Author's Note: I finally managed to get this chapter together, but I'm not 100% happy with it. Hopefully you will like it, if not I'm sorry.
All mistake's are still mine :)
CHAPTER 15
The smell of coffee was the first thing Peter registred when he woke up. The smell of coffee meant that Elizabeth was awake and that it was morning.
He groaned as both his neck and his back hurt from sleeping in this awkward position. Why was he even sleeping sitting up?
Peter opened his eyes and saw that he was still on the couch and as he looked to his left he saw Neal sleeping, tucked under his arm.
"Isn't he adorable?"
Peter looked up and saw his wife looking at them, a cup of coffee in her hands.
"Yeah, I guess he is"
"Breakfast is ready so you might as well wake him up"
She ordered before returning to the kitchen.
Peter looked down at the boy one last time, wishing he could always be asleep.
When the boy was asleep then at least Peter knew where he was and that he wouldn't run away. Too bad letting him sleep wasn't an option.
He shook the boy's shoulder and watched as he slowly woke up, rubbing at his eyes with his tiny fists.
Neal opened his eyes and looked around, seemingly confused over what he was doing here.
His eyes landed on Peter and he immediately sat up, his cheeks turning red.
Peter just chuckled at his embarrassment before patting the boy's back.
"It's time for breakfast"
Neal got off the couch and walked over to the dining table with Satchmo by his side.
After striking the deal with Peter, Neal forgave the dog's betrayal.
Satchmo left his side when he saw Elizabeth place a small pancake in the dog's bowl. The dog seemed to love pancakes. Wait, pancakes?
Neal came to a halt and looked at the plate placed on the table.
On the plate was a stack of pancakes and they smelled absolutely delicious.
Neal was confused though because you were only allowed to eat pancakes on your birthday. His mommy had told him that probably a million times.
"Pancakes?"
He asked and Elizabeth suddenly looked scared.
"You don't like pancakes?"
Neal climbed up on one of the chairs.
"I love pancakes, but you're only allowed to eat them on your birthday"
The adults looked taken aback by his words before Elizabeth smiled and placed a pancake on his plate.
"Well it might not be your birthday but it's your first day living with us, and I think that's worth celebrating"
Neal didn't know what to say. No fosterparents had ever given him pancakes before or thought that his first day was something to celebrate.
"Thank you"
He said and Elizabeth gave him a warm smile.
"You're welcome"
She then placed some vanilla ice cream on his pancakes and Neal took a big bite. He felt a bit like a traitor to think that these pancakes were the best he'd ever had, even better than his mommys.
The adults kept the conversation light, careful not to ask too serious questions and make the boy go quiet. Instead they asked simple questions like what was his favourite colour, his favourite animal and what he liked to do.
The breakfast went by smoothly and it wasn't until they were finished and Elizabeth informed Neal that they had both taken the day off so they could all go shopping, that they hit a bump in the road.
Neal needed new clothes, and a new shirt meant taking off the white, dirty t-shirt. Mozzie's t-shirt.
After ten minutes of arguing Neal finally gave in and agreed on letting Elizabeth wash it, he had to agree that it was really dirty and besides it didn't even smell like Mozzie anymore.
Neal had to be fine with that, after all he didn't have to wear the shirt to be reminded of Mozzie, he just had to keep it. Then when he was reunited with Mozzie he could give it back to him.
"Why don't you go and get cleaned up and then we can get going, okay?"
Neal nodded at Elizabeth's words before grabbing his plate and his glass to put it in the kitchen.
Satchmo grabbed one of his toys, believing that the child wanted to play and ran up to him, and inevitably the small boy got pushed by the careless dog and lost his balance. Neal fell to floor and so did the dishes, the plate survived but the glass broke into a thousand pieces.
Neal immediately started to cry, not because it hurt but because the last time he broke a glass he had been slapped and sent to his room for the rest of the day.
When he saw both adults get up, he instantly believed that they were going to hurt him. His fear caused him to cry even harder and crawl backwards until he was stopped by Peter shouting.
"No, Neal don't move"
To Neal he sounded angry and he closed his eyes, waiting for Peter to hit him.
It happened so quickly, one second Neal was cleaning up his dishes and the next Satchmo sent him crashing to the floor.
It wasn't until the boy started to cry that they processed what had happened and they both got up, believing that the boy was hurt.
Neal's cries got louder and he suddenly started to crawl backwards, his hand just inches away from the broken glass.
Peter shouted to him, told him not to move, and the boy went limp with fear.
The adults looked at each other, both feeling heartbroken over the fact that Neal honestly thought they were going to hurt him.
Peter walked over and lifted the boy up while Elizabeth got Satchmo out of the way so that the dog wouldn't get glass shards in his sensitive paws.
Peter rubbed the boy's back, while using his softest voice to assure Neal that it was alright.
Neal was confused as to why Peter didn't hurt him. Instead of hitting him, the agent just picked him up and started to comfort him.
When his cries died down he was placed on one of the kitchen chairs. Peter kneeled in front of him, so that they were at the same eye level.
"I'm sorry that I scared you Neal, but you almost put your hand right on the glass. I just wanted to stop you from getting hurt, okay?"
That was new, Peter wanted to prevent him from getting hurt instead of causing him to get hurt.
That was a totally foreign concept for Neal, not even his mommy did that. His mommy didn't even try to stop his daddy from hurting him.
He looked over to see Elizabeth cleaning up the glass and he felt bad, it wasn't her mess to clean.
"I'm sorry"
Neal said but Elizabeth just smiled.
"You've got nothing to apologize for, sweetheart"
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Neal looked around him in awe. He had never been in a mall before, his mommy had only taken him to buy clothes in thrift shops.
They had to buy the cheapest clothes since his daddy needed money for his alcohol.
Sometimes she didn't even have any money so they had to smuggle clothes into a backpack that she forced Neal to wear.
The stores were so much nicer than what he was used to and he wanted to run around and look at everything, something the Burkes were not too happy about.
Peter sighed as he for the tenth time reminded Neal not to run away, only for the boy to completely disregard his orders.
"You know, hun, we should really consider buying one of those kid leashes"
He suggested but Elizabeth just laughed and shook her head.
"At the very least we should put a tracking anklet on him."
Peter grumbled as Neal came back to them, after checking out god knows what. He grabbed the boy's hand.
"Stop running away or I'll put you on a leash"
Apparently the boy wasn't frightened by his threat, instead he just giggled.
"I'm not a dog, Peter"
No Neal was not a dog. A dog would actually listen.
Finally, they reached the store El was looking for, her favourite clothing store. Of course, she would pick that one so that she could look at some clothes for herself as well. Peter sighed again, this was going to be a long day.
Neal let Elizabeth pick out his clothes for him, he had learned over the years to not be too picky. Although he did put his foot down when some of the t-shirts were way too childish for him.
She bought several t-shirts, sweaters, pants, underwear, socks, two jackets, two pair of shoes and even a fancy suit.
Neal looked at Peter in confusion, had he not told her that Neal wasn't going to stay with them for long? This was all unnecessary for only a week.
Neal didn't have the heart to point it out though, she looked so happy while she picked out clothes for him as if she had always dreamed about shopping for a child.
Neal left Elizabeth's side to look around, coming to a halt when he saw a grey fedora on a shelf. He couldn't help but reach out for it and place it on his head. It was a perfect fit, as if the hat was made for his head.
"Well don't you look handsome?"
Elizabeth said as the boy blushed and put the hat back. He really, really, really wanted the hat but he knew better than to beg for it.
"If you want it, you can get it"
Elizabeth said and Neal instantly grabbed the hat again and placed it on his head ,while Peter shook his head, not really understanding why the boy wanted the hat so bad.
As Peter expected, as soon as they were done shopping clothes for Neal, Elizabeth walked to the women's section.
"I thought we were shopping for Neal"
He pointed out but Elizabeth either didn't hear him or ignored him, he guessed that it was the latter.
"Why don't you two go to the toy store and pick some things out?"
"Toys?"
The question was quiet and the boy sounded uncertain as if he wasn't sure he had heard her right.
"You've never had toys before?"
Peter asked and Neal shook his head.
"My daddy said I should play with rocks and other stuff I could find. He said toys ruins children's cre-"
Neal stopped and frowned.
"Cre-"
The boy seemed to be struggling with the word.
"Creativity?"
Elizabeth tried and Neal nodded. It was the first time Neal had mentioned his father but he didn't seem to be the father of the year. What kind of father wouldn't let his kid have a toy?
Peter couldn't possibly see how toys would ruin a child's creativity, instead he guessed that Neal's father was just too cheap to buy his son some toys.
"The Smiths said they were gonna buy me toys but they never did"
Okay this child really needed some toys.
"Come on, bud. Let's get you some toys"
He said before grabbing Neal's hand.
There were so many toys that Neal almost got dizzy. Peter told him to pick any toy that he wanted but how was he supposed to choose?
He ran around, looking at every single toy until finally he saw the perfect one. It was a cuddly toy that looked exactly like Satchmo.
"I want this one, Peter"
He said to the man, who were out of breath from chasing the child around. Neal frowned at the agent.
Wasn't he supposed to chase after criminals? How could he do that if he got tired from just a little running in the toy store?
When Elizabeth joined them she picked out a pack with toy cars, some lego, a drawing pad and some crayons.
Neal felt bad because he knew that all of this would cost so much money and he wouldn't even be able to use it for more than a week, but everytime he worked up the courage to tell Elizabeth he saw her smile and he just couldn't tell her.
He really hoped that they could find another kid after him, someone who could enjoy all this stuff.
"How about some books Neal?"
Neal shook his head.
"Really? There's some really fun ones that you could read"
They didn't know that he couldn't read and he didn't want to tell them. He knew that children his age was supposed to be able to read, at least the easiest books. Neal didn't know more than what Mozzie taught him.
"I don't want any books"
He said, determined but Elizabeth didn't back down.
"It's important to read Neal, it's a really great and a fun way to learn"
"I don't want any books!"
He said, stomping his foot. The adults nodded at him and he was happy to get his way, completely missing when Elizabeth grabbed a couple of books of the shelf and placed them with the other things.
Their next stop was a grocery store, one that was much nicer than the one his mommy had shopped at.
It was much bigger and the floor was really shiny, he could even see himself in it.
Neal stayed obediently at their side until they stopped to pick out cereals.
From the cereal aisle you could clearly see the sea of candy and Neal sprinted away.
He had never seen so much candy in one place and in such great variety. He didn't even know where to start.
It was the toy dilemma all over again but finally he spotted a familiar chocolate bar.
His parents rarely gave him candy but when they did it was always that chocolate bar.
He was staring at the candy when the Burkes caught up with him, Peter yet again telling him off for running away from them.
"We're done now Neal"
Elizabeth said and Neal looked at her and then the candy, as if she could read his mind and apparently, she could.
"If you want something sweet, we have some ice cream at home. If you're nice we can get some candy for the weekend, okay?"
Neal nodded at her but he still wanted the chocolate bar so bad.
As soon as the adults turned away to head for the registers, he reached out and grabbed the chocolate bar and put it in his pocket before running after the adults.