Disclaimer: I don't own White Collar or its characters.
"Goodnight, Neal" El called cheerily to the ex-conman. Neal Caffrey flashed her his charming smile and waved his fingers as he stepped into the Burkes' guest room. He had grown so used to staying at Peter and El's house, that it was like a second home to him. It was only a couple of weeks until Christmas and Peter had invited Neal over for dinner, though Neal suspected El had definitely put some of the words into Peter's mouth.
As he stretched out under the covers that night, Neal thought of how lucky he was to have people like El and Peter in his life. A soft whine at the door interrupted his musings and Neal slowly sat up, allowing the cover to fall and pool around his waist.
"C'mon, boy" Neal murmured as he opened the door to admit Satchmo. The yellow lab happily padded over to the bed and jumped up on it, turning three or four times before settling down. Neal knew neither Peter nor El allowed Satchmo to sleep on their beds, but he didn't really care. He liked having another warm body next to him, even if it was a dog.
Neal lifted the covers back up and wiggled under them with a contented sigh.
When he woke up the next morning, Neal didn't feel any different. It was only when he looked beside him to see Satchmo, that something crossed his mind. Since when had Satchmo gotten so big, he wondered. It took an unusual amount of effort to push back the covers, and when Neal went to stand up, he fell out of bed with a surprised yelp.
He heard Peter's voice down the hall, asking if he was awake and if he wanted El to make him pancakes.
Neal tried to say something but all that came out was a rather embarrassing squeak. The next thing he knew, Peter was knocking on the door and enquiring in a rather concerned tone of voice if Neal was alright. And then Peter was crouched in front of Neal, with an expression of utter shock on his face. The shock quickly turned to anger and Peter stood up, towering over Neal who was still sitting on the floor.
"Neal!" he roared. Neal whimpered and scrabbled backwards. Peter's yell brought El running.
"Peter, hon, what…oh my" she gasped.
"Hey, sweetie" she cooed. Neal looked up at her and stretched up his arms. El immediately obliged and scooped him up, Neal burying his face in her neck. She felt him hiccup and start to cry, small sniffles at first and then full-blown sobs.
"Peter, can you take him? I need to make sure my pancakes aren't burning" El smoothly passed Neal off to Peter who awkwardly caught him. He shifted Neal, trying to mimic El's previous hold.
As El left, Neal lifted his head, blue eyes overflowing with tears.
"Petew." Under any other circumstance, Peter would've probably burst out laughing to hear his normally polished consultant pronounce his name as "Petew".
"Shhh…uh, Neal" Peter tried to soothe the blue-eyed toddler who clung to him.
"Let's go see if El finished breakfast." Peter proposed, deliberately softening his voice and trying to look Neal in the eye.
"O'tay" Neal said, his crying fit suddenly over.
Peter set Neal down on a dining room chair and paused after seeing that the top of Neal's head barely reached the edge of the table. El came in, bearing two plates of pancakes, the stack on Peter's plate a good deal higher than Neal's.
"Oh, dear" El broke out in a fit of giggles as she looked at Neal, who was currently struggling to push himself up on the chair. She went to the closet and grabbed a few phonebooks, which she slid under Neal's bottom, boosting him up enough so that he could actually see over the table.
"That should hold him until we can get him a booster seat" she remarked. Peter reached out and caught her arm as she walked past him.
"Hold on, we don't know how long he'll be like…this. All small…and, well, just small" Peter sounded frustrated and confused.
"Hon, he can't keep sitting on phonebooks. And you're right, who knows how long he'll stay like this. Maybe a week, maybe a year" El shrugged. Peter stared at her in amazement, his mouth moving, but no words came out.
"How are you so calm?" he finally croaked.
El shrugged and gave him a peck on the lips.
"I'll see you later hon, have fun with Neal" she said as she grabbed her purse and coat.
The agent closed the door behind his wife and turned to face his consultant turned toddler who was innocently swinging his legs and spilling syrup everywhere.
Peter sighed, he had a funny feeling that something new had begun.
To Be Continued…
I would love to hear your opinions about this story and if you have a prompt or anything you'd like me to include, please let me know!