Whatever It Takes

Chapter 21

The rest of the weekend wasn't much fun for anyone. After the very long, extremely intense talk with Peter and Elizabeth, Neal was not looking forward to facing everyone else. He couldn't blame any of them if they held him responsible for everything that had happened. After all, it really was his fault. If only he hadn't allowed his ego to get the best of him. He and Will could have had their race in the daylight, with everyone's approval. He still could have shown that he was a better swimmer than Will; it just would have been on better terms.

Following Peter and Elizabeth out onto the front porch brought Neal face to face with the rest of the Burke clan. Before anything could be said, Eva jumped off her mother's lap and threw herself into Neal's legs.

"Neal, you're okay! I was so scared when that bad man took you away. But, I did what you told me to, Neal. I told Uncle Peter everything you said."

Neal knelt down and drew Eva into a hug. "You did great, Eva. You were so brave. Thank you."

Neal tried to pull away, but Eva wouldn't let him. Instead, she wrapped her legs around Neal as he went to stand up. Still holding her, Neal was surprised when Hannah came up to him next, also giving him a hug.

"Thank you for finding her," Hannah said, as she kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you for keeping her warm and safe."

Neal didn't know what to say. He felt awful that Hannah was being so nice to him, because it was his fault that Eva was in danger to begin with. How could she forget that?

"Hannah, I'm really, really sorry. It's my fault that any of this happened, at all. If I hadn't snuck out of the house last night, Eva never would have been in danger."

Hannah looked Neal straight in the eye. "I appreciate your apology, Neal, and yes, you shouldn't have snuck out. But, if I'm not mistaken, you weren't the only one who snuck out, right? And neither you nor Will made Eva sneak out, so all three of you made bad choices and I'm pretty sure, after this ordeal and all of its fallout, you will all be sure to never do something so foolish again. So, apology accepted and I still want to thank you."

Neal really didn't know what to say, so he just gave Hannah a small smile. Catherine came up to him next, pulling him into a hug. "Don't you ever scare me like that again, do you hear me? When I came out of the bathroom and saw that you were gone, I was scared to death."

"I'm sorry, Nana Cat. I know I shouldn't have left, but it was my fault that Eva was lost. I had to help."

Catherine pulled away and looked Neal straight in the eye. "You should have let the adults handle it, Neal. The next time I expect you to do as you're told, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Ben came up to Neal next, looking at him rather sternly. "Son, you had better learn real quick to do what you're told, if you're going to survive in this family. If I know my son, he's not going to tolerate such outright disobedience."

Neal gave Ben a solemn nod, not finding the strength to give him a verbal answer. He was relieved when Ben gave his shoulder a slight squeeze, letting him know that he was forgiven. Finally, he found himself face to face with Will.

"Hey, Will…I'm sorry for getting us into so much trouble. It's my fault that all of this happened and I wish I could take it all back."

"It's not all your fault, Neal. I could have said no, but I didn't. She's my little sister, anyway. I should have made sure that she went back to bed."

Neal once again felt a crushing guilt sweep through him and he didn't know how to answer Will. Luckily, Peter stepped in.

"Okay, now that everyone has had their say in today's events, let's move on to other things. How about we head down to the lake for one last time?"

Everyone quickly agreed and twenty minutes later the extended Burke clan, plus one Neal Caffrey, made their way to the lake. Neal and Will eventually had their race, which surprisingly Neal won, but there was very little fanfare about it.

Neal spent most of his time with Eva, who had recently declared that he was her "bestest friend." That evening Peter and David built a fire on the beach and they all sat around sharing stories. There was still an underlying current of tension, but not enough to make the whole evening a total bust.

By ten o'clock, Eva was sound asleep in her father's lap and the rest of the group was looking pretty tired. After putting out the fire, they all headed back to the cabin. It had been a long day for all of them. Neal was sound asleep within thirty seconds of his head hitting the pillow and didn't even realize that both Peter and El had come in to say goodnight.

Sometime during the night Peter woke up to his nephew shaking his shoulder.

"Uncle Peter, Neal's having a nightmare and I can't get him to wake up." Will was pretty upset by the way Neal was acting.

Peter was on his feet and headed to Neal's room within seconds, Elizabeth and Will following closely behind. Upon entering the room, Peter could see Neal struggling to free himself from the sheets he was all tangled up in. The boy was crying out and Peter was appalled to hear what he was saying.

"No, Keller, don't shoot! Please, leave him alone." And then, "Peter! No!"

Peter and Elizabeth both ran to the bed, Peter quickly working to untangle the boy from the sheets. "Neal, you're okay. Wake up, bud. You're having a nightmare." When Neal didn't wake up, Peter gently shook his shoulders. "Come on, buddy, wake up!"

Eventually, he started to come around, a look of confusion on his face. Peter helped him to sit up in the bed, giving him time to reorient himself.

"Peter? What are you doing here? What time is it?"

"It's almost three in the morning, Neal, and you were having a bad dream. How are you feeling?"

Neal looked as if he were still trying to snap out of his nightmare, his whole body trembling like crazy. "I'm fine, Peter. It was just a dream. I didn't mean to wake anyone up."

By this time, Elizabeth had sat down on the edge of the bed, grasping Neal's hand in her own. She couldn't help but notice how pale and sweaty the kid was, and she immediately took matters into her own hands.

"Neal, sweetie, take a few deep breaths and see if you can stop that shaking you're doing, okay? Whatever it was, it was all a bad dream. You're safe and so is Peter."

After several long minutes of Neal focusing on what Elizabeth was saying, the trembling stopped, leaving him completely exhausted. By this time, he had slipped back down under the covers, giving in to the feeling of Elizabeth's hands tenderly carding through his hair. Peter and Elizabeth watched him sleep for awhile before they felt confident that the nightmare wouldn't return. They were both reluctant to leave him, but Will reassured them both that he would come and get them immediately if something changed.

Neither one of them slept well the rest of the night, both expecting Will to wake them up again before the night was over.

The next morning was spent cleaning up the cabin and packing up everything. The overall mood was somber, with everyone wishing the weekend had gone a little better. Neal was in a particularly grumpy mood due to the fact that he didn't sleep well the night before. What he didn't realize was that Peter and Elizabeth hadn't slept well, either, mostly because they kept checking on Neal all night long.

Right after lunch, they all gathered out by the cars to say their goodbyes. Elizabeth, Hannah and Catherine had already made plans to get together again at Thanksgiving. The men thought they might try to get one more fishing trip in before Winter set in, too.

After a round of hugs from everyone, they all piled into their cars and drove off. The ride back home was rather subdued. Neal sat silently in the back seat, trying to come up with a punishment that Peter would find suitable, but he really couldn't come up with anything.

Elizabeth would occasionally try to start a conversation, but neither Peter nor Neal had much to say. After awhile, she decided to find a radio station that they all could enjoy.

Neal couldn't help but notice that Peter kept glancing at him through the rearview mirror, as if he wanted to say something. Much to Neal's relief, he never did.

Eventually, Neal fell asleep, which allowed Peter and Elizabeth to talk over a few important things. Now that Keller was under arrest, there would no longer be a need for twenty-four hour protection for Neal. They would have to permanently remove the tracking anklet, which made the both of them very nervous. By now, they were well acquainted with Neal's ability to find trouble and that tracking anklet served as an extra bit of insurance.

They were also afraid that Neal might decide that he wanted to return to Mozzie's place. Peter knew that he couldn't allow that to happen, but really didn't have a clue as to how to stop it. Mozzie might be an okay provider for some things, but it was obvious that he couldn't give Neal everything he needed. He made for a good friend, but definitely wasn't parent material.

By the time they had reached their house, Peter and Elizabeth had come to a decision.. The only way to prevent a huge fallout over where he would stay, was to provide Neal with an alternative plan. Peter was excited that their alternative plan meant that he and El would file to adopt Neal. They had discussed this before, but the time was never right to present it to Neal. Until now.

It was obvious to everyone that saw the three of them together that they were already a family. Peter and Elizabeth were quickly realizing that themselves. Why not make it official? After discussing all the pros and cons of this plan, they agreed to talk with Neal that evening.

Once they had unloaded the car, Elizabeth made a simple dinner that they quickly ate. Once they were done, Neal followed Peter and Elizabeth into the living room, taking his customary seat on the couch. This seemed to be a recurring situation, Neal sitting on the couch, waiting for Peter to start lecturing, and he was really tired of finding himself in this situation. More than that though, he figured that Peter must be really tired of it, too.

Peter had been standing, but thought that things might go smoother if he wasn't towering over the boy. Sitting across from Neal, he studied the boy closely, picking up on his nervousness.

"Let me start by saying that I'm not going to lecture you again on this weekend's events, okay? We've already discussed the things you could have done differently, and we've come to the conclusion that you deserve to be punished. So, now I want to hear some ideas on what you think is a deserving punishment. And remember what I said, Neal…..your suggested punishment better be appropriate, or we're going with my choice, which I'm sure you won't like."

Neal swallowed heavily before looking up at Peter. "I've been thinking about it a lot, Peter. In fact, that's all I've thought about all day today, which in itself should be considered punishment, if you ask me."

"Duly noted. Now, what did you come up with, kid?"

"Well, I figured that Keller's arrest means that I don't really need your protection anymore, right? So, I can just leave and go back to Mozzie's. That way you won't have to put up with me anymore and you won't have to worry about what stupid thing I'll do next. It's a win-win situation, don't you think?"

Elizabeth spoke before Peter could even wrap his mind around what the boy was saying. "Neal, that's actually something that Peter and I wanted to discuss with you. Sweetie, you can't go back to Mozzie. We know that he's your friend and we would never expect you to forget that, but he simply can't provide for you in an appropriate way. You need structure, consistency, discipline. You need to go to school and go to the dentist. You need someone to make sure that you're getting enough sleep at night. You need parents."

"But I don't have parents, do I?" Neal tried to keep his cool, but he quickly lost the battle. "I can take care of myself, Beth. I've done it for a long time. And, I can tell you right now that there is absolutely NO WAY I'm going back into the system. I'd rather go back to Crossroads."

Peter took over for Elizabeth, hoping to cool things down a little. "Who said anything about putting you back into the system? That's the last thing we want for you, bud. For the most part, I believe in the system, but I do know that it's flawed at best." Peter hesitated for a few seconds, drawing strength from the look on his wife's face. She wanted more than anything to keep Neal. She wanted to be his mother, and Peter was surprised to find that he really wanted to be Neal's father, even though that meant that he would have his hands full forevermore. How did the boy come to mean so much to them in such a short time? "Neal, what we're trying to tell you is that we want to adopt you. We want you to become a permanent part of our family."

Neal really couldn't believe what he was hearing. If he was completely honest with himself, he wanted nothing more than to be the son of Peter and Elizabeth Burke, but he truly couldn't see why they would want him. He really was nothing but trouble, even on his best days.

"Why would you want to do that, after all I've put you through?" Neal couldn't grasp the idea that anyone in their right mind would choose for him to remain in their life, especially after all he had done. Truth be told, he was also afraid to get his hopes up again. He didn't think he could handle everything falling through again, like what had happened with Michael and Annie. "You barely know me and all I've done is cause you trouble."

Elizabeth grabbed Neal's hand, pulling him slightly in her direction. "You're right, sweetie...we barely know you, but Peter and I want to get to know you better. We've enjoyed having you in our home, despite your frequent mischievous activities and we know you're not perfect. Hopefully you know that we aren't perfect, either. We're all bound to make mistakes, but one of the best parts of being a family is getting through those mistakes together." Neal still didn't look convinced, so Elizabeth continued. "Neal, Peter and I don't know much about your childhood, but we do know that you deserve better than the one you had. We want to make sure that you get a chance at a somewhat normal childhood. Just so you know, this isn't a spur of the moment decision for us. We've been talking about making it more permanent ever since you were in the hospital. We've grown to care for you greatly over these last weeks, and can't imagine our lives without you. Adopting you is the next logical step, right? But, sweetie, if it's not what you want, we won't push you. We'll come up with another plan."

Neal couldn't stop the feeling of anxiety that was bubbling up inside of him, and before Peter and Elizabeth registered what was happening, he jumped up and ran out the door.

Author's note: I hope you enjoy the chapter. I have an idea of what's up next for our potential new little family, but I'm always open for suggestions. I love writing in this universe and I'm feeling like this story might never end, lol. Thank you so much for reading and I hope all who celebrate the holiday had a wonderful Christmas. Take care, everyone.