Chapter 1

Mikael entered his apartment poured himself a drink and sat down on his sofa with a faint smile on his face. His reunion with Lisbeth had gone quite well, after he had entered her apartment they sat in her large living room and talked, just talked. He doubted if he had heard Salander talk as much. He realised he hadn't had a face to face conversation with her for nearly two and a half years.

He often wondered when he had fallen for her. The truth was that he had spent the last year and a half trying to get Lisbeth acquitted. He hadn't done it for himself like his personal grudge against Wennerstrom. He had risked everything, put his own life in danger for Lisbeth and to stop the people that had taken away her rights and thrown her illegally and without cause into a psychiatric institution. He thought the moment he had fallen for her might be when he entered Lisbeth's apartment for the first time. At the time he had just found out about Lisbeth's history and recalled the rage he felt when he saw the DVD from Bjurman and was furious with the Section and Teleborion.

The last year his goal had been for Lisbeth to be happy, more than anything he wanted to show Lisbeth that life can be good and he wanted to show her this. He had never wanted anything so much in his entire life.

A broad grin appeared on Mikael's face when he thought of her, he stood up and walked into his bedroom and lay there thinking about the last few months. Even the last few years ever since the whole Harriet fucking Vanger business. He shook his head, he would not start thinking about all that right now. Absent-mindedly he brought his hand up and traced the now faint scar along his throat which Martin Vanger had gave him. Probably the only good thing that happened that year was his meeting Lisbeth.

He thought she looked much more beautiful since the last time they met of course it was probably his realisations of his feelings for the girl. She still fascinated him like no other woman he had met. She had always been attractive he seemed to be the only one who could see that beneath the piercings and make up she was a good looking woman. He truly had missed her and whilst he very much wanted to be the person to show her the goodness in life he would accept her friendship at least.

Since Lisbeth was aquitted Mikael had gotten very famous indeed. This story was even larger than Wennerstrom and thus got Blomkvist even more media attention. Of course TV4 had got the scoop first and he welcomed his interview and gave the main point across to the public. "Lisbeth Salander had been falsely diagnosed as a psychopath and had unjustly had her human rights taken away by the Government to silence her from revealing information about a defector Alexander Zalachenko" .

Mikael's book and Millenium's sales had gone through the roof and while he was still nowhere near as well off as Lisbeth with her millions he was now quite wealthy, especially since he still had all that money from Henrik Vanger. Mikael was often recognised in the street and was occasionally bombarded with journalist's. However he had managed to make his way to Lisbeth's apartment without being followed. He still was a little paranoid after all of the espionage over the past month's. This trail of though reminded him of Monica Figurola the attractive and super fit sapo agent. His relationship with her had lasted barely a month after the end of Lisbeth's trial. She had gotten fed up with his lack of seriousness about there relationship. Monica had feelings for him as he had for her but hers were more serious and she thought it would be better to leave now and avoid getting hurt by him. He was a little sad to see her go but he knew it was for the best and since then he had accepted and realised his feelings for Lisbeth.

Mikael recalled his time he had spent sleeping in Salander's apartment, her bed had her scent her sweat, it calmed him. Her smell had calmed him the night after his first brush with death at the hands of Martin Vanger. He had woken up yelling and desperately scratching at his neck for the imaginary noose. She had came in and sat with him which had calmed him nearly instantaneously and he had fallen asleep quickly.

Blomkvist had returned to work at Millennium on a regular basis and now since he had finished his major story he was now on much lower profile and less demanding stories. Erika had resumed her position without a hitch and with the rising subscribers to Millenium they could afford to bring on some of their part timers full time. This made things work smoother and everything less exhausting.

Mikael was quite enjoying his few months off. The few pieces he wrote were very quick and easy and therefore he had a lot of spare time on his hands. He had resolved to spend more time with his daughter Nilla he had rarely seen her in the last couple of years as all of his time had been getting the section story. He had last seen her at Christmas. At this time Nilla had started college but Blomkvist had managed to make time for her and saw her frequently over the the space of a month.

Nilla of course had read the story and was very interested in and seemed to admire Salander. Nilla had managed to get a few details out of him before he clamped up and refused to talk about it any longer. They had been sitting outside a coffee shop a few miles away from the Stockholm University when Nilla broached the subject of Salander.

"You did all this for Lisbeth?" Nilla inquired

"She's my friend" Mikael replied

"I don't understand how you two could have become "friends" I mean you come from completely different worlds"

" We met when I was working on that book about the Vanger Corperation and its history, only a little while after you visited Hedestad"

"But what happened up there that made you hold her in such high regard" Nilla asked casually

He knew what she was doing. This wasn't about Lisbeth she wanted to know what had happened up there. He had never and doubted he ever would tell her what had happened in Hedestad. She and many other people had inquired about where he had got the scar on his throat. He always had shrugged it off ignored the question or changed the subject. With a smile he thought that he may be becoming more like Lisbeth by ignoring questions about his life. Honestly he hadn't thought up a believable lie for his scar on his throat and really never did dwell very much on it.

"We became fairly close whilst in Hedestad and when I found out she was wanted in connection for three homicide's, was a ward of the state and was mentally handicapped I thought that this person was completely different to the girl I had met" Blomkvist finished.

Nilla seemed to realise that she wouldn't be getting any more information out of him after that and changed the subject.

But it was that meeting with his daughter that had caused him to really think about how he had changed in the past three years. His experiences in Hedestad had changed him, everybody had said so Berger, Annika, Christer and Nilla. He was often more withdrawn and since Salander had cut all ties with him he had sought Erika's company quite rarely and even less often in the past year since she had left Millenium, come back just in time for the story of their lives. He had had rare flings with Harriet but that had ended very quickly. He had met Monica but that had lasted barely two months and he hadn't been with Erika since. It reminded him of when he had avoided her for nearly 2 months whilst he was writing the Wennerstom book. He was ashamed to see her because of his role in covering up Martin Vanger.

Lisbeth had saved his life he was forever grateful and was pretty sure they were even now that he had saved her life and been instrumental in the move to get her acquitted. He thought that they shared a bond with there experiences they had saved each others lives and now was certain at least on his side that it was more than friends. He was the only person to know her secrets and she knew all of his.

Mikael Blomkvist was very much in love with Lisbeth Salander it surprised even him but he knew it was true he hadn't felt this way about anybody before not even Berger with whom he thought their relationship was the closest to love as he had ever gotten.

He closed his eyes thinking about Lisbeth as he had done almost non-stop since she had disappeared from his life. She had occupied most of his thoughts for the past two years He was excited to see her again. Feeling hope for the first time in a while he fell fast asleep.