Title: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (And One Step Forward Again).

Summary: For the first time since Neal Caffrey was released into his custody, Peter was worried about how far the con man was willing to go to stay out of prison.

Characters: Peter Burke & Neal Caffrey.

Warnings: Mention of some not exactly consensual situations due to Neal's status, but nothing graphic or sexual. And Peter pushing a little to get answers as well, but that's nothing new.

Notes: None.

...

Peter saw the moment Neal walked through the glass doors of the White Collar division from where he sat behind his desk, the open files before him forgotten. Neal met his gaze only a second later, and after leaving his fedora on the desk, he made his way to his handler's office.

It had been Diana's turn to keep a discreet eye on Neal, so Peter had tried his best to keep himself busy and distracted with paperwork. It had worked, for the most part, even if he had little progress to show for it.

"Hey," Neal greeted as he entered the office without bothering to knock.

"Hey yourself. How was lunch?"

"It went great." Neal dropped into his usual chair, picked a pen from the desk, and began spinning it between his fingers. "It shouldn't be long now before Jackson invites me over to his place."

Peter leaned back on his chair and hid a grimace. Neal looked pleased and animated, just like he usually did. And there was no reason why he shouldn't.

All was going according to plan so far. It was a plan that depended on Neal using his charm and good looks to get close to the openly gay executive of the company they were currently investigating. He was to secure an invite to the man's apartment, where he would then proceed to do a little snooping so they could hopefully confirm he was involved in the company's illegal activities.

It was a little outside the norm, but a lot of their ops involving Neal Caffrey were, and the CI raised no complaints or arguments and had been happy to bring a few ideas to the table two days ago while they discussed the case.

None of that stopped Peter from worrying about him and silently questioning the whole thing. Something had been bothering him about this case from the start, but it was until he talked it over with El last night that he realized what it was. Now, he just needed to figure out the best way to bring it up with Neal.

"Everything okay?" Neal asked, his head tilted slightly to the side.

"Everything's fine," Peter was quick to respond as he was pulled out of his thoughts. He met Neal's bright blue eyes for a moment before speaking again. "You know you don't have to do anything you don't want to."

"Really?" Neal asked after a moment's hesitation, dark eyebrows raised.

"I'm serious," Peter replied, giving him a look. "I know sometimes I joke about sending you back to prison, and I also can be demanding and put a lot of pressure on you about closing cases and keeping our closure rate up to keep the brass happy, but you have to know you can talk to me if there is something you truly aren't comfortable doing. Right?"

"Sure," Neal agreed easily. He furrowed his brows lightly. "What's this about?"

"Nothing. I just want to make sure you understand you have every right to say no to the FBI, and that doesn't mean we're going to ship you back to prison because of it."

Neal visibly perked up. "Oh! Does that mean I can say no to the van? Because I really don't-"

"Stop," Peter snapped in frustration. "That's not what I'm talking about, and you know it."

"Why don't you just tell me what this is about then," Neal challenged.

Peter stared at him for a moment as he tried to determine the best way to approach this. He wasn't particularly hopeful about that, given the fact he had already tried for hours with no results. Then again, Neal was already used to his gruff and sometimes tactless approaches, so maybe he should just come out and say it.

"It's about Jackson and your interaction with him."

Surprise crossed Neal's face for a beat before it was replaced by amusement. "You do remember this isn't the first time I use this particular approach to help solve a case, right?"

"I know."

"And yet you never saw fit to give me this speech before." Neal's smile slipped from his face. "Wait. Jackson isn't dangerous, is he?"

Peter cursed himself for letting Neal draw that conclusion. "No. Nothing we've found so far points to him being dangerous or even violent."

"Good." Neal's shoulders loosen up a fraction. "So, what is it then?"

Peter averted his gaze for a second before forcing himself to answer. There was no going back now. "When you use this approach it usually involves flirting with young and beautiful women, and I know how much you enjoy doing that."

Neal's amused smile returned, but there was an edge to it Peter didn't like. "So, this is because it's a man this time."

He shifted a little in his seat. "Look, I just want to make sure you understand your deal wouldn't be terminated if you say no to something you're not comfortable doing."

"It's a little late for that, isn't it? This sounds like a conversation we should have had before it was decided how we were going to handle the case."

"You're right," Peter agreed, lips pressed together into a grim line.

"So, what brought this on?"

He sighed in defeat after a moment. "I was talking with El last night, and she-"

"Ah. That explains it." Neal nodded, smiling blue eyes meeting Peter's narrowed eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Neal gave him a pointed look. "You know what it means."

And he did. Damn it. Peter stayed silent as he glared at Neal- to the con man's obvious amusement.

"You can stop torturing yourself, Peter. I promise you and the FBI aren't forcing me to do something against my will. At least not this time," Neal added good-natured but with a meaningful look.

Peter supposed he deserved that. He had been guilty of doing just that a few times, and there were occasions when he had been forced to force Neal to comply with the higher-up's demands.

He wasn't even sure why this was such a big deal right now. Maybe it was caused by El's reaction when he told her about it. First, she had been surprised when she heard Neal was set to seduce a man this time. Then, she asked if it had been hard to convince him to go along with that, and to Peter's horror, he realized he couldn't even remember Neal's reaction when Diana brought up the idea.

Neal was a master of hiding behind masks, but Peter knew him well enough to have picked something if he had been paying attention at that moment. Had Neal been unsure or uncomfortable when he heard that? Or worse, maybe just resigned.

Neal sighed. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

Peter met his gaze and said nothing in response.

"I like women, you know that, but that doesn't mean I only like women."

It took Peter's brain a second to figure out the meaning behind that, but once he did, he tried his best to keep the surprise off his face. One look at Neal's face told him he failed utterly. He was still watching him, though, obviously expecting a reaction of some sort, so Peter said the first thing that came to mind.

"I didn't know that."

"Contrary to what you obviously believe, Peter, you don't know everything about me."

"I guess not." So much for thinking he was the expert on all things Caffrey. Knowing his shoe size sure as hell meant nothing when he was just now finding out he was- what? Bisexual? Peter considered asking, but he wasn't sure if that was the proper thing to do in this kind of situation-

It wasn't even that he cared about that. Okay, that was probably the wrong word to use because he cared far too much about anything having to do with Neal Caffrey. Perhaps it was more accurate to say this didn't change what he thought of him or the way he saw him. Only Neal's actions and choices had the power to change things between them, not who he was.

"So, you're not straight." Peter almost rolled his eyes at himself as soon as he realized what he said.

There was a mischievous glint in Neal's eyes, but he resisted the urge to tease him for that. "I don't like using labels, but if I had to choose one for myself, I'll say I'm bisexual with a strong preference for women."

"So you're okay with continuing this op."

"I am. Really, it's not like flirting around a bit with Jackson is such a hardship. He's a nice guy and can actually hold a decent conversation. And he's easy on the eyes as well," Neal added with a playful wink. "I'm kinda hoping it will turn out he's not involved in this after all."

"For his sake, let's hope he's not." Peter frowned a second later. "That's not going to be an issue either, right?"

Neal actually rolled his eyes. "Peter, I'm not going to cover up for a guy I literally just met two days ago and only because I needed to get close to him for the case."

"Right. I knew that. I just wanted to make sure we're on the same page.

"We are," Neal assured him with a far too solemn nod of his head. The smile was back on his face a second later. "Is there anything else you think we should talk about, or can I go back to my desk now?"

He shook his head. "Go ahead. I left a couple of files there for you."

Neal hesitated as if there was something else he wanted to say, but in the end, he just offered him one more bright smile before leaving the office.

Peter's gaze followed Neal as he walked through the bullpen. He couldn't help but wonder just how many things he still didn't know about Neal Caffrey, and how many of them he would never be allowed to know. But-

What if he was looking at this all wrong? What if, instead of thinking about what he didn't know, Peter thought about how much trust Neal had shown him, the man who chased him for years and then put him in prison. El reminded him of that just last night.

Peter leaned back in his chair, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. That definitely sounded like a better idea.

...

a/n: Sorry it took me so long to update, but I hope the wait was worth and you enjoyed this new one-shot. Thank you so, so much to everyone who has taken the time to read and leave me leave me a review since my last update. It truly means a lot.