Title: in the blood

Disclaimer: the older brother is mine

Warnings: spoilers for the basics of both shows

Pairings: none

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 590

Point of view: third

Prompt: Leverage/White Collar. Parker, Neal, any. Neal and Parker are brother and sister.


Once upon a time, not so long ago in a not so far away land, there lived two brothers and a sister. The eldest was a sad boy named Parker and his younger twin siblings were Noah and Bethany. Parker and Bethany both had sunshine-golden hair while Noah's was dark as midnight. They lived in fear, shunted from family to family, for many heartsick years.

Parker did his best to look out for the twins, but when he was twelve and they nine, the three of them were finally torn apart. A month later, a sad-eyed woman told the twins separately that Parker was dead.

After five years alone in the system, in different cities, Noah and Bethany took themselves out of it. She fell under the wing of a master-thief and renamed herself Parker in honor of her brother. Noah fell in with a sweet soul called Mozzie who made sure that Noah stayed safe no matter what harebrained scheme he tried.

Parker (the original) was a good boy. He believed in the law. But the law got him killed, so Parker (the girl) and Noah (who never used that name anymore) decided that the law wasn't for them anymore.

Years passed, a decade and change. Parker never got caught, no matter what she stole; she was a legend, a ghost, a name with no face or body. But Neal(once known as Noah) was arrested, tried, and sent to jail, even though there was proof of only a few crimes.

And there he stayed for almost four years, dreaming at night of things he never did, of jewels he never stole and buildings he never jumped from, and he heard laughter he remembered, and a little girl saying, C'mon with me.

Neal escaped and got caught again, put on a leash and ordered to heel. So now he broke the law for the law, his keeper a good man named Peter. Neal thought that if Peter had been their caseworker back then, he and his siblings would have stayed together.

From him, there was no higher praise.

Neal and Elizabeth, Peter's lovely wife, were at a gallery opening when a laughing blonde on the arm of a tall black man caught Neal's eye. Her sunshine-golden hair glinted in the light, and her eyes were familiar when they met his.

The blonde rushed across the room, sliding through the crowd like quicksilver, her companion following with a bit-off curse.

Neal left Elizabeth with no warning, slipping through the crowd like a breeze, and met her at the door.

"Bethany," he whispered, wanting so badly to touch her, to hold her, to assure himself this wasn't a dream.

"Noah," she murmured, longing her voice.

A moment of looking, studying each other's adult features, and seeing their brother's ghost, and then they were wrapped around each other, nine years old again as the world fell away.

Nothing else mattered. Later they would talk and laugh and cry. Later they would pick pockets and share alleged crimes. Later Peter wouldn't arrest Neal's twin and Elizabeth would invite a team of thieves to her house for dinner.

Later, two master criminals would curl up together and whisper stories about a wonderful boy named Parker, the best big brother in the world.

But for now, Neal and Parker (the thief) just gripped each other tight and stood in silence, while Elizabeth and Hardison made sure no one bothered them.

And when they pulled back slightly, they shared small smiles and said, I missed you.