I never thought anyone would like this story, but now I realize I have some expectations to live up to! I hope it comes close! Don't mind the grammar mistakes. I do hate when I am reading and see them, but now I realize that after reading my own work 4 or 5 times that I can't catch them all. My apologizes!

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"Neal!?" Peter shouted, climbing the stairs to Neal's quarters.

He had made it to Neal's apartment in record time. Mozzie never called him by his given name and the brusque language he had used set alarms off in Peters mind. He had first woken his wife, informing her of where he was headed so if she woke up in the middle of the night, she would not be concerned. Maybe concerned wasn't the right word. She knew enough about her husband and his partner's relationship to know if Peter was worried about Neal, there was usually a good reason. The rushed movements of her husband caused her to worry. She knew something was up.

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Instead of finding Neal at the table where he usually did when Peter picked him up in the mornings, he found a frazzled looking Mozzie and a very small child. Peter looked around the corner in search of Neal with growing concern. Peter could not quite place it but the kid looked very familiar. Casting Mozzie a questioning look, Peter asked who the child was. But before he could reply, Neal cut in.

"It's me, Neal!" he said in a childish voice.

"Ooookay. But where is my CI Neal?" Peter asked Mozzie, still looking at the kid with curiosity.

"Peter, you have to understand. I know it is crazy, and even I had a hard time believing it at first, but it really is the Neal you know." Mozzie said.

"Mozzie, it is two in the morning and I am in no mood to deal with this crap. Where is Neal? And who is the kid?" Peter said in a huff.

At this point Neal had hopped off the dining room table to stand in front of Peter. Grabbing the legs of Peter's sweatpants for balance Neal looked up at Peters face.

"Peter, it's really me. We-I I went to the warehouse." Even after the unfortunate situation Neal was in he still wanted to protect his friend from trouble. "When I was there-"

"Enough. I am tired of this. You need to tell Neal to come out now, before I send him back to prison for interrupting my sleep." Peter was starting to get angry "Neal!" Peter called out uselessly hoping to see his CI walk into the room. With no such luck, Peter opened the door ready to head back to his home.

"You were going be a professional baseball player. You and your sister took your dads car when you were 16 for a joyride and hit a tree. Your favorite color is blue and you hate the taste of salmon. You are scared of your father-in-law and you worry that Elizabeth will get hurt again because of your job, but the next time she won't make it out okay." Neal called out.

"What?" Peter asked, his mind reeling. Those were things that Neal and Peter had discussed over one of their many lunches. He doubted that Mozzie had been privy to this information, which begged the question of how the child in front of him knew it. Looking at the child, this time taking a really good look Peter noticed the blue eyes and the hair. That on top of the Cheshire grin Neal was giving him was further confirmation that the child was in fact his consultant.

"Neal?" Peter called out hesitantly and was rewarded with a nod from both Neal and Mozzie. "What happened?"

Peter walked to the table and sat down slowly while listening to Neal explanation of what had happened. His mind was still grasping at this turn of events, but he could not help but snort and give scolding looks at Neal's antics.

"We need to tell Elizabeth. You're coming home with me." Peter stated firmly.

"Peter, I will be fine! I am sure I will be back to normal by the time you pick me up for work tomorrow!" he said confidently.

"Neal, this isn't up for discussion. I am not going to leave a three year old alone by himself"

"I'm four!" Neal said in outrage. "Physically four that is. I still have my memories and thoughts. I am not going to but a knife in an outlet or anything. I know how to-"

"Neal I said it isn't up for debate. It's late and I want to go home and get back to bed. You are coming with me."

"Fine. But I am doing this under protest!"

"Noted. Do you need to grab anything before we go?" Peter questioned.

Neal went to grab a suit for the morning, sure he would be returned to normal by morning. Peter stood and headed towards the door to wait for Neal.

"Good idea Suit, I will see you in the morning."

"Oh no you don't. You are just as responsible for this mess as Neal is. You're coming with me." Peter demanded. "I need someone to help explain this to El."

Mozzie gave Peter a look, but waivered under the returned glare. "Fine, I just need to wash up then I will meet you in the car."

Peter was skeptical, but had been trying very hard to keep his wife's suggestion that he take more leaps of faith with trusting Neal and his friend in practice.

Seeing Neal struggle to walk while carrying his suit, Peter grabbed it from him and lifted Neal on to his hip. Neal started to protest once again that he was quite capable of walking himself, but soon gave up when he realized it was better not to push Peters buttons at this time. When Neal yelled "stop" Peter sighed and looked at the little boy and bluntly asked "what?" The only response he got was one very little finger pointing behind Peters back towards Neal's kitchen. Turning around, he saw a boy of about seven standing where the adult Mozzie once stood.

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When Mozzie had lifted Neal up in the warehouse, he hadn't thought anything of the ink smearing on his own arms. When Neal told the story of how he got to be little to both himself and Peter, he still didn't think anything of it. In fact, he hadn't thought anything of it until he tried to wash off the ink, and the water causing the ink to become liquid again must have reacted to become an active agent once again. Then he thought a lot about it, because now he himself had become a child.

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A/N I never thought of having anyone else become de-aged, but as someone wisely pointed out, the story title in Troublesome ChildREN. I hope you enjoyed it! It is probably short for making you guys wait so long, but it was a good place to stop and for the life of me I can't write longer chapters well.