White Collar: An unofficial novel - part 1

Promises

Peter and Neal were making the final preparations for the Burke anniversary celebration. They were both relaxed and happy. And off duty. Peter did not really want to break the mood but had to.

"Neal..." he began.

"Yeah?"

"I've talked to Hughes and told him you've done a great job, and I want you to serve the rest of your time with me."

"Thanks, Peter."

Peter held up his hand. There was more.

"But it's not up to me to make the final call. Nor Hughes alone. And I don't know what decision they will make." Neal gazed at him, waiting. "Neal, can you promise me not to run?"

He watched Neal taking a deep breath, looking away. Then the kid turned his head back and looked him straight in the eye.

"If I'll go back to prison tomorrow, can you promise me you'll take me there? No marshals, no belly chains, just you and your cuffs."

Peter looked at Neal. He was the scared kid again.

"Yeah," Peter replied. "I promise. Just you and me."

"Thank you. It means a lot to me. I promise you, Peter, I won't run." There was no trace of fake in Neal's eyes. Just honesty and vulnerability.

"Thank you." Oddly enough Peter did trust Neal to keep his promise.

"Now, go and get Elisabeth. I'll finish up here and I'll be gone from this place before you're back. June has prepared something for me, she said. Just in case things go bad tomorrow." Neal had his confident, charming face back on. The one that hid his fears. Well, Peter did not blame him.

"Careful," Peter instructed Elisabeth as he guided her blindfolded.

"Okay."

"All right, honey. Almost there," Peter assured her.

"Think I'm getting seasick," El told him but she was still smiling.

"Just a little further. Okay. All right." Peter looked around. Neal had done a great job finishing it all up. "All right, this is good. All right. Now, I want you to keep your eyes closed."

"I promise."

Peter removed the blindfold and saw she kept her eyes closed.

"All right." He found the remote and turned on the Caribbean music as he placed himself in the middle of his surprise. "Okay. Open them."

She did. And stared agape. The rooftop terrace had palm trees, a parasol, a sun-bed and even a surfing board. And a fire for warmth, because even if the place had a Caribbean look, it had the warmth of New York.

"Honey, you know how every year I'm always promising you that we're gonna go...?"

"To the Caribbean," she filled in.

"This is sort of what you wanted."

Elisabeth giggled.

"Did you do all this?"

"Yeah." Not entirely true, but he did not think Neal would mind.

"Well, I think if I keep my eyes closed, I can actually imagine us being there." Peter laughed, took her hands and guided her to the sunbed. "Ooh. And it's getting warmer."

"It is. Come here."

They sat down. Peter picked up a bottle of beer from an ice bucket. Neal had wanted champagne had not been able to resist the temptation to put the beers in a champagne cooler. He handed it to his wife.