March
Neal sat in his chair, practicing finding his center of gravity over the big wheels, lifting the front ones up, and turning in a circle in place. Diana flipped through a stack of cases, sorting them by the agents she was assigning them to.
"Do you want a gift card loading scam, or payroll violations?"
"Payroll," said Neal.
Diana put the file on their stack, tossed the other one on Agent Reyes's pile.
There was a knock on the door, Neal dropped down to level and looked. It was Peter. Neal grinned broadly, "hey."
"Hi, Peter," said Diana, quite happily putting down the file she had opened next.
"How busy are you two?"
"Not at all," said Neal, hopefully.
"I was invited to a joint conference in DC, to give a presentation on the utility of confidential informants in solving art crimes. I wondered if Neal could come, and either you or Jones. The presentation is on the 20th, after that we'd be free to see the sights on the 21st. It's Neal's birthday, and it's the last weekend El is working before she's due, I thought it might be nice."
Neal positively beamed at Peter.
Diana nodded, "that's fine. I'll ask Hughes, but Neal helped close our last urgent case yesterday, he was impressed. My guess is he'll okay the trip.
t
Peter stood at stage right, waiting for them to be introduced. Neal and Diana argued softly next to him.
"I still think we should talk about the cypher," said Neal.
"It's an open investigation," said Diana, tired of the discussion.
"Special Agents Peter Burke and Diana Barrigan, and Neal Burke, consultant," said the lead presenter.
Peter walked onto the stage, waved, and moved one of the seats out of the way. Diana gave Neal a boost up the ramp, and he took the space Peter had cleared. They turned their lapel mics on, and faced the audience.
All three of them talked about some of their older cases. Neal and Diana talked about newer ones. After that came questions. They answered a few about cases.
A man stood, "By the sound of it, your CI has access to far more case information than I would be comfortable with. How do you justify that risk?"
Peter started to formulate an answer, but Diana spoke, looking at Neal, "Neal didn't have all that access right away. But he's used every inch we gave him to come through for us by a mile."
"He's still a criminal, or he wouldn't have that anklet."
Diana shook her head, "for one more month. When the terms of his probation were decided, he was a kid who had just escaped prison to chase a girl. Today he's a trusted member of my team, a personal friend, a mentor to our younger agents, about to be a father. If you don't believe people can change, you should reconsider working with a CI."
Neal positively beamed at her.
After the talk they started to get ready to head back to the hotel. Peter got their coats, when he came back there were two young men standing back, waiting by the exit. They came up as Peter, Diana, and Neal approached.
"Hi," said the taller one, an Asian kid with a buzz cut, "do you mind if we ask you a more personal question?"
Peter looked at Neal and Diana, who shrugged, then back at the young men, "sure?"
"You'reā¦together, right?" asked the shorter man, who was tan, with longer hair tied back gesturing between Peter and Neal.
"We are," confirmed Peter.
"How did you navigate that? Both being a CI and handler, and being queer in law enforcement?"
"We didn't date while I was his CI," said Neal, "he switched divisions, and Diana became my handler. I never had to worry about Peter or Diana. Some other agents aren't great, I think they thought they could get away with more because I was a CI, but Peter never let anyone give me a really hard time."
Diana nodded, "I didn't have a lot of support in DC. But when I transferred to New York to work under Peter, he had my back. And Hughes, the head of the division, is supportive, he never let anyone get out of line."
They looked at Peter, expectantly.
"I did get harassed pretty heavily," said Peter, "not recently. But in the late 90's I brought my then boyfriend to a Christmas party. They weren't ready. He's in the NYPD, he also got pushback. He's a Captain now, but it took decades longer than it should have for him to get a command."
The young men deflated some.
Neal cleared his throat, bringing their attention back to him, "if this is more than a hypothetical question, why don't you come with us to the bar."
They looked at each other and then gestured to a group of people in the crowd, not having left with the rest of the audience, "they were waiting to hear what you said. Do you mind if they come too?"
Peter gazed at the gaggle of young agents, some men, some women, a couple people he wasn't sure. He looked at Diana, who met his eyes, as emotional as he felt, then back at the two men, "I think we'll need a reservation for that many. Do you know a good place with enough room?"
"We do, I'll call," said the shorter man, eyes shining, and the two went over to the group, talking excitedly.
Neal put his arm around Peter's waist, tugging him a little closer, "look at you. Already parenting."
Peter laughed, and kissed the top of Neal's head, "you too, teaching agents."
Diana grinned at them, "can you imagine having had out senior agents to look up to and to stand up for you your whole career? Makes all the shit we got worth it."
Peter nodded, holding Neal tight around the shoulders.
Neal and Peter meandered down a sidewalk, a steel pipe railing to their right between them and a large pond. Above them and to the left were gnarled, twisted, beautiful trees, pink and white petals falling in a slow rain as a breeze gently shook the branches. Every so often he stopped to sketch something, the light and the crowd sparking inspiration. They reached a grassy area, Peter put down a blanket, and Neal joined him. They took out a picnic lunch, and ate together, on a lovely spring day.
"Happy birthday," said Peter, and kissed Neal, gently. Neal kissed him back, humming happily.
