AN: Thank you for the reviews! My job has become very hectic and I am half dead writing this, so this chapter is once again short. My apologies!

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Hand Of Time Chapter Seven:

Sometime later Roger sat at the small coffee shop off Prince Street and sipped a cup of very strong black coffee his head once again buried in Dorothy's diary. It was his obsession now, even as he waited for Angel to arrive he could not stop.

Dear Lottie,

I wanted to tell you that today I met the two young men that live in the apartment across from my father and I. They are foreigners, from someplace in Germany from a very old family. The older brother is a tall strapping young man of twenty named Andrew, his eyes are the palest blue with hair nearly as white and silvery as my jewelry. His younger brother who is eighteen is the exact opposite of Andrew, he carries his brother's height but not the bulk. Actually he may be thinner then even me!

His name is Alan and I discovered that the only thing that is good about him is his charming smile. He is flippant and full of frivolity, so different then the people I am used to... Andrew tells me that his brother grows on you among closer acquaintance. I hope so, I have a feeling my father is going to mash the three of us together as much as possible....

Oh! I have even better news! Father has found me a singing coach, much, much better then the one that was training me in Westchester. His name is Ingres, yes like the famous french painter, he is a brilliant young man with a voice as beautiful as an angels. Also he will be teaching me the piano, I am nervous since my mama was so good at it, I wonder if I can measure up to her in my father's memory. My father is so melancholy lately that I fear if I began practicing it will throw him into a deeper fit of depression.

Now all these months later I took the train again to Bleecker Street and did not see the young man that I had foolishly given my money too.... Maybe he did something good with the money, or.... I don't want to think about it.... I still cannot explain what happened that day, I... Don't want to write anymore. Goodnight.

"Roger?" a soft voice made him look up Angel stood there dressed in a very prim suit of pastel pink. Her white blonde hair pulled into an elaborate bun on her head.

A smile spread over her mouth "I know what that is" she sat down as the waiter came up to take her order.

He closed the book with a snap and slid it into his breast pocket "What is it then? I will tell you it is not War and Peace."

She laughed "Most defiantly not, that is not your type of reading material... This kind of reading material is almost forbidden..." her brows rose suggestively and Roger glared at her.

"It is Dorothy's diary" he retorted taking a sip of his coffee "not some dirty novella."

Angel smiled widely "Ah, Roger you never cease to amuse me" her tea arrived and she delicately sipped it.

"So why did you call me here?" he looked around with one brow high.

"This is as close to a dive as you can get without it being a bar" he added smartly.

Angel laughed "I came to help you with your little problem"

"Problem?" Roger inquired his fingers itching to open the diary once again.

"The problem of what to buy that android for her night of splendor at the Nightingale"

Roger choked on his coffee and quickly wiped his mouth "What preposterous things are you talking about?"

Coyly Angel leaned her elbow on the table and rested her hand on her cheek "You are such a louse Roger Smith. What is Dorothy's going to wear to the most popular nightclub in the Domes? A black housekeepers dress? I'd rather you parade her in a rags"

"Why are you suddenly so concerned about her welfare? I thought you hated Dorothy from the instant you met her."

Angel waved him off with a dismissive gesture "Hate is such a strong word Roger. I merely dislike her, I am a human after all and abhor sharing the most handsome man in my acquaintance with any other female whether flesh or metal."

Roger grinned charmingly "Angel could you be flirting?" he teased

She sat back and took another sip of her tea "Maybe, but it reflects badly on you if she is not dressed and done up properly to at least pass as a very pale young woman."

"And I suppose you are only doing this in the pursuit of Memories" he answered dryly a sardonic smile playing over his lips.

"Oh yes, that is the driving force for my existence," she smiled wryly "but I admit a little of this is purely self indulgence seeing you in a high end department store picking out dresses will be priceless."

She giggled wickedly and drained her cup before asking for another, Roger too refilled his bitter coffee choosing not to reply to Angel's quip.

As he sipped the hot liquid his thoughts wandered to the mint green dress that he had first seen Dorothy in, it was remarkably similar to the one in the diary. Maybe.. Dorothy was becoming human... Her lips had been warm, not warm in the sense of touching another human. But there was a vague almost fleeting heat that had seeped through his thumb.

Norman still had not told him how that strange ring was connected to all this, nor had be asked Dorothy the question that filled up his mind like a poison.

"Roger?" Angel was looking at him with a strange look on her face.

He looked up inquiringly "What?"

"You look disturbed"

"I still haven't asked Dorothy about what happened when Alan tried to kill her" he replied quietly, longing for scotch or cognac instead of this dishwater that called itself coffee.

Angel looked at him shrewdly "You are hoping to discover it in the diary?" she countered

"Yes"

Angel sighed "It seems that is best" quickly she threw some bills on the table.

"We should get going Smith's is going to get busy" there was an excited glint in her dark eyes.

"Smith's? I do hate that place. The salespeople have no class" he handed Angel the money she had thrown on the table.

"A gentleman always pays" Roger said with a charming smile.

Angel grinned "Of course, one of Roger's Rules"

Roger laughed suddenly feeling a bit lighthearted "Who knows if you behave Angel, you may get a reward."

Angel's pale brow rose as they stood "What are you implying Roger?" she asked sweetly

"Nothing, nothing at all"

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