A/N: Becca is back. See the note on the second chapter for justification of her existence.

16. Breaking

The sudden sound of dozens of dishes shattering had Peter and Neal on their feet in an instant and running to the kitchen.

"El, are you alright?" Peter almost ran into the room in his stocking feet, but Neal caught the back of his shirt and tugged on it, bringing him up short.

"Broken glass," he warned when Peter glared at him.

Elizabeth stood next to the counter, surrounded by broken dishes, her hand still on the open cupboard door. She was either going to laugh or cry, it was hard to tell.

"I'm fine," Elizabeth assured them.

"What happened?" Peter asked as Neal slipped away to grab their shoes.

"I've made a decision," she was definitely laughing. "we should go dish shopping."

17. Belief

June straightened Neal's lapel, absently smoothing down the jacket before reaching up to adjust his hat to its usual angle.

Neal smiled and caught her hands, holding them still. "I'll be fine."

"I know," she returned his smile, her eyes warm. "I'll see you when you get home."

18. Balloon

"Up you go Becca," Neal scooped the child up to sit on his shoulders.

She laughed and managed to lose both her hat and Neal's. Peter bent down and picked them up, handing Becca's back to her and plopping Neal's on his head. Neal grinned at him from under the brim.

"There's the first float," Elizabeth pointed, threading her arm through Peter's and leaning against his side.

Becca squealed with delight and kicked her heels. June, standing on Neal's other side, beamed up at her granddaughter. A giant frog floated passed them, and Becca managed to knock his hat off again. This time Peter put it on Becca's head, on top of the knit hat that was keeping her ears warm. In Becca's laughter and June's warmth and Peter and Elizabeth's nearness, Neal caught a glimpse of a life for himself that stretched out beyond the time limit on his tracker.

He liked what he saw.

19. Balcony

"Peter?" Elizabeth leaned back in her husband's arms, enjoying having his undivided attention.

"Hmm," Peter hummed against the back of her neck.

"Where do you send Neal off to when we commandeer his balcony?" she laced her fingers overtop of Peter's.

"It's not his balcony," Peter pointed out mildly, brushing his wife's hair out of the way so he could kiss the nap of her neck.

Elizabeth tipped her head back to kiss him, "he does usually live here though."

"I think he's babysitting," Peter said casually.

Elizabeth caught the laughter in her husband's eyes and couldn't help but smile, "which granddaughter?"

"Who said anything about granddaughters?" Peter snorted softly.

"So he'll be sound asleep on our couch with Satch when we get home," Elizabeth grinned.

"If we're really lucky, he'll even have done the dishes," Peter pulled her in tighter.

"I married a genius," Elizabeth settled into the best seat in the house and enjoyed the view.

20. Bane

Neal woke with a start to the sound of crashing furniture and barking. With a moan he rolled over and pulled his pillow over his head.

Something shattered in the living area and there was a demonic sounding yowl.

Neal tossed his pillow against the wall in annoyance and kicked his blankets off, trudging into the living area. One of the side tables was overturned and a lamp was laying on the ground in pieces. The yowling and barking was coming from the kitchenette now.

Stepping carefully over the shards of broken lamp in his bare feet, he headed towards the kitchen. The cat perched on the top of the fridge, back arched and hissing, had not been his idea. Cindy had thought it was cute and talked her grandmother into keeping it at the house, since her own apartment didn't allow pets. Felix the dog had not been at all happy about it.

Neal reached up and plucked the cat off the top of the fridge by the scruff of its neck, ignoring it's yowling. Felix yelped at his heels, following him towards the door of the suite, as if Neal was suddenly going to feed the cat to him.

It was tempting, but he was sure the cat would have given Felix indigestion. Neal managed to toss the cat out of the door without letting the dog by. Even after the cat was gone, the little dog continued to yelp and jump at the door.

"I understand," Neal grabbed the dog's collar and dragged it away from the door, forcing it to sit until it was quiet again. "Cat's are evil, but it's three in the morning."

Felix licked Neal's fingers in apology, and Neal let go of his collar.

When Neal had agreed to help June take care of her dog (and wash the jag, and watch her granddaughter), it had never occurred to him that that would include saving the dog from a demon cat.

Maybe it was time to renegotiate his lease.