NOTE: Absolutely broke my heart to have to write this chapter...

Chapter Seventeen

"Hmmmm...that's not good."

"Peter?" Elizabeth asked concerned. "What's wrong?"

"These numbers aren't adding up." Peter said as he tapped on the page he was looking at with his pen.

"What?"

"There's a good deal of money missing."

"Maybe it's just a mistake?"

"At first glance it looks like one, but a closer inspection proves it to be deliberate. I found the same 'mistake' in several places. Someone's embezzling from multiple accounts." Peter leafed through a few of the reports on the desk. "They've actually done a really good job at hiding it and they haven't been too greedy, but theft is theft. We'd better tell Renner."

"No." Elizabeth said quickly. "You can't tell Renner."

"Why wouldn't we..." Peter stopped as his heart suddenly slammed against his ribs in realization. "Elizabeth, no, please, please tell me this isn't you."

"I'm sorry, Peter, I'm so sorry." Elizabeth apologized as her eyes brightened with tears.

"Wh...why?"

"I didn't have a choice. I didn't have any other way to afford the taxes on you. I know I told you I could, and that first year we were fine, but after that..."

Elizabeth didn't bother finishing, it didn't matter the damage was already done. She was staring at Peter in a silent plea for his forgiveness. A sickening pit opened up in Peter's stomach as he realized just how much trouble they were in. Pushing himself away from the desk he got to his feet and encouraged Elizabeth to do the same. He pulled her into a comforting embrace and held her tightly. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his waist and clung to him as though someone was about to take him away. With a heavy heart Peter realized that was exactly what was probably going to happen.

"You should have told me." Peter said quietly.

"You would have insisted that I sell you back to the Market."

"To keep you from becoming a criminal, of course I would have."

"I couldn't do it. I knew you'd turn yourself over before letting me do this or running. I had to keep it a secret."

"We need plan, you could end up in prison for this."

"I don't regret a single moment." Elizabeth insisted. "I love you."

"I..."

Peter stopped cold as his collar suddenly gave off a high pitch beep which gave him exactly one second warning that it was about to go off. It wasn't nearly enough time to prepare himself, but no amount of time would have been. He was able to jerk away from Elizabeth to ensure that he wouldn't hurt her. With a sinister crackling the energy it gave off bit down on his nervous system and lanced a searing phantom pain down his spine. Peter gasped violently with a strangled cry of pain as he dropped to his knees. Pitching forward onto his hands he dug his fingers into the carpet as the breath taking pain escalated.

"Peter!" Elizabeth cried.

Peter tried to assure her through the haze of pain that he was okay, but he couldn't find his voice. The correction usually only lasted a second but this time it seemed more intense and it didn't relent right away. On his hands and knees with every muscle pulling tight Peter just fought to keep from blacking out. When the collar went cold again Peter relaxed suddenly and collapsed the rest of the way to the floor. He felt Elizabeth's hand in his hair, she was talking but he couldn't understand what she was saying. She helped him onto his side as he slowly began to recover.

"Peter, someone's coming." Elizabeth said anxiously.

When Renner stepped into the room followed by two people Peter didn't recognize Peter poured all of his strength into getting to his knees to put himself between Renner and Elizabeth. He could tell by the look on Renner's face that he'd heard their entire conversation. The smug expression on his face said it all. Peter tried to get to his feet but as it was he needed Elizabeth's help just to stay on his knees. With his system still recovering from the collar and being cornered by the humans Peter was having difficulty even thinking straight.

"Renner..." Elizabeth snarled.

"Miss. Mitchell, or is it Mrs. Animula?" Renner asked coldly.

"What did you do?!" Elizabeth demanded.

"Isn't that obvious?" Renner smiled. "I bugged your office and I reprogramed his collar passcode to include those three little magical words."

"You had no right to do that!"

"Sue me. Better yet save your lawyer fees for your own trial." Renner said before he turned to the man and woman who had joined him. "These are Agents Jones and Berrigan of the FBI, White Collar division. They've actually been investigating you for a few weeks now, but I believe they have more than enough evidence for a strong embezzlement case now that you've basically confessed and your pet has sniffed out the start of the paper trail for us."

"This...isn't her fault," Peter panted "it was me."

"No one would ever believe that even if it was true." Renner said.

"I'm sorry, Miss Mitchell," Diana said gently "you need to come with us."

"No, wait. Wh...what about Peter?"

"He'll be impounded at the Market." Jones replied solemnly.

"No! You can't send him back there!"

"Maybe I'll look into buying him once he's released from evidence." Renner smirked. "Shouldn't set me back too much, he won't be worth much now."

Peter could feel that Elizabeth was about to launch herself at Renner in pure rage, which would make matters far worse for her. Doing the only thing he could think of to stop her Peter forced himself to his feet and went for Renner himself. He knew he was never going to see Elizabeth after this anyway and killing Renner seemed like a cause worth dying for. The two Agents were clearly surprised to have Peter be a threat and didn't react in time. Renner however looked like he'd been waiting for the attack.

"Pareo." Renner sneered calmly at Peter.

The old command worked just as effectively as the new one. From Peter's perspective the collar acted as though someone had grabbed him by it and yanked him to the floor. He'd never had the collar used twice in such rapid succession before and not having fully recovered from it the first time he discovered the second correction far more powerful. Crashing to the floor at Renner's feet he screamed as his body rebelled against him. Everything spun around him as his vision turned momentarily red. Rendered nearly senseless Peter jerked away when he felt someone touch his face, he realized too late that it was Elizabeth who had scrambled over to him to try and comfort him.

"Get her out of here." Renner hissed at the Agents.

Finding himself unable to move in any useful way Peter just looked up fearfully at the pair of Agents who had stepped forward to take Elizabeth into custody. Neither one of them looked very happy to be in on the arrest, but they had a job to do. They had to physically pull Elizabeth away from Peter as they forced her to her feet. Panting heavily Peter could only watch as his muscles refused to respond to his demands. He wasn't sure at what point Elizabeth had broken down into tears but they streaked her face now.

"Peter." She whimpered.

"Elizabeth, I..."

"No!" Elizabeth cried in panic knowing what he was about to say and the consequences.

"...I love you."

Peter jolted awake with the memory of being separated from Elizabeth crushing down on him. Setting off the collar for a third time in a row on the high setting had come so close to killing him that even the vet at the Market had pronounced him dead on arrival before taking a closer look and finding a small spark of life left in him. He guessed that he probably would have been euthanized anyway, but he remained under Elizabeth's name until the end of her trial so they had to care for him. It had taken two weeks for Peter to be able to speak and nearly a month before he'd managed to walk properly again. He still wasn't entirely convinced that his heart had ever truly started beating again, there had been an emptiness in his chest ever since that day. He also had no idea if Elizabeth knew he was still alive or not.

Cold sweat from the nightmare rolled off Peter's skin causing him to shiver. The motion angered the marks across his back and they blazed with an agony that threatened to tear his sanity away from him. Not wanting to cry out he bit down on his lower lip to keep quiet, he didn't want Cheng knowing how much pain he was in after this latest thrashing. With his mind still spinning from fever and infection Peter closed his eyes and prayed that he would just lose consciousness again.

"He looks terrible, Neal."

Keeping his eyes closed even though he was facing away from the others in the room Peter's skin chilled at the sound of Mozzie's voice. It reminded him that he was no longer with Cheng, but Mozzie made him almost as nervous. The last time the strange man had been in the apartment he had been trying to talk Neal into either handing him over to the Market or getting a collar. It had taken all of Peter's strength to stay quiet while Mozzie casually insisted that Neal collar him with the cruel device before even giving him a chance. At the time he hadn't dared show how deeply he didn't want to be collared in fear that Neal would realize how effective it was and possibly influence his decision to try it.

"Still think he's dangerous?" Neal challenged Mozzie.

"I suppose you're the one who broke all that glass?"

"That was...not his fault." Neal answered evasively as he glanced over at the glassware that he'd forgotten to pick up. "He's not all with it, he's already had three seizures."

"That's not a good sign. Neal if he dies in your apartm..."

"I don't want to think about that, okay? Let's just focus on what's important right now."

"Fine." Mozzie sighed. "How can I help?"

"Now you're willing to help?"

"I found you a vet didn't I? Just because I don't trust him doesn't mean I want to suffer like this." Mozzie replied indignantly.

"Glad to hear it. I need you to get something for me."

"What do you need?"

Peter wanted to hear the rest of the conversation, terrified that Neal was going to ask his friend to hunt down a collar for him. He remembered charging after Neal and slamming into the kitchen counter instead, but he couldn't recall why he'd gone to attack his new Master. In the end it really didn't matter, he had tried to hurt him and that was reason enough for Neal to fear him. Peter was so consumed with fearful thoughts of what he'd done that he lost his concentration on the humans in the room. He felt like he might have even passed out briefly as the conversation between Neal and Mozzie seemed to jump forward.

"Can you do that for me?" Neal asked.

"I'll have it by morning."

Peter's heart sank as he started to pant for breath. He didn't know what time it was now, but he knew he wouldn't live long past dawn. Continuing to pretend that he was asleep Peter tried to take stock in how much strength he had left, he knew it wasn't much but it would have to do. He'd fight to the death before he would allow himself to be collared again. His own death or Neal's, he didn't care which one.