Disclaimer: The Millennium Trilogy is not mine.

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Chapter 24

The following days went the same way. The investors, the Vangers and the Millennium crew got to know each other; Elizabeth surprisingly delighted Lisbeth. Elizabeth was a highly educated person and was very interested in mathematics. They bonded over irrational equations. Lisbeth also liked Charles; he was very extroverted and easy going.

Things took a bad turn the last day of the holiday. The guests had the usual dinner and conversations floated around, because it was the last night there was a more festive air to the reunion. Ryan Brown was particularly enjoying the whisky and vodka shots.

Ryan approached Lisbeth one more time, as the holiday went on he kept trying to engage her but she had not given into his charm.

"Come on babe," he said, as he got closer to Lisbeth who was by herself. She came from one of the bedrooms; Aaron was still asleep.

"Lisbeth Salander, I know you want me. Just cut the crap and let's get with it. We can get to the cabin by the lake and have a very good time." Lisbeth ignored him and tried to move but he grabbed her arm. She reacted and punched him on the nose. The American also reacted; he was very intoxicated and backhanded her.

Lisbeth was taken aback and fell to the floor. Suddenly she saw Brown on the floor, and Mikael was on top of him punching him. The American punched Mikael but the journalist had the upper hand. He landed a few good punches before Charles pulled him up.

"You fucking piece of shit, you don't touch her, you hear me. You don't fucking ever touch her." Mikael was enraged.

"She's a whore, she's been tempting me since we met." Ryan Brown smirked as Mikael tried to break the hold Charles and Arnold had on him.

"That's enough Ryan, you've been drinking you do not know what you're saying." Russell was trying to calm things down.

"She's a whore who killed three people. She got away because she fucked Blomkvist and he helped her trick the whole Swedish judicial system. Lisbeth Salander is the girl whose life was 'destroyed' by Säpo."

The Americans did hear about her, there was a brief reference to her when a big case about civil rights broke out in America. The United States was also overly involved when it came to social control and invasion of human and civil rights. (That is my opinion; you could agree or disagree with my assessment.)

Mikael saw red again and managed to launch himself and land one last punch. Finally Henrik raised his voice and said, "Harriet please take Mr. Brown to the hospital, I do not want to see him on my property. His belongings will be delivered tomorrow."

Harriet did as she was told and Charles went with her. Russell apologized and left with Elizabeth who gave Lisbeth a hug before going.

Lisbeth did not notice Erika trying to look at her bruised face until she felt cold ice on her cheek. "We should get some ointment for your cheek." Lisbeth nodded and left the library with Marianne and Erika. She looked at Mikael one last time but he evaded her eyes. She was hurt and walked away from him.

"I just want you to know that I think you are a great woman. I don't know what Ryan was talking about, but over the last week I have taken a liking to you." Marianne said, Lisbeth tried to awkwardly smile but it came out as a grimace.

Erika applied the ointment and gave her a watery smile; Lisbeth thanked her and looked for Aaron. She saw her baby and kissed him in the head, she laid with him on the bed. She hugged her son to herself.

It was about three hours later when she felt Mikael slide behind her, he was crying. "I am sorry, I don't want you to ever see me like this. I can make up a million excuses but seeing that sick fuck hit you made me want to kill him with my bare hands."

He cried some more and Lisbeth faced him. "Promise me you'll never do this again, promise me. I don't want to ever see you like that again, that is not my Mikael. My Mikael sucks at fighting and would only attack another person to defend himself." Lisbeth finally opened her eyes and saw him; his eyes told her that he was ashamed of his actions. Lisbeth hugged him and buried her face on his neck. She inhaled his scent and let him cry.

What really scared her about tonight was seeing Mikael enraged. She had seen him annoyed, mad and being rude. But the rage that he expressed tonight was new; she truly hoped she would never have to see him like this again. It scared her that he was capable of such violence. Her Mikael was her source of peace and her rock. He was the one to keep his cool about things.

She was the violence prone person; she did not want another person who had the same rage. Mikael kept her grounded and stable, Lisbeth was aware that he was human and therefore imperfect. She just did not want to see him losing control because of her. Lisbeth didn't want him to become violent because he was defending her.

"I love you Sally and what Brown did was unacceptable. I am sorry I lost my composure but I am not sorry I did it. It might not make any sense to you but he deserved those punches. I do not want you to doubt me or lose the trust you have in me. We have come a long way and I don't want to lose that."

"I just don't want you to become like him, he was violent. I can't see you as capable of such destruction. I know you would never hurt us but tonight was one of the scariest nights of my life. I saw such rage in you and I… just you're not like that ok."

Lisbeth's voice broke. Mikael hugged her kept repeating I'm sorry; they both drew strength from each other as they sobbed.

Lisbeth fell asleep and Mikael promised himself to never do this to his Sally. When he saw that bastard backhand her he saw red and just tried to kill the son of a bitch. After all the adrenalin rushed out of his system he realized his mistake. His Lisbeth was dead afraid of him becoming violent. That was why he couldn't hold her gaze when she left the library; he was ashamed she had to see him like that.

Henrik was surprised when he did not go after Lisbeth. Mikael gave him a rough sketch of his problem. Henrik was a very discreet man and finally told him to go see his woman and apologize.

Mikael did, this conversation was painful. He understood that his Sally was still fragile and would perhaps never be able to heal from the psychological wounds her biological father inflicted on her. He was painfully aware that he might have blown all their achievements as a couple. Only time would tell. He asked to whatever divine power that this was not the case. This event completely cemented his convictions that nothing good came out of Hedeby Island.

Mikael woke up, his face was bruised and his ribs hurt. He saw Lisbeth asleep with Aaron next to her. Her cheek was red, he touched the bruise and Lisbeth startled and looked frightened when he tried to cup her face again.

It all happened pretty quickly, Lisbeth got up and grabbed a sleeping Aaron who started to cry. She ran with the baby to the restroom.

Lisbeth breathed in and rocked Aaron, for a moment she was back in time; her mother covering her bruises while Zalachenko gently touched her. He would apologize and her mother would forgive him. Intellectually Lisbeth knew Mikael was not Zalachenko and that he would first cut his hands before raising a hand to her or Aaron. Emotionally however she saw him as a violent threat, she was witness to the violence that Mikael was capable of. It was very unsettling to see Mikael beat someone up.

Mikael was not surprised; something told him that today was going to be a very hard day. He was aware that yesterday's events might have caused an irreparable rift in their relationship. He would not give her up; they would talk and fix this. He waited for her to leave the restroom. She would have to eventually; Aaron would get restless without stimulation.

Lisbeth and his son walked out of the room, well Lisbeth was carrying the boy. She inhaled and said, "I'm sorry, I really am but I just can't get over what I saw yesterday."

Mikael tried to explain himself, "you know I reacted to a stressful situation. I noticed a change in you a couple of days ago. You seemed skittish after dinner time, yesterday was just the confirmation that something was bothering you."

"Brown made advances to you didn't he?" Lisbeth just nodded. Mikael continued, "the fact that you didn't bother to tell me about it is irrelevant at this point. I know the way I reacted was not the best way to handle the situation but I did it because he threatened you. Brown assaulted you; the fight was just a reflex. Me beating that bastard had nothing to do with you or our son."

"I know that Mikael, don't you think I know that. But it is hard to disentangle you from yesterday's images. It is your enraged face that I see. I don't care about anything that happened yesterday besides from the fact that you snapped and people had to stop you from assaulting Brown."

Mikael was angry and at the same time defeated. He did everything in his power to get Lisbeth's trust and he made a mistake. Because of this he could lose her and Aaron. He finally spoke, "let's just get home and deal with this. I don't want to discuss our relationship here. This place revolts me."

The family went back to the cottage and packed their belongings. They said their goodbyes to Henrik and the Americans, who again apologized for Brown's behaviors. Henrik limited himself to kiss her on the cheek and kiss Aaron on the forehead.

The way back was tense; when they got home Mikael put Aaron back to his crib and left the apartment. Lisbeth knew he was trying to clear his mind. She tried to do the same; she napped until she heard the bedroom door open.

"Love, I don't want to talk. I am tired; everything hurts so just let me sleep. He kissed her hairline and undressed.

They slept apart from each other. It hurt Lisbeth that he was not there to comfort her or to reassure her that everything would be ok. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to sleep.

Things went on like this for about three weeks. These were the tensest weeks Lisbeth experienced while being with Mikael. He became a workaholic; he spent less and less time with her and Aaron. Lisbeth maintained an indifferent façade; they did not talk anymore.

Her fear of him diminished, true to his word he never did anything violent or threatening to her or their son. Something else was happening; they were drifting apart. They didn't even sleep in the same bed anymore. Mikael was staying late hours at Millennium. He would come home at about 4:00 AM and the couch became his bed.

Lisbeth would find him sleeping with his reading glasses on or typing furiously on his laptop. She was starting to think his affair with Berger was renewed. He spent so much time with her that she had to wonder sometimes. They were miserable and perhaps it was Berger's fault, maybe Erika fucking Berger was fucking her Kalle.

One night she just asked him. He was home early; for him early became 11:00 PM. He checked up on Aaron who was peacefully sleeping.

"Are you fucking her again?" She was mad; it was finally show time. Mikael looked up from Aaron's crib and left the room.

He was in the living room when she shut the baby's room and asked again, "Are you fucking Erika Berger? Is that why you are not home most of the time and why you don't come to our bed or see your son when he is awake."

"Answer me Mikael, are you so busy fucking her that you forgot about Aaron. He doesn't see you anymore. He asks for you all the time, I know he misses you." What she really wanted to say was 'I miss you'

Mikael was mad, how dared she accuse him of anything. She was the one who made it perfectly clear that he was not longer welcome near her again. He sharply looked at her and answered "No, but maybe I will." He saw that he was hurting her. Her eyes clouded and she took a deep breath.

He never let her speak, "you are the one who is afraid of me. You do not trust me, I don't know if you ever did. One single mistake and you closed off. In your eyes I am this monster. I am just waiting for you to leave with my son again."

"I am going away Lisbeth, I need time to think and evaluate all of this. I do not want you to believe I am leaving you or Mikael. I will go to London and get together with Millennium's sponsors. I will be back in a week. We cannot continue like this, you have to make up your mind. I love you, but you have to choose: either you trust me completely or we move on apart from each other. I will not continue to live in this hell."

No one could ever call her insightful on relationship issues but she could see that Mikael was lashing out. The Hedeby incident haunted them.

"This is about what happened at Hedeby Island?" Lisbeth tried to start an argument. He coldly laughed, "yes and you know it. You do not trust me, why can't you see that want I did was to protect you. That is what I do, it has been my job since I met you."

"That bastard harassed you but you were unable to trust me with that information. You chose to keep quiet. Fine, I could deal with that, I know that you are fragile and still need to have things for your own. But to think that I would harm you or our son, that destroys me."

Lisbeth looked at him and saw tears running down his cheeks, she did not think about it twice and hugged him hard. She hated this, he understood her and the comment about her fragility was spot on. Lisbeth could not delude herself and think that Mikael was trying to insult her, he was just pointing out the hard cold facts.

"I am sorry, I am broken and cannot give you what you want. Mikael, I just didn't know how to disassociate you from the violent flashbacks. Don't ever think that I don't trust you, I swear it took me a couple of days to finally see that you and him are not the same."

Lisbeth clung to Mikael and cried. She cried because of her stupidity, because once again life was taking something precious away from her. It was moments like this that made her realize that she could be scared, angry, vulnerable and right down insane and Mikael would be there for her. Mikael did what he always did; he hushed her and tried to comfort her.

"I hate this, I hate that you don't want to be around me anymore. That you are afraid of me touching you, just tell me what to do." Mikael said into her neck. Lisbeth did not do anything she just buried her face in his chest.

"I am leaving tomorrow morning. I hope that you make up your mind by the end of this week." Mikael knew he was being extremely unfair with this ultimatum he gave her but he was overwhelmed and wanted her to choose.

Lisbeth looked sad but seemed to understand the situation she was in, Kalle Blomkvist reached his breaking point. She felt numb; this time there was no doubt. It was her fault that Mikael was leaving her. She drove him away and she knew it; Lisbeth could see his despair and fear through his eyes. She knew that one word from her. Only one word could make him stay but Lisbeth wasn't sure. Mikael was right; she needed to sort her feelings.

The next morning was painful. Summer was ending and the temperatures started to drop a little. Mikael had his usual scarf and a brown jacket; he went into Aaron's room and gave him a kiss. He pecked Lisbeth and left the apartment.

Lisbeth still felt numb, she could not believe it. Mikael left, she understood why he left. She did not know how to feel about him leaving. She did not feel abandoned; even though it was the first time she was without Mikael in about 2 years, she did not feel like Mikael walked out on her. She went through the motions. That first day she cleaned, cooked for herself and fed Aaron. She even worked on a pending case she had.

The second and third day went pretty much the same way. It wasn't until the fourth day that Lisbeth broke down. She was washing some dirty dishes and Aaron started crying. Lisbeth went to her son's bedroom and saw him crying and pouting. Aaron had a light fever. It wasn't the first time, the baby was usually healthy but he was sick from time to time. She gave him the medication the pediatrician prescribed and tried to soothe her child. Lisbeth remembered that whenever he was sick Mikael rocked him and sang, "Can't help falling in love." She tried but it was as if the baby knew his daddy wasn't there for him. She had the clever idea of playing a clip of one of his interviews from her trial. The baby looked at the MacBook and whimpered "daddy, daddy." Aaron was exhausted from his crying and the medicine. He watched his father for about fifteen minutes until he fell asleep.

Lisbeth finished watching the interview. She missed Mikael, she wanted him there with her, tending to Aaron and congratulating her for not freaking out. Lisbeth went into their room and napped she wore one of Mikael's sweater and inhaled his scent.

After this instance everything reminded her of Mikael from Aaron's eyes to black coffee. Two days before Mikael was due to arrive she tracked Agatha down. Her elderly friend was in Bermuda with her family. She called her and explained the situation.

"I don't know what to do Agatha, I want him back now. I know that when he comes back I will immediately tell him that I want to stay with him. But what if he doesn't want to be with me anymore?"

Agatha who was extremely sympathetic answered, "Sweetie are you sure you want to be with Mikael. Do you fully trust him?" Agatha knew the answers to these questions; she just wanted her young friend to say it aloud.

"Of course Agatha, didn't you hear me? I was just afraid that he would become violent but I realized that he would never do that. My fears were just remaining flashbacks I had from my childhood with Zalachenko and my mother. But Agatha what if he's realized I'm not good enough for him?"

Agatha smiled sadly and told her, "Lisbeth do you truly believe that? Do you think Mikael is worthless?"

"Of course not," Lisbeth said indignantly. "Mikael is amazing. He is smart, funny and patient. He is not perfect I mean he is arrogant and has bothersome habits but he is a very good judge of character."

"Would he choose someone unworthy of him?" Agatha asked. The answer came immediately to Lisbeth. It was a resounding no. She loved talking to Agatha; the elderly woman always had the right answers.

"Lisbeth you need to stop all this nonsense. Wake up, if you continue doubting yourself and the love Mikael has for you, lets just say that your child will grow up with two houses and separated parents. You will lose Mikael, and there won't be a third chance to make things right because Mikael will soon give up. One man can only take so much."

Those harsh words coming from Agatha were enough to snap her out of the trance she was in. Sweet and understanding Agatha managed to finally instill this sense of action in Lisbeth Salander. The old woman was right, she needed to stop. She was Lisbeth Fucking Salander, she was strong and she was going to be happy.