Chapter 6: The Right 'Tool'

Neal took a breath and pulled up a search engine on his FED issued computer while pulling out his phone and calling Mozzie, if he was getting out of this he was going to need all the information he could get. Neal search for anything Alexander O'Brian had been into since they last met as he flipped through the case file.

Peter looked down at his CI partner curiously through the glass wall of Hughes office. Neal seemed have jumped right into the case. While they were both usually happy to get a case that wasn't boring the classy Neal Caffrey didn't tend to be as enthusiastic…

"The case is yours Peter." Hughes approved when he finished reading the file; pulling Peter out of his thoughts.

"Thanks." Peter replied automatically before leaving. The agent filed the slightly odd behavior away for later thought as he grabbed his suit jacket from his office and walked down the stairs towards the elevator.

"Ready?" Peter asked slightly raising an eyebrow at Neal multitasking when he clearly remember Neal saying he didn't like to.

"Yeah." Neal replied standing up and grabbing his own jacket. As Peter was walking down the stairs he had quickly deleted his computer history and got off the phone with Mozzie. He had gotten all the information he could in the last few minutes, which wasn't much but he would just have to hope it would be enough.

They took the elevator and headed out to meet the 'victim'. Neal thought frantically of how he could get out of being seen by Alexander. If his old 'friend' saw him it wouldn't just be suspicion of art theft he'd have to worry about it being part of his past. A part he'd really rather Peter not know about.

"Something wrong?" Peter asked as they got in the car. Neal was sure he would have felt less stupid if he hadn't noticed a bomb falling on his head, because he'd somehow allowed his nervousness to seep through enough for Peter to see.

"Not really," Neal bent the truth easily. "just a little concerned about Damian." Using the 'tool' of misdirection he successfully changed the subject and pulled Peter's attention away from him. Peter smiled he knew that probably wasn't the whole story but found the subject of his partner's newly discovered son entertaining.

"I'm sure he's fine. June had kids of her own so I'm sure she can handle one for a few hours." Peter tried the logical approach. Neal gave the perfect sheepish smile without even a thought and pulled his FBI handler's attention back to the case with ease, to get more information.

Meanwhile Damien watched the other kids at the park play with June sitting a bit behind him on a bench. Looking for what seemed most fun he decided in an instant the swings was where he wanted to go first. He ran over to an open one quickly and started to pump; pushing back and forth until his feet could almost touch the high branch of the tree that was close by.

A few moments later he notice his shoe was untied, slowing down until he could stop the rest of the momentum with his feet Damian bent over still sitting on the swing to tie his shoe. He still didn't know how to double knot them but he could tie them really well. Before he could finish though someone pushed him from behind right off the swing and he fell onto his hands and knees. Confused Damian quickly got up and spun around.

"Hey, you pushed me!" he accused the older boy that had already sat in the swing he'd been in. "That's my swing!" Damian was mad he'd gotten that swing first and all the others were taken now. The older boy didn't seem to care.

"Move your feet lose your seat." The annoying older and bigger boy said smugly as he began to swing forward making Damian have to more out of the way or be hit with his feet. The dark haired blue eyed boy watched the older boy swing back a forth on his swing with growing sadness and anger. Finally deciding that he wasn't going to let the other boy get away with it no matter how big he was Damian looked around for something to use against the older boy.

He saw adults and thought of telling one of them but didn't know which grown up the other boy belonged to besides he didn't want to be a tattletale. So he kept looking until he stopped on the 'tool' he could use. The seven year old blinked thinking if he should really do what he was thinking. Looking back at the boy who stolen his swing he frowned before waking over to the boy he had just seen picking on a smaller girl.

Damian walked right up to the boy who seemed to be the current playground bully with nothing but confidence in his movements. Though on the inside he was afraid and unsure of what he was about to do and what would happen if he got caught. What steeled his resolve then was seeing the little girl who was being picked on start to cry.

"Hey." Damian said getting the attention of the bully who turned to him unimpressed. No going back now. Damian thought. "Is it true that you're the kid who still wets the bed?" Damian asked looking curious. The bully's eyes widened and he grabbed Damian by the front of his new Superman hoody.

"What did you say?" The large bully asked with a warning in his tone that would frighten any fifth grader. Damian held his breath to keep himself calm while he instantly told the rest of his lie. "I didn't mean it, he just told me-" Damian pointed to the boy who was still on his swing, while acting terrified, which really wasn't that hard at the moment.

"Get lost." The bully snared cutting him off mid sentence and dropping him on his butt. Damian didn't need to be told again and scampered away pulling the little girl who'd been forgotten with him as the bully stomped right to the boy who'd taken his swing.

Damian smiled at the girl and asked her if she was okay, at her shy nod he ran around the trees in a wide half circle until he was close by his old swing but stayed back and hid behind a tree. He watched as the bigger bully roughly pulled the boy who took his swing right off the swing and onto the ground. Damian smirked the kid definitely dissevered it. The two bullies started yelling at each other and soon enough a fist fight started between them.

Damian blinked his sky blue eyes at the scene, that wasn't supposed to happen. He'd just wanted the jerk off his swing… It didn't matter for long though soon the bigger bully's father came and grabbed the kid while the boy who took his swing was grabbed by his mother. Both were gone within a few minutes.

Watching the two bullies being pulled out of the park Damian look left and then right for any kids watching before walking over to his old swing with a spring in his step and a cat who ate the canary grin on his face. He plopped down onto his swing almost smugly and went back to swinging as high as he could.

June watch Damian with an air of disbelief, she had been about to go over and help her charge many times but just before she did something would happen so that she didn't need to. June closed her mouth as she realized it was hanging slightly open and shook her head. She wasn't sure if she should be amused by the boy's natural 'powers' or shudder in fear. If he ever followed in his father's footsteps… the boy would truly be Great, scary, but Great.

AND CUT! "I was always my father's son."