White Collar Fic - Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

Title: Fruit of the Poisonous Tree
Author: elrhiarhodan
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: NC-17
Characters/Pairings: Peter Burke, Neal Caffrey, Elizabeth Burke, Peter/Neal
Word Count: ~4000
Spoilers: Most of Season 5, Specifically 5.09, No Good Deed
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None
Beta Credit: theatregirl7299
Summary: Peter struggles with what Neal has done, with what he has said, and how they can move forward.

Author’s Note: Written as an extra for my Fic-Can-Ukah meme for my very dearest friend, coffeethyme4me, who is feeling a bit under the weather at the moment. Her prompt was This is the moon I was born under, and she asked for Peter/Neal with unapologetic Criminal!Neal and Peter still having sex with him. How perfect is that, given that she gave me the prompt over a month before No Good Deed aired!

The title refers to a legal metaphor: that evidence – no matter how strong – cannot be used if any part of the means to obtain it were illegal in the first place.

Also, a fill for my Hurt/Comfort Bingo Card – the Apocalypse square. Once again, I’m working with a literal translation of the term, which means “revelation.”

__________________

(  Peter doesn’t know why he thought things would be any different. Neal is a criminal. He’s always been a criminal and he always will be a criminal and nothing he – Peter – can say or do is going to change that. )