It's a given that Neal keeps secrets. He's a master con artist, after all. Concealing his true self has become second nature. Neal hides things not only to protect himself but also to shield others from any fallout. There's also a playful aspect where keeping secrets has become a game. Neal enjoys being thought of as mysterious and deliberately cultivates the image. In Chapter 3 of Echoes of a Violin, Neal discovers that Sara also has a secretive side.
Warning for minor spoilers for the Caffrey Conversation AU.
In canon, we gleaned only a few details about Sara. We know she's as much a clotheshorse as Neal. She plays the cello, though we don't know how well. She's a wine connoisseur, self-defense expert, and uses a baton as a weapon. On the personal side, Sara has an older sister Emily who ran away when Sara was a child and hasn't been heard of since. Not much to go on! But that's worked to our advantage. We now have the pleasure of filling in those gaps in her backstory.
In Caffrey Flashback, Penna revealed that Sara worked for Win-Win as a member of Henry's team before she left to join Sterling-Bosch. In Caffrey Disclosure, she hinted at Sara having insecurities that made her reluctant to think of having a relationship with Neal. In The Woman in Blue, Sara began dating Bryan McKenzie and Neal was relegated to the friend zone. That wasn't his choice but it's evolved into a comfortable relationship that now enables them to tease each other and also occasionally confide in one another.
A little more of Sara's backstory was unveiled in The Dreamer. She admitted to Neal how traumatic her sister's disappearance had been to her. Later in that story, she played the cello for comfort during a very emotional time in her life. Her insecurities that she normally hides from the world were front and center as she sought comfort from a plush giraffe named Gracie which is one of the few mementos she has of her sister.
In Echoes of a Violin, Neal discovers that Sara's an avid reader of historical romances and loves wearing costumes. In canon, it wasn't clear if Sara was a romantic. Our Sara definitely has a romantic side. She also likes keeping secrets. It's not unusual to enjoy wearing costumes, but Sara dares Neal to discover why. It's become a game for them to find out each other's secrets.
Neal believes Sara doesn't know about his criminal past. He doesn't realize that Bryan already told Sara about it. During the investigation of a stolen Raphael drawing in Raphael's Dragon, Sara was forced to bring up the topic with Peter. He assured her that Neal was a changed man. She asked him not to mention to Neal that she knew about it as she didn't want him to think she'd been prying. Neal's secret has now become her secret too. Someday that secret's bound to come out.
For more about Sara, visit our posts: A Tale of Two Saras and Fireworks and Romantic Sparks in Caffrey Conversation. We've explored Neal's secretive side in The Secrets Neal Keeps and Secrets and Lies.
Echoes of a Violin on Archive of Our Own
Echoes of a Violin on FanFiction
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