A/N: This story is a combination of four short stories that were set so close together that I decided to combine them for publications on Wattpad. 

Chapters 1-4 are Spring Break

Chapters 2-7 are Casual Day

Chapter 8 is Taxing Situation

Chapter 9-10 is April Fool

FBI Manhattan White Collar Division. Thursday afternoon. March 3, 2005.

Agent Peter Burke stayed busy with meetings throughout the day so that he wouldn't hover, but he kept checking the time. At two o'clock he walked over to Neal Caffrey's desk. "You okay?"

Neal saved a document and stopped staring at his computer screen. "I've always said mortgage fraud cases were the most boring thing at the Bureau, but I may have underestimated medical reimbursement forms."

"All you have to do is stop taking wild risks. No trips to the hospital, no more paperwork." Peter said it calmly, because he knew Neal had been on edge leading up to Tuesday's op. Two days later they were both finally starting to relax. Rather than rehashing their arguments about those risks he'd mentioned, Peter simply said, "You're working half-days the rest of this week, remember? Ten to two. Time for you to head out. Those forms aren't going anywhere."

"Unfortunately," Neal agreed. He powered down the computer and grabbed his jacket.

"You're going to take it easy this afternoon, right?" Peter prompted.

"Sure. I'll spend some time at the loft before heading to tonight's class." Neal was in his second semester of graduate school, studying art history and visual arts.

After a year of working together, Peter could usually tell when Neal was trying to con him. The vague answer, the smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, those were all clues that Neal wasn't as calm as he pretended to be. The stress of being deep in a con in order to convince a ruthless criminal that they were alike did a number on his psyche. Thus the insistence that Neal ease back into the office routine. Hopefully being around his friends at Columbia would help thaw out the emotions Neal had frozen to get through the op.

Aloha Emporium. Thursday afternoon. March 3, 2005.

After changing out of his suit into jeans and a Columbia sweatshirt, Neal was restless. Instead of pacing in his loft at June Ellington's mansion, he went to the Aloha Emporium. Settling in at an empty table in the cafe section of the Hawaii-themed shop, he ordered a cup of Kona coffee and started to review the latest assignment for his Computational Art class.

His mind, however, kept returning to a comment June had made on his way out. She'd mentioned that his birthday was coming up and asked if he had plans.

Neal leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. He really wanted to skip the whole birthday thing this year. Given a choice, he'd like to relax and not have a bunch of family and friends staring at him, willing him to be merry. Next year, sure, he'd do the party thing again if that's what they wanted, but right now he needed a break.

How could he convince Henry of that without setting off alarms about his state of mind?

It wouldn't be easy. The tradition of Henry planning surprise birthday celebrations had started eight years ago when Neal turned eighteen, shortly after running away from home. His mother had broken WITSEC protocol to contact her family and asked for help tracking down the runaway. The end result had been twenty-year old cousin Henry finding Neal in Chicago, but Henry also had demons he was running from. Instead of returning to their homes, they'd spent the next few years on the road, living hand-to-mouth and eking out a living as con artists, pick pockets, gamblers, musicians... The list went on and on.

That first birthday they'd spent at an amusement park, and the celebrations had grown increasingly elaborate from there. But maybe this year Neal could get a head start. If he made his own plans now, he'd have the upper hand for once.

Right. What did normal people do for their birthdays?

Neal looked around and saw Angela. She was about as normal as his friends got, and she shared his frustration with Henry's bossiness. She'd be the perfect accomplice for this.

###

Angela Caffrey saw her cousin Neal enter the Emporium, but she remained behind the counter balancing the shop's books. He'd helped her get the part-time job here after she started graduate school at Columbia this semester.

When Neal waved a hand in front of her face she removed her headphones and turned off her MP3 player, but not fast enough to keep him from recognizing the song. He raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"

"Just some failed plans for spring break bringing me down." She glanced at her MP3 player for a moment before continuing. "Over the summer when Henry had us posing as rock stars — that was the only time I've ever been to Las Vegas. I thought it'd be fun to go back, spend some time in the resorts, try out the gourmet restaurants and even try my hand at gambling. The problem is, when I mentioned it to Michael, he took it the wrong way." She could feel her cheeks warming at the mention of Neal's fellow art student, who was also her new boyfriend. "When I asked if he'd like to go to Vegas with me over spring break, he thought I wanted to hit one of the quickie wedding chapels. He kind of freaked out."

"That's why you were listening to 'Cry' by Faith Hill?"

"I go for country music when I'm sad."

"Spring break's the week of March 14, right?"

"Yeah. It was always something I looked forward at the University of Washington." She smiled at the happy memories. "My freshman year some friends and I went to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. The fields of flowers were glorious, and we spent a day there and then went up to Victoria, B.C. for a few days. The next year there'd been a record snowfall and the ski resorts in the Cascades were still open, so we headed into the mountains. The year after that we went to the Washington coast, hitting some of the cute little towns like Ocean Shores and Pacific Beach. Last year we went hiking in the Olympic Mountains; it has a rain forest, you know. The scenery was amazing."

"I didn't realize you were so outdoorsy."

Angela shrugged. "I prefer living in a city, but for vacations I like to get back to nature sometimes."

"No Girls Gone Wild moments, then?"

It took an effort not to snort. "Can you imagine what our grandfather would say? What about you? Any memorable spring breaks?"

"Not really. There wasn't money for stuff like that, and traveling was discouraged... you know." He'd been in WITSEC until he'd finished high school — not something he was supposed to mention in a public place.

It wasn't a surprise when she thought about it, but still Angela couldn't help exclaiming, "You've never had a spring break! Oh, we have to fix that. What are you going to do this year?"

"Well, nothing. I mean, it's a little late to ask for a week off of work. I just thought I'd take a long weekend. My birthday's the Monday after spring break."

"You can combine them, I suppose." She paused. "Unless Henry already made plans?"

A stubborn look flashed across Neal's face. "He hasn't mentioned anything. Besides, like you said, it's my first real spring break. Anyone would understand I want to make my own plans for that."

She grinned at the thought of their older cousin's reaction. "Yeah, maybe that'll work, if you make those plans fast."

"You'll help, right?" Neal waited for her to nod. "Your previous vacations sounded good, but I'd rather stay local. What do people do for spring break around here?"

"Oh, there are lots of options. Atlantic City, for instance. Or if you want to follow my old routine of heading into the great outdoors, go up to the Catskills maybe. The resort you went to for that case in January, that sounded fun."

Neal looked thoughtful. "I could make something like that work. What if I arranged a trip to the Catskills for you, me, and Henry?"

"I get to come along?" Angela hopped down from the stool behind the counter and hugged him. "I'd love it!"

"One thing, though. Once I tell Henry about it, he may try to take over. He's used to dictating what we do — thinks it's his right because he's the oldest. Just remember this is my plan, and you're on my side. Got it?"

She gave him a sharp salute she'd learned as an Air Force brat. "Aye, sir! You're in charge of Operation Spring Break."

###

Burke residence, Brooklyn, NY. Thursday evening.

"Are you okay, hon?" Elizabeth Burke asked her husband midway through the meal.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry." Peter looked at his wife apologetically. As patient as she was about the demands of his job, he should pay attention when she described her day.

"Still worried about Neal?"

He couldn't deny it. El knew he'd woken from nightmares the last two nights. His mind still wouldn't let go of all the things that could have gone wrong during the op earlier this week. "Hughes reminded me it's been more than a year since Neal's firearm certification. That means it's expired, and I need to get him recertified by the end of the month or there will be a reprimand because he took a gun into the Met Tuesday for that showdown with Keller."

El frowned. She'd been present last spring as Neal flashed back to a childhood incident when he'd witnessed a shooting. "Neal hates guns. I can't imagine he'll want to go to a firing range for certification."

Peter nodded. "It also goes counter to my goal of not stressing him out."

"I wonder..." El trailed off, seeming lost in thought for a moment. "Could you schedule it for when Henry's back in town? They're so competitive, maybe if they were both at the firing range it would seem more like a game."

"Good idea. He mentioned he'll be back for Neal's birthday, but we didn't have time to discuss how long he'll stay or what he has in mind. Did he talk to you about it when he was here?" Henry had stayed at their home when he came to New York recently in order to surprise Neal.

"No, but both of you were so upset about Neal's plan to fake his death. Everything else took a back seat to that."

###

Elizabeth kept a straight face until Peter took Satchmo out for a walk. Then she indulged in a pleased smile. She'd told Peter the truth. It wasn't until after Henry left New York that he called her to discuss Neal's birthday.

The party last year for Neal's twenty-fifth birthday had involved bringing him back into the arms of family members he hadn't seen since he'd gone into WITSEC as a young child. Henry's goal had been for Neal to become comfortable around his family, and it had worked. By the end of the year he'd been completely at ease spending the holidays in Hawaii with the Caffreys, Winslows, and Burkes when Henry's mother Noelle Caffrey Winslow married Peter's older brother, Joe Burke.

This year, Henry had something different in mind. He wanted it to be a surprise for both Peter and Neal, and he had asked for El's help in bringing everything together. She picked up her phone to leave a message for him. The firearm certification was a twist they hadn't accounted for.

Henry Winslow's apartment, Baltimore, MD. Monday evening. March 7, 2005.

Henry opened a beer and plopped down on his sofa. It had been a long day at Winston-Winslow, the elite private investigation and security company his great-grandfather had started forty-some years ago. At first Henry had resisted joining the family business, but he had a gift for investigating that couldn't be denied. Today had been the kind of day he hated, spent mostly in meetings.

After ordering a pizza, Henry turned his attention to his side project: Neal's birthday. June had confirmed by email that she reminded Neal of the upcoming birthday, and Elizabeth had been rallying the forces on her side while still keeping her husband in the dark. Angela was the biggest wildcard, and he called her to check in.

"I'm not sure about this," Angela said when he mentioned Project Happy Birthday. "Neal's getting really excited about his plans."

"That's good," Henry said. "We want him to be happy."

"But he wants to choose what we do."

"Exactly. That's my gift to him. He gets to choose."

Angela huffed. "But we're following your script. All that stuff you wanted me to tell him, it led him to pick what you wanted."

"No, it led him to pick what I knew he wanted. Entirely different. We're simply helping him discover what he wants."

"I don't want to lie to him."

"You won't have to. Other than that subterfuge about Michael, pretending things are strained between the two of you, you're not misleading anyone. Everything you told him about your past spring breaks was true. There's nothing wrong about you bringing up the subject to get his reaction."

"What if instead of picking the Catskills, he'd offered to go along to Vegas with me?"

"Then we'd have gone to Vegas. That was always a contingency in my plan. Like I said, we're doing what Neal wants. I'm simply facilitating behind the scenes."

"I wish I could be sure of that. It still feels like you're using that degree in psychology to manipulate us all."

There was a knock on his door. "That's my pizza. I'll catch up with you again later."

He was putting the leftovers in the fridge when Peter Burke called. "The CEO of Win-Win contacted us today. He wants to come up to New York to strategize on the Vincent Adler case, and mentioned he'd like to do some team building with us."

"Yeah, Allen mentioned that in a meeting today."

"He says he wants to schedule it for March 21. Neal's birthday. You really want Neal to spend his birthday in meetings?"

"No, I wanted to take him to Vegas for a long weekend, but he decided to make other plans. He told me I can join the road trip up to the Catskills, and that you're assisting in his attempt to overthrow all my ideas."

"I get that you're used to planning surprises for his birthday, but he's an adult now. You gotta take his wishes into account, you know."

Henry sighed. "Yeah. I'm not gonna get in the way of this trip up to the Burke family cabin. He's convinced me that this is what he and Angela both want."

"You can drop the put-upon act. This 'team building' Allen mentioned has your fingerprints all over it. You wanted to control at least one aspect of what we do on Neal's birthday. What exactly do you have in mind?"

"When I talked to Neal yesterday, he was kind of stressed about the firearm certification. We know he'll ace the test, but holding a gun will trigger memories of the shooting he witnessed as a kid. I'd like to be there for the certification. If he's competing with me to see who's the best marksman, he'll be less in his head and more in the moment, and then I can stay the night in his loft to make sure he's okay afterward."

"The team building event is a marksmanship contest?" Peter asked.

Henry smiled. He'd researched the location the Manhattan FBI team used for their certification. As innocently as he could manage, he said, "No. I'd like to do something else afterward that would be fun and give him a chance to destress. Is there someplace we can go near the firing range?"

"As a matter of fact, last year Neal noticed something connected to the range that he wanted to explore, but we didn't have time. It could be ideal for a team building event." Peter got more and more excited as he described exactly what Henry already had in mind.