Author's Note: I have a busy couple of days ahead of me so I really wanted to get this chapter out before that, therefore I apologize if it seems rushed and also for any potential mistakes.

CHAPTER 24

Once they were back home the kid was drawn-back and quiet but for once it wasn't because of Peter's presence.
It was clear that the boy was still shaken by the incident at school which caused Peter to get even madder at those boys.
Peter went into the kitchen to prepare them some sandwiches since Elizabeth wouldn't be home for another couple of hours.

"Neal, come and eat."

He called when he was done and Neal got up from the floor, where he had been sitting and petting Satchmo.
They sat down at the table and while Peter started to eat, Neal's sandwich remained untouched.

"Something wrong?"

He asked and the boy looked down at his hands, a clear sign that he was anxious.
He mumbled something barely audible.

"What?"
"I don't wanna tell mommy."

He repeated, his eyes still studying his hands.

"Neal, she's your mother, she needs to know when something is wrong."

Neal was silent for almost a minute before he spoke again.

"I don't want mommy to worry. She already worries a lot."

The boy looked up and his eyes were now filled with tears.
Peter still didn't know everything about their lives before but he knew that they hadn't had it easy and that Elizabeth had been working incredibly hard to take care of them.
Neal was a very intelligent kid so of course he had noticed his mother's struggles despite her trying not to let anyone see it.

"I don't wanna be a burden."

Neal mumbled and his words hurt.
A kid shouldn't ever feel like they're a burden and he wondered if someone had convinced him that he was a burden to his mother, it honestly wouldn't surprise him if one of Elizabeth's exes had told him that.
Peter left his seat and walked over to the boy.

"Neal look at me."

He asked and waited for the kid to do as he said before he continued.

"You are not a burden to your mother. She will just be glad that you're telling her so that she can help you, okay?"

The kid looked away again, clearly not believing his words.

"You will never be a burden, bud. Not to your mother and not to me."
Neal looked back at him and finally nodded even if it was obvious that he still wasn't convinced.

When Satchmo excitedly ran to the door, indicating that Elizabeth was coming home, Neal gave Peter a nervous look.
"It's going to be fine, I promise."
He said but the kid didn't look any less nervous.
Elizabeth seemed to know that something was up as soon as she walked through the door because normally she would be met by both an excited dog and an even more excited child but now Neal was still sitting on the couch, looking at the TV without really watching the cartoons.
Elizabeth walked into the living room and gave them both worried looks.

"Is something wrong?"

Peter looked at Neal who seemed to avoid to even acknowledge his mother's presence and realized that the he would have to get the conversation started.
He gestured for her to sit down before he walked over to them and turned off the TV so that Neal couldn't use it as a distraction anymore.

"What's going on?"

Elizabeth asked nervously and Peter decided to get straight to the point.

"Something happened in school today."

He informed her before turning towards the kid.

"Do you want to tell her, Neal?"

The boy stayed quiet and looked like he wanted to make himself as small as possible.

"What happened, baby?"

Elizabeth moved closer and ran her hand through his hair.
He wasn't sure if it was her soft voice, the touch or both that got through to him and caused him to talk.
Once the boy started talking, everything came pouring out and Peter learned that the situation was way worse than he had thought.
The poor kid had been bullied since his first day in school and even if the three older boys had been the worse ones, his classmates hadn't been particularity nice either.
By the time he was done, he was sobbing uncontrollably while Elizabeth held him in her arms, looking completely shocked and overwhelmed.
Peter felt overwhelmed too, he now understood why he hated school so much, every day had been torture for him and if today's incident hadn't taken place than the boy would've had to continued to go through that every day for God knows how long.
Eventually the sobs died out and Elizabeth carefully lifted Neal from her lap and put him on the couch, the poor kid had cried himself to sleep.
They walked out to the kitchen and once there it was Elizabeth's turn to cry and Peter's turn to comfort her.

"I'm such a bad mother."
"No you're not."
"I should've known that something was wrong when he tried so hard not to go but I just ignored him and sent him to school anyway."

Peter did his best to convince her that she wasn't a bad mother but she didn't listen and they could've probably stood there for hours debating if Elizabeth's stomach hadn't interrupted them and reminded them that they needed to eat dinner.
None of them felt like cooking so they ordered a pizza, which managed to make Neal happy again.

The next day Peter was just sitting in his office and going through a file when Elizabeth stormed into his office.
She was enraged and he didn't think he had ever seen anyone that angry before and he was incredibly grateful that it wasn't him that was on the receiving end of that rage.
He looked behind her and saw that Neal had been left in the bullpen where Jones were trying to impress him with that magic trick he had showed them earlier.

"I'm guessing it didn't go well?"

Elizabeth had left with Neal that morning to talk to both Neal's teacher and the school's principal.

"Neal is never going back to that school. Ever!"

She was pacing back and forth while clenching her fists.

"They are supposed to have a zero bullying policy but when you report bullying they just come with excuses."

Elizabeth finally stopped pacing and sat down in the chair.

"Maybe you should start looking at a new school then, maybe one closer to the house?"

He suggested but she looked uncertain.

"We're only with you temporary."

She answered and he nodded even if his home had started to feel more and more like their home.
It had started with little things like Elizabeth bringing home a new houseplant but now they had become a part of their home, Elizabeth had better taste when it came to decor and had slowly started to change the place to the better while Neal's toys, books and crayons were spread out all over the house.
He liked his home much better now with them taking up more space, even if he would prefer if Neal would stop leaving Lego on the floor, and even if Elizabeth still thought of their stay as temporary, Peter had started to hope for it to be more permanent.

Despite being uncertain about looking at schools closer to the house, Elizabeth decided to visit a school just the week after.
Peter was very excited when he arrived home, hoping that the school had made an impression on them, hoping that the school would work as a motivator to extend the stay with him.

"So how was the school?"

He asked Elizabeth who had just started preparing dinner.

"I was very impressed, it seems like a great school."

She answered before a smile spread over her lips.

"And Neal's got a little crush."

She added in a mock whisper and Peter looked back at the kid, who was drawing at the kitchen table, and saw that he blushed at her words.

"Oh really?"
"I left him alone for a couple of minutes while I talked to his teacher and he met one of the students. He couldn't stop talking about her the entire way home."

Neal blushed even more and tried to hide his face by looking down at the paper.

"Did you like the school?"

He asked Neal and the kid nodded.

"I really wanna go there."
"Because of how nice the school was or because of Kate?"

Elizabeth asked and the kid seemed to only turn redder before he hid his face in his hands.
Peter chuckled before helping Elizabeth with dinner.