Alright here's a 2nd chapter. Thanks for your support!

~LillianResolve

I grab Peter right before we are about to step off the staircase and turn him to face me.

"I want to get everything out in the open tonight, hon. No secrets. It wouldn't be fair to Neal if we kept this from him."

I know that it is risky and the last thing I want to do right now is go and have a heart to heart with my con-man brother and my shithead of the father, but it would be mean to keep Neal in the dark when his whole life right now revolves around finding his family. Peter nods his head in agreement, gives my hand a squeeze, and says "Alright Hon, how about I take Satch for a walk and you go talk to your…family"

"It's totally weird isn't? Oh god. Alright. That's a good idea. You should go now before I chicken out" I give my husband one last hug and send him out the door with our faithful pup.

I look towards the table where James and Neal are leaning over some important document and talking intensely in hushed tones. This is going to be a cluster-fuck. Shit god-damn James Bennett. How dare he show up in my life after all these years. Better yet, how dare he show up in Neal's life!

"James. Neal. Can I speak to you?" I give my client smile again.

Neal gets up and pulls out a chair for me, ever the gentleman, "Are you okay Elizabeth? You and Peter were gone for a while." I reach up and pat his arm as I sit down. This is going to be so hard. My gaze turns into a glare as I let my attention settle on James.

"Neal, sweetie, why don't you sit down. I have story that I want you both to hear."

I can tell Neal is worried now, but he is also curious, and a little afraid of me so he sits down in the chair next to me silently. I take a deep breath. This is it. Cowboy up, Burke.

"Neal, when I was 15 I ran away from home because my family was being moved into WITSEC. I left my mom, my baby brother, and my Aunt Ellen and came to New York." I pause here to see their reactions. James never knew I left, never knew he was the reason his teenaged daughter lived on the streets on New York alone. James' face is blank, just like it always was when I was a child. That man never had an emotion to spare. Neal's face on the other hand is always expressive. I can practically see him putting it together in his head, he always was a smart one. That's why Peter liked him so much.

"Is… is he your dad?" Neal asks me, pointing at James. I nod my head, barely holding back tears at this point. This fucking sucks. "So you're my sister?" He asks again, his eyebrows high on his forehead, even though he already knows the answer. I nod again and hope this doesn't ruin everything. Neal's face hardens and his jaw clenches as he ask his next question slow and steady, "How long have you known?" Oh no.

"I literally just found out when you showed up at the door Neal, I promise, I wouldn't keep this from you" I say quickly hoping I can stop the tide of his anger. He nods slowly.

"So you didn't recognize me? Didn't recognize my name? You never thought to check up on who that guy that looked like you was?" He thinks I am lying to him. This is not good.

"Neal, the last time I saw you, you were two years old. You were a chubby little curly haired moppet with a gap in your teeth. There was no way I could have recognized you. And as for your name, I thought it was a strange coincidence, Caffrey isn't all that unusual of a name. Plus, when I left you were going by Danny Brooks." I can see Neal searching my face looking for the lie, and I let him, he needs to know that his big sister never lied to him. I abandoned him, yes, but I never lied.

"Okay" he says finally, looking away.

That went well, right?

I had almost forgotten about James when he cleared his throat and both Neal and I looked up at him.

"Lizzy—"he starts but I don't even let him finish his thought before I am jumping in, filled with rage.

"No. How dare you! How dare you waltz back into my life after all these years. After leaving us for dead and letting WITSEC take over our lives! You don't get to speak in my home. In fact, you need to leave right now. I don't care what hair-brained scheme you have worked up but you will NOT involve my husband or my brother. Your lies and your agenda already tore apart one family, I won't let it affect mine now."

Did I really just say that? I guess I did because Neal and James are looking at me like I'm about to spontaneously combust and Peter is barging in the back door like he had been sitting there listening in the whole time—which, now that I think about it, is probably true.

"El, no. Dad was framed. That's what we are all working on, we're trying to take down the man who framed him."

Is that what he told them? That bastard. Of course he told them that. He must have known that Mom would lie to Neal, build his father up to be some insane hero. I know as much from late night conversations with Peter. This whole situation is so fucked.

"Neal, Peter, trust me on this. James Bennett is nothing but trouble. He may have been framed for the murder, but he was still paid off. I found the money hidden under their bed before he left. I am the one who told Ellen what was happening" At this is glance over at James and I can see the fear in his eyes. His con is unraveling under his feet. I direct my next blow straight at him, "Guess you broke the first rule of running a game James: know your mark." Then I scoff with disgust just to dig it in deeper how royally fucked he is.

"What? James, you said that Ellen…" Neal says trailing off, trying to salvage his image of his father.

Peter, on the other hand, my hero, is already reaching for his cuffs. I reach out to stop him and he looks at me like I am crazy, which I probably am at this point. "El, if what your saying is true then James Bennett is a wanted criminal and I have to take him in" I shake my head at Peter and look my father dead in the eye, "James, you have 15 minutes to get out of my house and disappear forever or my husband is going to arrest you and I'm sure whoever you claim framed you is going to make prison very, very unpleasant" and with that I take my husband's hand and slowly push Neal in front of us onto the back patio. I close the door to the dining room and turn my back on my father for the last time.

"I'm sorry Neal" I say when I finally hear the front door close, signaling James' escape into the night. "I know you have been looking for him for a long time, but I promise you I just did us both a favor. That man brings nothing but pain and trouble."

Neal is still standing and I can see his leg start to jiggle like he wants to run. He did that when he was just a baby too. How did I not see it after all these years of knowing him? Of course he is my little Neal Bennett, my moppet. Of course he is.

"I…I…I need to go. I'm sorry" He says, before he turns to take off. I let him go, he needs to process this just as much as I do and quite frankly I'm not really ready to deal with him right now. I can see Peter looking at me out of the corner of his eye, "The first rule of running a game, hon? Did I marry a con-artist?" He is laughing now and I can't help myself from joining him. It's either laugh or cry at this point. "I guess it runs in the family" I choke out and that just makes us both laugh harder. This is fucking ridiculous. My life is absolutely fucking ridiculous.

When our laughter dies down and Peter can finally catch his breath, he turns to me and asks "So why didn't any of this come up when I checked up on you with the FBI database?" I blush bright red at this because it is probably the most devious thing I ever did.

"I…well…hmm. After we met that first day at the gallery I used up every favor I had with all of my contacts to get all my info either changed or erased. I liked you and I knew that you were FBI, so I did everything in my power to be datable on paper"

I can see Peter change our whole story in his head from semi-stalking turned beautiful relationship to criminal acts on both parts equaling out into a perfect match. Which is the way I have always seen us.

"I should arrest you." He says simply, smiling wide, a mischievous glint in his eye. He should definitely arrest me.

I throw him a wink, "You gotta catch me first" and with that I go flying into the house and to our bedroom. Maybe I can finally convince him to use his handcuffs for something other than arresting bad guys.