NOTE: Sorry about the wait! I would like to thank everyone for their support! Thank you for finding the time for me. Hugs!

In related news the wonderful Wondo has published another short story to go along with this! If you search for 'Animula' you'll find her series of stories that go along with this AU. Hugs!

Chapter Thirty-nine

Walking down the street Mozzie kept a close eye on his mark. It hadn't been very difficult to find her, but it had taken a few days to learn her routine well enough to come up with a plan to arrange a 'chance' encounter. He still wasn't convinced he was following the right person, but he was determined to find out. As she got within a few blocks of her apartment complex Mozzie picked up his pace to catch up with her while still being careful not to get too close. There were plenty of people out on the main street, but when she turned down the side street towards the residential area it became a lot more isolated.

Even though she walked at a quick pace the somewhat petite woman didn't appear nervous or concerned about the possibility of being followed. With both arms full of groceries for the week she was just trying to get home. She had almost managed to accomplish her outing without incident when a business man came walking down the sidewalk towards her on his cell phone. Distracted by the call he didn't appear to see her in his way and even though she tried to move further to the side he still slammed his shoulder into her on the way by.

One of the two paper grocery bags she was carrying split spilling the contents on the concrete sidewalk. The man on the phone snarled something about how she should watch where she was going as he continued on his way. She shot him a venomous look before she knelt down to try and find a way to collected her scattered groceries.

"Humans." Elizabeth muttered to herself in disgust.

"That guy was a real jerk." Mozzie agreed.

Elizabeth jolted at the sound of Mozzie's voice as she looked up at him with genuine fear reflected in her light blue eyes. Having circled around in front of her Mozzie smiled brightly to assure her he wasn't a threat despite the fact that he had paid the man who had just knocked into her to do so. The paper bag hadn't broken on accident, the man had sliced it open with a sharp blade that he usually reserved for cutting purses off his victims. It had cost Mozzie extra to ensure that the pick pocket left Elizabeth's wallet alone. The unpleasant interaction with his friend allowed Mozzie to play the short knight in shining armor.

"Here, let me help you." Mozzie offered.

"No." Elizabeth said quickly "I'm okay. Thank you, but I've got it."

"It's no trouble." Mozzie insisted as he started to pick up a few of the spilled items.

"Thank you." Elizabeth sighed in a defeated tone.

"I hate to see the stereotype of New Yorkers not helping one another being perpetuated, the city has come a long way since the 1970's but we still get a bad rap because of the few bad apples. If anything is really going to change we have to go out of our way for one another every once in a while."

Elizabeth smiled, although she still didn't look comfortable with him helping her. It was clear that she expected him to have an ulterior motive for his altruism. The fact that he did was besides the point Mozzie still hadn't thought she would be so instantly on her guard against him. He had used this particular con as an excuse to talk to people before and usually they were more than happy to engage with him in some bad mouthing of the guy who had been rude to them. Having a common enemy was often a quicker way to make friends than having any other common interest. Elizabeth however didn't seem to have the energy to be angry over the incident, she looked like she just wanted to get off the street and back to the safety of her apartment.

"Where are you headed?" Mozzie asked as he stood back up with his arms full of the spilled goods.

"I…" Elizabeth hesitated as she glanced at the apartment entrance half a block away.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you probably don't want some stranger knowing where you live." Mozzie apologized with an embarrassed smile. "I didn't think of that, I was just trying to help. I can just leave this here."

Mozzie made an awkward show of trying to find a good place to put down the groceries he'd picked up for her. Elizabeth instantly looked guilty for mistrusting him, which was exactly the reaction Mozzie had been going for. Neal used his sharp good looks to throw people off their guard and make them subconsciously want to help him just to gain his gratitude. It was amazing what people would do because a pretty face asked them to, sometimes even thanking them for the chance to be used. However Mozzie never envied Neal for being handsome and fashionable, it looked like a lot of unnecessary work and gained him unwanted attention at times.

Instead Mozzie used his small stature and a practiced shyness to give people the impression that he felt that he deserved to be mistrusted and ignored by others due to his nontraditional appearance, which made people just as subconsciously willing to help him to compensate for having judged him based on looks. People wanted to believe that they were better than judging a book by its cover and often went out of their way and against their better judgement to prove it. Making his own judgements about Elizabeth Mozzie had the feeling that she would be more immune than most to Neal's charms, but probably would be more susceptible to his own approach.

"I'm sorry." Elizabeth said softly failing for Mozzie's broken wing act. "Thank you for your help, I'm almost home. You can come up."

"Okay. I'm Dante by the way."

"Elizabeth."

Mozzie followed Elizabeth the short distance to her apartment. There was a code to get through the front door, but no staff in the lobby. Elizabeth thanked Mozzie again for his help on the short elevator ride up to the seventh floor. The hallway that lead down to her apartment had seriously out dated floral wall paper that was starting to peel away from the wall up near the ceiling in several places. The heavy scent of various cooking styles hung in the communal air of the hall as well.

Arriving at her door Elizabeth tried to figure out to get to her keys while still holding the one whole bag of groceries and the few odds and ends she had picked up off the street before Mozzie had swooped in. Offering his assistance once more Mozzie took a few more of the items so she could open the door. Inviting himself into the small apartment Mozzie was instantly accosted by a large yellow lab. Satchmo fearlessly pressed his nose against Mozzie's clothes and began a very intense investigation of his various scents. Backing up for a moment before leaning in sniffing at him again more deeply as if to confirm his first impression Satchmo starting wagging violently before prancing in place with a high pitched whine.

"Satchmo, behave." Elizabeth chastised gently. "He's not usually this excited about strangers."

"Dogs love me." Mozzie chuckled although he was a little unnerved by the enthusiastic lab.

Not giving up easily in his attempts to communicate Satchmo spun around in a tight circle before whining at Mozzie again with his tail held high.

"Hush." Elizabeth tried to calm the dog again. "I'm sorry, I guess he's just not used to guests anymore."

"It's okay."

Stepping past Satchmo Mozzie headed into the kitchen as if he lived there to place the groceries on the formica counter top. Elizabeth joined him to put down the rest of what she was carrying as well. Mozzie quickly looked around the kitchen and living area for a topic of conversation to latch on to before Elizabeth could muster up the courage to ask him to leave, however there was very little in the way of personal effects or decorations.

"Thank you agai…"

"Ah, I see you're a tea drinker, and that looks like the real loose leaf stuff not those factory floor scrids they sweep into bags down at Lipton." Mozzie interrupted as he spotted a set of tea tins. "Do you favor Black or Green?"

"Um...black mostly, I find most green teas to be bitter."

"Making a good cup of green tea is just as much art as it is science." Mozzie smiled. "The most common mistake is to use water that's too hot or to steep it too long, both of which can ruin the brew. I have some Bi Luo Chun green tea from the Jiangsu Province that is practically a spiritual experience. The key is to use water just before it starts to boil."

"I'll have to try that." Elizabeth replied politely.

Seeing that he was making her uncomfortable Mozzie stepped out of the small kitchen to give her a little more physical space. He hadn't really known what to expect when he'd hunted her down or what he even hoped to gain. From the few emails he had read she wrote to Peter every day as though he was some long lost lover, but not only did he never reply but it also looked like he hadn't even checked the email account for the past two years. It also didn't seem likely that Elizabeth had ever been in a position where she would have ever encountered an Animula, although she could have fallen on hard times.

Mozzie still wasn't convinced he even had the right person, the emails never mentioned anyone by name, it was always 'I', 'we' or 'you'. Noticing the gold wedding band that she was wearing further cast doubt on the idea that she had any connection to Peter. Mozzie had briefly worried that Peter was some how running some sort of scam on Neal with an accomplice and the 'love letters' were code somehow, after all he had ended up as Neal's property under very unusual circumstances. However being nearly beaten to death seemed way too extreme for any kind of con. The more he thought about it the more he decided that even if Elizabeth was the sender that perhaps Peter wasn't the intended recipient. If he was the subject of her obsessive messaging why didn't he ever respond? It was more likely a mistake and Peter was just combing through the odd emails that had ended up in an old account of his out of curiosity. Mozzie suddenly realized that an awkward silence had fallen over them as Elizabeth stood a prisoner in her own kitchen.

"Can I use your restroom?" Mozzie asked.

"Sure," Elizabeth replied even though it was clear that she'd rather he didn't "it's through the bedroom."

"Thank you."

Just wanting to take one last look around before he left Mozzie headed towards the bedroom. Elizabeth tried to act like she wasn't keeping an eye on him as she stayed in the archway that separated the kitchen from the rest of the space. She wasn't alarmed enough to ask him to leave, but he did notice that she had slipped her hand into her pocket where she probably kept her phone in case she needed to threaten to call the police to get him to leave if she became any less comfortable with him. Acting like he just needed a quick restroom break Mozzie walked with swift purpose.

His goal had been her medicine cabinet since there was a lot that could be learned by the contents. However he was instantly stopped in his tracks when he entered the bedroom and caught site of a small framed photo on Elizabeth's night stand. Although he wasn't facing the camera and his eyes were closed there was no question that it was Peter. He and Elizabeth were facing one another their foreheads touching in an intimate pose. She was looking at him with a bright smile on her lips but with a shadow of sorrow in her eye. Peter didn't look like he'd just been caught in mid blink, he looked like he was purposely hiding his golden eyes from the camera. The photo cropped out most of their bodies, but it was clear that he was holding her and despite looking like he'd rather not be photographed he still wore a joyful smile that mimicked Elizabeth's perfectly. Elizabeth had her hand resting gently on his shoulder revealing the same gold band that Mozzie had just seen her wearing.

Shocked by the ramifications of the one personal affect that Elizabeth had on display Mozzie almost forgot to head into the bathroom to cover his snooping tracks. Flushing the toilet without using it he pretended to wash his hands as well before heading back out into the living room. Elizabeth had actually started putting her groceries away, probably figuring that Mozzie would have quickly learned she didn't have anything worth stealing. Without knowing who and what Peter was the photo itself wasn't incriminating enough for her to worry about a stranger seeing. They had looked like a perfect couple in the photo, however if he had just opened his eyes the tender scene would have turned to something that people would look down on with pure revulsion.

Crouching down to place something on the lower shelf pulled up the edge of Elizabeth's pant hem revealing that she was wearing a black electronic tracking anklet. Mozzie suddenly found himself with far more questions than answers, but at the same time at a loss for words. Satchmo approached him again, sitting down at his feet he looked up at Mozzie expectantly with the tip of his tail wagging. Mozzie got the distinct feeling that the dog could smell his lost family member on him and was waiting to hear good news about his return. The dog hadn't judged Peter as somehow unworthy of love, and from what he could tell neither had Elizabeth. When Elizabeth stood back up and faced him he noticed a gold necklace around her throat that disappeared into her blouse and he couldn't help but wonder if she wore a second larger gold ring suspended on the chain as a way to keep it close to her heart.

"I…uh…I should go." Mozzie announced uneasily. "I'm sorry to have intruded."

"It's no intrusion." Elizabeth replied sounding genuine. "I appreciate your kindness, Dante. I'm sorry if I was cold before, I'm not really any more used to company than Satchmo is these days."

"It's okay, I'm not the most socially graceful creature myself."

"Would you like to stay for some tea?"

"Are you sure? I mean, I'd love to...but are you sure you're comfortable with having me here?"

"Satchmo likes you, and he's never wrong about people."