Past And Present
This is the second story in my Family Series; it takes place one week after my story Triple Threat. You need to read that one first to understand this, this story had many spoilers for the first story.
Summary: The three siblings, Peter, and Elizabeth try settling into family life. Peter and Elizabeth's families come for visits, while Peter and Neal investigate a new case that could tear apart their new family.
WARNING: Contains the spanking of minors.
WARNING: Contain the mention of past child molestation and child abuse, not real graphic. I am going to start filling in backgrounds for the main characters of the show. This one deals with Peter's and Elizabeth's past.
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"What is taking her so long?" Peter asked, for the fifth time. He turned towards the stairs and called out. "Hurry up Tiffany!"
Peter, El, Chris, and Matt were all seated around the dinning table eating breakfast. Tiffany had not come down yet.
"It's your own fault." Chris said, as she spread jam over a piece of toast. "I told you when we were at the mall that if you bought her all of those clothes, she'd never be able to chose which outfit to wear on what day. She had trouble with that when she only had three outfits."
"Your sister wants to look her best on the first day of a new school." El said.
"I thought she laid an outfit out last night." Peter said.
"She did." Matt said.
"A woman has the prerogative to change her mind." El said.
"Not when it causes us to run late." Peter remarked.
"I'll go check on her." El said, as she stood up and headed upstairs.
"Does she always take forever to change?" Peter asked the two kids sitting at the table.
"Yes Sir." They chorused.
"It's a woman thing I guess." Peter said. "Sometimes El takes forever trying to decide what to wear."
"Yeah." Matt agreed. "Women are….."
"Hey!" Chris objected, interrupting her little brother. The twelve-year-old girl stood up and turned around a couple times, showing off her clothes. "It only took me five minutes to get ready after my shower."
Peter smiled at her, as she sat back down. She was wearing black ankle length boots with multi-colored dots on them and bright orange shoelaces, blue jeans, and an over-sized tee shirt that read 'Some days it doesn't pay to chew through the straight jacket'
It had been one week since Peter and El had filed for legal custody of the children, and it was the kids' first day of school.
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El knocked on Tiffany's door.
"Who is it?" The sixteen-year-old's voice filtered through the door.
"El."
"Come on in, as long as Peter or Matt are not with you."
"They're not." El said, as she walked into the room.
Tiffany was standing in front of a tall mirror, dressed in a light purple skirt and a bra. She had two purple blouses in her hands, trying to see which one looked better with the skirt.
"Is Peter mad?" The teen asked, her voice sounded worried. "The last time he yelled, he sounded mad. I'm trying to hurry up."
"Don't worry about Peter." El smiled. "He's not mad, he just doesn't get that it takes longer for a woman to get ready. Would you like some help?"
"Yes, please. I really want to look just right."
"I know."
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Downstairs, Peter and the younger two siblings were just finishing breakfast.
"Remember." Peter said. "El is picking you two up after school." He looked at Chris. "Matt's school lets out the same time as yours, so she will be a few minutes late picking you up. But not real late, your schools are close together."
El and Tiffany walked into the kitchen then, and Peter smiled at his oldest daughter.
"Sorry it took so long." The teen said. "I had trouble deciding what to wear."
"That's okay, Honey." Peter said. "You look very pretty."
"Thank you." She blushed slightly.
"She looks like an anorexic barney." Chris replied. "Purple is not a good color on her."
"Do I really?" The teen asked, her voice almost at panic level.
"Christina." Peter snapped, trying to keep a straight face.
"Sorry." The twelve-year-old. Then she smirked and added. "I shouldn't insult that poor dinosaur like that."
"Don't listen to her." El said. "You look very nice. Now hurry up and eat breakfast, you don't want to be late on your first day."
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Twenty minutes later, Peter parked his car in front of Franklyn Elementary school.
"Do you remember where your class is?" El asked, as she turned around in the front seat to look at her new son.
"Yes Ma'am." The nine-year-old boy said. They had already registered the children and they had all taken a tour of each school and met most of the teachers and principals.
"Behave yourself and I will see you after school." El said.
"Have a good day Buddy." Peter said.
"Are you sure you don't want me or Peter to walk you in?" El asked, not liking her son walking in alone.
"I'll be fine." He said, climbing over Chris to get out of the car. He waved to them, then hurried into the building.
El and Peter watched him go, both having mixed emotions. They knew that the kids needed to settle into a normal routine as soon as possible, but neither liked the idea of being away from their new children so soon.
They were also worried about the kids being thrown into a school setting, since they had been home schooled for so long.
"Next stop, Monroe Middle School." Peter said, as he pulled back into traffic.
"You could just drop me off at the arcade." Chris said.
"Not a chance." Peter replied.
"Or the dog pound." Tiffany remarked.
"That'll work too." Chris smiled.
"The only place you are going, is school." El said.
"And remember, Chris." Peter said, his voice stern. "No fighting, no gambling, no cutting class."
"Yes sir."
A few minutes later, Peter parked in front of Chris' new school.
"See you guys later." She said, climbing out of the car.
"Bye, Honey." Peter said.
"See you after school." El said.
"Don't terrorize the teachers." Tiffany smiled.
Peter and El watched as she walked inside the main building with the same feelings they had when they watched Matt walk into his school.
Peter pulled back into traffic and looked in the review mirror, Tiffany had a compact out and was checking her makeup.
"It looks fine, Tiff." He said. "You are very pretty, even without the makeup."
"Thanks Peter." She smiled.
"It will be okay, Honey." El assured her. "You will make friends in no time."
Peter pulled to a stop in front of the Davis High School and the teen took a deep breath, then climbed out of the car.
"See you later, Honey." El said.
"See you guys later." Tiffany smiled.
Peter and El watched as she started towards the main building, then watched as two boys walked up to her and started talking. El smiled, but Peter frowned. He didn't like it one bit.
"Tomorrow we make sure she is wearing a longer skirt." Peter said, as the three teens joins more teenagers and the group walked inside the building. "Maybe pants, thick pants."
"Peter." El scolded lightly. "That skirt is long enough."
He pulled back out into traffic and drove El to work, they both rode together because they both wanted to be there on their children's first day of school.
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Peter walked into the bureau almost half an hour late, which was very unusual for the normally punctual man.
Neal was sitting at his desk and tapped his watch when Peter walked by.
"Shut up Caffrey." Peter said.
"Agent Burke." Peter looked up and saw Hughes standing on the catwalk. The older man pointed two fingers at him, then motioned him forward with the same two fingers.
"Are you going to tell him to shut up too?" Neal asked with a smile.
"Shut up Caffrey." Peter repeated, as he headed towards the stairs.
"I'm sorry about being late." Peter said, as he entered Hughes' office.
"Don't worry about it, Peter." Hughes said. "I know how hard it is getting out of the house on time when you have children." Then he smirked. "Tiffany couldn't decide what to wear could she?"
"No Sir." Peter chuckled.
"She reminds me of Ashley." Hughes said, referring to one of his daughters. "Her daughter Jennifer is just like her, she just turned fifteen."
Hughes motioned towards the chair in front of his desk, as he sat down behind the desk. "Have a seat, we have a new case. One that has to be handled quickly and quietly."
"I'm listening." Peter said, sitting down.
"Have you ever heard of a man named Thomas Reading?"
"No Sir."
"How about Daniel Davis?"
"Him I've heard about." Peter said, his interest peaked.
"They are the same person, Reading is his real name."
"He's suspected of forgery, larceny, racketeering, counterfeiting, kidnapping, and murder." Peter said. "Among several lesser crimes."
"A very reliable source has informed me that he is working on something big, and that he has an FBI agent in his back pocket."
"Any idea which agent?"
"No."
"So you only want the ones that I trust completely working on this."
"Correct. Although I already know who you will choose."
"I trust them."
"I know, and I trust you completely."
"Thank you, Sir."
"My source didn't give me much, just that Reading hangs out at a ritzy gentlemen's club called High Expectations." Hughes said.
"I'll send Caffrey in, he's better at mingling in that type of place."
"Remember, keep this quiet. I hate to think one of my agents is dirty, but we can't take a risk."
"Only me, Jones, Diana, and Neal will be involved in this. If we need any forensics, I will ask Jenny to handle it personally."
"Keep me posted."
"Of course."
/
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Chris was beginning to like her new school, most of her classmates were pretty cool. A few of her teachers were cool also. She was currently sitting on the school steps, waiting on El.
"Hey Chris." Eddie Clayton, a boy who was in three of her classes, said. "Need a ride? I'm sure my Mom want mind."
"Thanks, but someone's on their way. My little brother's school lets out at the same time as this one, so she's picking him up first."
"Okay, see you tomorrow."
"See you then."
The young boy left, leaving Chris alone once more. Or at least she thought she was alone, she did not see the man standing a few yards away. Not until the man starting walking towards her.
"What are you doing here Danny?" she asked.
"Came by to see you, thought you may be interested in helping me pull off a little heist."
"Sorry, man." She said. "Those days are over, I'm clean now. Got myself adopted and everything."
"Too bad, you and your sister are the best."
"Where the best, Tiff quit too."
"This is going to be big." The man smiled.
"I should warn you." Chris said. "I was adopted by a fed, so please don't tell me any details."
"Sure thing."
"It was nice seeing you again, though." Chris said.
"You too. Guess this is goodbye then."
"Yeah."
"Well then, goodbye Chris Cutter."
"Goodbye Daniel Davis."
Davis walked off, just as El pulled to a stop in front of the school. Chris walked to the car and climbed in, all thoughts about Davis gone.
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TBC Please let me know what you think. I will post again as soon as I can.