I know, I know. I'm an awful, awful person for leaving y'all to wait for so long, but I was dabbling in original fiction and it is addictive, but way harder to set up and carry out. I hope I can figure it out the right way to someday become a published writer; advice is freely accepted.
Anyway, here is the next installment of the story…again, I apologize for the wait. If the medical causes are wrong I apologize in advance. Hope you enjoy, love Brownie
Finding Neal
Chapter 7: Out of Line
When Neal woke up, he was wrapped up in a cocoon of blankets, yet still cold; it was like it had seeped into his bones. With great difficulty, he brought his eyes to half mast and then all the way open.
"Mozz?" he called upon seeing the familiar figure zonked out on a chair to his right.
The reaction was instantaneous. Mozzie jumped out of the uncomfortable-looking plastic chair and started fretting. Rearranging Neal's blankets and asking him if he was comfortable, until Neal interjected with a croak, "Water."
"Oh, sorry," exclaimed the balding man, racing for the glass of water. "Here," he said, hoisting Neal up with one hand and feeding Neal water with the other.
"Slow down, you're going to make yourself sick," he admonished when Neal practically inhaled the water.
"Sorry," Neal apologized, shivering as he leaned back into the mattress. He finally noticed his surroundings and swore, "Shit, Mozz. Why am I back here?"
"Watch your language, Mister," scolded a feminine, but firm voice from his left and Neal turned his head to look quizzically at Elizabeth. Mister? What in the world was that all about?
He grinned disarmingly at Elizabeth causing her stern expression to melt away, and then glared at Peter when he saw him laughing silently behind his wife's back. That was when the events of the previous day hit him and all he wanted to do was cry and punch the laughter off Peter's face because he couldn't hit Elizabeth for obvious reasons. That being not that she was the woman who had given birth to him, a fact the couple had sprung on him yesterday that had led to him being released into their custody until he turned twenty, but the fact that she was a woman. Neal turned to his long time companion, "Mozz, can you please tell them to leave."
"Neal," Mozz tried to advocate for the Burkes, but their progeny was having none of it.
"No, Mozz. Please." He used his secret weapon, one he'd perfected when he was a child: the puppy-dog eyes, to get Mozz to do his bidding.
Mozzie turned to the Burkes and apologetically said, "You heard the man." Peter and Elizabeth smiled sadly at him and rose. Elizabeth made to place a kiss on Neal's forehead, but her son jerked away, glaring at her. Elizabeth turned away, hiding the tears that came to her eyes and marched out of the room and disappeared from sight.
Peter's temper rose for he, unlike Neal, had seen the tears forming in El's eyes, and, instead of leaving, he moved closer to Neal. He grabbed Neal's arm and turned him around, wrenching a yell from Neal's throat. "What is wrong with you?" he shouted. "All she's done is take care of you, try to be there for you, and this is how you repay her?"
Peter had hoped to shout Neal into submission, but he seemed to have forgotten that Neal was his son and had inherited both his and Elizabeth's stubbornness. He pushed himself up, "Take care of me? Try to be there for me? Is that what you call giving a kid up and telling them along with everyone else that they're your kid? No heads up? Because, if that's what you think parenting is, then you either need to rethink this whole custody thing or take lessons from Mozz."
Peter opened his mouth, but Neal cut him off, "I've been doing just fine for seventeen years without the two of you; heck, you threw me in prison! I got my GED, went to The Cooper Union: a highly, selective college, when I was thirteen and graduated summa cum laude –"
"-and then you got into the world of white collar crimes; yeah, you were doing just fine!" The sarcasm was practically oozing out of Peter.
"Well, I may be a criminal," Neal looked Peter in the eye, "but I'm a better person than you'll ever be because, if I had a kid, I would actually be there for them and not throw them in jail, unlike some people I know." He glared at a speechless Peter, "Now, if you'll excuse me and let me recuperate, I have to go to sleep." Then, without any further ado, he turned his back on Peter, curled up on his side, and shut his eyes, appearing for all intents and purposes as though he had entered Morpheus' realm.
Wide-eyed, Peter exited the room and, once he heard the door slam, Neal jumped up, "Mozz, we've gotta get out of here." He grabbed the clothes that he'd been wearing yesterday and started shrugging them on, then paused when he noticed that his friend and pseudo father figure wasn't moving.
"Mozz?" The short man turned to face his wayward son. "No."
"What?" questioned Neal, staring at Mozzie in befuddlement as he stood with one pant leg of his dress pants on and the other one held in his right hand.
"You heard me; no." Neal opened his mouth to argue, but Mozzie cut him off, "Yes, I know you've graduated high school and college and that you're a better man than I'll ever be because, if you had a kid, you'd stand by him," Neal grimaced, "But you're still a kid; you're still our kid. Yes, Neal, you are their kid, they are your parents and you know they care about you, just as much as I do."
"Don't argue," Mozzie ordered, in full parent mode, "You know, I'm right. What you did was just uncalled for; you were hurt and I get that, but you were totally out of line and I've taught you better than to be a total asshole." He paused then went in for the clincher, "Nate and Eve taught you better."
With that, Mozzie too turned and exited the room, leaving Neal alone with his thoughts and the beeping of the heart monitor.
…TBC…
Thoughts? Tell me if this totally disappoints because I can rewrite it. I don't know if that was the right thing for this chapter, but my fingers spoke for me.
Please R&R. Constructive Crit is always appreciated.
