Disclaimer: I do not own these characters (alas).
I wrote this story because Peter's big moment in "Bottlenecked" deserved a little more attention. It's set right after Keller leaves Peter and Neal in the cellar.
Puzzled
"Did you get what you needed?" At Neal's nod, Peter clapped him on the shoulder and headed for the staircase. "Good. Let's get going."
"Wait a minute." Neal stayed put, causing Peter to turn back to face him. Something was nagging at him, and he was going to get to the bottom of it before he went anywhere. "What was that up there?"
"What was what?"
Neal raised his eyebrows. "'Great persistence in the mouth'? 'Opens up well in the glass'? Where'd you learn to speak Pretension?"
"Oh, that." Peter managed a casual expression, though a grin was threatening to break out all over his face. "I've picked up a few things from Elizabeth over the years."
"But . . ." Neal was still feeling at sea, and he didn't like the feeling. It was as if he'd almost finished putting together a jigsaw puzzle of a clear, solidly blue sky, only to find that the one piece remaining in his hand was burgundy. "But . . . you don't even like foie gras!"
"If we're thinking of the same foie gras, you didn't like it either."
"True—but you don't like it at all. You were just trying to stay in Elizabeth's good graces."
Peter shrugged as he turned again and started up the stairs. "You can like wine and hate foie gras."
Neal took a step or two and looked up. It was crazy how much this was getting to him, but he couldn't help it. Neal Caffrey liked his puzzles to make sense, not to start shifting and changing on him all of a sudden.
He threw out a frustrated hand. "You don't like Italian ties!"
A sigh broke from Peter as he continued to climb the steps. "Caffrey, it's just like I keep telling you . . ."
Neal mentally ran through the list of things Peter kept telling him. Don't do anything illegal, don't do anything stupid, don't trust Kate. . . . None of them seemed to fit the situation. "Uh . . . 'quit wearing that stupid hat because you look ridiculous'?" he hazarded.
Peter stopped and leaned over the banister, looking the con man dead in the eye.
"Don't underestimate me."
He ran on up the steps and disappeared through the door at the top, leaving Neal to catch up.