Title: Birthday kitty
Author: NYWCgirl
Fandom: White Collar
Pairing: None
Characters: Peter, Neal,
Warning: None
Spoilers: none
Rating: G
Genre: drabble
Author's Notes: Soft kitty verse. A quick Birthday drabble in honor of
Kanarek13´s birthday.
.
Word Count: ~ 1150
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine…
Summary: Neal never celebrates his birthday, until now
Peter was overlooking the bull pen and let his gaze fall on Neal. Neal had his birthday in a couple of days, but he hadn´t said anything. Come to think of it, Neal had never said anything about celebrating his birthday. Peter knew that Neal´s birthday was March 21, well the official date in his records at the FBI. Who knew when his real birthday was?
It didn´t matter, Peter was determined to give Neal a nice birthday party. He had asked June if she could accommodate them in one of the parlors in her mansion. El would take care of the catering and decorations. Diana had even volunteered to go gift shopping with Mozzie.
All arrangements had been made and Peter had even gotten Neal a very special gift. He had ordered an FBI tie clip out of Quantico. He had received it a couple of days ago and he knew Neal would love it.
The days passed very quickly and before Peter realized it, it was Friday afternoon. He made sure that they stopped in time so he could drop Neal off at June´s. He would park the car around the block and enter June´s mansion through the service entrance. That way, Neal wouldn´t know they were downstairs.
So when Peter dropped Neal off, Neal asked him if he wanted to come up and have a drink. Peter declined, mentioning something about date night with El. He apologized quickly and drove away, feeling a bit guilty after seeing the looking in Neal´s eyes. He would make up for it tonight at the party.
He found a parking space a block away from June and quickly walked back towards the service entrance where he was let in by June´s driver.
When he opened the door to the main kitchen, he was taken aback by all the activity. He quickly got out of the way, not wanting to disturb the creative process, so he left in search of June and El. He found June in one of the many parlors with Bugsy and Satchmo.
“Oh, hi June, how are you?” Peter bent to scratch Satchmo behind the ears.
“Peter, What a pleasant surprise, El is finishing the last decorations in the big parlor. I guess she should be finished any minute now.”
“Does Neal suspect anything?”
“When you dropped him off, he asked if I wanted to join him for some wine, but I declined, telling him I had to prepare for a dinner of one of my charities. Oh, Peter the look in his eyes almost broke my heart.”
“He went upstairs?”
“Yes, he was really disappointed, I could tell.”
“Well, when everything is ready, we can start, we don´t have to wait until everybody is here, we can start on petit commité.”
“That is a good idea, I´m getting ready. Maria made the blue guestroom for you and El.”
“Thanks June.” Peter quickly walked over to the big parlor and when he entered, he had to admit, it was a bit over the top, but Neal would probably love it. There were balloons and decorations everywhere. As a centerpiece on the table, there was a huge red velvet cake, decorated with smaller cupcakes on the sides. The champagne was chilling and the kitchen staff were finishing the finger foods for later that evening.
El was smiling and eventually announced that everything was ready and that she would quickly change and that Peter should do the same.
El, June, Diana and Mozzie were downstairs waiting while Peter would get Neal. The rest of the guest were expected within an hour or so, but this way, they could celebrate and ease Neal into the party.
When Peter knocked on Neal´s door there was no answer, so he knocked again. When Neal didn´t show himself, Peter called out that he was coming in. He turned the doorknob and entered the loft. There was nobody. He walked over to the bed and there were Neal´s clothes in a pile with the anklet in the middle of it.
Not now, Peter thought.
“Neal?” Peter called out. And as expected, out from the hallways to the bathroom, Neal came happily darting towards Peter.
When Peter picked him up, he started purring and licking Peter´s face.
“Oh Neal, what are we going to do with you?” Peter made his way downstairs.
“SURPRISE!” they all shouted.
Neal startled and jumped out of Peter´s arms. His little paws couldn´t find any grip and he skittered away. Satchmo and Bugsy who had been waiting for human Neal, quickly ran behind the kitten. Peter slowly made his way over to the animals, not wanting to spook them. He found Satchmo and Bugsy laying down, licking Neal, who had a disgusted face. But he was calmed by the gesture of the dogs. He made a beeline towards Peter when he saw him and when Peter picked him up, he started grooming himself, while the dogs followed Peter back into the parlor.
Everybody was now less intimidating and June had used the time to ask cook to prepare something for Neal. He had liked the salmon tartare the last time, so cook had quickly made it again. When the first guests arrived, June explained to them that Neal was feeling under the weather and had gone to bed early, but that they were happy to join her for some cake and drinks.
The two dogs were on their dog beds, but Neal was attacking everybody´s ankles, until Mozzie came in with some cat toys. Peter hadn´t even noticed Mozzie leave, but Neal was enthusiastically looking what Mozzie was holding when he bend down. Neal was on his hind legs with his front paws on Mozzie´s hands to see what was in his hands. When Mozzie tossed a sort of rubber ball with some lights in it, Neal whisked after it. All the guests were delighted by the sight of the small kitten having such a good time.
And that is why nobody paid attention to him when he stealthily clawed his way onto the table with the cake. And while all the humans were talking with each other, Neal gorged himself on the icing of the red velvet cake. When Peter looked around to locate Neal, he didn´t immediately see him until he looked over to the cake.
“Oh, no you don´t!” Peter took two long strides over to the table and lifted Neal from the cake. He was covered with icing, and he started hissing at Peter.
“Well birthday boy, I think you earned yourself a bath.” He whispered softly at Neal.
Mozzie came over and took Neal with him upstairs to the bathroom. Before he left the room, he glanced over at Peter with a look that told Peter, this was probably one of the best birthday Neal´s had in the last couple of years. Too bad he wouldn´t remember.
Happy Birthday!