A Perfect Storm

Chapter Twenty-Two

-Peter's POV-

Having Jaxon around for the last month was almost like having Neal still here but without a break. Jaxon was definitely moving on faster than I was, though I was sure he was just pushing it away to feel better. I was just getting used to staying in the office all day, I have no partner to keep safe anymore so I officially pulled myself out of the field, not that that made my day any easier. After a particularly hard day I came home and El was waiting at the front door, "we need to talk" she stated.

"What's wrong?" I started to panic a little.

She led me away from the bottom of the stairs and lowered her voice, "Jaxon"

I sighed, the panic immediately going away, "did he do something?"

She nodded, "I had to go pick him up from school today, he punched another kid"

"What?!" She nodded, clearly upset he did that too. "Have you talked to him?"

"No. I thought you'd be better at that, let's face it, he's stubborn like his father."

I nodded in agreement, "in his room?" I questioned and she nodded. I headed upstairs and knocked on his door before going in. I sat on his bed and had him come sit next to me, "so you punched someone?"

"No"

"Jaxon" I sighed, knowing if the school said he had he must have.

He crossed his arms, "he deserved it"

"Jaxon, that's not okay. You can't punch other people!"

"I had to!" He yelled.

"No! You can't do that!"

"I know I shouldn't but I had to!"

"Jaxon-"

"You aren't listening to me! Nobody is!" He yelled.

"Don't raise your voice!" I scolded.

"I'm sorry. His face was just so punchable"

I sighed, "know what. You can stay up here for the rest of the night"

"What?!"

"You heard me!"

"But what about dinner?!"

"I'll bring it up to you. You just sit here, and think about why what you did was wrong" I grabbed the DS off his dresser on the way out so he couldn't play it, I shut his door and went back downstairs. "That went horribly" I stated.

"Did he not listen?"

"No. And I'm pretty sure 8's a little young for grounding" I sighed. "I'm not good at this"

"Hun, he just needs to learn what he did was wrong, you're doing fine. To be fair he's been this way for about a year now. You had your Neal at work and some days I'd have the little copy of Neal"

"Well hopefully our Neal won't be like that" I joked.

She smiled and chuckled a bit, "he won't be, he's a Burke, not a Caffrey" she smiled.

When I brought Jaxon his dinner he didn't speak to me, he just kept staring out the window. There was no noise from him for a long time, and once El went to bed the house was nearly silent. That night I was the one thinking about what I'd done, maybe Jaxon was just acting out because of Neal's death, and if I had gotten there sooner maybe Neal would still be alive. While I thought I ended up just getting so deep in thought I was staring into space, I nearly didn't see a small dark haired figure sneak out the backdoor. I sighed and shook my head before going out to the deck, Jaxon was sitting on the grass staring at the sky. "What are ya looking at?"

"Sky" he quietly said.

"No stars?" I questioned as I sat next to him.

"There's not much to see in the city. But, 'member when uncle mozzie and me and my dad lived on that island? There was so many stars there"

"Liked it there?"

He nodded, "I didn't wanna leave"

"Hey. Wanna tell me why you punched that kid today"

"My friend, Nadia, she has two dads and was adopted and that kid was a mean moron with bad views so he picked on her and wouldn't stop"

"What you did, defending her, THAT is a great thing, but punching him wasn't"

He nodded, "I know. I really am sorry"

"It's okay, just don't do it again"

"I won't"

"You should go to bed, you have school in the morning."

"Mmmmm...Nahhh" he grinned up at me after saying that, I knew he was messing with me.