The Pictures Connect


Eventually the time came when Peter began to connect the dots to who I really was. After all, Danny was just a matter of time. (Peter gets to tell how he discovers Neal's secret number one :D).


It took me years to figure it out. I mean, why did Neal Caffrey remind me so much of the seventeen year old Danny that I had only met once for a few hours? Then again, why did Danny stick with me to a point that I could still remember him more than a decade later?

For some reason Neal always reminded me of the emotional, physical, and mental comparisons to Danny. After all, he is brilliant, zealous, dark haired, blue eyed, and something in the back of my mind often seemed on the verge of understanding why these things all seemed to matter, but Neal always made sure to distract me before I could make the connection.


The first tangible fact that I could compare the two persons with was fathers during the Burma diamond case.

I was walking down the street talking to Neal about fathers when he dropped the bomb on me. He was the son of a cop! The revelation left me flabbergasted as I stood slack jawed on the sidewalk trying to piece together an internationally renowned criminal with a law enforcement father.

Then I focused back on the world to discover that Neal was walking down the street ahead of me and leaving me behind. Walking quickly to catch up I found myself being drawn, like a fish on a hook, to question him for more details. After all, this was the first time that he had opened up and provided any detail into his family background or any hints as to what his life might have been like pre-eighteen. As "the archeologist" and his friend, I wanted to know more about the enigma he presented and this seemed like a good opportunity.

Over the following days I continued to question him directly and tried several tactics like sneaking comments into the conversation, using comparisons, and watching his reactions to things… but he managed to evade all of my strategies.

Eventually Neal did share the fact that his father had died in action as a hero when he was two. That saddened me as I had noticed his connection to father figures (particularly myself) and how he didn't seem to have much luck with them in the past. His growing up without a father did help to explain why he needed the emotional connection to an older male while also explaining how a person like him could grow up learning the skills of a criminal without being stopped by a law enforcement father.

Through the course of the case I did notice some emotional scarring in Neal. For one, Neal doesn't tend to react so strongly to other people's choices, but when Wilson talked about his son, something in Neal exploded. Also, Neal had a slightly envious twitch when the Diplomat showed paternal protective affection for his son. Then there were a few sidelong glances sent my way that reinforced the growing realization that Neal worked with me and allowed me to keep him here (it certainly wasn't the anklet holding him back) in order to follow me as a father figure, role model, and mentor of sorts. That growing understanding was a relief as it would make reforming him easier, but also more daunting because one misstep on my part could tear all of my efforts crashing down.

I tried to reach out to Neal and I was honest in telling him that I didn't know how badly everything had messed with his head, but he shut me out by agreeing with me and refused to continue the conversation. Despite my efforts of support and my curiosity, Neal continued to hold an emotional distance with the whole touchy subjects of fathers.

Later, Neal gave me the next piece of information. His father was in fact a dirty cop who was still alive out there somewhere. It turned out that his mother had lied to him all of his growing up years in an effort to keep him from being disillusioned at such a young age.

Watching his reactions as he told me the truth about his father, I could see something of Danny in him. Not the young boy proud of his father, but more what that same young man would look like if that pride had been lost. That was when I saw him exhibit the small repressed feelings which made me think that maybe the confident confidence man was all just a show, that maybe somewhere behind all of that charm was a hurt little boy still looking for someone to make him believe that he was more than his father's son, that he could achieve more value than just that of a criminal following in his father's footsteps.

Those thoughts flashed through my head so quickly that they didn't seem to be there. It was like he told me the truth, and I immediately said "You're not him." His response confirmed my suspicions and we briefly argued about it. I could tell that this wasn't going to be an argument easily won, but I planned to whittle away at his defenses, to chip away at his long established logic, until he eventually learned that even if crime was a genetic trait carried in his blood, that it was also a choice that he could chose not to follow. There would never be an easy way around this subject, but I could always use the reality of his actions to prove my point, so I started with Chris and his father.

With that first stage of the battle begun, I decided to use his own tactics and distracted him from realizing what I was doing. Besides, I was genuinely curious if his mother wore hats as that would explain why Neal like his Fedoras so much…

It was later in the evening when Neal was at home and I was quietly reflecting on his revelation that a thought occurred to me. Could Neal possibly be Danny… could Danny be the person that Neal was before he turned eighteen while Neal was the man that he had become after being disillusioned about his father? That was when I remembered that Danny was determined to be a hero cop like his father but that he also had "other skills" to fall back on if he needed too. But if that theory was true, that would mean that the young man that I still secretly hoped to work with one day was my current partner and a… broken (?) piece of the boy I once met. The thought was heart wrenching in a way that took me by surprise. I didn't want that for either of them so I decided to push the thought aside as being a random thought with my mind grasping at straws…


After Neal got back from his Island adventures he had some serious explaining to do. He had revealed that Neal Caffrey wasn't entirely his real name, there was this mysterious Ellen, and there was still a very large gap of what his life was like before he was eighteen.

In addition to working things through with Neal, I still had to face the consequences for my participation in chasing after Neal when I had been explicitly ordered not to and the week of an old unsolved case resurfacing. (I had been working on it every five years for ten of the twenty years that it had been going on).

Unfortunately the consequences included me being reassigned to the cave under the supervision of Agent Patterson with his strict rules and difficult tasks. Like Hughes suggested, my plan was to not make waves and to keep my head down while getting the job done so that I could get back to my team as soon as possible.

On my first day, Neal was kind enough to join me for lunch and, even though I didn't want his prison yard comparisons, his efforts to cheer me up were much appreciated. We didn't get to start into our conversation, but I did get to tell him that we would be having that discussion soon.

The case was progressing nicely with Neal's efforts to ensure that it kept going and his work to include me in the research. It didn't take him long to get a suspect and I couldn't help but agree to go along with Neal's plan. As usual, Neal's plan led to me being put in an interesting undercover role with my old alias while I purchased expensive sweats, played Squash for money, and played hot potato with the suspect's phone. Luckily, it was worthwhile because Neal was able to find out the purpose behind the water truck as well as an idea of what the target was going to be. We continued to work on the case and Neal ensured that everything kept on rolling until we got an arrest.

That was when we finally got around to having our conversation. We were once again seated in the pick-nick area and I was able to direct the discussion towards finishing the promised conversation.

Neal started things off by informing me that his mother 'checked out' after his father left and that although she was physically present in his life she didn't really take care of him. He continued by explaining how Ellen filled in the gaps and did her best to watch over him. Then he simply stopped and allowed me to make the connection for myself… he had grown up in witness protection!

Once again I found my mind filling in the blanks. Neal didn't want to talk about his parents because the truth wouldn't reflect well on them. He didn't feel the need to rely on others for everything because he grew up taking care of himself and he was generally comfortable with recreating his identity because he was looking to define himself for who he was after growing up in a government created identity. Then Neal proceeded to tell me that his father was a murderer and I could help but feel cautious curiosity as to who he had killed.

Unable to answer my question, Neal continued to tell me that the Marshal's took him, his mom, and Ellen to St. Louis where he grew up as Danny Brooks. He idolized his father and continues to feel that he followed in his footsteps because he is a criminal. We picked up another brief round of our conversation that he isn't who he is because of genetics.

I couldn't help but smirk to myself that Neal had another similarity to Danny. He also grew up in St. Louis with the name of Danny and I felt the sudden urge to ask him what his after school job was in high school. Since he continued to talk, I refrained from questioning him at the moment. As he described his childhood opinion of his father, I couldn't help the gentle reaction to another comparison to Danny. It seemed like the more details that Neal gave of his past the more similar he got to Danny.

When he told me that he had learned the truth when he was eighteen, I was reminded of my previous thought… was Neal the person that Danny had become? We continued to talk about how Danny Brooks became Neal Caffrey and I found my connection drifting into the background only to be forgotten again.


What finally caused me to make the connection was the sad state that we found Neal in after his abduction.

To be honest, the thought that Neal had run did cross my mind. After all, to his knowledge I was leaving with El to Washington DC and he was going to be stuck on the anklet for the rest of his sentence simply because he did such a good job. (Really, it was a lot like Kramer all over again where senior agents worked to keep Neal on anklet for as long as possible in order to succeed based on his skills). The piece of information that changed things was when a concerned Mozzie showed up after a few days of mysterious absence.

I was working at home, after a long day of trying to find Neal, only to discover the little guy banging on my door in a panic. It turned out that he had been arranging a plan that would allow for Neal to run, but that Neal hadn't in fact run. This placed a whole new level of importance on finding Neal and luckily Mozzie also had some helpful information to that end too.

The new information showed that Neal had been being followed at least a time or two by unknown persons. My gut instinct was that these mysterious persons were perhaps connected to the mysterious persons that were behind hiring Rachel. They had collected a file on Neal that went all the way back to his childhood and Neal had been instrumental in ensuring that they never got the diamond… That has got to be the connection!

With a few quick calls I arranged for a meeting with Rachel in order to try to get as much information about who her bosses could be with the unfortunate leverage of Neal's safety on the line. If anything was likely to get her to talk… knowing that Neal's life likely depended on it was the best bet.

From there it was a flurry of work and a sleepless night later that we knew her bosses seemed to be connected to terrorists… great. (Here I'm being sarcastic because that meant that there could be all kinds of trouble before we would even have a chance at rescuing Neal).

We were shocked when the research and rescue proved to work out rather easily. I mean it isn't every day that suddenly the CIA has all kinds of handy Intel on your situation and is willing to actually share it in order to rescue a former criminal… (In retrospect that was another clue towards other details to come later).

It was how we found Neal that upset me. You'd think that finding your best friend alive after being held captive and tortured for a few days would be better than the alternative… but it's still upsetting because he was held captive and tortured. The surprising part about that was that he wasn't actually being held in a cell or something, but rather he was roaming loose around the halls (having obviously escaped and worked to hinder their operations). While the other agents made the arrests, Diana and I checked Neal over only to find that he wasn't exactly the most coherent person at the moment. Further inspection revealed a dart sticking out of his back that had obviously been the means of drugging him with something.

As expected in the situation, we made a trip to the hospital in order to confirm the content of the dart as well as getting Neal's general health looked into before he could be released to go home.

While I was sitting with Neal he started muttering about those files that Rachel and her bosses had collected on him. Apparently they were more informative about Neal's past than he wanted me to know about.

"I mean I do want you to know… but I don't want to you to know… Do you know what I mean?"

The answer was no, not really, who could know what a person drugged, beaten, dehydrated, and sporting a head injury means?

We continued to have our odd discussion about him wanting me to know but not being able to tell me for some reason. At first I wasn't too worried about Neal's rambling because I was more focused on what the doctor was saying about his immediate health concerns, but when the doctor had finished, I paid more attention to what Neal was going on about.

It turned out that Neal felt that I would make a good father figure, role model, and mentor for a long time… longer than I had been chasing Neal Caffrey. I wanted to look further into those details but it wasn't the time yet. There was still the case of Neal's abduction to close on the work front and Neal's recovery on the personal front to pay attention too. Investigating his rambling would just have to wait.


Eventually, Neal was safely back at his apartment and working on desk duty while the case had been closed with a multiagency task force making quick work of it. It was finally time… I could take an entire weekend to delve into the mysteries that Neal had been eluding to for years, those inclinations that there was more to him than I was connecting, and why he did, but didn't, want me to know what was in his files. Needless to say the friend and archeologist in me was going to have some fun settling my questions… if only it didn't bring up more questions.

Arriving home on Friday night I didn't even wait until after diner to begin collecting my research material. In no time I had a pile settled on the coffee table composed of my Caffrey Box, the files from Rachel, and the old photos from St. Louis that I had gotten from El. (Despite her curiosity, El continued to prepare dinner and figured that she would get involved after we had eaten).

Looking through the files I started with Neal's birth and worked forwards. There were all kinds of little details that I really wanted to go through further, but nothing seemed to be what I was looking for. Then I eventually got up to Neal's high school records and I found myself looking to see what his out of school information had to share. That was the time where Neal was making his life plans so I was curious how he prepared to live them out. What surprised me was when I randomly looked at his after school job his junior year… driving the tourist carriages around St. Louis! Seriously, Neal Caffrey just happened to be a Danny living in St. Louis, driving tourist carriages, the age of 17, and aspiring to be a cop… he was Danny!

To be sure, I pulled up the picture of Danny from our trip and compared them to the pictures of Danny Brooks in the files, they matched. Then I decided to compare those to the "Prom" picture that El had taken of Neal and I, again they matched. Finally another thought occurred to me… that Christmas card that Neal had given me in person while impersonating a delivery boy… Sure enough, it was a picture representing Neal taking El and I on that carriage ride all of those years ago.

That was where El found me, sitting there staring at all of the pictures depicting Neal's life from birth to present.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" She asked allowing some of her curiosity to be satiated.

Beaming up at her I couldn't suppress my excitement. "Yes, I found Danny." I replied as I presented our picture of the three of us to her. While she looked at it fondly, I readied the "Prom" picture for her next perusal. When she looked up at me she took the other picture and compared them. After a few moments it was like watching the light bulb in her head come on as she lit up with the realization that the "little brother" she had connected to that day was in fact our friend now. She in turn beamed in excitement while I grinned and dialed Neal's number.

"Dinner!" She orders before turning to set another place and finish her preparations.

I simply nodded in compliance as I had already planned that too.

It was a simple conversation really. "Hi Danny, yes I figured it out. Dinner, the table is set, see you in twenty." I simply stated… or ordered really.

Laughing, Neal was rather amused and simply replied "Hmm, I haven't seen you guys in a long time. It would be great to catch up."

Amused, I shared in his laughter as the call disconnected.

Roughly twenty minutes later Neal showed up and we settled in for dinner. We kept things simple by talking about art, history, and law enforcement (mostly current work), but when dinner was over, it was time to dig into the purpose of this get together.

I started with the direct approach. "You didn't let me connect the dots before because of Wit-Sec. Why did you continue to steer me away from figuring it out after I knew about Wit-Sec?"

Thinking for a moment, Neal decided to respond with, "I guess it was because it had been a secret for so long and it had really become a game for me. Give you nearly enough details to understand and then redirect you to keep you from figuring it out. Due to the Marshals, I couldn't just come out and tell you, but even after you technically knew I was curious how long it would take you to figure it out."

There was something more… something that he was hiding. "What are you hiding about your reasons, those are true, but there is more that you aren't sharing."

He gave me his congratulations for figuring it out look, but he took a moment to decide what more to share. "On the personal front I guess I was upset about how you would think about me… and there were other circumstances that seem to be also melting away." The last part was tacked on in surprise and relief.

Leaving the perspective part for later, I decided to ask into the other circumstances.

"I can't answer that part… at least not yet. Let's just say it's like having the Marshals involved and not yet entirely permissive about sharing information."

He was playing with me, and yet he was doing his usual telling me… without telling me thing. I hate it when he does that as it intrigues my curiosity, but I'm relieved that he is at least trying to explain things to me instead of lying to me.

Retracing my steps, I went back to the remark on my perspective of him. "Why are you so concerned about my personal opinion of you? I have known you as a criminal… for a more personal length of time that I have known you for anything else?"

He flinched at my words and seemed to be hurt by them. "Because you first knew me as a kid who was zealous of the law and eager to join the academy." He looked away from me as he said this.

Trying to repair the damage with Neal, and assuage El's glare. "Neal, I didn't mean it like that. I believe that the reference may have slipped over the years that I think of you as the perfect criminal. You're brilliant, creative, and careful of what crimes that you commit even if the effects sometimes elude you. Since working with you, I have been able to see that you are still zealous for justice, even if you means of going about it has changed, and you often have your heart in the right place even if your execution is flawed. I can't judge you too harshly as I have never been put in the position where everything of my past turned out to be a lie and my very foundation was yanked from under my feet. You're right in assuming that I'm not proud of everything that you have done, but I am proud in who you have become… you're my partner, friend, and an extended member of this family."

His shoulders loosened up and I watched some of the tension leave him. He was clearly relieved to hear that his reputation wasn't too damaged in my eyes and I was glad that he still wanted to look up to me. Now that I knew who he really was, he felt even more like a little brother to me and that big brother protectiveness only seemed to increase… I had known and influenced him since he was seventeen. That brought another thought to mind. "By the way, why didn't you fall back on those 'other skills' that you said you had… or is Neal Caffrey the answer?"

He looked pensive, like he wanted to answer that question but he couldn't. "Well Peter… You aren't going to like this. That is another one of those questions where I have given you the answer, but I can't tell you the answer. However, no, the criminal aspects of Neal Caffrey aren't the skills that I was refereeing too, rather the general art skills were involved, but not all inclusive. More of the true tale of who I am will have to wait until you make another connection… there are a number yet to go."

That smarted, after all that we had been through he was still playing his games and hiding who he was. Every time I seem to feel closer to him, he shows that I'm not nearly as close as I think. I now knew that Danny did become Neal Caffrey and I do get to work with him, but I still have more to learn before I get to know everything… how many lives could one person have?

Seeing my frustration Neal sighed. "I have been waiting years in the hope that someday I could tell you all… I still can't actually tell you anything. But, the thing is Peter, I already have told you everything. I'll reiterate something for you. You know my entire life story and all of the main identities that who I am is based off of. The only things that you don't know is how they connect, and how you have influenced me into being each one of them. A life time isn't learned in a few years, but rather in a life time. I hope that whether here, in DC, or even on opposite sides of the Earth that you will be "here" long enough to put the pieces together."

It was an invitation. That El and I would be in his life for as long as it took for me to put the pieces together and to understand all of the little implications of it all… a literal lifetime of work. Still, he was worth it, so without even thinking about it, El and I silently acquiesced to continue in the mystery until we knew the truth of who he was.


The longer Peter and I worked together, the harder it got to keep my secret identities secret from him. We laughed, joked, and talked about nearly everything through those long stakeouts and frequent little chats. With so much conversation, things were bound to slip, and with such an intelligent friend, he was bound to figure everything out.

It was interesting to watch Peter collect the pieces though. During the Burma Diamond case he was surprised to hear that my father had been a cop. Then as we progressed in rebuilding our friendship after the whole treasure fiasco it came out that I wasn't exactly who I claimed to be. After returning from the island, I had lunch with Peter where I explained about my childhood in Wit-sec including the details of growing up in St. Louis. Finally, it was a mixture of those files and my big mouth that led him to connecting the dots. (He would have figured it out eventually but my drugged ramblings only made him more curious to discover the truth sooner).

Luckily Peter gave me twenty minutes to arrive at his place for dinner so I had a little time to warn the General that Rachel's files had allowed Peter to connect the dots and he now knew that I was in fact Danny Brooks the carriage driver from his trip to St. Louis. I was relieved when the General decided that he made a good contact in the FBI and if he continued to figure out my identities he would have to sign clearance/confidentiality papers, but she wasn't going to take any drastic actions… as long as he handled himself well that is. As usual though, there was a catch. Although it was now okay for Peter to discover my identities, I wasn't allowed to help him out at all or I was going to be the one in trouble…

As expected, the evening was filled with its pleasant moments of comfortable friendships made deeper and its moments of frustrations as Peter and I battle over whether or not I would share as much information as we both wished. In the end, I extended the invitation to stick around and fit all of the pieces together, which Peter and El both decided that I was worth the frustration enough to accept.


Thanks again for the reviews, kudos, follow, and favorite for the story as well as the follow for me as an author :D

A special thanks to those who have taken participation in my request for votes on my next post. A guest reviewed and requested for me to give more defined descriptions of the two stories so here is the introductions for each of the stories. The votes are tied up so far so please throw in your choice to break it over the next three weeks (as for the guest who made this request please let me know if you change your mind).

-"The Painting Project": Peter and El are trying to bring their trip home, but after some stressful cases Neal chooses to give them more than they bargained for. (Family/Friendship).

-"Neal What ?!": Seriously. Neal Caffrey White Collar con, thief, forger, and a legend around the world as well as a growing legendary consultant in the FBI had been reduced to a wriggly little hamster in a suit dancing around a box. Who wouldn't see the humor in that? (Humor/Angst).