Post-Dentist of Detroit scene
Just an attempt at the conversation I really needed Peter and Neal to have after their "fight" in Dentist of Detroit.
*It’s who you are, and it’s all you’ll ever be!*
Those words - in Peter’s voice - echoed through Neal’s head, again and again.
*It’s who you are, and it’s all you’ll ever be!*
No, Neal’s inner voice insisted. He’s wrong. It’s not all. You can be more. You will be more.
Says the man hiding billions of dollars of stolen art from one of his best friends until he can skip town with it.
“Neal?” Peter’s voice brought him back from his thoughts. “I’m going to go now too, all right?”
“OK,” he said, then, before he could stop himself, “Peter?”
“Yeah?” Peter said, turning.
“The fight today...that was fake, right?”
A guarded expression crossed Peter’s face. “Of course. Unless you meant that crack about my hot wife.”
“God no!” Neal said emphatically, then backpedaled, “Not that Elizabeth’s not...I mean...you know what I mean...”
“Yes,” Peter agreed. “Thankfully, I do.”
“But that’s what *I* said,” Neal said doggedly. “Did you mean what *you* said?”
“I...”
“‘All you’ll ever be’?” Neal quoted, and Peter could see the wounds in his eyes. “Nobody knows better than me that there’s got to be a kernel of truth in any effective con.”
Peter sighed. “Neal, I think you can be whatever you choose to be, can do whatever you choose to do with your life. My fear, sometimes, is that you won’t ever *choose* to be anything but a con artist and a thief.”
“You think it’s that easy, then?” Neal finally asked.
“Isn’t it?”