Let Your Heart Hold Fast

Chapter 13

Peter knew he would have a fight on his hands when he told Neal he couldn't go trick-or-treating. He just didn't know how much of a fight it would be. Or that by the end of it all, he would have a massive headache, Neal would have to spend twenty minutes in the time-out chair, and Elizabeth would have been mad at him.

The minute they walked through the door, Neal ran up the stairs to put on his costume. Peter looked quickly at Elizabeth before calling out to Neal. "Neal, wait a minute, bud. I need to talk to you."

Neal stopped at the top of the stairs and looked back at Peter, impatiently. "Not now, Peter. Remember what I said about the candy?"

"Neal, we're not going trick-or-treating. We're staying home tonight. You've had a rough day."

Elizabeth looked at Peter, confusion covering her face. "Peter, I think it would be good to have something to take our minds off of everything."

"We don't know who that guy is, El, or where he is. I'd rather keep Neal in the house."

Elizabeth looked up and noticed that Neal had gone up to his room. "Honey, Neal's going to be heart-broken. Can't we just go out for a little while? Just the houses on this street?"

"I don't think it's a good idea, El. And Neal will be upset, but he'll survive."

By this time, Neal had come back downstairs, fully dressed in his costume, his fedora pulled down over his right eye. "Okay, I'm ready! Let's go!"

Peter frowned at the little boy, as he rubbed his temple. He was getting a massive headache. "We're not going, Neal. We're staying in tonight."

"Why aren't we going, Peter? Lizbef said we could go."

"That was before everything happened today, buddy. I've decided that we're just going to stay in tonight."

"I wanna go trick-or-treating, Peter," Neal whined. "I've been waiting for forever."

"I'm sorry, bud, but you're going to have to cowboy up." Peter could tell that Neal was upset, but he stood his ground.

"I don't wanna cowboy up, Peter," Neal cried. "That's stupid! I wanna go trick-or-treating!" With this, Neal stomped his foot, forgetting what Elizabeth had said just that morning. Peter and Elizabeth looked on in surprise as Neal threw his first tantrum.

After a few seconds, Peter spoke up again. "Neal, I know you're upset, but you need to calm down." Neal continued to stomp his foot, not caring that he had scared Satchmo off. "Neal!"

When he still continued with his tantrum, Peter picked him up and carried him over to the chair they had used before as the time-out chair. Neal noticed what was going on and started kicking his legs, trying to get out of Peter's grasp, but unfortunately Peter just held on tighter. Once he had the chair situated in the corner, he sat Neal down in it, only to have the boy jump up and try to run away.

Peter caught him, before he got too far, and plopped him back into the chair. "Neal, you better stay there, little man! You need to calm yourself down."

By this time, Neal was crying out his frustration with what had ended up being a really terrible day. "I don't want to sit in this stupid chair, Peter," he cried. "I hate this chair!"

Peter looked at Elizabeth, feeling like he was messing everything up. He wasn't surprised to see that she still didn't look too happy with him. He was about to say something to her when Neal started kicking the legs of the chair angrily. "I don't want to be in time-out! It's stupid! I hate time-out, Peter!"

Peter walked over to Neal and gently put his hands on the boy's knees. "Neal, stop kicking the chair and listen to me. I know you don't like time-out, but you need to calm down. You wouldn't have to be in time-out if you hadn't thrown a tantrum. So, now you'll sit there until you can calm down, okay?"

Neal cried even harder at that. "I'll be here forever, Peter, cuz I can't calm down! My angriness won't let me!"

Elizabeth walked over to Neal and knelt down by his side. "Sweetie, we know you're upset, and I'm sorry you can't go trick-or-treating tonight. But, remember what I said this morning about stomping your feet like that? That was being disrespectful to Peter."

Neal looked up at Elizabeth, huge tears falling from his big blue eyes. "I wanna go trick-or-treating, Lizbef. Please?"

"I'm sorry, Neal," she answered. "But, Peter's right. We're just going to stay in tonight."

Neal burst into a fresh set of tears and renewed his efforts in kicking the chair legs. "It's not fair, Lizbef. Peter's just being mean and I hate him!"

Peter couldn't believe how much those words hurt, even though he knew that Neal just said them in frustration. He could remember saying the same thing to his dad a few times, usually right after he had been punished for something, and he wished that he could take them back, knowing now how much it must have hurt him. He would just have to call his dad soon and apologize. Better late, than never, right?

Elizabeth was shocked at what Neal had said, and really didn't know what to say. She could tell by the look on Neal's face that he was a little shocked to have said those words, as well. "Neal, I want you to sit there until I tell you to get up, do you understand? And I want you to think about why Peter and I thought you needed a time-out."

With that, Elizabeth took Peter by the hand and walked into the kitchen, leaving a still crying little boy sitting in the corner.

Once they were in the kitchen, Elizabeth turned to Peter. "Oh, hon…..I'm sorry he said that."

Peter pulled Elizabeth into his arms. "It's okay, El, really. I know he's just upset. I can remember saying the same thing to my dad after he'd spanked me for something. It comes with the territory of being a father, I guess. And I'd rather have him mad at me, than to give in to him and have something bad happen."

The two of them stood in the kitchen, talking for several minutes about everything that had happened that day. They both were terrified at how close they had come to losing Neal and at not knowing who the man was or what he wanted with Neal.

Eventually, they walked back out to the dining room, finding a much calmer Neal, staring at the wall. Peter and Elizabeth both went into the living room, deciding to let the boy stay in time-out for a little longer. Finally, Elizabeth called to Neal and the boy slowly stood up and walked over to the sofa.

Once he was there, he looked up at Peter and then, without a word, flung himself at the man, burying his face into his chest. Peter was taken by surprise by this and not knowing what else to do, he put his arms around the small body. After several long minutes, Neal pushed himself away from Peter's chest and looked up at him. "Peter? I didn't mean it. I don't hate you. Not even a little bit, okay? That was my angriness talking." Before Peter could say anything, Neal placed his hands on the sides of Peter's face and looked into his eyes. "I love you, Peter! Even if you won't let me go trick-or-treating."

Peter felt tears fill his eyes at these words, and at the way Neal was looking at him so seriously. He placed his large hands on the sides of Neal's little face and looked into his impossibly blue eyes. "I love you, too, little man!"

The rest of the evening was spent in awkward togetherness. Neal was still upset that he couldn't go trick-or-treating, but he had resigned himself to the fact, as he sat down on the floor and colored in his favorite coloring book. Peter tried to watch a game on the television, but he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. He had talked with NYPD earlier, but they didn't have any leads on who the man was that had tried to snatch Neal. Elizabeth spent an hour taking a bath, trying to take her mind off of everything, as well.

When it was finally time to put Neal to bed, Peter and Elizabeth were relieved. Neal was tired, so he fell asleep as soon as Peter was done reading his story, allowing the two of them to finally talk over the events of the day, before falling into a fitful sleep themselves.

Neither of the Burkes was surprised when they woke up to screams coming from Neal's room. They weren't surprised, either, that his dreams were obviously of the man at the museum. In the beginning, Neal hadn't realized that the man meant him any harm, but after listening to everyone talking about it and answering Peter's questions, he began to realize the truth of the matter.

"Peter! Don't let him take me! Peter!" Neal's cries were like a knife in Peter's heart. Rushing to his bed, Peter grabbed Neal and tried to wake the boy up.

"Hey, little man…..it's okay. I'm right here and you're safe, okay? Wake up, buddy."

Neal woke up and looked wildly around him, finally resting his eyes on the man that was holding him. "It's okay, buddy. You're safe." Peter said again, as he rubbed Neal's back. "It was just a bad dream."

"I don't like bad dreams," Neal sobbed. "Why do I have to have them?"

"I don't know, bud, but it's okay, now. Elizabeth and I are both here now. How about if we read a story?"

Neal looked seriously at Peter, before jumping out of his arms and running to his bookcase. He grabbed two books and then ran back to Peter. "Okay, Peter, but I think I need more than one to make my brain stop thinking."

The next morning, Peter and Elizabeth decided to keep Neal home from school. Neal wasn't happy about not being able to see Leah, but he was excited to spend the day with Elizabeth. He was even more excited when he found out that he would have to spend a few hours with Peter, because Elizabeth had a small event to take care of.

After spending the morning at Elizabeth's office, Neal spent the afternoon at the White Collar division. Peter had planned on taking the afternoon off, but something had happened in one of the cases they were currently working, and he needed to stay in the office. Once Neal arrived, Peter set up a little play area in the corner of his office, hoping that Neal would behave himself for a while.

Looking back on the day, Peter realized that he might have been expecting a little too much from the five year old. In his defense, Neal had tried his best to behave, but it just didn't work. He quickly became bored with his bag of toys that Elizabeth had packed for him, and Peter quickly learned that a bored Neal was a handful.

"Peter? Can we go ride the elevator?" Ever since riding up the elevator the first time, Neal was obsessed with it. He had talked Elizabeth into letting him ride it all the way to the top of the building when they first got there, but he couldn't seem to convince Peter to do it.

"Not now, Neal. I have work to do, okay? I need you to behave and keep yourself busy for a little while. I'll be right next door, if you need anything."

Peter left Neal in the corner of his office as he went into the conference room for a meeting with his team. Before he left, he told Neal to behave again, but didn't really think that the kid could get into too much trouble. After all, he was right next door and they were in the FBI building. As Peter was leaving, Neal tried to tell him that he needed to use the bathroom, but Peter had been interrupted by a phone call. Giving Neal a quick look, Peter walked out of his office and entered the conference room.

Neal waited for what seemed like hours for Peter to return. He waited as long as he could, but finally his need for the bathroom became too much. Walking out of Peter's office, Neal looked around, searching for the nearest bathroom. Everyone around him was running around and talking on phones, obviously dealing with something important.

On his way back from the bathroom, Neal's eyes moved over to the elevators, forgetting that he was supposed to be behaving himself. He looked at the conference room, seeing Peter standing at the head of the conference room table, talking to his team. Peter's back was to the rest of the office, so he couldn't see Neal walk out of the office door and get onto the elevator. Neal knew that he shouldn't leave the office, but he just wanted a quick ride. He planned on taking the elevator to the top floor and then return to the White Collar unit. Unfortunately for Neal, once he reached the top of the building, he realized that he didn't remember what floor the White Collar unit was on.

His ascent in the elevator had been uninterrupted, but fortunately, on the way down, the elevator stopped at the very next floor, allowing a young man to enter. He was surprised to see the little boy on the elevator by himself. "Hello, there….What are you doing riding the elevator all by yourself? Are you lost?"

Neal looked up at the man, trying to decide if he should answer him. Just that morning, Elizabeth and Peter had told him not to ever talk to strangers. Neal really didn't like that idea, because he liked to talk to everyone, but they told him that he couldn't always trust people, that some people weren't nice. He decided that he shouldn't talk to the man, and decided that he should listen to what Peter and Elizabeth had told him. Moving into the corner of the elevator, Neal looked down at his feet.

"Hey, you don't have to be afraid, kid. You're in the FBI building. We're all here to help people."

Neal looked up at the man. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

"That's a good rule to live by, but the way I see it is if we introduce ourselves, we won't be strangers anymore, right?"

Before Neal could answer, the man stuck out his hand. "My name is Agent Rob Davidson and I work for the FBI Evidence Recovery Unit.

Neal stuck his small hand out and shook Agent Davidson's hand. "I'm Neal George Caffrey and I'm five. Sometimes I'm the classroom helper at school."

"Well, Neal George Caffrey….now that we're not strangers anymore, maybe you can tell me why you're here by yourself."

"I just wanted to ride the elevators, Agent Rob. Peter said I couldn't, but I was bored. I like to ride the elevator."

"So, Peter doesn't know where you are?"

Neal frowned at the question. "He said he had work to do and he told me to keep myself busy."

Agent Davidson couldn't help but smile at Neal. "I bet he didn't mean for you to go off and ride the elevators by yourself, did he?" When Neal didn't answer, Agent Davidson continued. "Why don't we get you back to your Peter, Neal?"

Neal's eyes filled with tears. "I don't remember how to get back to him, Agent Rob. I'm almost lost!"

"It's okay, Neal. I'll get you back to Peter."

Peter finished the meeting and returned to his office, eager to check on Neal. He fully expected the boy to be bent over his sketchpad, drawing pictures like usual, but instead, he found an empty office. Heading out of his office, he looked around the White Collar unit, expecting to see Neal bugging some poor junior agent., talking a mile a minute. When he didn't see him anywhere, he quickly walked to the bathrooms, hoping against all hope that the little imp was there. Not finding him there, either, sent Peter into the beginning of a panic.

He quickly rounded up Diana and Jones, filling them in on the fact that Neal was gone. They immediately set out asking all of the agents if they knew anything about where Neal had gone, but no one seemed to know anything.

Peter made a phone call that would put the full FBI building on alert, but before the message could make it to everyone, the elevator doors opened to reveal a young agent and a very relieved looking Neal.

"This is it, Agent Rob! We found it!" Before Neal could say anything else, Peter walked through the glass door, stopping in front of the two.

"Neal George Caffrey! Where have you been? Why did you leave the office? I told you to stay put!"

"No, you didn't, Peter. You told me to behave and keep myself busy. I just wanted to ride the elevators."

"Young man, you know that I meant for you to stay in my office. You know I wouldn't have let you ride the elevators by yourself! What were you thinking?!"

"I'm five, Peter. I can ride elevators by myself and I was trying to keep myself busy, like you told me to."

Peter looked angrier than Neal had ever seen him. "Neal, go up to my office and pack up your stuff. We're going home!"

Neal started to argue, but Peter pointed up the stairs. "Now, Neal!"

Once the little boy was gone, Peter turned to talk to Agent Davidson, wondering how he fit into the story. After getting his part of the story, Peter thanked the young man, before heading back up to his office to face Neal.

Entering his office, he noticed Neal frantically putting everything Elizabeth had packed for him back into his backpack. "Do you have everything?" Peter growled, causing Neal to jump.

"I think so, Peter." Neal made a show of looking carefully around to make sure he didn't leave anything behind. He seemed to be doing everything he could to not have to look Peter in the eye.

"Let's go, then," Peter said, angrily. He knew that everyone in the White Collar unit was watching this event play out and he tried not to lose his cool. They had all been witness to this side of Peter Burke, though, and could tell that he was really angry. Every single White Collar agent felt sorry for the poor kid that was responsible for Peter's bad mood.

The drive home was made in silence, which happened to be a first for Neal. Usually, anytime he was in a car, he became a veritable chatterbox, knowing that he had a captive audience. This time, he kept quiet, even as he continually looked sideways to check out Peter's face. He could see a vein sticking out in Peter's temple and he noticed how hard Peter was gripping the steering wheel. These particular signs, along with the way the man was clenching his teeth, told Neal exactly how angry Peter was with his little adventure.

By the time they arrived home, Peter's knuckles were white and his face was a strange shade of reddish-purple. He hadn't said a single word the entire trip home and neither had Neal. Once they were in the house, Peter immediately sent Neal to sit in the time-out chair and Neal immediately did as he was told. He wasn't about to make Peter any madder at him than he already was.

While Neal was sitting in the corner, Peter went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of orange juice. He desperately wanted a beer, but figured he had better wait a while before he did that. It was only three in the afternoon, so it was still a little early for a beer.

As he stood at the kitchen counter, drinking his juice, he tried to figure out how he was going to deal with Neal's misbehavior. This was the second time the boy had walked off on his own and Peter knew that he needed to find some way to make Neal understand that this was unacceptable. Taking out his cell phone, he did the only thing he could think of….He called his father.

Authors note: A bored Neal is definitely not a good thing, right? Especially when he tends to wander and there's a strange man trying to get to him. I imagine Peter is pretty upset with the little guy, so it's a good thing he can ask his father for advice.

Thanks for reading, ya'll. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I would love to hear your thoughts on everything that's happened; of if there's anything you want to see. Take care!