Revealed

A few months passed before Neal was abducted after one of their cases was successfully closed.

All Neal knew was that he'd been on his way home one evening when he was jumped by someone coming out of a shadowed alley. Since it had been a surprise attack and well-executed, he was unconscious before he hardly knew what had hit him.

Waking up, Neal's head was pounding to the tune of his heartbeat but it felt like a band was playing in his skull based on how much it throbbed and hurt. His mouth was dry as he moved his tongue to lick his lips, but it didn't do anything to alleviate the symptom of whatever had been used to knock him out. Then subtle shifts of his body revealed that he was fully bound to a chair by the feel of it.

Opening one eye to a slight crack, he wanted to take stock of his surroundings before he opened the other to look around.

It looked like he was in an empty construction site since the walls weren't complete and there were construction materials around. However, they were beyond his reach so he couldn't use anything to escape.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the prodigal son," a man walked into view and noticed that Neal was awake.

Instead of explaining his statement, the man retrieved a camera from behind a nearby pillar and began setting it up.

While he did, Neal looked him up and down trying to get an idea of who his captor might be and why he'd be referring to him as a prodigal son.

The man was older with graying hair and a solid build. His voice and his face didn't ring any bells for Neal. He'd have to wait for the man to explain what his intentions were.

Once the camera was set up and rolling, the man paid careful attention to keep his back to it. Clearly, this was something that would be seen by law enforcement, probably something that he'd send to Peter and the team, so he wouldn't want to reveal his face to make their case any easier.

Walking forward, the man didn't surprise Neal when he slapped him hard enough to jerk his face to the side and rock the chair he was bound to. "You don't recognize me, do you? I would imagine not, your mother disappeared with you when you were little."

Mentally, Neal was pleading for this man not to be his biological father, but the reference to his mom leaving had the man being the first person to come to mind for him.

"Maybe this will help," the man leaned down closer to Neal and looked him straight in the eyes.

Looking back, Neal noticed that the man's eyes were blue. They weren't exactly like his, he'd studied his enough growing up to know, but they were blue all the same. Could this be, was this his stepfather?

"I see you have figured it out after all. Maybe she did talk about me as you grew up." The man followed with another hit, but he'd fisted his hands this time so the punch sent Neal's chair over causing him to hit his head when he collided with the floor.

He tasted blood in his mouth after the man kicked him in the abdomen. "I could have given her a better son, but no, she'd gotten a child off of some other man."

Picking the chair back up so that Neal was on easier grounds to abuse and leaning him against a pillar for stability, the man punched him in the gut adding to the damage he'd already done. "She once told me how she'd gotten you; that your father had tried to be careful, that he was a responsible man. However, he didn't notice or expect that your mother had tampered with things."

Another hit across the face sent his head into the pillar on one side and the man told him that his mother had put something in his father's drink. "She thought he needed to loosen up and he wasn't giving in to her advances fast enough."

Then an uppercut sent his teeth clashing together while his head flew back into the pillar again. "She made sure to provide everything so that he wouldn't know that it wouldn't function properly."

Neal knew that he wasn't going to remain conscious much longer, but he was interested to learn what he could about his conception. Not that he appreciated how his mother had gone about it, but it was more about his mysterious father than he'd ever heard before.

Leaning down to look him in the eyes again, his stepfather appeared to be gauging how much more he could take. "She picked a random guy that she'd met at a party to father you, she kept him around to help her through details of the pregnancy, your first year, but then she decided that she wanted to go another direction, so she left him high and dry with no idea what had happened to either of you."

The story was sounding familiar, much like what Peter had shared happening to him. Could it be, was Peter his father?

"Yes, I think you suspect something of who he is. Although your mother changed your names before she met me, I've still seen your birth certificate, the real one she thought she'd managed to hide from me. I wonder if that agent Peter Burk who holds your leash would be so happy to do so if he knew that you were his son." He grinned at Neal's wide-eyed reaction before another blow left Neal unconscious.

The next thing Neal was aware of was waking up to the annoying sound of beeping in his ear. It sounded familiar from past trips to the hospital so he knew he'd been rescued, but he wasn't ready to face the ramifications of what had happened yet.

He knew that his injuries were painful, but he couldn't feel them through the fog of whatever pain medication would be in his IV drip. However, it was the reveal that his stepfather had made that bothered him.

Was Peter truly his biological father? If he was, what would he think? Sure, he'd said that his father would be proud to have him as a son, but that was theoretical about some unknown man. Did that really mean that Peter would be proud to have him as a son? Would he be more pleased to have the mystery of what happened to his son resolved than to have him as a son?

Neal's mind worried through the various thoughts until he apparently worked himself into something because an alarm rang out and he quickly felt the presence of medical personnel. A brief opening of his eyes only showed blurry colors and light so he closed them again. Then his mind drifted back into slumber in response to whatever they put in his IV.

He didn't know how long he slept after that, but eventually, he woke up to the feeling of someone holding his hand.

Turning to see who it was, he wasn't entirely surprised to see a scruffy-looking Peter watching him.

Blinking at his friend, and possible father, Neal wasn't sure how to react or how to handle the situation.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Peter was more alert and better able to approach the conversation. Maybe he didn't know about what had been said?

Trying his voice, Neal didn't get much out, but he managed to indicate that the pain meds had him pain-free for the moment.

"Good," Peter continued to hold his hand as he talked. "Your stepfather gave you a nasty concussion, damaged a few ribs, and one broke causing some internal bleeding. The doctor says you're healing just fine, but it's going to be a bit before you're recovered enough to go home."

"You know who he was?" Neal managed the small sentence but it hurt after being out of it for however long.

"Here, take a drink. You've been unconscious for days." Peter held some water up for him and helped him take a few sips to alleviate some of the dryness.

When Neal felt better, Neal tried again. "He recorded what he did."

"I know," Peter had an undertone of anger and his grip on Neal's hand tightened, but he tried to temper it for Neal's sake. "He was sending us the signal live but bouncing it all over the place so we had to work to figure out where he was. I knew who he was to you based on what he said in relation to your story. Hughes insisted on leading the takedown, and Jones caught the man in a back stairwell trying to flee. We got him, and he isn't going to hurt you anymore."

"What about you?" Neal wasn't sure if he could risk asking what Peter thought about possibly being his father, but he was curious about where he was in the takedown.

"I was with Hughes, where I could get to you as quickly as possible. Then I came to the hospital with you. We heard what was said, and Hughes insisted just in case it's true." Peter's voice was soft, but there was something there that Neal couldn't identify in his condition.

Turning to look towards the ceiling and away from Peter, Neal was too scared to risk facing what might come next, but he wasn't so tired as to fall asleep or hurting to pass out. He'd have to face it, but he didn't have to see anything.

There was a shift as Peter moved to sit on the very edge of his bed and put his hand on the side of his head carefully. He probably had a lot of bruising after having hit his head so many times through the beating, but Peter wasn't going to let him hide so he carefully prevented him from moving away. "Look at me, Neal."

Forced to comply, Neal couldn't turn his head away thanks to Peter's hand while the man was above him now taking away his avenue of escape.

"Hughes has them running a paternity test to be sure, but I'm not upset by this, I hope you turn out to be my son." He ran his finger gently over an area that wasn't bruised in a soft fashion.

Unable to give in so easily, Neal still remembered those questions that had been running around in his head before. "Are you sure you aren't? I mean, if I am, that would resolve the mystery of what happened to your son, but then he'd be me, a criminal."

Leaning forward, Peter braced himself with the arm holding his hand so that he was looking Neal directly in the eyes; much like his stepfather had done to reinforce what he'd said. "You weren't listening so I'll repeat. I said I hope you are my son, not that I hope my son is you. I've worked with you for a while now so I know enough to say that I know something of the man that you became, the man behind all of the masks and the con man facades that you used to shift with every crime and now shift with every case. I've seen you, and I would be proud to call you son."

Feeling his eyes well up, Neal wasn't sure what to do and he didn't like feeling so emotionally vulnerable when he was so physically vulnerable. He closed his eyes trying to keep them in, but instead, they pushed the tears out to run down his face.

"Hey, it's okay, Neal," Peter lightly crooned to him while continuing to lightly run one finger along the side of his head. He was being so careful due to his injuries, but he wanted to provide what comfort he could. "You've been like a younger brother, a son, so if this is true, this will only make it official."

Trying to control his emotions only had the tears falling harder until Neal started to feel the pain of his injuries.

Then a nurse came in and made some adjustments before he started to drift. The last thing he was aware of was the sound of Peter's voice continuing to croon comforting words to him while gently anchoring those words with his touch.

Thank you, everyone, for reading, following, choosing to favorite, leaving kudos, and reviewing/commenting :D

I apologize, but this is another instance where I posted on AO3 but got distracted and didn't realize that I hadn't posted here.