Author's note: Oh how I love the sight of reviews in the morning! :) Now I remember why I enjoy posting stories so much. Your reviews feed my obsession!

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MY DAD PETER PART 2

"Hey Jerry. Come for a walk." Neal nodded towards the front door.

Jerry Watson reluctantly dragged himself away for the fine spread of savouries and sweet treats and followed his young friend out into the front yard.

"What's up, man?"

"Check this out." Neal spoke quietly, not that he would have been heard above the rowdy festivities coming from within the home. Not less than fifteen minutes ago, the party guests had raised their glasses to a Happy New Year and wrapped arms around each other for a jubilant rendition of Auld Lang Syne. There'd been lots of cheering, kissing, hugging and alcohol. Of course, the alcohol was supposedly for adults only even though Neal had managed to sneak a number of sips of champagne since his arrival. He was feeling pretty happy, but then, why wouldn't he be?

Jerry looked down as Neal popped the boot of Peter's Taurus and revealed a small bag of sky rockets. "Awesome, man! Where'd you get those?"

"Ah, I have a friend who knows a friend. They're heavy duty rockets. Can't get them here." Neal was excited that Jerry looked suitably impressed. "You want to give them a whirl?"

"Really?" Jerry's response showed that he wasn't sure if he wanted to or not.

"Yeah. Come on. We need to find the perfect launch pad."

The two boys traipsed around the yard for a while before realizing there really wasn't any spot that would allow the rockets to be shot off without hitting one of the branches of the large oak trees surrounding the house. "Looks like we'll have to head to the park." Neal decided.

"No can do, man." Jerry said matter-of-factly. "I'd have to check with Mum or Dad and they'd want to know why."

"Seriously, Jer? You're going to fire off some illegal firecrackers and you're telling me we can't go because you have to ask permission to go to the park?" He grinned up at his friend. Neal may have been the older of the two but Jerry was at least a head taller. "Is that line of thinking missing some kind of logic that I'm oblivious to?"

"Look. It's after midnight. I can't go taking off without asking first. Sorry if my parents aren't as easy going as yours!" Jerry was beginning to get upset.

Neal hadn't meant to upset his friend. "Sorry, Bud. I guess mine wouldn't let me leave either." Nor would they let me fire these rockets but that doesn't seem to be the problem here. "Why don't we look for another place around the yard?"

"Sure." Jerry followed Neal and his bag of tricks.

Before too long, the boys found themselves, thanks to a rickety old garden trellis, up on the roof. Jerry wasn't too sure but Neal assured him that even if the party goers inside heard the sky rockets, they wouldn't be able to tell which direction they had been fired from.

Jerry reluctantly stood the first rocket on the small flat surface at the top of the chimney. It had been a brilliant idea! Neal lit the tape and both boys backed away. The rocket ignited and with one enormous hissing sound and a great vibration that would do a jet fighter proud, the firecracker headed high into the night sky.

Both boys held their hands over their ears. The sound was particularly painful. "Fuck, Neal! Is it supposed to be that loud?"

Inside the house below, no one had missed the thunderous roar. "What the hell!" The small group of adults bolted outside to the back patio and then into the yard. Looking skywards they followed the smoke stream back to the roof of the house. Peter narrowed his eyes, not able to see any sign of danger but knowing full well that trouble could only lead back to one place, his son. He looked at David before shouting up to the roof top, "Neal, get your butt down here right now!"

Neal shook his head at Jerry. Crap. This was not how it was supposed to happen. The two boys held their position on the far side of the pitched roof, out of visual range of the posse standing on the lawn below. Jerry looked pale. "What now, friend?"

"Okay. If we stay for a little while longer, they'll begin to have doubts that we're up here. We'll wait a little while and then go down this side and return through the front door saying we went to wish the neighbours across the street a Happy New Year."

"Oh come on. Do you really think they'll fall for that?" Jerry's hushed whispers were increasing in volume.

"Shhh!" Neal put a finger to his lips. "No they don't need to. That's the beauty of it. We just have to plant a little doubt and then they'll have second thoughts themselves and go back to enjoying the night."

Jerry nodded a little, thinking that it might just work when suddenly both boys heard very clearly a number being shouted up from below. "One!" It was Jerry's father, Agent David Watson.

"Oh that's just great."

"Calm down, Bud." Neal placed a reassuring hand on Jerry's thigh. "He's just covering his bases. We can still go with our plan."

"Two!"

"I don't know Neal." Jerry began to look around nervously and then his eyes went suddenly wide and he pointed to the bag of remaining fireworks. "Fuck Neal!" Jerry shouted, standing up and revealing their location as if his shouting hadn't given it away already.

Neal was about to curse Jerry when he also noticed the fireworks bag which was now very much alight. "Far Out! Jer, we need to split." He grabbed his friend's arm and yanked him over the pitched roof, forgetting for a moment that they were a couple dozen feet above the ground. Jerry slipped and lost balance and began sliding down the side of the roof fast. Neal still had a hold of Jerry's arm so he was pulled over and was now sliding down the roof head first. In all the commotion neither boy heard David's 'Three' or El or Sally's screams, or the second sky rocket igniting and heading off into a north-westerly direction.

As Jerry approached the edge of the roof, he found himself to be in a better position than Neal. Jerry was going to come off the roof feet first. He was even able to grab some of the guttering on the way over to slow his decent and he managed to hit the ground and do a commando type roll without too much pain to his legs or body. Neal, on the other hand had been pulled down head first and on the slippery surface was unable to slow himself down and had no other option than to make his way over the side of the roof, head first. He braced himself for what was certain to be a very painful head injury when he came in contact with the ground. But instead of smashing into the yard, he collided instead with his dad who made a stellar effort to catch the boy. Peter managed to brace the fall with his own body and the two of them came crashing to the ground together. Peter got the wind knocked out of him and Neal felt a pain go through a wrist that had slapped onto the lawn with quite a punch, but it looked like they both avoided serious injury. The teenager didn't know if that was good luck or not! Neal smiled at his father, hoping to lighten the moment. "Hey, Dad. Thought I'd drop in!"

If Peter hadn't been fighting to suck air back into his lungs he would have had something to say about the smart comment but instead, he rolled the boy off his body and clambered to his feet. David, El, Jerry's mom, Sally and a few of the other guests ran over to make sure everyone was okay. After the all clear was given, most of the guests returned to the house, leaving Neal and Jerry to face two very angry fathers. David and Peter were about to issue the riot act but were rudely interrupted by yet another sky rocket igniting.

"How many more?" Peter growled.

"Maybe just one?" Neal grinned. Now was not the time for grinning but the silly boy never knew when to call it a day.

"What were you both thinking?" David shouted.

"We didn't think, sir." Jerry lowered his head, unable to look his father in the face.

Speak for yourself. "We were just bringing a little festive spirit to the party. What's a New Year's celebration without a sky rocket or two?" Perfect timing, the last of the rockets shot off, directly up and left a brilliant trail across the night sky.

"Where did the rockets come from?" Peter knew they weren't your run of the mill, over the counter type. He could have guessed the answer to his own question, the good ole Russian Military Surplus Supply Store?

"I brought them over." Neal was very non-pulsed by the situation. "I bought them through the week especially for tonight."

Peter sighed. "Neal I don't even know where to begin, so I'm not even going to bother. Wait for me inside please."

Neal looked shocked. Why? What for? It wasn't that big a deal. If he had felt in the slightest bit brave after seeing the stern look on Peter's face, he may have voiced his thoughts but he did have a little sense after all so he turned on his heels and marched inside the house.

David looked angrily at his own son. "Jerry, I'm so disappointed with you right now. You can go to your room. The party's over for you."

"Yes, sir." Jerry, shoulders hunched, followed in the footsteps of his mischievous friend.

"I'm sorry, Dave." Peter shook his head. "It's so damn hard staying one step ahead of the kid. It's like a new surprise around every corner."

Dave patted his friend on the back. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Peter. Despite the seriousness of the situation, this stunt does appear to be the work of juveniles. You don't have to think back too long ago to remember a time when you would have wished this was the worse thing your kid got up to. He has come a long way."

There was a certain logic to David's way of looking at this latest incident and Peter found himself calming down. "Thanks Dave. But I am sorry about what just happened. Please don't hold Jerry too accountable. For sure Neal was the mastermind of this little operation."

"Maybe." David shrugged. "But Jerry is fourteen years old and he knows how to say no. No one dragged him up to the roof."

"Fair enough." Peter began to move back towards the house. "Would you mind if I borrowed a spare room for ten minutes while Neal and I have a little chat?"

David chuckled. He'd be having to have a similar conversation with Jerry once all his guests left for the night. "Sure, whichever one you want. The study is just down the hall."

"Thanks, Dave."

David stopped inside the back door and reclaimed his beer which he'd deposited very hastily on his way out to investigate the noise. He found a group of happy souls and got back in the swing of the party. Peter continued on through to the small living area at the front where he found his troublesome charge sitting in an oversized armchair, dangling his leg over one of the arms. The boy dropped his leg and watched with wide eyes as Peter walked over and grabbed him by his upper arm. "Dad?"

Peter didn't have anything to say as he guided his son down the hall and into the study. The older man pulled Neal in and turned to lock the door. "Listen, Dad. We wanted to get a great launch position. It wasn't that high up," Neal continued to justify while Peter simply ignored the young boy and took a position on the couch, his grip never leaving the teenager's arm. "We didn't know they'd be as powerful as they were. I'm even surprised you heard them from inside." Neal stopped pleading his case for a moment and tried to tug his arm out of Peter's vice grip. "Dad, please. I won't bring fireworks to a party ever again."

"I'm glad to hear that, Neal." Peter pulled on the boys arm and easily lifted him up and over his lap.

"Dad, pleassssssse. I know I shouldn't have taken Jerry up on the roof. It was dangerous and I won't ever do anything that careless again."

"I'm also very relieved to hear that."

"Dad?" The panic had disappeared from the young boy's voice like he had finally accepted the consequences.

"Yeah?"

Almost. One last try. "Please."

Peter lifted his arm and brought a very firm hand down onto the young boy's backside. Neal gave up on the begging and grabbed a hold a cushion lying next to his head and buried his face. Maybe he could salvage this a little by not allowing any cries or yelps to escape to the party goers still enjoying the first hour of the New Year. Something, he clearly was not. His dad continued to rain down swat after swat after swat. He would have pleaded for him to stop but what would have been the point. Peter would continue the spanking until he was certain he'd gotten a very firm message across. Happy New Year to you Neal, the kid thought to himself while at the same time hoping it wasn't an ominous sign of the year to come.