Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to USA Network and Jeff Eastin. : Criminal Minds is the property of CBS, the actors, producers, and writers of the show.

Claimer: Damon is mine

AN: A special thanks to peppe1951 for betaeing all my DAMON II chapters, and her encouragement and input to help keep my story going.

DAMON II (10)

*** But Damon was determined to make sure this reporting in crap didn't last long. He would be on his best behavior, or appear to be, until he got his freedom back. ***

***WC***

By the time Damon got off his latest dungeon stretch, the weather had warmed enough for the hustlers with their gaming tables to show back up in the streets. He had to time his plays in-between reporting in times. It wouldn't do for Agent Burke to hear the gamers egging on their marks in the background. But between saving all his lunch money and the tables, he slowly built his stash….

He spent more time at the parkour area since neither the area nor the background noise clued the Burkes into what he was really doing. Exercising or playing with friends was usually a good enough explanation to cover him, and since it was not a lie, they believed him. He did not think they would approve if they really knew what he was doing; he could just picture Mrs. Burke having a heart attack as he maneuvered up rock cliffs or the side of a bridge, and when some of them ventured into the city, scrambled up the outside of a fire escapes or climbed balcony to balcony with absolutely no safety equipment. Nope, it was always easier to get forgiveness then permission.

***WC***

But Peter and El noticed Damon did not smile as freely as he used to, he had returned to a semi-withdrawn state. He refused to accept calls or answer texts from Neal so their Sunday sessions had ceased. Peter was determined to bring the boy back out of his slump.

One Sunday at breakfast Peter addressed Damon,

"When you're done eating, go put on some jeans, a casual shirt and some sturdy shoes. We're going out for a while."

Damon was instantly wary, what was Agent Burke up to now? But he did as told, anything to relieve the monotony his curtailed life gave him.

When they got in the car and started heading north Damon's curiosity got the best of him, "Where are we going, Sir?"

Peter smiled at him, "You'll see."

After about thirty minutes they pulled into a long drive with a sign that read 'Riverdale Equestrian Centre' and up to a huge red barn. Damon looked at Peter wondering what they were doing at a horse stable but he didn't mind checking out the horses. Since he left Texas, the closest he got to a horse was watching the officers patrol the park via horseback, or the buggy horses.

Peter parked the car and they both got out. Damon watched a brunette walk up to Agent Burke,

"Peter, I see you found it okay. Is this Damon?"

"Yes, Sara. Damon, this is Sara Ellis."

Damon didn't want to mess up a possible chance to see some horses so he was on his best behavior, "Pleased to meet you, Ma'am," and held out his hand to shake.

She shook his hand. "You too, Damon." Then she turned to Peter, "Wow, he looks like…"

Peter interrupted, "I really appreciate this Sara. You sure your clients don't mind?"

Sara laughed, "After recovering their Mercedes SLR they are more than willing to accommodate me. They also said the horses could use the exercise, they don't ride them as much as they used to. I think that's because they bought that SLR."

Damon had perked up at that statement, ride?

"Come on, I'll show you your mounts and where they store their gear."

It was all Damon could do to stop from running ahead….

She showed them two geldings, a dark bay and a chestnut. Damon was immediately attracted to the dark bay; it was younger and a little skittish.

"That one's name is Magic. The owner's said he might need a more experienced rider. You might want to check out Rocky, he's gentler."

But Damon was already on top of the stall gate stroking the bay, calming it.

Peter hadn't been on a horse in years with the exception of one short ride to catch an escaping felon and wasn't sure about his own expertise, but Damon was a kid. "Damon, maybe you should check out Rocky while we check out the gear." He then followed Sara to the tack room to see which equipment they were to use.

By the time Peter said goodbye to Sara and returned with one saddle, he found Damon on the back of the bay, softly singing to it. The bay stood still, calm and relaxed.

Peter kept his voice calm, he didn't want to spook the horse, "Damon, you need to wait before you pull a stupid stunt like that. Now get off him before he spooks."

Damon looked up, all smiles "But I knew he didn't mind. He won't spook."

"Damon…"

Damon sighed and slid off the horse's back, stroked the bay, then exited the stall.

Peter let out a breath of relief, "Let's get the rest of the equipment. Do you know how to saddle a horse?"

"Off course, but I'd rather ride bareback. Can I?"

Peter cringed at the thought of riding bareback, "No."

Then Damon really noticed the saddle for the first time, "Don't they have any western saddles? I've never ridden with an English one."

Peter laughed, "Well, I guess you're going to learn something new. Let's go"

Damon sighed resignedly, "Yankees…"

They managed to gear the horses up, Peter showing Damon the differences between English and Western gear. Damon had to keep Magic calm as Peter helped with him. Magic didn't seem to care for Peter too much and started acting up as soon as he entered his stall. Damon was able to keep him calm by stroking and softly singing to him, 'I should've been a cowboy, I should've learned to rope and ride…'*

Peter decided there was no question as to who was riding which horse.

Peter ran into a snag when he tried to hand Damon a riding helmet.

"I don't need that."

"Yes you do, Damon. Put it on."

"Helmets are for sissies, I don't wear them."

"You do now if you want to ride." Peter was trying to remain calm and cool; he didn't want to spoil anything.

Damon glared at Peter a minute. He realized the agent wasn't going to give in on the matter. Angrily condescending to Agent Burke's wishes, he tried to jerk the helmet out of Peter's hand.

Peter kept a tight grip on the object of contempt, "Damon, you're angry. You're not riding that horse angry. Count."

Damn, why couldn't he ever win with Agent Burke! He glowered at him as he started counting his primes. When he had calmed down sufficiently, he apologized and accepted the helmet. He reluctantly put it on knowing he looked like a nerd. He knew he'd never tell the Burke's about parkour!

They lead their mounts out of the stable then stopped to mount. "Here Damon, I'll give you a leg up." Peter started to tie up his horse to help Damon; he looked pretty small beside the bay.

Damon grabbed the bay's reins and mane with his left hand, took a step back, then rushed forward throwing his right leg partway over the horse and pulled himself the rest of the way up onto Magic's back. Magic shied just a little from the unfamiliar method of mounting, but Damon quickly calmed him.

"I don't need any help, Sir." He smiled down at Peter.

"I see that…" Peter felt a little clumsy mounting his horse after watching Damon, even though he did accomplish it in a totally normal manner.

"I would have been smoother if I didn't have this saddle on." Damon informed him.

"Stirrups set right, Damon?" Peter queried.

"I don't know. I've never been able to reach them before."

"Remember what I told you about reining. Use two hands to direct rein, these horses are not trained for neck reining. Let's ride."

They rode the horse trails through Van Cortlandt Park. Peter had to keep an eye on boy and horse, both were young and green broke, they both wanted to run with the wind. He noticed Damon had no trouble handling the horse, he and Magic seemed to work as a single entity.

They had to keep the ride fairly short. Peter knew his muscles would pay for his years away from riding. But Damon was all smiles while he rode, which is what Peter had hoped for. After they had finished their ride Damon made sure the horses were properly cooled and groomed before putting them back in their stalls.

On the way to the car, Damon turned to Peter, "Thank you, Sir. That was great. I wasn't sure if I was ever going to get to ride again, living in a city this big."

"You're welcome, Damon. I enjoyed it too. Maybe we can get Sara to pull some strings again sometime."

Damon beamed making Peter pleased he'd thought to ask Sara.

On the ride home, Peter questioned Damon. "Have you ever been hiking, or camping? How about fishing?"

"Well, just running around the woods back in Texas you would call hiking, so I guess I have. And I've fished in stock ponds, never really caught much though. Camping? No, I've never been camping."

Peter grinned, "Well, I guess I'm just going to have to introduce you to the backwoods of New York this summer."

Damon wondered if he was serious.

***WC***

The horseback riding went a long ways toward bringing Damon back to his pre-pickpocket state, easing up on his restrictions helped too. He slowly regained trust to win much of his freedom back. But he still refused to talk to Neal. Mostly because he was still mad at him, but also because he was ashamed of how he had acted that day, and didn't want to face Neal.

***WC***

One evening Peter was working on a particularly troublesome case and Damon sat on the other side of the table working his math homework. Damon often read Peter's case files; he was pretty adept in reading upside down. This particular night he recognized the picture….

He jumped up, knocking his chair over, "Th…. th…. that's h…. him…."

Peter looked up to see a very pale frightened child standing on the other side to the table. "Who, Damon?"

"H…. him. He k… k… killed my mother…" Damon looked at him, his eyes filled with terror.

Peter rushed around the table to him, placed a hand on each shoulder, trying to reassure him, calm him, and send his strength through his touch. "Are you sure, Damon?"

"I…. I saw h… him through… through th… the hole, the…. the stuff, there w… was a hole surrounded by…. by… by… greyish stuff," He looked at Peter, his eyes desperate. "Th… the stuff was fl… fl… flying t… toward me b… b… but I saw him through a space… It was her… her…"

Peter could see Damon's eyes change to despair.

My… my… throat. I… I couldn't breathe. Some… something in my… my throat." His hands went to his throat, he was breathing rapidly, "I couldn't cough, couldn't gag, th… they would hear me. I… I… couldn't breathe. Ch… choking…"

Damon's face contorted in anguish with the guilt of the ages.

"I… I swallowed."

Damon barely had time to tilt forward; Peter barely had time to move backward, as Damon emptied the contents of his stomach onto the dining room floor. Some splashing onto Peter's pant legs.

***WC***

The next few hours were a living nightmare for the Burke household. Damon rotated through sessions of trying to expel the contents of an already empty stomach and trying to withdraw deep within himself. El spent most of her time trying to clean up the messes Damon was determined to make.

Peter spent his time trying to keep Damon in this world, this time and place. He was trying to 'go away' as Stephen did. His eyes would become unfocused trying to escape. Peter thought about Stephen spending five days in that closet with no one to stop his mind from leaving. He was determined not to let that happen with Damon. He liked Damon just the way he was, if he left like Stephen did, who would replace him?

Peter knew Damon did not really have a split personality, but he did have a major personality change and Peter did not want Damon to change…. Taking Damon to the hospital was discussed, but again, Peter let his fears rule him, they would most likely sedate Damon, and who would wake up from that sedation. He wanted Damon just the way he was with all his faults, all his problems, he wanted Damon.

He talked to him, occasionally yelled at him, and once even slapped him to keep his eyes focused in this world.

Finally, totally worn out, Damon fell asleep. It was a normal peaceful sleep. He lay on the couch, his head in Peter's lap. Peter was sitting on the end of the couch; his arm across Damon's shoulder, aware of Damon's breathing, alert for any change. He drifted off to sleep.

After Damon went to sleep, El went to her room to lie down totally exhausted. The Burke household slept.

About 4 AM Damon woke and sat up confused. Peter felt him move and half woke himself. He turned to Peter, "Why am I down here? What happened?"

Peter was only half awake; it had been a long night. "You don't remember?"

Damon searched his memory and then panicked. "Mrs. Burke! Where is Mrs. Burke!" He was almost screaming.

His shouts woke El up and she rushed out, fearing a repeat of the last night's nightmare, she rushed halfway down the stairs. "Damon? I'm right here Damon."

Damon gaped, confused, "Mrs. Burke, you're okay? You're okay!"

"Yes Damon, I'm fine."

Damon searched his memory again. He turned to Peter, "Neal! Where's Neal!" He lunged for Peter's pocket trying to grab his cell phone. "Neal!"

Peter did not understand what was wrong with Damon, but he was in a state of panic. He held Damon back with one hand and took out his phone with the other. He dialed Neal's number.

Neal answered the phone half asleep, "Peter, do you know what time it is?"

"Damon needs to talk to you."

Damon had been desperately trying to take the phone from Peter. Now Peter handed it to him, "Neal! Neal are you okay?"

"Yeah, Bro. I'm fine. What's wrong?"

But Damon had already handed the phone back to Peter, "Neal?"

"Peter, what is going on?"

"Long story, I'll tell you later. Go back to sleep." He hung up the phone. Damon was grabbing at his shirt sleeve, still frightened.

"Who died? Someone died! Who?"

He grabbed Damon's shoulders trying to still the distraught boy. "No one died Damon. No one died."

"But it's black! Last night is black! I can't remember!"

Peter finally understood. "Damon. Damon, look at me. Listen to me." Damon shook as he focused on Peter's face.

"Damon, you saw a picture of your mother's murderer last night. You relived the incident."

"No one died?"

"No Damon, no one new. You relived your mother's death." Peter was grateful he'd blacked it out again.

Damon looked into Peter's eyes, he saw the truth there and he finally calmed down. To Peter's surprise, he lay back down with his head in Peter's lap. Peter replaced his arm over Damon's shoulder, he was exhausted. Suddenly Damon stiffened and raised halfway back up, "Does that mean it's over?"

"Is what over?"

"My case. It's solved now, right?"

"No Damon. I do not believe the man you identified is the one who is actually looking for you. We still have to find the one he was working for."

"Oh." Damon lay back down.

Peter could have sworn he heard a sigh of relief from Damon as he relaxed back on the couch. Was he glad the case wasn't solved? That made no sense. Peter wrote it off to his own imagination, he was so tired….

When Peter was sure Damon was sound asleep again, he slipped out from under him and placed a throw pillow under his head. He walked over to his files that were still strewn across the table, gathered them together and locked them in his briefcase.

He realized Damon could never be a witness in this man's trial for his mother's death. He would not put Damon through that hell again, and if he did get on the stand and freak out like that, the defense would have a heyday proving Damon was mentally incompetent. Larssen was in prison now for attempted murder, evading arrest and several other crimes, he would be there for years. Damon was safe from him for now. But if he ever found out Damon existed and got out of prison, Peter was afraid he would go after the only witness to Cindy's murder. Again, Damon's safety took priority.

He sat in the recliner and kicked it back to get a couple hours sleep, he did not want to go upstairs and leave Damon alone, just in case.

Just before he drifted off to sleep he thought that if any psychiatrist, psychologist or therapist in Damon's future ever recommends he relive the death of his mother so he could heal, he swore he would deck them.

***WC***

*Toby Keith - 'I Should've Been A Cowboy'

##### Merry Christmas! #####