Peter was pacing in the squad room, still mad. Hughes, Jones, Diana, El, and Neal were watching him.

"What were they thinking?" Peter asked.

"That Wexler put a hit on them and that their little brother was hurt." Neal said, causing Peter to stop pacing and glare at him.

"Don't you dare defend what they were about to do."

"I'm not." Neal sighed. "But I do understand why they were about to do it. Let me talk to them before you go in."

"Why?"

"Because I think they need to hear what I have to say."

"And what is it that you have to say?" Peter asked.

"Trust me." Neal said.

"I swear Neal, if you go in there and condone what they were about to…"

"I'm not." The younger man said.

Peter nodded and Neal walked up the stairs.

/

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Tiffany and Chris still had their noses in the corner, both were thinking about what they had planned on doing. And both were beginning to realize that what they were planning was not a good idea.

"Oh man." Tiffany sighed. "Corner time really does work, doesn't it?"

"Yep." Her sister replied.

"I'm sorry, Chris."

"What for?"

"I'm the older one, I shouldn't have ever…"

"Not your fault Tiff." Chris cut her off. "We were both involved, we both screwed up."

The door opened and they stopped talking. They heard someone walk into the room, then heard the sounds of chairs moving.

"Come here, girls." They were surprised to hear Neal's voice instead of Peter's. Both girls turned and walked over to him. Neal had moved a chair away from the table and was sitting in it. He had two other chairs facing his, the girls sat in those.

"Where's Peter?" Tiffany asked.

"Downstairs, he'll be up in a moment to kill you."

"Thanks a lot." Chris mumbled.

"Look girls." Neal said, trying to find the right words. He hadn't talked about this is a little while, although he thought about it a lot. "Before Peter arrested me, I had a wonderful girlfriend named Kate. She was very special. After I went to prison, she visited a lot. Than about five months before my release date, after spending almost four years in that place, she visits one last time. Kate told me that it was over between us, that she was moving on. I knew something was wrong, I knew someone was making her say that. So I escaped.

It took about a month and a half, but I escaped the super max. And I went after her, but didn't find her. Peter found me, took me back to prison. Then I came up with the idea of me being released as a CI, and Peter got me out. Peter told me not to look for Kate, that he would find her.

But I looked anyway. I broke several laws trying to find her, had a good friend of mine beak several more. Then I found out that an FBI agent had her, for the briefest of moments I thought it might be Peter. But it wasn't."

Neal stopped talking for a moment, as the memories flooded back. "Kate was killed in front of me, the plane she was on blew up. I had broken some laws in order to get that close, so I went back to prison. And Peter got in trouble as well, since I was his responsibility. But he once again got me out and reinstated as a CI. He told me not to look for Kate's killer, that he would find him. But I looked anyway.

I found who I thought killed her, and held a gun to his head. I wanted so badly to pull the trigger, but Peter was there and talked me into giving the gun to him. Good thing he did, turned out that the guy I thought did it didn't do it. I almost killed an innocent man. Then another innocent man was killed because of me, all he did was try to help me figure out a puzzle. And then Mozzie was shot, stayed in a coma for almost a week."

Neal stopped talking again, his eyes were watering slightly. "I should have listened to Peter from the beginning, I know that now. Kate's killer is still out there. The man who shot Mozzie claims that he didn't kill her. And the man who hired him claims he didn't either. I don't know if they did or not. But I do know that Peter is looking for the killer, and I'm helping him the legal way. I may still do some things that are on the wrong side of the law, but I'm doing this by the book now. So maybe no one else will get killed."

No one spoke a few moments, then Neal broke the silence. "Were you planning on confronting Wexler?"

"No Sir." Tiffany said. "Only try to prove he had Matt shoot and that he's involved in the stuff you found at the warehouse."

"That's already been proved." Neal said.

"What?" Chris asked, looking at him.

"His prints were all over the warehouse, there is a warrant out for his arrest. And tying him to the shooting of Matt shouldn't be too difficult considering all of the other charges we can prove."

"So we were putting ourselves in unnecessary danger for nothing." Tiffany said. "No wonder Peter's mad."

"Not only Peter." Neal said.

"We were only tying to help put Wexler away." Chris said, her voice small.

"I know." Neal said. "Just like I was only trying to find Kate, then find her killer. I know why you were about to do it, I understand why. But that doesn't make it right. You stole a gun, so you knew there was a chance that you would have to face Wexler or his men."

"Do you trust Peter to find Kate's killer?' Chris asked.

"Yes." Neal replied without hesitation.

/

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Neal walked back down the stairs and over to Peter and El.

"Did you help them escape out the window?" El asked, trying to lighten the mood a little. She could tell that her husband was still mad. She couldn't blame him though, she was still upset herself. She really cared for the three kids and didn't want to see them hurt.

"Thought about it." Neal said, flashing a smile. "But Tiffany was a little nervous about scaling down fifteen stories to the ground."

"My turn." Peter said, starting to walk past Neal. But the younger man reached out and grabbed his arm.

"They weren't planning on confronting Wexler." He said. "Just dig up enough evidence to put him away. The gun was just for insurance.'

"Doesn't make it right." Peter said.

"I know, in fact, that's what I told them."

/

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Tiffany and Chris were once again standing in the corners, they couldn't believe it when Neal had told them to return to the corners until Peter came up.

They heard the door opening.

"Come here." Peter said, as he sat down in the chair Neal had vacated. Tiffany and Chris walked over and took their seats.

"What you two were about to do was completely unacceptable." Peter said, his voice stern. "It was dangerous and illegal."

"We know." Tiffany said, feeling really bad about disappointing the man. "We're sorry."

"Yeah." Chris agreed, also saddened to have disappointed Peter. "We know it was stupid."

"We will find Wexler." Peter assured them. "We will prove what he has done wrong. But we will do it the legal way." His voice became gentler. "I know you were trying to help, and I understand why. But I can't let this go unpunished. There are a couple store rooms that really need cleaned, that should keep you busy and out of trouble."

"Cleaning?" Chris asked, sighing.

"Cleaning." Peter confirmed.

/

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Peter and Neal walked into Jenny's lab and saw her standing in front of a large plasma screen.

"You have something?" Peter asked.

"Sure do." Jenny said, nodding towards the screen. It was surveillance footage from a restaurant. Jenny pointed a remote at the screen and they watched as Oscar Williams walked into the restaurant and was immediately seated, the waitress seemed to know him.

"He's a regular there." Jenny said. "I received two weeks worth of video footage from Rosario's Restaurant, and Williams has eaten there a total of nine times over the past fourteen days."

"A professional hit man doesn't usually become a creature of habit." Neal said. "Nice catch, Jenny."

"Let's go stake out Rosario's." Peter said.

/

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The next day, Peter and Neal were sitting in Peter's car across the street from the restaurant. Neal kept glancing at the older man, trying to decide if he should say what he was thinking.

"What?" Peter finally asked.

"Just thinking." Neal replied.

"That's usually a bad thing." Peter grumbled.

"Why don't you and El have any kids?" Neal blurted out, causing Peter to stare at him for a moment.

Then the older man looked straight ahead, his hands gripping the steering wheel in front of him.

"Sorry." Neal apologized. "None of my business."

"We've tried." Peter said, quietly. "But it never happened. We've both been to the doctors, both have had numerous tests done. There is no medical reason why we haven't had kids, we just haven't."

"Maybe there's a reason." Neal said. "Maybe it was because there were three kids who needed parents….."

"We're not adopting them." Peter said quickly, even though the thought had crossed his mind a few times. "They need parents who know how to raise kids, I haven't got a clue."

"They need parents who love them." Neal said. "Who will teach them right from wrong, and be there for them. Parents who….."

"There he is." Peter said, as he watched Williams enter the restaurant. He knew Neal was right, he knew it felt right when he was with the kids. But the thought of being a Father scared the hell out of him.

"I hope he's a fast eater." Neal said, deciding to let the subject drop for the time being. "I don't want to…

"Take a look." Peter said, cutting the younger man off. Neal looked and saw Wexler also enter the restaurant.

"We get both of them." Neal smiled. "And the Cutter children can get their lives back."

"Yeah." Peter sighed. He was going to miss them.

Peter and Neal got out of the car and jogged across the street. They walked in and saw Williams and Wexler sitting at a back booth. They also saw Jones and Diana sitting at a booth a few feet from them.

"Table for two?" A waiter asked, walking over.

"FBI." Peter said quietly, showing his badge. "This place have a fire alarm?"

"Yes."

"Pull it."

"I'll have to get an ok from the manager, he's not here right now."

"Look." Peter said, glaring at the young man. "This is an emergency, and I gave you a direct order. Now pull the alarm now or I will charge you with obstruction of justice, and anything else I can think of. Got it?"

"Y..yes Sir." He said, running off.

"You really need better people skills." Neal said, as him and Peter walked towards the table the two men were sitting at. Peter caught Jones' and Diana's eyes and motioned for them to advance from behind the men..

Peter and Neal were almost to the table, when the fire alarm started blaring.

"No one panic." The young waiter said, as he started ushering people out the front door. "Please quickly and orderly leave the building."

As everyone started leaving, Wexler and Williams spotted Peter and Neal. Both men started to pull guns, but Jones and Diana both pointed their own guns at them.

"Don't try it." Jones said.

Wexler and Williams raised their hands into the air, and stood up.

"It's over." Peter said, as Jones and Diana cuffed them.

/

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El and Tiffany were sitting at Peter's desk, flipping through a fashion magazine and talking about the clothes. Chris was with an agent taking another tour of the building.

"I love this dress." Tiffany said, pointing to a light blue dress. "It is so gorgeous."

"It is nice." El agreed. El had noticed that the kids only had four sets of clothes apiece, and little else. The teen had a small makeup case, Chris and Matt had a couple of hand held games. But that was it.

"I've got an idea." She smiled. "Once this is over, how about I take you three on a shopping spree? See if we can find this dress."

"Really?" Tiffany smiled, then the smile vanished. "Thank you, but no."

"Why not?"

"I appreciate it, I really do. And I would love more clothes, but I have to be realistic. Once this is over, we'll be shipped to who knows where. More then likely we'll have to run again, and we can't do that loaded down with clothes. That's why we only have what we have."

"You don't have to run."

"We can't be separated."

The door opened and the younger sister came in, ending El's and Tiffany's conversation.

"Have fun?" Tiffany asked.

"Sure did, this place is cool."

El smiled a little sadly as she watched the girls talk, she felt so sorry for them. But she also felt blessed to know them, she really cared for them. They were wonderful kids, all three of them. She dreamed many times of having children, but it never happened. Maybe there was a reason for that. Maybe the Cutter siblings were that reason.

Chris was a lot like Peter, stubborn and confident. Tiffany was like herself, strong and graceful. And Matt was like Neal, with his brilliant smile and quite nature. Those three kids would fit in great with them, she knew they would.

/

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TBC Please let me know what you think, I will have more posted soon. I think there will be only one more chapter, maybe two, to this story. I have several more stories involving the expanded Burke family planned. I would love to post them if anyone would be interested in reading them. The next chapter I post will have the spanking of a minor child, if that bothers you, please don't read it. A lot of the future stories in this series will also contain the spanking of minors and a teenager.

Let me know if you'd like for me to continue with this series.