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There wasn’t a lot that Peter actually knew about Neal. He didn’t know where she grew up, whether or not she had siblings, parents, or any family at all. He didn’t know if she was actual 28 like she claimed, if she was a natural blonde, or if Neal Caffrey was even close to her real name. It wasn’t even until almost a year of chasing her that Peter had realized that she was young blonde woman and not the dark haired, light eyed man they’d been looking for.
That being said, there was plenty that Peter did know about her, and things that he’d come to expect from her. He knew she had near limitless energy and had a tendency to be bouncing off the walls even early in the morning. He knew her favorite food was waffles and that her waffle recipe was the best he’d ever had. He knew she loved the color purple and almost every outfit she wore had some purple accessory in it somewhere. He knew she never wanted to talk about her past and that avoided the questions every time someone noticed the scars littering her body. And he knew that there were very few things he could get her to actually take seriously, so seeing her stare dourly at the newspaper in the morning was a bit of a shock.
Actually, no, she wasn’t just staring, Neal was glaring, Peter considered that her gaze might be strong enough to burn though the paper if she wanted. It was strange to realize that he’d never really seen his partner truly angry before, but the difference was startling. If Peter didn’t know that she was non-violent, he’d say she was ready to kill a man.
Neal didn’t even bother to get dressed when he told her they had to go to work. She was just wearing the sweats and Batgirl t-shirt that she presumably slept in, she pulled her hair into a messy bun, and put on a pair of purple crocs that Peter wasn’t aware that she’d owned. On the way down to his car, Peter texted Diana to have her tell the office to please not comment on Neal’s appearance. For a bunch of supposedly mature, well-trained agents, their office was full of gossip, and it was obvious that Neal really didn’t need that today.
When they got to the office, Neal slumped into her desk and slowly started working through cold cases and mortgage fraud. Despite Peter’s warnings, multiple agents walked up and asked about her outfit. Shockingly, the CI who Peter had maybe heard say heck once or twice, flipped them all off and told them to mind their own business.
By the end of the day, Neal didn’t seem to be doing any better than she was in the morning. She was still tense and jumpy even when they started out of the office, turning down Diana’s offer for a girls night out, or Jones’ suggestion of coming over to watch the Mets vs. Knights game (one of the biggest surprises when they met her was that Neal had been shockingly passionate about the Gotham Knights).
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Peter pulled out his phone and shot a quick text to El before wandering up to the Conwoman.
“Neal, El is trying out some new recipes tonight and she told me to bring you along for dinner because she says your a better taste tester than me.” It was at least partially true, El was trying new recipes tonight and Neal was a better tester than him. That didn’t stop her from raising a skeptical eyebrow at him. Peter decided to up the ante a bit. “If the recipes turn out really bad we can get IHOP for dinner instead.”
“Oh, so we’re jumping straight to bribery?” Neal huffed out something that could be considered a laugh, Peter shrugged and considered it a win. “Fine, but I’m holding you too that.”
They got into his car and drove in silence to his house. As soon as they stepped inside, Neal was jumped by Satchmo, he could always tell when people were having a hard time. She sat in the living room petting the dog that took over her whole lower half while Peter went to explain the situation to El, who took over from there.
“Hey, Neal, Peter’s a bit useless to me in here,” she called, ignoring he offended noise her husband made. “you think you could help me with the cooking for a bit?”
“Sure thing, just a sec.” Neal made her way into the kitchen, Satchmo hot on her heels. “Where do you want me?”
“You’re on rice making duty.” El told her, shooing Peter out so the two of them could get to work. They chatted about inconsequential things, like the wedding that El was planning and how Cindy, June’s granddaughter, was doing at college. It wasn’t until food was actually set out and they were ready to eat that El broached the topic she was planning on talking about.
“So,” she started, sitting down at the table across from Neal, with Peter sat between them at the head. “Peter mentioned you had a bit of a rough day today.”
“Yeah, I figured that was what this is about.” Neal mumbled. “I just got some news today that I wasn’t really prepared for.”
“Do you mind if we ask what happened?” Peter asked gently, he didn’t want to push, but he really was worried about his partner.
“No, it was just that— here let me…” Neal grabbed her phone and started pulling something up. She turned the screen to show them a news article about a prison break.
“Last night at 2:47am Arthur Brown, better known by his supervillain persona, The Cluemaster, escaped from the Blackgate Penitentiary.” El frowned as she read out loud.
“This is what had you so off all day?” Peter question. Slowly Neal nodded.
“It’s not just that there was a breakout, it’s that…” Neal sighed, she looked like she was weighing her options before continuing to speak. “My real name is Stephanie Brown, I’m the Cluemaster’s daughter.”