "Who's Neal?"
"Not here Neal answered quietly. "Come back to my place, B? Please? You deserve the truth."
"I- Kurt's coming too. And you have to tell me everything."
Neal nodded, noticing the boy clutching Blaine's hand for the first time.
"Of course. And if you knew Peter half as well as I do you know he's coming too."
"Damn right I am, Caffrey."
"Caffrey?" Blaine looked puzzled.
"Let's not start that again," Neal sighed. "I'll explain everything, I promise."
Neal led the confused group back to June's house. No one dared utter a word during the short walk. Everyone entered Neal's room and the door was closed behind them.
"Ok, first things first. Blaine, introduce me to your boyfriend," Neal said, with that charming smile he was famous for. "And I'll introduce you to Peter…although who he is may have to wait until a little into my story here."
"I never said he was my boyfriend," Blaine pointed out, a smile tugging at his lips.
"Please kid; it's shamefully obvious."
Blaine sighed good naturedly as he said, "Cooper, this is my boyfriend Kurt. He's the most amazing thing that ever happened to me."
Kurt went for a handshake, but Neal, very out of character from the man Peter had spent the last year with, enveloped him in a quick hug.
"Nice to meet you, Kurt."
"You too, um…..?
"Neal. Neal Caffrey," Neal answered, wincing at Blaine's confused and almost hurt face. Luckily for him, Blaine held back his questions.
"Blaine, Kurt, this is Peter. I work with him," Neal introduced his partner.
"Nice to meet you," the teenagers chorused.
"Neal, who is Blaine to you?" Peter asked, curiosity over running his manners.
"Peter, this is Blaine…..Blaine is…"
"Blaine is his brother," Blaine finished.
"You're brother!?" Kurt asked. "You never told me you had a brother."
"Neal, there are no records of you having a brother," Peter argued.
"Neal Caffrey doesn't have a brother," Neal agreed. "But…Cooper Anderson does."
Before more questions could come bombarding towards him, Neal held up his hand.
"I promise I'll explain everything," Neal said.
"Why don't you start with why he's calling you, um, what was it?"
"Neal Caffrey," Kurt reminded him.
"Yeah, that. Who is that?"
"That's me," Neal sighed. "Or, the new me.
"But wh-"
"Blaine, I really have to start at the beginning.
"Then start talking," Blaine said. "Because in a few minutes I'm either going
to punch you again or burst into tears, and I'd prefer not to do either of those things."
"Where do I even start?" Neal mused.
"How about what happened to you four years ago!? Or, no, better yet how about before that? Hey, I got it! How about how you left when I needed you the most? You never called, you never returned any of our letters! You abandoned your family…," Blaine said harshly, ignoring the fact that there were other people in the room.
Neal cringed.
"Blaine you have to believe me. I did it all for you," Neal pleaded.
"Yeah?" Blaine asked. "How do you figure?"
"You were in the hospital, B," Neal whispered. "Those fucking sons of bitches put you in the hospital, just for going to a stupid school dance, and I couldn't sit around and watch it happen again. I had to get you out of there. It was the only thing I could think about."
"And abandoning me did that?"
"Who do you think paid your Dalton tuition!?" Neal growled, angry now. "I gave up everything for you! A home! College! I gave up my family," Neal whispered.
"What? What do you mean who paid my Dalton tuition? I got a scholarship!"
"An independent scholarship paid by an outside source, to be exact," Neal agreed.
"Where did you get that money?" Blaine asked, disbelief in his eyes.
This time, Peter stepped in.
"That's when you pulled your first heist…" he concluded slowly. "That's why you became a criminal…"
"Excuse me?" Blaine asked. "You're rude to me and now you're calling my brother a criminal?"
Neal winced. Peter shot him a sympathetic look.
"Blaine? He's not…he's not lying…"
Neal pulled up the leg of his pants, nodding down at the anklet.
Blaine's eyes widened in shock, then fear.
"What'd you do!?" Blaine asked.
Neal just shook his head. Peter gladly filled Blaine in.
"Everything from art thief to racketeering," Peter explained. "But we got him for bond forgery."
"Allegedly!" Neal piped up.
"We?" Blaine asked.
"The FBI," Neal answered. Peter is an agent. I should be in jail right now, but I'm serving my time as a CI for the FBI….Peter is my handler."
"So you….you commited crimes…… for me?"
"The money I got for my first job went directly to Dalton; I asked them to offer you a "scholarship" and not tell them I paid tuition. They agreed, thank God."
Blaine leapt at Neal, arms wrapped around his waist.
"Switching schools saved my life," Blaine admitted, voice choked with tears.
"Knowing you were safe saved mine," Neal agreed.
"And Neal Caffrey…?" Blaine asked.
"Is one of many aliases," Neal laughed.
"Hang on a second," Blaine demanded. "How about four years ago when we heard the news you drowned in Hawaii?"
"Mozzie said I drowned in Hawaii? He could've come up with something more believable," Neal commented dryly.
"Coop! What was up with that?"
"I got caught," Neal explained. "I had to serve time in jail, and I didn't want you to know, if you kept looking for me." I had my friend pose as an officer and tell you I was dead….and that my body was lost."
"I thought you said you were serving your time as a CI?" Kurt asked.
"Peter here agreed to that, but only after I got time added on for escaping," Neal explained.
"You escaped a prison?" Blaine asked. Neal nodded.
"A supermax, to be exact," Peter added.
"Why?" Blaine asked.
"You were in the hospital," Neal explained. "When that bastard threw salt in your eye."
"How did you even know about that?"
"I had a friend checking up on you," Neal admitted. "I got to Ohio long enough to talk to your doctor and look through the window of your room while you were asleep, and then I called Peter and told him to come get me."
"Cocky son-of-a-bitch," Peter laughed. "Well, now I know why in the world you chose Ohio."
"And that's about it," Neal finished, ignoring Peter's remark.
"That's far from 'it," Blaine argued. "But it'll do for now."
"Tell me what you've been doing? What are you doing here, for starters?" Cooper asked.
"I'm going to college here. NYADA with Kurt!"
"That's amazing, Blainers! Is it…uh, is it within two miles of here?"
"I can check," Kurt offered, pulling his iphone from his pocket. "It's about 2.8 miles…"
Neal's face fell.
"Why, what's wrong?" Blaine asked.
"I can only go two miles from here," Neal explained, seeming slightly embarrassed.
"But that can be changed," Peter interrupted. "Neal, I'll talk to the Marshals and get the school into your radius."
"Thank you Peter," Neal said, with a charming smile.
"So my big brother, an art thief, huh?" Blaine asked, teasing Neal.
"Allegedly." Neal smiled.
"Allegedly," Blaine repeated. "I am so happy you're alive, Cooper."
"Blaine?" Kurt interrupted quietly. "Honey, I understand if you want to skip it, but orientation starts soon. So, if you want to go, we should think about getting there. But I'm sure they'd understand if you wanted to skip it."
Before Blaine could say a word, Neal answered for him.
"Of course he's not gonna skip it, not on my account, anyway," Neal quipped at Kurt. "My little bro's going to college!"
"Like you should've gotten to…" Blaine said, quietly.
"Hey," Neal responded, pulling Blaine close. "What's done is done. We can't change the past. But you can show me the sacrifice wasn't in vain by going in and owning the school, huh?"
"You're crazy, Coop." Blaine smiled. "Out of your mind."
"Get going, Blainers." Neal grinned back. "But I'll definitely see you tomorrow?"
"I'd be pissed if I didn't," Blaine agreed.
Blaine smiled over his shoulder as he grabbed a waiting Kurt's hand and slid out the door.
"So now there are two Neal Caffreys to deal with?" Peter tried to joke.
"No," Neal said, sharply. "He's so much more than I'll ever be."
I'm thinking the next chapter is set during "Vital Signs" and Blaine, Kurt, and Peter have some intense and maybe some hilarious conversations with a high Neal =p
Reviews are appreciated =)