So, this ended up being really long. And then it actually expanded into two parts, somehow, so I guess it's technically a two-shot? But also they both have the same events, just from different points of view, so it's more like they're symbiotic chapters that form one oneshot. Or something.

Anyway, this "oneshot" is a missing scene from S1 Ep25 "A Night To Remember", where Strickler confesses everything to Barbara. I wanted to write this, because Barbara goes from "Walt what are you" to "I'm going to be glad to forget you" in the span of an episode, so obviously someone explained everything to her. And it certainly wasn't Vendel. And for the sake of angsty romance, it's not gonna be Jim explaining things, either.

The large white troll - Fendel? Vendel? - set her down on a stone slab in what she could only call an infirmary. But though it had the air of a room meant for healing others, it was unlike anything she'd seen before (though it had been quite the night of that, hadn't it?). Vials, crystals, and honestly useless looking bric-a-brac lined the shelves and tables of the room.

Her search of the room stopped abruptly as another horrible wave of pain washed through her, and she bit her lip to stop the whimpering cry that threatened to spill out of her. Her son may trust this Vendel, but she did not, and was hesitant to let him know how hurt she was. Though, how exactly she was hurt at all still escaped her. A lot of things did, despite Jim's attempts to explain it all. And he hadn't even slightly explained the biggest question on her mind…

With that thought, slowly, hoping not to cause more pain despite the lack of apparent injury, Barbara lolled her head to the side to watch Walt climb onto the opposite stone slab. She felt another swell of pain in her neck, at the same time she saw Walter stiffen from where he had lain down. That was another thing she still didn't understand. Something she wasn't certain that she wanted to understand.

Because, if she understood correctly, she'd also have to understand that Walt had all but poisoned her. That Walt had been trying to hurt her son. That he was something other than human. Closing her eyes, she tried to push the thoughts away and focus on the pain that laced through her. She had almost drifted asleep when she was jolted to alertness by the voice of the troll:

"Well, I'll have to leave you two alone a little while while I gather supplies to properly treat this wound".

At any other time, she would have jested with the other man about the troll's informality with medical care. But not this time.

Barbara shifted her position on the stone slab, facing him as best as she could, though he looked away from her."Walt" she finally said in a pained but determined voice, "What is going on?"

He fell silent for a long moment. She worried what truth was buried under the silence, as Walter obviously did not want to answer her question. He had done this other times, falling silent or answering evasively, while she had known him, like when she asked about his family or about past relationships. She had thought nothing of it then, just chalking it up to a private and painful matter that he wasn't ready to open up about. Lord knew she had her own moments of that. But now the silence was a sinister cloud hanging over an issue that involved her son.

"Walter, I may not know what's going on, but I know you well enough to know that you're avoiding answering my question. What is going on? Why am I hurt right now? What was that thing attacking my son, and what do you have to do with all of this?"

All the questions took more energy than she could spare, and she finished the tirade with an exhausted sigh, her head falling back against the "pillow" of the slab. She was slightly relieved as he finally gave a response, though she was surprised to hear him chuckle lowly, an action that made him sound like he was a much older man.

"Where does one even begin?" He asked, looking up at the ceiling instead of her.

And though she knew this was serious, she couldn't help having the barest of tired smirks as she answered sarcastically, "The beginning would probably be a good place".

"Now that would be a long story", his voice sounded unbelievably tired, and once again she was struck by how it made him sound much older than the middle-aged man he appeared to be, but she could not relent. She needed to know.

"Well, I'd say we have a bit of time. I don't think we're going to be going anywhere for awhile"

"Yes, but the true beginning of this story goes back centuries, millennia, even".

The comment shocked her out of the comfortable banter she had unwittingly fell into, a style of conversation they had in many of their dates. Millennia? She didn't need to know the centuries worth of story; she needed him to cut the crap, and fast. In as controlled a voice as she could manage, though it still ended up sounding terse, she pushed for the truth. No more talking around the subject, this was too important for that.

"Then just tell me the part that involves you, my son, and whatever that monster was that attacked him!"

"That monster" he began reluctantly,with a tone dripping with derision (and help her, she felt a tinge of hope that he was as much an innocent victim as she and Jim were) "is known as Angor Rot. He's a troll who gave up his soul for immense magical powers centuries ago. When your son foolishly destroyed his soul," her temper flared at that, Jim had never been foolish, but she bit her tongue and let him continue, "Angor went on the hunt for blood. Both mine and Jim's".

Okay, so that terrifying rotted thing that attacked them and supposedly injured Walt was a soulless troll magician. Sure. Why not? It had been a night for that.

"But why? Even if I don't want to, I can understand why he would want to attack Jim, but why you?"

"I-" he started, swallowed, then continued in a weaker voice after another considerable pause, "Because...I was the one who awakened him. And then I might have used his soul as leverage against him in order to have him do my bidding". The world seemed to go into slow motion, as all the pieces seemed to fit together, and she wished she could stop making them make sense. But, the thoughts were only made stronger as she felt throbbing pain move through her body, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not find a wound. And she had brushed her hand over her neck time and time again. But then, just across the room, Walter's arm hung limp, and his neck glowed in ugly purple scratches. Walter releases an evil troll magician, "to do his bidding", God, what kind of supervillain rhetoric was that, and now she falls mysteriously injured, with no logical reason. She begged to who or whatever would listen to let it all stop making sense, for something that he confessed to contradict.

"You awakened….Angor Rot...magic…your bidding" she spoke slowly, straining through both the physical pain and the pain of the implications in each word. Waiting for him to say something that would disprove her theory. But he said nothing, and the clearer the facts became, the angrier and more betrayed and used she felt Despite her fatigue, fury was still clear in her voice "He...did something to me, cast a spell on me. You had him curse me, or something".

Her heart sank a final time as he did not deny it, instead merely nodding his head shortly, and saying in a raspy and guilt laden voice, "A binding spell. My pain is.. your pain".

"But, WHY? Walt, what is your place in all this? What are you?" Tears started to form as she knew part of the truth, she knew the what, but she felt she could barely even begin to understand the why. She felt utterly lost as one of the few stable things in her life was suddenly turned on it's head, and revealed to be a sham. She had slowly built Walter a place in her life of work and Jim- he had become a constant on which she relied when the others became too overwhelming. And he had been using her, hurting her, hurting her son, without her even knowing. She needed to know why. She needed to know that this was some misunderstanding, that he had had a good reason to use and hurt her.

"That answer is..long and complicated. I-Angor Rot was supposed to be a tool and a weapon for the Janus Order, a changeling group that I lead. Or, rather, used to lead"

She still didn't fully understand the implication of "changeling" but that was an issue for another day, if ever. Right now it sounded like his reason was for a weapon, for power. She didn't care about his "Janus Order", she wanted to know about the personal side, the side that involved her family, "But why my son? Why me?"

"You have to understand Barbara, even if I care for him, Jim is the Trollhunter. He was a danger to my plans, our plans. I didn't want to hurt him, but I had to prevent him from stopping me. If I'm being honest, the binding spell was an attempt to protect myself from Jim without having to harm him".

Though a part of her was glad to hear he didn't want to hurt her son, she couldn't help but feel hurt at the idea that she was just insurance. For once, just for this small moment, this was not about Jim. This was about them. "But you were fine with potentially harming me?"

The answer came slowly, reluctantly, "In the beginning, yes"

Her thoughts spiraled at that. It had all been a lie. She had fallen headfirst for his smooth talk, his complex and intelligent conversations of wine and history. How many of those deep discussions she had had with him about her doubts with Jim and her fears as a mother were nothing but a façade to hurt her son? His dorky laugh at an even dorkier pun hiding a malicious attempt to use her. She should have followed her first instinct, and avoided a relationship. She had been betrayed and lied to before, but this time felt so much worse, because she should have known better. In that moment, she hated Walter more than she had hated anyone else, even James Lake Sr, and partially because of how much she hated herself for falling for it. Not anymore.

"But, Barbara, things have changed so much, " his pleading tone almost had her feeling sympathetic, but she squashed the feeling and reminded herself about how genuine their dates sounded, despite his true intentions. She could not trust what he said. Not again. His actions spoke more truly than his words ever could, and she would not be lied to, or hurt, or manipulated anymore.

"I don't want to hear it from you, Strickler" she said bitterly, and with finality, "After this is all over, I never want you near me or my son again". She was ending it here, though her heart still broke faintly with loss as memories of their time together flashed through her mind. All the dates, small meaningless conversations that at the same time meant the world, chaste and not-so-chaste kisses shared when they were alone together, warm smiles and striking green eyes that somehow seemed to understand her struggles; despite it all, despite the fact that they were proven to be lies, those memories still had made her happy. Happier than she had been in a long time.

And she hated him even more for proving them to be lies. Turning her head away from him, she fell silent, and soon fell into a restless sleep, exhausted by the physical and emotional turmoil she had been through.

When she woke to find him gone, she didn't know whether to be sad or relieved.

R&R, until next chapter, where we get a Strickler POV.