"Listen, venting has its place," Henry said. "Getting your issues out in the open is better than bottling them up. But eventually you have to let it go and move on. Are you ready for that?"

"He's got a point," Peter agreed. "How about you try listening to each other? No judgements. Just hear each other out."

Canon Neal gave his Peter a stubborn look. "You think you're capable of that?"

In response canon Peter said, "We've done it before. There was that night I gave you personal immunity for anything you confessed before dawn. I've always abided by that."

"Can we do that again?" canon Neal asked. "It won't take until dawn. But if I could tell you what's going on, really trust you..." He looked wistful. "Everything I did this time, it was for you. I was trying to help you, in the only way I knew how."

"It's Christmas Eve," canon Peter said. He reached for his badge, and placed it on the coffee table. "I'm off the clock, and a holiday centered on the birth of a baby is surely about new beginnings and hope. Even a lapsed Catholic can't ignore all of that. Let's give it a try. Tonight I'm not an agent. Just an old friend who wants to reconnect and help, if I can."

Canon Neal looked around the room. "Would you do it?" he asked his counterpart.

Neal nodded, and Henry added, "Honestly, what's the worst that could happen? And is that any worse than how things are now?"

"You have no idea how much I missed you." Canon Neal wasn't the only one looking rather emotional at that point.

El spoke up. "Peter. Sorry, not you, hon. The other Peter. If you're going to stay and hear Neal out, shouldn't you call your wife and let her know you're going to be late getting home?"

"Oh, God, you're right." Canon Peter stood and pulled a cell phone out of his pocket while he walked over to the kitchen to assure his wife that he was simply running late and wasn't in any danger. As the call was wrapping up, Henry elbowed Neal and whispered something. Neal wandered over to grab a plate of cookies from the countertop and bumped into canon Peter.

A moment later both Peters said, "Neal," in a stern tone.

Neal handed the plate of cookies to El and pulled a phone out of his sleeve. Henry leaned forward to look at it. "Cool. I haven't seen one of these before."

"And he's the reformed one?" canon Peter said, rolling his eyes.

"It's a smartphone," canon Neal said, taking the phone. "Much better than the cell phones you have now. You'll love the touchscreen. See, you press here, and then enter the password."

"Which you don't know," canon Peter said smugly.

"You change it quarterly," said Neal. "This is December, so it's Joe's birthday." He entered the password and then canon Neal started showing Henry how to access the apps.

"You know my password?" canon Peter asked.

"I didn't know that." Peter pulled out his own phone and entered the password. "I'm changing it right now."

"Good idea," said Neal. "It's getting close to January, so time to change it to your anniversary." He grinned at El. "That's the most important date for him to remember, which puts it at the top of his list each year."

"I didn't know you were so romantic," El said approvingly to her husband. "What do you use for summer?"

"Who's Joe?" asked canon Neal as he handed the phone over to Henry.

"Oh, that's Peter's older brother. Nice guy. We all went to his wedding in Hawaii last Christmas," Neal explained.

"You have a brother?" canon Neal asked.

"You went to his wedding?" canon Peter asked. "What wedding? He's never remarried."

"Your reality sucks apparently," said Neal. He nudged his counterpart. "Did Peter ever tell you about his encounter with Bigfoot?"

"You told him about Bigfoot!" canon Peter almost yelled. "I can't believe this."

"You weren't supposed to tell anyone," Peter admonished Neal.

"But you already told me. I can tell me, right? Other me. So here's the deal," he explained to an avidly listening canon Neal. "Peter's parents are awesome, and they have a cabin in the Catskills. Great place to get away and think, by the way. Get them to take you there sometime to decompress after a big case."

Peter took the phone away from Henry and returned it to canon Peter. "Here. They're masters at double-teaming to distract us." He said it sternly, but he was actually glad that his Neal and Henry had gotten canon Neal smiling. This would go better if he were relaxed.

Canon Peter nodded. "Neal, I know you have an infinite capacity for putting off a difficult discussion. Stop the delaying tactics and tell me what you did."

At last, canon Neal explained how Curtis Hagen had set up the deal to release canon Peter from prison, and the things Hagen was blackmailing him into doing as a result.

Canon Peter noted, "If Hagen kept the video of you stealing the gold coins, he thinks he has the upper hand. He'll coerce you into committing even more crimes, and eventually you'll be caught and tossed back into prison. Maybe this is his revenge for your part in catching him when we first made your deal."

Canon Neal nodded, while the other Neal and Peter shared a significant glance. Their version of Hagen was also causing trouble, but he was taking a different path.

"Anyone want a beer?" canon Peter asked. No one took him up on it, so he grabbed one beer from the fridge and paced in the way Peter recognized doing when working through a puzzle. Finally he stopped and drank deeply before saying, "There has to be a way to catch Hagen at his own game without putting the two of us in prison."

"That's the spirit!" Peter said, wanting to encourage that line of thought. "Get in the trenches with Neal to solve this. Show him there's a legal solution, and that he's worth the effort of teaching him your way of doing things."

"Yeah," Henry added. "Instead of berating him for doing things the only way he knows, bring him over from the dark side." He paused. "You have Star Wars, right?" When the canon versions nodded he continued, "Obviously James Bennett was Vader, and his actions recently have been pushing his son to the dark side. You need to make sure that there's an opportunity for the light to win."

"One last case," canon Neal suggested. "We bring Hagen to justice and clean up this whole mess before we end our partnership, and then you start over in your new job and I get a fresh start with a new handler."

"Don't think of it as an end," Peter suggested. "The dynamic between you may change, but you're still friends. And I have a suggestion for after you've dealt with Hagen. Make Neal's first case with his new handler about finding this guy." He pointed at Henry. "Find him, or find justice for him if he died."

"Who are you?" canon Peter asked Henry.

"Remember the Winston-Winslow case?" Peter said before Henry could answer. "Was Robert Winslow arrested?"

Canon Peter shook his head. "He ran before that could happen. As far as I know, he's still on the wanted list."

"When James Bennett arrived on the scene, did you research Neal's other family ties?"

"Not much family to speak of on the Bennett side. Grandparents long deceased, and James had a stepsister he hadn't contacted in decades. On the Caffrey side the grandparents are an ambassador and an actress. An uncle was in the Air Force, who left a widow and daughter. An aunt who's a psychology professor used to work at Win-Win, and she was married to Robert Winslow for a time."

Henry swallowed the cookie he'd been eating and said, "Hi, I'm Henry Winslow. Son of Noelle and Robert. With Win-Win resources, as a teenager I figured out where Neal was placed in WITSEC, and when I was twenty I tracked him down after he ran away. He's been my best friend ever since. In my reality, my dad wanted to kill me when my grandfather decided to pass him over for the CEO role and prep me for the job instead. Sounds like in this reality maybe Dad got his wish, at least when it came to getting rid of me."

"You died in a boating accident," canon Peter recalled.

"No body was found," canon Neal added.

"Has Robert been causing any issues around here?" Neal asked. "In our reality after he went on the run, the only reason he didn't kill me was that Henry kept him engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse."

"I'd wondered if Henry faked his death," canon Neal said. "In the end I decided he hadn't, because he never got in touch, but maybe he didn't want to point Robert in my direction." He studied Henry for a while. "Either way, I'd like to know. If we find Robert and arrest him, then if you're alive you can go home. If not... well, at least I'd have closure."

"A missing persons case isn't something the White Collar team can take," canon Peter mused, "But Robert's wanted for white collar crimes. If I point out that he's Neal's uncle, I might be able to make an argument for using Neal's knowledge of him to reopen the hunt for Robert."

"We caught a fugitive from the most wanted list on the island," canon Neal said. "We've got a good track record." He was sounding more positive than he had all evening.

Peter wanted to ask what island they were talking about and who they'd caught, but Lavinia stepped in and announced that they needed to wrap up.

Neal looked at his counterpart. "What are you going to do when your sentence is up and you're off anklet?"

Canon Neal gave the Peters a sideways glance and shrugged. "Lately I hadn't thought I'd ever get off anklet, short of cutting it off and becoming a fugitive."

"But before the recent issues, what did you have in mind?"

"Not a lot of opportunities for an ex-con. Maybe security work?"

"Would Sara give you a recommendation at Sterling-Bosch?" Neal asked. "Or for that matter, if you find Henry he might want to bring you into Win-Win. Think about getting serious about the art — making your own works instead of forgeries."

"To be a real artist, you have to know who you are," canon Neal countered.

"Well, figure it out. Or consider teaching others if you don't feel inspired to create your own works. Remember, you have options."

Henry stood abruptly. "We're wasting our time here. No one's going to remember this conversation, right?" he asked Lavinia.

"But he remembered us," Neal objected, gesturing toward his canon self. "He mentioned your visit when he was in prison, and that was years ago from his perspective."

"Diana was with you," Lavinia said.

Peter wasn't sure what that had to do with it. And Henry challenged her with, "So?"

"You have much to learn," she told him. Then she rapped twice on the loft's door with her umbrella. The door opened and Diana walked through with a bottle of wine.

"Whoa," said canon Neal. "What happened to the baby bump?"

"Huh?" she asked, looking as confused at Peter felt.

Henry grinned. "Sounds like in this reality you're pregnant."

"Well." She seemed at a loss for words as she placed the wine bottle on the dining room table. "Caffrey, just tell me you're not the father."

Canon Neal grinned and canon Peter chuckled, saying, "I'm starting to see the family resemblance between Neal and his cousin. How do you handle both of them?"

Peter smiled. "Mostly they keep each other in check. When they're getting out of hand, I send in Diana."

"Cut it out and get me a couple of wine glasses," Diana ordered.

Canon Neal obliged, pouring two glasses of wine. "Interesting color," he said.

Peter nodded. It seemed like the color of autumn leaves, which he realized was actually multiple colors, but the wine did seem to change colors as he looked at it.

"Peter and Neal — the ones who actually belong in this reality — drink up," Diana said. "This stuff will fix these memories in your minds. What you do with those memories is up to you. If you want to remember, you will."

They clinked glasses and chugged the wine in a manner that had Neal wincing as the canon characters put the glasses back on the table.

Canon Peter held out his hand. "Remember all of it?"

"Yeah." Canon Neal shook his hand.

Lavinia shepherded the visitors out the loft's door, Diana carrying the wine bottle. "But how does that work?" Henry was demanding to know as he walked, bumping into a table by the doorway.

Peter left last and heard his counterpart saying to canon Neal, "Come by the house tomorrow? We can strategize over Christmas dinner how to stop Hagen. If El hears our plans, maybe she'll be less worried."

Peter reached out for his wife's hand.