A/N: Thank you CreamLatte1 (anon) for reading and reviewing! Look what you guys did for me! One hundred reviews! It is so very amazing and awesome to have that kind of approval! So thank you to each and every last person who reviewed-even if you only reviewed once (without you it would be 99)! ^.^

So many people reviewed at least five times; here are just some of them (thanks guys):

Ultracape, extremebandgeek, InnocentKitsune, Puellascribit5, Rufael39, Pechika, Evesgreenleaf, SerialChick ...

And finally special thanks to the faithful govgal who reviewed the most: an astonishing 12 times!

The rest of you *smiles adoringly* I love you lot, too! All your reviews were amazing! Even the negative/dubious/and skeptical reviewers said something nice!

14 is short, so 15 is around the corner. I promise.

Beta Credit: You all know her, I'm sure, but she must be acknowledged each and every time because she's worth every bit of praise she gets: Thanks Mam711!

I don't own White Collar and all mistakes are my own.

Chapter 14: Safety

Peter wanted to tell Neal he was crazy, he wanted to tell Neal to shut up again, he wanted to say something, anything to prove Neal wrong, but he knew he couldn't because it was true. Peter liked having Neal where he knew he was safe, he liked having the forger in his control, he liked owning the worldly con artist, and he liked that with the help of his wife he'd stolen the world-renowned art thief.

Peter pursed his lips and spoke stiffly, "I'm going to get breakfast."

He hadn't been planning on buying it; Neal had plenty of ingredients here—according to El—for the makings of a hearty breakfast, but he needed to get out.

Without looking at Neal, he stepped over the chain and walked out the door and kept walking. Only when he was in his car did Peter stop and allow himself to admit the truth before thumping the wheel angrily.

Neal remained sitting where Peter had left him. He was kind of annoyed but not surprised; in the four years they'd worked together Peter had never shown any problems with asserting his dominance over Neal, he'd never had any qualms about using his authority to ensure Neal never went over the line and did anything Peter didn't approve of; for heaven's sake, he'd even asserted control over Neal's thoughts.

Neal bit back a smile as he remembered when he'd walked out of that bank with the large sum of cash—enough cash to turn his pupils into dollar signs—and Peter had been there waiting.

"I hope you're not planning on walking with that."

Neal had shrugged with a lopsided smile, "No law against thinking about it."

Peter had watched as Jones had moved up, taking the briefcase full of cash from Neal, giving Neal a look as if to say, 'Actually, there is.'

11:12am

Peter returned with breakfast a good hour later. Neal knew Peter had taken his time; the agent would have needed to calm down and restore his confidence. It wasn't something people wanted to know about themselves; that they were possessive, selfish and criminal.

Neal did Peter a favor and decided against bringing up the sore subject. Unfortunately Peter had never liked to leave elephants in the room where he could avoid it.

After they finished off the pancakes and toast, Peter took the take-out containers and threw them into the trash before returning to the bed next to Neal.

Peter took a deep breath and Neal suddenly knew what was coming.

Neal started to interrupt but Peter cut him off with a raised hand and a shake of the head.

"Neal, I do like having you in my control," Peter admitted tersely. "It's wrong, I know. What El did was wrong and what I'm doing is wrong."

Neal shook his head silently; he could protest but nothing Peter said could be denied: Peter was right.

Neal waited for Peter to continue but when it became apparent that Peter was distracted, thinking too heavily about how messed up this situation was, Neal prompted, "But...?"

Peter shook his head. "No but."

Neal cocked his head at Peter. "Come on, there has to be a but."

Peter shrugged. "Not this time, no buts this time."

"What kind of an admission is that?" Neal looked confused.

"An honest one," Peter answered with a slight smirk. "Only natural you haven't heard of those."

Neal gave a sardonic look and fell into silence.

"The furniture is coming in tomorrow?" Peter straightened.

"Yeah."

Peter nodded. "Good thing I got tomorrow off as well then; I can bring it in."

Neal merely nodded, gritting his jaw; why was it that each Burke had always been faced with bringing in the furniture alone? Granted, Peter was much more adept than El; he was strong and fit, but from past experience Neal knew two pairs of hands were always better than one and if he knew Peter—and he did—Peter was going to hurt his back from being overly confident or lifting something without bending his knees.

Peter noticed his stiffness. "You know, El said something about the furniture coming in being 'trouble'. She changed the subject so I didn't find out what she meant... What did she mean, Neal?"

Neal looked at Peter in the eyes. "I didn't want her to bring it in alone; I kept nagging her to call you and when she refused I offered to help."

Peter nodded in understanding. "And she regarded that offer to help as an escape attempt?"

Neal nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I can't blame her but I did tell her I'd go back if she'd just let me help her."

Peter looked surprised at Neal then narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Would you have really gone back?"

Neal wriggled in Peter's intense scrutiny. "Only if she made me pr—"

Neal didn't seem to think it was a good idea to finish that sentence but Peter knew what the rest of it was.

"If you'd promised, you would have gone back?" Peter grinned. "You honor your promises?"

Neal nodded reluctantly.

"Okay, I know El is smart; she probably would have worked that out for herself, so why didn't she agree?"

Peter was genuinely curious.

Neal grimaced. "No, I don't think she believed me."

Peter sighed with sympathy; Neal, it seemed, felt a need to help his own captors and was willing to make promises to said captors but neither trusted him enough to take the risk. It was a bit of slap in the face. "Ouch."

Neal nodded.

A/N: Don't worry, contrary to appearance, this story is going somewhere .