Let Your Heart Hold Fast: Bicycles, Weddings, and Kittens
Chapter 5
In the days that followed, Neal spent more and more time at Caleb's house. Peter was extremely busy on a case involving several stolen Egyptian artifacts and Elizabeth's busiest time of the year was during the summer. Neal didn't mind spending the day at Caleb's, much to Peter and Elizabeth's relief.
Unfortunately, Neal's runny nose, constant sneezing, and rash were still present. His eyes were usually watering and burning, too, and his nose was sore from all the times he had to wipe it with a Kleenex. All in all, he was pretty miserable. After talking with Caleb's mom, Elizabeth was still at a loss as to what could be causing Neal's symptoms. She had hoped to find out that it was something that he was coming into contact with at his friend's house, but there was nothing.
Another trip to the doctor just once again confirmed that it was an allergy of some sort. Elizabeth went through everything that she used to clean with, making sure that nothing was new or different. She started using all-natural detergents and soaps and even moved all of her plants and flowers out of the house. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to work.
Everything finally became clear one day, though, much to everyone's surprise. For the last several days, Peter and Elizabeth had noticed that Neal was acting a bit strange. Usually, he always wanted to be wherever they were, but suddenly he was spending more and more time in his room. As soon as he was done eating whatever meal they were having, he would jump up from the table and run up to his room. At first, neither Peter nor Elizabeth thought too much of it, but after the third time he ran off, they started to wonder just what he was doing up in his room.
"What in the world is he doing up there?" Elizabeth wondered out loud. "Do you think we should check it out?"
She wasn't overly concerned because she had already been in Neal's room several times and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. She did notice, however, that Neal had been acting strangely.
"I'll go check on him," Peter offered with a sigh, wondering for at least the hundredth time why Neal couldn't just behave himself.
Making his way up the stairs, he was surprised to find Neal's door closed completely. He was even more surprised to find that he couldn't get the door open. It wasn't that the door was locked- it was more like something was wedged against the door.
"Neal? Open this door," Peter demanded. When there wasn't any response, he knocked firmly on the door. "Neal!"
"Just a minute, daddy," he heard Neal say. Putting his ear up to the door, he could hear muffled talking, but couldn't make out any actual words.
When Neal didn't immediately open the door, Peter could feel his blood pressure climbing.
"Neal, open this door right now, little man!"
A few seconds later, he heard something being moved away from the door and then the door opened slightly. Neal peeked out through the crack in the door, looking up at Peter with an innocent look on his face.
"Hi, daddy," Neal said cheerfully.
"What are you doing, buddy?" Peter asked suspiciously. "Why couldn't I get into your room?"
"I'm just playing," Neal said innocently, before sneezing loudly three times in a row.
Peter slowly pushed open the door, causing Neal to have to back up into the room. Once he was in the room, Peter looked around, trying to figure out what his son had been up to. Noticing the desk chair in the middle of the room, Peter turned to look at Neal.
"Did you wedge the chair under the door knob?" he asked in disbelief.
Neal sneezed two more times before nodding his head quickly, his dark curls bouncing around his face. "That was smart of me, wasn't it, daddy?"
"Where did you learn to do that?" Peter asked.
"I saw it on tv, daddy. It's really easy! Do you want me to show you how to do it?"
"No, that's okay, Neal. And I don't think that's something you need to be doing, okay?"
"Why not?" Neal sniffled.
"Well….. just…. Because I said so," Peter grumbled. "Mommy and I need to be able to get into your room at all times, Neal."
Peter could tell by the pout on Neal's face that he wasn't happy about that at all.
"So, what are you doing up here, buddy? I don't see any toys anywhere."
Neal didn't answer right away, but when he did, he didn't look Peter in the eye. "I was using my maginaton, Daddy. Mommy says it's good to do that."
"I think you should use your imagination with the door open from now on, okay?"
"Okay," Neal sighed. And then in a much softer voice…"What's a man got to do to get a little privacy around here?"
Peter couldn't help but laugh at that, knowing that Neal had heard his grandfather say those exact words on more than one occasion.
Later that evening, Peter and Neal were home alone. Elizabeth had an event and wouldn't be back until nine o'clock, so Peter and Neal had eaten dinner and were watching a movie. Several times during the movie, Neal had gone upstairs, but returned after several minutes. Peter still had no idea what the boy was up to, but he was too tired to check it out any further. It couldn't be anything that bad, right?
Halfway through the movie, Peter looked over to see that Neal had dozed off. He turned back to the movie, but only minutes later, he too fell asleep.
When Elizabeth finally got home, it was almost ten o'clock. She was surprised to see her husband sleeping soundly in his armchair, his snores echoing throughout the living room. Not finding Neal on the sofa, she figured that he must be upstairs in his own bed. Before going upstairs to check on him, she walked into the kitchen to put her purse and car keys on the counter. After she turned on the kitchen light, she was surprised to see a rather large puddle of milk on the counter and an even larger one on the floor. For the first time, she noticed that there were drops of milk leading out of the kitchen and toward the staircase.
Following the drops of milk up the stairs, she wasn't surprised to see that they led directly into Neal's room. What she was surprised to see, though, was Neal fast asleep on the floor, his arms wrapped around a small ball of fur.
Stepping closer to the sleeping boy- whose face looked flushed and swollen in the dim light-she noticed that the ball of fur belonged to a rather adorable gray kitten. Both boy and kitten were sound asleep, completely oblivious to whatever was going on around them. Neal's soft breathing and the soft purring of the kitten filled her ears and her heart, making her wish that she had her phone with her to take a picture.
As she watched the two of them sleeping, she noticed the redness on Neal's arms and chest. Finally, it clicked in her mind the reason for all of Neal's recent medical issues…he was allergic to the cat. With a loud sigh and a heavy heart, she imagined what it was going to be like when she told Neal that he couldn't keep the cat.
After running back downstairs to get her phone and running back up to take a few pictures of the sleeping duo, she picked the small kitten up and placed it on Neal's bed. Seconds later, she gathered up the still sleeping six year old and gently laid him down on the bed, too. Once Neal was all tucked in, she picked the kitten back up and walked downstairs again.
Once downstairs, Elizabeth found a small laundry basket filled with a few of Peter's t-shirts and settled the kitten down into it. Just as she was about to wake Peter up, she realized that she should probably make sure that Neal took some of his allergy medicine first. Trekking back upstairs, she had the onerous task of waking up her exhausted son and trying to get him to take his medicine.
"Hey, sweetie, can you wake up for me?" she asked as she gently shook Neal's shoulder.
Neal just moaned and rolled over onto his other side.
Shaking his shoulder again, Elizabeth spoke a little louder. "Neal? Wake up, sweetie."
This time, Neal rolled over onto his back and tried to open his heavy eyes.
"Mommy?" he mumbled.
"Hi, sweetie. I need you to sit up and take some medicine for me, okay?"
"Don't wanna," Neal slurred.
"Come on, Neal. You have to take your medicine."
"No, thank you, Mommy," Neal said sleepily.
Not knowing what else to do, Elizabeth picked Neal up and sat him on her lap. Neal, who had closed his eyes again, leaned against her rather limply. Elizabeth gently patted his cheek, smiling at the way his mouth had dropped open in his grogginess.
"Come on, baby. Take this medicine and then you can go back to sleep."
Neal opened his eyes again and looked at Elizabeth in confusion. "I don't need medicine, Mommy. I'm not sick."
"I know you're not, Neal, but you have a rash all over your body. This medicine will help and it's the kind that tastes like cherry. You like that, remember?"
After several long seconds, Neal took the medicine that Elizabeth was holding out for him. After taking a sip of water, too, he climbed out of her arms and back into the bed. Elizabeth leaned over and kissed him on the forehead, smiling at the fact that he had already fallen back to sleep. After making sure that he was all tucked in again, she turned and headed downstairs to talk to Peter.
"A kitten? Where did he get a kitten? And how has he been hiding it from us all this time?" Peter asked incredulously.
"I guess we'll find out in the morning," Elizabeth answered. "I'm not really looking forward to his reaction when we tell him he can't keep the kitten."
Peter groaned at the thought of that. "It's going to be a really long day."
"Well, at least that explains the strange odor I noticed this morning in his room. I have a feeling I'm going to have to buy a new rug for his closet."
"A kitten!"
Peter looked over at Satchmo, who looked as if he were listening to their conversation. "Some watchdog you are, Satch! How could you let him bring a kitten in here without letting us know?!"
Satchmo whimpered slightly and inched closer to Elizabeth, who immediately started petting him. "Peter Burke, this is not Satchmo's fault!"
"But, he's a dog," Peter complained. "Aren't they supposed to hate cats?"
"Satchmo's a good dog," Elizabeth stated as she scratched the dog behind his ears. "He doesn't hate anyone. Do you, Satch?"
Satchmo started wagging his tail fiercely.
"You could've at least warned us, buddy," Peter said as he gave Satchmo a quick scratch as well.
Peter and Elizabeth woke up the next morning to the sound of loud bangs coming from Neal's room. Both of them jumped out of bed at the same time and raced down the short hallway. Entering Neal's bedroom, they were surprised to see him throwing things out of his closet in a complete panic.
"Neal!" Elizabeth yelled. "What are you doing?"
Neal turned around suddenly and both Peter and Elizabeth were surprised to see the look of complete panic on his little face.
"I can't find him!" he yelled frantically. "I can't find Raphael!"
"Neal, it's okay," Elizabeth started, only to be cut off by Neal's frantic words.
"I can't find him, Mommy. He's so little and he's lost!"
Peter walked over to where Neal was and scooped the little boy up into his arm.
"Hey, buddy…. Calm down, okay?"
"He's lost, Daddy," Neal cried. "He needs me, but he's lost."
Neither one of them noticed that Elizabeth had left the room. Peter continued trying to get Neal to calm down, but the poor kid couldn't seem to get himself under control. A minute later, Elizabeth walked back into the room, holding the little gray kitten in her arms.
"Sweetie, look," she said loudly, so as to be heard over Neal's crying.
Neal immediately looked up at his mother. Seconds later, a look of complete relief fell over his face as he realized that she was holding his kitten. Running over to where she stood, he reached up and grabbed the kitten out of her arms.
"Raphael!" he shrieked happily. "There you are!"
Hugging the kitten to his chest, Neal didn't notice the look that passed between his parents. After several minutes of him cuddling the small animal, Peter and Elizabeth sat down on the small bed.
"Neal, Daddy and I need to talk to you about a few things," she said gently.
Neal looked nervously at his parents, suddenly remembering that he had been hiding a kitten in his room and that they probably weren't too happy about that.
"Sweetie, where did the kitten come from?" Elizabeth asked.
"I didn't steal him," Neal answered quickly.
"Of course, you didn't," Elizabeth answered just as fast. "But, where did you get him?"
"I found him," Neal said happily. "Finders, Keepers, right? Caleb and I were playing in his backyard and we heard him meowing. He was scared, Mommy. Just like I was when I was lost and you and Daddy couldn't find me. I had to help him."
"That was a very brave thing to do, little man," Peter said. His heart was breaking again at the thought of how sad Neal was going to be to learn that he couldn't keep the kitten.
"That's because I just thought of what you would do, Daddy, and then I did it. Caleb and I made a little bed for Raphael in his basement and we kept him there for a while. Whenever I went over there, we took care of him. But, then Caleb said that his mommy found Raphael and was going to take him to the animal place the next day. Caleb snuck down into the basement that night and let Raphael go. When he told me this the next day, I found Raphael and brought him here. He's too little to be alone."
"You're right, sweetie. Raphael does need someone to take care of him, so we'll find him a good home, okay?"
Before Elizabeth could explain why they couldn't keep him, Neal interrupted her.
"NO!" he yelled loudly. "He's mine, Mommy. I'll take care of him!"
"Sweetie, you can't."
"Yes, I can. I've been doing it already."
By this time, Neal's face was splotchy and red from crying and from clutching Raphael so tightly. He also was sniffling continuously. When he started sneezing, Elizabeth stepped over and gently took the kitten out of his hands. Kneeling down in front of Neal, she looked up into his tear-filled blue eyes.
"Neal, the reason I said we would find him a good home is because I think you're allergic to him. Remember how the doctor said that you were probably allergic to something and that was why you kept sneezing and sniffling? I bet if you think about it, you'll realize that all of that started when you first started taking care of Raphael."
Neal looked thoughtfully at Elizabeth. "I don't care, Mommy," he answered matter-of-factly. "I don't mind sniffling and sneezing. He's worth it."
"Sweetie, it's not that easy. Look at your arms. See how they're all red and itchy? That's because of the kitten."
"It doesn't itch that much," Neal said even as he was frantically rubbing his left arm against his side to alleviate the itch. "And I'll take my medicine every day."
Elizabeth and Peter shared another look. Peter could tell that his wife was floundering, so he stepped in and tried to talk to Neal.
"Buddy, that won't work. Taking that medicine every day isn't good for you. Especially when there's a better alternative."
"I don't want a better ternitive, Daddy," Neal pleaded. "I just want Raphael."
"I'm sorry, little man. We can't keep him."
At those words, Neal burst into tears, grabbed Raphael out of Elizabeth's arms, and fled out of the room and into the bathroom. Peter and Elizabeth followed behind him, but he was able to close and lock the door before they could stop him.
"Neal? Open the door, please," Elizabeth said loudly.
Instead of hearing the lock on the door disengaging, they heard the sound of water filling the bathtub.
"What is he doing?" Peter asked. And then, "Neal? What are you doing?"
When they still didn't get a response, Peter pounded on the door, loudly.
"Open this door, right now, Neal!" he demanded.
Neal still didn't answer him, but Peter and Elizabeth were able to hear Neal talking. They weren't able to hear what he was saying, but a short time later, they could tell that things weren't going well.
As they listened through the door, the sound of the water running stopped. As they pressed their ears to the door even harder, they heard Neal say something. His words were quickly cut off by the sound of an awful shrieking that could only have come from the kitten. That shriek was soon replaced by a more human shriek, which was quickly followed by the sound of Neal crying.
"Neal!" Elizabeth cried. "Open this door right now, young man!"
To her great relief, the door opened seconds later. Neal, who was crying loudly and was completely drenched in water, threw himself at his mother.
"He scratched me, Mommy!" he cried. "And I fell in the water!"
Elizabeth looked down at Neal's arms to find that they both had long scratches marring them. Blood was slowly beading up along the marks, so she grabbed a hand towel and held it against Neal's arm.
"What were you doing, sweetie?" she asked.
"I tried to give him a bath," Neal cried. "If he was clean, maybe I wouldn't be 'lergic to him. But, he scratched me!"
"Oh, sweetie…. Raphael was just scared. He didn't mean to hurt you."
"I know," Neal sniffed. "I bet I was scared for my first bath, too. But, I wasn't going to let anything happen to him. I was going to be really careful."
By this time, Peter had found the kitten, who was hiding behind the toilet. "Let's go downstairs," he said. "I really need some coffee."
"Go ahead, hon. I'm going to get Neal into some dry clothes first."
Once Neal's wet pajamas were exchanged for clean, dry clothes, Elizabeth cleaned up his arms and covered the deepest part of the scratches with Band-Aids. Once that was taken care of, she picked him up and went downstairs to join Peter.
Entering into the kitchen, she was happy to see that Peter had already fixed Neal a bowl of his favorite cereal. Once he was settled down in his chair, she poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down, too.
Neal played with his cereal, staring morosely into the bowl. Elizabeth stared just as morosely into her cup of coffee. Eventually, Neal looked up at both Peter and Elizabeth.
"I promise I'll be good forever, if I can keep him," he pleaded. "I'll always put my legos away, Daddy, so you won't step on them. And I'll brush my teeth really, really good every night, Mommy. And in the morning, too. I'll go to bed early and I'll never climb up on the chair to get the cookies again. Anf I'll never wander off. I'll be the bestest kid ever!"
"Neal, it's not about that, buddy. It's not healthy for you to be around Raphael. Or any other cats," he quickly added.
"But, I love him," Neal answered in the saddest, most forlorn voice either of them had ever heard. "And he loves me, too."
"We know you love him, sweetie. And Raphael does love you, so he wouldn't want you to be miserable and sick because of him."
"It's not fair," Neal said miserably.
"I know it's not, but that's the way it has to be, okay?"
"Where will we take him?" Neal asked.
"Well, I've been thinking about that," Elizabeth said with a smile. "I remember Yvonne mentioning a few months ago that she was thinking about getting a kitten after the wedding was over. I'll give her a call. If she wants him, we'll know that he went to a good home and we can get regular updates on how he's doing. How does that sound?"
Neal smiled for the first time that morning. "That would be great, Mommy! And maybe we could visit him sometimes."
Elizabeth was relieved to see Neal smiling again. She just hoped that Yvonne was serious about wanting a kitten.
That evening, Peter, Elizabeth, Neal, Satchmo, and Raphael were all sitting in the living room, waiting for Yvonne and her husband to show up. Once Elizabeth had explained the situation on the phone, Yvonne immediately agreed to take Raphael. Elizabeth's heart was warmed by the fact that her employee and friend would do anything to make Neal happy.
Elizabeth had originally tried to keep the kitten away from Neal the rest of the day, but gave up the fight rather quickly. Instead, she dosed Neal with his allergy medicine, hoping to at least alleviate some of his symptoms. After she had given in, Neal had spent every single second playing with and holding Raphael.
By the time Yvonne showed up, Neal's face and arms were red and itchy and his eyes were watering again. Elizabeth had just given him another dose of medication, hoping that it would kick in soon. When Yvonne came into the living room, Neal stood up and formally introduced her to his kitten.
"Y-von, this is Raphael. Raphael, this is Y-von," he said seriously.
Yvonne gently leaned down and took Raphael out of Neal's reddened arms. "Well, Raphael, it's nice to meet you. What do you think about coming home with me? I know Neal really wants to keep you, but he can't. So, you'll come home with me and I'll take care of you just like Neal did."
Raphael meowed softly, causing everyone to laugh.
"I think he likes you, Y-von," Neal said.
"I think I like him, too, baby. He's an awfully adorable cat and it looks like you've been taking really good care of him. I promise I'll do the same."
"Okay, but it's not easy," Neal answered seriously. "He likes to run off sometimes, even though I told him a million times not to. And he bites really, really hard. He likes his belly rubbed and sometimes if you stop, he gets mad. And he really, really hates baths."
"I'll keep all that in mind, Neal."
"And he likes to sleep in my arms, Y-von. And sometimes he likes to chew on my hair. That hurts!"
Yvonne laughed. "Anything else I need to know, Neal?"
"I think he's really going to miss me, so maybe if you tell him every night that I love him and miss him, he'll feel better. Oh, and I have this, too."
Neal pulled a picture of himself out of his back pocket. "If you show this to him every night, he won't miss me as much."
The three adults in the room laughed at that, but quickly stopped when Neal shot them each a glare. Eventually, he turned his attention back to the matter at hand. Taking Raphael back from Yvonne, he held the kitten up to his face.
"You be good for Y-von, okay? And don't forget me."
Neal kissed Raphael on the top of his head, handed him back to Yvonne, and ran up to his room, Satchmo hot on his trail. Elizabeth started to go after him, but Yvonne called out to her.
"Elizabeth, wait! I need to talk to you about something else."
Elizabeth turned back around and asked Peter to follow after Neal. Once he was heading upstairs, she sat down on the sofa, patting the seat beside her for Yvonne to do the same.
"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Elizabeth asked. "You're not having second thoughts, are you?"
"Of course not," Yvonne answered. "Especially after seeing this adorable thing and seeing how much Neal loves him. But, I wanted to talk to you about something else."
"Okay…." Elizabeth answered nervously. "What is it?"
"Well, you know we just got back from our honeymoon a week ago, right? And then Burke Premier Events just had that big event yesterday, too, that we spent all week getting ready for. So, today was the first day that I was able to go through all of the wedding gifts and cards."
Elizabeth had no idea where Yvonne was going with this, so she just sat back and waited for her to get to the point.
"As I was looking through all of the gifts, I remembered Neal telling me that he got me a special present. I finally found it just before coming over here tonight."
"What was it?" Elizabeth asked, even though she was dreading the answer. She remembered the small package that she had helped Neal wrapped. Remembered that he had told her that it was something that he had made for his Y-von. Now, she was really curious and a little scared to find out what it was.
Yvonne leaned over and grabbed her purse off of the coffee table. She rummaged around inside of it until she found what she was looking for. Elizabeth watched as she pulled her hand out of the bag, a small gasp escaping her as she saw what her friend was holding.
"Neal George Caffrey-Burke!" she yelled loudly….
Author's note: I absolutely have no excuse for taking so long to get this update done, but I do apologize for it. I'm hoping that there are still a few of you interested in the antics of my version of Neal as a kid. I was also hoping to finish this story today, but I'm almost 4500 words into this chapter and it's almost four o'clock in the morning. It looks like there will be at least one more chapter.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter. Any ideas on what exactly it was that Neal gave Yvonne as a wedding present? And where in the world did he come up with the name Raphael?
Thank you all so much for reading! Take care.