I don't own Millennium or the characters contained within the books.

Please let me know what you think.

X

Laying down the Law.

Holger Palmgren was bemused by Lisbeth Salander. He had known for a long time, especially after learning of the unexpectedly barbaric measures to keep her locked up in St. Stefan's Psychiatric Clinic for Children (sometimes, just sometimes, the Advocat wondered how the saints actually felt about the things done in their name, to say nothing of God and Jesus himself; if Palmgren were in their shoes, he would have damned all of the criminals who committed terrible acts in their name such as genocide to hell). He had dedicated his life to helping youths who were seen as troublesome by society, but the more he came to know Lisbeth, he could see while everything pointed to the girl being a retard, she was anything but. Palmgren had learnt the hard, painful lesson over the years not to take what anyone and everybody else said as the undisputed truth, preferring instead to spend quality time with those whom he took guardianship of and discover what they were like.

Lisbeth was no exception. Yes, she might possess a sullen, moody and withdrawn demeanour but as time had passed, although she had concerned him when she had offered to have sex with him, the more he realised there was more to this young woman that met the eye. She might be withdrawn, but he preferred to see a girl who was quiet by nature, and she didn't really see the value of filling every moment with noise. In truth, Palmgren had discovered that the girl was far more intelligent than many of the people he had to deal with.

She had beat him in chess.

She had shown signs of possessing a photographic memory, and she was showing signs of being gifted with computers. She had learnt how to use the computer in his home and office very well.

If there was one thing, just one thing, Palmgren liked and enjoyed whenever he took in hopeless cases, it was discovering that everything people said about them was just falsehoods. Indeed she had interested him when she had learnt about her. Palmgren had been surprised when he had reviewed his history, surprised such a young girl had tried to kill her own father in such a terrible manner, but red flags had emerged when he was barely able to learn anything about Lisbeth's father, except his name.

Zalachenko.

According to the reports which had been very, very hard to acquire - Palmgren had needed to call in quite a few favours just to get a look at them because there was something about Zalachenko which was highly classified, and that raised red flags as well because if the government were involved it would be impossible for him to overturn the declaration of incompetence - Zalachenko had brutally abused Lisbeth's mother, in front of Lisbeth and her twin sister, Camille, who didn't care about their mother whereas Lisbeth did.

The twin sisters were complete contrasts of one another. Where Camille was outgoing, popular, and even sneakily manipulative, Palmgren had found her to be thoroughly vain and unpleasant. Lisbeth, on the other hand, while quiet and withdrawn, merely wanted to be left alone to live her life in peace without being bothered which was a result of the kind of life she'd had,

Lisbeth had tried to get the authorities involved but nothing happened. She tried a social worker, a priest, and the police. Nothing had happened and nobody did anything about the abuse. It was not surprising in Palmgren's mind Lisbeth had taken the law into her own hands, she had a history of it. Lisbeth's philosophy was if someone big threatened her, like with a knife or a gun she would get herself a bigger weapon and become the bigger threat.

Palmgren had problems understanding why Teleborian had added to the torture the way he had. His practice of strapping her down in a room without any kind of stimuli was barbaric. He had tried to discover why he had done it and why nobody had stopped him, only to have his investigations stalled before they had even begun, and he was still trying in a more subtle way, but he had found out nothing. That worried him; if he was being protected, then it meant his efforts to help Lisbeth might not even gain any more traction.

But for now, he wanted to have a chat.

"Lisbeth?" He called.

It took a moment for her to come into his office. Her closed-off expression and calm manner which could dial up with hostility were currently dialled down; he had learnt Lisbeth would dial up an aura of sullen dislike and even loathing if she met anyone whom she didn't like.

She said nothing. She didn't even ask what he wanted as she quietly took a seat, her pale skin and her dark, almost gothic clothing standing out in his colourful office. She just sat and waited for him to speak.

"I have been trying to discover what happened with your mother, and why nobody didn't do anything about it," Palmgren told her, seeing the stony expression on Lisbeth's face crinkle in surprise.

"Why would you do that?"

"I want to understand why nothing happened. Lisbeth, your mother suffered from terrible abuse for years before you set your father on fire and let him burn away in the street, and nobody did anything."

Lisbeth's expression contorted angrily, and for a horrible brief moment he was frightened she would do something to him, but she didn't. He realised she was furious with the world. "Nobody cared about her," she said quietly. "I tried every one I could think of, but nobody helped us. And now my mother doesn't even remember her own name because that bastard went too far, and everyone let him. What is there to know?"

Palmgren knew under that anger - understandable anger - was a great deal of hurt. "I don't know or understand what is happening, Lisbeth, I really don't. I have tried to understand why Zalachenko seemed unstoppable and untouchable to the point nobody tried to curb or mitigate what he was doing. I tried my best to find out more about him, why Teleborian," Lisbeth's eyes flashed at the mention of the disgusting man, "seems so intent on locking you up in a blank room for days on end, but someone is protecting them both, but rest assured I will try my best to keep helping you discover the answers. In the meantime, I am responsible for you."

Lisbeth licked her lips with real trepidation. "What do you want from me?"

"Nothing," Palmgren sighed as he realised he should have expected this. "I want to be your friend, Lisbeth. I want to help you and I'm not going to lock you up. It serves no purpose and it will just cause you more pain in the future. I want you to have friends. I want you to have a job, to prove to everyone you don't deserve what's happened to you."

Lisbeth Salander usually kept her innermost thoughts to herself, but there were times her feelings bled through. And they were now. But she didn't say anything, but she didn't need to, it was in the body language. She was grateful for him and his help, and his friendship.