Mistaken Identity

From Syrus07:

Could you do one where Peter and Bryce work a case together before Peter starts chasing Neal, and through out most of the time he's chasing him he thinks he's Bryce? Like he'd signal they were coming ahead of time, terrified that they'd crash a CIA op.

His name was Bryce Larkin. Young, with dark hair, baby-blue eyes and a round face that looked like he should still be a college.

Yet, he was CIA and Peter was assigned to work with him. They had to work together to infiltrate a criminal gang. In that time Peter learnt that Bryce took his work seriously, was good at it and liked outsmarting criminals. All of Peter's protests would be met with the same half-smirk.

One final thing he learnt about Bryce Larkin was that he was good at disappearing. When the case was over, he was gone.

When James Bonds file crossed his desk, Peter noticed that the work was high quality and he was interested in catching the guy. What he hadn't expected was the dark haired man with baby-blue eyes and defined face.

"Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear. Are you with the FBI?" The voice confirmed it, sounding exactly like Bryce.

"Special Agent Peter Burke," he said, wondering what the young agent was up to now.

They talked about the forged bonds for a few moments before he handed him a green lollipop and walked away.

Peter watched him go and wondered just why he chose to approach him. He suspected that it had something to do with the bonds and spent that night with James Bonds' files spread out before him.

Was James Bonds a real 'James Bonds'? And what was Peter supposed to do with this kind of information?

Peter didn't know why it started. But, whenever he got close to James Bonds, he felt the need to send out a warning. It wasn't interfering, not really.

The first time, he spotted him at a bar while undercover. He went up, ordered a drink and tapped out a warning in Morse code on the counter.

The second time was an anonymous letter sent up to the hotel room where 'Nick Halden' was staying. This became his go-to way for warning him the next few times. 'Steve Tabernacle' was out of the area before the warrants to bug the hotel he was staying at came through.

Neal looked over the letters again. They were all written on the stationary of whatever hotel he had been staying in at the time. A name had never been left but the attendants all described a similar voice.

Peter's voice. Mozzie had confirmed it with a well-placed bug.

"You need to stop staring at those," Mozzie said.

"But, why does he do it, Moz?" Neal asked and not for the first time. The most confusing moment of his life had been when Peter sat next to him at the bar and tapped out a warning to run while ordering a drink. He didn't know whether it was a trap or not but, obeyed anyway. It wasn't like he couldn't escape from their handcuffs if it was a trap.

He got out minutes before the FBI stormed the place and realised that Special Agent Peter Burke really had been warning him.

Why?

"He's a fed, it's a mind game," Mozzie responded, "just be happy that he hasn't decided to catch you yet." Pause. "If you listened to me and pulled yourself completely off the grid-"

"No," Neal responded, instantly. There were so many reasons not to. He knew there would be no big score if they both hid in the shadows. He hadn't found Kate yet. And there were so many things he wanted to try.

Mozzie gave a long suffering sigh.

"Well, obviously my wealth of experience isn't good enough for you," he lamented in a sarcastic tone, "and here's an idea; why don't you try asking the Suit?" They both froze the same time, a look of realisation on Neal's face and a look of horror on Mozzie's. "No!" Mozzie back-pedalled, "I didn't mean that!"

"Too late, Moz!" Neal proclaimed, "I'm going to call him and ask."

"Not here, you're not!" Mozzie cried in a high-pitch tone, "there's a payphone three blocks down, use that! And then I want you-"

"To take the long way back and maybe stop somewhere for a few hours," Neal recited, "consider it done."

Peter sipped at his beer and ran a hand through his wife's hair. It was a nice, perfect evening. No cases to worry about and no paperwork needing completion.

And then the phone rang. He groaned and moved to answer it.

"Agent Burke!"

"What?" he questioned in surprise. It sounded like Bryce but, why was he calling?.

"You know who I am," the voice continued in a pleasant manner which bugged him, "you've been chasing me, after all."

"Neal Caffrey?" he suggested, it had been the name that came up in their hunt for the elusive con-artist and forger.

"Correct! I should give you a prize but, that's not why I'm calling."

"Then, why are you calling?"

"Why do you always warn me before the Feds show up?"

"I don't-"

"I know it's you." Despite feeling caught out, Peter couldn't help wondering how he figured it out. "So, why?"

Peter thought about that for a moment. Why did he warn the other man?

"I guess I don't want to end up crashing a CIA op," he concluded.

"CIA? Op? What?" Neal said slowly. He sounded confused which bewildered Peter.

"What's going on?" El asked, seeing the look on his face.

"I don't think he knows what I'm talking about," Peter responded after covering the mouth of the phone.

El considered this for a moment before coming up with two very reasonable explanations.

"Either he's not allowed to tell you or he's not Bryce Larkin."

Peter paused a moment before asking Neal, "the name Bryce Larkin doesn't mean anything to you, does it?"

"No," Neal lied, "what does Bryce Larkin have to do with CIA ops?"

Peter sunk to the ground, cursing himself. He gave confidential information to a criminal! He warned a criminal that the FBI was coming! Oh, stupid! He was so stupid!

"Agent Burke!" Neal called into the phone, bringing him out of self-embarrassment for a moment, "what does Bryce Larkin have to do with CIA ops? He's an accountant."

"Bryce is not an accountant," Peter said, not caring about whether he could be saying this or not. Maybe it was better to clear the air and find out once and for all whether this was a case of mistaken identity. "We worked together once. He's CIA."

"Bryce Larkin. Is. CIA?" Neal repeated, his voice growing in fury.

"Neal, don't do anything stupid," Peter found himself saying into the phone. Even though he was a criminal, Neal was non-violent and Peter didn't want his mistake to change that.

"That lying! Ugh!" Neal grunted into the phone, sounding very unlike the Neal Caffrey Peter had been chasing.

"What's wrong?"

"'What's wrong?' What's wrong is that my brother is a lying Fed with a dangerous job!"

"Brother?" That was not in Neal's file. Or Bryce's.

Peter was so surprised that when El reached over and took the phone from his fingers, he didn't bother to stop her.

"A little too loud, Neal," she said in a light and scolding tone, "you'll make Peter deaf." She listened to the other end, nodding unconsciously in agreement as Neal spoke. "Everyone makes mistakes Neal, Peter included. As for Bryce, well, as wife to a 'fed' I can say that, yes, it's dangerous. Yes, I worry about him. But, Peter loves his job and I can't take that away from him. You might be happier if your brother was an accountant but, do you think he would be? And you don't live a safe, ordinary life either Neal." She was silent as Neal spoke again.

"Good bye, Neal," El said as she hung up the phone.

"What did he say?" Peter asked, looking up at her from where he was sitting on the ground and leaning on the wall.

"He's mad that you put your job at risk by warning him because you didn't bother to check whether he was Bryce."

"They are identical," he said in his defence.

"He also wanted to go and kidnap Bryce from the clutches of the CIA and make him get a normal job. I think I talked him out of it."

"I hope so." Peter didn't think the CIA would take one of their agents being kidnapped well. The full force of the FBI cracked down on anyone who was stupid enough to kidnap one of their agents but, the CIA was harsher.

"It'll be fine," El assured him with a smile as she slid down to sit next to him. "All you have to do is catch him."

Foolishly, Peter thought that would be easy to catch Neal now that he wouldn't get a warning. Neal would soon prove him wrong.