Hello!

This is my first White Collar-fanfictiont. It is AU, Neal is fifteen years old, everyone else is still everyone else. There is no slash and no spanking.

I hope you will like it! I am sorry for any grammar and spelling mistakes, I am not a native English speaker. Maybe someone wants to be my beta reader? Please PM me. :-)

Have fun reading my story.

"Are you sure about that, hun? " Peter glanced at her nervously. Normally he wouldn't bother to respect the speed limit, but now he drove even too slow. He didn't know if he even wanted to arrive at their destination.

"Sure about what, Peter? That we need to help a poor boy who lost his parents? We talked about it. He is the son of your cousin. You are his only relative. He is our responsibility now. And yes, I am sure." El explained briefly. Her voice was bitter and angry. She understood the worries of her husband. Nevertheless she believed that they needed to help.

"Come on, hun. I never met that cousin; I didn't even know that that cousin existed. Our great-grandfathers were brothers. I am barely a relative to that boy. And somehow it's hard to believe that there are no other relatives than me. You know, adopting a teenager isn't the same as adopting a puppy. It's not enough to play with him some hours, to feed him and to go for a walk three times a day. A teenager who just lost his parents is trouble. And we both know that we hardly have any spare time. We are both busy with our jobs. I don't think that we are the best for the boy."

"So you think a foster home is better than a loving family? If we don't have time, than we need to make time."

"How am I supposed to do that? Maybe I could ask criminals if they want to go to prison voluntary, just to save time. Do you think that would work?" Peter returned. He didn't want to argue with El. Again. Since they got the letter from social services two weeks ago they argued most of the time, but he really wasn't happy about the idea of getting a new family member.

"What's the matter, Peter? You agreed to me yesterday that we want to adopt the boy. That's why we are on our way to the foster home. What changed you mind?" Elizabeth asked.

"El… I don't know. I don't feel like a father. You will be a great mum, I know that. But I am not the kind of guy who can deal with kids especially not with fourteen years old kids." Peter admitted.

El relaxed and smiled. "You will do fine, hun. Don't worry, you will do fine."

-WC- WC-

-two months later-

"Neal, are you fine?" The boy on the passenger seat didn't answer. "Neal!" Adler repeated himself, but louder. He had stopped the car two blocks away from the house of the Burks.

The boy turned his head towards him. His gaze was empty, somehow confused, too.

"Where is Mozzie?" he asked. Adler looked at Neal worryingly. The boy was pale and his hands were trembling lightly.

"Mozzie is at the hospital. I explained it to you ten minutes ago. But Neal, are you fine?"

It was totally clear to Adler that Neal was anything but fine. He just wanted to know if the boy was able to do his job. Neal nodded slowly.

"I am just… tired. My leg hurts. Don't know why."

"You jumped out of window, you hurt it then. Remember?" Adler explained shortly.

"Yeah,… there were some men, I fell, they took me… Mozzie, how is Mozzie?"

Angrily Adler grabbed Neal's chin and checked his pupils with a flashlight from his mobile phone. Adler sighted unsatisfied. "You must have concussion. I don't think that you will return to the Burks tonight."

"I asked you about Mozzie. I know that I have a concussion. My head hurts like hell." Now it was Neal whose voice was angry, a bit louder but he still talked too slow. Adler was kind of relieved; it was the first normal reaction of Neal since one hour.

"I will not lie to you, Neal. You are not a small boy anymore." Adler started. He wasn't sure if Neal had ever been a small boy. Well, he must have been smaller once, but he wasn't sure if Neal had ever lived the life of a child, although Neal was very childish most of the time. "Mozzie got a head injury. He was unconscious when the paramedics came and Walter, who I sent to the hospital, said that he didn't wake up yet. The doctors can't guarantee for anything."

"So he might die?" Neal concluded. Adler wondered if Neal really understood what he just asked; if Neal really realized that he just asked if his best friend and his only family would survive.

"I didn't say that. But, yes, there are chances that he will die. Maybe not. Maybe everything will be just fine. We don't know anything yet. The accident was only two hours ago." Adler pointed out. Adler wasn't very good at comforting people, so he thought it was the best to just tell the truth. Neal would find a way to deal with it. He had to.

"It wasn't an accident." Neal replied. His gaze got vacant again, his hands started tremble more. Great, Adler thought, now I have to deal with a traumatized teenager.

"No, it was not an accident, Neal. You are right. But focus. You have to tell me now, if you can deal with the Burks. It would be a pity, but if you do not return tonight, they will think that you run away from home. They will search for you, but I will make sure that they don't find you. No one will be suspicious. After all foster children ran away from their homes all the time. I don't want to risk, that you blew your cover."

"No, I will go to the Burks. Don't worry, I am not that bad."

"I think you are."

"Don't worry. I will not blow my cover. I am a professional. I could con the Burks, even if I would have lost one leg tonight." Neal claimed confidently. It was the first time that he smiled slightly since… since the accident with Mozzie.

"Alright, if you think so. If something happens call me, I can get you out of every situation. Just do not mention my name."

Neal nodded. "Do you really think that I am that stupid to mention you name?"

"Leave the car, Neal. You have only two hours left until Mrs. Burk wakes you."

"Vincent?"

"Yes, Neal?"

"Update me on Mozzie. Please."

"I will, and now hurry up."

Neal left the car. He limped. Adler wondered one moment if he should drag Neal back into the car. Obviously the boy was hurt. Mentally and physically. But then again, Adler trusted in Neal's abilities. The boy was the best con he had ever seen. He was a natural talent.

In addition, if he took Neal home, he would have to take care of him. He couldn't just ignore the fact that the boy almost lost his only family tonight, the fact, that he might still loose Mozzie. If Neal was at the Burk's house, he wouldn't have to worry about Neal. After all it was Neal's decision to continue his job.

Adler turned the car around and drove away.

-WC-WC-

Neal looked at the treetop. Has the tree always been so high? Neal was exhausted. He just wanted to sleep. His leg hurt, he had no idea how he could climb up on that tree. Since two month he used that tree as his personal exit from the house of the Burks. At nighttime he used to meet with Mozzie. He could leave and come back whenever he wanted without the Burks noticing anything. Sometimes he did some jobs for Adler- as he did today. But today was the first day everything went so awfully wrong. Mozzie…

Mozzie… was unconscious. Neal began trembling again. He wanted to focus on how he could get into his room, but the only think he saw was Mozzie. He remembered how the paramedics came, how they took Mozzie out of his car. He was unconscious, his head had bled. His whole face was covered with blood. Neal had thought that he was dead. One Moment Neal had really thought that Mozzie was dead.

'Focus, Neal'. He said to himself. 'You need to get into your room before El comes in'. Since there was no way that Neal could climb Neal decided to sneak into the house through the front door. He hadn't got a key because his key was still on the drawer in the corridor, where all keys from the house were kept, but Neal could lock pick the door easily.

Neal just had opened the door, when Peter ran into him. Satchmo was barking excitedly.

"Nick? What are you doing outside? It's thirty past five in the morning?"

For a second Neal was surprised, maybe even shocked, but then he smiled at Peter.

"I wasn't tired anymore. I decided to go for a walk. You know, that's healthy." He explained. Peter looked at him skeptical, but then he smiled back. "Next time, take Satchmo with you."

"I will." Neal promised and passed through the door into the house.

"See you in half an hour. It would be great if you could make some coffee." Peter told Neal, as he ran after Satchmo, who already left the house. Neal closed the door behind him and leaned against the wall.

His heart was racing. Didn't Peter notice anything unusual? Didn't he notice Neal's pale skin? His exhaustion? Fortunately, Neal wasn't bleeding anywhere and his dark clothes seemed to be still fine. Maybe his hair was unusual messy, but all in all Peter really might not have noticed anything wrong. Lastly no one could possibly suspect a teenage boy to be a con, a fraud and a thief, who even conned his foster family.

Neal glimpsed to the drawer, where the keys are kept. His key was still there. He was so lucky. Peter didn't even notice that Neal had opened the door without a key.

Neal dragged himself into the kitchen and put the coffee machine on. He sighed. He didn't have the chance to go to sleep now. Not even for an hour. Neal sat down at the table. He listened to the dropping of the coffee machine. He looked out of the window. He tried not to hear the sound of the car crash over and over. He tried not to see Mozzie bloody face again and again. But he didn't succeed. Mozzie. What happened?

That's my first chapter. I think there are a lot of questions unanswered, but don't worry I will explain everything throughout the story :-) Please review. I love reviews.