A/N: Shauna's episodes will continue in a series of one-shots as long as my addiction to White Collar lasts, which will probably be until the show ends, which will hopefully be never. Rated T just in case. Neal, Peter, and the rest of the gang (including a couple of quotes) do not belong to me, but to the brilliant writers of a brilliant show.

This episode has spoilers through Season 2 Episode 3. [BEGIN SPOILERS] It takes place in the middle of the episode, when Neal stages a fight with Alex to convince the criminology students to take on a specific robbery. If, of course, during the show Neal had a sixteen-year-old sister named Shauna Caffrey. :)

Major thanks to Post U Later for inspiring this one-shot. I knew when I saw the episode that I wanted to use this scene for the fanfic, but I couldn't figure out how to make it work. It was Post U Later's idea to have Shauna bet, and also that maybe this wasn't the first time that Neal and Alex had staged an argument. :)

This is the second episode related to "Copycat Caffrey".

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Shauna could almost imagine she was normal. Maybe a little too young for most people to be in college, but she wasn't most people. Both she and Neal had been smart enough to graduate high school a couple years early, even if Neal had never graduated, and Shauna had never even started. And now Shauna was feeling normal, sitting on a college campus with a group of criminology students that thought they were a lot smarter than they actually were.

Case in point: Manny's tunneling idea.

Veronica was laughing and Neal was making a face, playing along, even though Alex was getting closer and closer and closer. Shauna had to force herself to pull her eyes away, to engage in the conversation and pretend like she hadn't noticed Alex at all. Neal wasn't having any trouble with the facade; he never did. "Not really big on shovels, Manny."

To which Veronica raised her eyebrows victoriously, because she'd known all along that tunnels were a stupid idea. Shauna shook her head. The girl was smart. But she wasn't humble enough to pull off something big. You could only be as cocky as Neal is if you were, well...Neal.

"Would you excuse me?" Neal pushed back his chair.

Shauna tried to hide a smile as she glanced up to see Alex walking dramatically up the steps. As talented a fence as she was, Alex was skittish. She didn't share Neal's enjoyment of audiences. But then, she had a lot more to lose if she were caught. People all over the world counted on Alex to keep them anonymous.

"Who is that?" whispered Manny.

"Is that his girlfriend?" Veronica elbowed Shauna.

"She's, um, yeah, um sure. She's his girlfriend." Shauna scowled at her, not appreciating the elbow. "It's complicated."

"I think that she's more business partner than romantic interest," said Professor Oswald. He watched Neal and Alex with narrowed eyes.

"Then he's still single," said Veronica, with just a touch more satisfaction than Shauna cared to hear. She considered lying and telling Veronica that Neal and Alex were together, but she didn't have time. The performance had begun.

"Everything is all set, okay? You can't back out now!" Alex's voice carried to the table. Shauna pressed her mouth into a straight line to avoid looking impressed. Alex was risking a lot by coming, by being noticed. And risking it all on Neal, who was never the most trustworthy guy in the room.

But maybe the most trustworthy guy in Alex's life.

"Okay, look, keep your voice down." Neal pressed his palms toward the ground, but his voice was still louder than it would have been if this had been for real. "He saw me. It's over."

"You can't walk away! I already have a buyer!" Alex did not keep her voice down.

Justin, the smartest guy at the table, raised his eyebrows. "A fence?"

"Do you know her?" asked Veronica.

Shauna bit her lip, hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah."

"Is she a fence?" asked Justin again.

"A good one?" asked Manny.

And Shauna nodded again. "She's ticked. Neal called her this morning..."

They waited, baited by the silence. Shauna let them wait. She could get used to this.

"And..." said the professor.

"I shouldn't discuss it," said Shauna. Her eyes flicked back to Neal's performance, and she felt a rush of pride.

"Get someone else to make the grab, or tell your buyer to back off!" Neal had a huge emotional range in real life, but he was rarely truly angry. Depressed and betrayed? Frequently. But angry? Not often.

Now he looked angry.

Alex looked even angrier. "So I'm out a ton of money because you made a stupid mistake and got spotted?"

"I bet she slaps him," said Shauna. She'd seen this before. Sometimes Alex slapped him, sometimes she didn't. It had nothing to do with the charade, with the reason they were pretending in the first place. It had everything to do with Alex: how much Alex liked Neal that day, and how frustrated Alex was that Neal didn't like her back. Back when Neal had started going out with Kate...there had been a lot of slapping.

Shauna was still fairly sure that Neal had no idea why.

"I'll take that bet," said Justin. "But not two hundred."

"Learned your lesson?" Shauna pulled a bill from her pocket. "Twenty then."

Justin threw his own twenty on the table.

"You know," Alex raised her voice again, ready to leave, her words infused with fury, "thanks for nothing!"

Neal leaned toward Alex, said something too softly for the table's occupants to hear. Alex responded in kind and didn't wait for an answer. She slapped him.

"That hurt," said Manny, wincing.

"Win," said Shauna, pulling both bills toward her. Forty dollars was nothing, but the thrill of beating Justin was worth it. He was getting on her nerves.

"Come on!" said Justin. But he didn't seem too upset. Of course he didn't. He could sense the upcoming project. And he knew it would be worthwhile if Neal Caffrey was involved.

"Sorry about that, you guys," said Neal, returning. He rubbed his face and looked horribly disconcerted. "That was...a little awkward."

Professor Oswald raised his eyebrows, and Shauna could see the curiosity rippling over his skin. He was going to have to hide his intentions better than that if he really wanted to enter the crime world. "Lover's quarrel?"

"Oh, we have a history, you know." Neal met Shauna's eyes for the briefest of seconds—he was thrilled, despite the way his face must be stinging. "We work well together."

"Sounded like a certain job went awry," said the professor. Still too eager. There were better ways to wheedle information out of someone, especially someone like Neal, who knew every trick in the book.

"Nah." Neal clasped his hands behind his head and sat back in his chair, a smug smile on his face. "I'm reformed, remember."

And Shauna laughed. Laughing hadn't been part of the plan, but it made everyone lean in closer. They knew who she was. They knew that she knew just what Neal was up to...because he was definitely up to something.

"What's the haul?" asked Manny.

"Krugerrands," said Neal, basking in their attention. "Gold."