Note: I want to thank everyone who has been supportive of this story so far, but the story is getting a bit long which is admittedly burning me out on it a bit. With a natural break point about to occur I've decided to make this the 'last' chapter with an Epilogue after this to tie a few things up. I'm going to take a bit of a break and continue with this AU in a sequel that will basically start where this one ends. It will give me a chance to refresh my thoughts and also change the tone of everything away from the world and character development that I've been experimenting with in this book and get more into a more traditional action based plot line.

Again thank you for all of your support in this story that has very much been outside of what I normally write!

Chapter Forty-eight

"Elizabeth? Are you alright?" Yvonne asked concerned. "You look like you didn't get much sleep last night."

"I didn't." Elizabeth admitted.

"Is everything okay?"

"It will be." Elizabeth replied trying to sound confident.

"If you'd like to take today off.."

"No, I'd rather be working." Elizabeth said quickly.

"I understand." Yvonne smiled sympathetically. "If you need to talk, my door is always open."

"Thank you."

Yvonne smiled encouragingly at Elizabeth. Elizabeth took a breath, thinking about saying something further about the stress she was under, but she couldn't find the words. Feeling somewhat guilty Elizabeth just smiled back before excusing herself to go start her work for the day. Elizabeth had been with the small event planing business for just over a year now and she was endlessly grateful to Yvonne, not just for the chance she'd given her by hiring her in the first place, but also for the fact that she seemed to genuinely not care about her criminal past. Elizabeth knew that Yvonne had access to her record and knew the basics, but she also knew that her original company and the Market had gone to great lengths to make sure that the reasons for her transgression remained strictly off the books. It wasn't good for either of their images to have it public knowledge that someone had made a connection with an Animula powerful enough to drive them to crime.

At first Elizabeth had every intention of taking the story to the press herself. She had already lost Peter and although it was too late to save him she felt it might somehow help the others. Exposing the idea that a human and an Animula had fallen in love could have at least started making people rethink what they felt they knew about the supposed 'sub-humans'. However, Elizabeth didn't get a chance to talk to anyone before a Market representative had come to where she was being held by the FBI with some paperwork for her to sign about Peter along with a not so veiled threats about going public.

Elizabeth had spat a few choice insults at the man and refused to sign the papers at the time, but it didn't help. The case had progressed with blinding speed and Elizabeth had almost instantly been discredited as being mentally ill. As such she had less and less of a voice as everything started happened around her rather than to her. Before she could even try to tell her story no one would even pretend to listen. It was terrifying how effectively the Market had taken control of her case to the point of forcing a closed trial. Instead of getting her chance to try and defend herself in front of a jury of her peers she found herself not even invited into the room of men coldly discussing what best to do with her.

When Elizabeth's court appointed lawyer came to her with the deal that included the anklet along with an understanding that she not go public she had told him she'd rather go to prison than accept the mercy of the court in exchange for her silence. Even if she was given the maximum sentence it would only be a few years before she would be out and free to fight back. It was at that point that the lawyer that was supposedly on her side casually explained to her how close they were to simply having her deemed mentally incompetent and institutionalized for life.

Terrified of spending the rest of her life locked in an asylum being aggressively treated for an illness she didn't have Elizabeth had eventually agreed to their conditions. Sent into a deep depression from both losing Peter and also feeling like she had somehow betrayed him for taking the deal Elizabeth had struggled through several low level job where she was barely treated better than an Animula due to her convict status.

Elizabeth had met Yvonne through having hired her to host an event for the company she'd been working fourteen hour days for. It was common for Yvonne or one of her staff members to attend the functions to ensure everything went according to the way it had been planned and assure quality service. Yvonne had spotted Elizabeth standing apart from the rest of her coworkers and had stepped over to start a conversation that had ended in a job offer that had still stood even after Elizabeth had lifted her pant leg to expose her anklet. Elizabeth never really knew what had prompted Yvonne to take her in, but she worked hard to ensure that she never regretted it.

This was not the first time that Yvonne had offered her chance to talk, and it wasn't the first time Elizabeth had been tempted to accept the offer. Yvonne openly accepted that Elizabeth had embezzled from her an employer in the past, she never made mention of it and often trusted Elizabeth with helping with the company finances since she had experience. However Elizabeth had never dared test the limits of Yvonne's acceptance by opening up to her about why she had stolen. She loved this job and for the past year it had given her something that could at least momentarily distract her from everything she had lost.

Despite her previous words to Yvonne about rather being at work than taking some time to herself Elizabeth was finding it difficult to concentrate. She'd had two meetings with clients and now she realized that she didn't remember any of the details of what they had wanted for their events. Mostly on autopilot she had just kept going over everything that had happened yesterday between herself and the man who had called himself 'James Maine'. She had already run the conversation through her head a thousand times during the night and still not come to any real conclusions about him. At one moment she was convinced that Peter was alive and that he had been right upstairs, the next moment she felt like it had to be some sort of trap and that there was no way Peter could have survived the collar. However as more time passed she found herself thinking more and more about the potential that Peter could be part of her life again.

Although she was exhilarated by the idea that she might get a second chance with Peter Elizabeth still couldn't keep anxiety and doubt from gnawing at her. She couldn't bear even trying to imagine what the last two years of his life must have been like if he had survived. Elizabeth had concluded that the way James had told her that his view on Animula had recently been changed meant that if it was Peter that he'd come across he hadn't been with him for very long. The Market wouldn't have kept him for two years, he must have been sold off to someone at least once before encountering whoever this James was.

The more she thought about it the more Elizabeth decided that she was fooling herself by allowing herself to believe that Peter was not only alive but in good hands. She couldn't imagine a scenario where that could have happen. Part of what made the Animula's position so dire was the fact that the people they were sold to and the companies they worked for saw them as nothing more than commodities to begin with, and profitable ones at that. Anyone with good intentions wouldn't be in a position to meet Peter let alone purchase him.

"Although…that exactly what I did."

Elizabeth was starting to swing towards believing in Peter being alive once again rather than internally berating herself for doing so when her stomach twisted painful as she thought of a new complication. It suddenly occurred to her that Peter might not want her to know he was alive even if he was, which would explain him never replying to her emails. He had often voiced his fears of ruining her life if they were ever caught, and when they were it had. Peter would be type to sacrifice himself and his own happiness if he felt it meant she'd have a chance at a normal life.

"I don't want a normal life…you have to know that."

Elizabeth had been fighting tears on and off all day and now the sting of them burned even harder. Her office had a glass wall that looked out over the greeting and waiting area that had sofas and coffee tables where clients could look through various books and catalogs before they spoke with one of the planners. There were four such offices including Yvonne's all of which were full today. Elizabeth's boss had looked over through at her with concern several times during the day, and so had the others, but so far they had all respected Elizabeth's privacy. They had all learned early on that Elizabeth would listen to them and their lives and problems all day long, but that she never shared her own in return. Today though they all looked liked they wanted to offer her some sort of support, they just weren't sure how.

Taking a deep breath Elizabeth managed to keep up appearances, but when the phone on her desk rang she didn't dare answer it. She didn't trust that her voice would hold if she tried to use it right now. Since it was just the main business line one of the others answered if after a few rings. Feeling more and more exposed Elizabeth decided that she couldn't continue to work today, she had to go home, she had to go somewhere that she could hide even though the last thing she really wanted right now was to be alone. She was just about to get to her feet to let Yvonne know she was going to go home early when the intercom on her phone beeped.

"Elizabeth," Tracy the receptionist said "you have a call on line one."

"Thank yo…" Elizabeth's voice cracked just as she feared it would "I…I'm sorry, can you just take a message for me?"

"Of course. It's a new client, I told him I could help him, but he insisted that he wanted to talk to you."

"Did you get a name?"

"James Ma…"

"I'll take it." Elizabeth said quickly as her heart leapt into her throat.

"I take it you know him?" Tracy chuckled. "I don't know how someone can mange to sound handsome…but he does. I take it he's why you're been so distracted today? I think I'd want that one to call me in the morning too."

Elizabeth didn't have a response to Tracy's suggestive tone, she hadn't even really heard it. The moment she'd learned that he was on the line her thoughts had instantly stumbled over themselves as all of her hopes and fears from the past twenty-four hours rang in her mind all at once. Taking a deep breath she picked up the receiver and pressed the button that would connect her to line one. With the line live it took Elizabeth a moment to find her voice again as her mouth went dry.

"…James?"

"Hello, Elizabeth." Neal greeted warmly. "I know this is a little short notice, but I'm hoping you can help me plan an event for tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow?" Elizabeth repeated as her thoughts and emotions reeled at the implications. As desperately as she wanted to see Peter she knew the risks she posed to him.

"I have the space rented already," Neal continued casually "I just need help with some of the complicating details."

"There are a lot of those." Elizabeth replied as she rubbed her foot against her anklet.

"Nothing we can't get around I'm sure." Neal said confidently enough to make her truly believe it.

"I'll do anything to make it work."

"Glad to hear it. I trust it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for you to personally attend to make sure everything runs smoothly?"

"No, that wouldn't be out of the ordinary at all." Elizabeth assured. "In fact no one would think twice about it."

"Perfect. Tomorrow then? You'll be ready?"

"Absolutely."