Okay, so yeah no update last week. School started and remember I said I'd probably end up not updating as much. It could easily be I update every other week or so. I am NOT abandoning this fic though. So no worries.

Be warned of "poor Neal" moments coming in this chapter. This chapter that took a completely different shape then I was going for, but I like it none the less.

BTW- I did proof read it but I am really tired right now. Just got done reading/studying all of The Odyssey in one sitting, so yeah tired. Anyway, what I am trying to say is I'll proof read it again and fix it up later tonight or tomorrow but wanted to get it up for you guys.

Enjoy. :D

Peter tapped the pen on the clip board the receptionist had handed him. He had no idea how to fill out any of this information, other then of course the boy's name and allergic reaction to Tylenol. He nudged the sleeping boy in question. "Come on Neal, help me fill this out."

"Wha?" Neal merely nudged his head on Peter's arm so his half closed eyes looked up at Peter.

"Come on, they need this information. What's your birthday?"

The boy smirked, tiredly. "I'm 17."

Peter huffed a tired laugh. Even running a high fever, tired and rasping the boy could lie. "One that's your age and not your birthdate. Two you're not 17. No way in a million years are you 17."

"If it's a million years, then how could I be 17?"

Peter's brows furrowed. What?

The boy's eyes blinked tiredly.

"Neal." He said sternly, yet not unkindly. "Your birthday?"

Blue eyes studied him from their perch on his arm. Seconds seemed to tick on forever before the boy answered as Peter wrote it in. "March 21st, 2000."

Peter's head shot up.

"What?" Hughes asked looking at the kid from the other side of Neal where he had been reading a magazine. "That… that means you're –"

"It means I'll be 15 in a week." Neal was no longer leaning on Peter's shoulder but was instead sitting up straight, or straighter, supporting his own weight. He was, however, refusing to look at them and instead fiddling with his hands on his lap.

"Wow."

"Um…. I need to go make a call." Hughes said getting up and leaving.

Neal barely let his head rise, as he watched Hughes leave, from under his eyelashes.

"Neal…." Peter let the boy's name hang in the air.

"I'm not lying." The boy's head shot up and stared at Peter.

Peter stared right back. Anger boiling in his gut for the panic and terror in the boy's eyes.

"I'm not lying." Neal whimpered as he lowered his gaze back to his shaking hands.

Peter watched. What had happened to this kid that he enjoyed lying, one upping everyone else and yet feared being accused of lying? Or was the kid hiding something behind all the smirks and sarcasm? Because those smirks sure made it look like he enjoyed lying.

Peter smiled, just a little smile. A barely there smile as he took the boys hands in his, stilling them. "I believe you Neal. Whoever did this to you won't get away with it. We won't let them."

The boy looked up at Peter, confused. "This? What is this? No one did anything to me…." His eyes looked away from Peter once again. "Well except for Ruitaker and his goons."

Peter hugged the boy close, letting the boy burry his face in Peter's chest. "He won't get away with it either. None of them will."

The boy sniveled in his arms.

"Neal… who are your parents?"

Peter could feel the boy's breathe hitch. "It doesn't matter."

Peter sighed. "It does, actually. The State will want to know."

"Why?"

"Are you a runaway Neal?"

"No." The boy shook his head. "I never ran away. Not from either of them." Peter felt him swallow. "I-I should have run. I should've. I sh-should of. I-I…."

"Shh. It's okay." Peter said rocking the boy, slightly. "Did they hurt you?"

Another sniffle was let out as the boy shock his head once again. "They never touched me."

Peter's eyebrows wrinkled. What is that supposed to mean?

"Neal Caffrey?" The nurse asked as she walked in at the same time as Hughes and another woman.

Neal reluctantly got up from Peter's arms.

"Neal this is Miss. Lusk, she'll be your social worker, okay?" Hughes said introducing the women who looked like she was just out of college.

Neal nodded before using his sleeve to wipe his face clean from his tears he was still fighting to keep back, and following the nurse and the social worker through a door.

Peter watched him go. Anxiety once again harboring in his gut. Yes the kid had committed crimes, at least one of which they could prove. But…. Something told Peter there was more of a story behind those crimes than he really wanted to know.

He did want to know though. It was eating at him not knowing and that is where the apprehension came from. The fear of what he would find behind the mask of Neal Caffrey's unknowns.