Title: That Whole Marriage Thing
Fandom: White Collar
Author:
klutzy_girl Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,411
Characters/Pairings: Neal, Sara, Peter, Elizabeth, Neal/Sara, Peter/Elizabeth
Disclaimer: I don't own White Collar and never will. No copyright infringement intended.
Summary: Future fic. Newlyweds Neal and Sara Caffrey try to adjust to being married.
Neal Caffrey really hadn’t expected to fall in love again or want to get married at all after Kate died. But, then he fell hard and fast for Sara Ellis and his whole world turned upside again.
Neal proposed to Sara on a weekend trip to Vermont a few weeks after their second anniversary. Sara had been surprised, but accepted.
They had married two weeks earlier. Neal had been unable to choose between Peter and Mozzie for the role as best man, so he had picked both of them. It had been easier. Elizabeth, Diana, and Alex had been Sara’s bridesmaids.
Now, the newlyweds were back in New York after honeymooning in Hawaii. Neal had served his sentence, but he was still consulting for the FBI.
“So, are we ever going to get our own place or do you just want to live at June’s forever?” Sara asked her husband. God, that was going to take some time to get used to. She was married now. To Neal Caffrey!
Neal gaped at her. “I thought you liked June’s.”
“I do like June’s, but I’m sure she doesn’t want us living here. And you don’t have to stay anymore since you served your sentence. We could rent an apartment or buy a house or something. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
“I never thought about moving out of June’s before. I’ve been here for a long time.”
“I know you have. Anyway, I took the liberty of looking in the real estate section of the newspaper and circled the houses and/or apartments I’m interested in.” Sara took the paper out of her purse and handed it to Neal.
Neal gaped at his wife. He wasn’t all that surprised, however. Sara always took initiative when she wanted something done. He then checked his watch. “Crap. We have to get back to work.”
Sara stood up and then kissed him. “I’ll see you later. Love you! And you better look at the ads when you get the chance!”
He laughed. “I love you, too!” Neal then headed back to work and set the newspaper down on his desk.
“So, what bombshell did she drop on you? I know that scared look.” Peter tried to hold back a laugh.
“Sara wants to move out of June’s. Told me we can’t live there forever, so she circled ads in the real estate section of the newspaper.”
“Ah. Well, that’s understandable. Neal, be wary. This is your wife. You pretty much can’t say the word “no”. But I’m still pretty happy for you, two. You do know that I’m proud of you right?”
Neal rolled his eyes and tried not to smile, but failed. “Yes, I know you’re proud of me. And are these “How to be a good husband” lessons going to continue forever?”
“Yes, Neal. There can never be too many “How to be a good husband” lessons. Elizabeth will attest to that. I still forget to pick up the dry cleaning. And diapers sometimes.”
“I thought Elizabeth was going to kill you the last time you forgot diapers.” Neal had tried to bolt from the Burkes’ house when that happened, but she had forced him and Sara to stay. It had been slightly terrifying.
“Well, that crisis was luckily averted. I haven’t forgotten to pick up the diapers since. Speaking of which, have you and Sara discussed kids?”
“Whoa there! We’ve only been married for two weeks. No kids yet. Besides, we can just spoil your kids rotten.” Neal didn’t mind baby-sitting Peter and Elizabeth’s kids, two year old Analise and four month old Seth. But he was nowhere ready to have his own kids.
“Neal, you know what I mean. Have you and Sara ever talked about kids?”
“Not really. We talked about it as a possibility when Seth was born, but in a vague sort of way.”
“It’s an important conversation. I don’t want to rush you two, but you and Sara need to be on the same page.”
“I know. Besides, you and Elizabeth were married for thirteen years before you had Analise. You waited until you were ready.”
“True, but don’t procrastinate on this conversation. It is a little terrifying, but it’d be even more terrifying if a pregnancy test of Sara’s ends up positive one day and you never even talked about it.” Peter grinned at him.
“Thanks yet again for the unwanted advice.” But Neal smiled back at Peter anymore. He would never tell Peter this, but he appreciated everything the FBI agent told him.
Neal did end up looking at the real estate section of the newspaper when he and Peter took a break. Surprisingly, he ended up finding a few houses he wanted to look at.
After work was over, he went back home to June’s. “So, you find anything?” questioned Sara. She was half paying attention as she stirred the noodles on the pot.
Neal smiled at his wife. “Yes, I found stuff I liked. So what do you think about kids?”
Sara choked. “Where did that come from?”
“Peter.” That was all the explanation Neal needed. His best friend was always giving him advice and Sara knew that.
“Ah. That definitely explains it. Well, I like kids. They’re nice. But babies cry all the time and keep us awake and we have to change their diapers. The thought of being pregnant is terrifying.” Sara wanted kids, but she didn’t know if she was ready.
“There is that. But I do love my godchildren. I’m not ready to have my own kids yet, but I think it’s a possibility,” Neal admitted.
“Right there with you. Nowhere near ready to have a baby, so we’ll talk about it later. You better not have knocked me up on our honeymoon, Caffrey, I swear.”
“Your noodles are burning.” Neal kissed his wife and then watched as she panicked about the burning noodles. Luckily, dinner was saved. As the couple sat and ate dinner, Neal tried to pretend that Sara moving her foot across his leg wasn’t getting to him.
“Keep this up and we won’t finish dinner, Sara.”
“Bring it.” Sara laughed at the look on her husband’s face.
All through dinner, Neal and Sara tried to one up each other. Somehow, both still managed to finish dinner. “So sex now? Right here on the floor?”
“Oh, Neal. Not yet. I’m going to wash the dishes and you’re going to help me.” Sara bit her lip to keep from laughing. The sex was only going to be better if she prolonged it and made Neal want it more.
Neal had the hose in his hand to wash out the sink after the dishes were done when he got a thoughtful look on his face. “Wonder if I should,” he murmured underneath his breath.
“Should what?” And then the light bulb went off. “Oh, Neal Caffrey, don’t you dare do what I think you’re about to do.”
Neal just grinned and didn’t listen. He turned the hose towards his wife and soaked the front of her shirt. “Now what?”
“Oh, it’s on. You are so going to pay for that!” She laughed and tried to grab the hose off of her husband. The two fought over it for a little while and then Sara somehow stole it back.
“Come on now. You don’t want to do this,” Neal tried.
“Oh, I don’t, huh? Well, let’s see.” Sara turned it on and sprayed Neal right in the face. He laughed, bolted towards her, and tried to get it back.
In less than ten minutes, both Neal and Sara were completely soaked and ready to give up. “I can’t do that anymore. We just wasted a ton of water too.’ But Neal didn’t mind. It had been fun.
“It was extremely wasteful of us to do that, but oh well.” Sara turned over on her side and kissed Neal. They ended up having a ton of very hot sex on the floor that night.
Neal and Sara had a lot to learn about marriage, but that was okay. They would get through it together, since that’s what marriage was about.
And the occasional fumbles didn’t affect them very much since they were so strong together. Nothing was able to get in their way. Peter and Elizabeth occasionally helped them too, along with some unneeded advice from Mozzie and June.
Neal and Sara both considered “that whole marriage thing” pretty freaking much awesome.