Peter finally got home and immediately dropped his briefcase onto the floor. Satchmo had greeted him twice in a row by now. But still, the dog wasn't satisfied by Peter's brief pettings. His boss was angry, the dog knew then. Because only then his boss won't pay much attention towards him, and he backed off; thinking that his boss needed some space.

El was in the shower when he first called her name. She must've heard him coming upstairs because when he walked past the closed bathroom door, the water had stopped running.

First Peter wasn't prepared to be this emotional about the news he just heard about Neal's medical past. He wasn't planning on telling this to El either. But the ride from the office till home was long. And all he could think off was how many times Neal could've told him about his tumor during a dangerous job. Or a lunch-break, or even a nice dinner with them. Telling his wife about what he just found out about his partner, was a pretty normal thing to do. Especially since Neal was becoming one part of the family.

Come to think of it… Sometimes he got a certain odd glance from his partner during these kind of lonely moments in the van. A deep, questioning glance; he never figured out what that was all about.

That same guilty look had made one appearance when they were at the doctor's office right after Neal had gotten himself into that silly bar-fight. That same mysterious glance. Along with the frantic tremors sending through in his fingers. Besides the gloominess in his eyes, Neal was trying to figure something out about him. Or something in that same direction Maybe Neal was just waiting for him to speak up about the brain surgery; and his worries about what damage this fight could have done to it. His head.

Now it was all making sense. Even the extreme dislike for setting a foot into a hospital. Or that snooping attitude about his medical history by a doctor he didn't know. But still… he could've just speak up about his fears for being admitted. Again.

Poor Neal. Why didn't he ask for mental support? Neal must've expected something soothing from him. And Peter only mocked about him being such a baby.

Now Peter felt sick, remembering himself telling Neal to 'Cowboy up'. A little something his father always said to him when he was acting like a whiny baby at the dentist. His shoulders slumped down. He needed to talk to Neal. At least say sorry to him. When he saw the young man oddly leaving his desk for the day, earlier than normal, with permission from Hughes, he knew that something was wrong. Not physically. But mentally.

"El? I am home… uh… Can I talk to you about something?" his voice was not as angry and tense as before. It was soft; broken down to a coldly sad tone. So unlike Peter.

The door opened quickly. His wife was already wrapped up in a thick robe, her hair rolled up in a towel. Steam was coming from behind her.

"Hon? You sound awful. What did Neal do now?" she asked in a low understanding voice.

Peter shrugged his shoulders and started to talk.

Of course El was as shocked as he was.

…

That evening, Peter left the baseball game that was showing live on tv; because he couldn't take it anymore. Elisabeth was already asleep on the couch, with the dog next to her feet. He wrote e note and gave a kiss on her forehead, hoping she wouldn't wake up.

It was already late when Peter arrived at the gate of June's mansion. One of the maids opened the door for him, slightly surprised about this late visit.

"Sorry for disturbing your evening, Tina. I come to see Neal." The old lady smiled polite and nodded to the stairs.

"It's always good to see you, agent Burke. But I am afraid mister Caffrey is already asleep."

"Oh, this can't wait. I am sure he won't mind."

"Just call me if you want some jasmine thee. I made it myself."

Peter shook his head and excused himself. When he was at Neal's door he saw the faint light was coming from under the door. With a knock he found out that Neal was awake after all. The door swung open in an instant. Neal blinked surprised at his partner, while holding a small dog under his arm. It was June's. He apparently promised to take care of it when she wasn't around for this week.

"Oh, Peter? Come on in. What's wrong? Did Elizabeth kick you out or something?" Neal grinned as he opened the door further so that he could come in.

For a moment, maybe for too long, Peter took in Neal's appearance. His hair was a bit out of shape that made him look younger. He was dressed in a dark tee shirt and white pajama pants. Neal didn't look like someone who got brain surgery, not that you could detect that on someone, anyway. But still… Either way, he smiled, but his light blue eyes looked more anxious than glad to see him. So Peter knew by then that Neal knew why he was here.

"We need to talk." Neal gave a sigh and carefully put the small dog onto the ground. The little guy trotted towards his bed and lay down on his own soft puppy-blanket.

"This is about that head-thing right? Well… I am very sorry you didn't know about this. Up until now but…" Peter stopped him right there by shaking his hands and head with a faint friendly smile.

"No. Don't apologize. That isn't your fault. I came here to apologize for how I acted to you this day at the office." Peter sat down on one of Neal's chairs in the middle of the apartment and placed both hands on the table top. "I was so shocked that… well… never mind about it. I shouldn't have blamed you for this. And also… back at the hospital when I saw your fear,-"

"-Okay stop." now Neal was the one who stopped Peter with shaking his hands and head. He sat down on the chair, opposite from him and grinned.

"Neal Caffrey is never afraid of anything. That's one. Two is… Peter… I'll have to admit that I was a bit 'confused' at why you didn't mention that little detail to the doctor. But honestly… I was actually very amazed that you didn't want me to go through all of that. I wanted to thank you for that as soon as I could, since I thought you knew about it. But I didn't got the change because I was pretty out of it myself. Now I am actually glad I didn't. Because then all of this would've been a lot worse. " Peter nodded and grinned a bit.

"Yeah, it probably would've. But still. When I go home I suddenly realized how bad I made you feel in that hospital. You needed me. Well… not me. But at least you needed some reassuring support. And instead of helping you get through all of that, I only made fun of you. For that I am really, really sorry."

Neal opened his mouth once. Twice. But nothing came out. After a long silence Neal shook his head with an odd smile on his face.

"Thank you, Peter," was all he could say to this.

And that was enough.

"From now on you tell me these sort of things, alright. If you want my support, you need to open up to me. Because… playing guessing-games with you are very difficult, with that misleading pretty con-head of yours."

Neal smiled to that.

Right before he promised he would try.

END.

AN: Okay… now this story is really done and over with. Please review:3

X

Josie