CHAPTER 6

Peter did his best to remain calm as to not scare the boy even more, even if he wanted to ask Neal a million questions at once.

"Tell me what happened"

He asked as calmly, and professional as he possibly could.

"They knocked on the door and mommy opened"
The boy said, and Peter could see how the kid was struggling to not break into tears.

"Two men came inside"
"Did you see what they looked like?"
"No they had black masks"

Damn, Peter had hoped that the kidnappers had showed their faces so that they could easier identify them and that would make it easier to find the woman he loved, but of course he had no such luck.

"One grabbed mommy and she told me to run, but I wasn't fast enough. He grabbed me and mommy said she'd do anything if they let me go. The man said if I told the police he'd kill me"

Peter felt sick to his stomach, just the thought of a grown man threatening to kill a child made him want to punch something, or someone.

"I went to you Peter, cause you're not the police you're FBI"

The boy said before a sudden thought seemed to enter his young mind and he looked even more fearful than he had before.

"That's okay, right? They won't kill me for this?"

Peter couldn't find any words; no person should ever have to worry about getting killed and especially not an innocent kid.
He reached out and he pulled the boy into his arms. Luckily Neal didn't protest, instead he just threw his arms around Peter's neck and buried his face in the agent's shoulder as he finally allowed himself to cry.
No matter what Neal thought of Peter, and no matter how brave he tried to be he was still so very young and he needed an adult to take care of him and make him feel safe.

"You did the right thing, buddy"

Peter assured him as he rubbed his hand over the kid's back. Of course, Peter knew that in the bad guy's eyes FBI was just as bad as the police but he wouldn't tell Neal that.
He wasn't going to scare Neal even more and he wasn't going let anyone hurt the child.

The first thing Peter did after starting the car was turning the heat up to its maximum.
It took a few minutes but finally the boy stopped shivering. He was sitting curled up in the passenger seat, still with Peter's suit jacket wrapped around him.
The agent knew that it wasn't really safe for the kid to ride without a car seat or to ride in the front seat but he chose to disregard that for now.
He wanted to make sure the kid was warm enough and that he stayed awake, since Peter had never been at Elizabeth's house he had to rely on the boy's directions.
Thankfully Neal knew the way since he, as Peter had suspected, had walked all the way to the bureau.

Peter started to feel more and more uncomfortable for every turn they took, they were driving into the worse, unsafe neighbourhoods, where drug dealers and other criminals stayed.
When the boy told Peter to stop he hoped that the boy was going to say that he had directed them entirely wrong and they didn't live here at all but instead the boy pointed to a building and said that it was home.
The building looked like it would fall apart any second and Peter couldn't understand why they let people live in a building that looked like it should have been condemned a long time ago.
Peter and Neal both stepped out of the car, and so did Diana and Jones who had followed in a car behind them.

"This is where you live?"

Peter asked and received a nod from the kid.

"We've lived at worse places"

He added casually and Peter felt genuine shock.
He and Elizabeth had never talked about their finances but he had always assumed that she had enough to get by, but by the look of her home she was struggling more than he had originally thought.
Peter looked around, his eyes landing on a middle-aged man who had collapsed in the bushes, a bottle of cheap booze clutched tightly in his hand.
From this angle, he looked like he was dead, and he really didn't want Neal to witness that, he had been through enough today.
Diana seemed to be able to read his thoughts because she discretely inched closer to the collapsed man and placed her hand on his neck, sighing in relief as she felt a pulse.

"Wanna show us inside?"

The boy answered with a nod before he walked to the building, passing the collapsed man as if he saw that every day, and he probably did.
Neal opened the heavy door before leading them up several flights of stairs, all of them creaking dangerously beneath them and Peter swore that the stairs were going to collapse under them any second now.
Neal finally stopped by a door and pushed it open to reveal the small, rundown one-bedroom apartment that Elizabeth and Neal called their home.
The apartment was very bare, with very little furniture and the furniture they had looked to be very old, Peter guessed that every single item was at least twice as old as Neal.

The agent asked Jones and Diana to check for any signs of the kidnapping before he walked through the living room and peered into the small bedroom. It was also bare, with just a double bed and a handful of toys spread out on the floor.
He heard small footsteps approaching him and soon the kid was standing by his side.

"Why don't you get changed?"

He asked, remembering that Neal was still wearing his soaked clothes. Neal took off the suit jacket and handed it back to Peter before going to the wardrobe.

"Can you dress yourself?"

Peter asked, realizing that he had no idea how much a six-year-old could do on his own.

"Peter, I'm six"

The boy answered, with way too much sass.

"Well okay. After you've changed you can go ahead and gather the things you need"

Neal looked up at him with a look that reminded him of a deer in the headlights.

"W-what do you mean? Where am I going?"

The boy stuttered and Peter had to take a second to wonder if the boy seriously thought he would be allowed to stay here on his own.

"Neal you can't stay here alone"
"I have nowhere else to go"

Peter walked into the room and crouched down in front of the upset child.

"Do you have a daddy Neal? Or some other relatives, like any grandparents?"
"I don't have a daddy, he didn't want me and my grandparents are mean to mommy, they don't like us"

He immediately got curious about Elizabeth's parents, but he knew he shouldn't push it. If Elizabeth or Neal wanted to tell him about them they would do it when they felt like it.
The important part was that they were out of the picture which meant Neal was all alone, so he guessed that his only option was to call CPS and get him a place to stay until Elizabeth was saved.
But foster or group homes were often far from the best and Peter really didn't want to hand Elizabeth's son over to strangers and just hope that he would have a good time.
But what other options were there? What was he supposed to do with the child?