AN: Thank you for all of your support! So happy that you are enjoying this! I was excited about this chapter but it didn't really turn out how I planned it to, so there may be a chapter on down the road that's similar.

"Yeah, Jones. I'll be there as soon as I can." Peter said into his cellphone that rested between his shoulder and bent head as he belted his jeans. He gave a loud sigh and glanced at his watch. "Twenty minutes...ok. Fifteen. Bye." He straightened his neck and slid his phone into his back pocket, before walking over to his bed where Neal was jumping around.

"You're going to fall off and get hurt, Neal. And you know your mom will be up here whisking you off to the hospital before you even try to con your way out of it with puppy dog eyes. You want that?"

Neal had immediately ceased jumping and fell to his bottom on the bed with a dramatic bounce while giving the agent a cheeky grin.

"That's what I thought." Peter gave him a playful stern glance, before pulling a dark green t-shirt over his head. Neal wobbly stood up on the bed prompting Peter to reach out and steady him had his arms not been tangled in the material of his shirt. He did his best not to flinch as the boy's cold hands hit his bare stomach as they reached up for the hem of his shirt. He quickly poked his arms through the sleeves and let Neal help him pull it down quickly. "Alright, alright. All done." Peter assured for what was probably the fourth hundred time as his mind played out the memory of the very first.

"Daddy?"

Peter stood at the foot of his bed preparing to put on his shirt when Neal suddenly sat straight up on the bed and stared at the agent's belly with wide eyes. The father dropped his shirt onto the bed while glancing between his son and the boy's line of sight.

"Yeah?"

"What's...what's that?" Peter flinched as small, cold fingers prodded his bare skin on his right side just below his ribs. The agent's hand immediately covered the scar on his stomach that had caught the boy's attention causing the small hand to retract quickly while big, blue questioning eyes stared up at him.

"Oh...I got this about a year into the bureau. Some guy we were chasing pulled a knife on me after I had dropped my weapon in the scuffle we had. Got me pretty good. They had to remove my appendix, but you should've seen the other guy. Actually, you can because he's still in prison." Peter chuckled at the memory before turning his eyes to Neal who was now processing the story in a three and half year old's mind instead of as an adult. The only reaction he had gotten from the boy was his shirt being thrusted into his hands and once it was over his head, Neal's small hands quickly pulled it down to cover the scarred flesh. Peter realized Neal wouldn't have liked the story as a thirty year old ,let alone as a child, and the six nights that would soon follow would show Peter just how much Neal hated that story. Needless to say, by the end of the week Peter had made a large investment in nighttime diapers and extra bed sheets.

"Is that why Mommy doesn't want you to go to wowk today?" Neal asked while faintly motioning with his hand to Peter's right side. "Cause...she's afwaid you'll get 'nothew scaw?"

Peter shook his head as his son's quiet voice brought him out of the memory. He sighed, knowing that when Neal's voice was nothing but a whisper it was either because he was sleepy or scared, and slowly squatted down so he was eye level with the toddler. "What do you mean? She doesn't mind if I go to work today." The agent tried to assure.

"Then why does she keep...'touching' you evewy time you pass hew?"

Peter couldn't stop the snort of laughter that escaped him. "You don't miss anything, do you?" He watched Neal shake his head and smiled. "No, you don't. Listen kiddo, you know some days at the office are a little more...dangerous than most and today happens to be one of those days, but I promise you there's nothing to be worried about. Okay? What do I always tell you?"

But Neal didn't respond. Instead, Neal did the one thing Peter hated more than anything. He stared at him. He stared at him to silently tell him that he knew he was being lied to, to tell him he was hurt by it and to tell him that if Peter didn't come home he would never forgive him. And before Peter could do anything about it, Neal jumped off the bed and ran out of the room.

"Bye, Hon. Have...have a good day, please." Elizabeth said as she hugged her husband after sharing a kiss. She stepped back from the hug, cautiously placing her hand on the head of the boy hugging her leg as he hid behind her.

"I will, Hon." Peter replied looking her directly in the eyes before glancing down at the blue eyes peering around her leg. He ruffled the toddler's hair. "See ya later, bud."

He waited a few seconds for a response, but didn't receive anything but the stare he hated so much.

He turned to walk out the door and just before it closed he heard a faint, "See ya latew, daddy". Little did he know, he would replay that little whispered sentence over and over in his head all day.

His gut was never wrong.

He knew from the moment he woke up what would happen. He knew that his undercover operation wouldn't turn out right. And, although he didn't want to admit it, he knew that he deserved the stare he got from his son that morning.

Peter pulled against the restraints around his wrists as the man in front of him placed the barrel of a gun against his forehead. Fear trickled down his spine as the weapon was cocked, but not because of the gun itself or the man whose finger rested against the trigger. The fear running down his back and twisting in his stomach was spluttering from the fact that if he let this man take his life he would let down the most important person in the world.

"There's something you should know before you pull that trigger." Peter calmly stated as he moved his fingers slowly and quietly in a practiced motion around the lock of the restraints.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" The gunman asked as he pressed the gun harder against his forehead.

"I used to play baseball. Even played in the majors for a little while."

"So?"

Peter chuckled. "I always tell my little boy that every time I go undercover, it's like going up to bat. I swing for the fences and never strike out."

Peter felt the lock on the handcuffs give and came up swinging.

Neal remained behind the couch most of the day. He had quickly gathered his favorite toys behind the piece of furniture after Peter left and had since remained there half-heartedly playing just under the window. Elizabeth let him be knowing exactly what he was doing, partly because he did it every time Peter went under cover and partly because she too, looked out the window every time she heard the sound of a car going by.

"Neal, it's time for dinner." She said as she walked into the living room. Neal turned from where he was looking out the window and hugged Mario up to his face to cover his wobbly bottom lip. Elizabeth's heart had been cracking with each passing minute of the day, but seeing the same fearful expression on her little boy's face had it shattering in a second. Without saying a word, she grabbed their plates from the kitchen, walked back into the living room and sat down underneath the window.

Both mother and son, sat their picking at their food while waiting for Peter to return home.

The moon came up over the city casting its glow across the dark shadows of New York, but the luminance that would capture Neal's gaze in awe on any other night taunted him as he looked out the window. The boy silently kept cursing the light in the sky for coming up before Peter came home. It was easier than being angry at the agent or scared because he hadn't returned home. He felt another tremor wrack his frame and did his best to hide it, but when Elizabeth walked over and picked him up he knew he realized he had hidden them just about as well as he hid the shakes in hands after Kate's death from Peter. The thought made him shiver again.

"Okay, sweetie. That's enough." Elizabeth said referring to looking out the window. Neal wanted to protest, but didn't want to add to the stress Elizabeth was trying to hide from him all day so he just rested his head against her shoulder. She glanced at the clocked that read seven minutes past eight. "It's somebody's bedtime, huh?" She whispered as she jogged the boy up and down.

"I can't...not until..."

Elizabeth sighed and put her boy down. "Alright, go get your jacket upstairs. Hurry." She prompted as she nudge him in the direction of the steps.

They had been sitting on the front porch steps for almost half an hour mindlessly talking when a pair of headlights could be seen at the end of the street. Elizabeth wrapped her arm around Neal's shoulders as they waited for the car to get closer. The sound of the car slowing down had her heart pounding and when the car stopped in front of the house she managed to stand on shaky legs while pulling Neal against them after he stood up as well.

The car stopped in front of them was a licensed government vehicle, but it wasn't Peter's.

"Mommy..." She heard the small whimper beside her stress the fear she felt and felt the small boy's face bury into the side of her leg, but before she couldn't take her eyes off the passenger's door as it opened.

Her knees felt weak as her heart fluttered in her chest making her head spin. Her mind briefly tried to wrap around what she would do if anyone else except Peter stepped out of the car, but before she could even fathom the idea the sight of the passenger almost sent her to her knees.

"Oh...Honey!" She breathed with relief at the sight of her husband walking up to the porch. She blinked against the tears gathering in her eyes before detaching the toddler from her leg. "Baby, look. It's Daddy!"

Neal, slowly but surely, turned his head to peek at the man his mother assured her was his father. Once his fearful mind processed that the man kneeling down at the bottom of the porch steps with his arms outstretched was in fact Peter, the next thing he knew he was in his father's strong arms.

"Daddy."

Peter heard the whimper though it was muffled by his neck where the toddler face was buried. The agent ran a hand down the boy's back.

"Hey, kiddo. Easy. Didn't I tell you I would see you later? You don't think I would lie to you, do you?" Peter tried to chuckle as if he hadn't been worried about the same thing his wife and son had worried about all day.

Neal leaned back to look at him and shrugged his shoulders. "Sometimes you do...to pwotect me orw when you twy to make me feel bettew."

This time the laugh that escaped Peter was genuine. "Well...as your father I'm allowed some leniency. But remember what I tell you every time I go undercover?"

Neal nodded and grinned.

"What do I tell you?"

"That going undewcovew is like going up to bat and you swing fow the fences and nevew stwike out." Neal answered matter-of-fact.

"And?"

"And you can't get cwedit fow a home wun if you nevew make it back to home plate." Neal answered while snaking his arms back around Peter's neck.

The agent smiled and hugged the boy closer before walking up the steps to meet his wife on the porch. He redistributed Neal's weight to one arm and wrapped his other around Elizabeth while giving her a kiss.

"The best part of hitting a home run is celebrating with your teammates after you make it back and I happen to have the very two best."

Later that night, after Peter has assured Elizabeth that he was fine and explained that he had just been so eager to get home one of the other agents drove him there instead of the office to get his car, the agent was laying in Neal's bed with the sleeping toddler on his chest despite the wet nighttime pull-up. It was then in the darkness of Neal's room and the security of being alone since the boy was asleep and Elizabeth was in that shower that he let the stress and fear of the day catch up to him and allowed tears to fall down his face in relief of being safe and sound with his family.

Suddenly Neal moved on his chest and he tried to blink away the unwanted water before he was caught, but when groggy, blue eyes blink at him he inwardly cursed the bright nightlight beside the bed.

"Daddy?"

Peter bit his top lip and tried his best not to sniff. "Hmm?"

Neal just stared at him for a few seconds and for a moment Peter thought he was safe when the boy laid back down on his chest, but when he felt a small hand wipe a stray tear off his cheek he knew he had been caught. However, he was surprised to find that he didn't care.

"Don't wowwy, Daddy." The small whisper assured him. "You hit a home wun today."

Peter took a deep breath and pulled his son closer to him. "I sure did, kiddo. I sure did."

AN: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!