Edit: won't let me link my playlist but if you go onto 8tracks it is just titled "Trigger Girl" for anyone wanting to listen to the Joe x Liette playlist I made.

Joe had waited for this moment, previously wondering if it would come before he made it happen. Every time he was permitted a visitor he had wondered if Liette's face would ever appear across from him through the glass. A glimpse of blonde hair had been enough to get him excited but he had sat down disappointed every time to find a different face staring back at him. In all his years in prison she had not visited him once. At times when he had been alone in his cell he would become consumed by his thoughts of her. He had never lost his sanity or hallucinated but he had entertained himself with daydreams of her presence.

As Joe sat across from Liette now he realized the real thing was nothing like his day dreams. His hands were shackled, unable to move to brush the loose piece of hair out of her face or to hold her hand. He'd become trapped like Tantalus, forced to look at what he longed for the most but unable to reach it. She was right there. She was so close. If she made a mistake like Claire had he'd be able to grab her but it meant she'd be taken away from him. Joe had to play his cards right, he had to stay in control.

Liette waited with baited breath, trembling slightly as she sat across from the beast. His eyes had softened once again, knowing he was getting what he wanted. It was difficult to look at him without seeing two people. At first glance Liette was dragged back to the memories of her first two years of university, when she ended up taking Joe's classes because he was teaching them and not because she actually needed the english credits. Her vivid imagination transformed the interrogation room into his office, replacing the blank white walls with oak bookshelves, bursting with a perfectly organized library. The table became a matching desk and Joe's wrists were not bound by metal cuffs but by his favorite leather band watch. But a closer look at the man across from her stripped the office away from Liette's imagination with a forceful tug. She was dragged back into the world that was her reality where newspaper headlines and television bulletins plagues her mind with words describing the man that Joe actually was.

Killer.

Murderer.

Monster.

No amount of light reflecting in his chocolate brown eyes could lighten the words the described his true nature. No facade placed upon this room by her mind could make Liette forget the images of the disfigured and mutilated girls that had been Joe's victims. The dried black circles of blood around their gouged eyes and the slices through their clothing and flesh that had been done by his hands. These were not memories that Liette attached to the man with the leather band watch but they belonged to the man across from her and she could no longer deny that they were the same person.

The lion sat across from the lamb and his predatory eyes watched every hitch of breath that seemed to catch in her throat. He imagined her heart beating unevenly, not unlike the broken heart of Ryan Hardy. He could see the uneven rising and falling of her chest beneath her perfectly pressed blouse. Joe watched every detail of Liette and in return Liette did the same to him. It took her a moment to adjust in their situation but with a deep breath she dragged her confidence back to her. She had sat with men like Joe before and did not flinch so she reasoned she could be the same way with Joe despite their history. She would not be a lamb; she'd be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Liette had not had the chance to study Joe outside of this moment but she hardly imagined he acted the same way with Hardy or even Debra. Mike had called her a few weeks ago to talk about the case (a conversation she rushed though because of her disay) and had explained how frustrating it was to work against Joe. Joe's control despite his incarceration was a roadblock to the agents investigating him and the cult. Liette had tried to repress the conversation with Mike as much as she could but now she was drawing it back to make inferences about the situation. She was well aware of her own historical connection with Joe but she didn't understand why it made her important. He had had hundreds of students before and after her and unlike Sarah Fuller he hadn't turned her into a target. He had finished the job he had started with Sarah and now moved onto Liette but the answer as to why was still unclear.

"What do you want to know Joe?" it was her first sentence said to him without a wavering voice or a sharp breath. Joe noticed the change and leaned forward, seeing if he could test the boundaries in her fearlessness. Liette resisted the temptation to lean back away from him. She remained out of his grasp, placing her arms on the table in front of her knowing that if she moved just a few more inches towards him he'd be able to graze his fingers across her arm which was precisely why she watched the distance between them carefully.

"Everything." Joe answered. Despite the ridiculousness of the request Liette could tell by Joe's tone that he was speaking truly. Locked in this prison, he didn't have much better to do other than to wait for a moment when he could talk to Hardy or one of the agents. Now Joe had his moment to talk to someone who was more of his past than even Ryan was. He had the chance to relive some of the days of his freedom with Liette and it was a chance he would hold onto until it was stripped from him. He held his bargaining chip in his mind, the location of Agent Weston would come out once he was done with Liette.

"Congratulations on making the bureau. I'm so proud of you."

Like poison his words sunk into her skin and made her feel sick. Years ago she craved to hear those words coming from any of her professors but especially Joe. She had always been keen on authority and searched for approval from anyone who she saw as above her. That had continued on in her work with Debra and her other supervisors but Liette had matured with them. She still sought out Debra's approval but she no longer based her happiness on whether or not it was present. Things had been different with Joe.

"So I did something crazy." Liette announced as Joe placed her regular hot coco on the table before her. He looked down at her, a grin placed on his face as he moved to sit across from the blonde that seemed peppy with excitement.

"You? Do something something crazy? I don't believe it." Joe chuckled, raising his tea to his lips as he waited for Liette's news. She grinned wildly at his teasing and the pleasant smile that hid slightly behind the rim of his teacup.

"I've joined a writer's society." Liette smiled "A club."

"You're in a club?" Joe continued to tease, placing his teacup on the table as he laughed a little bit. "You mean you're going to go out and socialize with your classmates without being forced?" his eyebrow raised as he jested once more. Liette's grin dropped at his words, feeling like a taunted child on the playground.

"That's unfair." she countered with a pour.

"It's true." he quipped quickly. He reached across the table and touched the top of her hand with his fingertips, trying to soothe her hurt ego."I'm not shaming you, I benefit from your open schedule and I do enjoy these get togethers. I'm just happy to see your branching out." It had been three months and Liette only knew half the names of the people who she lived with in residence and past that she knew very little about them as individuals. She had spoken to classmates about group projects but never gone out to the pub for a drink after lecture. The only person she had actually become close to in the past three months was Joe. After their first discussion at the coffee shop, Liette had been surprised how easily she opened up with him. Joe's words seemed to peel back the curtains that she hid behind. It had become impossible to describe Liette as shy or quiet when she was observed in her regular seat in the cafe with Joe across from her. She bloomed in their conversations, laughing and conversing for hours before one of them had to end it. Joe had become the friend she was supposed to have met in residence.

"I'm proud of you."

"What of your writing? Did it ever go anywhere?" Joe asked, trying to learn about Liette one question at a time.

"I stopped." she said bluntly. She had left the writer's society after Joe's arrest and dropped out of the English course she had been taking the next semester. With Joe's absence the professor would have been different but Liette had known being in that classroom would have made her think of him more than she already had been.

"It's a shame."

"I hear you haven't stopped."

"You've heard about my new book?" Joe perked up slightly, excited to take the conversation in a direction that he hadn't intended to just yet. His second book would be a good old fashioned adventure story of good versus evil. He had heard Hardy into the hero and made Claire his complicated love interest. It was all information Liette had heard from Mike. "Well I'm delighted, I hope you're not offended that you weren't introduced in the very beginning, I do promise you play a very important part."

"What part?" Liette's question was hard and direct as she resisted being pulled into Joe's world. She didn't enjoy the part she was already playing in this so the suggestion that her involvement would only increase set her off. "What do you have planned?"

"Oh Liette, you know I hate spoilers."

"Don't play games with me." the agent in the girl he once knew was blossoming before her. Just as Liette saw two different versions of Joe, Joe was beginning to see that Liette had gone through her own metamorphosis. She appeared to still be the slightly reserved, bookish girl that he had spent afternoons with and had enjoyed teaching but underneath that layer of an old soul was a girl who been hardened by tragedy. He knew the reveal of his true nature had likely burned Liette and left her scared. He saw that scarring now, coming out as she demanded answers like all the other agents who had sat across from him in this room.

"You have certainly changed." Joe noted with a sigh. "You've become quite the woman." she was not a young girl anymore, not bright eyed and moldable like she had once been. He could remember days when he had spun her thoughts into strings of gold with just the mere weight of his words. She had hung off the movement of his lips as if they held the answers of the world. She hadn't always agreed with him but she had always listened obediently and fairly. They had had debates not quarrels and disagreements not fights. Now Joe could see the fighter in her but he knew she'd lash out at him with words not actions.

"You wanted to catch up. Catch me up." she stuck to her request, her brown eyes becoming as dark as Joe's as her lids narrowed and her gaze remained on him. In the other room her fellow agents and Ryan Hardy speculated about every word that left her lips and every movement that her body made around Joe. Liette's presence had begun to reassure Debra that she was not a mole within the FBI, she watched the video and saw the young woman she had worked with for over a year now. Liette was not worshipping Joe, she was challenging him and Joe didn't like it.

"It's not that easy."

"Make it easy."

Joe's face became like stone, getting annoyed with the game that Liette was playing. He didn't feel like he was in as much control as he should have been so he needed to end this nonsense. "I don't appreciate how you're speaking to me Liette. We are friends."

"We were friends." Liette corrected "And then I found out you murdered my classmates! All the while telling me I needed to be careful on campus and to call you if I ever needed help." Her audience looked at each other with this new bit of information. The question lingered in all of them: how closer had Liette actually been to Joe? What if this was all just an act? Maggie had come in in the same way and fooled them all. Liette was a genius, knowledgable about behaviour and personality, what was to say she couldn't have been faking all of this? The others watched as the young woman lifted off of her seat slightly, her body arching to try and intimidate Joe as she shouted. It mobilized the others in the room who worried they'd need to pull Liette out. They were already in trouble with Joe's broken fingers, they didn't need another assault.

"You killed girls just like me!"

"They weren't like you!" Joe shouted back, triggered by Liette's words and how wrong they were. She sunk back slightly, his shout startling her and the clanging of his chains pulling as he lifted himself off of his own seat, putting himself as eye level with Liette. "Nothing like you at all. Liette, that was the whole point." he was practically pleading with her to look at him and to understand but his words made no sense to her.

"What?" she reacted, her eyes filled with confusion as she stared back at him.

Ryan threw the door open. He and Debra had moved through the hall quickly so they had lost the end of the conversation but Ryan refused to be left in the dark. He remained in the doorway, Debra peering over his left shoulder while they both caught Joe's eyes. The man glared at them, annoyed by the interruption but dragged back into the situation by Liette who slammed her hands down on the table as she stood up.

"What do you mean!? What was the point?!"

"Arnaut..." Debra said softly from behind her, thinking it was time to movie Liette from the situation.

"This isn't right." Joe twitched slightly. "I don't want to tell you when you're angry, you'll misunderstand. Besides I can't skip ahead like this. It's too soon." Joe's perfectionism sealed his lips but Liette wanted to know what was going on. She watched as Joe's eyes fell down away from her and he began to lock himself away in that made of silence he often retreated to.

"Joe!" the young woman growled at him, the wolf showing it's teeth off to the lion. Joe's eyes rose once more, narrowing as he found Liette glaring at him. She had risen from her chair completely and leaned over the table slightly to appear dominant over him. She was just a few inches away from his grasp. He knew if he moved his hands to try and grab her the chains would stop them from reaching an inch of her skin. He simply had to look at her. Liette's figure was looming but still petite and not terribly intimidating. He had never seen her angry like this but it only took him a second to decide that he didn't like it. This was not the girl he knew.

"You'll find agent Weston just off of Killbourn island in five hours. You'll need to get to him before the tide gets to high." Joe's lips sealed in a straight line, locking tight as he gave Liette the information she originally wanted but keeping the secret he had almost exposed. "I'd like to return to my cell now to get some sleep."

Liette's hands slammed on the table again but they did not remain on the metal for more than a moment. "Arnaut lets go." Debra pulled her agent back, only to be aggressively shoved away. "Liette!" Debra shouted, her superiority showing as she gave her orders. She would not have more disorder on their team when one of their agents was missing.

Debra placed her hand on Liette's shoulder once more, spinning her back to look at her. Liette was seething with raw anger, drenched in the confusion from the answers she was not receiving. Debra wanted to believe that this was all real but she had to be cautious. If Liette's little spat here with Joe had all been part of the plan it would only distract the team and they didn't need that. It was time to focus back on the task at hand; no more reunion for Liette and her professor. "Lets go get Weston." Debra said to Liette. She had been studying Joe for weeks and she knew that no matter how much Liette screamed at the man he would not give her the answers she was looking for tonight. Whatever Joe had said to Liette would remain unfinished for now but he wasn't going anywhere so it was a topic they could revisit later.

Joe turned his head and looked to the wall, staring at nothing but avoiding the burning look that Liette gave him from over her shoulder. Her chest heaved now, her breathing uneven but heavy. Not a bit of air caught in her throat as her exhales entered the room like gusts of wind from her tight chest. She wanted to keep fighting but Debra's voice beckoned her once more. "Liette, Mike." Debra uttered quickly, dragging Liette out of her rage and to the task at hand. In reality they didn't need Liette to go with them on the rescue mission but Debra knew it was the only way to get Liette out of this room and right now that seemed like a better idea than letting her stay here with Joe.

Joe refused to cast his eyes back to his company so Liette kept her head and body turned from him before she stormed past Hardy and Debra in the doorway, her shoulder colliding with the doorframe as she clumsily stumbled out of the room. Pain shot through her arm but she kept moving until she reached the opposite wall, slamming her fist into the concrete, bloodying her knuckles with just one hit. Dealing with emotions had never been her strong suit so this act of overt aggression was all she could do to get the frustration out. The pain of her shoulder and her fist combining into one was too much so she let out a whimper. The sound of her crying out in pain forced Joe to peer out the open door, his chains shaking violently as he yelled out to her "Love stop! Please!"

Joe's shout was not one of anger but worry. His voice shook with a pain that Ryan wasn't sure he could actually feel. Joe's outbursts had always been of rage and yet here he sounded broken. Ryan stepped back from the doorway observing Joe as he looked out to the sliver of the hallway he could see and the glimpse of Liette turning from the wall. Their eyes connected and Ryan swore he could see an order being given just in the way Joe looked at Liette. Debra watched the scene in a similar manner and felt her doubts rushing back in. Much can be said with just one look but no one was sure what Joe was saying with his.

"I promise it'll be okay." Joe spoke once more, his eyes and his voice directed at Liette and Liette alone. Before he could say another word Ryan moved and slammed the door shut, the sound shaking through the hall as Joe was locked away from them and cut off before he could say anything else to Liette.

"What was that?" Ryan's attention turned to Liette who had slid down the wall, clutching her split knuckles as she held back tears. "What the hell was that?!" Ryan crossed the hallway and leaned down, grabbing the material of Liette's blazer to pull her back up off the ground, bringing her to eye level so he could demand answers from her.

"W-what?" Liette's voice shook with confusion, her confidence wilting away like a flower in the winter. She had held herself together for much longer than expected but now she came out of it all a broken and tortured girl.

"He called you love. What does he want you to do? What is going on?" Ryan clarified, his fingers tightening on the material of Liette's clothing to hold her close, trying to intimidate .

"Nothing." Liette shook her head furiously, shifting her body to try and break free from Ryan's grasp. "Wait...you still think that I'm...Debra I wouldn't...I'm not." Liette had understood the first round of suspicion that must have gone through every agent when they heard Joe request for her but after that meeting Liette thought their worries would have dissipated it. Clearly it had not.

"We need to go find Weston." Debra deflected. "Liette I think you should stay here, with protection." Debra meant supervision. It was practically an answer to the question that Liette feared. Did they think she might be a follower? Right now they weren't sure but they were leaning towards yes. They didn't trust her to go find Mike because they thought she was one of Joe's. "Get yourself caught up on the case." Debra suggested, trying to make it look like she was being supportive and not constricting. In reality she was backing Liette into a corner after dragging her here. Her situation with Joe was a complicated one and they couldn't be too careful. Liette couldn't be caged like Joe but she could be cornered into a small enough space to be controlled. For now they had no other option.