Federal Building, Manhattan, NY. December 19, 2003. Friday morning.

Because Neal's desk was near the door to the bullpen, he could see when team members arrived and left. On what was the last day before going on vacation for many of them, they came in late and left for long coffee breaks. Neal soon realized that looking up and making eye contact as they walked by made several of them uneasy — particularly the ones who'd made a point of checking their watches and noting the times he'd come and gone all week.

Not Agent Hitchum, of course. He just got mad. But since the very fact of Neal's existence made him mad, Neal didn't care.

He also noticed that most of the team members took turns walking to Peter's office, carrying wrapped gifts. The fact that Neal hadn't thought to bring anything for Peter was weighing on him. He glanced at the plate of guava thumbprint cookies he'd bought from the Aloha Emporium. If he gave them to Peter as a gift, he'd have nothing to bring to the party.

"Neal?"

He looked up to see Agent Jorge Badillo, who had left fifteen minutes ago. Now the agent held two cups of coffee.

"Agent Wiese said this is your favorite." Jorge handed one of the cups to Neal.

Neal inhaled the steam coming from the lid's opening and nodded. "I have several favorites when it comes to coffee. This is one of them. Thanks."

"Yeah. Umm, some of us..." Jorge looked over his shoulder. "Some of us are sorry about how we treated you this week."

Neal raised a brow. "Did Peter tell you to apologize?"

"No. It was Tricia. She read us the riot act yesterday when she caught us comparing notes about you."

"Okay. I appreciate the honesty." Neal tasted the coffee. "Not bad. Are you around next week, Jorge?"

"I'll be here Monday and Tuesday."

"Would you show me where you bought this? I could return the favor, buy one for you."

"I'd like that." Jorge glanced toward Peter's office.

Neal saw yet another team member hand Peter a small, wrapped package. Jorge was one of the few people who hadn't done that yet. "Did you get Peter a gift?"

"No." Jorge looked stressed. "There are lots of rules about gifts at the FBI, you know? Not just from outsiders, but internally, too." He noticed Neal's look of confusion. "You haven't taken the ethics training yet?"

"Not yet. Peter said I could put off most of the online training until next week, because things will be slower then."

"Well the thing is, a government agency — especially one like the FBI — has to avoid even the appearance of bribes and favoritism. There are rules about how much you can spend, and stuff like that. Last year my team's supervisor told us no gifts, because it was too much of a hassle. I assumed Peter would be the same way. He seems like a no-nonsense kind of guy, you know? This morning I tried to find something that would meet all the rules when I was at the coffee shop, but it had been picked clean. All the low-dollar stuff was gone."

Neal held up the coffee Jorge had given him.

"I considered that, but with my luck Peter would be in a meeting and the coffee would be cold before I could give it to him. And I don't know what he likes."

"I'm facing the same quandary," Neal confided. "I didn't realize people would give Peter gifts. Now if I don't give him something, it's one more sign I don't fit in here, and you can bet if I do give him something, there will be people who assume it's payback for hiring me."

"It's a no-win situation," Jorge agreed.

"Good thing con artists — I mean, retired con artists — excel at turning around no-win situations. How do you feel about a joint gift?"

"Something from both of us? I'm in." He checked his watch. "Do we have time to buy something? I mean, I think Agent Lucas is supposed to follow you over lunch."

"There's no shopping needed for what I have in mind. We'll make a quick trip to the supply closet, and then find an empty conference room."

Federal Building, Manhattan, NY. Friday afternoon.

"Need a ride?" Peter asked.

Neal was still at his desk, probably concerned he'd be considered a slacker if he left early, but there was no one left to impress. Other than the two of them, the bullpen was deserted. "I don't want to make you late."

"Don't worry about it. El bet me I wouldn't leave the office before 5pm. I've got plenty of time to drop you off and still be home before she's expecting me."

"Okay." Neal closed his laptop and picked up his coat. "Tricia was right about this place turning into a ghost town after the party."

"Gotta get out of here before the sugar rush wears off," Peter explained as they walked to the elevators. "You want to be home by the time you crash." They stepped into an elevator crowded with people eager to get home. Peter could smell the sugar on their breath.

In the parking garage, Peter said, "The card was clever." Neal had given him a hand-drawn card, with an intricate scene of Santa's workshop. The front featured Peter as Santa, with El as Mrs. Claus peeking over his shoulder and Hughes by his side as Jack Frost. The card's interior was filled with toys drawn to resemble the White Collar team members. They were recognizable not only because Neal had a great eye for the details of their faces, but also because the toys were an excellent match to their personalities.

"I couldn't have done it without Jorge. I don't know everyone well enough to guess what toys they would be."

"Jones as a sailor was obvious," Peter said as he unlocked the passenger door for Neal and stowed a bag of gifts from team members in the back seat. "You knew he was in the Navy."

"I wouldn't have guessed Agent Miller as a robot," Neal said while pulling on his seat belt. "Jorge said he's into electronics in a big way."

The engine roared to life and Peter switched on the heater. It was a cold day. "You made Hitchum into a snowman because he's been cold to you."

Neal scoffed. "Not just me. He won't give Jorge the time of day."

"Really?" Peter looked at Neal in surprise.

"Eyes on the road!" Neal insisted.

Peter looked forward in plenty of time to slam his breaks to miss the car that swerved in front of him. "Relax." He waited until they were at a stoplight to ask, "You're still staying at Aloha Emporium, right? You mentioned looking at a new place."

"I'm moving tomorrow. It's the Emporium for one more night."

"Make sure to update your address in your personnel file."

"Got it."

A few blocks later Peter asked, "Everything go all right for you this week?"

"About what I expected. You warned me that research wouldn't be very exciting. I'm looking forward to going into the field."

"I'll find the right case to start you on field work when I'm back from vacation," Peter promised. "About that card... You as a lion?"

Neal grinned. "I've got the best mane on the team."

"Yeah, your hair's okay," Peter said. "But I can't help noticing, lion sounds a lot like lying. Were you trying to make a point?"

"A subtle jab at the team members who don't trust me yet."

"If anyone tries to pressure you into lying — "

"I'll tell you," Neal interrupted. "You've made that clear, Peter."

"I know, I know. It's just that I didn't have much time to spend with you this week, and now I'm worried about leaving you to figure everything out on your own. I should have spent more time on your orientation."

"There's at least eight hours of orientation videos I'll watch next week. Anyway, I won't be on my own. Jones will be there, and Jorge's around for the first couple of days."

It was a relief to hear that Neal felt he could turn to his team members for help. There was just one more question that Peter needed to ask. Trust and respect. He repeated his father's advice to himself, because he needed to get this right. "The likeness of Elizabeth on the card was amazing." She'd visited the office a few times, but it was hard to believe Jorge had given Neal such an accurate description of her face.

"I'm surprised you don't have a photo of her on your desk."

"She asked me to bring it home. For Christmas she's getting me a fancier frame."

"You know what she's getting you for Christmas?"

"Yeah, we plan together what we're going to get for holidays."

"That doesn't seem romantic." Neal sounded deeply disapproving.

"I told you, I don't go for the whole Gift of the Magi thing. For the most part, we select gifts that involve spending time together, like tickets to an event, or a trip someplace we both want to visit."

"You may have a point." Neal paused. "By event, you mean a movie or play, right? Not a baseball game."

"El loves baseball!" Peter protested.

"We're back to unromantic."

He held back the urge to argue, realizing that Neal was deliberately directing the conversation away from what Peter wanted to ask. "How did you know what El looks like?"

Neal might have squirmed slightly. "When I learned you were the agent assigned to catch me, I wanted to learn more about you."

"Were you surveilling my house?"

"No. I may have asked a couple of friends to do a little research. They found some photos. College yearbook. You playing baseball. A wedding photo in your hometown newspaper, stuff like that."

Peter hadn't realized his parents had sent a wedding photo to their local newspaper, but he wasn't surprised, either. "These friends of yours... Would one of them happen to be Henry Winslow?"

"As a matter of fact, Henry is particularly skilled in research. Finally being able to best him at the game is definitely a perk of working for the FBI. Although he claims his resources are superior."

"So this wasn't you using the alias Henry Winslow to do research. We're talking about the person who lets you use his identity."

"Correct. You can let me off here."

"It's still four blocks away."

"You're heading into gridlock if you keep going in this direction. Take a right at the next street and you can get turned around and head to Brooklyn."

He had a point, but Peter had expected to have a few more minutes to wrap up the conversation. "Let Jones know if you need anything while I'm on vacation. And you have my cell phone number, right? You can call, if you have questions you aren't comfortable asking anyone else. It won't be a problem."

"You're such a dad." Neal opened the door. "Merry Christmas, Peter." He slammed the door as Peter returned the greeting, and waved before walking away.

"I guess that went well," Peter said to the car.

Burke residence, Brooklyn, NY. Friday evening.

"We need to make a list of what's from who," El said while she upended the bag of gifts from Peter's team on the dining room table, "so you can write thank you notes." They'd finished dinner and taken the puppy for a walk, and she refused to ignore those gifts any longer.

Peter groaned at the thought. "This is what I get for assuming the team knew I didn't want gifts. Next year I'm making a formal announcement about it as soon as it's December. No, before that. I'm announcing it before Thanksgiving so no one buys me anything on Black Friday."

"I don't recognize the bag." El held it up to admire. It was a canvas bag featuring cardinals and chickadees on a snowy tree.

"That's from Tricia, and it's probably the only practical thing in the bunch. She got it for free from a nature group she volunteers with."

El nodded. "The Audubon Society. She's mentioned them." She sat down with a pen and paper.

Peter sat down beside her. He unwrapped presents while she made a list of what he'd received. Bows and shredded wrapping paper fell down to the floor, to the delight of Satchmo.

Most of the gifts were candy, and they discussed using them as stocking stuffers for El's niece and nephews. Peter cleared the table and floor of the gift wrap, and that's when El saw the card. "This is adorable!" Peter as Santa wore what was obviously a fake beard; the wires that attached it over his ears had slipped down to reveal most of his face. She stood on tiptoes, looking over his shoulder. The artist had kept her hair straight rather than going with the bun Mrs. Claus traditionally wore, but the apron and hat made her role clear.

"That's from Neal. And Jorge. Neal did the drawing, and Jorge helped with..." Peter opened the card, "... deciding what toys to use."

"Oh!" El studied the interior of the card. "That's genius. Tricia as a Xena doll, with a hawk on her shield." She reached for the pen but changed her mind. "We have to make a copy of this. I don't want to ruin the original, but I want to write down the names of each team member by their toy so I'll recognize them the next time I visit your office." She studied more of the toys. "That's Jones. That's Travis. Who's the angel?"

"That's Jorge. He's one of the most religious team members."

"I want to hug the little lion. Is that Neal?"

"A play on words about how some team members thought he was lyin' about wanting to reform."

"Poor guy." El reached out to prop the card on a buffet table, alongside the other cards they'd received. "Did you thank him?"

Peter frowned.

"You didn't thank him?"

"We talked about the drawings for a while. I remember calling it clever."

"It's a good start, but you can do better."

"I can call him," Peter offered.

"Hmm."

"Don't call him?"

"Who wants a call from their boss over the weekend? I think you should wait until next week. Then you can thank him and check in with him, to see how he's doing while you're out." El reached behind her for something she'd hidden on a lower shelf of the buffet. "Tonight I was hoping you could help me with something I found over my lunch hour." She held up a sprig of mistletoe.

Peter leaned forward to examine it. "As a matter of fact, I'm familiar with this troublemaker, and exposure to it shouldn't be taken lightly. I should warn you, it could take all night to deal with the effects."

El slid onto his lap, delighted that he was getting into the spirit of things. "Can you help me, Doctor Burke?"

"What are your symptoms?"

She rested her head on his shoulder. "Suddenly I'm feeling very warm."

"I noticed. Fortunately you're my only patient, because the treatment will be rigorous. We'll both be exhausted before it's over."

She shivered. "What's the treatment for mistletoe exposure?"

"You'll need to get to bed as soon as possible, but first we should go to the examination room."

"That would be the shower?"

"We've both been exposed, and there could be pollen on our clothing," Peter explained. "We'll need to get undressed and thoroughly scrubbed."

"Then what?"

"That's when the treatment truly begins." Peter stood up, put an arm around El, and they walked to the staircase.

"I've heard there's mouth-to-mouth resuscitation involved," she suggested.

"We should practice." Peter kissed her. "Not bad. Personally, I think it works better when the subject is lying down."

"Then we should try that, too. In the name of science."

"I'm a big fan of the scientific method. I want to conduct extensive tests."

El giggled.

A/N: It's fun to write Peter and El together. I like the perspective and advice El offers, and how their relationship reminds Peter that there's more to life than work.

Agent Badillo is another of Silbrith's OCs that I've borrowed.

The Neal-as-a-lion reference also comes from Silbrith. In her stories, one of Neal's former mentors referred to Neal as a lion cub, and that ties into the title of one of her stories in this AU: Lion's Lair.