White Collar Ficlet - Calculated
Dec. 12th, 2011 12:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elrhiarhodanTitle: Calculated
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elrhiarhodan
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Neal Caffrey, Peter Burke
Spoilers: S2.12 – What Happens in Burma
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None
Word Count: ~500
Summary: It wasn’t quite a lie that Neal told Peter that day. Not quite. Tag to S2.12, What Happens in Burma.
__________________
A/N: No beta. All mistakes are mine and mine alone.
When Neal told Peter that his father was a cop, it wasn’t exactly the truth. And it wasn’t exactly a lie either. It was one of those in-between statements that Neal was so good at making, a calculated misdirection. His father was a cop - just not the kind that he knew Peter was going to assume - a beat cop, a local hero, a member of the thin blue line.
No, Neal’s father was a very special kind of law enforcement officer - the same kind as Peter. An FBI agent. Okay - technically, “cop” did not equal “FBI agent” - but for Neal, it was close enough not to be considered an outright lie.
There was simply no way that he could tell Peter that his father was a fellow agent. It would be far too devastating for both of them. He could see what Peter would do with that information - he’d worry at it like a dog with a particularly meaty bone, chewing and chewing and chewing until all that was left was splinters and a big, bloody mess.
No, it was better this way. Peter didn’t know much about his childhood - something that Neal was quite proud of, and as long as he thought that Caffrey Senior was part of a local PD, then Neal was safe. There was really no place for Peter to dig - and no reason to do so.
Neal never blamed his mother for the lies she told him - what little boy wants to know that his daddy was a liar, a thief and a murderer? And to be honest, she never knew the extent of her husband’s misdeeds. That he sold out his fellow agents to the not one but three of the major organized crime families in the New York area. That his testimony blew cases that should have been certain convictions. That he actively participated in the extermination of entire families - including women and children. When Neal called his father evil, he wasn’t indulging in histrionics.
And amazingly, the Bureau never knew - at least not until after he died, not until after he was interred with all the honors of an agent who was killed in the line of duty. His crimes were swept under the rug - the brass buried his file deep. The real George Caffrey was an embarrassment to the FBI, the Justice Department and humanity.
When Neal found out the truth - he wanted to do two things. Never pick up a gun again and change his name. For a decade and a half, he managed to do the former, but despite the dozens and dozens of aliases he created over the years, he never abandoned the name he was born with. Moz once asked him why, and Neal could never give him an answer that made sense.
Maybe it was just that he could never stop being the little boy who idolized the man he thought he father was. The little boy who wanted to grow up and be just like his daddy.
FIN
Author:
elrhiarhodanFandom: White Collar
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Neal Caffrey, Peter Burke
Spoilers: S2.12 – What Happens in Burma
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None
Word Count: ~500
Summary: It wasn’t quite a lie that Neal told Peter that day. Not quite. Tag to S2.12, What Happens in Burma.
A/N: No beta. All mistakes are mine and mine alone.
When Neal told Peter that his father was a cop, it wasn’t exactly the truth. And it wasn’t exactly a lie either. It was one of those in-between statements that Neal was so good at making, a calculated misdirection. His father was a cop - just not the kind that he knew Peter was going to assume - a beat cop, a local hero, a member of the thin blue line.
No, Neal’s father was a very special kind of law enforcement officer - the same kind as Peter. An FBI agent. Okay - technically, “cop” did not equal “FBI agent” - but for Neal, it was close enough not to be considered an outright lie.
There was simply no way that he could tell Peter that his father was a fellow agent. It would be far too devastating for both of them. He could see what Peter would do with that information - he’d worry at it like a dog with a particularly meaty bone, chewing and chewing and chewing until all that was left was splinters and a big, bloody mess.
No, it was better this way. Peter didn’t know much about his childhood - something that Neal was quite proud of, and as long as he thought that Caffrey Senior was part of a local PD, then Neal was safe. There was really no place for Peter to dig - and no reason to do so.
Neal never blamed his mother for the lies she told him - what little boy wants to know that his daddy was a liar, a thief and a murderer? And to be honest, she never knew the extent of her husband’s misdeeds. That he sold out his fellow agents to the not one but three of the major organized crime families in the New York area. That his testimony blew cases that should have been certain convictions. That he actively participated in the extermination of entire families - including women and children. When Neal called his father evil, he wasn’t indulging in histrionics.
And amazingly, the Bureau never knew - at least not until after he died, not until after he was interred with all the honors of an agent who was killed in the line of duty. His crimes were swept under the rug - the brass buried his file deep. The real George Caffrey was an embarrassment to the FBI, the Justice Department and humanity.
When Neal found out the truth - he wanted to do two things. Never pick up a gun again and change his name. For a decade and a half, he managed to do the former, but despite the dozens and dozens of aliases he created over the years, he never abandoned the name he was born with. Moz once asked him why, and Neal could never give him an answer that made sense.
Maybe it was just that he could never stop being the little boy who idolized the man he thought he father was. The little boy who wanted to grow up and be just like his daddy.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-12-12 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:28 pm (UTC)I have a horrible idea - that Neal actually engineered EVERYTHING - the bond forgeries, his conviction, his escape and recapture, his proposal to Peter to help him catch the Dutchman (basically everything that Peter said to El in Pilot) just so he could get a position in the FBI and be able to dig deep into his father's files.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 03:30 pm (UTC)Wonderful story -- I love your writing!
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 03:40 pm (UTC)I may just write it...just to see how it pans out in my head.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-14 04:20 pm (UTC)Anyway - this was a wonderful snippet! And it makes sense that Neal would believe that he was "born bad" - with a father like that, it's really no wonder. Whenever I can stop looking forward to January for a while, I start looking forward to Season 4 and the promised revealing of Neal's history (though I hope they handle it better than Forging Bonds... it wasn't a bad episode per say, but it seemed like too much information at once - and I still hope that Neal told the truth "from a certain point of view" and that there is more to his past than what he told Peter then.)
And now I feel like I'm rambling again, oops.
Nice story!
no subject
Date: 2011-12-12 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-12 06:51 pm (UTC)Very nicely done.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-12 07:02 pm (UTC)Also, George. :-)
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:30 pm (UTC)And yes, George.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-12 08:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:32 pm (UTC)Maybe.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-17 10:30 am (UTC)Personally, I'd rather have good fanfic that ends up being jossed and thus becoming AU than get not-so-good canon...
no subject
Date: 2012-04-17 12:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:32 pm (UTC)Thank you so very much.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:31 am (UTC)I think we all expect the problem of Neal's father to come up again in series. The cryptic conversation between Neal and Moz in "Burma" would be plenty to invite it, even without Peter trying to draw Neal out.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:34 pm (UTC)And while I've said in replies above that I don't want to spend a lot of time and words writing something that's going to be jossed, I am almost ready to change my mind.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-14 01:03 am (UTC)All this has inspired me almost to the point of action, lol. One day I may write some Neal-daddy fics. Would that be a problem, as long as they aren't in the same mold as yours?
no subject
Date: 2011-12-14 01:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:35 pm (UTC)And couldn't you see what would happen if Peter found out that Neal's daddy was an FBI agent?
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 05:12 pm (UTC)And, although I can't remember the exact line, Mozzie's reponse to the information ... sort of "and he believed that?" made you think there's much more to it.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 05:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:36 pm (UTC)Peter is like a dog with a bone - just look at his behaviour this season.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 11:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 01:55 pm (UTC)Earlier this year, JE had said something about delving into Neal's familiy in S4. I hope he sticks with that promise.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 03:03 pm (UTC)I dislike the idea of "born bad" but if Neal legitimately feels that way, there has to be a reason.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 03:00 pm (UTC)I've had a plot bunny for a short scene in the past, maybe I should write it before it gets contradicted.
Again, really good story!
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 03:02 pm (UTC)I know what you mean about being disappointed with the "official" backstory - I hated Forging Bonds, and while it's kind of grown on my, I am not completely sold on how Neal and Mozzie met.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 04:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 04:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 11:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 11:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-15 11:04 am (UTC)Like all the above posted ideas. Do write a story, it is great to read writer's story before jossing. Almost historical before it becomes an AU.
Hopefully that makes sense. (Mentioned it somewhere else - but those first two initals of NG could be taken as No Good)
no subject
Date: 2011-12-18 03:26 pm (UTC)I have part of this written - but it's definitely an odd story for me. Neal is utterly cold and calculating and kind of scares me.
We'll see about finishing it. Even if just as an exercise.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-18 06:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-18 02:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-18 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-18 03:25 pm (UTC)