(Author's Note: Okay, well after reading everyone's reviews, I decided to continue the story! Also, I realized that I hadn't even gotten Neal over Kate yet, so the story just didn't feel complete. Alright…here's Chapter 8 everybody! You know what to do…review! Thanks so much for everyone's reviews so far- I reallllly appreciate it.

Quick note: Due to the fact that school's starting soon (gulp), I probably won't have a lot of time to write, so updates will not be as frequent. Although, I guess they weren't really that frequent anyway. Haha.)

The two hour car ride to Neal's new temporary home was rather uneventful. With the help of the nurse, Neal was carefully helped from his wheelchair into the backseat of Peter's car. With him was a pair of crutches. Neal was wearing a cast on one arm, and was stitched and bandaged on the other. Luckily, the doctor had said he'd be alright on crutches, since Neal wasn't supposed to be moving around more then necessary.

By the time Peter had pulled into the Burke's driveway, Neal had fallen asleep with his head resting on Elizabeth's shoulder. The motherly woman had sat next to Neal in the back seat during the drive, kindly helping him fasten his seatbelt, and running her fingers through his hair while he drifted to sleep. Now, she gently woke him.

"Neal, wake up sweetie. We're home."

The young man slowly opened his tired blue eyes. " 'K."

Peter had come around to the side of the car and opened the door. "Alright Neal, let's get you inside."

With a murmur of consent, Neal painfully stumbled out of the car, guided by the FBI agent.

"I got it." Neal tried to hobble up the pathway to the door by himself. Before he could take more than a step on his crutches however, he went pale and started swaying. Luckily, Peter had known Neal hadn't "got it" and quickly grabbed the other man to hold him up.

"Nice try, Neal."

Now that he was leaning heavily on Peter with most of his weight being supported by the agent, the two men slowly made their way to the door, where Elizabeth held it open for Neal.

Peter helped the ex-conman over to the couch and carefully lay him down.

"Do you hurt, Neal?" Concerned, El took his hand. A faint nod from him confirmed her thoughts.

"Okay sweetie, you can take your pain meds then go to bed." The Burkes had spent the afternoon converting their study into a spare bedroom, so that Neal wouldn't have to go up any stairs.

After Neal had painfully swallowed the pills, Peter guided him over to the newly converted bedroom, where the younger man looked surprised. "You did this…for me?"

"Yeah, well it wasn't too bad. We just figured you wouldn't want to go up and down stairs all the time." Peter helped Neal lay down as he spoke, resting the crutches against the foot of the bed. El had followed the two, and she gently tucked the covers around the young man's weak frame, while Peter watched gratefully. After she gently kissed Neal on the forehead, the two Burkes quietly left the room, as Neal was already drifting back into a medicated sleep.

By now, the time was 10:00, so Peter and El decided to go to bed. They brought down two rarely used sleeping bags from the attic which they placed in the living room, right near Neal's room.

Although they were both exhausted after running around all day, the couple knew that if Neal called out in the middle of the night, they would be awake in an instant. It was a good thing too, because a few hours later, they woke abruptly to his frightened cries.