Peter stared at the picture of him and Neal. It was the picture that had been taken when they were going to go help Mozzie with the De Luca problem, and were dressed up like they were going to prom, as Elizabeth had put it. They were both happy, even Neal. He belonged in New York City – Peter knew that. But Neal didn't, as it was obvious since he was half a world away living life as a prince.
He wasn't sure what to make of Neal's position. Neal had been known to pretend to be a prince on a couple of occasions, but he had seen true, honest surprise when the man had come and told Neal of his royalty. Then again, Neal was a con – he lied for a living. He remembered how many times Neal had lied to him about the treasure, and except for the first time that Peter had accused him of stealing it, he had had it all along. And Peter had trusted him, until Keller had kidnapped his wife and it all came to light.
Still, even after all of that, they had regained trust with each other, and he could see that Neal was happy. He remembered when he had asked what Neal and Mozzie had been arguing about, and Neal hadn't wanted to leave. Why had that changed now that he was prince?
He had let Neal go, because he had thought that Neal would be happy. Even so, he had wished that Neal would change his mind and stay. Neal had sounded happy in the phone call the night before, but…he hadn't been able to see his expression. He didn't know if he had been lying or not. Still, being a king legally without anyone chasing him had to have been more appealing than a 2-mile radius working for the FBI with the constant risk of possibly going back to prison, or even killed. Maybe that was it. Before, when Neal had had the treasure, maybe he didn't want to go because he knew he would be chased for the rest of his life. Now, everyone knew where he was, but it was okay, because he was free.
Peter sighed, putting the picture in its frame back on his desk. He stared at it for a moment longer, and then turned to the case file in front of him. He had to go back to work.
Hm…an old associate of Nick Halden's, Peter thought, reading over the file. We could probably get Neal to… Then he stopped his thoughts in its tracks. Neal was gone. He wasn't coming back. He should learn to accept that.
