FIC: Every New Beginning
Jun. 21st, 2014 01:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pooh_collectorTitle: Every New Beginning
Author: pooh_collector
Word Count: ~5,030
Rating: PG
Pairings: P/E/N
Warnings: None
Summary: The fifth timestamp in the Of Christmases verse. The one year anniversary of Neal's injury arrives and it turns out to be filled with much more promise than the year before.
A/N: As this is post anklet and future!fic, the original story began in November/December of 2015 this story takes place in 2016.
Title from a quote by Seneca.
Art by Kanarek13
Peter loved his job, but sometimes the sheer volume of paperwork stupefied him, as it had done today. It was just after 7:30 when he finally arrived home. He greeted his dog, dropped his briefcase in the hall and followed the sounds of voices and laughter back to the kitchen where he found his lovely wife leaning against the counter, a glass of wine dangling from her delicate fingers, and his partner busy at the stove.
Not for the first time Peter marveled at how beautiful they looked together and how fortunate he was to be able to come home after a long day at the office and be with them.
Dinner was delicious, a salad with gorgonzola dressing and a creamy risotto with shrimp and asparagus that Neal just “whipped up”. The easy conversation and the laughter continued straight through their meal and beyond as they sat finishing the bottle of wine that had perfectly complimented the risotto.
Peter was sitting back in his chair, completely relaxed despite the earlier tensions of his day, watching his wife and his lover as they chatted and teased. Neal was looking at El intently, focused on her every word, smiling softly at her. And as plain as the nose on his own face, Peter could see just how much Neal loved Elizabeth, deeply and truly. It was reflected in his eyes so obviously that Peter’s heart nearly skipped a beat. Then Neal turned his gaze briefly on Peter, with the very same open look of love and devotion.
In that moment Peter was struck with an intense desire to commit his heart and his life to Neal in the same way that he had done with Elizabeth fifteen years ago. He wanted to marry Neal, as much as he had ever wanted anything in his life. He wanted his partner to never doubt that he was and would always be as important as El was in Peter's life. He almost started crying, right there at the dinner table, from the intensity of this new found yearning.
Neal looked at him again, this time with some concern. “Peter, you all right?”
Peter smiled past the wetness he could feel building in his eyes. “I’m good, really good,” he said to reassure his lover. “I just love you both.”
Neal reached over and picked up the hand that Peter had resting on the table and squeezed Peter’s fingers lightly. The look Neal gave him clearly returned Peter’s sentiment for just a moment before turning devilish. “Enough to do the dishes and clean up the kitchen?”
Peter chuckled. “Maybe not that much.”
Neal shrugged. “Maybe enough to help do the dishes and clean up the kitchen.”
Peter laughed again and nodded. “Maybe that much.”
Peter spent the rest of the evening and the next morning before they all left for work trying to inconspicuously get El alone long enough to talk to her about his intent, to no avail. So just after he and Neal arrived at the office, he called her.
“El, is there any chance I can take you out to lunch today?”
“I don’t know hon. I have an eleven o’clock meeting with a caterer and then an appointment with a client at one.”
“How about if I come to you, and we just grab something quick.”
“Peter, what’s going on?”
“I have something important that I want to talk to you about. It’s nothing bad, I promise.”
El hesitated, and Peter could almost hear her thinking through the phone. “Okay, my client is just a few blocks from the Met. Why don’t you meet me there and we can grab a couple of hotdogs and eat on the steps around 12:15?”
“Perfect, I’ll see you then.”
Peter easily managed to sidestep getting lunch with Neal by claiming he had a budget meeting on the 36th floor. Of course, being Neal’s partner, Peter was just a scosche paranoid, so he grabbed an elevator headed up when he left the office and then hopped off and caught a downward elevator on the 22nd floor, just to be on the safe side.
The air temperature in late October was cool, but the sun was bright and warm as Peter and El got their hotdogs and found a place to sit on the Met’s granite staircase.
“Okay, what was so important that we couldn’t talk about it at home tonight?”
Despite his initial exuberance and certainty, now that he was actually face-to-face with his wife, Peter suddenly felt anxious. What if El didn’t feel the same way he did? What if she had no desire to complicate their lives by putting a ring on Neal’s finger?
“Peter?” El asked, sensing his uncertainty.
Peter sighed and put his hotdog down on the step next to him and took a moment to gather his thoughts. Finally, he said, “I’ve loved you since the first day I met you. And, it didn’t take me long at all to figure out that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.”
El smiled warmly and picked up Peter’s hand squeezing his fingers, much as Neal had done the night before.
“I still remember the moment I knew I wanted to marry you. You had dragged me to some gallery down by Washington Square Park. We walked around the place and you were going on and on about all the different pieces and each time you saw something new, your eyes would light up and you looked so beautiful and so happy. And, then somewhere along the line I realized that when you looked at me, you had that same bright look in your eyes, and I couldn’t believe that someone as smart and sexy and perfect as you could ever look at me that way. That’s when I knew, that I needed to have you in my life always and that I wanted to make a permanent commitment to you.”
El’s eyes were wet and she was looking at Peter in exactly the way he had just described. “I love you as much now as I did then, more,” he continued.
“With Neal, it took a while to get from admiration and frustration to love and devotion. I think that’s true for us both.”
El nodded. “It was cute watching the two of you flirt and dance around your feeling for years though,” she teased.
Peter rolled his eyes. “For you maybe, for me, not so much. But El, I realized last night during dinner that I feel about Neal exactly how I felt about you that day in the gallery. I feel so damn lucky that he loves us and I need him to know that. I want to marry him, I want us to marry him.”
El nodded. “I want that too, I have for a long time.”
Peter sighed in relief. It made him happier than he could have imagined that his wife shared his feelings. But, then the last part of El’s reply registered in his brain.
“A long time? Why didn’t you say anything?”
El gently squeezed the hand she held again. “Because I knew you needed to be ready, that eventually your head would catch up with your heart and I knew you would tell me as soon as you knew.”
Peter shook his head. “How did I get lucky enough to marry the smartest woman in New York?”
“I don’t know, but it looks like you’re about to get that lucky twice,” El replied with a wink. ”When do you want to propose?”
“I don’t.” Peter said carefully, worried that El would convince him to scuttle his plans.
“Honey, we can’t marry him without asking him first,” El reasoned.
“Why not?” Peter countered. “I know this sounds crazy, but I don’t want to give him time to think about it. I don’t want to give him a chance to Caffrey his way out of anything.”
“You want to throw a surprise wedding?” El sounded skeptical, but she was smiling.
Peter nodded. “It’s romantic right? And you know how much Neal likes romantic.”
“I think Neal will find it very romantic,” she agreed.
Peter smiled so wide his cheeks hurt. “So what about this weekend?”
El laughed and covered her face with her hands.
“What?”
She shook her head and dropped her hands and looked directly at her husband. “Peter Burke, if we’re finally going to marry the man we love, we’re going to do it right, with the people we love there, and flowers and food and wine and that takes planning.”
“Oh, right.”
El could see how disappointed Peter was, like a boy who had just been told he couldn't keep the stray puppy he had found. “It will be worth the wait, I promise.”
***
Thanksgiving morning dawned bright and clear. Peter woke with the sun tangled in the sheets and the limbs of his lovers, happy and very, very grateful indeed for what the day had in store. He slipped carefully out of the bed where El and Neal still slept, and made his way downstairs to start the coffee.
He had just poured his first cup when El walked into the kitchen. “Neal still sleeping?”
El nodded, smiling as she went to get her own cup. “The sleep of the oblivious.”
“He won’t be oblivious for long,” Peter replied with a smirk.
El swatted his arm. “Careful or he’s going to figure it out before you want him too.”
“Hey, I’ve had a perfect poker face for the last month, I can last a few more hours.”
“You’d better mister.”
Peter and El were nearly done making breakfast for the three of them when Neal finally stumbled into the kitchen. “Good morning sweetie,” El said when she saw him.
He grunted something unintelligible and went straight for the coffee. Peter snorted at his lover. Another of the things that had changed since Neal’s coma, he was not a morning person any longer. The thought of what had happened exactly a year ago today made Peter shudder internally and he quickly pushed aside the memories to focus on the present. Today was about making new memories and cementing their future.
“You sleep well, buddy?”
“Mmmm,” Neal mumbled between sips of coffee.
Peter couldn’t help himself, he put down the knife he was using to cut up a fruit salad, wrapped his arms around Neal and held him tightly.
“Uh, Peter,” Neal uttered when he found himself engulfed in his lover’s arms. “What’s this about?”
Peter mentally kicked himself for nearly tipping his hand. “Nothing, it’s Thanksgiving and I just wanted you to know that I’m thankful you’re here with us, that’s all.”
Neal slipped his mug onto the counter and returned Peter’s embrace. “I’m thankful too, for so much. You and El have done everything for me this past year. I don’t know how I would have made it this far without you.”
Peter tightened his hold. “That goes double for us, Neal.”
El came up beside them and wrapped her arms around them both. “Peter’s right. You’ve given us a lot to be thankful for, more than you know, Neal. Now we’d better sit and eat breakfast or we’re going to be late for dinner at June’s,” she concluded, swatting them both on their respective asses to herd them along.
They shared a quiet breakfast of fresh fruit and French toast, cleaned up the kitchen and then made their way back upstairs to get ready to leave for June’s for Thanksgiving dinner with June’s family, or so Neal had been led to believe.
While Peter was in the shower, Neal went into the guest room to the closet he called his own and pulled out a charcoal gray suit to wear along with a dove gray shirt, and a dark blue tie and matching pocket square. Before he could start to dress, El came in and without saying a word, she put his suit back in the closet and came out with his dark navy suit, the one that she always said brought out the color in his eyes and the curve of his ass. Then she swapped the gray shirt for a white one and the tie and pocket square for a more vibrant blue.
Neal watched her with an amused smile on his face.
“You can’t blame a girl for wanting to be able to admire her lover’s perfect posterior all day, can you?” She drawled, as she sashayed out of the room with a wicked smile on her face.
Downstairs in the foyer where they gathered to get their coats on, Neal noticed how good they all looked. Peter was in his Hugo Boss suit, the one Neal had made him buy last year so that he would have something that fit him properly and El was wearing a gorgeous cream suit that was at once sensual and sophisticated that Neal had never seen before. "Mrs. Burke, did you get a new outfit for the occasion?" He asked.
El blushed at his question while trying to decide just what to say. She certainly couldn't admit that like any woman she had to have a new dress for her wedding day. Finally she settled on, "I saw it and I just couldn't resist."
Neal lifted an appreciative eyebrow. "I don't think I'm going to be able to resist either, but if I don't find a way, we're definitely going to be late to June's."
"Come on Romeo," Peter prodded, as he tugged Neal by his coat sleeve toward the door.
***
June herself opened the front door of her Riverside Drive mansion, looking as elegant as ever in a fitted pale pink dress. “There you three are,” she greeted them warmly as she stood aside so they could enter the house.
Peter ushered Elizabeth ahead of him and walked in behind her, both of them kissing June on the cheek as they went past.
Neal entered last and as he came in June enveloped him in a tight hug. “It’s so good to have you here today,” she whispered to him.
“It’s good to be here,” he replied as he returned her embrace.
“Come,” June said when she stepped out of Neal’s arms, “everyone is up on the balcony, enjoying the beautiful weather we’re having today.”
Peter and El started up the stairs, arm in arm, and June grasped Neal’s elbow as they followed behind up the four flights to where Neal had lived for all the time he wore the anklet.
His lovers had already gone inside Neal’s old apartment and closed the door behind them, probably to keep the cooler autumn air from filtering out to the rest of the house, by the time he and June reached the door themselves.
Neal was about to open it for her, when she turned and faced him, taking both of his hands in hers.
“June?”
“I just want to look at you for a moment,” she answered with a smile. “You’ve been through so much this year, dear. And, I want you to know how incredibly proud I am of you, of how hard you fought to get your life back.”
Today of all days, on the one year anniversary of the day he almost lost everything, Neal was honored and very grateful to hear June voice her feelings. “Thank you.”
June kissed his cheek, a light brushing of her lips against his skin. “Thank you, Neal, for being the wonderful man that you are and for being a part of my life.”
“I cherish our friendship. I hope you know that.” Neal replied, feeling the prickle of tears in the corners of his eyes.
“Of course, I do,” she said in that assured tone that Neal found so charming. “Now, let’s get this coat off and go inside. Everyone’s waiting.” Before Neal even realized what June was doing, she had tugged his coat down from his shoulders and off his body, revealing the dark blue suit that El had chosen for him. June draped his coat over the chair that sat in the hallway and then took Neal's elbow again as she pushed open the door.
The scene before him was completely unexpected and Neal blinked hard to be sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, before taking a closer look at the tableau. Where the dining room table usually stood there sat three short rows of chairs, filled with June’s family, Diana and Theo, Jones, Dr. Kline and Reese Hughes. In front of them, just before the open French doors, was a trellised arch adorned with delicate purple and white flowers. Under the arch stood Mozzie dressed at his best in his Nehru jacket, and just before him stood Elizabeth and Peter.
Neal’s first thought was “how romantic, El and Peter are going to renew their vows again, in the same place they did it the last time.”
But June was walking him up the small aisle between the rows of seats and everyone he passed was beaming up at him. And when he looked at his lovers, they weren’t gazing at each other like a couple who were about to share solemn vows, they were looking at him, smiling lovingly as he made his way up the aisle toward them.
Neal’s heart sped up and his vision whited out at the edges. He held tightly to June's arm realizing that it was a very good thing that she was guiding him. Without her, he might have ended up in a heap on the wooden floor.
When they reached the spot where his partners stood, June maneuvered him between them, released his arm and gave him one last kiss on his cheek. “Congratulations, dear,” she said before she moved off to take her seat in the front row.
Peter picked up Neal's right hand while El gathered up his left. Peter squeezed Neal's hand and when Neal looked at him, he asked, "Are you okay with this?"
Neal blinked again. Despite the setting, despite Peter in his best suit and El in her new cream outfit, despite the trellised arch and Moz looking officious and overly pleased with himself, despite June walking him down the aisle, despite knowing in his heart exactly what was going on, Neal couldn't wrap his head around what he believed was about to happen. "Huh?"
Peter laughed lightly. "El and I want to marry you Neal Caffrey, right here, right now. Any objections?"
Neal shook his head. He was too afraid of stuttering if he tried to tell Peter and El how much he wanted this, how much it meant to him that they wanted it too.
Peter nodded, "Good." Then Peter turned to Moz and nodded for him to begin.
Moz quickly smiled knowingly at Neal, then he sobered and looked out over the room. "We are gathered here today, on this day of Thanksgiving, to give thanks that Neal, our friend and loved one is here with us today, healthy and whole."
Neal felt both Peter and Elizabeth hold onto him just a little bit tighter at Mozzie's words and he was certain that he heard June whisper "Amen", from behind him.
"And," Mozzie continued, "to join this man and this woman and this man together in the bonds of matrimony. Peter and Elizabeth are not traditional people, despite outward appearances, and when Neal came into their lives, it was certainly not through any means that you could call commonplace. Through the years there have been some ups and some downs. But, through it all the love the three of them share has only grown stronger, more vibrant, more unreserved.
"And, today before their friends and family they wish to commit their hearts and their lives to each other. So without further ado, Peter and Elizabeth wish to begin with the traditional vows and then add some words of their own."
Mozzie looked to Peter, "Peter, please repeat after me. I Peter, take you Neal to be my husband, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part."
Peter looked at Neal, the man he loved more than he could ever articulate and tried to let his expression say what his words could not, despite their depth and truth. "I Peter, take you Neal to be my husband, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part. You Neal Caffrey, have exasperated, infuriated and just plain pissed me off since the day your case file first landed on my desk."
Peter watched as a sheepish smile appeared on his partner's face. "But I wouldn't trade those feelings for anything, because eventually they came in equal measure with respect, and love and passion. I'm not the most articulate man, so I'll keep it simple, I love you, I can't imagine my life, our life, without you in it. I had to try last year, and it just about broke me, so today, I'm making you my husband so that you'll always know your place in my life and my heart." Peter fought back the tears that wanted to fall, and smiled at Neal.
Neal was freely crying, and with his hands grasped in his partners' he had no choice but to let them go.
"Neal," Mozzie began, "Please repeat after me. I Neal, take you Peter to be my husband, to have and to hold, for better for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part."
Neal tried to clear the tightness from his throat and then he spoke. "I Neal, take you Peter to be my husband." Neal paused, swallowing hard again. "To have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part. Peter, I don't know where I would be today or who I would be today without you and Elizabeth. I owe you both more than I can say. I am so honored and so humbled by your love. I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life keeping these vows. I love you both with everything that I am and I always will."
Peter reached up then and caressed Neal's cheek and Neal couldn't help but lean into the warmth of Peter's hand to acknowledge the love and caring in Peter’s gesture.
"Elizabeth," Mozzie said turning to her. "Please repeat after me. I Elizabeth, take you Neal to be my husband, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part."
Neal turned his attention from Peter and faced El. She looked radiant, her blue eyes luminous in the light coming through the French doors.
"I Elizabeth, take you Neal to be my husband, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part." El smiled at him, that smile that always melted Neal's heart and then she continued. "I thought when I found Peter that my life was complete, perfect husband, great career, beautiful home, but you changed all that. I never realized that something was actually missing from our lives until you came along with your brash smile and your clever, crazy schemes and your unabashed love for Peter and then for me. And, now I don't know how Peter and I ever managed to feel complete without you. Thank you, for loving us. I'm so very proud to become your wife."
Neal lifted El's hand to his lips and kissed it softly, reverently.
Mozzie waited until Neal brought their hands back down before stating the vows again for Neal to repeat. "Neal, repeat after me, again. I Neal, take you Elizabeth to be my wife, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part."
"I Neal, take you Elizabeth to be my wife, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part. I think I've loved you since that first day you let me into the house, knowing who I was, what I was. You've always seen me not as a conman or a con or an ex-con, but as me. That's a gift I can never repay, but I will gladly spend the rest of our lives trying."
"Peter, the ring?" Mozzie asked. Peter reached into his jacket pocket and his eyes went wide when he found nothing there.
El smiled. "Your inside pocket, hon."
Peter reached into his jacket and as his fingers closed around the ring, he sighed in relief. He took Neal’s left hand, and moved to place the ring on his partner’s finger. “With this ring, we thee wed.”
The surreal feeling that had taken hold of Neal as soon as June had opened the door to his former apartment burst like a bubble in the wind the moment that Peter slid the plain gold band onto the ring finger of his left hand. Everything around him was suddenly crisp and sharp, the love and devotion Peter and El felt for him written plainly in the eyes of his lovers. He was theirs. He belonged to them now and they belonged to him. A joy he had never known before welled up in him as he stared at the golden symbol of commitment that now adorned his hand.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife and husband," Mozzie declared happily.
Before Neal had time to react to Moz's words, Peter pulled him into his arms, one hand cupping the back of Neal's head and kissed him hard, with passion and promise. Neal felt his lips turn up in a smile against Peter's mouth. The joy he felt radiating through his body.
When the kiss ended, Peter whispered in his ear, "Four and o, and forever, Neal."
Neal nodded, "Forever."
Then Peter released him and Neal turned to El, who wrapped her hands around the back of his head, bringing him down so that their foreheads met. Neal enveloped his arms around her waist and they stayed like that for a long moment, just holding each other, until El reached up and brought her lips to his, kissing him lightly, but with the same promise that Peter's lips had granted moments ago.
When they parted, Neal realized that the room had grown loud with the sound of clapping and someone, Neal suspected it as Jones, whistling. El's arm was around him, and Peter's hand was on the small of his back and he was surrounded by the people who really knew him and yet loved him anyway. And, just like that, the worst day of his life, November 24, was transformed into the most magical and special day of his life.
There were cocktails and appetizers on the balcony after the ceremony and then a full Thanksgiving feast, with turkey, two kinds of stuffing, three kinds of cranberries, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie, and string beans and almonds sautéed in lemon and white wine. Neal sat between his wife and his husband and tried to get used to the idea of using those words to define his relationship with El and Peter. Every time he thought about what today's events meant to him and his future, his heart raced a little.
After dinner they returned upstairs where the space had been transformed once again. Now it was entirely open and strings of white lights ran around the balcony and through the French doors into the apartment. A band had set up outside under a grouping of heat lamps and for the next several hours there was dancing and more drinks and laughter as the live music rolled over and around the scene.
Neal danced with El first. She took his hand and led him to the center of the space that had been set aside as a dance floor. When the band began to the play the Gershwin classic Our Love is Here to Stay Neal smiled and wrapped his arms around El. As they swept gracefully across the floor Neal sang the lyrics to his wife, his voice lilting and tender. So rapt were they in each other that they didn't notice when the beat of the music changed entirely until Peter put his hand on Neal's shoulder. "May I borrow our husband?" Peter asked Elizabeth.
She nodded and stepped away with a smile. Peter took her place deftly, pulling Neal in tightly against his chest. In opposition to his dance with El, he and Peter merely rocked together, holding each other close while the band played Billy Joel's Just the Way You Are. Neal dropped his head to rest against Peter's shoulder and thought about the lyrics to the song. Neal understood the sentiment behind them and the point that Peter was making by choosing it, but he had changed. Some of that was his own doing, and was for the best, turning him into the man that Peter and El could trust enough to love and share their life with. And, some of it was thrust upon him, by Kate's death, and Adler, his father, Rebecca and Ernie Shatz. It had been a hard year, but today, in Peter's arms under the late afternoon sun, Neal felt new. He wasn't the con, or the ex-con, or the grief stricken lover, or the abandoned child, or the man betrayed, or the man broken by a baseball bat. He was a partner and a husband with a whole new life of love ahead of him.
Author: pooh_collector
Word Count: ~5,030
Rating: PG
Pairings: P/E/N
Warnings: None
Summary: The fifth timestamp in the Of Christmases verse. The one year anniversary of Neal's injury arrives and it turns out to be filled with much more promise than the year before.
A/N: As this is post anklet and future!fic, the original story began in November/December of 2015 this story takes place in 2016.
Title from a quote by Seneca.
Art by Kanarek13
Peter loved his job, but sometimes the sheer volume of paperwork stupefied him, as it had done today. It was just after 7:30 when he finally arrived home. He greeted his dog, dropped his briefcase in the hall and followed the sounds of voices and laughter back to the kitchen where he found his lovely wife leaning against the counter, a glass of wine dangling from her delicate fingers, and his partner busy at the stove.
Not for the first time Peter marveled at how beautiful they looked together and how fortunate he was to be able to come home after a long day at the office and be with them.
Dinner was delicious, a salad with gorgonzola dressing and a creamy risotto with shrimp and asparagus that Neal just “whipped up”. The easy conversation and the laughter continued straight through their meal and beyond as they sat finishing the bottle of wine that had perfectly complimented the risotto.
Peter was sitting back in his chair, completely relaxed despite the earlier tensions of his day, watching his wife and his lover as they chatted and teased. Neal was looking at El intently, focused on her every word, smiling softly at her. And as plain as the nose on his own face, Peter could see just how much Neal loved Elizabeth, deeply and truly. It was reflected in his eyes so obviously that Peter’s heart nearly skipped a beat. Then Neal turned his gaze briefly on Peter, with the very same open look of love and devotion.
In that moment Peter was struck with an intense desire to commit his heart and his life to Neal in the same way that he had done with Elizabeth fifteen years ago. He wanted to marry Neal, as much as he had ever wanted anything in his life. He wanted his partner to never doubt that he was and would always be as important as El was in Peter's life. He almost started crying, right there at the dinner table, from the intensity of this new found yearning.
Neal looked at him again, this time with some concern. “Peter, you all right?”
Peter smiled past the wetness he could feel building in his eyes. “I’m good, really good,” he said to reassure his lover. “I just love you both.”
Neal reached over and picked up the hand that Peter had resting on the table and squeezed Peter’s fingers lightly. The look Neal gave him clearly returned Peter’s sentiment for just a moment before turning devilish. “Enough to do the dishes and clean up the kitchen?”
Peter chuckled. “Maybe not that much.”
Neal shrugged. “Maybe enough to help do the dishes and clean up the kitchen.”
Peter laughed again and nodded. “Maybe that much.”
Peter spent the rest of the evening and the next morning before they all left for work trying to inconspicuously get El alone long enough to talk to her about his intent, to no avail. So just after he and Neal arrived at the office, he called her.
“El, is there any chance I can take you out to lunch today?”
“I don’t know hon. I have an eleven o’clock meeting with a caterer and then an appointment with a client at one.”
“How about if I come to you, and we just grab something quick.”
“Peter, what’s going on?”
“I have something important that I want to talk to you about. It’s nothing bad, I promise.”
El hesitated, and Peter could almost hear her thinking through the phone. “Okay, my client is just a few blocks from the Met. Why don’t you meet me there and we can grab a couple of hotdogs and eat on the steps around 12:15?”
“Perfect, I’ll see you then.”
Peter easily managed to sidestep getting lunch with Neal by claiming he had a budget meeting on the 36th floor. Of course, being Neal’s partner, Peter was just a scosche paranoid, so he grabbed an elevator headed up when he left the office and then hopped off and caught a downward elevator on the 22nd floor, just to be on the safe side.
The air temperature in late October was cool, but the sun was bright and warm as Peter and El got their hotdogs and found a place to sit on the Met’s granite staircase.
“Okay, what was so important that we couldn’t talk about it at home tonight?”
Despite his initial exuberance and certainty, now that he was actually face-to-face with his wife, Peter suddenly felt anxious. What if El didn’t feel the same way he did? What if she had no desire to complicate their lives by putting a ring on Neal’s finger?
“Peter?” El asked, sensing his uncertainty.
Peter sighed and put his hotdog down on the step next to him and took a moment to gather his thoughts. Finally, he said, “I’ve loved you since the first day I met you. And, it didn’t take me long at all to figure out that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.”
El smiled warmly and picked up Peter’s hand squeezing his fingers, much as Neal had done the night before.
“I still remember the moment I knew I wanted to marry you. You had dragged me to some gallery down by Washington Square Park. We walked around the place and you were going on and on about all the different pieces and each time you saw something new, your eyes would light up and you looked so beautiful and so happy. And, then somewhere along the line I realized that when you looked at me, you had that same bright look in your eyes, and I couldn’t believe that someone as smart and sexy and perfect as you could ever look at me that way. That’s when I knew, that I needed to have you in my life always and that I wanted to make a permanent commitment to you.”
El’s eyes were wet and she was looking at Peter in exactly the way he had just described. “I love you as much now as I did then, more,” he continued.
“With Neal, it took a while to get from admiration and frustration to love and devotion. I think that’s true for us both.”
El nodded. “It was cute watching the two of you flirt and dance around your feeling for years though,” she teased.
Peter rolled his eyes. “For you maybe, for me, not so much. But El, I realized last night during dinner that I feel about Neal exactly how I felt about you that day in the gallery. I feel so damn lucky that he loves us and I need him to know that. I want to marry him, I want us to marry him.”
El nodded. “I want that too, I have for a long time.”
Peter sighed in relief. It made him happier than he could have imagined that his wife shared his feelings. But, then the last part of El’s reply registered in his brain.
“A long time? Why didn’t you say anything?”
El gently squeezed the hand she held again. “Because I knew you needed to be ready, that eventually your head would catch up with your heart and I knew you would tell me as soon as you knew.”
Peter shook his head. “How did I get lucky enough to marry the smartest woman in New York?”
“I don’t know, but it looks like you’re about to get that lucky twice,” El replied with a wink. ”When do you want to propose?”
“I don’t.” Peter said carefully, worried that El would convince him to scuttle his plans.
“Honey, we can’t marry him without asking him first,” El reasoned.
“Why not?” Peter countered. “I know this sounds crazy, but I don’t want to give him time to think about it. I don’t want to give him a chance to Caffrey his way out of anything.”
“You want to throw a surprise wedding?” El sounded skeptical, but she was smiling.
Peter nodded. “It’s romantic right? And you know how much Neal likes romantic.”
“I think Neal will find it very romantic,” she agreed.
Peter smiled so wide his cheeks hurt. “So what about this weekend?”
El laughed and covered her face with her hands.
“What?”
She shook her head and dropped her hands and looked directly at her husband. “Peter Burke, if we’re finally going to marry the man we love, we’re going to do it right, with the people we love there, and flowers and food and wine and that takes planning.”
“Oh, right.”
El could see how disappointed Peter was, like a boy who had just been told he couldn't keep the stray puppy he had found. “It will be worth the wait, I promise.”
***
Thanksgiving morning dawned bright and clear. Peter woke with the sun tangled in the sheets and the limbs of his lovers, happy and very, very grateful indeed for what the day had in store. He slipped carefully out of the bed where El and Neal still slept, and made his way downstairs to start the coffee.
He had just poured his first cup when El walked into the kitchen. “Neal still sleeping?”
El nodded, smiling as she went to get her own cup. “The sleep of the oblivious.”
“He won’t be oblivious for long,” Peter replied with a smirk.
El swatted his arm. “Careful or he’s going to figure it out before you want him too.”
“Hey, I’ve had a perfect poker face for the last month, I can last a few more hours.”
“You’d better mister.”
Peter and El were nearly done making breakfast for the three of them when Neal finally stumbled into the kitchen. “Good morning sweetie,” El said when she saw him.
He grunted something unintelligible and went straight for the coffee. Peter snorted at his lover. Another of the things that had changed since Neal’s coma, he was not a morning person any longer. The thought of what had happened exactly a year ago today made Peter shudder internally and he quickly pushed aside the memories to focus on the present. Today was about making new memories and cementing their future.
“You sleep well, buddy?”
“Mmmm,” Neal mumbled between sips of coffee.
Peter couldn’t help himself, he put down the knife he was using to cut up a fruit salad, wrapped his arms around Neal and held him tightly.
“Uh, Peter,” Neal uttered when he found himself engulfed in his lover’s arms. “What’s this about?”
Peter mentally kicked himself for nearly tipping his hand. “Nothing, it’s Thanksgiving and I just wanted you to know that I’m thankful you’re here with us, that’s all.”
Neal slipped his mug onto the counter and returned Peter’s embrace. “I’m thankful too, for so much. You and El have done everything for me this past year. I don’t know how I would have made it this far without you.”
Peter tightened his hold. “That goes double for us, Neal.”
El came up beside them and wrapped her arms around them both. “Peter’s right. You’ve given us a lot to be thankful for, more than you know, Neal. Now we’d better sit and eat breakfast or we’re going to be late for dinner at June’s,” she concluded, swatting them both on their respective asses to herd them along.
They shared a quiet breakfast of fresh fruit and French toast, cleaned up the kitchen and then made their way back upstairs to get ready to leave for June’s for Thanksgiving dinner with June’s family, or so Neal had been led to believe.
While Peter was in the shower, Neal went into the guest room to the closet he called his own and pulled out a charcoal gray suit to wear along with a dove gray shirt, and a dark blue tie and matching pocket square. Before he could start to dress, El came in and without saying a word, she put his suit back in the closet and came out with his dark navy suit, the one that she always said brought out the color in his eyes and the curve of his ass. Then she swapped the gray shirt for a white one and the tie and pocket square for a more vibrant blue.
Neal watched her with an amused smile on his face.
“You can’t blame a girl for wanting to be able to admire her lover’s perfect posterior all day, can you?” She drawled, as she sashayed out of the room with a wicked smile on her face.
Downstairs in the foyer where they gathered to get their coats on, Neal noticed how good they all looked. Peter was in his Hugo Boss suit, the one Neal had made him buy last year so that he would have something that fit him properly and El was wearing a gorgeous cream suit that was at once sensual and sophisticated that Neal had never seen before. "Mrs. Burke, did you get a new outfit for the occasion?" He asked.
El blushed at his question while trying to decide just what to say. She certainly couldn't admit that like any woman she had to have a new dress for her wedding day. Finally she settled on, "I saw it and I just couldn't resist."
Neal lifted an appreciative eyebrow. "I don't think I'm going to be able to resist either, but if I don't find a way, we're definitely going to be late to June's."
"Come on Romeo," Peter prodded, as he tugged Neal by his coat sleeve toward the door.
***
June herself opened the front door of her Riverside Drive mansion, looking as elegant as ever in a fitted pale pink dress. “There you three are,” she greeted them warmly as she stood aside so they could enter the house.
Peter ushered Elizabeth ahead of him and walked in behind her, both of them kissing June on the cheek as they went past.
Neal entered last and as he came in June enveloped him in a tight hug. “It’s so good to have you here today,” she whispered to him.
“It’s good to be here,” he replied as he returned her embrace.
“Come,” June said when she stepped out of Neal’s arms, “everyone is up on the balcony, enjoying the beautiful weather we’re having today.”
Peter and El started up the stairs, arm in arm, and June grasped Neal’s elbow as they followed behind up the four flights to where Neal had lived for all the time he wore the anklet.
His lovers had already gone inside Neal’s old apartment and closed the door behind them, probably to keep the cooler autumn air from filtering out to the rest of the house, by the time he and June reached the door themselves.
Neal was about to open it for her, when she turned and faced him, taking both of his hands in hers.
“June?”
“I just want to look at you for a moment,” she answered with a smile. “You’ve been through so much this year, dear. And, I want you to know how incredibly proud I am of you, of how hard you fought to get your life back.”
Today of all days, on the one year anniversary of the day he almost lost everything, Neal was honored and very grateful to hear June voice her feelings. “Thank you.”
June kissed his cheek, a light brushing of her lips against his skin. “Thank you, Neal, for being the wonderful man that you are and for being a part of my life.”
“I cherish our friendship. I hope you know that.” Neal replied, feeling the prickle of tears in the corners of his eyes.
“Of course, I do,” she said in that assured tone that Neal found so charming. “Now, let’s get this coat off and go inside. Everyone’s waiting.” Before Neal even realized what June was doing, she had tugged his coat down from his shoulders and off his body, revealing the dark blue suit that El had chosen for him. June draped his coat over the chair that sat in the hallway and then took Neal's elbow again as she pushed open the door.
The scene before him was completely unexpected and Neal blinked hard to be sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, before taking a closer look at the tableau. Where the dining room table usually stood there sat three short rows of chairs, filled with June’s family, Diana and Theo, Jones, Dr. Kline and Reese Hughes. In front of them, just before the open French doors, was a trellised arch adorned with delicate purple and white flowers. Under the arch stood Mozzie dressed at his best in his Nehru jacket, and just before him stood Elizabeth and Peter.
Neal’s first thought was “how romantic, El and Peter are going to renew their vows again, in the same place they did it the last time.”
But June was walking him up the small aisle between the rows of seats and everyone he passed was beaming up at him. And when he looked at his lovers, they weren’t gazing at each other like a couple who were about to share solemn vows, they were looking at him, smiling lovingly as he made his way up the aisle toward them.
Neal’s heart sped up and his vision whited out at the edges. He held tightly to June's arm realizing that it was a very good thing that she was guiding him. Without her, he might have ended up in a heap on the wooden floor.
When they reached the spot where his partners stood, June maneuvered him between them, released his arm and gave him one last kiss on his cheek. “Congratulations, dear,” she said before she moved off to take her seat in the front row.
Peter picked up Neal's right hand while El gathered up his left. Peter squeezed Neal's hand and when Neal looked at him, he asked, "Are you okay with this?"
Neal blinked again. Despite the setting, despite Peter in his best suit and El in her new cream outfit, despite the trellised arch and Moz looking officious and overly pleased with himself, despite June walking him down the aisle, despite knowing in his heart exactly what was going on, Neal couldn't wrap his head around what he believed was about to happen. "Huh?"
Peter laughed lightly. "El and I want to marry you Neal Caffrey, right here, right now. Any objections?"
Neal shook his head. He was too afraid of stuttering if he tried to tell Peter and El how much he wanted this, how much it meant to him that they wanted it too.
Peter nodded, "Good." Then Peter turned to Moz and nodded for him to begin.
Moz quickly smiled knowingly at Neal, then he sobered and looked out over the room. "We are gathered here today, on this day of Thanksgiving, to give thanks that Neal, our friend and loved one is here with us today, healthy and whole."
Neal felt both Peter and Elizabeth hold onto him just a little bit tighter at Mozzie's words and he was certain that he heard June whisper "Amen", from behind him.
"And," Mozzie continued, "to join this man and this woman and this man together in the bonds of matrimony. Peter and Elizabeth are not traditional people, despite outward appearances, and when Neal came into their lives, it was certainly not through any means that you could call commonplace. Through the years there have been some ups and some downs. But, through it all the love the three of them share has only grown stronger, more vibrant, more unreserved.
"And, today before their friends and family they wish to commit their hearts and their lives to each other. So without further ado, Peter and Elizabeth wish to begin with the traditional vows and then add some words of their own."
Mozzie looked to Peter, "Peter, please repeat after me. I Peter, take you Neal to be my husband, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part."
Peter looked at Neal, the man he loved more than he could ever articulate and tried to let his expression say what his words could not, despite their depth and truth. "I Peter, take you Neal to be my husband, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part. You Neal Caffrey, have exasperated, infuriated and just plain pissed me off since the day your case file first landed on my desk."
Peter watched as a sheepish smile appeared on his partner's face. "But I wouldn't trade those feelings for anything, because eventually they came in equal measure with respect, and love and passion. I'm not the most articulate man, so I'll keep it simple, I love you, I can't imagine my life, our life, without you in it. I had to try last year, and it just about broke me, so today, I'm making you my husband so that you'll always know your place in my life and my heart." Peter fought back the tears that wanted to fall, and smiled at Neal.
Neal was freely crying, and with his hands grasped in his partners' he had no choice but to let them go.
"Neal," Mozzie began, "Please repeat after me. I Neal, take you Peter to be my husband, to have and to hold, for better for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part."
Neal tried to clear the tightness from his throat and then he spoke. "I Neal, take you Peter to be my husband." Neal paused, swallowing hard again. "To have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part. Peter, I don't know where I would be today or who I would be today without you and Elizabeth. I owe you both more than I can say. I am so honored and so humbled by your love. I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life keeping these vows. I love you both with everything that I am and I always will."
Peter reached up then and caressed Neal's cheek and Neal couldn't help but lean into the warmth of Peter's hand to acknowledge the love and caring in Peter’s gesture.
"Elizabeth," Mozzie said turning to her. "Please repeat after me. I Elizabeth, take you Neal to be my husband, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part."
Neal turned his attention from Peter and faced El. She looked radiant, her blue eyes luminous in the light coming through the French doors.
"I Elizabeth, take you Neal to be my husband, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part." El smiled at him, that smile that always melted Neal's heart and then she continued. "I thought when I found Peter that my life was complete, perfect husband, great career, beautiful home, but you changed all that. I never realized that something was actually missing from our lives until you came along with your brash smile and your clever, crazy schemes and your unabashed love for Peter and then for me. And, now I don't know how Peter and I ever managed to feel complete without you. Thank you, for loving us. I'm so very proud to become your wife."
Neal lifted El's hand to his lips and kissed it softly, reverently.
Mozzie waited until Neal brought their hands back down before stating the vows again for Neal to repeat. "Neal, repeat after me, again. I Neal, take you Elizabeth to be my wife, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part."
"I Neal, take you Elizabeth to be my wife, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part. I think I've loved you since that first day you let me into the house, knowing who I was, what I was. You've always seen me not as a conman or a con or an ex-con, but as me. That's a gift I can never repay, but I will gladly spend the rest of our lives trying."
"Peter, the ring?" Mozzie asked. Peter reached into his jacket pocket and his eyes went wide when he found nothing there.
El smiled. "Your inside pocket, hon."
Peter reached into his jacket and as his fingers closed around the ring, he sighed in relief. He took Neal’s left hand, and moved to place the ring on his partner’s finger. “With this ring, we thee wed.”
The surreal feeling that had taken hold of Neal as soon as June had opened the door to his former apartment burst like a bubble in the wind the moment that Peter slid the plain gold band onto the ring finger of his left hand. Everything around him was suddenly crisp and sharp, the love and devotion Peter and El felt for him written plainly in the eyes of his lovers. He was theirs. He belonged to them now and they belonged to him. A joy he had never known before welled up in him as he stared at the golden symbol of commitment that now adorned his hand.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife and husband," Mozzie declared happily.
Before Neal had time to react to Moz's words, Peter pulled him into his arms, one hand cupping the back of Neal's head and kissed him hard, with passion and promise. Neal felt his lips turn up in a smile against Peter's mouth. The joy he felt radiating through his body.
When the kiss ended, Peter whispered in his ear, "Four and o, and forever, Neal."
Neal nodded, "Forever."
Then Peter released him and Neal turned to El, who wrapped her hands around the back of his head, bringing him down so that their foreheads met. Neal enveloped his arms around her waist and they stayed like that for a long moment, just holding each other, until El reached up and brought her lips to his, kissing him lightly, but with the same promise that Peter's lips had granted moments ago.
When they parted, Neal realized that the room had grown loud with the sound of clapping and someone, Neal suspected it as Jones, whistling. El's arm was around him, and Peter's hand was on the small of his back and he was surrounded by the people who really knew him and yet loved him anyway. And, just like that, the worst day of his life, November 24, was transformed into the most magical and special day of his life.
There were cocktails and appetizers on the balcony after the ceremony and then a full Thanksgiving feast, with turkey, two kinds of stuffing, three kinds of cranberries, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie, and string beans and almonds sautéed in lemon and white wine. Neal sat between his wife and his husband and tried to get used to the idea of using those words to define his relationship with El and Peter. Every time he thought about what today's events meant to him and his future, his heart raced a little.
After dinner they returned upstairs where the space had been transformed once again. Now it was entirely open and strings of white lights ran around the balcony and through the French doors into the apartment. A band had set up outside under a grouping of heat lamps and for the next several hours there was dancing and more drinks and laughter as the live music rolled over and around the scene.
Neal danced with El first. She took his hand and led him to the center of the space that had been set aside as a dance floor. When the band began to the play the Gershwin classic Our Love is Here to Stay Neal smiled and wrapped his arms around El. As they swept gracefully across the floor Neal sang the lyrics to his wife, his voice lilting and tender. So rapt were they in each other that they didn't notice when the beat of the music changed entirely until Peter put his hand on Neal's shoulder. "May I borrow our husband?" Peter asked Elizabeth.
She nodded and stepped away with a smile. Peter took her place deftly, pulling Neal in tightly against his chest. In opposition to his dance with El, he and Peter merely rocked together, holding each other close while the band played Billy Joel's Just the Way You Are. Neal dropped his head to rest against Peter's shoulder and thought about the lyrics to the song. Neal understood the sentiment behind them and the point that Peter was making by choosing it, but he had changed. Some of that was his own doing, and was for the best, turning him into the man that Peter and El could trust enough to love and share their life with. And, some of it was thrust upon him, by Kate's death, and Adler, his father, Rebecca and Ernie Shatz. It had been a hard year, but today, in Peter's arms under the late afternoon sun, Neal felt new. He wasn't the con, or the ex-con, or the grief stricken lover, or the abandoned child, or the man betrayed, or the man broken by a baseball bat. He was a partner and a husband with a whole new life of love ahead of him.
Tags:
- elizabeth,
- emotional h/c,
- fic,
- fluff,
- june,
- neal,
- p/e/n,
- peter,
- post-anklet,
- schmoop,
- white collar
