White Collar Division. Wednesday morning. June 23, 2004.

In the morning Peter made a point of stopping by Neal's desk. "Sorry I couldn't get back to you on Monday. There was something you wanted to talk about?"

Neal had wanted to ask to get together again Sunday evening, hoping to get it right this time by thanking Peter for all he'd done, and even opening up about the memories of his mother that had flooded him on Father's Day. But yesterday that plan had fallen by the wayside. He wasn't going to invite himself over to the Burkes' while anyone in the bullpen could hear, and he had new weekend plans now. Some of those plans depended on Tricia, who was currently stepping off the elevator. He shook his head. "It's nothing. I'm good." He glanced quickly at Peter, wondering if he'd be relieved that Neal wasn't being too familiar in the office. But Peter wore his best poker face. Neal looked out toward his coworkers, who were standing up. "Time for the morning briefing." He stood and walked a few steps with Peter, but made a point of stopping in the break area for coffee, so that they wouldn't be seen walking into the conference room together.

###

Peter hadn't realized how much he'd hoped El was wrong about Neal needing space. It hit him squarely in the gut this morning when Neal didn't want to talk, when he made a point of not walking upstairs together.

Was this what retired Agent Thomas Gardiner had warned Peter about? A young man Neal's age didn't stay in hero-worship mode for long, Thomas had said. Soon he'd realize his hero was as flawed as everyone else, and after a period of adjustment they could settle into friendship. Peter wracked his brain to figure out what might have disillusioned Neal.

Was it something to do with that DVD? Should Peter not have laughed at the scene of Irene with baby Neal? Neal had been so pensive afterward, eager to leave the house. Who knows what had been going through his head.

Or was it something to do with the Robert Winslow case, and his worry about Henry? Peter noticed Neal's look of frustration in the morning briefing when Jones reported he could use some help on the case. Neal didn't have a case, but there's no way he could be assigned to work this one. That had to rankle.

At the end of the briefing, Tricia said, "One of my goals for this year was to do some coaching. I didn't have much to say about that goal in my midyear accomplishments, and I need to fix that. Since I don't have a case now, I'd like to focus on helping our two most junior team members for the rest of this week."

That would be Jones and Neal. Peter nodded. He liked the idea of someone he trusted keeping an eye on Neal right now, with one caveat. "They can't work on the same case."

"Of course. Do you have time to review my plans now?"

Peter nodded. "Jones, Neal, let's see what Tricia has in mind for you. Everyone else can get back to work."

Her plan for Jones was straightforward and it made sense to offer him guidance in his task of looking for Robert. Jones would bring her up to speed on what had been done so far, and she would help him map out his next steps.

Then she moved on to her plan for Neal. "I think it's safe to say that Neal prefers to learn by doing, so I'd like to put him on a case that would help him learn FBI procedures and practice some new skills." She looked straight at Peter. "The Henry Winslow case."

"What? There isn't a Henry Winslow case. He's gone off the rails looking for his father, and the last thing I want is to send Neal careening after him."

"You're right, there isn't a Henry Winslow case now, but there was one in late '90s. He had been attending the University of Texas, but never showed up for any of his classes in the fall semester that started a shortly after his twentieth birthday. A week into the semester he canceled his enrollment, citing health issues, and was refunded most of his tuition. No one could find him, and his family reported him missing. Occasionally he left a message for his parents, but refused to tell them where he was or if he was under any kind of coercion. Despite all the resources of Win-Win, they went months at a time without getting a single hit on his location. He didn't show up again until March, when he got a voicemail from his mother telling him that Neal was missing. A few days later, Robert had us close the case, saying that Henry had been found and was safe. But to this day we have no idea where Henry was all that time, or how a twenty-year-old could hide from the FBI and from Win-Win."

"That must have upset Robert," Jones said. "From everything I've heard, the guy sounds like a control freak."

Tricia nodded. "It's unlikely he was content with Henry's safe return. I have to assume that in the intervening years he researched how Henry eluded everyone, and is using what he learned to elude us now. My proposal is to have Neal look into that cold case, and to tell us what he learns. Then we can apply that knowledge to the Robert Winslow case." She turned to Neal. "In return, you have to promise to turn all leads over to us if there's any chance that they'll point us to Robert. You are absolutely not to look for Robert, and if you have any reason to think you've uncovered his location, you let us know immediately, understood?"

"I got it."

Peter studied Neal. "You really don't know how Henry stayed under the radar all that time?"

Neal shrugged. "He taught me a lot of what he learned, but not how he learned all of it."

Peter didn't like this, and he started looking for ways to poke holes in Tricia's plan. "I don't suppose Henry was hiding in New York all that time? You know how tight the travel budget is."

"He probably wasn't in New York, but Tricia already warned me I'd need to do most of my research from the office. I'm already scheduled to take Friday off and travel to Seattle for Angela's birthday. I can change my flights, make a few layovers, and not charge the FBI a dime for airfare or hotels. All I ask is to let me come back a few days later than planned, without burning vacation time since I'll be working on a case. I'll check in with Tricia while I'm away," he promised. "You'll always know what's going on."

"Tricia's going on vacation," Peter protested.

"It's part of my goals," she said. "I'm willing to make the time for this. I can talk to Neal from the beach. And if I don't answer, he'll call you with his questions and progress reports." Her phone beeped and she scrolled through a text message. "Sorry, it's the daycare. My youngest isn't feeling well. I need to call them." She stepped out of the conference room and ducked down the corridor leading to the smaller meeting rooms. It was standard practice when someone wanted privacy for a call.

Before Peter could tell Neal to forget working this case, Barbara -- Hughes' secretary -- walked in. "Agent Burke? The budget meeting has moved up. Can you join them? It's in the same room as before."

"Yeah, sure." Peter managed not to swear at this untimely interruption as he stood up to gather the budget reports and laptop from his office. "Neal, we're not done talking about this."

Neal managed to look appropriately serious as he stood and returned to his desk, but Peter saw the light in his eyes. The kid thought he was going to get away with this.

Peter stepped into the room reserved for the budget meetings, but the only person there was Tricia. "Sorry for the subterfuge," she said. "I called Barbara from the parking garage this morning and asked her to pull you into a budget meeting when I left the morning briefing."

"What's going on?" Peter asked as he took the seat across the table from Tricia. "There's no way Neal is going to limit himself to a cold case from the last decade. He's going to look for Henry in the here-and-now, and that's going to lead him toward Robert."

"I know. Just like I know that his plea to me yesterday was part of a con. You have a brother, right?"

Peter took a deep breath at this sudden turn. He'd been prepared to chastise Tricia for letting Neal get involved in something dangerous, and now it seemed she was ahead of both of them. "Yeah. Joe. He's about ten years older than me."

"Maybe that's the difference, then. Both of mine are younger. And both were astoundingly stubborn at Neal's age. From our parents' perspective, there was no reasoning with them. Being closer to their age I had better luck, and I learned the best way to deal with them was to let them think I was going along with their plans. Sometimes I could start to steer them in another direction. Sometimes I couldn't but at least I was on hand to help when they crashed."

"You're telling me the answer is to let Neal do whatever the hell he wants?"

"I think we both know that there's no stopping Neal from looking for Henry. We can call it a case and exert a level of control that way, or we can forbid him to do it and then fire him when he disobeys a direct order." She paused while Peter took that in. "If you've decided he needs to leave the Bureau, then tell me and I'll get out of the way. But I have to say I think that would be a poor decision. I've grown to respect his skills and... I like him, Peter. I see how we can be good for him, and how he can be good for White Collar. I want a way to keep him, and I think this is our best shot."

As much as Peter wanted to say no, he could see the sense in what Tricia was saying. "I need to think this over."

"Of course. I had all night to work through it. You need to catch up. I'm going to start working with Neal, and find out as much as I can about his plan while making suggestions to keep him safe. When your 'budget meeting' is over, pull him aside to tell him you won't let him work the case."

"It's a foregone conclusion that I'm going to say no? Then why bother working with him while I think it over?"

Tricia grinned. "Because while I'm the encouraging big sister in this scenario, you're the dad. It's your job to say no. Anything else would be out of character. Then he'll try to persuade you. If you really want him to think we aren't on to him, you have to let him believe he's conned you. We don't want him to think I persuaded you. As far as he knows, this conversation never took place because I fell for his arguments yesterday."

Peter leaned back in his chair, seeing his second-in-command in a new light. "Did your brothers ever figure out you were playing them?"

"Sometimes I would let them know, to make sure they remember I'm smarter than they are. I'm waiting until they have kids of their own before I share the full extent of my genius."

"Neal's pretty smart himself," Peter warned.

"That's why I'll let him think I fell for most of the con, but not all of it. I want him to realize he has to stay on his toes around me, and that the best way to manage me is to let me in on at least part of what he's doing."

"I make it a point not to criticize FBI leadership in the office, but I have to make an exception today. They were wrong not to put you in charge of Missing Persons. And I'm finally starting to realize how lucky I am to have you on my team."

"Thanks, Peter, that's..." She trailed off and stared at the table a moment before continuing. "I did everything I could to be professional after Rice got the job, but I'll admit I was bitter about it. You've done a lot to restore my faith in the Bureau. That's one of the reasons the mentoring goal is important to me. I want to help others on the team keep their faith in what the FBI stands for, and if anyone needs help in that area, it's Neal. He needs to see that he can solve problems, like finding his cousin, inside the system instead of circumventing us."

Peter nodded, and kept thinking about her words after she left. Hadn't that been the whole point of recruiting Neal, to show him the good he could achieve on the right side of the law? How could he keep Neal on the straight and narrow if he forced the kid to be an outlaw? Tricia was right; Neal would go outside the law to find Henry if the FBI told him not to help his family.

He tried to imagine that Joe was the one who'd gone missing. Would he really stand aside because FBI policy told him not to get involved in a case involving family? Officially, he might, but he was certain Hughes and others would unofficially keep him in the loop, rather than let him go rogue.

How much harder was it for Neal? To start, he didn't trust the FBI the way Peter did. Even worse, no one was treating Henry's disappearance as a case because they were all certain he'd reappear when Robert was located. But who knew what kind of trouble Henry was getting into, with no one to curb the desperate instincts of a reckless young man? If he found Robert at the same time the FBI did, he might act rashly, making things worse. They might lose Robert again, or perhaps have to kill him rather than arrest him if Henry threw them off their game.

Suppose Peter let Neal look for Henry. Suppose Neal found his cousin. Henry would try to convince Neal to let him continue on his path. He might even try to convince Neal to join him. If Neal found his loyalties divided between the FBI and his best friend, what choice would he make?

If Tricia was right, they couldn't keep Neal from going after Henry, and their best hope was to be the angel on Neal's shoulder, influencing him all along the way.

Peter checked his watch, surprised to see that more than an hour had passed. Time to confront Neal.

###

"Umm, Neal?" Tricia directed Neal's attention upstairs, where Peter stood in front of his office. He was giving Neal the double finger-point. "I think it's time for me to work with Jones for a while."

Neal nodded and headed into Peter's office. He took a seat while Peter closed the door. "How was the budget meeting?"

"Torturous. Made all the worse by worrying about this case."

Neal opened his mouth to protest, but closed it again when Peter held up a hand.

"Remember when you told me that Michael Darling needed the FBI's help?"

Neal nodded. It was the first case he'd worked with Peter, the first case he'd brought to the FBI. Half the challenge had been convincing Peter there was a case at all.

"My initial reaction was to tell you to forget it. It didn't sound like much of a case, and it wasn't in our jurisdiction."

"But instead you told me to prove he needed our help. And I did," Neal reminded him. "And then we found out who was threatening him."

Peter leaned forward, elbows on his desk. "It still wasn't much of a case. But I encouraged you because your interest in it was a good sign. It meant you wanted to do the job. Getting a taste of casework – solving puzzles, chasing down an answer – it was good for you. I wanted you to see for yourself that you belong here."

"Swapping an addiction," Neal said.

"Huh?"

"Something Byron said. He told me I was addicted to the cons. And he said working for the FBI let me exchange an illegal addiction for a legal one. That's what was happening on that first case. You gave me a taste of something new."

Peter looked taken aback. "I don't care for an analogy that makes me into a drug dealer, Neal. And if you're going to accuse me of sending you into withdrawal because I won't let you work the case of your choice, this conversation ends right now."

As much as Neal regretted offending Peter, it did serve the purpose of putting distance between himself and the boss. Hughes should be happy. "Sorry, I got sidetracked. What was your point about that first case?"

"Having an interest in a case is always a good sign. In normal circumstances it's something I want to encourage. But some cases... Part of my job is steering you away from cases that could damage your career. This is one of those cases, Neal. You don't have the objectivity to take it on."

Neal relaxed, although he didn't let it show in his posture. "That's where Tricia comes in. She brings the objectivity. I bring the inside knowledge about Henry. Together we're the perfect team for this case. Really, is it all that different from our first case? I was a big fan of Michael Darling's music, but that didn't stop me from solving the case. It worked out because you were with me, teaching me the FBI procedures and balancing me out."

"It's not the same thing. If you find Henry, he could ask you to do things, or to ignore things, that would jeopardize your position here. And because you think of him as a big brother, you'd be tempted to go along. You might even feel obligated. At least Michael wasn't going to lure you away from the FBI."

It was tempting to tell Peter that Michael had offered him another job, or at least a job lead, but that would take the conversation in a direction he didn't want to go. "Like I said, that's where Tricia comes in. The thing is..." He paused, as if gathering his thoughts. "I'm no expert on this HR stuff, Peter, but I know how to read people. And I think Tricia needs this case as much as I do. Maybe more."

Peter leaned back and laughed. "Tricia needs a vacation, and she's about to take one. What makes you think she needs to have this case on her hands when she's supposed to be relaxing?"

"She wanted that lead role at Missing Persons, more than she lets on. It's great that you treat her as a senior member of the team, but it doesn't make up for what she nearly had. This mentoring stuff, it's the closest she can get to being a manager, and you've kept her too busy being just another agent –"

"Senior agent," Peter interrupted.

"Too busy being a senior agent," Neal acknowledged, "to have any time for that. Sure, she came to White Collar to get away from Rice, but also because she expected you'd treat her with more respect than Rice would. You've gotta acknowledge that she has management potential, or you're dashing her dreams again."

"Are you telling me... You think she'd quit if I don't let her mentor you through this case?"

Neal leaned forward, going in for the kill. "Are you certain this vacation is just a trip to the beach? Are you certain those half days she took recently were really because her kids were sick? How often do kids get colds and sinus infections in June?"

"You think she's interviewing for another job." Peter frowned.

"I think she's feeling a twinge of guilt about it, and she's giving you one last chance to show her that you value her full skill set. Honestly, Peter, does she have a long-term career at the FBI that includes moving to your level someday? If not, tell us we can't work this case and she can quit with a clean conscience."

Peter closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't want to lose Tricia." He looked directly into Neal's eyes. "And I don't want to lose you, either."

Neal hadn't expected that. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Yeah. None of that impassioned argument about not driving Tricia away was fueled by your own frustration with the Bureau? You think I don't know how tempting it must be to walk if I don't let you look for Henry? I've considered how I'd feel in your shoes, and what the Bureau would need to do to rein me in."

Neal couldn't help being curious. It was so hard to think of Peter as rebellious. "What would they need to do?"

"They'd have to keep me informed, show me they were doing everything possible and making progress. And if I had relevant information, they'd have to listen to me and act on that information. If I didn't believe they would do that, that they would take the case seriously and show me that level of respect, I couldn't continue working for the Bureau. So I get it, Neal. I understand why you can't let this case go. But you need to understand my position, too. I need you to show me and the Bureau the same level of trust and respect that you're asking of us. Full disclosure, Neal. You keep Tricia and me aware of all your plans and all your findings. If we ask you to put a halt to what you're doing while we strategize, you follow our orders. We do this as a team. Don't go lone wolf on us. That's the deal. Take it or leave it."

"I'll take it," Neal said.

He went back to his desk and worked with Tricia on his plans. And in the evening he went running in a local park. Back in high school, he'd learned that running track was a good way to deal with his flight instinct. Outrunning others helped him achieve a sense of escape. Tonight he ran to decompress from a new stress. Because telling Peter he agreed to the deal was the first time Neal had lied to him.

He kept telling himself that maybe it wasn't a lie. Maybe he wouldn't have to hide anything from the FBI. But he didn't really believe that full disclosure was in the cards, not if he stuck to his plan of playing Find the Lady.

A/N: See Choirboy Caffrey for the Michael Darling Case.