Chapter 3

June had invited both Elizabeth and Satchmo to stay with her as soon as she had heard that both Peter and Neal were missing in the blizzard. They were enjoying a cup of coffee as they tried to console each other. "They will be okay Elizabeth that husband of yours won't return without Neal in tow," June said confronting.

"I know, June, but I want them safe and at home," El said as tears began to fall.

"When I get my hands on Neal; he won't ever leave a safe house again," vowed June angrily, "I have a wooden spoon in mind to use on his bare bottom."

"You will have to get in line…just as soon as I'm sure they are both safe I intend on reacquainting him with my spatula," El said with a smile.

Neal had been sleeping when all of a sudden he awoke with a very strange feeling coming over him and he looked around to see if anyone had joined them.

"What's up buddy?" asked Peter; he had been watching Neal sleep for the last hour or so since he had changed into the warmer clothing Peter had given him.

"I don't know…I just got this overwhelming feeling of doom come over me," Neal admitted as he yawned.

Peter chuckled, "I bet that El has been told by now how you got yourself kidnapped. I bet she is considering applying one of wooden cooking implements to your backside."

"She wouldn't do that…would she?" whined Neal.

"Yep…but she is going to have to wait her turn…me first," Peter said seriously as he looked at Neal. "What were you thinking when you snuck out of the safe house?"

"I was bored…I had been stuck in there for over a week; it just seemed that if he was interested in getting me you would have seen some signs of him being here. I thought I would be safe just going to that museum of an hour," Neal explained.

"Well, you know what that bit of boredom is going to cost you?"

"Yeah…a sore backside," replied Neal glumly.

"Yeah…but not now…now we wait out the storm until we are rescued," replied Peter as he patted Neal's knee comfortingly.

"Are you sure they will be able to find us?" asked Neal.

"No doubt in my mind….now what do you want for supper?" Peter asked reassuringly.

"More broth?"

"I think we can do better than that," replied Peter as he pulled out a package from one of his packs.

Neal watched interestingly as Peter poured a little of the boiled water in the smaller pot along with the contents of the package. Peter then relit the Kelly kettle and soon they had a pot of bubbling stew.

"That smells pretty good," Neal said as he watched Peter ladle some on a bowl that he also brought out from his pack and while Neal was appreciating the stew he had a cup of hot tea brewing.

(2 days later)

El was looking out the window at the snow as it continued to fall and felt a moment of despair overtake her as she thought of her two fellows out there somewhere. "No…I'm not going to even anticipate that they are in trouble…Peter is out there and he will make sure that Neal is alright…at least until he gets him home and wears his butt out," El said out loud to Satchmo.

Neal was getting tired of the tree he was sheltering under. He was going stir crazy and wanted to get away from what was now their stinking shelter; he glanced at Peter and realized that he was asleep and thought he would duck out for a moment…it didn't seem to be snowing as hard now as it had a few days ago and without considering the consequences again snuck out the backside of the tree.

The first thing he saw was the whiteness …the snow covered everything and he had been wrong it still was snowing it was the wind that wasn't blowing as strongly as before that had fooled him…but instead of going back he plunged on telling himself he was only going to stay out for a minute or two but soon found that it had been longer when feeling the cold starting to seep in discovered that he didn't know where the shelter was.

'Crap…Peter is going to kill me,' Neal thought as he turned around and hoped that it was in the right direction and ducked under the first tree he saw. He immediately discovered that it wasn't the right one even though it did provide him with shelter from the storm as the wind picked up again.

"NEAL!"

Neal heard his name being shouted over the sound of the wind and felt a surge of hope flow through him as he poked his head out to see Peter only a few feet away.

"PETER!"

Peter turned at the shout and saw his wayward son coming out from a tree only a few feet away from their shelter and motioned for Neal to hurry. He knew that if he went to Neal there was a large chance that he too would get turned around and loose sight of their shelter. As soon as Neal got within reach he grabbed him and pulled him close and soon they were once again in their shelter.

Neal slowly looked up into Peter face expecting to see anger there but was amazed to see an expression of love and caring coming from him instead.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked checking first to see if his son was okay before reading him the riot act.

"I'm okay…I'm sorry I just had to get out for a few minutes…so tired of being cooped up," admitted Neal soulfully.

"And will the spankings you are going to get once we get home be worth you going out for a stroll during a blizzard?" Peter asked as he was barely able to keep his anger under control.

"Spankings?"

"You don't think that you deserve one for what you just did a few minutes ago?" asked Peter.

Neal shook his head, "but that should have been only one…you said spankings?"

"Oh, now I didn't mean that you were going to get spankings for going out just now…I was totaling up your whole bill…you definitely will be getting one for leaving the safe house that put us in this situation," explained Peter patiently.

"Whew…I thought you meant more than two," muttered Neal. "He had already figured that he would be punished for leaving the safe house.

"That's two from me…don't forget your mother. She won't be happy to learn of this latest antic of yours…and don't forget the spanking she will be giving you for leaving the safe house that we discussed earlier…so you can add two more to what I'm planning on doing to you…and don't forget the rules you broke from the FBI…I'm sure that Hughes will order that you be punished as well…now we are up to five spankings," added Peter seriously.

"I won't be able to sit for days," moaned Neal.

"Oh, don't forget June and Mozzie. I'm sure they will show their displeasure to your backside as well," Peter said as he brought his list to an end.

Neal put his head down and moaned even louder, "I won't be sitting comfortably for months after all of those spankings."

"Oh, don't worry you won't be receiving them all at once….I think that two a week until they are finished might make you think of the consequences of your actions before to do anything as stupid again," Peter said as he took pity on his new son.