Let Your Heart Hold Fast

Chapter 37

The time they spent with Peter's brother and his family was enjoyed by all, especially Neal. He enjoyed it so much that he really, really didn't want to leave and when it was time to load up the car, he ran back into the house with Cam. Peter rolled his eyes when Neal didn't come back when he was called and followed the boy into the house.

"Neal, it's time to go," he yelled after the boy, who was disappearing around a corner. "Neal!"

After looking around the downstairs, Peter remembered the cupboard under the stairs and quickly went to check it out. Unsurprisingly, he found two small lumps hiding under the blanket.

"Neal, come on, buddy…mommy is waiting in the car for us."

He heard giggling under the blanket and then finally an answer. "Neal's not here. Go away!"

Peter recognized Neal's voice immediately. "Neal, I'm serious. Let's go, son."

"I'm not…..um, I mean Neal's not here."

Peter started to climb into the closet, but quickly realized that he wasn't going to easily fit. Bending down so that his hands were on his knees, he leaned in as far as he could. "Neal George Caffrey, let's go. I'm not playing around anymore, kiddo. If you don't come out right now, I'll make sure you spend some time in the corner when we get home."

"Peter!" Neal groaned. "Why'd you have to say that in front of Cam?"

"Well, I wouldn't have had to if you had gotten into the car like I asked you to," he explained. "Bud, we'll come back soon, okay? I promise."

"Can Cam come with us?" Neal asked hopefully.

"Cam has to go to school, Neal. Just like you. But maybe we'll get together when there's a school break. Now, let's go."

Neal reluctantly climbed out from under the blanket and followed Peter out to the car. After a long goodbye, where everyone hugged Neal at least two times apiece, Neal finally climbed into the car. As they were driving away, Andy heard Peter's loud groan as Neal asked him to put in the Frozen CD.

The trip home was just as enjoyable as the trip there for Neal, Elizabeth, and Satchmo and just as agonizing for Peter. They listened to the CD for as long as Peter could stand it and then Neal and Elizabeth sang every other song they could think of. Peter wished more than ever that he was already home, sitting in his favorite chair, drinking a nice cold beer and watching a basketball game.

By the time they finally made it home, Neal was sound asleep and Peter and Elizabeth were having a nice conversation about everything. Elizabeth looked back at the sleeping boy and felt her heart flutter. She wondered how it was possible to love someone so much, and then she wondered how anyone couldn't love Neal from the very first moment they met him. How did Jenna and William not realize how precious Neal was? How did they not want to call him their own? She knew that it was mostly due to their selfishness, but she still couldn't fathom it. Neal was the most amazing little boy and she knew that she would do anything to protect him and to love him. She also knew that Peter felt the same way.

She loved watching her husband with Neal. For the most part, he was so patient with the little boy and it was obvious to anyone with eyes or ears that Neal absolutely adored him. Of course, there were moments when Peter's patience ran extremely thin, especially when trying to keep one step ahead of the precocious little boy. And Neal was definitely precocious. She had always heard that children were like sponges, soaking up everything around them. Neal was the true personification of this idea. In fact, Elizabeth repeatedly had to tell Peter to watch what he was saying around the child.

Elizabeth watched as Peter unbuckled Neal from his booster seat and gently lifted him out of the car. Near looked blearily up at him, trying to focus his eyes. "Are we home, daddy?" he whispered.

"We sure are," Peter answered. "And it's way past your bedtime."

Neal didn't say anything else and by the time Peter was in the house, he was fast asleep again. Peter took him straight upstairs to his room where Elizabeth had already turned down the blankets for him. Placing him on his bed, Peter took off his clothes and shoes, leaving him in a t-shirt and his undies. He bent over and gave Neal a quick kiss on the forehead and then went downstairs to find his wife.

Finding Elizabeth in the kitchen, Peter immediately noticed that she had a look of worry on her face. "What's wrong, El? Is something bothering you?"

Elizabeth looked at her husband strangely. "There was a message on the answering machine from Davis McClain. He wants us to come to his office in the morning."

"That's a good thing, isn't it? Maybe he has news about the adoption, hon."

"But, what if it's not good news, Peter? What if he tells us we can't adopt Neal?"

Peter stepped forward and pulled his wife into his arms. "That's not going to happen, El. The adoption is going to go through."

"But what if it doesn't?" she asked in a near panic.

"Hon, there's no reason now why it shouldn't go through. With Edward Bennett on his way to prison, there is no one else to contest it. Any judge in their right mind would see that the best thing for Neal is for us to adopt him. It's going to happen, El. We just need to be patient and calm."

Elizabeth found herself relaxing at her husband's words.

"We'll go and see Davis in the morning and you'll see that I'm right," Peter whispered quietly into her ear. "Right now, I think we should go to bed so I can show you again how much I love you.

Elizabeth grinned at her husband. "Okay, but this time maybe we should lock the door."

The next morning got off to a rocky start when Neal realized that he had left his fedora at his uncle's house. He wanted to jump in the car to go get it right away, but of course Peter said no, reminding him that he and Elizabeth both had warned him not to take it on the trip.

"But, I need it, daddy," Neal said. "What if Cam wears it? His head is bigger than mine!"

"Neal, it's a three hour drive back to Providence. We're not going back just to pick up your hat. You have another one, don't you?"

"Yeah," he pouted. "But, I don't like that one as much. Mommy said my new one makes me look more sophissicated."

"I'll see if Aunt Jackie will mail it to us, okay? It can be here in just a few days that way."

Neal didn't completely look like he approved of that idea, but he somehow knew that he wasn't going to get Peter to drive him back to his uncle's house. "Okay, daddy," Neal said unenthusiastically.

Once they had settled the great hat problem, the next problem came about when Neal asked if he could watch the Harry Potter movies. Elizabeth didn't think it was a good idea for him to watch them, knowing that there were some scary parts in the movie. She felt it was more appropriate for Neal to wait a few more years, but Neal fervently disagreed.

"It's not too scary, Mommy. Cam told me all about it and Aunt Jackie lets him watch it."

"Cam is older than you, sweetie. I just think we should wait a little bit."

"I don't wanna wait," Neal sulked. "I'm already five, remember? If I wait too long I'll be a grown-up!"

Elizabeth couldn't do anything but laugh at Neal's reasoning. She still didn't approve of him watching, so she negotiated a deal. "Why don't we start by reading the books instead?" she offered. At least, with reading they had a little more control over the situation.

"Can Daddy read it to me tonight?" Neal asked eagerly.

By the time the whole Harry Potter issue was settled, things began to go a little more smoothly. Neal made Elizabeth happy by eating a good breakfast and drinking all of his milk. He made Peter even happier when he made it all the way to the lawyer's office without once asking to hear the Frozen CD.

The offices of McClain, Halston, and Henderson were massive, with a huge chandelier in the center of the waiting room and teakwood flooring and paneling. Davis McClain's reputation was excellent and he had been recommended by a close friend of Elizabeth's. Peter knew that the price of hiring such a prominent lawyer would be high, but both he and Elizabeth agreed that they weren't going to take any chances. Adopting Neal was more important than anything to them.

Davis McClain was a tall, big-boned man who looked like he had definitely played his fair share of football in the past. He towered over Peter by at least four inches and his hands were nearly twice the size of Elizabeth's. Neal looked up in awe at the man, who sported a very distinguished beard.

After the usual introductions were made, where they all agreed to be on a first name basis, Davis directed them to the two seats that were surrounding his desk. Neal hadn't taken his eyes off of the man and Elizabeth couldn't help but notice that he had a strange look on his face. She was a little nervous about what Neal was thinking, knowing that the little boy didn't always filter his thoughts and words. A few seconds later, her fears were realized when Neal finally spoke up.

"Are you a giant?" he asked. "Cam says that giants are tall and hairy and that's how you are. Just like H-H-Hagrid."

Davis laughed, while both Peter and Elizabeth admonished Neal for his lack of manners. Before Neal could apologize, though, Davis spoke up.

"If I'm not mistaken, Neal, Hagrid is a half-giant, right? Giants are much, much taller than me, I'm sure."

"You know about Hagrid?" Neal asked excitedly.

"I sure do. My son loves Harry Potter and we've read all of the books and watched all of the movies."

Neal threw a quick glance over at Elizabeth before turning back to Davis. "How old is he?" he asked.

"He just turned ten, Neal. His name is Lucas."

Neal's face fell at hearing that the man's son was ten. Elizabeth was a little surprised, though, when his face lit up again.

"Mr. Davis…..Daddy told me that your job is to try to convince the judge to let them adopt me."

"That's right, Neal. It's my job to gather all of the papers and information that I need and then to give it to the judge to look over. Hopefully, if I do my job well enough, I'll convince him that Peter and Elizabeth adopting you is the best thing for you."

Neal just looked thoughtfully at Davis and then finally settled down in Peter's lap. Twenty minutes later, after going over all of the necessary paperwork, Davis escorted them to the door, making sure they knew that everything was looking good. Neal was still looking thoughtfully at Davis and right before Davis opened the door, he spoke up.

"Mr. Davis, how much do you cost?" Neal had a serious look on his face, causing Davis to laugh.

"Do you have another job for me, Neal?"

"Yeah," he answered excitedly. "Can you please tell Mommy that I'm not a baby and that I can watch Harry Potter? She won't listen to me. Can you tell her that I need more cookies every day, too? I bet she"ll listen to you."

"Neal George Caffrey!" Elizabeth cried in mock frustration. Neal turned and gave her a sheepish grin.

"Please, Mr. Davis?" Neal begged.

"I'll see what I can do, Neal," Davis answered. "Although, I'm pretty sure that your mommy is tougher than any judge I've ever faced."

When Neal finally made it back to school, he was somewhat of a celebrity amongst the students. As much as Peter and Elizabeth tried to keep things quiet, the news of Neal's kidnapping and subsequent gunshot wound quickly made its way through the school. Peter and Elizabeth both accompanied Neal to the school on his first day back and they were shocked by all of the looks and whispers aimed towards Neal. Neal, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind it at all, especially when Leah told him that she had missed him.

After settling Neal down in his classroom, Peter and Elizabeth made their way to the front office to talk with the principal. After explaining everything, they finally felt comfortable enough to leave. Peter, of course, had one of his off-duty agents stationed at the school to keep an eye on Neal. He wasn't quite ready to leave him completely unguarded.

Upon leaving the school, Peter and Elizabeth made their way to their lawyer's office again. He had called and left another message for them to come to his office as soon as they could. They nervously entered his office, afraid of what they might hear from the man. Instead, they were greeted with the amazing news that the adoption had finally gone through. Peter and Elizabeth were officially and legally parents.

Sitting at a small bistro nearby, Peter couldn't take his eyes off of his wife. He had never seen her look so beautiful and couldn't keep the smile off of his face at the idea of why she was so happy. Even though he and Elizabeth already thought of themselves as Neal's parents, they were both so excited that it was official. It had been a long battle, but it was finally over and they both felt like they could breathe easy again.

"We should throw a party, Peter," Elizabeth said excitedly. "Neal would love that."

Peter knew that there was no stopping his wife once she got such an idea in her head. All he could do was go along with whatever she planned. "That sounds great, El," he said. He listened quietly as Elizabeth started planning the party and he had a feeling that things were going to quickly get out of hand.

Just as Elizabeth was hammering out the potential guest list, his phone rang and he dug around in his pocket until he finally found it. Unsurprisingly, it was Neal's school. Peter had had a feeling all morning that he wouldn't make it through the day without a call from the school.

"Mr. Burke, this is Principal Corbin. I'm calling about Neal."

"Is he all right?" Peter asked immediately. "Did something happen?"

"He's okay, Mr. Burke, but there was a bit of an incident involving him and a few other students. I'd like to talk to you about it in person, if that's possible."

"Elizabeth and I will be there as soon as we can," he answered. "You're sure he's okay?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I'll see you soon, Mr. Burke."

When Peter hung up his phone, he turned to see Elizabeth staring at him with a frightened look on her face. "He's okay," he quickly told her. "But we need to go to the school."

They quickly paid for their lunch and jumped into the car. The trip to the school was made mostly in silence, with both of them wondering what had happened.

Peter pulled up in front of the school, luckily finding a parking space right in front of the main office. He and Elizabeth rushed in the front door and turned into the main office, surprised to see several other parents waiting in the room. After being asked to take a seat, Peter and Elizabeth both sat down next to a burly looking man and a tiny, frail looking woman.

They waited for several long minutes before Mrs. Corbin's office door opened and an older couple walked out, followed by Mrs. Corbin and Mr. Parker. The older couple eyed Peter and Elizabeth nervously before walking out of the office. Before Peter could ponder the meaning of the looks they had been given, Mrs. Corbin spoke.

"Mr. and Mrs. Burke, could you come into my office, please?" She held the door open for them as they entered, allowing Mr. Parker to follow behind them.

"Mrs. Corbin, what happened?" Elizabeth asked quickly.

"Have a seat, please," she asked, before sitting down behind her desk. "Mr. and Mrs. Burke, there was an incident right after lunch involving Neal and a few other students and I hate to say it, but it looks like Neal was the instigator. As you saw this morning, Neal's return has caused quite an uproar in the school. He has been the center of attention all day and the teachers have all had a tough time keeping things under control."

"That's hardly Neal's fault," Peter inserted.

"No, of course not," Mrs. Corbin answered. "In fact, Neal handled it quite well most of the morning. It wasn't until lunch time that it got out of control. A few of the students were a little jealous of all of the attention Neal was receiving and they tried to…well, they tried to intimidate him by calling him a liar."

Peter had a bad feeling about where this was all going. He knew that Neal thrived on fairness and that he wouldn't like being accused of lying. He only hoped that the boy had sense enough to keep himself out of trouble. He knew that was a hopeless hope, though, because otherwise they wouldn't be where they were at the moment, having the conversation they were having.

Mrs. Corbin continued. "Neal immediately told them that he wasn't a liar and to his merit, he did try to walk away from the boys, but the boys wouldn't let him walk away. Apparently, after he tried to walk away they called him a baby and a scaredy-cat, and one of the boys made a comment about how Neal's grandfather must have hated him so much if he had someone shoot him."

Peter was holding his wife's hand and could tell that she was trembling. He felt a little shaky himself, but most of all he just felt angry that some kids could be so cruel.

"At this point," Mrs. Corbin said, "the recess aide noticed that something was going on and stepped in to put a stop to it. She brought everyone that was involved into my office and I talked with each of them, making sure that they understood that what they did was wrong. I put a phone call into each of the boy's parents and explained the situation to them and I planned on talking to you about it when you picked up Neal this afternoon. Neal seemed to be doing okay, other than being just a little subdued. I guess that should have been a warning sign," she sighed. "A quiet, subdued Neal Caffrey isn't normal."

Peter and Elizabeth both smiled slightly at that, knowing exactly what she meant. A quiet Neal was either an upset Neal, a sick Neal, or a scheming Neal. A quiet Neal definitely sent up red flags of warning.

"Maybe Mr. Parker should take it from here, since he was there," Mrs. Corbin offered.

Mr. Parker cleared his throat and finished the story. "When recess was over, everyone piled back into the classroom and at first I didn't notice anything wrong. Neal, Leah, and Casey sat at their table and pulled out their spelling books just like they were supposed to. I could see Leah whispering something to Neal, but I couldn't tell what they were talking about. After a few minutes of trying to get everyone to settle down, we started our lesson."

"I should have figured out that something was going on when Neal was so distracted. Looking back on it now, I remember that Neal seemed to be throwing a lot of looks at the table next to him, where a few of the boys were laughing about something. After we were done with our spelling lesson, it was time to start our geography lesson. We've been studying the tropical rain forests and I had brought in a DVD that I thought the kids might like. I had to send someone to go and get the video equipment, so I sent the three boys that were sitting at the table next to Neal's. As they walked past Neal, I heard one of them say something to him, but I didn't hear what it was. It didn't sound like it was anything bad, so I didn't pay attention. I wish I would have."

Peter was getting impatient and wished that the young man would speed up his story. He really wanted to know what had happened.

"Anyway," Mr. Parker continued. "As soon as the three boys left, Neal raised his hand and asked to use the bathroom. I don't usually allow restroom breaks right after lunch, but Neal looked sincere and he's been through so much, so I let him. He came back a few minutes later, but the other three boys still hadn't returned. After another five minutes without the boys returning, I called the front office and had them send someone to check on them."

Mr. Parker paused, as if he really didn't want to continue. "A few minutes later, the aide came to my room and asked to speak to me outside. When I walked out, the three boys were there and they all looked like they had been crying. They told me that someone had locked them in the equipment room. The door locks when it closes, so there's a door stopper to keep it from closing all the way. In order for it to close, someone has to manually remove the door stopper. One of the boys said that it was Neal."

Peter and Elizabeth sat there completely surprised by the story. "What's made them think it was Neal?" Elizabeth asked. "That just doesn't sound like something he would do."

"I agree, Mrs. Burke. I've never known Neal to do something mean like that, but the one of the boys said he saw Neal's shoes as the door closed. When I asked Neal about it, he didn't answer me at first, but, after a few minutes he admitted that he had done it."

Peter couldn't help the righteous anger he felt on Neal's behalf. He didn't blame the kid for getting frustrated, at all, but he was surprised that he had dealt with the obvious bullying the way he had. "Mr. Parker, it sounds like there wasn't really any true harm done to the three boys, right?" he asked.

"Well, actually, one of the boys was so scared that he….uh…had a little accident. His parents were pretty upset when they heard what had happened and they wanted to speak to Neal."

"I don't think that's a good idea, do you?" Elizabeth asked incredulously.

Mrs. Corbin spoke up again. "I thought that perhaps a meeting between the boys and the parents would be a good idea, Mrs. Burke. It seems that there were several reasons things played out the way they did today and I'd like to get to the bottom of it. So, if you don't mind I'd like to call the boys and the other parents in here."

"That's fine, Mrs. Corbin, but we'd like to see Neal first, please." Elizabeth answered.

Author's note: For some reason, I've had a really tough time with this chapter, so I feel like it's a little subpar. I also am feeling like this story may be coming to an end, which makes me unbelievably sad. I love writing about five year old Neal, but you can only write so much fluff before it starts feeling a bit tedious. With that being said, I'm open to suggestions on either how to keep this story going or on new subject matter. I would love to hear your ideas.

On another note, I have to apologize for not replying to each of the reviews. Unfortunately, there are only so many minutes in a day and I haven't had much free time lately. I truly appreciate all of your reviews. I want to give a quick shout-out to peppe1951 who caught on to the fact that Mozzie's gift to Neal was a little bit of payback to Peter for not rescuing him from Neal's relentless New Year's Eve chatter. I think it definitely served its purpose, don't you?

Thanks for reading and reviewing. I can't believe this story has almost 600 reviews. You guys are amazing!