Author's Note: Thank you for all the reviews :)
I'm glad that you liked the last chapter and I hope that you'll like this too.
All mistakes are still mine

CHAPTER 4

There was a knock on the door and Peter got up from the couch while Satchmo excitedly ran to the door.
Peter opened it to reveal Elizabeth, dressed in her work clothes, and Neal, clutching a backpack close to his chest.
Elizabeth greeted Peter with a loving smile before ushering the boy inside.
Satchmo barked at the strangers and while Elizabeth happily greeted the dog, Neal backed away eyeing the dog suspiciously.
He didn't look afraid of the dog more like he didn't trust him.

"He's not dangerous, sweetie"

Elizabeth said but Neal didn't seem entirely convinced so he looked up at Peter with a questioning look.

"He's a good boy"

Peter said, something that caused Satchmo to wag his tail even faster. The boy carefully stretched his hand out and petted the dog.
While the boy started to get more comfortable around the dog, Elizabeth put her arms around Peter in a loving embrace.

"I really appreciate you doing this"
"It's no problem"

Elizabeth checked her watch and swore under her breath.

"I've got to go, call me if anything happens"

She said, giving him a kiss before turning to her son and kissed his forehead.

"Be good"

She said before leaving the house.

Peter sighed as he looked at the contents of his fridge. He had completely forgot to get some child appropriate food.
He had spent over an hour making sure his gun was safely locked away and that there was no other dangers in his house, but he hadn't even thought about the food part.
Peter grabbed his different take out menus, trying to figure out what option would be best suited for the child.
Apart from the food issue, it had so far been easy to babysit the kid.
Over an hour had passed and Neal hadn't made any fuss at all.
The kid had brought some toys in his backpack and was quietly playing with some dinosaurs in the living room.
Peter stopped what he was doing and listened.
It was quiet, he couldn't hear anything from the boy.
For a second he smiled, thinking that it was good that the boy behaved so well but then his smile disappeared as he remembered something.
Wasn't it supposed to be suspicious when children went dead quiet?
As to prove this, Satchmo walked into the kitchen looking quite different. The dog had a black mustache under his nose and two thick, black eyebrows over his eyes.
Peter didn't know whether to laugh or to get angry.
The dog did look funny but he really hoped to God that Neal hadn't used a permanent marker.
Peter sighed before walking out into the living room, fully intent on giving the boy a light scolding for drawing on his dog, but completely froze as he saw what the child was doing.

"Neal!"

Neal jumped, not expecting the man's sudden appearance.
Peter walked over to him and grabbed the marker from his hand before assessing the damage. The kid had decided to decorate his wall.
Luckily the boy had only had the time to draw a tree and half of a dog before Peter interrupted him

"You are not allowed to draw on the wall"

He scolded, using his best authority voice.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know"

Neal answered, looking at him with his big blue eyes and an innocent smile. The kid looked so innocent that it was hard to not let him off the hook.

"I'm pretty sure your mom has told you to not draw on the walls"

The boy didn't confirm nor deny, he just kept flashing him that innocent little smile.

Peter thought that the wall thing would be just a bump in the road and then everything else would go smooth. He was wrong. Very wrong.
This boy was not the same boy that he met at the restaurant, no quite the opposite actually.
Even if Peter knew the boy would misbehave sometimes, he didn't think it would be this bad.
It started when they were gonna eat the pizza Peter had ordered and Neal started to whine about not liking it, despite the fact that he chose his own toppings.
After spending ten minutes whining he threw it on the floor, something Satchmo was very happy about.

"Neal eat your food"

Peter ordered but Neal didn't listen. Instead the kid looked him right in the eyes as he grabbed another piece of the pizza and threw it on the floor.

"Okay, that's it"

He said, in his most stern tone, and moved the pizza carton out of the boys reach, which caused the boy's lip to wobble and tears appear in his eyes.
The agent felt guilty, sure the kid had been misbehaving but he couldn't deny the kid food.
He really didn't want Neal to tell Elizabeth that Peter hadn't been feeding him.
So he caved, he grabbed a pizza slice and placed it on Neal's plate but before he even opened his mouth to tell the child to eat it, the boy smiled and threw it on the floor.
Peter sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Why was Neal being so difficult all of the sudden? It was like he wanted to piss the agent off.
Maybe Neal was conducting a test of his own, to see how well Peter handled a child pushing the boundaries.
That thought worked as a motivator for Peter, he was going to show both Elizabeth and Neal that he was capable of taking care of a kid.

"Okay Neal I think you need a timeout"

As expected, the child didn't like his words and responded by sticking out his tongue at Peter and then jumping off the chair, running away.
Peter looked at his watch, only 2 and a half hours left.

Peter didn't think he'd ever been this exhausted before, how could such a tiny body contain so much energy?
Neal had been running around the house, jumping on the furniture, broken a vase from Peter's mother, fought a timeout for 20 minutes until Peter gave up and made Peter close to deaf from all his screaming.
He'd rather do a month's worth of boring mortgage fraud cases than to deal with a six year old.
The agent buried his head in his hands, as Neal was jumping next to him on the couch.
Elizabeth should be here any minute now and then this experience would officially be over.

Neal stopped bouncing as Satchmo ran to the door, and just seconds later a knock was heard.
Peter expected the kid to be happy over his mother's return but the boy surprised him by starting to cry.
The agent rushed to the door so that Elizabeth could deal with the upset boy.
She rushed in before Peter could even say hello, and within seconds she had the young child wrapped up in her arms, whispering comforting words to him.

"What happened, baby?"

She asked and Peter thought that the boy was crying because he was scared of his mother punishing him for his bad behavior or something along those lines. He definitely didn't expect the words that came out of the boy's mouth.

"Peter hit me"

Elizabeth's eyes met his and he was quick to shake his head. How could he say something like that? Surely an intelligent kid like Neal would know that it was a very serious thing to lie about.

"Elizabeth, I didn't"

He said, wanting to say more but not finding the words.
Here he thought that he actually survived and that it meant good things for their relationship, but now the lies of a six year old could ruin everything they built up over the past couple of months.

"I need to talk to my son"

Was all she said before she carried Neal out of the room and left Peter alone.
How was he supposed to prove his innocence? How could he make Elizabeth believe him over her son?

It felt like an eternity later that Elizabeth returned into the room, this time alone.

"Elizabeth, I promise I didn't-"
"I know"

She answered, cutting him off mid sentence.

"It's not the first time Neal made that claim without it being true"

That calmed Peter down a bit, Elizabeth knew that he hadn't hurt her son and that it was just a 'the boy who cried wolf' situation going on here.

"Peter"

There was something in her tone that caused his heart to speed up again.

"I don't think this is going to work"

She said, her voice quiet and filled with emotion.
Peter couldn't believe her words, he had thought that things were going to go up from here.
Sure this babysitting session had been one of the worst experiences in his life, but he had survived it without losing his cool.
With time he would get more experience on how to deal with the child and this whole thing could really work out
This was something he pointed out to Elizabeth.
She didn't look happy when he recounted all the numerous ways that Neal had been misbehaving.

"Peter, I am so sorry for what he put you through and I'm also every impressed that you made it through without snapping, not many can do that...but it's not about you"

Peter frowned, he had proved that he had the potential needed to be a step father. He had believed that, that would be enough for them to start a real relationship.

"It's not about you at all, it's about Neal. He wanted me to be angry at you, he purposely misbehaved in an attempt to scare you off"

She had seen this before, he could hear it in her voice.

"I just...don't think this will work. Neal is not ready for this kind of change, perhaps he's just too young"

Peter could already feel the pain in his heart, he did not want to end this, he did not want to let her go.

"Kids gets used to changes. You shouldn't let your son stand in the way of your happiness, of true love"

Peter had never mentioned the words 'true love' around her before since he wasn't sure if she shared his feelings, but now looking into her eyes he knew that she felt the same. Elizabeth too believed that this was true love.

"I love you, Elizabeth"

Peter said, it was the first time he had said it to her.

"I love you too Peter but I have put him first, it's what parents do. You have to sacrifice a lot to protect your child"

Carefully, she reached out and touched his cheek, gently caressing it. She looked at him with tear filled eyes and a sad smile.
There was something about her eyes and her sad smile that made Peter believe that this was about more than making Neal happy, it felt as if there was more to the story.
Maybe Elizabeth felt some insecurities of her own, that was standing in the way of their relationship.
Before Peter had the chance to ask her about it, Elizabeth left the room and returned seconds later with Neal holding her hand.

"I'm sorry Peter"

She said before opening the door.
The boy looked back at him and the agent could clearly see the guilt in his eyes. Neal really had been planning this, he had wanted to break them up.
As the door closed behind them, Peter sat down on the couch.
Neal seemed to like him in the restaurant, why did he suddenly change his mind and decide that Peter had to go?
Peter just couldn't understand how the child's mind worked.
Satchmo walked up to him, gently pushing his hand with his muzzle. Peter reached out for the dog who tried his best to comfort his master.
He tried to comfort him because Elizabeth broke it all of. Elizabeth was gone. She was really gone.
That thought caused his heart to break and for the first time in years, Peter cried.

Author's Note 2: Unfortunately my father is in the hospital and it's not looking good. Right now it is unclear if he will survive.
As you could imagine this does not only take up a lot of my time but it also affects me mentally.
My point here is that it might take a while before the next update, depending on if my dad gets better or not.
I will not abandon this story, I will just need some time to deal with everything and some time to be with my family.
Thank you for understanding.