Chapter Text
It’d been a year, almost to the day, since Peter last saw Neal Caffery. Or at least the man he knew as Neal. There have been times when he thought he had seen the younger man.
But it had never actually been him.
Once he was in a lecture hall in Quantico, Virginia. Burke had been there to attend a seminar on profiling when out of the corner of his eye he saw a brunette man attempting to get the attention of the SSA in charge of the lecture. Burke would have sworn that it was Caffery, but on closer inspection the young man was wearing horn rimmed glasses and a sweater vest, both were items Neal would never be caught dead in.
However every once in a while, on those long nights when insomnia kept him up, he wondered what the con artist was up to.
Peter just hoped that he was staying out of trouble.
“Peter, do we know anyone who lives in Las Vegas?”
“Nope . . . why?”
“We just got a card from a Jason Reid in Las Vegas, Nevada,”
“Let me see,” Eli handed her husband the envelope and watched as he opened it. As she watched him pull out the card and look at his eyebrows furrowed. She scooted her chair closer to his and got a look at the front, which housed a picture of a shockingly bright blue jay flying across a snow-white landscape. When he opened it there was the generically printed “Happy Holidays” but in neat handwriting below it said:
“I hope your holidays are as happy and family filled as mine, Jason Reid”
Ell looked back to Peter and he shrugged.
“I can look this guy up and make sure he's not a criminal, but I’ve never heard of him. Maybe he's one of your old clients or something,” Peter handed her back the card.
“Alright, just let me know what you find,”
For the next two years they received Christmas cards from the mysterious Jason Reid. Each one different but all featuring a blue jay and containing the same well wishes. Peter had tried to figure out who it was, but the only Jason Reid he could find was an unemployed man whose mother currently resided at Bennington Sanitarium.
It wasn’t until the fourth year that The Card arrived.
Ell was sick. Between running around New York in the snow and staying up late finalizing the latest event her company was running she had caught a nasty cold. So Peter had set her up on the couch with the TV remote, a couple books, and enough fluids to drown a small elephant.
Which meant that Peter had checked the mail that day. When he found the card from Jason, he didn't think twice about opening it right inside the front door. It was weird, receiving Christmas wishes from a man you didn't know, but it had become a sort of tradition in the Burke household. So he was startled when upon taking the card out of the envelope, and scrap of something fluttered to the floor. There had never been anything in the envelopes except for the cards before. When he picked it up he realized it was a picture.
A picture of Neal.
Only it wasn’t Neal, that much was obvious.
For one thing the man in the picture had a beard. It was well maintained, but a beard none the less. He also had on a pair of jeans and an ugly Christmas sweater that matched the younger man who he had his arm slung around in the photo. They looked to be brothers and were both leaning over a woman who must have been their mother. All three were smiling brilliantly.
They looked happy.
“He’s happy,” He said out loud.
“Whose happy?” El asked, watching him with concern. Peter didn’t respond, simply handed her the picture in silence. Once she saw it her mouth almost dropped open. They stood in silence a moment, wrapping their heads around this information. Until Peter saw the front of the card and had a revelation.
“My Blue Jay,” he whispered to himself.
“What did you say Peter?” Elizabeth croaked out, which shook him out of his thoughts. He cleared his throat and spoke louder.
“I said, ‘My Blue Jay’. Back when Neal was still around I found a letter out when he was in the shower, it was addressed to ‘My Blue Jay’ I could never figure out why,” he told her as he handed her the card. On the front was another picture of a blue jay flying over a snow covered town. Wings spread magnificently, feathers all on display.
“I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out,” El said, “I knew that he had family out there, and who else would send such odd Christmas cards.”
“Well I didn’t figure it out either . . . but still,”
It wasn’t until two days later that they worked up the nerve to open the card. The inside again had the same “Happy Holidays” the first three did, except the handwriting this time said:
"If you are ever in the neighborhood, stop by and say hi, the address is on the envelope. Again I hope your holidays are as happy and family filled as mine, Jason Reid (Blue Jay)”
Another two months passed by before fate found a certain middle aged couple ringing the doorbell of a Las Vegas home, sweating in the heat.
Inside two younger men ceased their discussion about classical literature and turned towards the door.
“You expecting anyone Jay?”
“Nope, only you were supposed to be here Penny,”
“Well go answer your door already!”
“Oh, so it’s only my house when something needs to be done huh?”
Footsteps echoed from the living room, followed by laughter. Upon opening the door the man’s eyes widened.
“ . . . Peter . . . Ell,”