Chapter Nine

Laying on his stomach Peter tried to get comfortable enough to sleep without success. The spare bedroom with full bath across the hall from the apartment where Neal lived was admittedly the nicer cages he'd been provided with, although without any windows on this side Peter couldn't help but feel closed in. The house itself was a giant sprawling mansion, but Peter got the feeling that Neal didn't own it. Unlike his usual accommodations the large room was just as richly decorated as Neal's side. Still viewing it as a mink lined prison Peter sighed and tried closing his eyes to block it out.

"It could be worse...back to Cheng to let him finish the other half of beating me to death or get sold for parts at the Market."

Peter didn't know for a fact that he'd end up on the cutting floor if he was sent back to the Market, but with his resume and condition he assumed that he was worth more dead than alive at this point. It wasn't legal to harvest Animula for organs, but it happened. Peter had already lost a kidney to an ailing owner as proof.

Peter wasn't sure how, but he had managed to make it through the day without revealing the lash marks that were burning across his shoulder blades. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd been thrashed, but for some reason this set was becoming increasingly painful with time rather than better. Peter reminded himself that it had been less than forty-eight hours since Cheng had accused him of stealing and given him the vicious beating. Cheng had been among the worst owners Peter had ever dealt with. Cheng didn't believe in collars, he was much more interested in getting his hands dirty. His favorite weapon being a thin cane that easily cut into flesh.

After he'd been taken from Elizabeth Peter had woken up at the Market and he had figured that he would die there, in fact he had hoped to. Since he'd been 'seized property' the Market placed a dangerously low price on his life. It hadn't been long before he'd ben handed over to the openly abusive owner. After nearly four years of loving and being loved it had been nearly impossible for Peter to fall back into his old submissive ways, giving Cheng even more reason to be heavy handed.

Pure force of habit had been keeping Peter alive since he'd been taken from Elizabeth, but he wasn't sure how much longer that was going to last. Two weeks before Neal had appeared Cheng had torn a similar set of marks into his back as the fresh ones he wore now for making an error in the ledger. Trying to recover from two attacks in such quick succession was starting to prove to be too much. Cheng had clearly realized he'd gone too far and when Neal had arrived to the high stakes game Cheng pounced on the chance to saddle the naive con man with a burden in the disguise of an asset.

Trying take his mind off of Cheng Peter looked over at the empty side of the large bed and sighed. With his head spinning from fever Peter found his thoughts lapsing back to the past once more. With the future uncertain and the present painful he found comfort in thinking about the brief moments in the past when he'd found peace.

Laying in bed listening to the rain lash against the window Peter pulled Elizabeth closer. She was still sleeping, but Peter had been awake for hours. He didn't mind at all. It was a cold and blustery autumn morning outside, but it was warm and comfortable inside. About two months ago Elizabeth had convinced the higher ups to let her take Peter home on the weekends to 'catch up on past due accounts'.

'We don't have any past due accounts.' Peter had pointed out seriously.

'Then I guess we'll have to find something else to do with our time together.'

Since that moment no one lived for the weekend the way Peter did. He had never shared a bed with anyone else before, he found it amazingly comforting to wake in the night with Elizabeth curled up beside him. It was making it increasingly difficult to sleep alone on the week nights, but it was well worth it. He had never slept in and so he woke hours before Elizabeth. He tried his best not to wake her, laying next to her while she slept gave him a chance to peacefully enjoy having her near.

Sleeping on her side with her back against Peter Elizabeth seemed to fit perfectly in his arms. Nuzzling gently against Elizabeth's shoulder Peter marveled at how wonderful it felt just to have her skin against his. Softly kissing the spot where Elizabeth's neck and shoulder met Peter closed his eyes and breathed in her scent deeply. If he had to go through every abusive owner again just to get to this point he would do so without hesitation.

"I love you." Peter whispered.

Peter smiled when he thought back to how terrified he had been when he'd first said the three simple words to her out loud. The fact that tears had streaked down her face had not made him feel any better and he had instantly apologized. He hadn't understood the concept that someone could cry because they were happy. When he went to step back she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him into a deep kiss that had been very confusing at the time. When she broke off the kiss and told him that she loved him in return he suddenly understood her tears as he found himself having a similar reaction to the confession.

Nestling deeper into the covers Peter toyed with the idea of falling back asleep himself. He was always torn on the matter, it felt glorious to get nine to ten hours worth of sleep, but at the same time the weekends were so short that he hated to miss any of it by being unconscious. The decision was made for him when he suddenly felt a heavy panting breath brushing against his neck.

Peter turned slightly to look over shoulder at Satchmo. He had always loved dogs and this one was no exception. Seeing that Peter was looking at him Satchmo wagged enthusiastically. Peter smiled at the dog and Satchmo let out a low whine.

"Ssssshhh." Peter softly asked Satchmo to keep quiet.

Satchmo whined again with his tail wagging low.

"What do you want?" Peter whispered.

"You're in his spot, he sleeps with me when the weather gets cold." Elizabeth explained with a chuckle. "He's wants your permission to jump up on the bed."

"Ah...is that okay?"

"It's up to you."

"Alright, come on." Peter gave Satchmo a slight head nod.

Satchmo did not need to be invited twice and he jumped up on the bed and quickly settled down against Peter's back. Happy as a bug in a rug Satchmo beat his tail against the bed a few times. Peter was always surprised by how well Satchmo seemed to understand him. Elizabeth turned around to face Peter so that she could steal a kiss. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her so that when he rolled over onto his back he brought her with him. Elizabeth laughed as she suddenly found herself laying on his stomach.

Laying her ear against Peter's chest Elizabeth closed her eyes and listened to his heart. Peter ran one hand up and down her back, memorizing her curves. Enjoying his touch Elizabeth reached up and carded her hand into his hair. When she brought her hand down she brushed against the thin black band that was around his throat. Peter used to automatically jolt any time she touched it, but it didn't bother him anymore. In fact the collar seemed to upset her more than it did him these days.

"I wish I could get this off of you." Elizabeth sighed as she tugged gently at the collar. "I hate it. I hate everything about it."

"It's not that bad." Peter replied dismissively.

"You're a terrible liar."

"I know." Peter admitted as hugged her closer. "Wearing it is a small price to pay for finding you."

"Renner hasn't used it has he?" Elizabeth asked anxiously.

"No."

"He's been making me nervous lately."

"If he suspects us we need to stop this right now."

"I don't think that's it, I think he's just starting to resent the fact that you're better at his job than he is." Elizabeth explained. "As for him, or anyone else for that matter, suspecting 'us', I don't care."

"I suppose they would just think you were using me for sex, which isn't that unheard of."

"The sex is good." Elizabeth smiled. "But that's not what I'm talking about, I'm not ashamed to love you. I don't tell anyone for your sake, I know how uncomfortable you are to be with me with anyone else around."

"I'm not uncomfortable, I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what would happen to you if anyone knew. You can't deny that you'd instantly be an outcast, you'd probably lose your job, and then we'd lose each other."

"I hate admitting that you're right." Elizabeth said sadly. "I wish I could afford you."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I know that sounds horrible, and I feel terrible for even thinking it, but it's true, I wish I could afford to buy you from the company to save you from them. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have even brought it up. Please forgive me, I don't see you as property, I just hate the thought that with a single word Renner can hurt you and there would be no repercussions for him. I don't want to own you, I just don't want Renner owning you. I...I just don't know what I would do if..."

"I appreciate what you're trying to say." Peter interrupted gently. "As long as I continue to be worth more to the company than my Market value everything will be okay."

Elizabeth fell silent for a moment. Peter hated it when she worried. Worse yet he worried too and there was nothing he could do for either one of them about it. It was only a matter of time before he either lost his value and was sold, or Renner had enough of being outshined by him and made a move to get rid of him in a trade. It was a delicate balance to earn enough to keep on the company's good side but not enough to truly get on Renner's bad side. Elizabeth suddenly propped herself up on her elbows so that she could look into his eyes.

"Eliza..."

"We should just run." Elizabeth said seriously.

"No. I can't provide you with a proper life, and I am not going to make you a fugitive."

"I don't care."

"I do." Peter said firmly. "You deserve better."

"So do you."

"I could never even imagine anyone better than you."

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Elizabeth huffed.

"I do, but that doesn't change the fact that running never solves anything."

"What are we going to do?" Elizabeth asked sounding hopeless.

"Enjoy every moment we have together, deal with the worst when it comes."

"'When'? Not 'if'?"

"I gave up on 'if' a long time ago, but I don't want to think about 'when' right now."