Author's Note: This might not be the "most fun" chapter since it's more or less a build up for the idea I have for chapter 4. But hopefully you will still enjoy it :)
All mistakes are mine.

CHAPTER 3

Every date he had with Elizabeth was amazing, it didn't matter what they did. They could spend hours looking at paint drying and it would still be an amazing date.
They took it slow, not even kissing until the end of the third date.
To others it might've seen too slow, but for Elizabeth and Peter it was perfect, by taking it slow they got to spend a lot of time talking and getting to know each other.
For every date that passed Peter became more and more convinced that Elizabeth truly was his soulmate, his one true love.
And for every date that passed it became harder and harder to say goodbye and let her walk away.
He wanted to ask her to come home with him, but he knew he couldn't. He knew that he had to let her go home, knowing there was a little boy waiting for her there.
Peter could not go with her either, since she had yet to decide that he could meet her son.

It was by the end of their 9th date, a wonderful picnic in the park, that Elizabeth announced that she had decided she trusted Peter and that she was ready to introduce the kid.
Peter had warmed up to the thought, but that didn't stop him from feeling anxious.
So far their dates had been so amazing, and Peter had started to think about establishing a relationship with her, but if Elizabeth found out how truly bad he was with children then maybe she wouldn't want to enter a relationship with him.
That thought made him more anxious than the thought of meeting the child and he really hoped that he could connect with the boy and that Elizabeth would believe that he could handle the kid being in the picture.
Because at this point, he didn't want to let Elizabeth go. He didn't want to imagine going back to his life before her.

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Peter checked his watch for the 100th time.
He was waiting for Elizabeth and her son outside the Italian restaurant where they had their first date.
They were late, just by a few minutes, but it was enough to make him even more nervous.
He was just thinking about calling her, to make sure nothing was wrong, when he heard her voice behind him.

"I'm so sorry we're late"

Peter turned around and came face to face with Elizabeth, looking as beautiful as ever in a black dress.

"It's fine"

He answered before looking next to her where the kid was standing, holding his mother's hand tightly.
He could see the similarities between the two, they shared the same dark curls and blue eyes.
The boy appeared to be younger than he actually was and the suit he was wearing was slightly too big for him.

"You must be Neal"

He said, holding out his hand. The boy grabbed it in a surprisingly firm grip and shook it.

"You must be Peter"

The boy said, mimicking the man's words.
After the introductions they walked inside and sat down at a table to start their dinner.

Peter would be lying if he said he hadn't been too keen to meet the child at a restaurant.
He had seen plenty of kids in restaurants. They were always running around, screaming, throwing tantrums and making a huge mess.
So he fully expected this child to act like just like the other children he'd seen but he was pleasantly surprised.
Neal didn't just behave, he was incredibly polite and could even keep an interesting conversation about art going, apparently Elizabeth did not lie when she said her son was intelligent.
The kid wasn't even messy, apart from some pasta sauce around his mouth that Elizabeth quickly removed with a napkin.
For each passing minute Peter's fears disappeared. He actually liked the kid, of course he wasn't delusional enough to believe that Neal would always be this well behaved, but it seemed that he really was the good kid that Elizabeth described him as.
By the end of the night he even ended up having a couple of inside jokes with the kid that not even Elizabeth understood.

Before they were done, Neal went to the bathroom and as soon as the kid disappeared Elizabeth looked at Peter with an excited smile, but anxiety clearly showing in her eyes.

"So what do you think?"
"You were right, he's a great kid"

The fear disappeared from her eyes and she was just pure happy.
He could understand her fear, their entire relationship was depending on Peter and Neal accepting each other.
When the kid returned, Elizabeth prompted him to give the agent a hug and the boy did so without any protests.
Normally a child hugging him would feel awkward but when he crouched down and Neal put his small arms around him, it actually didn't feel that bad.
It seemed that his wish to establish a connection to the child was actually coming true.

At work Diana and Jones kept pestering him about the meeting and after just two hours he broke down and confessed to actually liking the boy.
His co-workers seemed happy about this but he didn't miss Diana's smug 'I told you so' smile.
Peter was thankful that Diana managed to get into his head and make him give Elizabeth a call.
Here he was, just two months later, and he was not only more in love than ever, but he also liked her kid and was warming up to the thought that one day he could end up being the boy's stepfather.
Before meeting Elizabeth, he would've never ever been able to picture himself as a stepfather, or even a father figure but now here he was imagining what it would be like to not only share his life with Elizabeth but also share it with Neal.

Peter was positive that he could do this, have Neal be a part of his life, at least he had been until Elizabeth called him two days later asking him if he could babysit Neal.
The kid's regular babysitter was busy and Elizabeth had to fill in for a sick coworker at the museum.
Peter didn't know too much about Neal's regular babysitter, except that he was a paranoid, peculiar man with no permanent address or phone number.
The guy didn't even have a last name, or a first name for that matter. He was just called some weird name like Izzy or Ozzy or maybe Lassie.
The guy sounded really shady and Peter didn't even want to begin to imagine what the man could be doing. Probably robbing a bank or killing someone in a dark alley.
Elizabeth did sound really desperate on the phone and Peter had no other choice than to accept.
He had to look at this with positivity, after all this could be his could be his chance to get to know the child even better and to prove to Elizabeth that he could take care of a kid.
At least he hoped that he could take care of a kid without accidentally killing him.
Peter tried to convince himself that it would be fine, after all it would just be five hours alone with a six-year-old.
What could possibly go wrong?