Play

Adults

Hanging out with the adults, Peter watched them and tried to find where he would best fit in.

Casey's parents seemed to be keeping alert eyes on the surroundings to ensure it was safe for the kids. Otherwise, they were pleasant and found a way to participate in nearly every conversation. They were a couple that was easy enough to be friendly with.

Choosing his conversation wisely, Peter had plenty of experience with former military, as it wasn't uncommon for them to join law enforcement after leaving the service, so he discussed security. They shared some basic concepts of what they did with their work while he talked about his experiences from the FBI perspective. It was a comfortable conversation, so Peter knew he could get along with them just fine.

Sara's parents weren't too bad either. They were generally accepted in the group because they worked common careers with good positions at their jobs. The couple was perceived as safely boring when they started talking numbers as most of the others weren't interested in the advanced mathematics.

Having a background in accounting and advanced math courses, Peter found his primary people in them. Joining into a conversation, he was able to indulge in one of his passions while speaking the same language they did.

Morgan's mom was interested in her son and the conversations about the kids. Otherwise, she usually kept most of her personal life to herself while participating in the general discussions.

Approaching her wasn't as easy, but Peter found it was simple to talk to her about the kids. She focused on Morgan, while he either kept a general perspective or focused on the twins.

Watching Jack Burton, Peter could sense another con artist in the mix. Rolling his eyes subtly to himself, he wondered how many he would have to deal with in this group, but with a sigh, he knew what he gained out of it was worth it.

Approaching the nervously observant man, Peter tried to play civilian to avoid spooking him. It turned out, the reason Jack was nervous was because he already knew Peter's profession. Extending the same agreement that he had with Mozzie, Peter promised not to actively pursue him as long as he didn't do anything in front of him, endanger any of the people there, and only would under the circumstances of him officially crossing his desk. Not feeling comfortable, but at least not running either, Jack seemed to be dealing with that.

Observing the most challenging couple of the group, Peter watched how the Bartowski's interacted with each other and the rest of the parents. Stephen seemed to be more content to sit off to the side with some kind of portable computer item that he was messing with, or he preferred to be where he could keep a safe eye on his surroundings. Competing with the Casey's, he was keenly aware of everything going on around him with a trained appearance. Mary was also sporting the observant habits like law enforcement, but she was more the public face of the two as she socialized with the other parents.

Sneaking into a seat next to Stephen, Peter chose to try and get to know the party's recluse. Introducing himself, he commented mostly about the kids and the general events of the party. His gut said these were government people, but not public agents, more like spies, so he played dumb with them and kept it general so he wouldn't spook the spooks.

Taking the seat on his other side, Mary physically had him trapped in between them. Conversing between them, the couple tested him with various questions and answers to see how he reacted. When he passed their tests, they decided to entrust him with the idea.

"You have a growing legend about your gut instinct in the field. It's best to follow it, but some areas aren't good for a new White Collar agent to get into." Mary warned.

"What I suspect to be espionage with possible Black Ops certainly isn't a field for me. I only ask the same thing as I do of the cons, something that already appears to be a priority. And that is for nothing to be brought in to endanger any of the kids." Looking pointedly at his boys, Peter reinforced what little trust they were placing in him. "They may not be mine biologically, but those twins are special."

Agreeing, the Bartowskis had already taken major steps to do just as he requested. With the places known and grounds tested, they split up and resumed the rest of the party like they hadn't just acknowledged secret government roles.

Retrieval

Making up a game of their own, the group combined tag, hide and seek, and cops and robbers. Sara presented a picture that she was going to 'hang' in her 'house.' Then Neal was supposed to find a way of stealing the picture before evading the pursuing cops.

This round they divided into teams based on which side they wanted to play or which group they wanted to be affiliated with.

Casey was rather predictable as he chose the military associated NSA. Chuck chose the CIA which meant that Morgan and Sarah followed him. Bryce had always had a fascination with the CIA so he also selected the agency. Sara wanted to follow into insurance like her father, but more retrieval as it sounded adventurous, which made her the victim and then pursuer. Ellie had settled down to play by herself so she was nominated as the doctor to 'heal' any one that was shot throughout the game. Neal was left to play criminal alone.

To begin the game, Sara sat the picture in a bush positioned as if it was on a wall.

Then performing as the master thief, Neal stalked around while she pretended to be doing mundane things around her house. He pretended to glance in windows through binoculars, appeared at her door like a salesman to get an inside view of her house, and he sketched out a map of what they discussed her home layout to be. Once she pretended to go to sleep, he slipped in through the window, removed the picture, and then quietly went back out the same way.

Stretching to signify waking up, Sara went about her morning routine and pretended not to noticed, but then ducking back in for her keys she realized that her picture was gone. Dialing her hand, she called the police and her office to report the theft.

Meeting with the various law enforcement personnel, they discussed strategy and divided out to look for Neal and the picture.

Casey got too close, so Neal spurted out unarmed and raced away to out distance him on his way to a new hiding spot.

Sara suspected that Neal might have used their hiding spots at one point, but she didn't want to reveal them, so she passed by the location pretending to have thoroughly searched for him.

Chuck went through the park strategically trying to search all of the hardest to find hiding places he could think of in an effort to flush Neal out. Morgan and Sarah flanked him to catch Neal should he be found or come out of hiding.

Bryce tried to think like his brother, but none of his theories panned out.

After a while, they all headed over to the adult's area to ask if anyone had seen Neal, because he was playing the thief and no one could find him.

Heading out to find him again, Peter went alone to avoid giving up the hiding spot. Checking the tree first, he was surprised to find that Neal wasn't hiding there. Moving around the park, he checked the hiding spots he had learned about in the earlier rounds of hide and go seek, but continued to come up empty.

Returning to the adult's area to think, he was asked to retrieve supplies from beneath one of the tables, the one that had a table cloth draped over it to the ground.

Leaning down, he flipped the material up only to discover a startled Neal coloring on another piece of paper while he waited for the game to end or when he was ready to move to a new place.

Grinning, Peter slid his finger along his nose at Neal who returned the gesture. Pointing to what he was after, Peter accepted it from Neal and continued like he hadn't been having a silent conversation.

With his errand complete, Peter ran decoy out into the park again and checked through several of the places so the kids wouldn't know where he had found Neal.

Coming back, he said Neal had picked a very clever location and the kids would have to find him themselves, as it wasn't fair to have the adults help.

Sulking off into the park to start over again, they trooped out and struggled to come up with a new theory.

Meanwhile back with the adults, Elizabeth kissed Peter. "It's getting to be so that you're the only one who can find him."

Kissing her in return, Peter commented. "He thinks like a cop, but is also brilliant at thinking like a criminal. Somehow, he remains creatively within the lines."

"Meaning…" Elizabeth was curious what that was about.

"His hiding spot is within the known parameters, but because the rest of them are unconsciously marking it as off limits, he is successful." Peter smiled proudly. There was nothing saying they couldn't hide around the adults, it just wasn't expected and was therefore ignored.

Glancing around, Elizabeth wondered if Neal could be somewhere around the adults or the cars parked in the lot behind them. It would have been easy for Neal to grab her keys from her purse and she was so used to them grabbing things she wouldn't have thought twice about it.

"Huh, well that little booger is getting to be rather clever. They are a challenge to keep up with sometimes." She smiled as she laughed softly despite still not knowing where he was hiding.

Tea Time

Elizabeth declared a truce for them to play another game.

Trooping back in again, the kids were frustrated because it was the second time Neal had evaded them for the day. He was proving to be rather challenging to find which was getting to be less fun for the other kids.

Ellie wanted to have a tea party, and considering that they were taking turns on who chose what to play, it was time for her to pick. The others weren't fond of her choice, but were forced to participate.

Chuck was one of the less irritated by the girly game, it was calmer and he was used to being drug into his sister's choices of play.

Sara and Sarah were girly enough to enjoy playing some, but they also enjoyed the rougher games with the boys, especially if they were playing with their particular friends.

The other boys weren't so fond of playing tea and could only be persuaded to be fair with the temptation of treats.

When Neal came sauntering in to join the fun, he was met with questions as to where he had been and Morgan's suggestion that he was cheating.

"Now, now, kids. I found him, remember? He was playing within the rules." Peter solved the trouble again by performing as mediator.

Settling down, the kids were taking their places with various reactions, and then Neal grabbed Peter's hand.

"You play the waiter, Peter. Think of it as an undercover role, and we are the people you are trying to observe in the hopes that we would slip and confess or something?" He looked too eager to have Peter join for him to be able to resist.

"Is that alright with everyone else?" Peter asked the group.

Unanimously, they were alright with him playing. Either the girls liked his awkward and dorky ways of trying to handle talking to them, which made them giggle, or the boys liked the idea of playing villains and evading his real detective skills.

Slowly growing more accustomed to the new group of kids, Peter shifted his outfit like he was going undercover, Stephen helpfully provided him with some techy stuff to imitate his office gear, and then he focused his appearance and approach to be a civilian waiter.

With a towel draped over his arm, he approached the table and imitated a poor French accent to ask for their orders. Then based off of their requests, he retrieved the small snack servings and drinks to distribute them amongst the kids.

In an effort to be good enough to pass muster, he would get most of the orders right and served well, but a few he would 'accidently' have trouble with.

Neal got a slight bath as his cup of water happened to spill onto his leg. Then Sara's and Sarah's meals were backwards. Peter uttered apologies to Neal before complimenting the girls by saying they were each so beautiful they must have confused him.

Giggling or rolling their eyes, the kids loved his performance.

Loving the sight, Elizabeth once again enjoyed the experience for what it might have been like if she had a daughter. It was also an endearing sight to see Peter interacting with the kids so well. He wasn't good at flirting in seriousness, but he wasn't too bad when being goofy for the little girls. His dorky behavior was amusing and sweet all at the same time.

Thank you for reading, commenting/reviewing, and leaving kudos :D