A/N: To those of you who have read Mozzie's Book of Quotes, don't worry, this has nothing to do with the first story, even though this starts in a way similar to the ending of "A Thing Like that is Enough to Knock the Daydreams from Anyone's Head." And if you're reading Half the Problem, Gale has no part in this story. I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to put Gia in it though. If you think I should, let me know. –A

P.S. the timeline for Neal's age probably won't match the show, just bare with me. –A

Chapter 1: Picture

Neal sat at his table, a glass of wine in one hand, and a tattered picture in the other. He was so absorbed with memories of the people smiling up at him from the photo, that he didn't hear his door open, didn't hear footsteps coming in or stop behind him.

They young man jumped when a man behind him spoke. "Who's that?" Neal spun around and saw Peter. Quickly, he flipped the picture over, but it was too late; the agent grabbed it and took a seat across from him.

"Please, give me the picture back," he said quietly. But no, Peter was busy studying it carefully.

"Who is this?" he repeated.

"Well, that would be me," Neal said smartly. Peter glared at him, Neal stared blankly back.

"I see that. I was referring to the girl who looks a hell of a lot like you," Peter said, holding the picture back up, his thumb under the face of a young girl. The girl was ten years old in that picture. She was smiling hugely, showing perfect, white teeth. Her eyes were ice blue, the same shade as Neal's, to a tee. Her dark brown hair fell in ringlets past her shoulders. She was on Neal's back, her arms around his neck. She had her legs wrapped around his waist, his arms holding her up.

Neal sighed in defeat. "She's my daughter." Peter stared at him, mouth hanging open just a little.

"You have a daughter?" The young man nodded. The agent studied the picture again. "What's her name?"

"Chris," Neal told him honestly. Peter looked at him questioningly. "It's short for Christeen." The agent nodded once.

"How old is she?" he asked.

"In the picture, she's ten, but-" but Peter cut him off.

"When was it taken?"

"About a month before you caught me. She's sixteen now."

"Was this the last time you saw her?" The young man nodded. "She looks just like you, you know." This made his friend smile.

"So I've been told. Everyone says she doesn't have an ounce of her mother in her."

"Who is her mother?" He was clearly thinking Kate, but that's not the case.

"Her name is Pamela Green. And she hates me with a passion."

"How can she hate you? You had a kid together." Neal laughed darkly for a moment.

"Well, a certain FBI agent made it kind of hard to stay with them. I didn't really want her to go down with me for harboring a fugitive, and I didn't want them to have to move with me while I was running. So, the only other option was to leave."

"I'm going to guess you went for visits," Peter said, holding the picture up for emphasis.

"As much as possible. But as Chris got older, she wanted me around them less and less. She said that she didn't want Chris to have to go through the same thing every time I came. She hated having to watch me leave as much as I hated leaving."

"So she told you no more visits?" Neal nodded.

"When Chris was three, she told me she'd rather Chris grow up not knowing her father, than grow up with a father who she never gets to see, and can never be there for her."

"That's harsh." The young man nodded in agreement and took a sip of the wine.

"Not like I listened, though. I came around when Pam wasn't there. Chris always loved seeing me. When she was eight, she told me that she wanted to live with me, not Pam."

"What did you say?"

"I told said…" he paused, recalling the exact words. "'I'm sorry, Chris, but my job makes it so I'm always moving, I can never stay in one place for too long.' She understood that, anyway."

"Does she know what Daddy's 'job' is?" the agent asked with an amused smile. Neal couldn't hold back a smile of his own.

"Yeah, she learned that about a month before that picture was taken," he told his friend.

"So is this the last time you saw her?" Neal nodded.

"I was actually going to surprise her for her birthday two months after that, but…" Now Peter felt a little guilty. A little. They sat there for a while, just talking about the girl Peter never knew existed in his young friend's life. One thing he picked up, something Neal wouldn't tell him outright, was that Neal wanted, no needed, to see his daughter again. Soon.