Let Your Heart Hold Fast

Chapter 5

Peter and Elizabeth had hoped to have things settled with CPS in a short time, but that short time ended up being almost three weeks. After background checks, character references, and a home study, they were finally approved as foster care parents. Unfortunately, by this time Neal had been moved out of Mrs. O'Connell's home and into another more permanent home. Peter and Elizabeth hoped that it hadn't been hard on the poor boy to move again.

Once they were officially approved, they were given the okay to pick Neal up from his current home. They immediately left their house and drove straight to Queens, both of them lost in their own thoughts the entire trip. Peter was still nervous about how taking care of a small child would impact their lives. They both were very career-oriented, but that was going to have to change once Neal was a part of their lives. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was only concerned with the possibility of having to give Neal up some day. She had already fallen completely in love with the little boy and wanted nothing more than to be his mother. To think that he might someday be taken away from them was more than she could fathom.

By the time they arrived, both of their hearts were beating fast and their nerves were all on edge. The house they pulled up to looked a little better taken care of than the previous home, yet still worn. As they walked up to the front door, they could hear the sounds of children playing inside. Elizabeth listened for the sound of Neal's voice, but couldn't pick it out in the cacophony of sounds.

Once the door was opened, they introduced themselves, explaining that they were there to pick up Neal. Ms. Barnett was supposed to meet them there, so they were led into the living room to wait for her. Both Peter and Elizabeth looked around the room for any sign of Neal, but found nothing but the evidence that there were indeed children there.

After Ms. Barnett arrived and all of the paperwork was verified, Elizabeth asked Mrs. Smithson, who was Neal's current foster parent, if they could finally see him. Mrs. Smithson cleared her throat and passed a quick glance at Ms. Barnett, before looking at the Burkes.

"Before I get him, I'd like to talk to you about a few things."

Peter and Elizabeth both gave her their full attention, both of them feeling suddenly nauseous.

"Neal has been here for almost two weeks and in that time I haven't heard him speak a single word. He's been cooperative with everything, but he hasn't initiated any kind of interaction with anyone. He's been eating, but barely enough to be acceptable, and he's been having nightmares almost every night."

Peter and Elizabeth were horrified to hear of what Neal had been going through. More than ever, they wanted to see the little boy, hoping that he would be relieved to see them.

When Mrs. Smithson finally led Neal into the living room, Peter and Elizabeth were shocked at how he looked. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked as if he had lost weight. Worse than that, though, the boy held nothing of his normal vim and vigor, acting completely subdued.

Elizabeth quickly stood up and went over to kneel before the small boy, wanting to pull him into her arms, but holding herself back. "Hi, Neal. How are you, sweetie?"

Neal looked up at Elizabeth and she thought she saw a glimmer of something in his eyes. Her eyes filled with tears when he answered her. "Hi, Lizbef…..Did you come to see me?"

"Of course, we did, sweetie. We've missed you!"

Neal gave her a small smile, before looking over at Peter, who stood up and walked over to him, as well. "Hey, little man….it's good to see you."

Neal gave Peter the same small smile he had given Elizabeth. "Hi, Peter," he said, quietly.

Ms. Barnett and Mrs. Smithson left the three of them alone. Peter and Elizabeth sat back down on the sofa and Elizabeth patted the seat next to her, trying to get Neal to sit down. Instead, he walked over to an armchair across from them and sat down. Peter and Elizabeth shared a sad look.

"How have you been, Neal?" Elizabeth asked again. When he didn't answer, she tried another tact. "Mrs. Smithson seems nice. Are there other kids here, too?"

Neal looked at Elizabeth and Peter, looking as if he had something important to say, but just couldn't bring himself to say it. He studied his shoes, which were both untied, instead.

"Sweetie, what's wrong? Peter and I were hoping you would be happy to see us."

Neal's eyes slowly moved up to Elizabeth. "I am, Lizbef, but I'm sad, too. I don't want you to leave again."

"Oh, Neal….I'm so sorry, sweetie. We should have told you right away. Peter and I are here to take you home, Neal. You're coming with us."

This time, Neal's eyes shot over to Peter. "Really? You mean it?" He jumped to his feet, barely able to contain his excitement.

"Yes, sir, buddy. You're coming home with us. Mrs. Smithson is gathering your stuff right now.

Before either of them knew what was happening, Neal flung himself at Elizabeth, knocking her back into the sofa. "Really, Lizbef? I get to come home with you?"

"Really, Neal. You're coming with us."

Elizabeth was surprised to feel Neal's body trembling in her arms and she knew that he was crying. "Hey, there….why are you crying, sweetie?" She asked, as she looked at Peter over Neal's head.

"I'm not crying, Lizbef. All my happiness is just leaking out."

Once they had Neal settled into his booster seat, they started toward home. Neal was like a totally different child than the one they had seen earlier. Peter and Elizabeth couldn't keep the smiles off their faces as they listened to the constant chatter coming from the backseat.

"…and then you know what happened, Peter? Mrs. Smithson said that I could climb up the tree to get the ball down. She told me to be careful, but I just looked at her. I wanted to remind her that monkeys don't fall, but I didn't feel like talking. Do you think she might have read my mind? Because right after I thought that, she called me a monkey and told me that I was the fastest tree climber that she'd ever seen. That night she even made banana pudding for me. Isn't that cool? She was really nice, even though she made me eat a bite of everything that was on my plate. I wanted to tell her that I didn't like peas and sparagus, but I didn't feel like talking. So you know what I did, Lizbef? When she wasn't looking I put some of mine onto her plate and she never noticed. Wasn't that smart? And when she came up to check on me at night, I pretended to be asleep, and then as soon as she left, I used a flashlight I found in the garage and read my book. I like to read, Peter. Did you know that? I like to read almost as much as I like to draw. But drawing is the best thing ever. When we get to your house, I'll draw you a picture, Lizbef, so you should think about what you want me to draw. I can draw anything…..animals, people, landskates, whatever you want, Lizbef. Drawing is my most favorite thing to do."

By the time they arrived at their house, Peter and Elizabeth felt like their heads were spinning. Neal had literally talked the whole way home, and surprisingly, never once repeated himself. They were amazed at how much the kid had to say. He was still talking as Peter opened his door to help him out of the booster seat.

"Is this your house? Wow! It sure is a nice house. Does it have a backyard, Lizbef? Do I get to sleep upstairs? I like climbing stairs."

Peter was sure the boy would keep on talking, so he quickly cut in. "Neal, Elizabeth doesn't like it when we wear our shoes in the house, so we always take them off, okay? Now, if you follow Elizabeth, she'll give you a tour of the house. I need to go check on Satchmo."

"Who's Satchmo, Peter?"

"Satchmo is our dog, kid. Don't worry….he's the friendliest dog you've ever seen. And probably the laziest."

Neal wanted to know more about Satchmo, but Elizabeth pulled him off in the direction of the kitchen. Ten minutes later, she had given him a quick tour of the house, before ending up back down in the living room, where Peter and Satchmo were waiting.

"Peter, did you see my room? It has a sketchpad on a big easel. I've always wanted one of those. And Lizbef says that I can draw on the wall, because it's a chalkboard. No one ever lets me draw on the wall."

Before he could continue, his attention was shifted to Satchmo, who was looking up at him, his tail wagging like crazy. Neal knelt down on the floor and Satchmo immediately went to him, covering his face with licks. Peter and Elizabeth were both delighted to hear the giggles that were escaping Neal.

After several minutes of this, Peter called Satchmo back to him, and Elizabeth took Neal into the kitchen to wash his slobbery hands and face. Now, Neal couldn't stop talking about Satchmo, asking Elizabeth if he knew any tricks and whether or not he liked to play fetch. Eventually, Neal slowed down his questions and comments and they could tell he was getting tired. It had been a long and emotional day for all of them and Peter and Elizabeth were hoping to call it an early night.

After eating a quick meal of leftover chicken casserole, Elizabeth informed Neal that it was time to take a bath and get ready for bed. Neal immediately started to charm his way out of having to take a bath.

"I don't need a bath, Lizbef. I took one yesterday and I hardly did anything today. I'll take one tomorrow, because I'm sure that me and Satchmo will play a lot."

"Baths are taken every day in this house, Neal," Elizabeth answered with a smile.

"Every day?! That's crazy, Lizbef. We shouldn't be using that much water. What if there's a…a…um…"

"A drought? It's good of you to worry about the well-being of our city, sweetie, but I don't think a daily bath will cause that much trouble. Nice try, though. Now, I've already ran your bath water, so hop to it, okay? Do you need help?"

Neal looked affronted at her words. "Lizbef, I'm five. I've been taking baths by myself forever."

She couldn't help but laugh at his words. "Okay, then, get going, Neal. It's almost your bedtime."

Neal didn't look very happy to hear those words, either, but he went into the bathroom, took off his clothes and climbed in the tub. Elizabeth had made sure to throw a couple of boats into the tub and she could hear Neal playing happily with them. After about fifteen minutes, she entered the bathroom, not surprised to find that there was almost more water on the floor than what was in the bathtub.

"Lizbef! Can't a guy take a bath in peace?" Neal looked adorable with bubbles clinging to his little body. Elizabeth turned on the faucet and adjusted the temperature until it was perfect.

"I'm just going to help you wash your hair, okay? I want to make sure it gets really, really clean."

Neal didn't argue with her. Instead, he continued to play with his boats, running them up Elizabeth's arms as she tried to rinse his hair. Eventually, she was done, and after letting him play for a few more minutes, she helped him out of the bath, wrapping him up in a towel fresh from the towel warmer.

Once he was dried off enough, he insisted that she turn around so that he could get dressed. Minutes later, she turned around to find that he had dressed himself, even though the buttons on his little flannel pajamas were buttoned wrong. After taking a few seconds to fix the buttons for him, she pulled up the step stool Peter had bought, and placed it in front of the sink.

"Okay, Neal….let's get those teeth brushed."

Neal looked like he was going to argue, but thought better of it. He took the toothbrush from her, excited to see that it looked like a paintbrush, and started brushing his teeth. Once he was done, Elizabeth inspected his teeth and told him that he had done a great job. Neal's face lit up at her words.

Entering into his bedroom, they found Peter sitting in a chair next to the bed. Neal ran and jumped up on the bed, nearly bouncing himself off the other end.

"Whoa, there, buddy! Be careful, okay?" Peter admonished.

"Sorry, Peter," Neal said with a guilty grin. "I didn't know the bed was so bouncy."

Peter bent down and ruffled Neal's hair, as Elizabeth pulled the blankets up around him. "Okay, little man…..I'm going to read you one story and then it's lights out. No flashlights under the blanket, either, okay?"

Neal giggled at that, before turning over onto his side, prepared to listen to his story. He couldn't keep from smiling when Peter started reading.

"Once upon a time, there was a monkey named Jim, who loved to climb trees."

Author's note: I probably should have posted a warning that this chapter was full of fluff. I hope I didn't overdose you all on the sweetness of the new little family. If I did, I apologize, and I can assure you that it isn't all fluff and sweetness. In fact, our new family is definitely heading into some rough seas.

Thank you all so much for the reviews, story alerts and story favorites. I've said it before and I'll say it again…..You all rock! Let me know what you think of this chapter, please.