Chapter 7

I don't own White Collar.

Yet.

"Where are you going?"

It's been three days. Three long days.

Where was I going?

I turned around slowly, my hand still by the doorknob. I hadn't actually left the house, unless you count the time I've had to empty out the garbage. Peter or Elizabeth still watched me from the window while I carried out the bag.

Peter stared me down, he had gotten off work early so he had been home for a while. I shifted my eyes to the side and tried answering him. "I was going to…"

"She was going to walk Satchmo." Elizabeth filled in. She popped up beside Peter, smiling and stroking his shoulder, somehow calming him down. Satchmo, the dog in question, was laying down by the couch; his ears had perked up at the mention of his name.

"Right?" Elizabeth turned to me, smiling. She was trying to do me a favor; knowing, mysteriously, that I was trying to get out of the house to breathe some free air.

Sadly, my one weakness: lying. A thief who wouldn't lie, who couldn't lie. Not for lack of trying though. Although I'm not fond of spinning tales, sometimes I do try. For the little things.

Like this.

I looked anywhere but them and nodded. No eye contact=lying. Crap.

I looked into Peter's eyes, mistrusting and-

"Alright."

"Wait, what." I murmured. Louder, I said, "Did you say alright?"

Peter sighed. "Don't go too far, and remember what I said." He gave me a stern glare to enforce what he told me a couple of days ago about breaking the rules. He had preceded to give me a similar speech yesterday.

"Uh-" I began, but stopped. I grabbed the blue leash that was hanging on the coat-rack and whistled to Satchmo. The big yellow lab came trotting towards me and I clipped on his leash.

"I'll see you!" I called out as Satchmo pulled me out the door and onto the streets.

Satchmo was pulling on the leash and so I decided to let him steer me. I didn't trust myself.

Eventually, we were a little bit deeper into the city, venturing where I knew the names of the streets and the buildings. I stopped Satchmo from turning right and continued straight. I suddenly knew where I was going.

Before I realized it, my feet led to the front of the orphanage. The cracked cement stairs were still dusty, the windows in need of Windex, but it felt… It felt a bit more like home than the Burke's house, despite the warmth of the house and the delicious food.

My fingers trailed the edge of the doorknob, and I hesitated in opening the door. A whine caught my attention and Satchmo pulled on the leash. As if I had been touching a hot stove, I yanked my hand away from the door handle and turned my back.

I left without looking back.

~!~

I continued to wander about aimlessly, and before I knew it, the sun was setting. Although visiting the orphanage had but me in a somewhat nostalgic mood, my chest felt a little bit lighter than it had when I left. Currently I was sitting on a park bench with Satchmo sitting at my feet, his tail wagging at every passing person.

It occurred to me that Peter was furious. He was probably looking for me. I studied the tracking chip that I found in my shoes. He must have put it there, just in case I run off.

I haven't run off though, I tell myself over and over and over. Because I haven't. I'm not running away.

"I'm not running away from this." I said quietly to myself. I clenched my fists and the tightening in my chest increased.

I refused to be scared. I didn't want to be. Taking a deep breath, wondered briefly what Kaiden was doing.

A hand suddenly clamped down on my shoulder and I jumped up, jerking away from the contact. I fell off the bench letting out a squeal that I hid as a grunt. My butt landed harshly on the ground and I accidently let go of the leash.

When I looked to see who surprised me, It was Peter. His face was stern with a hint of amusement at scaring me.

"I'm sorry." I blurted out before he said anything. "I mean," I started again, "I kinda lost track of time. And space." My cheeks flushed. "I mean, I kinda got lost."

Peter asked me, eyebrows raised, "You 'kinda' got lost?"

"I wasn't running away." I said stubbornly. "If I was going to run away, I would have thrown away the tracker." I threw the chip at Peter and he caught it.

"Where did you find this one?" He asked, tucking it into his pocket.

"In my shoes." I answered. I paused, thinking his words over. "Wait, you mean there's more than one?" My answer was a smirk, and I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't running off though." I repeated quietly.

Peter sighed. He grabbed the leash, luckily Satchmo had stayed faithfully by our side, and offered me his other hand.

I hesitated for a moment. My hand was semi-stretched out to grab Peter's. Slowly, I reached the rest of the way, and grabbed his hand.

~!~

Two weeks had passed since I had taken 'the walk' as Elizabeth had humorously called it. Winter Break was ending soon, plus Christmas was coming up.

I bit my lip as I studied the problem set out before me. Carefully, fully knowing the risks, I reached out my hand pulled on the wooden block. Unfortunately, my luck failed me, and the tower of crooked wooden blocks came tumbling down.

"Damn!" I swore quietly.

Elizabeth rapped the back of my head with her knuckles. "No swearing." She reminded me. I blushed. "Sorry." I muttered back to her.

Elizabeth smiled at me and then stood up from her seat. "I guess I win." She said victoriously. "Loser has to clean up and put the board back."

I was tempted to roll my eyes, but decided that Elizabeth deserved more respect than that. I 'humbly' accepted my loss and cleaned up the mess.

As I put the game back up in the closet, I heard the front door open and slam shut.

"I'm home!" Peter called out. I quickly escaped to my room. I closed the door (but no lock, as they didn't trust me fully yet), and then laid back on my bed. I stared up at the white popcorn ceiling, wishing that I could escape again.

Sometimes it felt like I was on house arrest. I was stuck all day inside, not allowed to go outside. But Elizabeth and Peter couldn't be home all the time to keep an eye on me.

Peter knew that I don't like breaking promises, and made me swear not to leave the house without permission after he drove me home from 'the walk'. Now I was stuck inside.

My thoughts were whirled back to one of the things I hated the most. School. I wondered if I would get to go back soon, or if what Elizabeth had mentioned about going to a real school could actually come true.

"Kat!" Elizabeth called for me. I poked my head out of my door. "Yeah?" I called back.

"Come help with dinner please!"

I left my room with a small smile on my face.

The End!

Apologies for the super long wait, School just ended though, so I'll have some free time! Woo! I know I keep saying Neal's going to show up, but honestly I have to first set that up. Which I think will be in the next chapter. I think. But speaking honestly here, I didn't really like the last chapter. I'm going to try and do better. I know I can.

Thank you reviewers! I really appreciate it. Thank you! People want me to continue and they say they love Kat.

Please review, and with that out of the way, it's time to say-

-GP2 OUT!