This story brought mixed emotions as I researched and wrote it. On one hand, I wanted to give Neal closure regarding his father. On the other hand, revisiting those canon episodes to refresh my memory was painful. It was simply not something I wanted to watch again.
To make writing this story more palatable, I looked at it as an opportunity for the characters to remember how the AU started, and how they met along the way. I even took Neal and Peter back to St. Louis, where the first stories in the Caffrey Conversation were set. Letting them reflect on how far they'd come was gratifying.
I also threw in a wedding! Neal attends his cousin Henry's commitment ceremony, and that gave me an opportunity to include Sara to enjoy another round of turning up the heat with Neal. I do love to write them flirting and teasing each other!
You may remember that when I wrote about Kate in Caffrey Flashback, she was something of a chameleon. Depending on the perspective of the characters observing her, she was a victim or predator. I tended to think of her as being in a gray area, neither as innocent as she claimed nor as bad as Peter feared. I took a similar approach with James.
The Full Circle title came from the fact that Neal returns to his origins to learn the truth about his father. There's the trip to St. Louis where we see not only where Peter recruited him, but also where he grew up. And the story takes us to Baltimore, where Neal was born. The actions of Neal's parents had a harsh and inescapable impact on his life. How much is he bound by their actions? Was he fated to be a criminal? Can he be a better father than James was?
That's a lot of angst for poor Neal. Fortunately he has accumulated many friends, family, and found family in this AU to help him.
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