Author's Note: I got a sudden burst of inspiration and managed to already get another chapter together. Hope you'll like it

CHAPTER 11
Peter groaned as something or someone tried to wake him up. He told whatever it was to go away but instead he got a harder push and a noise was heard, it took a couple of seconds for Peter to realize that it was a bark and once he did he was wide awake. Satchmo would never wake him up like this if it wasn't important. Peter sat up as he felt Elizabeth moving next to him.
"What's going on?"
Elizabeth asked in a sleepy, groggy voice.
"I don't know"
Was all he could say while the dog impatiently whined and looked out into the hallway. For a second he was confused until he remembered the kid currently sleeping in the guest room. What if something was wrong with the kid? That thought caused him to almost fly out of bed and hurry after the dog.
Satchmo stopped outside the room, confirming Peter's fear. He had expected to find a crying kid, scared from a nightmare, but instead he found an empty bed. There was no sign of the kid.
Satchmo barked, as if he was trying to tell Peter something.
"Where is he, boy?"
Satchmo barked again before he rushed down the stairs, almost tripping over his own legs, before stopping at the door. Alarm bells rang in Peter's head and he opened the door to check for any signs of a forced entry, immediately suspecting that the kid had been taken again.
He checked the alarm and saw that it was turned off. The kid had either been kidnapped by some very skilled people or the kid had left on his own. Peter suspected the latter.
"What's going on, hun?"
Peter turned around to see his wife at the top of the stairs, she looked worried, sensing that something was wrong.
"The kid ran, El. He just walked out of the house in the middle of the goddamn night"
Peter tried to sound frustrated but it was clear to Elizabeth that her husband was worried about the boy. She walked down the stairs and put her arms around him.
"You'll find him, honey. I know you will"

Peter drove his car slowly down the street, hoping that the boy hadn't gotten far. At one point he thought he saw him, running to hide behind a bush, but at closer thought it was probably just an animal. He spent a whole hour driving around the neighbourhood without finding the runaway kid, eventually realizing that it was useless to keep trying. He would have to wait until morning and then get Jones and Diana involved.

As Peter walked through his door he was met by Satchmo that emitted a low whine when he realized his master showed up alone.
He patted the dog's head before walking into the kitchen, where Elizabeth waited, drinking a cup of coffee and staring out the window.
Peter poured a cup of coffee for himself, needing the energy since he understood that he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep and judging by Elizabeth's worried face she wouldn't either.
Peter spent the rest of the night sitting in the couch, just holding his wife, trying to soothe her. He wasn't particularly happy with the child disappearing into the night, the kid had been his responsibility and yet he managed to slip through his fingers. If the child ended up getting hurt he would never be able to forgive himself.

As he walked into the white collar division, Jones and Diana were both on the phone, he had called ahead and updated them about what had happened and they were both doing their best trying to find any information at all about the missing kid. He sighed wondering how they had gone from looking for a stolen painting to trying to find a runaway kid.
He walked up the stairs and into the conference room where a woman was waiting, it was without a doubt the social worker. She had dark skin and big hazel eyes. She was young and dressed in a colourful dress with tiny dogs on them, he guessed that she wore that dress for the children's amusement.
He introduced himself to the social worker before sitting down.
"Do you have any children matching the boy's description?"
Since the boy didn't give them his parents names or even his own and no one had reported the child missing, they had to turn to the social services. They hoped that they had information about the boy, if not Peter's work would get a lot harder trying to find the parents without any info at all.
"We have one runaway kid matching your description"
She answered before opening a file and pulling out a photograph of a young boy. The boy's hair was shorter and he wasn't as skinny but it was without a doubt the same boy that he had rescued yesterday.
"That's him"
Peter confirmed and the social worker nodded before reading off the file.
"His name is Neal Caffrey and he's six years old"
Peter raised his eyebrows, the boy had been both short and skinny and he didn't think the boy looked to be a day over four.
"His father had several arrests as well as a warrant when he disappeared into thin air and his mother committed suicide a little more than a year back. Neal spent four months being fostered by a couple, the Morgans, before it was discovered that he had been abused and barely fed"
Peter felt sick over the fact that there were people that would even think of harming an innocent child.
"He was placed with another couple, the Smiths, but he only stayed there for two months before running away to god knows where, my best bet it that the kid has been living on the street"
Peter felt sorry for the kid that over the span of a little more than a year had been going through his mother's suicide, abusive foster homes, living on the street and being kidnapped. It was no wonder the kid ran, he was most likely terrified of going back into another foster home.
"So that means he spent what, 7 months or so living on the streets?"
He asked, receiving a nod from her.
"Was he abused in his second foster home?"
"There's no evidence of it but we can't be sure. Only Neal and the Smiths would know, and they're denying it. We recently found out that Neal's previous case worker never did any form of check on the parents so it's fully possible that the Smiths abused him and that's why he ran away."

There was a knock on the door and Peter couldn't say he was surprised to see his wife standing there. She had always had strong maternal instincts so it wasn't all surprising that she was worried sick about the boy and once she got this worried she had a hard time focusing on her job.
He motioned for her to come in and she walked in with an apologetic smile on her face.
"What are you doing here, hun?"
"I was worried about the boy"
Peter nodded, expecting that answer.
"I also discovered that my money is missing"
She said, showing him the empty wallet. The kid stole her money, something about that caused an idea to pop up in his head. They had just assumed the boy left by foot, but now that he knew the boy had money their job might've just gotten easier.
"I have to speak to Diana and Jones"
He said before exiting the room, leaving Elizabeth and the social worker alone in confusion.

Peter rushed towards his colleagues as they shook their heads.
"I've got nothing boss"
"Yeah, me neither"
"I want you to check all buses, trains and taxis. Turns out the kid, Neal, took some money from El and I'm guessing he used the money for some transport, something tells me that kid is not brave enough to escape on foot in the middle of the night"
"On it boss"
Peter leaned against Jones' desk while the two agents made several calls, everyone with a negative result until finally Diana hung up with a smile on her face.
"A taxi driver named Ben Freeman reported that he drove a lone kid, named Nick, matching Neal's description to his grandmother's house at about 2 am."
"You got an address?"
Diana nodded and wrote down the address on a post-it note and gave it to him.
"Good, Diana you come with me. Jones you stay and update the social worker and El"