Peter and Neal were in the front seat of Peter's car, the Cutter children were in the backseat. Peter was driving back to the bureau; he glanced in the review mirror at the kids. Matt was sitting in the middle, and all three were holding hands.
"I have got to know." Neal said, turning sideways so he could look at the three children. "What is France?" Then he looked directly at Chris. "And do not say a country famous for art."
"That's private, Cartoon." Chris said, causing Peter to grin.
"You know." Neal said, smiling. "You really don't have the right to criticize other's clothing."
Chris looked down at her dirty sneakers, blue jeans, and over-sized tee-shirt that read 'Property Of The State Of New York Mental Asylum'. "At least I don't look like a cartoon."
"Are we going to jail?" Matt asked, in a worried voice.
"Of course not." Tiffany said. "Chris and me will probably end up in Juvenile hall, but you did nothing wrong. You will be placed in a group home until Chris and me can get you out."
"I don't want you to go away."
"Relax, Bud." Chris said. "Juvenile hall can't hold us, we will be out in no time."
"You probably could escape." Neal said.
"Don't encourage them, Neal." Peter said.
Peter pulled into the parking garage at the bureau and they all got out. The two men stood in front of the kids.
"No more tricks." Peter said sternly. "I mean it."
"France." Tiffany said, not happy about it.
"France." Chris smiled.
Both girls kicked hard aiming for the men's groin area, but they saw it coming and both jumped back in time.
"So that's what France is." Neal said.
"One more trick and you both will be in cuffs." Peter growled.
"I would never have guessed you were into that kinky stuff, Agent Burke." Chris said.
/
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Elizabeth was sitting at Neal's desk waiting on Peter to return. She had been filled in on the Cutter siblings and was eager to do anything she could to help them. She saw Peter, Neal, and the kids enter to room.
Peter and Christina looked mad, Neal looked amused, Tiffany looked nervous, and Matt looked scared.
"Hey, Honey." El said, as she stood up and kissed her husband.
"Hey, this is a government building." Chris said. "Not the back room of a massage parlor, knock it off."
"Grow up, Chris." Tiffany said. "I think it's cute."
"What's so cute about two old geezers kissing?"
"Hey." El said. "I am not old."
"Let's go." Peter told the kids. "Conference room."
The three kids followed him and Neal into a conference room, they all sat down. Matt was once again seated between his older sisters.
"Alright." Peter said. "Start at the beginning."
"Fine." Chris said. "I guess you have the right to know everything. In the beginning, there was this huge pool of primordial ooze and a li…"
"Enough, Christina!" Peter barked, causing all three kids to jump. "Do you realize how much trouble you are in right now?"
"You have no proof we did anything wrong." Tiffany said.
"We found your sister's fingerprint on my dog's collar." Peter said. "You tried to sell stolen necklaces to an undercover CI, and you resisted arrest. Among other charges."
"We want a deal." Chris said. "We tell you everything we know and you get us a reduced sentence, maybe just probation."
"Depends." Peter said, thinking that they were finally getting somewhere with the kids. "What do you know?"
"I know a lot of things." Chris said, leaning forward. "I know that one plus one is two, I know that the capital of New York is….."
"That's it." Peter said, angrily as he stood up. "You three have five minutes to decide whether or not you want to cooperate with us. If you do, then we can offer a deal. If not, then you two girls are going to trial for several charges and will most likely land in juvenile hall until your eighteenth birthdays." He looked at Chris, "That's almost six years. Your choice."
He stormed out of the room, but Neal stayed behind.
"Look." He said. "Peter really does want to help, we both do. I know trusting a Fed won't come naturally to you, but Peter can be trusted. I know that Fisher isn't smart enough to have control over you three, which means that there is someone else out there. Someone who is going to be really upset when he learns you are in FBI custody. We can protect you, but you have to let us in on what's going on." Then he too left.
Tiffany looked at her younger sister and said, "He's right, Wexler is going to be mad. And I am not ashamed to admit that he scares me. I'm scared of what he will do to us if he catches us. We really don't have much of a choice."
"Yeah." Matt agreed. "Agent Burke can protect us."
"Fine." Chris sighed, clearly not happy with the idea.
"We tell him everything." Tiffany said.
"Everything?" Chris asked.
"Everything." Tiffany confirmed.
"We'll get sent away."
"We can always escape. Juvenile hall can't be that difficult to break out of."
"Okay." Chris agreed. "We tell everything."
/
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Neal walked out of the conference and saw his partner standing by a window, still looking angry.
"That kid is even more annoying then you are." Peter said, looking out the window.
"She's scared." Neal said. "And being scared pisses her off."
"They are heading down a dangerous path." Peter said.
"I know." Neal said.
"They are just so young, that's what makes this hard. They're just kids." He looked at the younger man. "How old were you when you first stole something of value?"
"I plead the fifth."
"Come on, I'm sure the statue of limitations has ran out by now."
"I was nine." Neal admitted. "Same age as Matt. My Dad took me to this fancy jewelry store and distracted the clerk; I pocketed several of the rings that were on display."
"I was seven." Peter said, earning him a surprised look.
"Seven?"
"Yeah, the neighbor had a new bike that I really liked. My parents said I had to wait till my birthday to get one; that was over three months away. So I borrowed his. My parents were pretty upset, and Dad showed his displeasure to my backside. After that spanking, riding a bike was the last thing I wanted to do."
"Your Dad spanked you for stealing." Neal said, a distant look on his face. "Mine spanked me because I didn't steal enough of the rings."
"He did?" Peter asked.
"It's been five minutes." Neal said, not believing what he had just said. He didn't mean to let it slip; he wanted his past to stay in the past.
"Neal." Peter said.
"We should see if they made up their minds." Neal said, walking back into the room. Peter followed, decided to let it slide for the moment. But he was going to talk to the younger man later about what he said.
Peter realized that he knew very little of Neal's childhood, only that his first arrest was when he was fourteen, and that his parents signed over custody of him to the state when he was fifteen. He knew that Neal had been on his own since he was fifteen, having ran away from the group home he was placed in.
"What's your decision?" Peter asked, as he walked into the room.
"We will tell you everything." Tiffany said. "For a reduced sentence and protection. First off, Matt had nothing to do with any of this."
Peter and Neal sat down.
"Let's start from the beginning." Peter said.
"Five months ago." Tiffany said. "Uncle Travis was killed, and we were sent to different group homes. We ran away so we could be together. We made the mistake of going to Wexler."
"Nathan Wexler?" Peter asked.
"You know him?" Chris asked.
"The FBI has been investigating him for awhile, I've came close to arresting him a few times. But he always manages to slip away clean."
"That explains that ugly painting he made us steal from your house." Chris said. "Most of the stuff we stole for him had a high price tag, except that."
"It was personal." Peter said. "I gave it to El on our first wedding anniversary."
"Damn you need a lesson in the romance department." Chris said. "What kind of idiot gives a lame painting for an anniversary?"
"Christina." Tiffany snapped. "Will you knock it off?"
"Fine." The younger girl crossed her arms across her chest and sighed. "You may continue."
"Thank you." The teenager rolled her eyes, then turned back to Peter. "Uncle Travis once told us that Wexler was the best at arranging fake id's. So we went to him for a new life. He said he would, if we pulled off a couple of heists for him. We did, but there always seemed to be another one. Finally, we told him no. That's when he locked Matt in the attic and said either we steal for him, or he hurts Matt. We called his bluff, and he nearly broke Matt's jaw. So we did as we where told. When we saw Fisher and Matt at the restaurant then saw them following us. We knew it was our only chance to get Matt away. So we took it."
"Are you willing to testify to that?" Peter asked.
"Are you willing to protect us from Wexler?" Tiffany asked.
"Yes." Peter said. "Weather or not you testify, we will offer you protection."
"Then we will testify."
"Right now, you are under our protective custody." Peter said. "I will talk to the DA about a deal, but I'm not sure if you will do time in juvenile hall or not. That's up to the DA."
"Bullshit." Chris said angrily, as she jumped to her feet and glared at Peter. "I know the drill. We give you want you want, then you throw us to the wolfs. Don't you dare pretend you're on our side."
"Calm down Chris." Tiffany said, standing up and placing a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. But Chris shook it off.
"He's a Fed, Tiff. A Fed." Chris spat out.
"I know, but I think we can trust him." Tiffany said, her voice calming. "Relax."
"I am no going to trust a damn Fed." Chris said, glaring at her sister.
"Enough!" Peter growled, standing up. "Young lady, sit down and keep quite."
"And if I don't?" Chris asked, turning her glare to him.
"Agent Burke." Tiffany started, but Peter raised a hand to stop her.
"I have had enough of your attitude." Peter told Chris. "You can either spend the duration of your protective custody in a safe house, or behind bars. Your choice."
"My choice?"
"Yes."
"Then I chose behind bars." Then the twelve-year-old girl picked up the phone off of the table and threw it at Peter's head, he barely managed to duck in time.
"Christiana." Tiffany scolded, grabbing her arm and spinning around to face her. She looked directly into her eyes, her voice was calm but firm. "Calm down."
"He's a Fed." Chris said, her voice barley above a whisper. "We trust a Fed and one of us will die, I know it."
Peter saw unshed tears in the girl's eyes and his anger started melting some, but not all the way.
"No one will die." Tiffany said. "I need you to go and grab a soda or something, take Matt with you."
"I don't want a soda."
Tiffany smiled slightly. "You are a junk food addict, you always want a soda. And I'm sure Matt wants a soda. Now go on."
The twelve-year-old nodded, then took her brother's hand and they left the office. Peter walked to the door and saw Jones.
"Watch those two." He said. The younger man nodded.
Peter sat back down, as did Tiffany.
"Chris is a good kid." The teen said. "She's sweet most of the time, but she does have a temper. And she's a trouble magnet. But she's a good kid."
"Good kids don't throw phones at people's heads." Peter said.
"A lot of people want to throw much harder objects at your head." Neal said. "You shouldn't hold that against her."
Peter glared at the younger man, and then turned back to the teen.
"What do you know about who Uncle Travis was killed?" She asked.
"Just that Agent Cooper shot him when he went for a gun." Peter said.
"We knew Agent Cooper as Kevin, he was undercover as a fence. Him and Chris hit it off, or at least Chris thought they did. Several times when we went with Uncle Travis, Chris and Kevin would spend a lot of time talking about sports. Uncle Travis wasn't into sports, he was into the finer things in life. As am I. Chris finally had someone to talk to about things she enjoyed.
Then one day we went back home and found police and an ambulance there. We also saw Kevin, who said his real name was Agent Kevin Cooper and that he had just killed Uncle Travis. Chris asked him why, and that slimy bastard just shrugged and said that he was a criminal and that that was what happens to criminals. Then he told us to remember that if we decided to continue following in Uncle Travis's footprints."
"He had no right to say that." Peter said, understanding Chris's anger. Cooper used the girl to get closer to her Uncle, and that was wrong. You don't use kids like that.
"Chris blames herself." Tiffany said. "Uncle Travis wasn't trilled with Kevin's abilities as a fence, but he kept going to him so Chris would have someone to talk to."
/
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Chris paced the small room containing vending machines and tables, she was too jittery to sit down. Matt sat at one of the tables and watched his sister.
"Hello." They turned and saw Elizabeth standing in the doorway. "My name's Elizabeth Burke, you can call me Elizabeth or El."
"How about if we don't call you anything." Chris said.
El walked to the vending machine and started putting change in, she was determined to gain these kids' trust.
"I was impressed when Peter told me about the necklaces, he was impressed also."
"Tiff and Chris are good." Matt informed her.
"Yes they are." El agreed. "How did you know how to do the Listerine strip trick?"
"Episode of Covert Affairs on TV." Chris said.
"Who ever said television wasn't educational?" El asked with a smile.
/
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What do you think? I will post more as soon as I can.
