Wow! I can't believe this is chapter ten! Thank you everyone who is reading and leaving such great reviews! Thanks also to everyone who is following this story. I hope you enjoy this new chapter. The fun is about to begin!

Neal smiled to himself as he sat on his bed and looked at the new bed that was directly across from his. It had been almost a week since he left the hospital and came home to discover he had a new roommate. And it wasn't Satchmo. Mozzie was even more surprised when Mr. and Mrs. Suit asked him to come home with them before Neal had been released. The whole process had been relatively easy considering Peter is head of the FBI White Collar Division and was able to pull a few strings with Social Services. Of course it was all temporary for now but that was fine with Peter considering he still didn't quite trust the kid. He also knew that if he even tried putting the teen in any other foster home he would only be there for about ten minutes before taking off again and probably getting himself into loads of trouble on the streets. Peter didn't know what kind of trouble or illegal things Mozzie and Neal did to survive but he knew they had to have done something in order to live on their own. If Mozzie ran again, Neal would most likely do everything in his power to find him again and last time he did that he nearly got himself killed. This way the two of them were right under his nose and he could monitor and make sure they stayed out of trouble. If he could put a tracking anklet on the two of them he would have.

"And what is going through the great mind of my young padawan?" Mozzie asked as he strolled into their room.

"Where have you been?" Neal asked as he turned around to face his older brother.

"I was just downstairs showing The Lady Suit how to properly marinate the chicken breasts we are having for dinner tonight. Don't get your hopes up though, she wouldn't even let me add a tinge of white wine to it." He said as he flopped onto his bed. "So what's on your mind? Why are you up here all by yourself staring off into the unknown?"

"I was thinking about tomorrow. We have to go to school in the morning. I have never been to school before Moz. What if I don't do it right?" School had been on Neal's mind all day. He wasn't going to have Mozzie by his side when he walked into the classroom tomorrow. What if he couldn't make new friends? What if the teacher hated him? What if he didn't know all the same things the other kids knew? When Elizabeth had taken the two of them school shopping earlier that day she had tried her best to reassure Neal that everything was going to be fine at school the next day. She could tell her nephew was a nervous wreck about the new chapter he was starting in his life. She let him pick out his own new school supplies in order to try and get him more excited about the whole ordeal. "You know Neal, Spider-man also lives in New York City and he goes to school too." She had told him when he picked out a red and blue Spider-man backpack. That had brought a small smile to his face but it had quickly faded when Neal thought about it for a second. "Yea but Aunt Elizabeth, Spider-man is a superhero so like everybody is going to be his friend at school." El was glad Neal didn't know that Peter Parker was bullied and picked on by everyone at school and decided to change the subject to number 2 pencils and spiral notebooks.

Back in the boys' room Mozzie was trying to think of something to say that would make Neal feel better about going to school. He wasn't exactly jumping on the bandwagon with the prospect of going back to the educational system either. He had been in and out of schools his whole life and he hadn't even made an appearance in a classroom the last five years or so. He had kept up with the curriculum the best he could and made sure Neal had too. "Think of it as a new adventure Neal. You have never been acquainted with others your age and tomorrow you will be in a room full of them."

No matter what anyone said to try to ease his distressed mind, Neal was still uneasy about everything. "I wish you were in 3rd grade too." Neal told Mozzie as they headed downstairs.

That night well after everyone was already asleep someone in the house was still awake. Neal just couldn't turn his little brain off and drift to sleep. A million worries and thoughts were running through his head and no matter how many times he told them to please leave they just continued to plague his brain until his tummy felt like it was all tied up in knots and his hands wouldn't stop being clammy and sweaty. He decided lying in bed for hours wasn't helping him go to sleep any time soon and he made his way downstairs. Satchmo's head perked up when he realized someone had decided to come down and play with him. "Hey boy, you can't sleep either?" Neal whispered as the dog followed him to the kitchen.

"My Mom always said that ice cream can cure anything." He told the dog while he helped himself to the mint chocolate chip carton that El hid behind the frozen vegetables. He was just spooning the last glob into his bowl when he heard someone descending the staircase. "Uh oh Satch, looks like we're caught. You wouldn't by any chance want to take the blame for this would you?" Neal hurriedly put the lid back on the carton and was about to set the ice cream scooper in the sink when he saw Peter walk in with a very confused look on his face. "Neal? What on earth are you doing? It's…" He had to turn to look at the clock on the oven. "A quarter after two. I think it's a little past your bedtime sport."

Neal's face burned with embarrassment. He had snuck out of bed again and got caught again. Granted he wasn't on the brink of death this time but he had still got caught stealing from their kitchen. "I, uh… I'm sorry Peter. I just-"

Peter could tell he wasn't handling this situation very well and realized he should start over before the poor kid started to cry. He wandered over to the cupboard and pulled out a bowl and spoon from the drawer beneath it and headed towards his nephew. "Mind if I join you?" Neal just quickly nodded as he stared at his uncle with a confused facial expression. "After we're done, you need to head straight to bed though. You have to wake up for school in a few hours. Have you even slept at all?"

"A little." Neal lied. He didn't want Peter to be worried about him. After studying his nephews face and seeing the deep bags under his eyes, Peter figured his answer was a lie.

They sat in silence for a few moments as they casually ate their ice cream. Peter finally spoke up, "So, what's going on? You worried about starting school?" El had spoke to him before they fell asleep about how nervous Neal was to start 3rd grade. He didn't know it was this bad though.

"I don't know. Maybe a little." Neal hated admitting this to Peter. His Uncle was an FBI Agent, he wasn't scared of anything. Neal suddenly felt very small and inadequate sitting next to Peter and he just wanted to hurry and finish his ice cream and go back to his bedroom.

"You know Neal, we all have different fears and worries. Things we have never seen before or things we have never tried maybe seem scary at first but once you do it you will enjoy it. You have never been to school before. You probably don't really know what to expect but I know that you like learning and reading and drawing. Those are all things you do at school Neal." Neal had stopped eating his ice cream and was now looking up at Peter as he went on. "You will meet kids that are your age and you will play outside at recess and you will go to assemblies and have fieldtrips to museums and eat school lunch. This is your chance to really enjoy being a kid." Peter didn't really know where he was going with any of this, he just hoped that some of it was sinking in and making Neal feel less anxious.

"I was always a little jealous walking by school playgrounds and seeing all those kids on the monkey bars and sliding down slides and then they would line up next to their classroom door after the teacher would blow her whistle and they would all go in. I always wondered what kinds of things they did in there." Neal was now stirring his ice cream around and around until it was more like a milkshake. "There would be glittery fish hanging up in the windows and they would run out at the end of the day with paper plate monster masks on their faces." Neal finished the last bite of his runny ice cream and took his bowl to the sink. After he rinsed it out he turned to Peter, "I guess it could be fun."

Peter sighed a breath of relief after he walked Neal back to his room. He had just had one of those amazing parenting moments and it felt good. "Just like my mom used to say, ice cream can cure anything." He mumbled as he headed to his own room.

Neal readjusted his backpack on his back as he walked next to Elizabeth towards his classroom the next morning. They had done all the registering the day before and had already dropped Mozzie off at the high school since they started earlier. "Do you remember your teacher's name?" She asked.

"Mrs. Snow." Neal said with little enthusiasm. It was the middle of October so the rest of the kids in his class have already been in there for a couple of months. He didn't want to be the weird new kid. As they passed by huge bulletin boards that were full of construction paper jack-o-lanterns and cotton ball ghosts Neal hoped that this day wouldn't be a total disaster and that he and Mozzie would make at least one new friend.

"Here we are." El said as they stopped in front of room thirteen with Mrs. Snow's name on the door. Neal wasn't superstitious but he couldn't help but notice the big 13 on the door and how his day was already beginning out unlucky. "I'll go in with you so you can meet your teacher. School doesn't start for another fifteen minutes or so."

"You must be Neal!" An over exuberant voice said as they walked in. Turning towards the desk they saw a tall blonde in her early thirties who was making her way over to them. "I'm Mrs. Snow." She said as she shook Elizabeth's and Neal's hand.

El was a little taken back by how enthusiastic his teacher was. She must have had at least three cups of coffee to have this much energy so early in the day. Maybe that's what kept her going with a roomful of twenty-two eight-year-olds. She was just glad he didn't end up getting a mean old woman who was impatient and yelled a lot for his teacher. "It's so nice to meet you Mrs. Snow. This is my nephew, Neal Caffrey."

"Welcome to your new class Neal. Let me show you where you will be sitting." After she showed him to his desk and where he could hang up his backpack, Mrs. Snow walked back towards Elizabeth. "Don't worry about anything. The principal has made me aware of his situation. The students here are very kind of friendly. I know he will make a lot of friends and fit in just fine."

A couple of days earlier a woman from the school district had come over to their house with placement tests to see exactly where Mozzie and Neal were academically. They both scored above their real grades but Peter and Elizabeth decided to keep them in their rightful school years so they could better make friends their own age. The school district had let their principals know of the boys' unique situations and given the test scores to their teachers.

Elizabeth and Mrs. Snow talked for a few more minutes in the doorway away from the desks that were quickly filling up with the rest of his class until the bell rang. "Thank you for being so understanding." El said to his teacher as she quickly waved to Neal before leaving.

Neal legs started to shake slightly after he watched his Aunt walk away. He was alone now in a room full of strangers. Everyone was looking at him so he decided to keep his eyes glued to his wooden desktop so he wouldn't have to speak to any of them.

"What happened to your arm?" A girl's voice next to him asked. So much for not talking to any of them.

All of their desks were in groups of four all around the classroom. The voice came from the desk to the left of him. Neal lifted his head up and came face to face with a redheaded girl who had a huge grin on her face. "I said, what happened to your arm? Did you hear me?" She asked again.

"I fell." He wasn't lying. Someone had pushed him and he had fallen.

"Ouch! My older sister Emily broke her arm once. She fell out of a tree. My name's Sara. What's yours? Are you the new kid that Mrs. Snow told us about yesterday?"

"Yea, my name's Neal."

"We play kickball at recess. Do you want to be on my team?" She asked as she brought a marker out of her green crayon box. She lifted Neal's broken arm onto the desk and wrote something on the blue cast. Neal just looked at her quizzically until she finished what she was doing. He didn't understand why this girl was being so nice to him.

"Alright class, this is our new classmate Neal Caffrey. Everyone say hi to him and make him feel apart of our class." Mrs. Snow said while she passed out the vocabulary assignment for the day. All the students joyfully yelled "Hi Neal!"

Neal looked down at his cast after everyone started on their assignments. He smiled to himself as he read what Sara had written. "Get well soon Neal! Can't wait to be your new friend! –Sara Ellis" Maybe this day wasn't going to be so unlucky after all.