Let Your Heart Hold Fast

Chapter 39

Peter and Elizabeth were relieved to see that everything had calmed down for Neal at school. Simon and Jordan had once again befriended Neal and Patrick seemed content to just leave him alone for a change. Peter was still concerned about how Patrick Thomas, Sr. was treating his family and he had asked Jones to see what he could find out about the man. He wasn't surprised to find that there were several domestic abuse charges that had been filed and then dropped by the man's wife, causing Peter to wonder what kind of man could treat his wife in such a manner. He also wondered why the man's wife chose to stay in the relationship, especially when there were children involved. Other than the dropped charges, though, there was nothing else that warranted closer evaluation of the man, so Peter just decided to keep an eye on the man, as best as he could.

After talking with Elizabeth, Peter decided to go ahead with his idea of talking with Neal's classroom on the subject of bullying and after clearing it with Mrs. Corbin and Mr. Parker, he set up a date and time. Neal was totally excited to find out that Peter would be coming to his classroom and it was all he talked about for the whole week leading up to it.

The morning that he was supposed to go with Neal was a trying morning for Peter. Neal had scrunched up his nose at the tie Peter had decided to wear, causing Elizabeth to laugh and Peter to roll his eyes.

"Daddy? Do you have to wear that tie? And why is your hair sticking up like that? Did Mommy forget to comb it for you?" Neal asked innocently.

"For your information, little man, I don't need Mommy to comb my hair. I've been doing it myself for many years. And what's wrong with this tie?"

This time it was Neal that rolled his eyes. "Daddy, it's brown!" he exclaimed. "It looks like Satchmo's….."

"Neal!" Elizabeth interrupted. "Let's not talk about that at the breakfast table, okay?"

"Sorry, Mommy," Neal said with a big maple syrup grin. Then, "Can you make Daddy change his tie and comb his hair, Mommy?"

Elizabeth laughed again. "Why don't you pick out a tie for Daddy, sweetheart? I'm sure he won't mind."

"El…." Peter groaned. He had a feeling he was going to look like an idiot when he left the house.

To Peter's immense relief, Neal chose a normal green tie, because apparently green was his favorite color at the moment. Peter made a point to make his hair lie flatter, so Neal wouldn't embarrass him again by asking "Mommy" to comb his hair. He was a grown man, after all.

Neal chattered excitedly the whole way to school and by the time they arrived, Peter had the beginnings of a headache. He couldn't help but wonder just exactly what he had gotten himself into, as he followed Neal to his classroom, surrounded by what seemed like thousands of noisy, excited children.

Once in Neal's classroom, Peter took a seat in the back of the room while Mr. Parker took care of some daily business. Peter had to admit that he loved how Neal kept looking back at him with a huge grin. The poor boy nearly fell out of his seat three different times when he turned to look at Peter. Finally, after telling Neal to pay attention several times, Mr. Parker moved the boy up to a desk at the front of the room, right next to the teacher's desk. The class laughed at Neal as he skipped up to the desk, sat down, and then promptly turned back to Peter and gave him a big wave.

Finally, Mr. Parker realized that he wasn't going to get anything accomplished with the way the whole class was acting. After finally getting the kids to settle down a little, he called for Peter to step forward.

"Class, this is Mr. Burke. As you all know, he is Neal's father and he is also a Special Agent with the FBI. He's here today to talk with all of us about something very important, so I expect you all to show him the respect and attention he deserves. Mr. Burke?"

Peter stepped in front of the classroom and somewhat nervously looked at the faces of all of the children looking at him. He was used to talking in front of large groups of people and rarely was nervous, but for some unexplainable reason, standing in front of this particular audience was particularly unnerving.

"Hello, everyone," he started. "As Mr. Parker just said, I am a Special Agent with the FBI and my job is to take care of people who decide to break the law. But, today I'm actually just here as Neal's dad and I want to talk to you about something really important. I want to talk to you all about the importance of treating others fairly and honorably. Now, do any of you have brothers or sisters?"

More than two-thirds of the class raised their hands. "Do any of you ever fight with your brother or sister?"

"I do," a little blond-haired girl answered. "My baby sister is always taking my dolls and I don't like it when she does that."

"But, I bet you love your sister, don't you?" Peter asked. "I bet you don't like it when your sister is sad or upset, or when someone is mean to her."

"It makes me sad when she cries," the little girl answered.

"Who can tell me how they feel when someone is mean to them?" Peter asked. He watched as several hands shot up in the air, not missing the wildly waving hand that belonged to Neal. "How about you?" he said to a little boy sitting in the desk right beside him.

"I don't have a brother or sister," the boy said.

Peter felt like rolling his eyes, but didn't. "Well, can you tell me how you feel when someone is mean to you?"

"I don't like it at all," he said.

"Does anyone here like it when someone is mean to them?" Peter asked as he looked around the room, not surprised that no one raised their hand. Looking around, he continued. "Who can tell me what it means to bully someone?"

Another group of hands flew into the air and once again Peter could see that Neal was waving his rather frantically. Instead of picking Neal, he turned to another boy on the opposite side of the room.

"I think it means that you push them down a lot and make fun of them," he said quietly.

"Is that a nice thing to do?" Peter asked.

A loud chorus of no's filled the room.

"What other ways can someone bully someone else?" he asked.

Neal's arm went up a little more slowly this time, but then started waving desperately again. Peter turned to a little girl in the back of the room.

"I think a bully might make you do things you don't want to do," she said. "Or they might try to make you be mean to other kids."

"You're exactly right," Peter said with a smile. "Bullies don't always have to push you down or hit you or even make fun of you. Sometimes bullies just try to control you. And sometimes bullies can be adults, too. Is that okay?"

"I don't think so," the little girl answered. "Just because they're bigger than you doesn't make it okay. I think it makes it worse, because adults are supposed to take care of kids."

"You're exactly right, again," he answered. "Okay, so do we all agree that bullying is a bad thing?"

This time a chorus of yes's filled the room. "So, now that we've all agreed on that, what kinds of things can we do to stop bullying from happening?"

Neal's arm flew into the air again, followed by half of the class. Peter picked a boy sitting in the middle of the class.

"Tell the teacher," he shouted.

"Ask them to stop," another kid added.

"And if they don't stop?" he prompted, pointing at another boy.

"My mom says I'm supposed to walk away," he said.

"That's an excellent idea," Peter said. "Walk away and find a teacher. Tell your mom and dad. Tell another family member or a police officer if you can't talk to your parents about it. Now, since I'm a Special Agent, I got permission from a very Special Agent to deputize all of you as Bully Prevention Specialists. In fact, she gave me actual certificates and badges to give to those that are interested in being part of this very special team. Do I have any volunteers?"

Peter wasn't surprised to see every hand in the classroom shoot up at once. Walking over to his briefcase, he pulled out the stack of certificates and the small bag of badges that Elizabeth had put together the night before. "Mr. Parker, could you pass these out to everyone for me?"

Mr. Parker took the certificates and handed the bag of badges to Leah to pass out. Peter addressed the class again. "With these certificates and badges, I am giving you a very important job, ladies and gentlemen. I am putting all of you in charge of making sure that no one in this classroom gets bullied by anyone else in this classroom. I also want you to talk to the other kids in the school about bullying, okay? If anyone else wants to become a Bullying Prevention Specialist, you all have the power to deputize them. Talk to your brothers and sisters about it. Talk to your parents about it. Now, does anyone have any questions?"

Peter's headache returned when everyone started talking at once. It took Mr. Parker several long seconds to get everything under control again. Eventually, Peter was done answering questions, which had ranged from serious questions about bullying to questions about his job and finally to questions about whether or not he had ever shot anyone with his gun. He chose to ignore the last question.

After Peter was done at the school, he had returned to his office, hoping to get caught up on a few of his cases. The last few months had wreaked havoc on his closure rate and he was anxious to get back on track. Jones and Diana had been busy knocking out a few of the more straight forward cases, for which he was eternally thankful. He listened as they filled him in on the cases they had finished, as well as the cases that seemed to be harder to crack.

At the end of the day, Jones knocked on his door with an anxious look on his face. Peter closed up the folder he had been staring at for the last hour, giving him his full attention.

"Peter, I asked a friend of mine to notify me if anything related to Patrick Thomas came across his desk. He just called me and said that Thomas had been arrested for beating up his wife, who was beaten badly enough to be taken to the hospital. Once she got there, though, she claimed that she had tripped and fallen down her basement stairs. She has a broken arm and several bruises and cuts. Thomas was released."

"What made them think that he did it?" Peter asked.

"Apparently, a neighbor heard them arguing and called the police. She said that she thought she saw him through the window, hitting his wife."

"But, Mrs. Thomas denied it, so they released him. That's just great." Peter sighed, knowing that there was nothing he could do about any of it. "Thanks, Jones."

Once Jones left, Peter quickly finished up what he was working on and headed home, anxious to spend a nice, quiet evening with his family.

Walking into his dining room, Peter was surprised to see Neal sitting in the time-out chair. The kid looked extremely upset about something and Peter couldn't suppress a grin at the sight of him sitting in the chair with his arms crossed in front of him and his legs lightly kicking the chair. He could just imagine the pout that was undoubtedly on his face.

Hearing Elizabeth walking down the stairs, he turned and headed towards her. "What did he do now?" he asked with a smile, knowing that Elizabeth must have been pretty frustrated to send Neal to the corner. It wasn't something she did very often.

"He's being impossible," she said. "Ever since I picked him up at school, he's been in a bad mood. I don't know what's gotten into him!"

"Did something happen after I left the school?" Peter asked.

"I have no idea," she said in frustration. "He apparently doesn't want to talk about whatever it is that has him so upset."

"How much longer does he have in the corner?"

"I told him he could come out as soon as he was ready to apologize to me for yelling at me earlier. I asked him to put his backpack away and to start on his homework and he started yelling at me for bullying him into doing something he didn't want to do. Where in the world did he come up with that idea?"

Peter looked away guiltily. Maybe he should have explained that concept a little better, he thought. But, then again, Neal was smart enough to understand what he meant by that. "How long has he been there?" he asked.

Elizabeth checked her watch. "Almost twenty-five minutes. And still no sign that he's ready to apologize for anything."

Peter couldn't help but laugh at the expression on his wife's face.

"It's not funny, Peter," she cried.

"Come on, El…..It's just a little funny, right? He's obviously upset about something and he's only punishing himself more by not talking to you. Give him a little more time. I don't think he'll last much longer."

Elizabeth pushed gently past her husband and headed to the kitchen, determined to start dinner. She glanced at Neal, who quickly turned his head away from her. Obviously, he had been looking at her, too. "Neal, if you're ready to apologize, I could use some help getting dinner ready."

"No, thank you, mommy. I'm not ready to pologize yet."

While Elizabeth was making dinner, Peter sat at the table, reading a case file. Every once in a while, he would look over at Neal, who was still resolutely sitting in the corner. He had no idea how the boy was actually sitting still for so long. As far as he knew, this was the longest time Neal had ever been still.

Finally, Peter couldn't take it any longer and he turned his chair around to face Neal. "Hey, buddy, is there something you want to talk about? What has you so upset?"

Neal didn't answer; instead he just kicked his feet against the rung of the chair. "Neal? I'm talking to you, bud."

Neal still didn't answer, so Peter stood up and walked over to the corner, kneeling down in front of the little boy. Neal stubbornly looked away. What in the world was wrong with him?

"How long are you planning on staying here, Neal?" Peter asked.

When Neal didn't answer, Peter tried a different tact. "Why don't you apologize to Mommy, tell us why you're so upset, and then we can do something fun?"

It didn't escape Peter's notice that Neal's eyes brightened a bit at that, but he still didn't say anything. "Come on, Neal. Why are you mad at Mommy?"

Neal gave Peter a strange look. "I'm not mad at Mommy, Daddy," he said suddenly. "I'm mad at you!"

"What? Why are you mad at me, buddy? I just got home a few minutes ago." Peter couldn't figure out a single reason why Neal would be mad at him.

"You didn't pick me at all today, Daddy! Didn't you see me waving my arms at you? I wanted to answer a question, but you kept picking someone else!"

The amount of hurt in Neal's voice was hard to miss and Peter suddenly felt awful. "Oh, bud, I'm sorry. I wasn't ignoring you on purpose. I just figured that since you and I already talked about everything, I should let the other kids answer."

"But, you're my Daddy, and I wanted to answer you." Neal whined.

"I'm sorry, Neal, okay? I was being completely thoughtless and insensitive to you. I just wasn't thinking, I guess."

Neal looked at Peter thoughtfully. "Maybe you need to sit in the corner, too, Daddy. You always tell me that I'm supposed to sit and think about my…..um, about what I did wrong. I think you should, too."

Without hesitation, Peter grabbed a chair and placed it next to Neal. "You're absolutely right, buddy. I'll sit here and think about my mistake today and you can sit there and plan out how you're going to apologize to Mommy for yelling at her."

Neal gave Peter a big grin. "I already know how to pologize to Mommy."

Elizabeth had been listening as best as she could from the kitchen. She couldn't make out too many words, but she was at least glad to hear that neither of them was getting too upset. Just as she was finishing the last touches on dinner, she walked out into the dining room to set the table, and to her great surprise, she found Neal still sitting in the corner and Peter sitting next to him. She couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled up and out of her at the sight of her 6'1" husband sitting in the corner like a naughty little boy.

"What in the world is going on here?" she asked with a laugh.

Neal and Peter both turned around and looked at her, but it was Peter that answered her. "We're thinking about the mistakes we made today, El," he answered matter of factly.

Elizabeth didn't quite know what to think about that, but she just waited patiently. Seconds later, Neal got out of his chair, walked over to her, and looked up at her with a quivering lip and watery blue eyes.

"Mommy? I'm ready to pologize, okay?" When Elizabeth gave him a nod, he continued. "I'm sorry I yelled at you today, Mommy. And I'm sorry that I fustated you."

Elizabeth smiled at Neal's mispronunciation of words. "I accept your apology, sweetie. Can you tell me why you were so upset?"

"I was upset with Daddy because he was being…um, he wasn't giving attention to me today and he kept picking other kids to answer questions, but I knew the answer better than all of them."

Peter spoke up and gave his version of the story, explaining things a little more clearly to Elizabeth and once he was done, she announced that dinner was ready. Just as they all sat down to eat, Neal turned in his chair and looked at Peter. "Daddy, you said we could do something fun if I pologized to Mommy. Can we go bowling? Leah said she goes bowling all the time and that it's really fun. I wanna try it. Please?"

"That's a great idea, Neal," Elizabeth answered. "We'll go as soon as we're done eating."

Neal ate all of his dinner with a huge smile on his face.

A week later, Elizabeth had planned a surprise party for Neal to announce the adoption, and without him knowing, she had made all kinds of plans. Both sets of grandparents were coming, as well as Andy and his family. She had also invited Mr. Parker, Leah and her family, and all of the kids from Neal's class. Dr. Lennox was coming, as well as Davis McClain. Peter had invited Jones, Diana, Reece, and a few other agents from his division, as well as Mozzie, Camille, and Agent Rob Davidson. It was going to be quite a party.

At first, Elizabeth thought that they would just have it at their house, but as the guest list continued to grow, she realized that they needed a bigger venue. Digging through her business contacts, she came across the name of someone that would hopefully be able to help. A few years ago, she had planned a grand opening event for a Kid Adventure Zone that had been developed by an old high school boyfriend and his wife. It only took one call, where she explained what she needed, before she had the perfect place for the party.

The morning of the party, Elizabeth had Peter take Neal out for the morning, so she could take care of all the last minute things. They were to return home at one o'clock in the afternoon, get Neal cleaned up a little bit, and then show up at the party. Elizabeth made Peter repeat his instructions to her three different times, before she was convinced that he would remember the plan. She also made sure to lay out the clothes she wanted Neal to wear, not leaving anything to chance.

Peter and Neal spent the morning at a park with Satchmo. Neal was finally able to run a little bit, so he and Satchmo were having a great time running around the park. Peter made sure that Neal didn't overdo it. After a few hours at the park, he took Neal to get a quick lunch before heading home to get cleaned up. Once they were home, Neal balked at the idea of taking a bath in the middle of the afternoon.

"Why do I have to take a bath, Daddy? I'm just going to get dirty again and then Mommy will make me take another one. I don't wanna take two baths in the same day!"

"Come on, buddy," Peter said. "Mommy's orders, and I don't know about you, but I don't want Mommy mad at me. Let's just get it over with, okay?"

Neal didn't complain any more, but Peter could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't happy. The next battle came when Peter tried to dress Neal in the clothes that Elizabeth had laid out. She knew that Neal was going to be running around and playing in the Adventure Zone, so she had picked out a pair of nylon sweats, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt that Neal had never worn before. For reasons only known to God and to Neal himself, the little boy hated to wear such casual clothes.

"I don't wanna wear that," he said rebelliously.

Again, Peter tried to make the boy see reason. After arguing with him for several minutes, he finally gave in and spilled a little of the secret he had been keeping. "Listen, Neal…..Mommy has a surprise for you this afternoon, but the only way you're going to get it is if you get dressed in the clothes she picked out, okay? As soon as you do that, we can go find out what the surprise is."

Neal's eyes brightened at the idea of a surprise and he suddenly agreed to wear the clothes. "Okay, Daddy," he said jubilantly. "Let's go get surprised!"

Peter laughed at his sudden exuberance and quickly led the boy down the stairs. Minutes later, he had Neal buckled safely in his booster seat and they were on their way to Neal's big surprise.

Author's note: Sorry it took so long for this chapter. I've been a little busy lately, so I haven't been able to write as much as I wanted. I hope to have another chapter up within the next week, plus I'm working on a few other things.

Thanks so much for reading. I can't wait to hear what you all think about the chapter. I can't believe that this story has almost 600 reviews. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine such a thing. You are all amazing and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.