Hello, all! So this is the final installation of this three-shot. I've been thinking about doing a three-shot of Peter's side, but I haven't made any plans yet. After all, it took me a year or so to finish this one... Enjoy! It gets a bit cheesy, fair warning.

Disclaimer: I do not own White Collar.

"Sometimes your personal and professional lives just crash into each other without any notice." -Neal

Well, thought Neal. This ought to be interesting. He had foolishly assumed that these two worlds, these two identities, that he shielded from each other could be kept apart. Neal knew that it wouldn't be fair for Peter to feel obligated to take a newfound interest in Neal's life, especially since Peter could never possibly want to find out that he had put his half-brother behind bars. No, Peter didn't need the pain and guilt that would inevitably accompany such a discovery.

So what was to happen? Neal's mind fluttered at an insurmountable rate between possible scenarios, scaling from decent to horrific. It was Neal's fault, he supposed, for never telling Thomas that Peter was his handler at the FBI and the sole reason Neal ever stepped foot in jail in the first place. Neal had an excellent excuse, though: no child wanted to rat out their older brother for serious things like, in Neal's case, jail time. Prison Neal aptly blamed on the similar DNA between Peter and himself; such similarities would have given Peter an unfair advantage over other agents because with their shared blood, their brains on some level had to work relatedly.

Thomas just smiled pleasantly, albeit a bit confusedly, when he entered the living room of his son through marriage. "Peter, I was in the area and thought I'd stop by. There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about…," the man stated, pointedly glancing at Neal. Neal shook his head to disaffirm the subtle question. "I think it's best if I get this out right now, for all of our sakes."

"Dad," Peter started. "This is Neal Caffery, my consultant at the FBI. Neal, this is my father, Thomas Burke. Neal, could you give us a minute? I think Satchmo could enjoy a walk around the block."

Thomas shook his head in a similar manner to Neal's. "No, I don't think that will be necessary. How are you, Neal? I feel as though I haven't seen you in quite some time, my boy. Still not caught up in that atrocious woman, Kate, are you?" Peter flickered his eyes between the two individuals and openly gaped at the relationship.

"I'm doing alright. Kate's gone, I think. I'm glad our relationship had your overwhelming support, Thomas. Anyways, I'm much too busy for any woman right now, but I can't really complain. Peter's a slave driver to work for, but considering my other options, I could have ended up in a much worse position."

"I'd imagine almost anything is better than a prison cell in this day and age. Peter, do stop opening your mouth like a fish. I didn't raise you to blubber cluelessly like that."

"You two…," Peter struggled. "You… know each other?" He paced the length of the couch to the kitchen, never taking his eyes off the two guests in his home. "What? How? Neal, you know my father and you've never even told me? And Dad, you never thought to mention that you're acquainted with my CI? Have you two been teaming up on me and I've just been unaware of it? This whole time…"

"Actually Peter, I've known Neal long before he ever crossed your desk, I'd assume." Thomas then sauntered from his earlier place at the door to sit comfortably next to Neal on the couch, leaning down to scratch Satchmo on the back. He threw a calming and familiar smile to his illegitimate son, sensing the man's displeasure with the whole situation.

Neal, in turn, smiled disarmingly at the fuming figure Peter had transformed into and relied on his talents, practically oozing with charm. "Believe it or not, Peter, I learned a lot about you from your father before I even, allegedly, pulled off a few heists. It was only after a couple weeks of your incessant chasing that I connected the dots between Thomas and yourself. I don't know how I didn't realize sooner: you two are nearly physical carbon copies of each other." That part was painfully true and was one of the reasons Neal had initially doubted his father's claims. Neal looked about as similar to his father as a cat does to a dolphin.

Peter and Thomas both had the same shade of dirty brown, the same larger, muscular build, and both often stood with their hands on their hips (Neal liked to think it was genetic, not because of anything he ever did). Their brown eyes matched the other's so exactly that they could have been the eyes of identical twins, and their mouths curved in the exact same smile. Without a doubt, these two men were father and son.

Neal lacked these similarities with obviousness: his hair had been and would always be a mess of jet black curls, his body was slim and slightly feminine even though he's definitely worked hard for those abs hiding beneath his shirt, and frankly, the thought of ever putting his hands on his hips sends his entire frame into a shudder. His crystal blue eyes failed in epic proportions of the paternal shade of brown, and his smile nearly always replicated the smirk he learned that best irritated the U.S. Marshalls when he was in protective custody. So, no, Neal really didn't feel that by features, these three men were related, but after spending hours separately with these two, Neal realized that their actions and trains of thought were at sometimes so eerily similar that there was no doubt.

Thomas drew Neal's attention back to the conversation that had Neal uncomfortably sweating through his very expensive suit that June had given him as a birthday present. "This wasn't accidental, Peter. I searched for Neal so I could meet him."

"You searched for him? Why on earth would you randomly search for some man roughly thirty younger than you?" Peter questioned, unable to accept that his father had seemingly scavenged for and located his CI. "What interested you, a banker, so much about Neal that you needed to find him?"

Neal sunk into the cushions, wishing to escape from this conversation and from this room. While Thomas calmly faced the confused, somewhat hurt, and angry Peter, Neal couldn't bear to meet his brother's powerful gaze. This situation felt way too surreal for Neal; he remembered countless hours as a kid and as a teenager swept in the sorrows of being an orphan abandoned by his family and how much it hurt. Somewhere along the way he had steeled his heart to the concept of family, and even though here and there he realized his family did exist and wasn't entirely against him, his heart had never melted the protective barriers between inner Neal and his family.

"I looked for Neal, son," Thomas said calmly. "Do you remember that conversation we had before you left for college?" Peter glanced at his father in horror, the memory rushing back to him as his mind connected the details.

Peter recalled the memory as the first time his father had ever allowed him to drink alcohol. Thomas had stood, staring at the scenic view from the back porch of the house Peter grew up in, and had handed Peter a beer, simply saying that Peter would need it. Then Thomas spun a complicated story that somehow ended up with Peter having a little half-brother who had gotten lost in the system and that Peter would probably never know his brother. Peter had been appalled that his parents had hidden the reason behind their multitude of fights for years, but as surprised as he was, he had hoped desperately that one day he would meet his brother and set things right. The conversation had concluded when Thomas mentioned that he hoped to find his lost son, and the two had drifted into a silence that lasted a couple months.

Years later, Peter couldn't begin to describe the emotions he felt. "You… You mean to tell me that Neal is my brother? I… What?"

"Yes, Peter. I found him purely by accident, but I thank my lucky stars everyday that I did find him. He's a good man, Peter. He's just made a couple bad decisions."

Peter turned to Neal, aghast as he realized what he had done. "I put you in prison! I locked up my own brother! Dear God, why couldn't I have just forgotten about you?"

"Peter, it's fine. No, seriously. It's not like you could have known anyways. I didn't even put it together until after you'd locked me up. Plus, I'm not holding that against you."

Thomas observed his two sons as they communicated with their eyes. He noticed that it was time for him to bow out gracefully and to let his sons work out all that they needed to. His heart warmed as he watched his two boys together, interacting, and witnessed the bond that would forever tie them together.

Peter and Neal failed to notice the elder sneakily exit the room and walk out to the back porch.

"My brother, huh?" Peter commented as he collapsed into a chair at the table. Neal smiled gently, afraid of Peter's reaction. "Well, you do give me anxiety like only a little brother could."

"So... you're okay with this? You're not going to freak out?" Neal asked.

Peter raised his head from its previous spot between his two hands. "Neal…," he muttered, softly shaking his head from side to side. "I'm almost positive you already were my little brother, in some form or another. Now you're also my brother in blood."

"You mean that?"

"Yeah, Neal. I mean that."

"Brothers?"

"Brothers."

The front door opened right as the two newly-realized brothers reached out for a handshake-turned-oh-my-god-are-they-hugging?-manly embrace. The elder brother's wife judged the scene with amusement and some confusion. Neal caught her eye and sprung apart from Peter.

"Don't jump to conclusions!" He stated, his face blushing. Peter turned to his wife, a contented smile on his face. Elizabeth glanced between the two of them and shook her head.

"Too late, already jumped."

The three just smiled at each other before sitting down to have a talk about the events that had transpired and how the world had shifted.

The ending quotations are actual quotes from WC. They're not mine.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Lemme know if there's anything I can do! Also, please let me know of any errors. I wrote this pretty quickly and am too lazy to check over it.