A/N: And the fourth chapter has been posted. Give me three cheers for staying on schedule! It's another short and sweet chapter, so enjoy!
4. Family
Neal inhaled, and promptly coughed up a dust bunny. A moment later, he sneezed hard enough to rock the step stool he was standing on.
"You alright over there?"
"I'm beginning to regret coming over here, Peter."
Peter harrumphed, "You should have thought about that before you offered up your painting skills."
"Enough, boys. We're almost done."
"You said that two hours ago, Elizabeth."
Neal twisted the light bulb into the socket, grateful at least that Elle was more worried about his shoulder than her discomfort. The literal run in with the suspect he'd had at the beginning of the week had left his shoulder bruised and throbbing, which was the only reason he was not helping Peter move the heavy chest around the room. Instead, he was stuck cleaning dust-bunny covered light sockets and changing light bulbs.
"Neal, heads up. We're coming by you."
"Duly noted."
He hadn't planned on spending his weekend off helping the Burkes redecorate their guest room, but when Elle mentioned it, he offered his services. After all, he spent enough time in the room, the least he could do was put some sweat into it. So he'd helped move the lighter furniture out, and painted the walls the light, sea colored blue that Elle had picked out. Now, as the couple moved the furniture back into the room, he did menial tasks, not wanting to feel completely useless.
"Watch it, honey. You're dragging."
"Peter, I am not. Would you hurry up a bit? I feel like we've been at this for thirty minutes."
"We have," Peter deadpanned.
In retrospect, Neal supposed they should have been paying more attention. It was an accumulation of things, trivial and seemingly unimportant, but when combined, they led to disaster.
Neal was standing on the step stool, which was wobbly at best. Peter and Elizabeth were right behind him, each carrying one end of the heavy chest. And then there was Satchmo, who had been ignored all day long and just wanted some company. Tired of his isolation, he came running at full speed up the stairs, down the hall, and into the room, jumping up onto Elizabeth's shoulders. It was all down hill from there.
"Satchmo, no!"
But Peter's call was too late, and Elle dropped her end of the chest to fend off the dog. Which made Peter stumble under the heavy load, knocking off several picture frames and ramming right into Neal, who promptly fell off the stool and onto the floor.
But the chaos wasn't done.
Satchmo, seemingly determined to get someone's attention, pushed off of Elizabeth causing her to topple backward onto the floor and land with her hand in the tray of paint. Satchmo ran for Peter who still hadn't regained his balance and tackled the man to the ground, knocking over the decorative pillar holding a very expensive vase.
"No, the vase!"
Elizabeth reached out her blue tinted hand, as if she could stop the vase from crashing to the ground. At the last second, Neal reached out and rescued it from its untimely demise. All three let out a collective sigh and then glared at the dog.
"Satchmo!"
Satchmo only barked. Evidently causing enough damage for one day, he trotted out of the room, wagging his tail.
"That dog," Peter grumbled as he picked himself up and took the vase from Neal, "Everyone alright?"
Elizabeth grimaced at her paint covered hand, "It's a good thing we didn't take up the tarp over here yet."
"Neal, you okay?"
Neal turned and gingerly raised himself up on his elbow, "I think I broke something."
Blue hand and expensive vase forgotten, Peter and Elizabeth were by his side in a second.
"What hurts?" Elizabeth demanded.
"Should I call an ambulance or do you want me to drive you to the hospital?"
Neal raised his eyebrows at them, "What?"
"Neal, what did you break?" Elizabeth demanded.
"Your picture frame," he said, and understanding dawned on him, "Oh, you thought…sorry, guys. I'm fine."
Peter sighed, but Elizabeth wasn't satisfied until she had Neal standing and proving that all of his bones were indeed in tack and working. Peter picked up the broken frame and scratched photo.
"Ah, man. This was one of my favorites."
Elizabeth smiled, "Don't worry honey. I'm sure we have a copy of that picture somewhere. We took dozens the day we brought Satchmo home."
Peter grunted, "After all of the chaos he just caused, I can't say I'm dying to put the picture back up."
"I landed on it, Peter. I'll replace it."
"Nonsense, Neal. We'll take it out of Satchmo's allowance," El said.
Neal nodded and moved to grab the step stool. His face paled the minute he moved.
"Ow."
"Neal?"
"Peter, I think I did something to my shoulder."
It amazed him how such a simple statement could send two people into crazy mode. Peter, once again, was jumping to call the ambulance. Personally, Neal thought he just wanted to ride in the back of one. Elle had him down stairs on the couch, feet propped up, and an ice pack on his shoulder in seconds. After they'd stuffed him with Tylenol and he assured them he was fine, they stomped back up the stairs, refusing to let him help. Neal smiled as Satchmo curled up next to him.
"Hey, boy," Neal said as he scratched the dog's ears. Muffled banter could be heard from up the stairs. Neal grinned, "Sounds like Mom and Dad are having trouble. Think we should help them?"
Satchmo groaned and rolled onto his back, demanding a belly rub.
"Yeah, I think we've done enough for one day."
A/N: I'm very close to finishing up the fifth and last chapter. Hopefully I will finish it up tonight so look for it tomorrow. Thanks for reading!