Relieved he would be finally home Neal opened the apartment door. The moment he pushed it open he could smell self made dinner and hear laughter. He put hat and keys aside and went into the living room where he found Rebecca sitting on the floor on a blanket together with their little son who tried to crawl.
"Hey, sweetie see who came home." she told the little boy and picked him up to say hello to Neal. With happy babbling and big blue pleading eyes the little one reached out for Neal.
"Hey buddy, I am so happy to see you."
"And we are happy to have you back." Rebecca smiled, "Such a bad day?"
"Yeah, two agents were shot because our suspect went crazy in the middle of the arrest."
"Gosh, that happens so rarely."
"I know but I am home now. Right, Nick, daddy is home and now we cuddle?"
"I think he is more up to adventure. Just like his dad."
"Who can blame him."
With a happy smile Neal put him down again and went to get rid of the suit. They had a calm evening cuddling little Nick a lot what Neal cherished so much.
"Do you want to put him to bed?"
"Of course."
"It's amazing how he can make you smile again in an instant." Rebecca stated.
"You can do the same."
"As long as you behave."
She followed her guys to the boys room and listened how Neal read the little one a goodnight story cuddled up in the rocking chair she got after they moved in. With a sigh he put the boy into his bed and switched the baby phone on. When he turned around he almost ran into her.
"You never can't resist." he whispered amused.
"How could I?"
Neal gave her a knowing smile and pulled her with him back into the living room. Some hours later they went to bed themselves and he was never so thankful to have his family.
Rebecca and Neal woke up in the middle of the night because Nick cried. Since it wasn't an unusual thing she turned to get up when they heard a voice through the baby phone. Alarmed both got up. Neal took the baseball batter next to the bed room door and they sneaked through the hallway over to Nick's room. Carefully Neal opened the door but got stroke by a bright white light. The next moment everything was set on fire.
"Neal, he takes Nick!" he heard Rebecca yelling desperately but couldn't find a way through the fire. The next thing he felt was something knocking him down.
Neal woke up with his heart beating like crazy, soaked with sweat sitting straight up in the bed and looking around in panic. It took him a few moments till he realized he was in his penthouse at June's. He looked down next to him where Rebecca laid cuddled up to him but now stirring.
"Neal?" she whispered sleepy.
"Yeah, everything is fine."
"What's wrong?"
"Just a bad dream."
She pulled herself up on her elbow and turned the night stand lamp on.
"Must have been a hell of a bad dream."
"Yeah..."
He pulled on his t-shirt and decided to get rid of it. Slowly he laid down again.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" she asked concerned about this monosyllabic answers.
"Not really."
"You are sure?"
"I don't know."
Rebecca came closer and looked at him serious.
"Then you should better tell."
"It's just a bad dream."
"That got you all worked up like you ran a marathon."
Neal pulled her into a hug.
"I dreamed about us." he whispered into her ear.
"What happened?"
"We lived together and had this cute little son."
"Sounds wonderful so far."
"It was. He was about to learn to crawl and you said he is adventurous like I am."
"Must have been really cute." Rebecca snuggled closer.
"It was but..."
"But?"
"Someone broke into our apartment and …..."Neal had to take a deep breath, "He kidnapped our son and set everything on fire."
"That's terrible."
"I know."
She placed a kiss on his nose.
"It was only a dream."
"But something like this could happen."
"Then we need to ask Mozzie to install the best security system he is capable of."
"Don't take it so easy... there are people I worked with or ran into …..."
"Who are capable of something like this?"
"Yes and worse."
Protective she pushed a strand of hair behind his ear.
"You never thought about it before, don't you?"
"No, I have no idea why this comes to my mind now."
"Maybe because your worry about it for the first time."
"This might be possible. I thought about kids every now and then but..."
"You were never so close to have one for real."
"That's true."
"Maybe you are the one now who should have a talk with June about this stuff."
"Did I ever told you how smart you are?" Neal smiled relieved.
"A couple of times." she chuckled and pulled the covers over them. Rebecca snuggled up as close as possible to him, "So, we had a son?"
"Yeah, going by the name of Nick, cute, blue eyes and babbling just as much as you do."
"We named our son after one of your old aliases?"
"Not a good omen, huh?"
"Who knows... we will decide that when we have children. But I guess no matter what name we'll choose some of your skills might be inherited."
"Possible."
"What do you prefer?", she asked getting more and more curious.
"What do you mean?"
"Would you like to have a boy or a girl?"
"I don't make any differences there.
"How many kids do you want?"
"At least two, boy and girl."
"You know that with two kids we can't stay here...?"
"I know so sad it is..." Neal sighed.
"So preferring a townhouse near here or moving into the suburbs?"
"You could live in the suburbs?"
"Are you kidding me? Hell no...!"
"How many kids do you want to have?"
"I always dreamed about four kids, two girls and two boys. Look, I'm a single child and I've always envied my friends who had siblings. I loved the bond they were having. Even through fights and broken toys they've been protective of each other and they always had someone to play with or talk to."
"You're pretty good at this."
"Pretty good at what?"
"Distracting me from my dark thoughts regarding this dream?"
"I didn't do this on purpose. I was just curious. And hey, you had a rough day with getting burnt through Mozzie's new security flick. That also might explain the outburst of fire in your dream. And it seemed to occupy your mind a lot that June thought I could be pregnant."
"I guess you're right but non the less I want you to be safe, no matter with or without children."
"I know and you know that I keep my eyes open."
"June said earlier that she'd like to have a surrogate grandchild crawling around downstairs."
Neal chuckled.
"No offense but I'd rather take her as a babysitter than Mozzie. I don't want to have some kind of roasted toddler just because he wanted to improve another security system."
"Actually he's a very good babysitter."
"That brings me to something I wanted to ask you since that afternoon. How does it come that an agent like Diana is okay with someone like Mozzie taking care of her son?"
"He didn't tell you when you had your little revenge wine festival with him?"
"Told me what?"
"That he was with her while she gave birth to Theo?"
"What? Wait a second, are you gonna tell me Mozzie is Theo's dad?"
Neal had to laugh again.
"No, I won't tell you who because she would rip my head off if she ever finds out... but she couldn't stop working cause Diana thought if she goes on maternity leave someone will replace her and she would lose her job."
"But..."
"You didn't experience her back then. A rabid wolf has a mild temper against hers. It was dangerous to be in the same room with her."
"She scared you?"
"You have no idea. Regarding an investigation we stumbled over Little Star Merchandise which is run by Mozzie under his real identity."
"How many aliases does he have?"
"I don't know for sure but he had to burn them cause they're linked to his real identity and faked his own death with an explosion. Diana didn't believe it, followed her own leads and found Mozzie in one of his hide outs. When she wanted to arrest him, little Theo got in the way and Mozzie helped her. You can imagine my surprise when I stumbled into them."
"Mozzie a midwife?" Rebecca asked unbelieving.
"I know... I really thought he would run away panicking and being more hysterical than most women but Diana told me some time later that he did a damn good job."
"May be a shot in the dark but could it be that the name Theo is somehow linked to Mozzie's real name?"
"Ah, that's my smart book scholar. Indeed it is. Mozzie's real name is Teddy Winters. Seems like his parents had a soft spot for Theodor Roosevelt."
"Awwww, that's so cute. So she named her son after him so that one Teddy is still alive. But Mozzie knows that Diana will rip his head off if he ever shows Theo some tricks like picking locks etc?"
"I hope he does cause I won't hide him then. But being a mom made her become softer. I was afraid she might jump at you when you started to play with Theo without introducing yourself."
"I was so distracted that Mozzie offered her to help and take him because I know that he's normally very wary of Feds, cops and other authorities. And Theo was so cute."
"He is but I think our kids will be cuter."
"I didn't realize that's an competition."
"No, it's a fact." Neal smiled at her.
"Well with your looks and puppy dog eyes."
"Same with you. And if they inherit your innocent look they will be the perfect culprit."
"Neal!"
"It was a joke." he defended himself before she could rip his head off.
"That's nothing you make a joke about." she pouted.
"I am sorry. But I think we should go back to sleep."
"We really should. Shall I ask June tomorrow to have a talk with you?"
"I think I can manage this in my own. Even with burnt hands."
"Just wanted to help." she murmured into his shoulder.
Around late morning Neal tried to make new coffee when it knocked on the door. He knew it could be only Peter or June, hopefully with coffee.
"It's open."
"I thought you could use some new coffee." June came in with a tray. He shot her a thankful look and went over to the table.
"Thank you. With these it's hard to make some myself." he held is hands high surrendering.
"I pictured this. Rebecca said you had a rough night?"
"If it would have been only this."
June filled both of them a cup of coffee and sat down.
"Did your hands hurt bad?"
"It's ok with the pain killers."
"I am glad to hear this."
"She told you what happened."
"Not in details." June admitted, "But she said you had a nightmare because of yesterdays events."
"Not wrong but not completely the truth. I think I corrupt her." Neal snickered.
"She needs to be a little corrupted. Do you want to tell what your dream was about?"
He sat down too and took his cup.
"Rebecca and I were a family. In the middle of the night someone kidnapped our son and set everything on fire."
"That's horrible."
"It took me a few seconds to realize I am here. It was so real."
"Now you are afraid this could happen one day?"
"It's very likely. It sort of already happened when Elizabeth was kidnapped because of me."
"Neal, dear, don't make yourself responsible for the insanity of others."
"But he is still out there. It's just a matter of time when he will be back. Or others."
"Now you are aware of this threat and can make a plan."
"I don't know."
Worried June frowned.
"Tell me about the nice part of that dream."
"Why?"
"Because this is what should drive you and not your fear."
"How can't I not be afraid something could happen to her? Or our children if we have some? She wants a lot of them and if I can't make sure they will be save how can I have children in the first place?"
"You never can be sure your child is save. There are so many things that can happen. Just take Samantha. We can't protect them all day but we can help them to become strong persons who can handle everything that happens in life."
"You think?"
"It's the only way to not go crazy worrying." June smiled.
"You think I am overacting, don't you?"
"No, I think you are a dedicated man who has a good heart and has seen to much to ignore the risks of life."
"Nicely put." Neal chuckled.
"So she is …...?"
"No, she isn't but we talked about it and …..."
"And?"
"We will wait a little bit. Can I ask you something?"
"You want to know how I could raise my children with knowing who Byron is?"
"I do."
"The times were different. Honor was worth a fortune and even the darkest creature of the streets kept to it. Nowadays this became a rare good."
"Would you do it again?"
"I would." June replied amused, "Even in these days. Children are worth every problem you might face. You still didn't tell the nice part of your dream."
Neal's face lit up and he started to smile.
"We lived in this nice big apartment. Our son was about the same age like Theo is now. He had these big blue eyes and babbled happily. I think he got the best from both of us."
"Sounds like a cute little guy. And that's all a parent can hope for."
"Hope for what?"
"That we give our children the best of us to make them become a good person."
"You should have become a philosopher."
"I have my moments." June snickered, "I guess this means there will be the day when the world has to handle the next generation of Caffreys?"
"Yes, there will be the day but we have to wait a long time."
"We will see but there is one thing for sure."
"Which?" Neal asked curious.
"No matter if you will have a son or a daughter, you two can camp at the principles office."
With this June got up and went to leave with Neal looking bewildered at her.
"What do you want to say?"
"A talent like yours will be inherited for sure."