Sorry about the harsh language about Peter. I'll defnly avoid that. I really do like Peter, no matter that I get frustrated with him.

I get frustrated with Neal too - even more so later on in the series.

Both Peter and Neal have some serious flaws - just like all us human beings (one of mine is tactlessness, sorry!) - but they are both so very likable at the same time :-)

Anyway, you're right, the "no more secrets" promise comes after they put the music box together. My frustration came from Peter earlier in that ep, 2.08, saying that "We are working on this together," but by "together" he means sending Diana in to find out what Neal and Mozzie know. Peter and Diana don't tell them that they have the music box until Neal confronts Peter about the sheet music Mozzie saw that Diana had. So I was disappointed in Peter's defn of "together", but then they are in the middle of a case, so obvsly Peter's focus is going to be there, not on the Kate-Fowler business.

And then yeah, it's Neal who immediately contrives this elaborate secret plan to have Alex steal the box from Diana and give it to the Russian embassy. He could just have easily gone to Peter with a plan for a sting/con - but no, Neal does it this way cuz he does want to keep his "revenge" option open (among other reasons); thus proving why Peter needed to be holding back all this time.

Oh, Neal *sighs*

After 1.08, when Peter tells Neal about his meeting with Kate, I thought they were building a lot more trust in each other - like Peter knows Neal is going to get the music box, and Neal becomes more honest about the lengths he'll have to go to to get it. From 1.09

Neal: Okay, I don't have [the music box].

Peter: Oh, look at that. Telling the truth. Did it hurt?

Neal: Little bit.

(I had to quote that cuz it is one of my fav scenes. I think it does hurt Neal to tell the truth (well, depending on the truth) - talk about character flaws *g*)

But of course Peter's not gonna be happy about Neal's stealing the box, and after the plane explosion and Neal's stint in prison it's understandable that they've both backed off their level of trust in each other :-(