I don't own White Collar

Elizabeth opened her eyes and glanced at the clock. It was three in the morning. She heard a noise coming from the hall and immediately turned to her husband. She shook his arm forcefully, waking him up.

"Huh? What is it?" Peter asked groggily.

"I heard a noise in the hall and Satchmo is laying beside the bed." She whispered. Her husband instantly reached for his gun in the nightstand and removed himself from the bed. He motioned for Elizabeth to stay there and for their dog to stay there beside her. Neither of which did so.

Peter poked his head out into the hallway but didn't see anyone. However, he could see a small shape at the end of the hallway. Adjusting his grip on his gun, he swiftly turned on the hall light and aimed at the object, but froze immediately.

He stood there in shock, unable to move expect for lowering his gun.

"Honey, what is it?" Elizabeth called from the bedroom as she made her way out into the hall to see what Peter was staring at.

Peter opened his mouth to answer but couldn't find the words. His wife stepped out from behind him only to give the same reaction.

At the end of the hallway stood a small little boy, no older than three years with brown curly hair and the eyes the color of the prettiest ocean blue. His bottom lip stuck out slightly and water lined the bottom of his eyes, threatening to spill down his face.

Finally, Peter managed to regain his senses and quickly checked the rest of the house out for anyone else, found nothing and returned his attention to the boy, who Elizabeth still stared at.

"What's your name, kid?" The agent asked, using the kindest voice he could muster as he slowly approached the boy. The toddler took a step back away from the older man which caused the agent to pause and hold his arms out, showing he meant no harm.

Elizabeth now stood beside Peter, having her wits about her again.

"Are you ok? You're not hurt are you sweetie?" She asked softly, remaining still.

The small boy's lip trembled as he sniffled and shook his head no.

"Are you alone?" Peter asked, wondering where the boy came from. "I mean are you here by yourself, without your parents?"

The boy waited a moment before confirming he was in fact alone with a nod of his head.

"How did you get in here?" The agent asked. Elizabeth hit him on the arm and whispered to him. "Peter stop interrogating him. He's just a boy. Can't you see he is scared enough already?"

Peter went to defend himself but was cut of by a small voice.

"It's okay." The voice was small and shaky, the letter K sounding like a T. "I...I don't know why...I'm here." His bottom lip trembled violently and water finally fell from his eyes. "I...I don't understand!"

"Hey, hey it's okay sweetheart." Elizabeth assured softly, slowly closing the distance between the boy and herself. She was startled when the boy launched himself at her, cuddling into her as she wrapped her arms around him and picked him up. She rocked him back and forth, while he hid his face in her neck and cried. "It's alright, sweetie. It's going to be okay. You're okay. It's okay."

Peter could only stand there and watch his wife comfort the small boy in her arms. After a few minutes the boy's crying had stopped and he lifted his head to look at her.

"Th-thank you, 'Lizabeth." The little boy said. Her jaw dropped, almost along with the boy in her arms.

"You ...you know my name?" She asked, glancing between Peter and the boy.

"Of course." He replied as he wiped moisture from his eyes. "You're 'Lizabeth and that's P'ter."

The couple shared a look before Peter asked, "How do you know who we are?"

"It's me," The boy answered. "Neal."

This Elizabeth did drop the boy. Fortunately, the boy managed to land on his feet, only stumbling a few steps before regaining his footing.

"What? How?" She stammered in shock as Peter eyed the boy skeptically.

"Alright, kid. Enough. Did Neal put you up to this? Damn him. I'm going to kill him."

This seemed to terrify the boy and he began to cry again and backed away from an intimidating Peter.

"Peter!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Oh, come on El! Neal has obviously done this. He's broken into our house, put this kid in here as some prank. A prank he is going back to jail for!"

The little boy gave a horrified shriek and darted into the nearest room, which happened to be the guest bedroom. Elizabeth glared at her husband before chasing after the boy.

Peter rolled his eyes and sighed, following his wife into the room only to find her bent down trying to coax the little boy out from under the bed.

"Come on, sweetheart. It's okay. We're not going to hurt anybody or send anyone to jail. We promise okay? So just come on out here hon, so we can talk alright?"

A few sniffles were heard, before a tiny, scared voice filtered out from under the bed. "I don't want to go back to prison. I didn't...I didn't mean to make Peter angry." His words were distorted by childlike english. "I...I don't understand. I don't know what's happening. Please don't send me back!" The boy pleaded.

"Come out from under there and I won't." Peter said, playing along just to get the kid out from under the bed. He earned a glare from Elizabeth, but was rewarded with the kid coming out from under the bed.

The couple shared a look before turning back to the boy.

"Sweetheart, what's your real name?"

"It's Neal! I am Neal. Honest!" The boy wailed. Elizabeth turned to Peter who shook his head.

"I...I can prove it!" The boy said. "Peter...wears puppy dog socks a-and lucky ties sometimes because he doesn't always...believe in me to do the right thing." His vowel sounds were all mixed up, but he was sure that they understood what he was trying to say as they stared at him with wide eyes. "You two just say the word Hon, to tell each other that you love each other and you always tell me to cowboy up!"

As strange as the situation was, both Peter and Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh at the three year old saying 'cowboy up' like 'towboy up'. But both were in complete shock as they stared down at a three year old Neal Caffrey.

Elizabeth sat in a rocking chair downstairs in the living room, slowly rocking the little boy. Neal's face was buried in her neck while her arms wrapped around him and held his trembling form to her. She rubbed his back gently and softly assured him everything was okay.

Peter walked in from the kitchen holding a cup of water with a straw.

"Here's uh...some water for him...for Neal." He stated awkwardly.

Elizabeth wanted to laugh, but knew if she did Peter would be even more uncomfortable and shy away from Neal, which the little boy did not need. She felt the small child relax in her arms when Peter walked into the living room and knew that with Peter around he felt more safe and secure.

She took the water from her husband and propped Neal up on her knee so he could drink without choking. The little boy drank through the straw and when he was finished he realized how sleepy he felt, but he was too scared to fall asleep. He had no idea what was happening and why he was so small.

Elizabeth noticed Neal rub at his eyes tiredly, but felt him still trembling and knew he was frightened. She suddenly had an idea.

"Peter, will you take him while I make a bed for him?" She asked holding Neal out to him, who happily accepted Peter's arms. Peter held Neal awkwardly and looked at Elizabeth for answers.

"What am I supposed to do?" He asked fearfully.

"Just hold him, rock him and talk to him. I'll be back in a few minutes." She chuckled before mouthing, "He's scared so just keep him calm."

Peter watched her go and his stomach began to twist. He had no idea how to handle kids. He wasn't good with children. And this wasn't just any kid, this was Neal. He still couldn't wrap his head around it. He wanted nothing more than a thirty year old Neal Caffrey standing in his living room, completely fine. But tiny hands clutched at his t-shirt and a face with tear soaked skin buried into his neck, while small whimpers and sniffles could be heard and suddenly he felt like he knew what to do.

His fear of doing the wrong thing and lack of knowledge about kids forgotten, he eased himself down in the rocking chair and did as his wife had been doing earlier. He rocked the trembling boy in his arms, rubbed his back and assured him that everything was okay, that he wasn't going to send him back to jail. Within minutes he felt the kid relax and heard his breathing even out in sleep.

Elizabeth came down the stairs about twenty minutes later and found a sight that made her heart swell. Neal was peacefully sleeping curled up into Peter's chest, with Peter sleeping soundly as well. Not having the heart to wake them, she laid a blanket over them and then laid down on the couch and fell asleep.

Elizabeth opened her eyes and glanced at the clock. It was eleven in the morning. She sat up and looked at her husband who stood in front of her.

"Morning, Honey. Sleep well?" He asked.

She blinked and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Yeah, but I had the strangest dream."

"Yeah, I did too." Peter replied with a forced smile.

"Really?" She yawned and looked around the room. She twisted her face in confusion. "Wait, why did I sleep on the couch?"

So, I wanted this story to just be a dream sequence, but the ending kinda leaves room for me to add more if I desire. A while back I wrote a similar story for Suits, and thought it would be a fun story to write for White Collar and it was. It was so cute imaging Peter as an awkward father, but a good one nonetheless. It was just fun to write and I may add more just for the enjoyment. I usually don't write these types of stories except for the one Suits story which was just a dream sequence. These types of stories can either be really entertaining and totally just for fun OR just plain annoying. Hopefully you were entertained and not annoyed. Thanks for reading (especially this long Author's note if you did)!