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.

DAMON (10)

*** "Damon, you are pretty darn good at this!"

*** "It's in my blood."

*** Neal beamed like a Cheshire cat! ***

Just then Peter came in. He'd waited as long as he could because he had noticed Damon was finally communicating with Neal and did not want to disturb them. But he had work to do, and that was his desk they were sitting at. He asked Damon to move from his chair, and reminded Neal that he did have a case to work on. Damon moved to the chair Neal had been sitting on and picked up a book to 'read', Constitutional Law.

Peter spoke up, "By the way, Damon, we have an appointment with the BAU tomorrow. We'll be getting up bright and early tomorrow, it's a long drive." Damon froze. He did not want to go there! He glanced at the door. "No, Damon. You are not running. It will be all right. We fixed that, remember. Relax." Maybe he shouldn't have told him until tonight. Damon looked at him… pleading? "I promised to take care of you and I will, Damon." Peter went back to work; Damon 'read' his book.

The following morning at 5 AM, Peter went downstairs to wake Damon up in the dog bed. "Come on buddy, get up. We leave at 5:30 sharp. We'll eat breakfast on the way." Damon sat up and rubbed his eyes, then tried to lie back down. "Peter laughed. "No can do! Come on, you can sleep in the car." He helped Damon to his feet and headed him upstairs. And Damon did fall asleep, not 20 minutes into the drive. Peter knew he needed the sleep. Not one of them had had an unbroken night's sleep since Damon arrived; thanks to his dreams. And Damon has been living with this for months. Most times for him and El, it was just lie in bed and listen, Damon had to work through it.

When they got to Quantico, Damon grabbed his ball cap and pulled it as low as he could to hide his face. He no longer had the protection of dirt and hair to hide his features. Peter wasn't sure it was necessary, but if it made the kid feel better… They went into Special Agent Jason Gideon's office and Peter and he did a quick catch up. Then Peter started into the real reason for the visit.

Peter had Damon remove his hat, Gideon remembered the face but it had been a few months and several cases ago… Peter reminded him "Stephen Atkin, but his name is Damon now. He has an interesting story; would you like to bring in any other team members before he tells you?"

Damon pleaded with Peter, "Not Agent Hotchner."

Peter glanced at him confused, "Why not?"

"His eyes, I don't like his eyes. He has killer's eyes."

Peter explained to Gideon about showing Damon pictures of all the BAU team members before coming. Gideon smiled at Damon, "How about Agents Morgan and Reid. Would you be comfortable with them?" Damon indicated he would.

Gideon was quite surprised to see Damon; he really thought Stephen was dead, or worse. He called in Agents Derek Morgan, and Spencer Reid, introduced them, and then they all went into the conference room. Before he sat down, Damon pushed his chair tight against Peter's. Peter was surprised, but he didn't mind, he kind of liked it, although he knew it was just because the boy was terrified. He opened his briefcase and showed the BAU members the WC WITSEC and custody paperwork, but they were not allowed to keep a copy. He also brought out a condensed Caffrey file. He explained that the reason for all would be revealed when they heard Damon's story. Gideon handed the files to Reid to read. With that done, Peter sat back and put his arm around Damon's shoulders. Gideon asked Damon to tell his story.

Damon told them Stephen's story. He told how Stephen had gone into the living room closet to find a board game for him and his mom to play; that's where they stored them. He told how Stephen had stayed in the closet when the agents came to eavesdrop, and the voice of the agent identifying himself as an agent, and the voice of the mean one were from two different men. When he came to the black part, Gideon asked him what he meant, and Damon thought a minute, looked at Peter for reassurance, and then told him that was the part Stephen hid from him. Stephen did not want him to see there. Whatever was in there, Damon knew that's what broke Stephen, so he didn't really want to see it. When Stephen tried to leave the closet that one time, he blocked the down from Damon, but not the up. Gideon asked him what was up there, and Damon thought, slowly the answer dawned on him, and he told them. Nothing… That was the problem, nothing was there! Stephen's pictures were supposed to be there. Stephen painted a lot because that made his mom happy, it was a Neal talent. Gideon asked how many pictures had been on the walls. Damon told him the walls were full of Stephen's pictures. All were his except one; Stephen's mom had a portrait of herself that Neal had painted. It was in her bedroom. Gideon informed Damon that the walls were empty. Was there any way to know what pictures had been there? Damon said she had taken a picture of every painting and kept them in a scrap book. Peter was very interested in that scrapbook.

When asked about the grey part Damon didn't know. He said he had all of Stephen's memories, except for the black part, but the grey was just confusing, it was like Stephen had just retreated inside, he didn't want to see out. When he got to the part about Stephen running from the McSwaggart's, he told how Stephen had just kept running, rest and run. He didn't know how to take care of himself, to find warm places to sleep, to find food. Damon said Stephen was not a survivor. He said Stephen was getting sick, and he was so hungry. He finally got hungry enough to walk up to a vending cart and steal a hot dog. Stephen did not steal, could not steal, and when he stole that hot dog and the huge burly vendor grabbed his arm and said "Gotcha! What's your name demon?" that was all he could take, Stephen vacated the premises, he un-assed the AO, he flew the coop. Peter was a little disturbed by the casual way this was stated. Gideon asked Damon if that's where he came in, what was his first memory as Damon?

"This little shrimp-ass vendor had a hold of my arm and said 'Gotcha, what's your name demon?' and I said 'Damon' and rammed my knee into his stuff, grabbed a second hot dog and ran away and enjoyed my hot dogs!" He stared at them, daring any of them to tell him he could not maintain this abandoned property. He had squatter's rights! Peter was getting a little worried if they would let him keep Damon. He was wondering if he should keep Damon. But Gideon didn't really seem fazed by it. He asked Damon if he was a survivor. Hell, yeah, he wasn't like Stephen, he knew how to take care of himself!

Gideon went on to ask about any relatives on his mother's side. Damon told him Stephen had asked his mother once and she informed him there was no one he would want to know. He didn't even know her real name. His known blood line stopped at Neal and Cindy.

Meanwhile, Reid had been going over the files Peter had brought with him. He noticed the DNA analysis on Neal then compared it to the DNA analysis they had on Stephen. Being the genius that he was, he didn't need a computer to help. He announced his findings, "Just for the record, I compared DNA on Caffrey and Stephen. Caffrey is positively Stephen's father. Damon, can I get a set of your fingerprints to compare to Stephen's?"

Damon balked "Why?" He did not want them to have his prints!

Reid explained "Just to forestall any doubts that anyone may have and I will destroy them as soon as a match was made."

Damon looked at Peter, who assured him it would be alright. Damon felt funny having his prints taken, like a criminal or something, he never had them taken before; Stephen was in a catatonic stupor when they did his.

A few minutes later, Neal announced as everyone already expected, "Stephen's and Damon's fingerprints are an exact match. Damon do you want to shred your own prints so you can be guaranteed it's done." Damon got up and took the prints to the shredder, he even checked what came out to make double sure. That done, he went back to sit by Peter.

Gideon asked Peter how he and Damon had gotten together, and Peter told him about the demon storm that entered the office.

Gideon frowned at Damon, "You pretended you didn't know how to use a weapon?"

"I… uh…" Damon looked down, what did this agent know?

Peter was confused, "Pretended…?"

Gideon turned to Morgan, "Didn't you talk to the town's gunsmith?"

Morgan smiled, he knew Damon was busted, "Sure did. He told me that he has been instructing you in the use of weapons, both hand guns and rifles for the last couple years. Bragged how proficient you were. That you could break down, clean, and reassemble several different models. He's taken you out to the firing range several times. Says you are an excellent shot when supported, decent without support. He believes once you get your muscles built up, you will be an excellent marksman. Damon, I got the impression that you are a much better shot then Spencer here." Reid winced, sore subject.

Peter looked at Damon, "Is this true?" Damon just stared at his hands.

Gideon was curious, "Damon, why did you act like you didn't know how to handle a weapon?"

Damon looked at Gideon, then to Peter. Peter tilted his head, "Yes, Damon, why did you?

Damon sighed, "Because there's nothing scarier than a kid with a weapon that doesn't know what the heck he is doing!" They all nodded to that. "You don't know if or when he'll pull the trigger, no idea where the bullet would go… There is no body language to read. I wanted to scare the truth out of Neal." He hesitated, "If I had come in there, handling the gun right, you would have been more apt to shoot me! But no one wants to shoot a kid that's too young and dumb to know what they're doing."

Peter was really looking hard at him. "Why were you playing with the safety?"

"To make sure it was on! I was scared to death I might accidently shoot someone, and I sure didn't want to commit patricide!"

"I have been wearing my weapon in the house since you got there because I was afraid you might do something stupid. I'm not sure if I'm more or less afraid now."

Damon glanced up sideways at him, apologetic, "I know, I'm sorry…" And then, in a brighter voice, "I can clean it for you!"

"We'll discuss that when we get home!" What else was this boy hiding?

Gideon was smiling; he liked the way these two interacted. "Damon, can you wait out in the waiting room while I talk to Peter?"

Damon froze. "Why?" Peter felt the tension in his body, and tried to reassure him with a little squeeze.

"There are some aspects of the case I would like to discuss with him alone."

Peter could feel Damon's fear. "You want to take me away from the Burkes! You want to lock me up!" Peter was holding him tight now, trying to sooth him, trying to calm him.

Gideon sat back in his chair. "I have no intentions of removing you from Peter's safekeeping. He was smart in gaining custody before you arrived to prevent any argument on your disposition. I have been observing the interplay between you two since you arrived, and I see no problems. No Damon, I am not going to take you from Peter."

Damon looked at Peter, "Promise?"

Peter hugged Damon tight. "I promise Damon that no one is going to take you." He held Damon's chin up. "Now promise me you will wait in the waiting room for me."

"I promise." He slid off his chair and headed for the door, glancing back at Peter on the way out.

Morgan announced he had some work to do and left.

Reid stood up, "If you don't mind Gideon, I'll go wait with Damon. We could play some chess." Gideon nodded and Reid headed for the door.

Peter called after him, "Damon doesn't play chess." Reid glanced back, smiled and left.

Gideon had a smirk on his face, "He has pulled the wool over your eyes."

Perplexed, Peter turned to him, "What…?"

"He is an avid chess player."

***OK, readers I really am having trouble with this and a couple following chapters. I'm trying to work in Damon's past. Please let me know if this is working OK. Thank you for your interest in my story!***