History

It all started with a typical evening over at the Burkes for dinner. Little did Neal imagine what would domino off of a routine invitation.

Sitting at the table after dinner, Neal was enjoying the comfortable conversation as Elizabeth talked about an event that she was planning. It was a baby shower for a couple who had wanted children for so long, but complications had prevented them from being able to conceive. Now that they were finally anticipating a new addition, they weren't sparing in their celebration.

"Why haven't you guys had children?" The question was out of Neal's mouth before he realized that he'd said it out loud. But, with the words out there, he observed their reactions to his inquiry.

Fortunately, they weren't too upset, but they did exchange a glance before Elizabeth answered.

"It hasn't happened yet. We've been busy with work so we're okay with that for now, but someday…" she clearly wanted a family, but she also had reservations with Peter still doing so much active fieldwork.

Clearing his throat before Neal could comment, Peter added his input, "I have a son."

Surprised, Neal wondered why he'd never heard of him before. It didn't fit with his impression of what kind of a father Peter would be.

Peter continued to share the personal aspect of his life. "I was a freshman in college when I went to a party with my roommate. We got separated, but I met a girl and we spent the evening hanging out before she invited me back to her place. One thing led to another, and despite my caution, she got pregnant."

Pausing to turn his glass in his hand, Peter seemed to be thinking about what to say next so Neal remained quiet while Elizabeth got up to begin clearing the table.

"We hung out quite a bit through the pregnancy, but for some reason, we didn't connect romantically so we didn't date. Still, I wanted to be there for the kid, my child. When he was born, I had no idea what to name him so she decided to call him Peter, after me, with Jack as his middle name. Then she hyphenated our last names since we weren't together and filed his birth certificate." Peter drifted off silently but that didn't explain what happened to the kid or why he'd never talked about him before. No one at the office seemed to know that he was a father.

"What happened?" Neal wasn't sure if he should pry, but it was obvious that something had occurred to take the kid out of Peter's life.

"She left." Peter was blunt, it was clearly painful for him, but he still elaborated a little more. "For that first year, I was able to watch Junior learn to roll over, crawl, and walk, and I even heard him call me dada once. But, then one weekend I went to her place to pick him up, we took turns caring for him, and she was gone. The place had been cleared out, her phone was disconnected, and no amount of searching found a trace of her. They vanished, and I have no idea what became of either one of them."

His eyes were shiny, but Peter managed to hold back the tears and pulled himself together.

Still, it was heartening for Neal to see that Peter was exactly the kind of father that he'd expected. But, it was a shame he wasn't given the chance to be there for his son. "I'm sorry, that kid would have been lucky to be raised by you."

"Thanks," Peter was still pulling his emotions together from the personal reveal.

Then Elizabeth broke the tension by bringing in coffee and slices of pie, "How about we have some dessert?" She kissed Peter's cheek and gave him a comforting hug from behind after she set his slice and cup down.

Although she whispered something, Neal didn't know what and started eating his pie to give them some privacy. He'd already invaded their personal lives enough for one evening.

They didn't really talk about Peter's son after that, but Neal was also careful not to bring anything up in his presence that might hurt his friend.

However, Peter was still curious about Neal's past, so he attempted to bring up his childhood on multiple occasions.

One such time, they were once again sitting around the dinner table at the Burkes when Neal decided to return the favor. Peter had shared a painful piece of his past, so maybe he ought to share a little something of his own in return.

"I don't know my dad," Neal surprised Peter and Elizabeth with his simple opening statement.

"How come?" Peter hadn't expected a genuine response so he lowered his drink and waited patiently for Neal to continue.

"Growing up, I was told that he was a heroic cop that was killed in the line of duty when I was two, but I was told at eighteen that he was a corrupt cop who'd been arrested when I was three and is still alive out there in State's Evidence somewhere." He started with the 'official' story since that was something that went with his Neal Caffrey alias. However, it was harder to figure out how to tell them the truth, the part that even he didn't really know.

"I'm sorry," Peter hadn't meant to open up a wound so he tried to apologize, but Neal waved him off.

"He's not actually my father though; he's my step-father." Something that he was grateful for because he didn't want to be the son of a murdering, thieving, dirty ex-cop; at least he had hope that his real father was someone that he could look up to.

Cocking his head in curiosity, Peter approached the topic carefully, "How do you know that if you were always told that he's your father?"

Elizabeth shot him a look and Peter shrugged that it was too late; he'd already asked the question.

Taking a deep breath, Neal wasn't bothered by Peter's abrupt approach, the man was going archeologist on him, but he expected that from his friend. It was his natural state when his curiosity got the better of him. "I know because there was one night, one conversation where my mom was different than any other time that I can remember. Most of the time she didn't pay much attention to me, she was lost in her depression, the past, an alternate reality, I don't know, she never said much to me. However, that night, she'd been drinking and I found her watching me from the shadows. She started talking, told me that my father wasn't really my father, that I'd been a kid when she'd met him. He'd adopted me and changed my name making me legally his son."

"Do you know what your name was before?" Peter was still in archeologist mode which earned him another glare from Elizabeth, but he didn't seem to notice.

Shaking his head, Neal didn't have much more to say, his mother had never told him the truth about much of anything. "No, she said that she'd met my father in college and she'd made sure that she'd had me despite his caution. When I asked for his name she shook her head and said that she'd changed her name before marrying my step-father so I don't have anything to go off of to find who I am. That was pretty much the first and last real conversation that I ever had with her, and I don't even know what she meant through most of it. All I got was that Neal wasn't my original name and that my father is a mystery to me."

As far as his personal life went, he'd pretty well told the Burkes the most painful parts of his past. He had a generally absent mother and an unknown mystery man for a father with a criminal for a stepfather.

Looking at him, Peter seemed to be analyzing his story. "It sounds like you're distancing yourself from your adopted dad by calling him your stepfather. Do you ever imagine what your biological dad might be like?"

Sensing an underlying need there, Neal thought that Peter wanted his son to wonder who he was and what he was like since he had no part in the kid's life beyond his first year. Since it was true, Neal had no problem giving Peter the answer he wanted. "Yes, I've spent a lot of time wondering what my father is like. I allegedly have the same blue eyes as my stepfather, but what do I have in common with my real father?" Leaning back, he thought of a few comparisons that he could safely share with his friends. "First, I hope he's not a criminal. I was raised to think of my stepfather as a dead hero, so I hope that my father is a real hero, someone that I can be proud of at the very least. It would be nice if I could have something of his to look at in the mirror, I spent my childhood looking at my blue eyes trying to find my father in them… until I learned he wasn't my father. Otherwise, I hope we have something of common interest, a way to bond if I ever get to know him. But, that isn't likely to happen so I'll probably never know."

Returning the favor, Peter softly stated, "I'm sure that whoever he is, he'd be proud to have you for a son."

That sent a warm feeling through Neal and it was a high compliment coming from Peter. The man was missing his son so he knew something of what his father might feel, and he knew Neal pretty well to understand what he was saying. Still, "I hope so; because if he was as honorable as I was raised to think of my stepfather, he might not be so proud to have a felon in the family. I know I'm not proud of my stepfather."

There was a soft expression in Peter's eyes so Neal couldn't return his look for long and Elizabeth's apologetic glance wasn't much easier to take, so Neal turned his attention to the table. He'd opened up and revealed enough for one night, and they seemed to sense that.

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