Story [White Collar] Scent of a memory (friendship, one shot)

Title: Scent of a memory
Author: Obi Anne
Genre: Friendship, and some humor
Characters: Neal Caffrey, Peter Burke (Elizabeth Burke)
Summary: Neal is reminded of one very unique heist, while on lunch with Peter and El.

Author's note:It's been years since I was into fanfiction, but I've been bitten by the White Collar bug and all of a sudden I have a lot of plot bunnies attacking from all angles. (this story was based on a prompt over at livejournal though)

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A Scent of Memory

?El is organizing and event in the botanical garden and asked me to meet her there for lunch, I?m sure she wouldn?t mind if you joined us,? Peter said with a cheerful tone in his voice. It was Friday, the weather was warm for April, and more importantly they had wrapped up their last case, which meant that for once he could look forward to a relaxing weekend. And why not start the weekend with a late lunch with El?

?I don?t think so.?

Neal?s hesitation came as a surprise to Peter. Neal never said no to a chance to get away from the drab food in the FBI building, and the botanical gardens were outside of his radius. On a normal day he jumped at any chance of getting away from central New York.

?Come on, I will even buy you lunch, and I know that you don?t have hay fever.?

Peter could see that Neal was torn, but in the end decided to go with Peter. They met El at the entrance so that she could help them get inside without having to pay the entrance fee. They started to stroll towards the café close to the central dam, talking about what had happened during the week and their plans for the weekend. The closest way would have been to take a short cut through the rainforest greenhouse. Before they had a chance of entering the large glass building Neal pulled El aside towards the tulip flowerbeds on the outside and started talking about the Dutch tulip bubble and its importance to 17th century art. It wasn?t uncommon for Neal to talk about art, but the sudden change of subject in the conversation they had had was. Peter put it up on his mental list of strange behaviors from Neal. The list had gotten a lot longer since he had gotten to know Neal in person, instead of just chasing after him.

When they sat down at the café Peter ordered a BLT on rye bread, El decided on a chicken salad, but despite Peter paying Neal simply said that he wasn?t hungry and sat down with a cup of coffee. Neal fought hard to try and seem his normal self, but both Peter and El could see that he was not comfortable. Instead of taking part in any conversation, he simply answered in monosyllables when either of them asked him direct questions. After having finishing their lunch El needed to get back to work, but she still followed Neal and Peter to the main entrance. Being busy planning an event meant that she didn?t have much time to just enjoy the wonderful surroundings. When they once again passed the greenhouse the door was opened and the wonderful scents of vanilla and heavy orchids drifted out.

?Ahhh,? El exhaled. ?I love all these scents, I would love to visit a real rainforest one day,? she continued with a dreamy look in her eyes. Neal apparently didn?t share her view.

?Sorry, I just can?t, I need to...? El and Peter saw his thin frame rush towards the public bathrooms.

He returned a few moments later, his face pale and sweaty.

?I?m fine,? he tried to convince them with one of his usual smiles, but the smile was only a faint copy of the ones that had made it possible for Neal to con his way through the world. ?It must have been something bad I had for breakfast?.

A few months earlier Peter might have believed him, but he knew Neal well enough now to know when he tried to hide something.

?Want to tell me what?s up?? he asked, when they sat in the car, driving back to Neal?s place. ?We had breakfast together and I feel fine. You hesitated as soon as I mentioned the botanical gardens and you clearly didn?t want us to go near that greenhouse, why??

?Don?t te

 

I only know of this show for the vague idea of it, so I am afraid that I have little constructive to say, but I had to stop in and say that this was fun to read. A very clever and unique heist to flashback to, I enjoyed reading it even without a lot of background information to go on.



~MJ

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'll see if I'll be able to finish up a story or two that I'm working on at the moment.