May 2, 2014
You Got A Way—Kris Allen (3:31)
White Collar
El and Peter
"Honesty is the more challenging game," Peter scoffed almost soundlessly as he tossed his suit onto the chair by their bed. "What a crock."
"Peter?" El's groggy voice sounded from the lump of blankets on the bed. "What're you grouching about? What'd Neal do this time?"
Peter huffed out a breath that was part irritated, part amused and part fondness. "Don't even get me started on what that joker has pulled today. He's a menace." He pulled on his pajama pants and collapsed on the bed beside his wife. "Seriously, don't even ask."
There was a rustle of blankets and then El's messy head popped into his view. "Worse than normal then?" She asked with a bit more amusement than he was comfortable with. "Come on, Peter, give up the goods or they'll just fester and I'll just laugh harder when I find out what he did to annoy you."
Peter groaned knowing his wife's pugnacious attitude. "He told the art professor that honesty is a more challenging game," he admitted. "Everything is a game to him. He just…the truth isn't something that should be made a mockery of."
El just snickered and laid her head back on her pillow. "It's Neal, hon," she told him. "Of course it's a game. Then again he isn't actually mocking honesty or the truth." She stopped and stared at the ceiling for a moment her fingers seeking his out to twine them together. "Neal…Neal isn't comfortable being honest. He's had to lie and hide himself for so long that the truth is something foreign and difficult for him. But he's trying you know? He's trying for you and not anyone else. He'll get better at it if you just give him a chance and let him know that letting you in…it won't get him hurt. Show him he's safe with you and he'll do anything for you."
Peter snorted in disbelief even as a part of him started planning how to show Neal that he could trust him. El rolled her eyes and squeezed his hand. Her husband wasn't a stupid man even if he did act it at times. He'd figure it out.