Notes: Happy Birthday KeJae! This is a concept that we started talking about a week or so ago which I started. With KeJae's Birthday coming up, I thought it might make a good present so I typed hard to get this story done in time. It's based off the idea of Peter being bored with people who tell lies because he's good at picking them up and he likes Neal because Neal doesn't lie to him and forces him to keep his skills sharp. It kind of begins to move away from that idea towards the end though...

This is only a one shot.

Liar, Liar

The mark glanced to the side and defiantly announced that he had nothing to do with what Peter was insinuating.

"Who cares if some jewellery went missing? I had nothing to do with it."

Peter sighed. It was obvious that the mark was lying. There was no effort put into hiding his untruth. He didn't understand why the mark had been so shocked with they turned up a week later with the evidence and arrested him.

The probie walked into the office an hour after they had been scheduled to begin.

"Sorry, there was an old lady who needed directions," they apologised.

Peter was not impressed with the lie. Nor was he impressed with their reasons for not doing their work. Sure, their computer had been lodged with IT but Peter could see the lie as they explained that it wasn't working.

When he gave his assessment of the probie to Hughes, they were reassigned. The ex-probie of White Collar looked completely shocked.

"I work hard! Everything gets done!" they insisted, horrified. Even though Peter knew Diana was waiting on a report from them which had been due two days previous.

El was straightforward and rarely lied. When she did lie, she didn't mind when he investigated. It was about what she expected when he told her about his job. Peter also learnt to point out when he knew she was telling untruths in order to give her a chance to tell him if what she was lying about was a surprise or a secret she had been asked to keep.

No one wanted a repeat of the 'surprise present incident' where Peter had ended up paying for his own birthday present that El had on hold or the 'she's pregnant incident' where Peter had uncovered that the maid of honour was really not a maid, gotten pregnant off her ex-boyfriend and hadn't told anyone yet. Also, it was apparently insensitive to ask a pregnant woman you don't know when she was due.

Peter felt lucky that he managed to find a woman like El who found both of those incidents amusing even though he thought they were mortifying.

Peter's training was both a blessing and a curse. He knew that it wasn't easy for everyone to tell when someone was lying to them but he could tell every time. His senses were honed towards picking out untruths and then digging up the truth. His nickname, "The Archaeologist," had been earned because his training.

Peter looked at the file his superiors gave him. This was the part of the job he hated the most. Mobsters had killed a family and taken their home, intend on claiming the fortune for their own. It was in Budapest and Peter's job was to confirm the validity of the information and decide on the next course of action.

The CIA had made it clear that, if mobsters had taken over then, everyone in the building was to be killed. They posed too much of a risk with that much money in their hands.

The first time Peter opened the file, he knew something was being left out. He uncovered what in Budapest; the mobsters had kept the youngest child alive. While Peter was glad to hear that not everyone had been killed, there was no way any agent sent in would let a living, breathing key to a fortune live.

He sent in his agent, not only to kill the mobsters but to collect the child so she could be secretly placed somewhere safe. Peter didn't lie. He just didn't tell Sarah that the 'package' he wanted her to grab was a baby.

Sarah taking the baby and running was unexpected. Peter had been trying to imply that the baby was important and he wanted her but had foolishly thought she would just hand the baby over. Sarah was a hardened agent with no reason to care about that child beyond the monetary value. Peter had planned for that, with money to give her in exchange.

Again, he hadn't planned for his agent to take the baby and run. Peter hadn't told the CIA about this part of the mission, which mean he went off reservation. Peter's CIA career was over and he was glad for it.

The baby was marked 'deceased' by the time he got back to America. Peter didn't believe it. Even without hearing it from her mouth, he knew Sarah had lied.

Neal Caffrey was an interesting guy. He sent Peter cards on his birthday and then escaped from prison with only three months left on his four year sentence. Not a single lie slipped past his lips; the bottle was Kate's goodbye, but there was the feeling of it being something more.

The more Peter interacted with Neal, the more he realised that the young conman didn't lie. He let Peter draw his own conclusions from his words and didn't bother correcting them. It was up to Peter to pull everything apart and figure out what Neal wasn't saying.

It was refreshing. It was a challenge. Peter enjoyed it more than he thought he should. He observed every move of Neal's he could. Neal was looking for Kate, that Peter figured out early. It wasn't hard. Neal's friend Haversham coloured outside the lines of the law and was blatantly obvious about it, even though he made sure to keep the specifics hidden so Peter couldn't actually charge him with anything.

"Look, I have no idea what happened to the painting, but it was here yesterday and now it's gone!" the frustrated art appraiser said.

Peter resisted the urge to roll his eyes. 'No idea' indeed; even though Peter could see that they were lying and must have some idea what happened.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted Neal actually rolling his eyes. Peter was not surprised when, later, Neal pointed to the appraiser as a likely suspect. A couple of agents seemed baffled at that. Neal looked unimpressed with their inability to tell when they're being lied to.

Neal glanced at Peter and Peter let loose with the information he had managed to gather while working off the assumption that the appraiser had been lying to him. They had access and a motive in the form of gambling debts.

"You knew," Neal commented when they left the conference room with a plan to catch the guy.

"Of course," Peter said. "People don't get away with lying to me." Not after his training with the CIA and at Quantico.

"You're certainly confident," Neal commented smugly.

"Maybe I want to remind you that I'm watching and won't be easy to trick."

Kate died and Neal insisted he was okay. This was one time Peter found it frustrating that he could pick out lies and that Neal never outright lied.

The conman was a walking, unpredictable contradiction. He said he was okay with Kate dying. He wasn't lying. However, something was being hidden. Neal was not okay. Peter could see that.

It wasn't until Neal had grabbed a gun to go after Fowler that Peter realised what had been left unsaid.

Neal had come to terms with Kate's death. However, he was not okay with Kate's killer walking free. Peter cursed himself for not figuring out how far he would go and for not figuring out what Neal hadn't been saying soon enough.

He had gotten lazy; Neal was good at reminding him about that.

"I'm going for lunch," Neal announced, "anyone want anything?"

Peter frowned and thought. Neal was telling the truth but Peter's gut was telling him that there was more to this. Neal didn't often go to lunch. When he did, he was meeting up with Mozzie.

Peter followed Neal. It was another skill Peter had picked up but rarely used. He managed to shadow Neal until Neal entered a frozen yogurt shop.

It was the worst shop Peter had been in. The aesthetic alone was gaudy. Bright oranges on a baby blue background, it was terrible colour coordination. There was one person behind the counter and, Peter squinted because it looked like Mozzie.

The employee who looked like Mozzie jumped and ducked behind the counter.

"We're not open!" he cried out, the voice confirming that it was indeed Moz.

"Mozzie," Peter said in a scolding tone. "This is an interesting job. Nine to five, isn't it?"

"No way, Suit!" Truth. Mozzie did not work here nine to five. "But I just needed a little extra gossip, you know?" That was a tough one. Ultimately, Mozzie was lying to Peter. He didn't need 'extra gossip'.

Peter looked around at the empty room and empty seats. There was no gossip to be gathered.

"Okay, Mozzie. What's really going on here?" he asked, leaning on the counter. Mozzie looked cornered.

"Peter," Neal said, appearing from the employee's only section of the store. "You followed me."

"I did. Want to tell me what's going on here?" Peter was reminded of the bakery Neal had bought to assist in his escape from a Judge's chambers by jumping out of the window onto the bakery awning.

"I'm visiting Mozzie at work." Lie. If Peter hadn't known Neal as well as he did and been as well trained as he was, he wouldn't have noticed. However, he knew what Neal looked like when lying to others and knew what Neal looked like when he was telling the truth.

"You're lying," Peter pointed out. Peter's phone decided to chime at that moment with an email.

"You going to get that?" Neal questioned, changing the subject.

Peter cursed the timing and cursed out loud when he saw who it was from.

"Does he think I'm an idiot?" he grumbled as he read the contents of the message.

'The baby is alive.' Peter knew that. What did Shaw expect him to do about it? Hunt Sarah down? No thanks. He was retired from that stuff.

Mozzie and Neal shared a look.

"What is it?" Peter asked.

Neal sighed. "Peter, you shouldn't really be here."

"Neither should you. I don't think anyone from the office eats this stuff."

"Diana might like it, if it was actually good," Neal commented.

Mozzie looked offended.

"'Actually good'?" Peter questioned. Neal explained that the food was purposely made to taste slightly off, in order to keep customers away.

Because this wasn't really a yogurt shop. It was a CIA base.

Peter was not surprised when Neal lead him downstairs.

"Since you're here, I might as well tell you."

"Lies. You've been wanting to tell Peter for ages. I don't think the General is going to believe that this was an accident," Mozzie grumbled.

"You wanted to tell me? Isn't that against the rules?"

Neal grinned. "You might have noticed but I'm not really a stickler for the rules."

"Hmm, might surprise you to learn that I'm either," Peter countered. Neal gave him a confused look.

The General caught a glimpse of Peter Burke and then immediately hung up.

"What the?" Mozzie questioned with a baffled look at Peter. Peter pulled out his phone and passed it to the little guy.

"Since I'm here, you mind looking into how Shaw was able to send me a message?" Peter asked.

Mozzie quickly hurried away to do his CIA information gathering thing.

The screen flickered to life as the General called back. Her face was set in a deeper frown than usual.

"Agent Ryker," she said, staring right at Peter.

"There's not me anymore," Peter pointed out.

Neal raised a hand. "What's going on?"

The screen changed from General Beckman to information on Kieran Ryker, CIA agent.

Neal skimmed it quickly. "You're an agent?" he asked Peter in disbelief. Then a certain note caught his eye. "What happened in Budapest?"

"You know," Peter mused, "you're the first one to ask. I told El what happened and everyone else just made the same assumptions as Agent Walker."

"That you were after the fortune?" Beckman stated. She hadn't been part of the CIA when the Budapest mission happened. She had been with the NSA at the time and working with the previous Director of the CIA; the man whose job she assumed after his untimely death.

Peter nodded. "It served my purpose. I wanted the child to go to a home where it would be safe. Surprisingly, Agent Walker provided that. I had actually planned to arrange it myself."

"Seriously?" Neal questioned, searching Peter's face for any sign of a lie. "I feel like an idiot. How did I not notice you were a spy?"

Peter smirked at him. "Same. So Neal, which alias was a spy and I completely missed it?"

Neal gave him a small smile, more genuine than his conman smile. "Bryce Larkin."

"Ah, the bank one," Peter commented, "who was killed in a bank robbery."

"Hey! I didn't get to pick that one!" Neal pointed out.

"So? The office loved that one. Real irony right there. But, Bryce has such a small footprint that there was no point in investigating him when we could be looking for Neal."

"Bryce came first," Neal pointed out smugly. "You should have spent some time looking into him. His past is my real past, complete with cop father."

"So," Neal asked once they got all caught up with their CIA identities, even if Peter wasn't technically CIA anymore. "Why is Shaw contacting you?"

"To tell me that the baby is alive. As if I couldn't guess that." Peter was unimpressed with Agent Shaw. After the death of his wife, the guy turned into a ladder climber and Peter thought that was the wrong reason to do this job. Plus, Peter didn't really agree with spy couples. Spies needed a little normal in their lives.

"You need to respond to it," Beckman informed them. "Otherwise Shaw may turn his attention to you. The last thing we need is the agency's enemies realising that Agent Larkin is still alive."

"What are you suggesting?" Peter asked with a foreboding feeling.

Peter had to return to Budapest. This time he was to attract Sarah Bartowski, nee. Walker, over and make her think he was after the baby.

"We must assume that Shaw is monitoring you somehow," Beckman had reasoned. Mozzie agreed with her and Peter learnt why Neal often did what Mozzie wanted; the little guy was annoying and persuasive all in one.

Neal was there as backup and to help cover Peter's back when it came to the local criminals they called in to assist.

After the tornado that was Sarah and her team had swept through, Peter and Neal caught the first flight back to New York. Neal was rubbing his jaw, having knocked it sometime during the mission.

"She's as good as I remember," Neal commented.

"Perhaps better," Peter said. "I think being with Chuck's team has improved her ability to work in a group with people she can trust. That can only make her stronger."

Neal took it in stride as the General had decided that Peter would join Neal's team. Peter had been reinstated after Sarah stabbed him for trying to get at the baby, now little girl, again. As planned.

"This image is going to haunt my nightmares," Neal honestly told Peter when he went in to recover the 'body' after Chuck's team had cleared out.

"Well, at least they think we're both dead," Peter pointed out.

"And the CIA has it on film," Neal pointed out with a sigh. Peter had seen the security footage of Bryce being shot, both times.

"We don't tell El about any of this, agreed?"

"Agreed." Neal was telling the truth, complete with a little tremble as he imagined El's reaction.

El only raised her eyebrows when Peter introduced Neal as an agent. She didn't seem the least bit surprised that Peter ended up working at both the FBI and CIA again.

"Keep him from overworking himself," she said to Neal.

"I'll do that," Neal responded.

Peter personally thought that Neal was better at keeping Peter's skills sharp. Especially his ability to detect lies.