Chapter Text
Peter didn’t exactly want to cry when he saw RJ with Neal again, on Monday (when he arrived at June’s to pick Neal up for the day), but it was actually a relatively near thing. “So. He’s with you again?” Peter asked.
Neal sighed and put a booster in Peter’s back seat, because he was a very small eleven year old and the law was the law. “Yes,” he said. Then he set about making sure RJ was buckled.
(Peter could have sworn he heard Neal mutter “I don’t care if you can’t die – it's dangerous for the other people in the car, too, if you’re not buckled, chum,” but he chose to just not think too much about it. He didn’t want to know, frankly.)
Neal got into the passenger side, after and took a long moment to just. Breathe.
“Rough night?”
“He’s in a mood,” Neal said. “He’ll only listen to Kal and Kal’s not currently available.”
“Is there anyone else he’ll listen to?” Peter asked.
“It’s his week off,” Neal muttered.
“What?”
“It’s. RJ does have another caretaker, but it’s his week off,” Neal scrubbed his hands down his face. “He’s, uh, my dad.”
“Your.”
“My dad,” Neal nodded, hands still on his face. “And I can’t just call him back from his week off to babysit, just because I can’t handle my own kid.” He finally dropped his hands off his face. “I can manage.”
“Your dad?” Peter frowned at Neal, then at the steering wheel. Then just... let it go. “Yeah, I can see why you wouldn’t want to call him back from a vacation.” He cleared his throat. “We’re, uh, headed back to the zoo—”
“Don’t worry about it, I have a much better leash,” Neal said. “More secure.”
Peter nodded slowly, albeit without being very convinced. He remembered the sense of absolute helplessness when none of them could get RJ to willingly leave the elephant enclosure, just the day before. He remembered how food was the only incentive the kid would listen to.
“And I have snacks, this time,” Neal said.
Peter frowned at him, again. “Snacks?”
“Candy,” Neal nodded.
RJ gasped and wiggled from his place, secured in his booster seat behind the driver seat. “Candy,” he whispered. His wiggling grew more enthusiastic.
“In case I need to tempt him back to my side,” Neal nodded.
He pulled out a container of fruit tic-tacs and turned to give RJ two of them. That seemed about fair, after mentioning candy around the kid. But, then again, Peter couldn’t help but wonder if the sugar would get into RJ’s system and make him hyper and more unpredictable.
“Are we going straight to the zoo?” Neal asked.
“Oh. Uh. Yes,” Peter put the car in drive.
--
The same two cops (one short and broad and blond, the other tall and thin and brunette) were at the entrance to the zoo, ready to escort Peter and Neal back to the display in the pavilion at the center of the zoo. They visibly died a bit inside when they saw RJ, and Peter couldn’t really blame them for it.
Neal, though, approached with confidence.
The new child leash was a neon orange leash with a locking buckle and velcro wristlet on the child side and just a velcro wristlet on the parent side, as well as a coiled, flexible polyurethane-covered steel cord connecting the wristlets. Peter could appreciate the seriousness of this newer child leash, especially after the elephant enclosure.
“Lead the way,” Peter said.
The cops looked at each other with clear doubt in their eyes, then nodded to each other and did just that.
--
At first, it seemed like the locking wristlet was the answer to all the problems they’d been having. RJ had about eight – nine, max – feet he could get from Neal, and didn’t seem to be able to get out of the wrist part.
“He can pick locks, but I made sure he didn’t have anything to pick this one with,” Neal said.
“He can what?” Peter asked.
Neal looked surprised.
Peter sighed. “Of course your kid knows how to pick locks. I don’t know why I’m surprised.”
“It’s a useful skill, Peter. What if someone locks themself out, somewhere? What if you lose the key to a fire safe? What if you lost your key to your bike lock?” Neal continued to frown at Peter, as if Peter was being unreasonable.
And they were supposed to be taking another look at the crime scene and comparing notes with the cops that had previously looked the crime scene over (especially the detective who hadn’t been able to make it until later in the day, after Neal and Peter had already left, the day previous), but...
“Or you could need to break into a house or safe or bike lock that isn’t yours,” Peter hissed back.
“Oh please. Lockpicking isn’t only a criminal endeavour. Just because I’m a felon doesn’t mean my son will be, you know,” Neal scoffed.
“Oh, but just in case he is, you want to make sure he can get through locks, right?”
“Peter, I expected better of you,” Neal said.
And it continued on like that for a while, until Neal stopped, suddenly, and got very quiet. Peter almost asked him what was wrong, but then noticed that Neal’s eyes were on the slack of his RJ leash. Both of them followed the leash to its empty end, a few feet away.
“What?” Peter hissed.
Neal visibly deflated.
Peter leaned down and picked the leash up. The kid-side wristlet was missing. “What the hell?” he demanded. He handed the end of the leash to Neal and crossed his arms. He tried to look upset, but came across mostly incredulous.
“Ah,” Neal said quietly.
“Isn’t there metal cord in there?” Peter asked.
“Braided steel cord, yes,” Neal sighed.
“How?”
“Well, it looks like he chewed through it.”
“I know what it looks like, but,” Peter motioned vaguely. “How, Neal?” he hissed. “You don’t just chew through plastic and steel.”
“Well, apparently, you do,” Neal tried to contain his annoyance. It wasn’t very effective. “Don’t worry, he’ll be with Zitka again.”
“Zitka...?”
“The elephant,” Neal waved him off. “It’s fine.”
“What! It most certainly is not fine—!”
“No, it’s fine,” Neal disagreed. “Zitka won’t hurt him, he won’t hurt her—”
“You can’t just leave him—”
“He’ll be fine.”
“Neal!”
“He’ll be fine,” Neal repeated. He took off the other side of the child leash and casually threw it out in the nearest trash can. “Don’t mention anything, it’ll just upset the security guards and police again. And what are they going to do? They’ll never be able to get RJ to listen to them.”
“Neal!”
Neal waved him off and walked back towards the officers to continue the investigation.
Peter screamed. But at least managed to keep his scream internal.
