At last! After such a long time I updated, but to make up for it this chapter is the longest yet! Thanks for all of the reviews everyone left and I received a pretty even vote split between moving into the next conflict and having a family bonding chapter. Thanks to a guest reviewer named Tinii, I had the idea for this chapter which meets the needs of family bonding and conflict ;)
Throughout the night Peter had been getting up and "going to the bathroom"; at least, that's what he would tell himself. Each time he would wake up, he would go to check that Neal was still safe and sound in his bed.
In the previous morning, Peter and Elizabeth had only realized that Neal was gone for a little less than an hour, but just that short time was enough to foretell that if anything like that was to happen again, then the Burkes' hearts would break. Neither Peter nor El wanted to risk waking up another morning to Neal's empty bedroom. So after Peter's last trip to check on Neal around three in the morning, he finally fell asleep for a consecutive five hours.
Since it was Sunday, Peter didn't have to work so the couple enjoyed sleeping in a little bit. Around eight-thirty Elizabeth decided she was done lying in bed with her husband's arms wrapped around her and got up to start her day. Unlike Peter, she had actually slept soundly through the night, probably due to her greater faith that Neal wasn't going to leave them again. She kissed her groggy husband's forehead before she got dressed and then headed downstairs after checking that her little boy was still asleep.
Shortly after his wife had risen, Peter eventually rolled out of bed and threw on some sweat pants and a t-shirt. He almost jumped when he turned around to find a pint-sized child standing right behind him. "Oh Neal, you startled me buddy. I thought you were still asleep," the man said as he ruffled the boy's wild hair.
Neal barely came up to the tall adult's waist and just stared up at him with blank glossy eyes. He looked adorable in his Superman pajamas and messy hair. Peter held back a chuckle when the small child sleepily raised his hand and rested it on the man's belly. "Neal? Are you even awake?" Peter asked taking the boy's hand in his. "You're not much of a morning person are you?" he said with a laugh as he realized the trend. Every morning when Neal would come downstairs he was always a little out of it, but today he was even more zombified than usual.
Peter decided it would be best to just pick the child up and carry him; he didn't want Neal falling down the stairs. The man hoisted the child up on his waste and headed to join his wife downstairs. Neal's mind was obviously somewhere else as the child didn't even pitch a fit about being able to walk on his own.
When Pete walked into the kitchen holding the small five year-old, El smiled fondly at the sight. "Oh there's my two sleepy heads," She said playfully as she stood by the stove cooking sausages.
"Yah except this sleepy head isn't even conscious," Peter responded as he brought Neal over to El. Maybe the smell of savory sausages and toast would wake the boy up. Elizabeth put a hand around the back of the child's wavy hair and planted a kiss on his forehead. She intended on taking advantage of his unaware state since usually Neal didn't allow kisses.
"Hello is anybody in there?" the motherly woman called as she tickled the boy's sides.
A slight smile appeared on Neal's face. "Helllooooo," he said as he wriggled out of Peter's arms and away from El's tickling fingers. He slumped over to a kitchen chair and threw his body across sideways so his belly rested on the seat. "It's too eawly for com-mune-ikay-shun," the boy slurred.
The couple had a good laugh at Neal's childish actions before El went to finish cooking breakfast and Peter joined Neal at the table with a cup of coffee. By now Neal had repositioned himself to actually sitting on the chair with his head resting on the table. "Peter? I need some coffee too," he pleaded as he stuck his bottom lip out and offered bright blue puppy-dog eyes.
"No Neal, coffee is for adults only."
"Pleeeaaasee?"
"No, and your cute face is not gonna work on me."
Neal lifted his head and turned in his seat, "Elizabef?"
"Neal, you can't just ask Elizabeth right after I told you no!" Peter groaned shocked at the audacity of the kid. He also knew that El would probably crack under the puppy dog eyes and at least allow him a sip.
Neal dropped his head back on the table and sulked. Despite Peter claiming that the boy's adorable face couldn't charm him, he still felt the need to appease the boy. "How about this? Since I don't have to work today, Elizabeth and I can take you to the park," he offered.
The child's cerulean eyes lit up as he lifted his chin from the table, "Really? Does it have a playground?" he asked.
Elizabeth had finished making breakfast for everyone and brought the plates to the table setting one down in front of each of her boys. "Sorry guys, but I have to go to work today from eleven to three. So unless you go later, you'll have to go without me." Peter's face visibly fell but luckily the little boy next to him was focused on stabbing his sausage link with a fork. "Oh don't worry Hon, you two will be just fine," she added as she sat across from Neal and placed a comforting hand on Peter. "You can go to the park around ten and then after you're done playing you can go out to lunch." Neal nodded with his untamed hair bouncing up and down; this plan sounded good to him.
Before Elizabeth sent Neal and Peter off to the park, she went over the game plan with her husband again while Neal wrestled with Satchmo. "Okay so you and Neal will walk Satch to the park and then everyone can play. You can even teach him baseball! I packed a backpack with some things you might need, there's bottled water for you and Neal and even Satch. After Neal's had enough, you two can drop Satchmo off here and then grab some lunch. The little guy might be tired later so try winding him down so he'll fall asleep. Remember not to blatantly ask him to take a nap; you know how he is about wanting to be a big boy," she finished as she gave her husband a hug and kiss. El glowed as she relished the feeling of being a mother planning a play date for her baby and his daddy.
Interrupting their precious parenthood moment, Neal's childish laughter could be heard. "Satchmo! Let me put your leash on!" The child said trying to be stern with the dog; however, he was not very successful as little fits of giggles would escape.
"Okay, I think I can do this," Peter told El with confidence. He then turned to Neal and the yellow lab, "Here buddy, let me help with Satchmo." The dog recognized his master and immediately sat for Peter to clip the leash on to him.
"Neal, can I get a hug goodbye?" El asked as she lowered herself to the boy's eye level.
The little boy's independent barrier was not yet fully broken, but he considered this request and decided it wouldn't hurt. Elizabeth's hugs were definitely some of the best. "Okay, but no kisses!" he said cutely as he walked into El's open arms and wrapped his little arms around her neck. Elizabeth smiled and hugged him tightly.
After everyone exchanged their goodbyes, Peter, Neal, and Satch were off to the park.
Peter watched for a while as Satchmo chased Neal over the green lawn. Thirty minutes later, a panting Satchmo and a slightly tired Neal showed up in front of Peter. Neal wanted to take it easy for a little bit, but didn't want to sit and rest because that would be boring. And what five year-old stays in one place for more than a couple minutes? So Peter pulled out a baseball and offered to throw it with the boy. At first Neal was hesitant since he had never played catch before. His dad was never around long enough to teach him how, and his uncle certainly never played with the poor kid. Peter convinced him that it wouldn't hurt to try and that mistakes were perfectly fine and that he would work with him.
The two began to throw the ball back and forth without any gloves, and Neal was enjoying himself and would even laugh it off when he dropped the ball. Peter would take his small arm and show him out to wind up and step into his throw, and Neal would cheer when he made a successful catch. And for the first time in his tiny life, Neal felt as if he had a real father. The kid had always seen happy little boys with their doting fathers, but he had never once been in their shoes and experienced the role of the son.
But Neal wasn't the only one enjoying the baseball lesson; Peter was soaking up every minute of it. His heart overflowed with joy when Neal would take his advice and improve his throw. And every time the small boy caught the ball, he wanted to pick him up and swing him around; although he didn't understand why he was so happy over such a simple thing. It wasn't like Neal catching the ball successfully was a rare feat; rather the child had exemplary motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Neal caught on very quickly and was soon throwing the ball better than most five year-olds could and was catching almost every throw. Still, Peter enjoyed throwing the ball with Neal just as much as he had enjoyed his time playing major-league ball.
The baseball fanatic could've thrown the baseball forever, but Neal eventually grew bored of it and was ready to move on. Satchmo began whining too as all he could do was watch as his humans threw the ball that he wasn't allowed to eat.
"Peter, I wanna play on the playground!" Neal squealed as he tugged on Peter's hand trying to pull him towards the colorful equipment.
"Go ahead bud," Peter said as he gave Neal an approving pat on the back. He on the other hand took Satchmo to go sit on the park bench to watch.
"You're not gonna come play too?" The boy asked with a cute little frown. But after realizing his needy request he quickly added, "Of course you don't have to, it's not like I need you to."
At those comments the man desperately wanted join his boy in all the little games he had in mind, but he knew he was too large to squeeze into the small tubes or slide down the slides. "Oh I'm sorry Neal, but I'm too big to play on the playground equipment. If you want, I can push you on the swings?"
But the child's rare moment of openness and need was gone and he simply shook his head as he ran off to play.
Peter let out a regretful sigh; he wished Neal would drop the solo act. He should've just said yes the first time the boy asked before he could take it back. Instead he pulled out two bottles of water from the backpack. He waterfalled one over Satchmo as the dog lapped up the falling water. Then he sat back with his own bottle and drank as he watched Neal swinging around on the equipment. Children were always so amusing in that even if they were playing alone, they would create a whole new world to interact with. Neal ran and slid down a slide and then tried to reach the monkey bars; fortunately he was too short, since Peter didn't think such a small child should be on the monkey bars anyway.
Neal climbed up the half ladder and dashed through the play set. Then, before Peter could protest, Neal built up a running start, planted his hands on the bar above the ladder, and catapulted himself towards the monkey bars in order to reach one of them. Of course the child was no acrobat, and his fingertips fell short of the bar as he fell more than a few feet and landed on his back with his left arm underneath him.
"Neal!" Peter yelled as he jumped up from the bench. Satchmo beat Peter as he was already running towards the fallen boy. Neal sat up slowly using his right arm to prop himself up while his left arm hung delicately beside him. Heart beating a mile per minute, Peter rushed to the child's side. The man's breath hitched as he saw that Neal's face was white as a sheet and big tears slipped silently down his cheeks.
"Oh Neal, buddy, are you okay?" the fatherly figure asked trying to keep the panicking expression off of his face.
The little boy nodded slightly although he was clearly not okay. Not even one sound escaped the child.
"Are you sure? What you did was very dangerous and that was quite a fall you took." Peter managed to control his emotions and not raise his voice. Judging by that fall, the boy had already learned his lesson about being reckless. "Don't you ever do something like that again Neal. You could have really hurt yourself."
Neal gave another small nod but still didn't say anything. Maybe he was afraid that if he opened his mouth then his sobs would escape.
Peter grabbed Neal underneath his arms and lifted the child to his feet. He noticed how Neal winced slightly as Peter came close to brushing his left arm. "Neal did you hurt your arm?" Another tiny nod came as an answer. "Can I see? Hold out your arm for me please."
This time Neal shook his head and as Peter reached towards the limp little arm, Neal turned his body away. "Wanna go home," he said in a small pitiful voice as another large tear rolled. Peter sighed as he looked at his watch to find that it was 12:30; Elizabeth wouldn't be home for a few more hours. Satchmo wanted to comfort his tiny human and rubbed up against Neal accidently bumping his arm in question. The child let out a painful yelp and then gave a pleading cry to Peter, "Now!"
"Okay, okay. We'll head home now." He grabbed Satchmo's leash and the backpack and held out his free hand for Neal to take. However, the boy now had his right arm cradling his left and was not willing to spare a hand for Peter to hold.
The two walked in silence for the entire five minutes it took to get home. When they entered the house Peter unclipped Satchmo and took a good look at Neal. The boy looked positively sick. All color was flushed from the child's face as he still stood holding his arm. "Neal, are you sure you're alright? You look sick to your stomach," Peter said with concern.
And almost as if on cue, Neal ran to the kitchen and emptied his stomach's contents into the trash. "Neal!" Peter cried as he followed behind the small boy. No longer able to shelve the unbearable pain, Neal burst into uncontrollable sobs. He seemed to melt where he was standing and Peter rushed to catch the child as he collapsed into the man's arms. His heart broke for the child and he yearned to comfort him. "Shh, it's okay little man, what's a matter?" Peter said trying to comfort and stifle the cries. But Neal wouldn't stop. "Your arm must really be hurting. Can I please see?" he asked in a soothing voice before lifting Neal's arm slightly. Peter didn't think it was possible, but when he moved the boy's arm even more cries erupted. "Can you move your arm at all bud?" he asked the child in his lap.
"N-n-noo!" Neal chocked out in between his sobs as he shook his head violently. The man swallowed. Poor little Neal, how could Peter let this happen?! He should've been next to him ready to catch the boy if he fell. He should've told him to calm down and stop running. There had to have been something to prevent this, but even after the accident, why hadn't he seen Neal's intense pain sooner? He should've never believed the young boy when he said he was fine!
"Alright, it's okay," Peter cooed as he stood lifting Neal in his arms carefully so that he didn't touch the child's hurt arm. He wondered if he should go to the hospital; if only El where here, she would know what to do. Peter looked at Neal's slightly swollen arm. Was it bending a little bit? No, his eyes must be playing tricks on him. Still cradling the boy in his arms, he grabbed his keys and the two headed out for his car. There was no way he couldn't take the screaming child to the hospital. "Don't worry Neal, everything's gonna be alright."
He placed the boy into the back seat of his car and the child's uninjured arm shot up and clung to Peter's shirt. Peter held Neal's tiny hand and stroked the boy's hair as he promised that he would take care of him, but right now he needed to drive. After some coaxing, Neal let Peter buckle him into the booster seat that El had bought and as soon as that was settled, the worried father took off. During the excruciatingly long eight minute drive, Neal's cries hardly quieted.
By the way, the accident that Neal had was actually inspired by something similar happening to my little brother when he was 7. He was playing at a playground at school and pretending to be Indiana Jones. He was on the play set and went to swing off of a bar, but unfortunately he forgot his whip and fell on his arm. Neal's reaction to the incident is exactly the same to my brother's. He was actually suffering from aftershock so he didn't cry at first and tolerated the pain, but after recess it became unbearable and he went to the nurse and then threw up because he was in so much pain :c my poor baby brother
I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review and tell me what you think! Also I will use this to bring in Neal's uncle! Dun dun dun!