The Way It Could Be.

The Office.


Diana knew when it really started. Even though everyone else believed that it had happened the day Peter dragged Neal into Hughes' office, she knew it started the day she handed Peter the file on Neal's mother. Not that she told anyone.

She had seen Peter's face pale and the way his hands trembled. After he dismissed her, she checked her copy of the file. Again and again. She just couldn't figure out what had upset her boss so much.

The only conclusion she could draw was that it was personal in some way.


Neal wasn't the same. He didn't seek out Peter; it was the other way around. He smiled, but it was the conman smile which was just too shiny and too fake. He joked a little more, misdirected a little more and kept his head down at his desk.

"You think Neal stole something?" one of the agents suggested around the water cooler. Everyone looked to Jones and Diana, but neither of them had heard of any incidents outside of the ordinary.

Diana couldn't forget it, so she asked. She even made it a joke, in order to make him feel a little more comfortable.

"Because it's always got to be my fault, doesn't it?" he snapped, "I didn't even do anything!"

Everyone around them froze and all eyes went to them. Neal never yelled in the office, never let the conman mask drop for a moment. They waited for Diana's reaction, well aware that she might just respond in kind.

She seemed too shocked for words. Same for Neal. His blue eyes grew wide and he pulled his hat down a little more, like a shield against the world.

"Sorry," he said in a soft voice that only the nearest agents could hear. That didn't stop others from slowly moving closer or trying to read his lips; which his hat and the angle made difficult. "That was out of line. I apologise. Excuse me."

He ducked out of the offices at a quick walk. As soon as he was on the elevator, sound returned to the White Collar offices as everyone tried to understand what had happened.

Diana ducked into Peter's office; under the guise of reporting Neal's departure, just to get away from the other agents.

The nature of the agent is one which is always looking for more information.


Theories and rumours flew. No one could really pinpoint what caused the change which had strained Peter and Neal's relationship. It was more tense than their first year together, when Neal was worried about the FBI playing an angle and Peter was worried about Neal running. It was the reverse of the Nazi treasure explosion; where Neal had tried to get close to Peter and Peter kept dodging Neal. It wasn't even like after Elizabeth's kidnapping; where Peter and Neal could work together but had trouble doing much besides that.

Could it have been Ellen's death? Was Neal's grieving pushing the pair apart? Everyone knew about how a woman close to Neal; like a mother to him, had died. But the strain had started after. Most of the young agents went with this theory, saying that it had taken time to really hit Neal. Some thought that maybe their boss had said something insensitive, which had sparked whatever this was.

More agents believed; even if they didn't say it, that the boss might have said something insensitive and offended Neal. It might not have been about Ellen as there were probably many things which offended ex-conmen; not that any of the agents had any idea what, and their boss could be thick sometimes.

Jones sometimes wondered if Neal's quest to redeem his father was the problem. Diana sometimes agreed with him; why else would Peter put time into trying to locate other blood relatives of Neal?, but she couldn't forget Peter's face when he opened that file nor could she shake the feeling that there was some other reason for all this.

And then Peter got hit by a car. And things seemed to return to normal.


And then Peter got shot. Callaway arrested James Bennett for the shooting; the man who everyone thought was Neal's father.

Callaway preened as she brought the man in and deposited him in the interrogation room. Agents gathered around or, if they were busy, walked by every now and then as the interrogation began.

No one was surprised to hear Bennett claim innocence. He claimed 'self-defence' for both shootings.

"What reason would Agent Burke have for shooting you?" Callaway asked.

Jones, who had returned from the hospital before this time, wondered if she was really looking for evidence against Peter. Cuffing another agent was difficult for most, but he had the feeling that Callaway would do anything for her career. And cuffing a corrupt agent would be a good boost to her career.

No one expected the response she got.

"Because the man holds a grudge against me," Bennett responded, his voice loud and steady, "I forged his son's birth certificate, put my name where his was."

No.

Everyone froze for a moment. It was a moment of complete denial. Each agent wondered how they could have missed it. How an office of agents missed it.

How did the FBI miss this? Surely they would have spotted a fake.

Jones looked around and saw the realisation on some of the other agents' faces as they put the pieces together. He knew the rest of them wouldn't be far behind.

Bennett only had one son on record. If that son was really Peter's, then it could only be...

"This doesn't leave here," Jones ordered, looking around until every agent had nodded their agreement.

In the interrogation room, Callaway continued her questions.

"Agent Burke knows you did this?"

Jones ordered one of the junior agents to take down what happened and left. He needed to make a call. Hughes had given both Diana and Jones his number after he left, with orders to keep him up to date. Jones knew that Diana had taken it on more than he had, this would be his first call.

He couldn't shake the feeling that this was what Hughes had expected.

"Agent Jones?" Despite retiring, Hughes' voice held all the authority it had during his time in the office.

"Sir, James Bennett just admitted to forging his son's; Neal's, birth certificate. He says Peter is the real father." God, it sounded like he was reciting the plot of some TV soap opera.

Hughes sighed into the phone.

"And where are Burke and Caffrey now?" he asked.

"They're both at the hospital, sir," Jones responded. It didn't sound like Hughes was surprised at all. Jones wondered if he had known all along. "Bennett shot Agent Burke and Neal is there giving support to his wife."

"I see. I will inform Caffrey; and Burke, if he's conscious. See if you can stall things there for a while."

"Sir?" Jones knew that everyone in the building would probably know soon; there was no way to keep this under wraps. How was he supposed to stall? And what were they going to do? This had the potential to ruin Peter's career. He had withheld information about a criminal in his custody and he had a reason to be bias.

Hughes answered one of his questions.

"I'm going to call Bancroft and he'll deal with the office fallout. There are some forms that Peter has which detail his relationship with Neal and the steps the FBI has taken to keep them honest. I believe Bancroft has access to a copy."

Jones wondered how many of the higher ups knew. It was a conspiracy, although he slightly understood the reasons for it.

He wondered if the little guy knew.


Jones was right. Despite his order for no one to speak about it, people still spoke about it and it still spread around. The office was in silent uproar with most of the agents stuck to their desks. The clacking of keys filled the air, but it wasn't reports they were filling out. Hands curled around phones under desks and frantic whispers accompanied people leaning over desks.

Diana found him first, ignoring the whispers that seemed prominent in the office.

"What happened?" she asked, glancing around. Her head didn't visibly move, but her eyes darted around.

"Neal's father is Peter, not Bennett," he said.

Diana blinked. Her jaw opened and closed a few times before she just shrugged.

"Anyone losing their job over this?" she asked.

Jones nodded up towards Callaway's office, where the blond woman was clearing out. Bancroft had reprimanded her for not getting the information from the higher ups and for revealing the relationship between Neal and Peter. Catching James Bennett didn't help, because Peter had gotten there first and been shot because she didn't have control over her people. She also let Pratt into a secure area, which was just the top of the long list of mistakes related to this case. It was either step down or suffer through an investigation into the relationship between her and Pratt.

"So far, it seems like Peter's job is okay, although he's off duty for the next month or two," Jones elaborated.

"Alright," Diana nodded, absorbing the information. She was glad to see Callaway go, although she worried about who they might put in the ASEC office next. "Care to tell me how any of this is possible?"

What followed was a pieced together story about how James had changed the birth certificate and Neal had grown up not knowing about his father, only finding out after joining the FBI as a consultant. There was a betting pool; which Jones hoped Peter didn't find out about, about whether Peter or Neal found out first.

Despite his loyalty to Peter, Jones had bet on Neal. The little guy was really good at finding things out and they had reason to look into Neal's father. Also, he didn't believe Neal wouldn't notice his birth certificate had been forged; the guy had a sixth-sense for telling forgeries.

Diana bet on Peter, keeping the knowledge about the file which had freaked Peter out close to her chest. She had a feeling she knew what upset her boss about it now.


Neal walked back into the office a week and two days later. Despite his perfect suit and favourite fedora, he was pale. Jones and Diana took turns watching over him and picking out cold cases for him to look at.

Neal didn't get much work done. He got lost in thought often and ended up sketching pencil versions of old masterpieces onto the reports.

Diana handed him a stack blank paper after he doodled a Da Vinci sketch onto the witness report.

Da Vinci sketch onto the witness report.

Neal was content to fiddle with that while everyone tried to work. Except for the agents assigned to the Pratt-Bennett case, no one was working hard.

"Does he even know?" Jones heard another agent whisper while looked over at Neal.

"Would suck if he didn't. Has anyone told him?"

Jones glared at both of them and sent the younger one to get him a file.

"He has a point," Diana said to Jones, "has anyone spoken to Neal about it?"

Jones scoffed a laugh and shook his head. Most of the agents were avoiding Neal's desk and only spoke to Neal when spoken to.

Not that Neal was speaking to anyone beyond a basic greeting and 'how are you?'. Neal was cautiously scanning the room, assessing each agent as they worked. For what, Jones didn't know, but he guessed that Neal was gauging everyone's reaction to Bennett's confession.

"He already knows," Jones responded, certain of that. Neal's reaction to Peter getting shot and the way he interacted with El suggested that he already knew.

"I thought so," Diana said with a nod. "And if he didn't, Hughes probably told him."

They glanced around the office with heavy hearts. It really hurt moral when an agent was injured in a bust, even more when that agent was Peter Burke.

In addition, the air was heavy with awkwardness. Jones had heard a few agents lamenting over how they had treated Neal over the past few years, nothing too bad but just snide little comments, believing his was guilty until proven innocent or sending him off for coffee runs when he just got back from one. The phrase, "The boss' son", had been passed around a few times and it made Jones feel a little ill.

Before Neal returned, Diana had already verbally berated the agents who used that phrase within her earshot.


It was almost unbearable after a few days. Neal did coffee run after coffee run, just to get out of the office. And if he took twice as long as he should have, no one was going to complain.

Neal was tapping his pen on the desk in a really distracting 'tap, tap, tappity-tap' beat that probably was the tune to some show tune or something. Agents kept glaring at him and grumbling about how they needed to work, but no one approached him.

Until Diana did. She grabbed his pen out of his hand and held it away from him.

"Stop that, Caffrey," she ordered, "it's really annoying."

"It's a habit," Neal said with a shrug. "I can't help it."

"If I break one or more of your fingers, will that stop it?"

"Nooo," Neal said in a drawn-out response that was tinged with playfulness.

She raised her eyebrow, not really believing him.

"Well, it will make it more difficult," she commented with a shrug. "So, stop. Or I'll break your fingers."

"Oppression of the artist, Lady Suit, and an abuse of power," Neal said in a Mozzie-like manner.

"Boo-hoo," she responded, not giving an inch. She leaned in. "I know it was you who switched my files with blank paper yesterday," she whispered.

Neal put on a hurt face. 'Who, me?' it practically screamed.

"Don't do it again."

Neal nodded.


When Diana arrived at the Burkes' house that evening, she got out and pulled out a briefcase with files in it for Peter. She had checked before leaving the parking lot that the files were still there, so there was no way Caffrey could have messed with them.

She was barely up the steps when she heard Peter bellow, "Neal!"

It brought a smile to her face as she knocked on the door.

"Quiet down!" El scolded as she opened the door. She breathed a sigh of relief at Diana.

"That bad?" Diana asked. Peter and Neal together were bad enough at times, but when Peter was injured and Neal wasn't, it was worse.

"Neal pulled one of the oldest cons in the book," El said with another sigh. "I told him he couldn't have any of the ice-cream in the freezer and he went and asked Peter."

Diana had to hold in laughter.

"I'm going to guess Peter said yes," she commented.

"Of course he did," El groaned, "because Neal also made him a bowl."

"What's going on?" Neal chose that moment to appear. "Hi, Diana. Want some ice-cream?"

"Neal!" El hissed, although she was grinning.

"I think I'd better get home," Diana said with a smile. There was no way she could intrude on this bubble of family time.

It wasn't until she was halfway home that she remembered the briefcase of files for Peter, which she had placed in the passenger seat. Once again, she had failed to sneak the work to Peter.

Well played, Caffrey.


"We need a new rumour," Neal joked the day after his fight with Peter, as he walked up to them and handed Diana a file. "I think I've solved this one, just need an agent to go over it."

Diana nodded and took the file cautiously. Once it was clear that it wasn't a distraction so that Neal could sabotage something, she began flipping through. Neal's notes were inside.

"I don't think my latest breakup will cut it," Jones joked, "it's not nearly as exciting as two people who work together secretly being related."

Neal's smile faltered for a moment.

"How about you Diana? Any juicy gossip we can distract the vultures with?" Jones asked. He looked down at her belly, which was bulging slightly. It looked like she had been overeating or something, perhaps a side-effect of the recent stress in the office. There was currently no one in Hughes' office, which left a giant gaping chasm in the bureaucracy of the office which increased the time it took to get through all the paperwork needed for a case. The little inconveniences it also caused just added to a mounting set of problems.

"Diana?" Neal questioned when she didn't respond. Instead she looked down and rubbed her bulging stomach. Neal saw this and asked, "pardon me if I'm wrong but, are you pregnant?"

Jones chocked. How was that possible? Diana was single and didn't sleep with men. He turned to her, wincing as he imagined the pain she would put Neal through for that comment but, she was smiling. And nodding.

"You're pregnant?" Jones asked, his voice sounding slightly strangled.

"That's right," Diana responded, "have been for a while. I thought about it for a long time and decided to go at it alone."

"Congratulations!" Neal said and then began asking baby-related questions as the rest of the office absorbed this information.

A few others came over and congratulated her and asked questions and rubbed her stomach. Others leant in and whispered to whoever was closest.

Jones just smiled and shook his head. As rumours go, this was a good one. He caught Neal's eye and the conman grinned at him.


Author's notes: This is it for this story. The last bit (with Diana's pregnancy), was a last minute addition. I wondered how she broke the news while Peter was away so I wrote that in.

Jones didn't get much of a chance to react to Neal and Peter being father and son; he had to start damage control. By the time he could react to it, he had already noticed that it didn't really change how he and Diana treated Neal.

Diana lost the bet (And just realising, I didn't add that part – assume they ask Neal later) and she wasn't happy about that. What was more shocking to her was that Neal spent years working with Peter and didn't have the slightest inclination to tell the man that they were related.

Many thanks to all you brilliant people who reviewed!

You helped to keep this story going!

Thanks to: Angusina, ANon, MaraJade, Guest (Nov 20), anon, Guest (on Oct 31) & Guest (on Oct 31), who all reviewed anonymously.

What's next: No idea. Maybe another prompt or one-shot. I know I want to do a White Collar/Chuck crossover, maybe I'll see about getting that started soon.