Was in a strange mood this morning and wanted to write through Joe's emotions so this is fairly one-sided. Hope you enjoy. Also enjoy the episode tonight for those of you who are able to watch!

The room stilled as the extra bodies moved away, leaving Joe with his darling Liette once more. He watched as she shifted back towards the chair, her hands moving quickly through the waves of her blonde hair. He found himself fixated on the movement of each strand that fell back into place. He saw them as golden strings from a perfect spinning wheel, every strand a work of art that must have been created by some god. Joe wasn't sure what he believed, he considered himself agnostic, there was a force out there that had somehow created them all but he wasn't sure any religion had captured that force perfectly. How could anything they described be powerful enough to create someone like Liette?

"Go on Joe."

Her hard voice tore into him, a pair of scissors hacking at the seams of his cool demeanor. He wasn't so badly to keep himself calm and pastoral with Liette but she was finding ways to push him. Joe could feel himself getting more frustrated with her despite his best efforts to remain on a level plain.

Why couldn't she just understand?

This was for her.

All of it was go her.

"Joe." Liette repeated, her voice instructing him to go on. She only wanted him to speak so she could get out of here. She was ready to run and hide. Joe didn't want that. He hated the idea of himself as the monster in her closet. He understood how he had become that to her but he was sure that there was a way to change it. So many people now understood and appreciated what he did, why couldn't she?"

"I had to finish what I started with Sarah Fuller, you have to understand that." Joe started from the beginning, planning on taking his time with every word that he pronounced. He wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

"I'm afraid I don't."

Rip. Another stitch in the seam of his calm demeanor ripped open by her words.

"What don't you understand?" Joe hid the irritation in his voice the best he could but he was sure that Liette could have seen it in her eyes if she would just look up. Her gaze was casted down on her hands in her lap. She wouldn't lift her eyes, not even for a moment to look at him.

"Any of it."

The answers she was giving were not the answers of a trained FBI agent who was fishing for leads or looking for connections. Her words hit him in a deeply personal tone, the gravity of them very apparent to Joe as he took them in. She wasn't just upset with him, she was livid. Anger, confusion and rage swirled together in every syllable that fell from her lips, each sound a slit that cut into Joe more and more.

"I did this to save you. I did this to show you I loved you, even when I couldn't say it." he had been so cautious about keeping his marriage alive, about keeping his family together. He had sacrificed so much to try and hold onto an ideal that had never made too much sense. The divorce rate was about fifty percent these days. It really shouldn't have come as a surprise that he and Claire wouldn't make it. Then again, who imagines that they're going to get a divorce? An average person entered their marriage thinking they had found a thing to last for a life time. They believed that they had found the love to end all others in their lives. Joe had seen that belief in himself and looking back now he realized how much of a fool he had been. Not for believing in a love of a lifetime but for believing that it could have ever been Claire over Liette.

"Butchering girls was your version of a valentines cards?"

Spite. It was such an ugly feeling. Joe could sense that Liette was fighting a sense of guilt by firing back at him. She had no reason to feel guilt. Each and every kill had been done by his own hands, lives taken because he had the strength to end them. With surgical precision he had cut out the eyes of his victims, shattering the widows to their souls, ridding them of the imperfection that made them so different from the girl who sat across from him now. But she wasn't a girl anymore, Liette was a woman, and she was a dangerous one.

"You're looking at this all wrong."

"How am I supposed to look at it Joe? A dozen girls are dead because of me!"

"Not because of you, for you."

She wasn't seeing the different. This wasn't her fault, even if she had been his trigger. His nature had always aired on the chaotic side, his love for Liette had simply unlocked an evil strength that he hadn't expected to find in himself. It had become sickly sweet for Joe to live in that chaos, the unruliness that had come with loving Liette. At home with Joey and Claire he had been controlled, cautious and civil. In front of Agent Ryan Hardy he appeared a charming professor who wouldn't harm a fly. To his students he had been a romantic, someone to swoon over. And to Liette he had been a friend. None of them had seen the devil within him, not until it was too late.

Liette could see it now.

"So what now Joe?" Her voice remained quiet, even as she challenged him. The tone came out in a whisper, one that was still quite afraid despite her anger. Joe could see how mixed up she was, fighting to keep control of her emotions all while resisting the urge to get up and run. She wanted to prove herself as the federal agent she always wanted to be but at the same time she hadn't expected to have to prove herself in front of Joe. It was one thing to face a monster but to face your own personal one was something else. "You said that was just the prologue, what kind of sick story do you have for me this time?"

Sick story.

Sick, that was what she thought of him.

Joe could feel the seams of his calmness rip, threatening to break apart as he hung on by a thread. He balled his fists, trying to ground himself in the action but as Liette spoke again Joe knew he was doomed.

"Get on with it."

"Liette do not test me!" Joe barked, suddenly on his feet again, his hands reaching for her but coming short because of the restriction his chains caused. The metal shook against the table and Liette flew back in fear, flinching the moment that Joe positioned himself against her. Her cold, unfeeling words had his chest heaving as if he had just run a mile. He shoulders were hunched and he peered at her through narrowed eyes. The animal showed himself once again as his prey cowered in the corner. "I love you but I can only deal with so much insolence." he growled at her.

Liette became a small, fragile thing; she was a lost girl who had been searching for a home for so long. Joe had to tear his eyes away from her because he realized his shouting had created that broken thing. She built herself up only to be torn down by his harsh words. He had put her in her place but by doing so he had hurt their relationship once again. He was getting nowhere with her. It was becoming very clear to Joe that he had likely been too hasty in telling her all of this. He had been right to ask for Liette in exchange for Agent Weston but he had pulled the thread too quickly. Everything was unravelling.

Liette's hands slammed against the wall, capturing Joe's attention once more. The guards had appeared at the door, throwing it open once they had heard the commotion inside. They moved to come and subdue him but Joe sank back into his chair before they needed to throw him into it.

"It's alright." Liette spoke to the guards directly. "It was a misunderstanding." the guards looked to her for the truth but with a solemn nod she had them moving back into the hall. Peering out the door Joe could see that Ryan was standing there. A low chuckle came from Joe's voice as he realized that despite Ryan's roughness with Liette he still meant to protect her. Ryan was foolish thinking that was his job, the task belonged to Joe alone.

The metal door closed, removing Ryan from view and causing Joe to focus back on Liette who was moving back towards the table. Her eyes remained down, even as she sat down across from him.

"Love, look at me please." Joe begged for her gaze, needing to see the life in her eyes, needing to see that she was still there. Joe knew that traumatic experiences could drain a person of the individual they used to be. The idea of Liette losing herself because of his loss of control was not a burden that Joe wanted on his shoulders. "I'm sorry."

Liette didn't believe him and Joe could see that in her eyes but at least she was looking at him. "Just go on, please." the bitterness remained, the spite lingered in her tone but she was no longer trying to fight him. She was giving him the chance to tell her his plan, or at least what little he could divulge now without ruining it.

"I'm doing this for you Liette, for us. We're finally going to have our chance." Joe explained, a lightness falling upon his lips as they curved into a smile. He told himself that she'd come to appreciate this one day. "I'm going to do things right this time. We'll get to be together."

"That's enough." Ryan was back and he was waltzing into the room to ruin everything.

"I'm not quite finished Ryan, I'll be happy to talk to you after but do you mind?" Joe snarled.

"Actually I do. Come on agent, it's time to go."

Joe watched Liette hesitate and he wondered why. Did she need more answers? Was she looking for a better explanation? He hoped it was a show of reluctance to leave him but he also knew it was likely too early to wish for that. Hopefully it was at least a spark of curiosity, a wish to know what else was going on in his head. He needed to make her fall in love with his mind again and that was where he would trap her.

"Liette." Ryan spoke Liette's name and it managed to snap her out of the hesitant trance she had fallen into. Like as soldier she jumped up from the chair and stood straight, her shoulders back and her eyes forward. She shook the formality out of herself and turned towards the door. Joe's eyes watched her every move but in just three steps he was gone.

"Time to hold up your end of the bargain Joe."

"The men you are looking for are Lucas Wright and Daniel Carmichael."

Ryan left the same way that Liette did, the door swinging back and forth as the guards came in to transport him back to his cell. Nothing had gone as planning but Joe now had a bit more of a tangible experience to hold onto when it came to Liette. He was one step closer and he would look at every day as another chance to close in on her.