Author's Note: Yay I managed to actually get an update out in a week like I hoped :D

For those of you who wants to know I have a cat now, he's a longhaired white cat with the greenest eyes I've ever seen and his name is Tellus.
He is not a fan of my fics though because he always tries to stop me from writing them :P

CHAPTER 17

It felt like he spent hours circling the neighbourhood, trying to spot the missing six-year-old and the agent's loyal companion.
Peter didn't find them though which could mean everything from the kid avoiding roads that would be visible from a car to the kid had been kidnapped.
The agent really hoped that it was the first option, the last thing they needed right now was yet another kidnapping.
Eventually he was forced to give up and returned to his house, glaring at the agent in the car as he passed by.
The agent bowed his head in shame and rightfully so.
First of all it had been very irresponsible for him to trust the child so easily and without asking the adults if Neal was really telling the truth.
Second of all it was irresponsible of him to let Neal, a defenseless boy that he was supposed to help to protect, out of his sight.
It should have been obvious that he needed to follow the kid since an unsupervised kid needed more protection that the two adults in the house, especially since one of them was a federal agent.

Peter could hear Elizabeth sobbing as soon as he opened the front door and the sound was truly heartbreaking.
He suddenly heard a bang and rushed over to the kitchen table where Elizabeth was located.
The agent looked around the room, trying to locate any threat before seeing that the sound had been caused by Elizabeth throwing her phone, luckily a more tolerable old button phone and not a smartphone, against the wall.

"He isn't picking up, why won't he pick up?!"

She said in between the heartwrenching sobs.

"Who?"
"Mozzie, I need him but he won't pick up."

Peter didn't answer her, instead he just put his arms around the worried mother and did his best to calm her down before she had a panic attack or something.
It took a while but eventually he managed to get her calm, well as calm as a mother with a missing child could be.

"Elizabeth, do you have any idea where Neal would go?"
"No, I just know that there are some places where he and Mozzie use to go."

Peter nodded, now understanding why it had been such a big deal that Mozzie wasn't answering his phone.

"And you got no idea where?"
"Only Mozzie and Neal knows."

Peter sighed, wondering where the peculiar man would go with the boy.
He wasn't at all worried about the man doing something creepy, he was more worried about what kind of skills the man was teaching the boy behind his mother's back.
The agent's thoughts were interrupted when Elizabeth suddenly sat up straight and looked at Peter who could have sworn that he could see a lightbulb turn on over her head.

"I think I know where he is."

As soon as Elizabeth told him about her revelation, he felt the urge to hit himself for no thinking about it earlier.
It just made perfect sense, Neal was scared and upset about the whole situation so of course he would go to a place where he felt safe.
Unless something had happened along the way, the boy should have reached his destination by now which caused Peter and Elizabeth to rush to the car and then speed to their destination.
Just because Neal felt safe there it didn't mean that it was a safe place to be, it was actually quite the opposite.
Peter lost count of how many traffic laws he broke but he quite frankly couldn't care less about that at the moment.
Elizabeth got out of the car before it had even fully stopped and Peter had to really make an effort to catch up with her.
They ran up the stairs, ignoring the menacing creeks the staircase made under their feet, and they didn't stop until they reached the door.
Peter made a gesture for Elizabeth to stay back before he lifted his gun, thankful that he hadn't gotten the chance to lock it away after work and carefully opened the unlocked door, hoping to find just the child and the dog in there and no one else.

The apartment that Elizabeth and Neal called their home was luckily free from any bad guys, the only ones there were the two missing loved ones.
Neal was curled up on the bed fast asleep, the young child probably completely exhausted from walking all the way here and Satchmo was lying next to him, with one of the boy's arms draped over his body.
The dog wagged his tail at the sight of his master but he didn't move because he didn't want to disturb the sleeping youngling.
Peter smiled as he realized that his previous thoughts about Satchmo getting distracted and pulling the kid to the ground was an impossible scenario.
Even if a six-year-old walking the big dog alone was still dangerous, he knew that no distraction would have made Satchmo pull too hard.
The dog had taken a liking to Neal and that meant that he would never have allowed the kid to be hurt and especially not because of him.
Elizabeth rushed over to the bed and sat down before pulling the sleeping child into her arms.
The motion cause Neal to start waking up and when he became aware of the fact that someone was holding him, he began to thrash around in panic.

"It's okay, sweetie. It's okay, it's mommy. It's just mommy."

Her soft voice and comforting voice made Neal stop his struggles and instead he threw his arms around his mother's neck and leaned his head against her shoulder.
Elizabeth just sat there, holding her boy, for a couple of minutes while the dog jumped off the bed and went to greet his owner.
Elizabeth's face changed from relieved to stern before she put the boy down on the bed again and took his small hands in hers.

"What's our first rule, Neal?"

The boy didn't answer, instead he just hung his head in shame.
His mother let go off her son's hands and instead she placed one of her hands under Neal's chin and gently forced his head up so that he was looking at her again.

"What is out first and most important rule?"

She repeated and Neal answered her in a low, guilty voice.

"We never leave each other. We stick together no matter what."

Peter felt tears starting to gather in his eyes, that rule perfectly showed the strong bond that they shared and also told him how important it was for them to always stick together, even in bad situations like the struggle with the ex-boyfriends and the obvious but never mentioned economic struggle Elizabeth had.

"You're not allowed to just leave me like that, Neal."

That sentence was delivered with so much emotion that showed just how much Neal simply taking off had hurt her.

"I'm sorry, mommy."

Neal apologized and threw his arms around her again.

"I just wanted to go home."
"I know, honey, but we can't be here it's not safe."
"That's why I brought Satchmo along."

Neal looked back at Peter, acknowledging his presence for the first time since they had arrived.

"Sorry for stealing your dog."

Peter just smiled and told him that it was okay, he guessed that both he and Elizabeth preferred this option in front of the kid being all alone.

"Listen, Neal, I am the parent here so I get to decide where we live, alright?"

Neal nodded and Elizabeth kissed the top of his head while mumbling.

"You're grounded until you're 30."

Peter smiled at the interaction before the sudden sound of footsteps was heard outside the door and he quickly pulled out his gun again.
Elizabeth saw his movement and tightened her grip around her child.
The door opened and Peter pointed his gun at the man who automatically took a step back before giving the agent an unimpressed look.

"Please suit, can we meet just once without you waving your gun in my face?"