CHAPTER 22

The location Mozzie had sent them to was a normal looking house, not unlike the one where they had found Elizabeth.
Peter had once again expected something a little more private or more remotely located but it seemed like these guys liked to hide in plain sight.
His phone beeped and he took it and looked at the email that he had recieved.
The email was from another agent and it had Keller's file attatched.
He opened it up and skimmed through it.
Matthew Keller had been a person of interest or a suspect in over a dozen cases, all of them relating to art theft, forgeries and fraud but there had never been enough evidence to get him convicted, something that Peter hoped he could change now.
He was staring at the picture of Keller, feeling nothing but hate for the man who accoring to Mozzie had been responsible for Elizabeth's kidnapping, when the passenger door opened and made him jump.

"There's definitely something fishy going on in there."

Diana told him.

Even if he had decided to trust Mozzie, he had sent Diana to check out the house, just to make sure that they hadn't been sent to the wrong location and was about to barge in on some innocent, unexpecting family.

"What are we gonna do, boss?"

Diana asked and Peter chewed his lip while he thought about it.
If there were even the slightest chance that Keller was in there, he wanted to take it.

"Let's move in."
He answered and Diana nodded.

On the count of three they burst through the door and surprised the two men that were sitting by a table, one of the smaller paintings laid out in front of them.
One of the men put his hands up in defeat while the other one practically flew up from the chair and ran out the glassdoor leading to the backyard.
He only made it a few meters before Diana, who had been quick on her feet, tackled him to the ground.
With the help of another agent she brought the struggling man inside.
Peter looked at the men and realized that none of them were Keller.
He felt his heart drop as he realized that this might have been his only chance, Keller would sooner or later notice the men's absence and would probably be able to figure out what had happenedd to them.
He would then hide somewhere, a place these men didn't know about.
This all meant that Keller would be out there and Peter would have to continue to worry about Elizabeth and Neal's safety.
He was thinking about all of this, the worry gnawing on him, when they heard a toilet flushiing from upstairs and then the sound of a faucet running.
A door opened, the sound of footsteps were heard and then the stairs creacked as someone walked down them.

"What are you guys doing down here? It sounds like-"

The man went silent as he saw all the agents while Peter smiled when he saw that the man was none other than Matthew Keller.
The size of the house had made him heard the loud noice the agents had made as they barged in, but it hadn't been clear enough for Keller to identify the sound.
He glanced around as if he was looking for an escape route before he gave up and slowly put his hands up while giving Peter a calm smile.

"You win, Burke."

He said while an agent cuffed him.

"It's a cute boy your girl's got. You know I still have friends out there, maybe I should ask them to pay him a visit. It's Neal right?"

Peter knew that the man was just trying, and succeding, to provoke him but that knowledge didn't stop the anger from taking over.
He would've lunged at the man if it hadn't been for Jones, who quickly noticed his anger and stepped inbetween the two men.
The other agents led the three men outside while Jones looked at Peter.

"You should go home."
"Jones I need to-"
"We'll handle it, okay? You should go home and update Elizabeth, she's probably worried."
Jones was right, he needed to update Elizabeth and he shouldn't be to close to this, at least not right now.
Keller seemed to know exactly what buttons to press and Peter didn't want to lose his cool and step over the line.

"Thanks Jones."
He patted the other agent on the shoulder before he walked out of the house.

As soon as he walked through the door, Elizabeth got up from the couch where she had been watching a movie with Neal.
"How did it go?"

She asked anxiously.

"We found Keller and two of his henchmen."
"Does that mean it's over, are we safe?"
"There's still a lot of work to be done and people to find but it should be over Keller arrested, you should be safe."

Elizabeth visibly relaxed, relieved that this whole thing would soon be a thing of the past.
Peter was really looking forward to closing the Scarface case, not only because it had been a long and difficult case but also because with Scarface out of the way he could focus on Elizabeth and Neal, he could focus on building a family with them.

"If we're safe can we go home?"

The boy asked from the couch, having heard their conversation.
Elizabeth looked over at Peter and the agent thought that this was his chance.

"I guess you could but I was thinking that maybe you guys could stay here."
"I don't like to be dependant on others."

Elizabeth immediately answered, assuming that he offered them to stay because he pitied her, that he felt sorry for her because she had bad economy and lived in a rundown apartment.
Sure, it was part of the reason, after all their apartment building looked like it was going to collapse any minute and he hated the thought of them living in an unsafe home, but he also offered because he wanted them close to him and make it easier for them to become the family he wanted them to be.

"I know that, you're one of the strongest women I know, El."

He told her and he was telling the truth.
It took a lot of strength to go through all the things she had and still be the kind, caring and hoepful person that she was, and it took a lot of strength to go through all that and still be able to raise her wonderful son all on her own.
Peter admired her for it, he certainly did but he also knew that he was able to help her, to get a weight of her shoulder, by sharing his home, his economy and by helping her with her child.

"I want you to stay here because I love you, Elizabeth. I love you more than anything else in the world and I want you here because my house is so cold an empty without you and Neal here. I want to see you everyday, I want to see Neal everyday, I want to become a family and I want to-"

He was cut off by Elizabeth who practically threw herself at him, hugging him tight as the tears ran down her cheek.

"I love you."

She whispered and kissed him.

"But mommy, I wanna go home."

Neal whined from the couch, ruining the moment.
Peter looked over at the kid, fearing that his protests would make Elizabeth decide to go back to their apartment.
Elizabeth let go of Peter and walked over to the couch, crouching in front of her son.

"I think that we're going to stay here, alright?"
"But mommy I don't wanna."

Neal whined and Peter could see the insecurity in the blue eyes.
The boy wasn't being difficult, he was just still insecure, still scared that Peter would turn out to be just like Mark, the guy that was so nice in the beginning before suddenly snapping and turning violent.

"It's going to be okay, sweet face."

She said before pulling the child into her arms, hugging him tight.

"I think Peter and Satchmo is the family that we always dreamed of."