Chapter Text
The day Neal Caffrey walked up to Peter’s office to find him losing an argument to a teenage girl was a day he would not soon forget. He stood on the opposite side of the glass, Peter’s back to him, and watched for several minutes. The small smirk on his face was inevitable. Peter couldn’t seem to get more than a sentence out without the girl cutting him off with some razor sharp wit or solid logic. Caffrey was enjoying this.
Truth be told, he had no idea what the argument was about. He couldn’t quite seem to follow what they were saying. It was clear that Peter was trying and failing to reprimand her for something, but he also guessed the beginning of this argument would have been crucial to hear if he wanted to figure out exactly what was going on.
“You hold no guardianship over me, Burke,” the girl said. Her arms were crossed and, even from where Neal stood, the icy, vindictive look in her eyes. “I’m done here.” With that, she stood and exited Peter’s office. She spared only a terse look for Neal before she sped down the stairs.
Neal was glancing back and forth between the retreating form of the unknown girl and Peter, who sat on the corner of his desk, pinching the bridge of his nose. Ultimately, his gaze locked on the FBI agent whose back was to him.
Deciding to make himself known, Neal pushed open the door and walked in. “What was that about?” he asked.
Peter turned his head, startled. “She’s an old friend,” he said simply.
“Didn’t seem all that friendly,” Neal observed. “Or old enough to be anyone’s ‘old friend.’”
“Yeah.” Peter’s gaze seemed lost for a second before standing and facing Neal. “What’ve you got?” he asked, seemingly back to his usual self.
Neal was confused, but chose not to comment. He felt as if it would cross some line.
He soon immersed himself back into the case they were working. It wasn’t long before he forgot all about the strange incident he had witnessed between Peter and the girl. All had been normal until that evening.
Neal had been assigned to go undercover and persuade a suspect to give up their partner. Infiltrate the fancy party unnoticed, buy the guy some alcohol, get the information, get out. It wasn’t a huge operation, nor was it anything difficult. With charisma and wit as his weapons, it should have gone over smoothly.
Should have.
He had been about one whiskey sour away from giving up his accomplice when the lights suddenly began to flicker. Then they turned off entirely. There were a few minutes of silence before guests began to scream.
Through the darkness Neal had no idea what was happening. When he heard Diana’s voice through the earpiece telling him to get out, he didn’t hesitate, though. He made his way outside and circled is way around the block to the surveillance van just in time to watch Jones handcuffing the same girl from earlier. As he approached, he could hear her protesting.
“You don’t have anything against me! This is illegal and uncalled for! You’re taking advantage of your position at the FBI to handcuff a civilian. A civilian, night I mention, that you cannot prove had anything to with this. You can-”
“A civilian who I know has no birth certificate or other legal documents in existence.”
Jones’ comment seemed to have shut her up.
Neal watched on in curiosity as Jones lead her to the back of the van and had her sit on the bumper. He couldn’t quite tell whether she looked more miserable or angry.
“Peter will be here momentarily,” Jones informed her. “You’ll wait here until then. Don’t try anything or I’ll have Diana on you in moments.”
The girl looked at the agent with a murderous gaze.
“Doesn’t work on me, kiddo. Now sit tight.”
“Don’t call me that!” she shouted after him as he walked away.
Jones ignored her, instead walking towards Caffrey. “You alright?” he asked
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine” Neal answered as he tore his gaze from the girl on the bumper. “What happened in there?”
“Funny you should ask. The mischief-maker over there decided to screw with our investigation.”
“Why?”
Jones shrugged. “Haven’t asked yet. Peter should be the one to do it. She’ll respond better to him than she will to the rest of us.”
There wasn’t much left to do but wait for Peter after that conversation.They were keeping an eye out for the suspect, but it was incredibly likely that he got spooked and high-tailed it out of there. Other than that, they weren’t yet sure how to proceed.
When at long last Peter arrived, the others were notified by the sound of his brakes screeching to a halt and his car door slamming shut.
Neal leaned back to watch through the partially open back door of the van.
Peter was clearly trying to contain his anger as he walked up to the girl. “What did you do?” he seethed, “You’re impeding on a federal investigation. My federal investigation!” His hands flew about wildly and he began to pace. “I should have you arrested. If I had half a brain, I would arrest you. Not just for this, but for all the trouble you’ve caused over the past eight years. What the hell were you thinking?”
“Relax, Burke, you’re going to send yourself into cardiac arrest. I didn’t do anything. Go search for proof, for something you can tie back to me. I promise you you won’t find anything. The only thing I did to affect your investigation was save your team some hassle. I know where your suspect and your accomplices are.” The girl leaned back against the van as much as her handcuffed wrists would allow. “But since I’m such a criminal pain in your ass-” she cut herself off. Up to this point she had been as calm and collected with Peter as she could manage, but her anger at his accusations began to bubble to the service. She took a breath in an attempt to regain her cool before she spoke again. “Maybe if I’m that much trouble you should just arrest me already and I won’t try to help anymore.”
Peter sighed. He took a seat next to her and rubbed a hand over his face. “Look, Shawn, I don’t intend to arrest you today, but I can’t keep turning a blind eye forever. I’m worried that one day you’re going to get yourself in trouble again and I’m not going to be there to help get you out of it.”
“Yeah, well, don’t be,” she snapped. “You’re not my protector, Burke. I never asked for your help with anything. If I get into trouble that’s my problem.”
Peter looked down at the pavement for a few moments, then back up at her. “Okay, so maybe you don’t want my help, but I can I ask for yours? You said you know where our suspects are?”
The girl-- Shawn-- was quiet for a few moments. “I’m going to need a map, some of the FBI’s awful coffee, forty-five minutes in an empty conference room, and these handcuffs off my wrists.”
Burke smiled. “I think I can manage that.” He turned to look in the van and called for Jones to unlock the cuffs. Once that was done, he turned back to her. “Hop in and I’ll give you a ride.”
“It’s not that far. I’ll walk.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I’ll be there soon.”
“Alright. I’d tell you to be careful, but I know you wouldn’t listen.”
“I’m always careful!”she replied indignantly.
“Somehow that’s even more concerning,” Burke teased as he watched her walk away.
Shawn looked back at him over her shoulder, smiling just the slightest bit.
“Alright, let’s pack up and head back to the Bureau.”