Author's Note:
Hello again people!
I'm sorry for the late update.
Long story short (and without bothering you with my problems), I just wanted to say that I am in a pretty bad place mentally right now and I'm really struggling to see the meaning with everything, sadly that also includes that I'm not really seeing the point of me writing my fics.
That being said, I'm not going to give up on my fics but the updates may take longer depending on my mental state.
Motivating comments is appreciated but of course in no way necessary.

CHAPTER 10
After the two boys had left with their uncle, Peter spent the following minutes trying to still the worry.
He tried to be rational, sure Neal had seemed terrified but his brother had remained calm so maybe it was just the younger kid feeling anxious about something completely different?
If their uncle was was hurting them in any way, why would they willingly go back to him when they had the chance to go somewhere else?
He shook his head, realizing that none of his thoughts were helping him to calm down, the older boy could've been terrified without showing it and he knew that many abuse victims had, for various reasons, a hard time leaving the person abusing them.
It didn't take him long to stop trying to be rational and instead doing what he should have all along, listen to his gut.
It was screaming at him that something was very wrong and that Keller wasn't someone you could trust.
He sat down at his desk and turned on his computer, knowing that if he let this go he would regret it for the rest of his life.
Peter looked up Matthew Keller, trying to find anything that Diana and Jones might have missed but he came up empty handed.
There was very little info about the man, apart from his connection to the boys and the address to the apartment they had found the kids in.
If his gut feeling was right, and it almost always was, then if something was off then Keller wouldn't return to that apartment which meant that they had no idea where the kids were or if they were alright.

He brought Neal's drawing home with him and placed it on the fridge, telling his wife about his encounter with the boys and how seeing the drawing every morning would motivate him to continue to look for them and make sure that they were okay.
Elizabeth had accepted the drawing but she was a little wary at first, and Peter watched her carefully so that she wouldn't become uncomfortable or upset.
Even if the reason he told her had been true, and that he had wanted to use it as a tool for her longing for a child kick in again, he didn't want to make her feel worse.
If she showed any signs of it making her sad, he would remove it and keep it in his office instead.
He didn't need to fo that though because just the next monring he found her looking at the drawing with a warm, beautiful smile on her face.
The wariness he had detected the day before had been replaced with a more comfortable feeling and it was the closest thing to that longing that he had seen in her for a while, perhaps this could be one step closer towards healing.

Peter spent every day trying to find some new information about Keller but apart from the from the things that they already knew, it was like he didn't even exist.
He even looked up the boys' parents, but all he found was information about their deaths and nothing that could tell him anything.
The closest thing he got to new information was an investigation about the death of their father, James, who had been shot in duty.
It had been suspected that the death wasn't actually accidental and that it had been a planned murder, carried out by none other than his brother-in-law Matthew Keller.
Many of his colleagues had witnessed arguments between James and Keller, they all agreed on that the two hated each other and they all believed Keller was capable of murder.
There hadn't been enough evidence to support the murder theory, so Keller had never been charged for it.
The only thing this told him was that Keller could be more dangerous than he thought and he really hoped that Keller hadn't been involved in their father's death, because if he had actually been capable of killing his brother-in-law then who's to say that he wouldn't be capable of killing his nephews?
After reading about the investigation he found himself subconsciously scanning the newspaper for anything about two dead children.
He wished now more than ever that he hadn't stopped the trio from leaving and saving the poor boys while he had the chance.

He was walking down the supermarket aisle, trying to locate the specific brand of cookies that Elizabeth had asked for, when his phone started to ring.
He retrieved the phone out of his suit jacket and looked at the display, he didn't recognize the number and for a second he considered not answering but quickly decided against that idea since it could be something important.

"Burke."

He answered while he kept scanning the shelfs for the cookies.

"Suit it's me, Mozzie!"

The familiar nickname caused him to abandon his quest to find the cookies and instead focus on the phone call.

"Mozzie? Are you guys okay?"

Peter put down his basket on the floor, no longer caring about his shopping, while he started to walk towards the exit.
He didn't know why the boy was calling him but Mozzie's voice sounded urgent, and since the kid hadn't seem to trust him at all, just the fact that he was calling meant something was seriously wrong.

"No, we need your help!"

Mozzie's words made him run the last meters to his car.

"Now!"
The kid added, and now he sounded very frightened.

"Where are you?"

Mozzie managed to give him the address before a loud bang was heard and the line went dead.
For a second he froze in place while his mind tried to figure out what had caused that bang, but then he realized the emergency and started the car.
Peter didn't know how many traffic laws he broke on his way to the apartment building but he really couldn't care less.

He sprinted up the stairs until he reached the fourth floor where he quickly located the right apartment number.
Peter pulled his gun and checked the handle, finding that the door was unlocked so that he could easily walk inside.
The gun was loaded and he was ready to shoot, but once he got inside he found the room empty.
He walked into the small bedroom and his legs suddenly felt like jelly when he saw that the door to the bathroom had been forcefully kicked in.
Had he been too late?
Peter walked towards the bathroom, fearing that he would find an empty room or worse; find that Keller had made sure that the kids would never ever be able to tell anyone what had happened.
His heart was beating fast in his chest and he held his breath as he stepped into the bathroom.
At first he thought that the room was empty but then he spotted two huddled figures in the corner.
The older boy was holding the younger in his arms, slowly rocking him back and forth while quietly whispering words that Peter couldn't quite hear.
Peter took a step inside the room, and accidently stepped on a piece of wood from the broken door.
The sound of the wood snapping caused both of the boys to flinch, Neal whimpered and buried his face deeper into his brother's chest while Mozzie looked up, sheer terror in his eyes.
Mozzie visibly relaxed when he realized that it was him and not Keller, and then he ran a hand through Neal's brown curls.

"It's okay, Neal."

The boy said in a soft voice and with his big brother's reassurance, Neal dared to look up.
Peter felt a protective instinct when he saw that the younger boy's face was smeared with blood, presumably originating from his nose.
Neal looked up at his brother, silently asking for permission, and even if Mozzie had some distrust left in his eyes, he nodded and his brother left his arms and ran over to the agent.
The four-year-old threw himself in Peter's arms and he didn't hesitate to hug the little boy back.
The hug lasted for a minute before Neal pulled back and his blue eyes met Peter's.

"Safe?"

He asked and Peter nodded.

"Yeah buddy, you are safe now."