Work Text:
Peter Burke was generally a happy man. He had a job that allowed him to make a difference in the world as well as challenging him intellectually. After work he had Elizabeth and Satchmo to come home to and that was good, very good. Occasionally he thought about having kids, but it never lasted long. Life was busy enough as it was and he did not want to mess with the status quo. Maybe he was selfish, but he really liked his life exactly the way it was.
Enter Neal Caffrey stage left. Suddenly Peter's mostly black and white life was filled with shades of gray. It was all very confusing and extremely unsettling, particularly for someone who liked to know the good guys from the bad. Though, and he hated to admit this, he was enjoying the adrenaline rush of having to think and act outside of his carefully constructed comfort zone. Sometimes, late at night in the quiet of his office he wondered if he was on the path to redemption or the highway to hell.
Still, push come to shove, he liked Neal. Peter cared about Neal as an associate and, god forbid, a friend. But he didn't trust him. Not one tiny little bit. Occasionally, when Peter thought about how much Neal had insinuated himself into Peter's life it made him really uncomfortable. He had seen the fall out from people who allowed that and it wasn't pretty. Had Neal really turned over a new leaf or was this just another part of the long con? It could be both or neither given the person in question. Peter wasn't sure, but he did know that despite the uncertainty and all the changes he could never go back to living the way he had before.