So I never thought that I would ever add on to this. But shout out to MarnieWest who reminded me that, in fact, this was still hiding in a dark corner in the black hole of White Collar ff. I'm not sure I'll ever add on after this, but I'm thinking it'll be maybe a three-shot drabble series...

It's now pretty AU, considering I conceived this idea during season 3, when Neal was a mystery.

Chapter 2

Neal never understood. Even as an adult, the idea seemed so preposterous, so absolutely absurd, that he couldn't even fathom it. How can one parent favor one child over the other? Truly, Neal lacked the capability to comprehend why his parents didn't want him. It wasn't a surprise that he had issues, because, well, he had issues, but he didn't think they were worthy of leaving him behind in the dust. As a child in foster care at the age of eight, he threw away hours upon hours enraptured with the thought that his parents didn't care enough for him.

When he turned nine, he gained a family again. Truth be told, it wasn't his family, but it was family all the same. After a year of hopelessness and self-degradation, he found himself welcomed into the house with open arms. The family loved him, even with all of his many faults. His new dad became his superman, with his shiny badge and blue uniform. The man never failed to have the scent of sawdust and gunpowder on his skin and clothes, but he taught Neal how to shave, how to attract all the women he wanted, and even attempted to teach Neal how to throw and catch (but never truly succeeded. Neal was always more of a sprinter than anything else). Neal finally sensed that he might actually belong when the he glimpsed the signatures of the two adopted parents on papers of adoption.

Then he gained another year and totaled at eleven. His biological mother swam through the channels of the United States legal system to locate him just one more time. The truth that Neal craved so badly spilled out. His mother abandoned him because Neal wasn't her husband's biological son. She struggled to hide that from her husband but to no avail because he found out and ordered either her or Neal to leave. (She always was selfish.) So Neal finally had the answers he wanted, but then he really didn't. When she disappeared through the cracks again, his mind swirled with unasked questions, like who actually was his biological father then?

It didn't matter, though, at the time, because he had his perfect family until age fifteen, when he didn't. That's when Neal became Neal, not whatever he was before that. It's when the man he though infallible proved treacherous, when his adopted mother and Neal desperately disappeared with the help of the US Marshalls. Neal could pinpoint the moment he realized that humanity was cruel and that Neal was never going to be anything better than a screw up. (He messed up everyone's life).

Then the age eighteen rolled around. Neal was living in a shabby apartment in New York City with a friend, attending the first and last semester at college. In reality, Neal failed to fit in at college; it wasn't that he couldn't fit in, but rather he refused to make the effort to conform. College didn't suit him well. Surprise knocked on his door at eleven a.m. on a Wednesday morning in the form of a tall, brunette male that appeared to absorb him like no one ever had before.

His name, he told Neal, was Thomas Burke. Eighteen years ago, he had met a woman in a bar after having a little too much to drink after his first divorce. They had woken up in bed together at the conclusion of the night, and he hadn't thought anything of it for years. For Heaven's sake, he proclaimed, he'd remarried his first wife after a couple months. But then, out of the blue, he stumbled upon the woman, drug ridden and wasting away her life, and the bubble of his life popped. He had another son, and she had handed him a picture of a boy around eight, saying that he had been taken away from her. Thomas Burke never thought he would find his son, until he caught a glimpse on Broad Street and had followed him here.

Neal spent hours with his biological father that day, listening to the man who had never truly existed until now. But it was too late and he was too jaded, for the life of crime had already set in. Surprisingly, though, Neal kept in contact with his father, always checking in and talking every once in a while. Thomas was the only person who seemed to never judge Neal for his misgivings, especially when Neal was in jail.

Imagine Neal's immediate thoughts after realizing the FBI assigned a man named Peter Burke to his case. Maybe Peter didn't deserve as much credit for catching Neal as he received. Maybe Neal wanted him to catch him all along but couldn't make it look that easy. So Neal now sits on the couch of his secret half-brother's house when the doorbell suddenly chimes, and the door opens to reveal Thomas.

Alright, cool. That's it. That's all I have. So, if you want to leave a comment or give some advice, I'd love either! You can PM me too because I love meeting new people! Thanks friends! If you are interested in cowriting something, hit me up too! I'm basically in every fandom ever, so whatever you got in the making, I'm interested!

By the by, chapter 1 might be getting spruced up after years of negligence.

-cantlivewithnolaughgal