Ratigan walked out of the bathroom one late night, silently cursing Lily for making so much ice tea for the barbeque.

He smiled as he remembered their first barbeque. He and Basil thought it was odd to be cooking outside, but the grilled hot dogs and burgers tasted delicious. He thought it was kind of barbaric to eat the burgers with their hands, but Isabelle explained that it was normal to eat them like that.

Ah, Isabelle.

He thought it was odd that he and the human girl got along so quickly, that they as Lily said, clicked. He wondered what drawn him to the petite girl. Maybe it was the fact that she treated him fairly, that she wasn't intimidated by him at all. She was actually...nice to him.

His thoughts were broken when he heard noise from the living room downstairs. He went down and saw Isabelle watching TV. He cleared his throat, getting her attention.

"Hi, what are you doing up?" she asked as he sat next to her.

"All of Ms. Lily's ice tea got to me." He said, "What about you?"

Isabelle just shrugged.

"Couldn't sleep." she said, "I thought some TV will get me to sleep."

He looked at the screen just as the title came up.

"Criminal Minds?"

"Yeah, it's a good show. It's about people that go into the mind of the killer. This episode is called...Conflicted."

Ratigan raised his eyebrows in interest and sat down to watch the show with her. He was disturbed that the serial killer was raping and killing muscular men. When the team said that it was a woman and a man team, he again looked interested.

"Ah, sound reason." he thought.

But he was shocked when it was revealed that the meek character, Adam, had another personality, the violent Amanda. It disturbed him how quickly he changed into the other personality. The show ended with a quote, "Monsters are real, ghosts are real too. They are inside of us and sometimes they win." Isabelle sighed and said,

"Ain't that the truth"

She then turned off the TV and went into the kitchen. Ratigan looked concern at her abrupt change of attitude and followed her. He found her sitting on the counter with her head down, looking upset. Ratigan pulled a chair up and sat in front of her.

"What's troubling you, my dear?"

Isabelle sighed as she looked at Ratigan.

"I think I have a monster in me."

Ratigan's ears flicked from her statement, but he stayed in place.

"My mother was overbearing." she said, "She tried to control my everyday life. What I eat, what my career was. It was mostly because my sister left; she was lonely and just clung to me, she was using me like a crutch. But I hated that, I almost hated her. One of the reasons I had to leave was because I couldn't take it anymore. She...disowned me when I left, saying I would never succeed without her. I didn't care what she said, but it still hurts. One of the things that really bothered me was how angry I felt, I felt like something burning in me, like...hot rage in me."

Isabelle went quiet while Ratigan configure the information, noticing she accurately portrayed the feeling of rage. He smiled gently as he took her hands in his.

"My dear, I don't think you are going to turn out like what we saw in the television." he said.

His smiled faltered when she looked at him with a dark expression.

"What about you, Ratigan? What did they do to you to turn you into...this?"

He pulled back as he looked at her.

"This?"

Isabelle suddenly jumped off the counter and looked at Ratigan with her arms folded.

"Yes. What turned you into this criminal mastermind? This so called world's greatest criminal mind? What did they do to you?"

Ratigan's ears perked down as memories filled his mind. He remembered the cruel words and the abuse he endured. The memory that hurt the most was when he got jumped and beat up by his fellow professor's and received no retribution for the act.

"What they did to me was monstrous, Isabelle." he said in a tight voice.

"And they created a monster." she shot back, swiftly turning around to go to her room, leaving Ratigan stunned by her words.

Lily and Basil were in the dining room the next morning chatting when Ratigan walked in. they both looked surprised by his tired state.

"You look like hell." Lily said, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." he said, feeling rather foolish that Isabelle's words hurt him. He looked around, noticing she wasn't there.

"Where is Isabelle?" she asked.

"I believe she's in her workshop." Basil said, and then watching as the professor went up the stairs, looking at Lily with a confused expression.

Ratigan sighed as he knocked on Isabelle's door, hearing a come in. He opened the door, seeing Isabelle sitting on a chair, looking straight at him.

"I was wondering when you were going to come." she said, watching as Ratigan entered the room and stood in front of her.

"...I'm not a monster, Isabelle." he said suddenly, then looking embarrassed from his words. But Isabelle only smiled sadly at him.

"I shouldn't have said that to you, I'm sorry." she said, then biting her lip, "Ratigan...what happened to you?"

Ratigan sighed and started speaking, telling Isabelle of the abuse he endured and of the assault that happened to him. He paced as he spoke, feeling oddly restless by her intense look. When he finished, Isabelle gave out a long sigh and gave him a look of...pity.

"Ratigan...when I saw you in the film, at the Big Ben Scene, When you turned...feral."

Ratigan grimaced at that, that wasn't one of his best shining moments.

"Yeah, you looked scary, but I wondered what turned you into that and now I know."

She looked up at him with sadness in her eyes.

"Ratigan, you could have been better then that. You could have gone back on the saddle, saying to them 'See? You didn't beat me, I'm no the man I thought I was.' Instead, you became the thing they accused you of."

Isabelle fell silent and then her eyes widened in realization.

"Wait a tic...is that why you wanted to be king? Because you wanted to get back at the kingdom for what they did to rats?"

The expression on Ratigan's face made her realize she hit a bull eye and she watched him sink into a chair, looking very tired and worn out.

Ratigan was almost scared by Isabelle's perceptive musing, but he was more hesitant of the empathy in her voice. He looked up when he heard a noise and saw Isabelle standing in front of him. Even sitting down, he towered over her. Isabelle looked at him with pity as she gripped his shoulder.

"You're a better man then this, Ratigan." she said softly.

Ratigan looked at her with surprise and he then sighed, resting his head on her shoulder. Isabelle looked surprised by the action, but she wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her cheek against his hair.

"I only wonder..."Ratigan said, speaking up, "What would have happened if I met someone like you."

Isabelle seemed surprised by his statement, but she didn't say anything as she held him.

AN: Here is a rather intimate moment between these two.

So, Ratigan has his first barbeque and see's Isabelle is depressed. She gives some insight into her life before and as you can see, she doesn't like get along with her mother. That's kind of why she's a bit snappy towards Ratigan; she gets a bit riled up. Again, I'm using my version of Ratigan's past, when he was assaulted by his colleagues. The monster line I got is from V for Vendetta; it's a pretty sweet line.

As you can see, Ratigan is a bit hurt from her words and see's her the next day. He tells her what happened and Isabelle give her opinion on it. Also, she thinks of why he wanted to be king in the film. Doesn't anybody else think that's why he wanted to be king? Lets think about this for a moment, it almost makes sense.

Anyway, Ratigan wonders what would have happened if her had Isabelle in his corner. It makes u wonder.

That Criminal Minds episode, Conflicted, is really good. Scary, but good, Check it out!

Anyway, enjoy and comments are loved! I don't own GMD, just Isabelle and Lily!