Neal walked into Matt's hospital room and saw that the young boy was dressed and sitting on the bed, dangling his feet over the side of the bed. An IV was still in his arm, and the young boy was watching intently as the liquid dripped slowly from the bag.
"Come on." Matt pleaded, his voice nearly a whine. "Hurry up."
"In a hurry to get out of here?" Neal asked with a smile.
"A big hurry."
"Nurse Nancy said it would be another half an hour." Neal informed him.
"Aw man." Now his voice was a full fledged whine.
"Don't worry, kiddo." Neal pulled a chair over to the bedside and sat down, pulling a deck of cards from his jacket pocket. "How about a few games of cards?"
"Okay." Matt smiled.
"I'll teach you how to beat Chris."
"Cool."
They played for a few moments, then Matt asked. "What's going to happen to my sister and me? Are we going to be separated?"
Neal looked up into the young boy's sad eyes. "I don't know, kiddo." He admitted. "Peter just called me a few minutes ago and asked me to pick you up and bring you to his house. Well actually, it was more of an order then a request."
"Are Tiffany and Chris gonna get in trouble for stealing stuff?"
"No." Neal assured him. "Peter talked to the DA last night, woke him up and talked till he was blue in the face. I think the DA agreed not to press charges just to get Peter to shut up and let him get back to sleep."
"Good."
/
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An hour later, Neal and Matt walked through the Burke's front door and were met by Satch.
"Hey boy." Neal petted the dog.
"Hey Satch." Matt scratched the dog's ear.
"How are you feeling, Matt?' El asked, as her and Peter walked into the room.
"Girls." Peter hollered up the stairs. "Matt's here."
"I feel great." The young boy smiled at El.
"Still look like crap." Chris said, as she and Tiffany entered the room.
"Hey, Matt." Tiffany ruffled his hair gently. "Bet you're glad to get out of that hospital."
"Sure am." He agreed. "It was so boring, even though most of the agents that were guarding the room took time to play games with me. They were all real nice."
"I heard all the nurses were all gushing over you." Chris smirked.
"That was the bad part." Matt wrinkled up his nose. Then he too smirked, looking at Chris. "Neal taught me how to play poker better, bet I could beat you now."
"You taught a nine-year-old how to gamble?" Peter glared at Neal.
"Technically no." Neal said. "Matt already knew how to play poker, I just helped him increase his knowledge."
"First rule." Peter said, still glaring at the younger man. "No gambling." Then he looked at the three kids. "I don't mind you playing cards, even poker. But no gambling. You are too young. And no more cons at all."
"Look Peter." Tiffany said. "We can't promise you that, we don't know what's going to happen to us. We don't know where we'll end up."
"I do." Peter said, as him and El held hands and both faced the kids. "El and me talked and we both agree, we want to adopt you three."
"What?" Tiffany asked, her eyes wide with surprise. "You do?"
"Yes we do." El confirmed. "We both love you very much and can not picture life around here without you in it."
"We can be real pains in neck." Chris said, smiling happily. "Especially me."
"We know." Peter said.
"You really want to be our parents?" Matt asked, a huge smile on his face.
"Yes." Peter said. "If you'll have us."
"We'll have to think about it." Chris said.
"No we don't." Tiffany said, throwing her arms around El.
"Sure don't." Matt agreed, throwing his arms around Peter's waist.
"I know." Chris smiled. Peter held out an arm, and Chris also hugged him.
Neal watched the scene with a smile, the Burke family just got bigger.
"Nothing is official right now." Peter said, after they stopped hugging. "But we are going to social services right now and see what we need to do to make this happen."
/
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Six hours later, they were still at the social services office. Tiffany was sitting on a hard bench, Matt was laying on the bench with his head on the teen's lap. Chris was standing by a large window, looking out.
"What's taking so long?" Chris asked.
"Stuff like this takes time." Tiffany said.
"This much time?" Matt asked.
"I don't know." The teenager admitted.
"What if they say no?" Chris asked.
"Then Peter and El will ask someone else." Tiffany said. "They won't take no for an answer."
"There they are." Chris said, as she saw Peter and El walking over to them, an older woman in her late fifties was with them, all three adults were smiling.
Tiffany and Matt stood up and all three kids walked over to them.
"Well?" The teen asked, hopefully.
"We were granted temporary custody of you." Peter said.
"Yes." Matt exclaimed, hugging Peter's waist. Peter leaned forward and returned the hug.
"Why only temporary?" Chris asked.
"It's how things work." El said. "We were given temporary custody, and in six months it will be decided if the adoption will be finalized. This is Mildred Baker, she's a social worker here. And is now out case agent."
"Hello." The woman smiled.
"What's a case agent?' Matt asked.
"It is my job to decide weather or not the Burke household is the right place for you three." The woman said.
"It is." Matt said.
"Yeah." Chris agreed. "Peter needs someone to help turn the rest of his hair gray."
"That's Caffrey's job." Peter said.
"If you're convinced that the Burke's home is the right place for us after the six months." Tiffany said. "Then they are our parents for ever?"
"Yes."
Peter and El thanked the older woman and said their goodbyes, then took their children home. The car ride was filled with comfortable laughter and chatter. Once back at the house, they all went inside.
"Surprise!" Several voices shouted as they entered the house. Neal, Jones, Diana, Hughes, June, Mozzie, and Samantha were there.
"I guess Neal told everyone." Peter smiled.
"Yes." June said. "Neal told us the wonderful news, congratulations."
"Thank you, June." El smiled. "Kids, this is June and her granddaughter Samantha."
"It is a pleasure to meet you." June said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too Ma'am." Tiffany said.
The next couple hours were filled with laughter and happiness, and then everyone started filtering out. Mozzie was the last to leave, much to Peter and El's surprise.
"Suit, Mrs. Suit." He said, as they walked him out. The kids had just gone upstairs to get ready for bed. "I think it is very decent of you to offer them a home, a lot of kids in the foster care system never get that opportunity. I know you will provide them with security and moral standards, but most importantly, you will provide them with love and a place to belong."
"Thank you Mozzie." El said.
"Yeah." Peter agreed. "Every child deserves a home."
"True." Mozzie said. "But many don't get one. Good night." Then he left.
Peter and El watched him walk away, and then they turned and went back inside. The kids were walking down the stairs.
"Matt, you get the room you slept in when you spent the night here."
"Cool."
"Chris, you get the room that you and Tiffany slept in. Tiffany, you get our home office. we're going to revert it back into a bedroom."
"You don't have to do that." The teen said. "I don't want you to give up your office."
"Nonsense." El said. "We never use it anyway, it is your bedroom. It has its own bathroom."
"If you are anything like El, you will need your own bathroom." Peter said, earning him a playful slap on his arm from his wife.
"It'll take a couple days to get ready, you'll have to stay in Chris' room until then."
"You three can decorate your rooms any way you want to." El said. "They are yours."
"Head on to bed." Peter said, it's been a long day."
"Night Peter, night El." Matt said, giving each a hug.
The two girls also hugged them goodnight, then they went upstairs.
"We have three kids." Peter said, after they left. "Do we know anything about raising kids?"
"No." El said, then smiled. "But that's okay, we'll learn. And we always have your parents to ask advise, they did a pretty good job with you."
"I need to call them tomorrow, let them know that they are grandparents."
"I need to call my brother."
"Come on, Mom." Peter said with a smile. "Let's go to bed."
"Good idea, Dad."
Husband and wife walked up the stairs, holding hands.
/
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THE END
I don't know anything about adoptions, so I probably got it wrong on how it works. But oh well, it is fan FICTION. This is the end of this story, but I plan on posting more in this series.
Please let me know what you think, I love feedback.