10A: Headache

Chuck knew this was a bad idea from the beginning, and that was before he knew he'd be working with Bryce again, but this had only gotten worse every step of the way!

No wonder his head was pounding! He was standing in the safe house after a dangerous mission, that had been a task force operation, which had generally concluded with three little agents at his feet.

Junior of the NSA, Neal of the FBI, and, of course, Bryce of the CIA had been exposed to something that made them child-sized. However, this was only made worse since they seemed to also have something of childish emotions too; because they cried, fought, and seemed afraid of the big agent Casey.

Growling in distaste, Casey couldn't aim his gun at a child, even if that child was agent Bryce Larkin, so he mostly just growled and kept his distance after his initial approach had caused screams and three tiny panic attacks.

"We can't handle three of them at the same time; we've barely been around kids?" Sarah had tried working with them before admitting defeat. She had no idea how to interact with children.

"Alright, Uncle Morgan to the rescue, how about some pizza and video games?" Morgan gallantly took a shot.

As expected, Bryce was on board with this arrangement, and Junior was persuaded when he was allowed to pick the game, but Neal had no interest in playing a video game.

"Why can't I go home?" Neal whined while his face crumpled into tears.

Sighing, Chuck tried to explain why again, "Because, you're not your usual size and we don't want Agent Burke to see you like this."

"But, you could send me to him and his wife as a foster kid. Then you wouldn't have three of us." Neal continued to cry as he shared his plan

Surprised, Chuck wondered if it would be possible. "Why do you want to be with Peter?" He started by questioning the kid.

"...My friend," Neal managed to get the statement out around his sniffles.

"Friends! Why didn't I think of that? Junior, do you have a particular friend you'd like to stay with?" Chuck had the beginning of a plan.

"Agent Winters would take me," Junior shrugged as he thumbed through the game options.

Clapping his hands, Chuck ducked off with the promise to do what he could do for the kids.

Most of the process had been easy. Beckman had made arrangements for Junior to stay with Agent Winters and he'd be by to pick him up after they had pizza since he was stationed in New York City.

Neal was going to pose as a foster child and stay with the Burkes. Chuck would just have to pose as the representative monitoring his case. Then he and Sarah would have Bryce.

This gave each of the boys someone who knew them and cared to look out for them, but the Burk's wouldn't know that little Danny Brooks was actually Neal Caffrey.

Returning to the main area, Chuck found Bryce enthusiastically playing a video game with Morgan and Junior. Neal was hugging a pillow while he lay curled up on the couch. Clearing his throat, he got their attention to make his announcement.

"Beckman agreed. You will each be going to stay with someone you know. This means that Agent Winters will be here after dinner to pick up Junior, Bryce will be staying with us, and Neal will be performing as Danny Brooks, a foster child to Agent Burke and his wife. They are being notified as we speak and I will drop you off later this evening once your care package arrives. Being child-sized, it has been decided that you will fully pose as a child and I will be your caseworker to check on you until we can figure this out."

Although Sara still looked a little nervous, the boys seemed calmer.

"Can I tell Theo? Junior asked while picking up his remote towards resuming the game.

"He knows so you can talk freely, but you and Bryce will have to play the charade in public," Chuck confirmed.

Fortunately, the pizzas didn't take long to arrive and the evening was passing quickly.

By the time there was a knock on the door, even Neal had joined in on the games to pass the time.

Answering, Chuck was surprised to see no one. Looking down, he saw a nicely dressed middle-aged man. His head was balding and he had thick glasses, but his smile was friendly as Chuck let him in.

"I suppose we'll have to use the nephew story again, perhaps you can be your own little brother?" Winters greeted Junior by getting to the point and handing him his care bag.

Going through the bag, Junior was checking to see that he had everything he'd want or needed.

"That's easy enough, we've used the story of me being your nephew a few times when it wouldn't endanger Neal's work with you."

With everything satisfactory, Junior said goodbye to his brothers, thanked the other agents, and left with his friend.

Down to two children, Chuck went to change in preparation for his coming role.

When he got back, Neal was going through his bag to familiarize himself with his character.

The kid sat on the floor with a stuffed monkey by his side and a folder of paperwork in his little hands. He was studious and quiet which contrasted with his brother's exuberant behavior as he continued to game with Morgan.

"Are you ready to go?" Chuck asked the little agent to start a conversation. When Neal quietly picked up his things, Chuck kissed his wife goodbye and learned about the car seat that had been installed in their company SUV.

Then he escorted the little Neal out to get him settled for the trip.

While they followed the GPS to the Burkes, Chuck tried to make conversation. "Does it scare you to be small?"

Sighing, Neal seemed reluctant to react at first. "My childhood wasn't so great the first time around. Mom forgot about us a lot and some of her boyfriends were mean. This feels like facing that all over again, and I don't like it."

"That's why you want to be with the Burkes? They're a sense of familiar safety while reminding you that you are not actually a child anymore, despite the current circumstances. It probably helps that Peter is your best friend where I'm a relative stranger." Chuck couldn't blame Neal for wanting to be somewhere where he felt safe and comfortable.

"It's nothing against you and Sarah, but yes, Peter is my best friend so he understands me, in general, better than you do." Neal was honest and straightforward with him.

"Don't worry, I get it," Chuck reassured the sullen little one in the back.

The rest of the drive was rather quiet as Neal sat in the car seat and watched the city go by.

Chuck focused on his navigating and traffic to ensure he got where they needed to go.

Arriving at the Burkes, Chuck grabbed the folder, helped Neal out, and then carried his bag up to the door. They were let in by a man who seemed alert but a bit awkward.

"Come in, my wife is walking Satchmo and should be back in a few minutes." The agent explained as he took Neal's bag and set it aside.

Getting a look at Neal, he seemed to catch his breath.

Knowing he was probably reacting to the similar appearance to Neal's adult self, Chuck disregarded it and began going over the paperwork. Sure enough, Elizabeth Burke returned shortly with a dog, presumably Satchmo, who she let off of the leash.

Free to explore, Satchmo went directly to Neal and sniffed him before whining in confusion.

Petting him, Neal seemed comforted by the dog and soon had him settled in front of him for pets and attention.

Turning back to the Burkes, Chuck saw that Elizabeth was also staring at Neal.

"He looks like a mini version of Neal, but more sullen. So much for being distracted," she commented to her husband to keep Neal from overhearing her.

Not worried, Chuck asked bluntly what they wanted distracted from.

"My consultant, Neal, is on a loan assignment until further notice. I'm not being told how he is or what is going on. Let's just leave it that other agents aren't always nice to him so I'm worried about him. He's my friend, my responsibility, and I can't even call him." Peter was equally blunt and his worried tone only hinted at his concern, "I hope that won't be a problem."

Realizing another reason for Neal's preference to be with the Burkes, Chuck tried to keep his smile to a minimum. "No, that shouldn't be a problem. I hope it will encourage you to spend time with Danny and engender a connection in his own right. The kid is bright, good at puzzles, and likes art."

Frowning, Peter seemed to see a challenge, "That sounds like Neal in addition to Danny looking like him." He moved to grab a picture that he passed to Chuck.

It was a larger Neal wearing a tux and smiling with Peter, "I see what you mean." Then he passed a business card to the Burkes. "I'm required to check in often, but let me know if the similarities become a problem or if anything strange should occur."

Peter frowned deeper and raised an eyebrow while his wife looked worried, "Strange, what could you possibly mean by that?"

He meant the possibility of Danny growing into Neal at an unnatural rate, shrinking, or any of the other unknown possibilities. "Danny is an identical triplet and they seem to have some form of telepathic connection. He might let you know if we need to do something about his brothers."

Which was another concern, and it was less awkward to explain to the Burkes.

Both of them looked to the boy with interest and seemed skeptical, but Chuck knew they might as well know since the triplets had promised to keep connected.

Finishing up the information by catching Elizabeth up on what she'd missed, Chuck was glad to see Peter crouch in front of Neal and reach out comfortingly. Neal responded by leaning forward to hug the agent and bury his head into his shoulder. Continuing to watch more than go over the paperwork, Chuck noticed that Elizabeth also enjoyed seeing Peter pick Neal up and cuddle him into his lap as he moved to the couch.

Hurrying to go over the last details, Chuck knew Danny was safe and comforted so he left when Elizabeth let him out.

Returning to his temporary home, Chuck found Bryce asleep on the floor while Morgan and Sarah were still sitting around at their occupations. Discussing what to do, they decided that Bryce could sleep on a large chair in the corner as his frame was small enough to fit comfortably, Morgan would have the couch, and Chuck would share the bedroom with Sarah. Casey had left for his own base in the city, likely some hotel room, to get away from the situation. With a plan in mind, Chuck picked Bryce up and tucked him in on the chair while Morgan and Sarah started picking up. It didn't take long before the place was back to rights before the chaos of the evening and everyone had gone to bed for the night.

Living with a mini Bryce was unexpectedly easy.

Getting up in the morning, he started the coffee and picked up his sleeping area. Then he tucked both his adult and child bags behind it so that they were out of sight but he could access them if he needed anything.

The others would be waking up to start breakfast, so he exercised. After eating, he took a turn cleaning up and dressing.

The rest of the day was spent with tests being done by a medical team trying to find what was happening, video games and games in general, or paperwork.

At the end of the day, they relaxed before going to bed and repeating the cycle.

Thank you, everyone, for reading, reviewing/commenting, and leaving kudos :D