Chapter 3

The next morning, Friday, at work Peter called Neal to his office. "Close the door behind you, please," he requested quietly, "and have a seat. We have something that needs discussing."

Neal did as he was told with a perplexed look on his face.

"Neal I had an interesting call last night. It was from Mrs. Johnson who read in the paper of our latest conviction. She had nothing but praise to say about you; how concerned you were and how helpful you were in finding and returning her money to her. Neal we have just begun to return monies to the victims…just think how surprised I was to learn that she got hers before our sting even took place," Peter paused as he looked at his consultant and new son.

As soon as Peter mentioned call and Mrs. Johnson Neal knew what was to happen next and had to he good graces to look remorseful at what he had done but what Peter did next surprised and troubled him greatly.

"Neal you lied to me and you leave me no recourse but to ground you this weekend. You are not to leave June's for the weekend and I'll pick you up Monday morning. Your mother and I will miss seeing you but you will have to learn to follow our rules…dismiss," Peter added as he returned to his present case and the return of the victims' funds.

Neal was so shaken as he left the office and slowly returned to his desk to wait out the rest of the day. He was a very trouble man as he returned to June's for the weekend. He had plans for the weekend of spending it with his new family but Peter made it quite clear that he was going to be denied even that.

El looked up as Peter came in from work that day with no Neal following closely behind. "Where is Neal, Dear?"

"At June's…I grounded him for the weekend for the stunt he pulled on this case. He's not to leave June's all weekend until I pick him up for work Monday morning," replied Peter as he noticed the expression on his wife's face.

"What's wrong, El?"

"Nothing except we made plans to spend some time together this weekend…like welcome to the family type of plans but now that he's grounded I guess we will have to put them off until next weekend," she replied soulfully.

"I'm sorry El but he had to be punished," Peter said as he defended his actions.

"Oh, I understand that…but couldn't you had just spanked him and be done with it…he would be sore for the night and tomorrow we could still go out and have a good time…this way we are all miserable," she said wishfully.

"I wish I could but what if by spanking him he remembers what Gerber did to him. I can't take that chance; at least not now. This is the best I can manage in hopes that he will learn and not get grounded next time," replied Peter as he left her and went to his room to change.

For the next few weeks Neal realized that nothing he did was going to get Peter to react like a father to him and felt that Peter didn't love him like he insisted at the time of the adoption so Neal began to act out. What did it matter if anyhow if the caring wasn't real.

But Peter was having trouble in keeping Neal reined in. He lectured and threatened but nothing was working. Neal was intent on doing it his way…the conman's way which most of the time meant the illegal way and Peter was reluctant to spank his son for fear that it would harm him after all he had suffered at Gerber's hands.

….

After yet again another incident with Neal's choices of avenues in solving a case and Peter's choice of punishing him…grounding and non communication El was desperate in fixing it that she overruled her husband's punishment and called Neal to come over for supper that night.

Neal reluctantly accepted but didn't have any intention of actually obeying. He had decided to screw Peter and go out for the night and stay out however he liked not matter the consequences. He decided first to meet with Mozzie and explore their two mile radius and after that who knows. He didn't really care…

When Peter walked in from work Friday evening he found the dining room table set for three and his wife busily working in the kitchen.

"Hi El, "Peter greeted his wife with a kiss, "who's coming for supper?"

"I invited Neal for supper, Peter," she replied quietly.

Peter's expression went form happy to stern in a matter of seconds when he said firmly, "Neal has been grounded…you know that El. He can't leave

June's for the weekend."

"Well, I rectified your orders, dear and gave him permission to leave so he could come here," explained El, "and before you say anything, yes I know I went over your head and circumvented your orders; but Peter Neal is our son now and he needs to be with his family when he does stupid things. How many times have you grounded him since he returned to work?" El asked as she changed directions.

"Three or four times," admitted Peter, not knowing where this was going.

"They don't work on Neal; I would have thought that was obvious to you by now," replied El gently.

"I don't know any other way to punish him unless you want me to lock him up," replied Peter.

"That's what you are doing now, honey when you ground him and you don't communicate with him. What works best on Neal is a good spanking…he may disagree with me vocally but down deep he knows it to be true…it's that one on one discipline that he graves…knowing that you care enough to discipline like that and not just throw him to the side without any communication. Peter, Neal picked you as a father figure long before we adopted him and I bet he feels that you don't care anymore when you push him away whenever he's forbidden to come and see us…Peter you are punishing me just as much as you are Neal when he's grounded…or banished from being with us…don't you see honey…he needs to know…to feel your displeasure whenever he screws up," Elizabeth explained and was rewarded when she saw understanding grace her husband's face.

Peter was about to reply when the phone rang and when he answered it El knew immediately that Neal had done something stupid. "What has he done this time," El asked wearily.

"He's out of his radius….and he's not coming in this direction either. I told Jones to tell the Marshalls that it is job related so he will stay out of jail," replied Peter as he went to pick up his keys.

"Are you going after him?" El asked.

Peter nodded as he put on his jacket and head for the door.

"Peter, when you pick him up bring him back here," requested El, "I'll teach him why it isn't smart to disobey his mother," she added under her breath.

"I'll bring him back but I don't know what condition he will be in; and no I'm not planning on roughing him up other than another talking to," replied Peter before closing the door behind himself.