A/N: This is my present to my readers for Christmas: A White Collar Christmas Advent Calendar. It began when I was doing research for my story "ConCurrent". I suddenly realized that there are 23 episodes of White Collar so far. 23 stories, one for each episode and something special for Christmas … that was perfect. I always thought that one of the strengths of the show is the interesting side characters. Not necessarily the criminals, but all the people Peter and Neal meet during their cases. I already had a couple of story ideas in my head and I began to send mam711 stories about them for beta reading. At one point she asked me not to tell her who I was writing about and a nice little guessing game began. She convinced me to forget my original intention of posting the stories in show order and instead share the guessing game with you.
So, here it goes: Beginning the first of December I will post a chapter a day (around 12.00 o'clock CET (German: MEZ), this should work the best with all the other time zones). Each chapter (apart from this introduction and the Christmas finale) is a standalone story which references a particular episode of the show. I will include with every story what you can guess (normally the name of the episode and often the name of the character), how many points you'll get and the answers from the previous part. You don't have to send your answers to me (feel free to do so, but it's not necessary, I won't keep count). At the end I will post a list with what your number of points mean what (along the lines of: 2 points: Did you even see the show?;-). Please don't ruin the fun by looking up the information on the net. This is supposed to be fun and not about being the best.
I will leave the calendar like that for some time after Christmas, but eventually I will change the stories around to the order I originally intended to post them and delete the point system. So, and now, a small introduction to my story collection:
It was the last Saturday before Christmas as Peter turned up unexpectedly on Neal's doorstep, a couple of files in his hand.
"What do you want?" asked Neal ungraciously, blocking with his body the view into his loft.
"I've discovered something in these files I want to show you." Peter stretched himself a little bit, trying to peek over Neal's shoulder. The con man had his shifty look and was acting suspiciously. He was hiding something, and knowing Neal, it was most likely something illegal. "Won't you let me in?"
Neal hesitated, then he let go of the door. Before Peter could react, Neal was already in the middle of his loft, turning the TV off. Not hastily, but Peter knew him well enough to know that whenever Neal acted in this by-your-leave manner, he was actually onto something important. Laying the files on the table he said: "You know what? Leave that on. I can think better with a little background noise." Before Neal could react he turned the TV on again. On the screen the movie Neal had been watching was still playing. Peter raised his eyebrow when he recognized it.
"What's that? A movie in color? And without subtitles?" he teased.
Neal looked flustered. "It's a classic nevertheless."
"Sure, a real Christmas classic. Isn't it a little bit cheesy for you?"
"I like it. Now, show me the file."
Pleased about having discovered another piece of Neal's complicated personality (admittedly a very puzzling one), Peter showed him his discovery.
"Here, this doesn't really add up."
Neal read the two statements Peter pointed out to him carefully, but suddenly his attention strayed back to the TV. The little lord was just writing a letter to his friends, quoting the words of his mother to his grandfather: "The world should always be a little better because a man has lived."
Amused, Peter noticed that Neal's lips were moving as he silently repeated the words.
"If we crack this case, the world will be a little better, too," he said, hoping that this kind of reinforcement would help Neal to stay on the straight and narrow.
"You never know," Neal answered dismissively.
"I don't understand."
Neal turned the TV off again. Into the sudden silence he said, "I always thought that for every intended effect, there are two unintended effects too. Sometimes even a good act has bad consequences for someone. See, this embezzler for one. It may be good for society to catch him. But he may have a wife, children or anyone else, who will suddenly lose everything too, just because they trusted him to do the right thing in the first place. The truth can hurt, Peter."
He went back to the file. Peter was struck with a sudden realization. He had always thought that Neal had no sense of consequences at all, similar to criminals who didn't even see their actions as a crime because they lacked a sense of right and wrong. But now he thought that the opposite might be true. Neal was highly empathic (which was part of the reason he was such a good conman: he sometimes seemed to know instinctively what someone needed to hear). Perhaps he had questioned his actions so much at one point in his life that he couldn't bear it any longer, and opted not to think about it at all to protect himself.
Or he was conning Peter again. One could never know for sure. But Peter couldn't help but wonder how the life of Neal Caffrey might have influenced the world around him.
A/N: Well, here is actually the first