Author's Notes: Good morning dears! It's nasty and cold outside but it's warm and toasty in my house with my puppy and wife. Wife though is about to go to work and leave me alone for a while so I will be writing and doing other things that need to get done. Anyways let me know what you think as always yeah? Oh yeah and sorry for the mistakes.

Chapter 9

Alex was on her cell phone talking to Elliot about getting a warrant for Jocelyn's financials when she walked through the door that night. "Even with probable cause Elliot Swiss bank accounts are notorious for not giving up their records. "Not to mention the fact that at the moment I don't have anything to take to a judge for probable cause to give us the warrant to get at their records in the first place." She held the phone away from her ear as she heard Elliot cursing and sighed. She set her briefcase down in the foyer and reached up to remove her coat only to be surprised by two hands gently sliding the coat from her shoulders. She brought the phone back to ear and turned smiling when she realized Livia had heard her come in and was trying to help her get her winter gear off. She made a mental note to take both girls shopping seeing as it was supposed to start snowing on Sunday. Though she knew she should probably do some work on Saturday a day spent shopping with her girls would be more enjoyable.

She paused missing Elliot asking her a question as she thought about that. Her girls, where had that come from? They belonged to themselves not to her but somehow she liked the way it sounded in reference to Livia. Mitsuru was proving to be a good ally though and she was quite cute in her saucy little way. She wondered if Livia would get like that eventually. She paused, what was she thinking? She should ask Elliot once Livia was settled to bring over the things he'd saved from her apartment that may stir up her missing memories. Forcing herself to tune back into the conversation she watched as Livia carefully hung her coat up in the closet and turned back to her with a smile. She smiled back and motioned with a tilt of her head for Livia to go ahead and she would follow.

"Yes Elliot, I understand that we have a limited amount of time on this one but our problem is that she's got her bases covered at most I may be able to hit her with unlawful imprisonment but right now that's not even an option and the kidnapping charge won't apply either if you can't get me someone who will say otherwise." She paused listening and then sighed. "All right. Just find me some probable cause and I'll get you your warrant."

"He seemed awfully eager." Livia said softly. She was standing in the living room with her arms folded over her stomach waiting patiently for Alex to join her.

"Yeah he just wants to get this cleared up." Alex offered.

"You mean he wants to put her away so she can't hurt anyone like you all think she did." Alex noticed immediately that unlike Mitsuru Livia never used Jocelyn's name. She frowned watching Livia before nodding.

"Yes I suppose that's what he wants."

"It's what you want too." Livia offered not questioning but more a statement of fact.

"I don't want you to get hurt anymore."

Livia sighed, "Well it's too late for that. Mitsuru is cooking dinner. She thought you'd be hungry when you got home. She said attorneys work up an appetite arguing in front of all those people."

Alex frowned but nodded, "I appreciate it. Did you two already eat without me?"

"Should we?" Livia asked.

"If you get hungry enough of course."

"She always preferred it if at least I waited. She didn't like eating alone. Plus she said she liked eating with me so I always waited."

"Well you don't have to wait for me if I'm late. If not I wouldn't mind if you weren't too terribly hungry to wait but if you get hungry don't let my absence stop you." Alex offered but then she wondered if that was the right thing to say especially given how deflated Livia just got.

She took a breath and spoke. "I would like it if you would wait for me Livia. It would be nice to eat with someone else. You can tell me how your day was over dinner. "

Livia immediately perked up and nodded her brown eyes now a bit brighter. "Yes ma'am." She paused and then looked at Alex. "What should I call you?"

Alex paused tempted to say what do you want to call me but stopped herself. Remembering yet again what Mitsuru said she spoke carefully, "Well ma'am is fine. I don't see where that is a problem. You can also call me by name when you're around certain people." She paid close attention to the way Livia seemed to deflate. "It makes certain people uncomfortable so we should be polite enough to consider them don't you think?"

Livia bit her lip and then nodded, "Yes ma'am."

"I don't think you should call me Mistress or anything like that." At that Livia nodded glad that Alex realized that term was something she wouldn't be comfortable using but if told to she would.

"You can also use Miss Alex or something like that if you like. I'm not too particular I'll respond to what you choose."

Livia nodded smiling cutely as Mitsuru stepped into the living room. "Good evening." She greeted. "I made dinner. You don't have too terribly much in there so I sort of improvised. Would it be all right if I went grocery shopping while you were at work one day?" Mitsuru asked even giving a cute little curtsey which made Alex smile.

Livia watched Alex closely wanting to gauge her reaction to such a request. "I don't see where that would be a problem as long as you took Livia. I think it would do her some good to get out of the house for a bit."

Livia looked down not wanting Alex to see how much it hurt to not be wanted enough that her new Mistress desired her presence often. Sure she understood it would be difficult for her to go to work with Alex like she had Jocelyn but that didn't mean she couldn't find something useful to do that could help make Alex's work life a bit easier. Mitsuru had always managed to house having done it for her former Master. Livia though she knew the basics of cleaning didn't spend much time in the kitchen and therefore often found herself trying to seek out things to do that would keep her occupied if she was at home and if not she was usually at Jocelyn's side and was happy to stay right there.

Mitsuru caught the look and frowned, "I'm sure Livia would like to accompany you as well." She started noticing how Livia's head shot up and her eyes got big. Obviously she hadn't wanted that revealed.

"Maybe when I won't be in court all day I'll bring her along but most days that won't be an option. I work a very fast paced job with a lot of people In and out. As lovely as you are Livia," Alex turned to look at her, "And as much as I know I would like to have you at work with me it would be difficult for me to spend any real sort of time with you and you while being a lovely distraction would still be a distraction I couldn't afford with the sensitive work I do." She explained hoping to take the sting out of her refusal to bring Livia along to work with her.

She could see Livia understood and even blushed a bit at being called "a lovely distraction" but she knew she would have to work hard if she wished for their budding relationship to continue to grow to be what Livia needed and would hopefully once regaining her footing would view as Alex's way of helping her in whatever capacity she was needed.

"I need to get back to make sure dinner isn't burning. Would you like to go and change before it's ready?" Mitsuru asked noticing Alex's expensive suit and shoes. Alex nodded and smiled at them before heading to her bedroom to get changed.

It was late that night when Mitsuru and Livia finally settled into bed. Though neither had ever shared a bed before they were both finding it to be a comfort that neither wanted to give up. Livia smiled as the little redhead shifted and turned and finally settled so they were facing each other. They would speak quietly before bed each night. At first they'd spoken at length about Jocelyn. As the weeks wore on other topics began to emerge and now Livia found herself wanting to talk about Alex.

"What do you think of Miss Alex?" She asked softly watching her friend's pretty petite features.

"She's very nice." Mitsuru responded. "I mean she's not well you know but she's trying."

"She's doing a good job. I just wish I knew what she wanted from me."

"I think Alex wants what she used to want for you Livia. To be happy." Mitsuru pointed out touching her friend's cheek.

Livia frowned and then nodded, "It's hard. I miss her so much."

Mitsuru sat up a bit looking down at Livia. "You loved her very deeply didn't you?" She asked studying Livia's features.

"We all did." Livia responded her eyes down turned.

Mitsuru reached out tilting her friend's chin up so she could see her eyes. "You were in love with her weren't you?"

"Weren't you?" Mitsuru noticed the way Livia didn't bother to deny it but she was quick to try and deflect from the topic.

"No. I loved her and maybe at one point I was in love but that faded. How long were you in love with her?" She asked wondering how she'd been so stupid as to not see it. That was part of why Livia was so dependent on Jocelyn. She was so deeply in love she couldn't stand the thought of being away from her for even a moment. She'd always just chalked it up to the relationship Livia and Jocelyn had with each other but now she realized it was something else all together.

"Since I first laid eyes on her when she bought me at the auction, she was so beautiful and I felt so safe. That's when I fell in love." She answered though her words were hesitant.

Mitsuru reached out brushing Livia's brown hair behind her ear. "Did you ever get a chance to let her know?"

Livia shook her head, "I wanted to tell her but I never did. I thought she knew though. She seemed to."

"She did love you Livia. I don't know about being in love with you but she did love you very much. You were her most precious possession. She told all of us that."

"But how does one fall in love with a possession?" Livia asked sounding miserable.

Mitsuru opened her mouth to respond but no words came out. Eventually she did the only thing she could, she slid her small hand up and down Livia's back allowing her to cry and providing as much comfort as she could.

Author's Ending Notes: D'awwww...now I feel like shit for this ending. Poor little thing. Oh well Alex can kiss it and make it better hopefully yeah?