Author's Notes: Hi all! Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews! Enjoy the next chappie!

"Kate?" The younger man sobbed desperately as his partner continued to restrain him. The soothing words that the older man was saying failed to be comprehended in his brain; the only thing he could hear was the beating of his own heart and the rush of his blood through his veins. Twisting wildly, Neal managed to escape the firm hold on his shoulder and ducked under the arm that was restraining his chest. Unheeding the traffic around them, Neal opened the car door and made a run for the blazing inferno.

Peter cursed and shot out of his car and after his partner. Damn the kid's fast, Peter admitted to himself with a pang of annoyance, I really should go for a morning run more often. He caught up to Neal when the ex-con artist had made it to within 100 feet of the wreckage.

"Neal!" Peter shouted the younger man's name as he came closer to his partner. When Neal failed to so much as acknowledge Peter's presence the agent launched himself at his friend just as the other man started to move towards the wreckage again. Both of them landed hard as the tackle tripped Neal up and Peter did a face plant into the ground.

Neal lay where he had fallen and made no attempt to get up. Peter looked at his friend worriedly, thinking that the younger man might have hurt his shoulder even more but then he noticed the glazed look in the felon's eyes.

"Come on buddy," Peter coaxed as he gently helped Neal to his feet. It felt like he was guiding a zombie back to the car as Neal's trance-like state made it nearly impossible to get the younger man to do something without being either forced to or asked to do it.

Once Neal was in the car and had his seat belt on, Peter started the engine and started the drive home.

Apart from the occasional snuffle here and there, Neal was silent but Peter could see the turmoil in his partner's eyes even though the younger man didn't say anything. Once they had arrived at the house Peter unbuckled Neal before walking around to the passenger side door. Opening the door slowly—so as not to startle Neal—Peter gently helped him out of the car.

Smaller hands gripped the car door worriedly and Peter grinned to himself when he noticed that El was already next to him. She quickly took over for Peter and guided the young man that she considered to be her son into the house. A worried frown present on her face the entire time.

She quickly seated Neal on the couch and started to heat up the oven before returning to him and giving him a gentle hug. The young con artist immediately returned the hug and El could feel water on her shoulder/back as the young man let himself cry. El stayed in that position for a long time before realizing that Neal had cried himself to sleep on her shoulder.

There was a soft snort from the other side of the room and El let her eyes travel over to the source of the sound. An amused looking Peter Burke grinned cheekily back at her and she narrowed her eyes slightly in mock ferocity. Her husband merely backed away with his hands in the air in an –I-surrender- fashion.

As gently as possible, El moved Neal's position so that his head was in her lap thinking that it would be less awkward and more comfy for them both. A little while later Peter came over and sat down on the coffee table so that he was facing them. Neal shivered slightly and Peter reached over, grabbed a blanket and draped it over his friend.

Sleepy blue eyes cracked open for a brief few seconds and a look of gratitude flitted across Neal's face before the younger man succumbed to sleep once more. El just nodded her approval and Peter felt his chest swell with a sense of accomplishment…

He had after all just been able to be a bit more…tender…than usual after all! He saw his wife grin at him and knew what she was thinking. He rolled his eyes, mussed Neal's hair gently and went into the kitchen to make a deviled ham sandwich and some coffee. El quickly handed him a folded piece of paper and Peter took it with a curious look on his face.

Peter opened it once he was in the kitchen. It was a recipe for an Egg Salad sandwich. Neal's favorite kind of sandwich. The agent could only hope that he would be able to do the sandwich justice and that his friend would like the finished product.

When Neal woke up a few hours later he opened his eyes to see El looking down at him with a look of concern on her face. "What happened?" he asked as he looked around in confusion.

El just smiled at him sadly as she ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to push the unruly bed-head curls out of his face. His eyes were wide and questioning, reminding her very much of a little kid. She was reluctant to remind him of what happened yesterday so instead she called for Peter.

Her husband walked in, saw that Neal was awake and promptly spun around. A few minutes later he came back out of the kitchen and over to the coffee table across from Neal. "Here you go kiddo, eat up." Peter handed the younger man the specially prepared sandwich.

Neal's eyes lit up when he realized what kind of sandwich it was and ate it hungrily. His stomach felt like it hadn't eaten since yesterday's breakfast. The young felon wolfed down the sandwich in the blink of an eye and turned a beseeching gaze at Peter. Got anymore of that where it came from?

Peter nodded as he deciphered the hidden message with a slight grin. So Neal had like his sandwich! Guess I'm not that horrible at cooking after all. When Peter returned to the living room with a couple of sandwiches he was surprised to see that the room was empty. Cautiously, Peter peered around the corner—it wouldn't be the first time his CI and his wife tried to scare the crap out of him- and was relieved to see that neither of them were waiting to ambush him.

Setting the platter of food down on the table, Peter crept around another corner, and another and another before guessing that they weren't out to get him after all. Just as he started to relax and continue to walk down the hallway the closet door behind him banged open and Neal did a mock roar and was doubled over with laughter because of the look on his friend's face.

"Yo—you shoulda s-seen the lo-ok on your face…Peter… priceless." The words were spoken through the bouts of laughter with a great deal of concentration and effort. Tears were streaming down the younger man's face as Peter's expression turned even more indignant. The older man was just turning around to continue down the hallway when El seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Holy s-!"

That only served to make Neal's hysteria even worse and when Peter looked back at his partner with a look of mock-outrage on his face he couldn't help but grin himself. Neal was on the ground and rolling he was laughing so hard.

El was beaming as well as she took in the sight of her favorite con artist laughing himself into an hysteria; it had been a long time since she had seen Neal so carefree and utterly happy.

The clock downstairs chimed loudly, as if it too was mocking Peter and the agent blushed. El looked down at her watch with a raised eyebrow. "I can't believe its already 7:30!" She exclaimed as she bustled down to the kitchen to prepare dinner and leaving Peter with Neal.

In Peter's opinion this was worse than the time when Neal had been drugged, way worse because Caffrey wasn't drugged and would be able to remember this clearly. All he had to do was look at the younger man and the con artist would explode into laughter yet again.

Peter briefly wondered if this was Neal's way of dealing with the events that had occurred earlier in the day. He certainly hadn't acted like this after Kate had died. That was when he noticed that Neal seemed to be moving his injured shoulder just fine as if it had never been hurt in the first place. El must of given him pain meds, he reasoned as he watched his partner dubiously. No wonder Caffrey hated taking medicine of any kind. He would too, if this was his reaction.

It made Neal seem like a total nut but Peter liked that. He liked how for once Neal didn't have any barriers up and was totally and completely honest and carefree. But what on earth had El given the kid?

Maybe it was best he didn't know…

Later that night at dinner Neal was having difficulty eating his food because every time he so much as looked at Peter he would start laughing again. At one point he was taking a sip of his tea (he had been banned from wine for the evening) when Peter had made a face, because he had just taken a bite of way too hot lasagna and was forced to chew it before swallowing it, Neal sputtered. Peter could've spat the food back out but that wouldn't have been very considerate for the other people with him. And so Neal was once more thrown into hysterics. Tea came shooting out his nose as he tried to control the laughter long enough to swallow without much success and El looked at him in amusement.

Thumping his chest a few times, Neal regained temporary control of himself and grinned sheepishly at El. "Sorry about that." He apologized sounding guilty.

"Its fine Neal, I don't mind."

The younger man simply nodded and managed to eat the rest of his dinner without going into hysterics.

It was 12:23 p.m. before Neal finally wore himself out enough to sleep and the couple watched as he curled around his pillow. He looked so innocent, care free. El grinned at Peter impishly and motioned for him to follow her as she tiptoed out of the room. She returned to the dining area and reached up to the top shelf of the cabinet, pulling out a video camera.

Peter's eyes widened when he noticed what she was holding and they rewound the tape to watch the night's events. Both of them were cracking up into barely contained giggles as they watched their younger charge's antics. For a thirty-three year old, Neal could be such a kid sometimes.

"Next time he does something stupid, you can play this in front of everyone at work as a punishment." Elizabeth's eyes were twinkling with amusement.

"What would I do without you?" Peter asked tiredly as climbed into his side of the bed. El simply gave him a goodnight kiss and went to sleep.

Author's Notes: Well, I hope you enjoyed it! I just couldn't resist drugging Neal up some (in a good way) and letting act like a 4 yr old. I'm going to start something new for the end of each chapter so let me know if you like it. I'll be putting a Bomer or DeKay quote up after the end of my little blurbs for you guys. =)

Here's what Matt had to say about how Chuck helped him get into the 'mood' for White Collar:

"I don't think I ever could have played Neal Caffrey if I hadn't placed Bryce Larkin because he helped me understand sort of the espionage aspect of – he showed – helped me understand the smoother – yeah, the more espionage aspects of the character and when he has to go undercover and things like that. And, sort of he's cool under pressure and those kind of things and just maneuvering in that world and never really knowing who he can trust or if you can trust him either. So, it was definitely very helpful."

-Matt Bomer

And just for the record, I thought Bryce was awesome. Not just because of who the actor was that played him but because of his character and the fact that he willingly destroyed his friendship with Chuck in order to save him. That takes the term 'best friend' to a whole new meaning. The fact that Bryce would go to that extreme to protect Chuck was touching =)