The Painting Project
Disclaimer: I don't own White Collar and this story was inspired by previous reads as described at the end.
When Peter snarked that maybe Neal could assist him with his weekend project of painting the main rooms downstairs to help ease his stress… he never thought that Neal would actually do it.
Saturday morning Peter had finished laying the plastic out over the floor and furniture of the main rooms to prepare for his painting. The tape was already placed, the walls cleared, and the furniture was arranged in the middle of the rooms to leave the walls easily accessible. He was about to open the paint when he heard the doorbell ring.
Opening the door, he was surprised to discover Neal standing in an old pair of jeans and a tee shirt.
"What are you doing here?" Peter questioned.
Neal responded as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. "Well, you have been stressed lately, in part because of me, and you suggested that helping you with your painting tasks would help… so here I am."
Peter felt bad about being so snarky with Neal earlier in the week, but he was glad that Neal cared enough to give up his day off in order to travel acrossed town to assist him.
Standing back with a sigh, Peter answered, "Neal, you didn't have to come. I was just blowing off steam and I am sorry for taking it out on you like that."
Shrugging as he walked in, Neal replied off handedly. "You could call it making up for lost opportunities, and for all of the times that I have frustrated you but wasn't available for you to take it out on me."
Giving Neal the that still doesn't make it right look "Neal…"
"I know Peter. I'm serious though, don't worry about it." With a classic Caffrey redirect he continued with, "So what are the plans?"
El had just come down the stairs so she provided the answer. "We are painting the main rooms here, and going by your casual dress, am I to assume that Peter wrangled you into helping? Really Neal, you don't have to if you don't want to, no matter what he may have said."
At Peter's dismayed expression she kissed his cheek and said, "You know you get commanding when you're frustrated, even if you don't mean too."
Before Peter could say anything Neal chimed in. "It's okay EL, I really am here by my own choosing. Peter mentioned that you were painting this weekend and I decided to offer myself as another brush holder. Just give me a color and point me at a wall."
Elizabeth began giving directions. "Well, I'm painting the kitchen and working on dinner, and Peter was going to start with the dining room. So, I guess you can take the main room up here. The plan is to make the wall over there to be the focal wall in a warm Mocha Brown that extends a crossed both rooms. Then the other walls are going to be Ocean Green for the front room and Caribbean Blue for the dining room."
Neal was curious, "What color is the kitchen going to be."
Peter answered with a chuckle. "Pumpkin Orange. She was inspired for the color palette by our last trip. The island community had a lot of colors based off of the local scenery. When we got home she decided to paint the downstairs in colors reminiscent of what she saw there."
Smacking his shoulder lightly, El added, "You know it was more than looking at the cabins and the ocean surf. (Turning to Neal). Our room had the most magnificent view of the mountains sloping down to rolling hills that were covered in fields filled with flowers and shaded by trees. The hills rolled down to the pristine sands of the beach and the steady lapping of the surf. Each morning we got up and enjoyed our coffees and these little orange treats that were spiced with local ingredients. We sat on the deck for an hour or two and simply watched the sun rise over the waters. It was the most beautiful and relaxing place that I have ever been too. When we got back I simply wanted to bring some of that into our home, and the color palette was the easiest way to go about it."
Nodding, Neal had a faraway look in his eyes. "I can see why you would want to bring that kind of imagery into your home, it sounds like it was a great trip."
Dividing up the paint, each of them went to work and tackled the room allotted to them. At lunch time they stepped out onto the back deck and took a break with some sandwiches. After enjoying some conversation, they went back to work with the intentions of being done in time for dinner.
That evening when Peter came back into the room to see what Neal had been doing all day, he found himself standing speechless, and staring at the side wall.
He was looking at a beautiful scene of mountains gently flowing down to the hills filled with trees and fields of flowers. Progressing a crossed the wall, the scene continued down to the sandy beach with the waves splashing on the shore. In the distance there was the silhouettes of a man and woman holding hands while riding horses off into their happily ever after.
Despite the complexity of the scape, the details were smoothed together with only a few colors and the strokes of Neal's brush defined the illusion of texture.
For a few moments Peter was transported back to the island he had recently taken El too. He was sitting on the deck sipping his coffee and munching on spicy little treats while looking out at the most relaxing view he had ever seen. He forgot to breathe for a moment as he was so caught up in the memories.
"Uh, Neal… that was supposed to be Ocean Green…" Peter said, still trying to get his breath back.
Startled, Neal looked up. "Oh, uh, I'm sorry. The image that was playing in my head felt the need to come out and I just got carried away. I can paint over it if you like."
Panicked, Peter hurried to stop him as he moved to grab the brush. "No, no, don't do that. Just… find a place to sign it." Then he turned and shouted for El. "El, you're not going to get what you planned… but I think you'll like this better."
El was laughing as she walked towards him. "What has Neal done now… gasp (hands coving her mouth)… oh Neal… it's beautiful! When I said I wanted to bring home the memories of the island… I never dreamed that you would paint it onto my wall and capture it so perfectly!"
With a pleased smile Neal explained the picture. "Really? When you described why you wanted to bring home the island color scheme, my mind created this image and I combined that with what you had previously told me about how you guys rode horses on the beach a couple of times… and it just felt right."
For a moment, Peter and Elizabeth simply stood and looked at the mural while remembering their trip.
Neal simply remained in place watching them with his own contented smile as his work had brought the peaceful expressions to their faces.
I have read a few stories that had Neal showing up at the Burkes house to help with painting tasks, but the story that predominantly inspired this one was "Masterpiece" by Vanessa Sgroi.
Thank you for reading this happy little one shot :D