Thank you for being patient during another dry spell. Midterms suck. Also for those of you who haven't seen there is a new Trigger Girl playlist on 8tracks. It should be in the tag, or you can follow my account (sandergirl) Hope you enjoy this chapter, things really start to differ from the original story from here on out.

"Hi." Mike's voice entered Liette's ears in a raspy tone, the sound beckoning her gaze to the paled body in the hospital bed before her. The young woman stepped into the room slowly, unsure of how she should proceed. Ryan remained in the doorway, nodding his head at Mike before his eyes settled on Liette who had turned to face him.

"Can you give us a moment?" she was sick of having people breathing over her shoulder, pushing her into corners and telling her what to do. She had not had a moments peace since she had come to Virginia and right now she really wanted babysitter Ryan out of her breathing space.

Luckily for Liette, Ryan wasn't exactly in the mood to play babysitter anyway.

"I'll go grab a coffee." he said, turning on his heels to leave Liette and Agent Weston alone in the hospital room. The sound of Mike shifting caused Liette to turn her attention sharply back at him before she moved to stand at the foot of the bed.

"How are you feeling?" she asked quietly.

"I'm alright, little sore." Mike minimized the pain he was in, trying to find a comfortable position to talk to Liette from. Even with her sometimes lacking social skills, Liette could deduce that Mike was lying. He was more than a little sore. He hid the red marks on his wrists in the folds of the baby blue hospital blankets but the cuts on his face and the rope burn on his neck weren't so easy to miss. Joe's people had made a real mess of Mike, cutting him up a bit and tying him out in the water, left for dead.

Liette forgot to remind herself that it had been her actions that had saved Mike from that fate but Mike wasn't about to forget that fact himself. "How are you?"

"Fine."

Her lie was bigger than his was and he saw through it just as quickly.

"You never told me about you and Joe."

"There is no Joe and I." Liette deflected.

"Hey, don't get upset. I just mean I would have been more sensitive talking to you about the case." Mike explained but the explanation was not enough for Liette. She took the wording the wrong way and immediately went off on the agent in front of her.

"What to make sure I didn't go tell the followers everything you told me?"

Her anger was misdirected. She hadn't taken the chance to fully go off on Debra and now here she was going off on Mike. It was irrational and Liette knew it but she couldn't stop herself. Her tongue flickered over her cracked, dry lips, her look shifting away from Mike's crystal blue eyes, fearing that he'd see right through her if she looked to long.

"That's not what I meant."

She knew that.

Silence lingered in Liette, silence that could have been cut with a knife. The thought had her imagining Mike, tied and bound by Joe's men. A helpless puppet, manipulated and used until it was time to set him free. Her mind dragged her through the darkness, a ship stuck in the dredge.

"Liette."

Mike's voice beckoned her back again, brown spheres found blue as he tried to sit up a little bit. Mike locked his gaze on Liette's but the intensity made her shy away. She had always been such a puzzling thing and he had always had fun trying to figure her out but right now he wasn't sure he liked the game anymore. She couldn't look at him for more than five seconds and it made Mike wonder how far gone she already was.

Had Joe pulled Liette into that dark place in her mind so quickly?

"I wanted to say thank you."

Mike continued to lead the conversation as Liette stood unmoving at the food of his bed. Her hands came to clutch the thin fabric of the hem of her dress, her focus shifting to how uncomfortable she was.

"Liette."

His voice pulled her back up again, this time her gaze stayed.

"You don't have to-"

"Yes, I do." Mike cut her off, a small chuckle leaving his lips as he shook his head at her. "You're unbelievable, you know that right? You saved my life." Liette didn't feel like she had saved anyone, in fact it was quite the opposite. She was losing someone and that someone was herself.

Mike kept talking and there was nothing that Liette could do to make him stop. She wasn't so sure she wanted to. There was comfort in the fact that it was his voice and not Joe's. He wasn't Debra either, pushing her forward into her waking nightmare, he was just Mike.

"Listen, I know this is hard for you." smooth and gentle his words came out without expectation or force. The acceptance of her situation washed over Liette in a tidal wave of relief. Mike didn't understand, no one could, but at least he was willing to try. "But you can do this. You're one of the best agents I know, you just have to keep yourself together." Mike saw it, that seam ripping in Liette, the one that threatened to expose her for the wreck that she was. He wished his words could stitch up the rip that Joe had caused but he knew it was a task that Liette had to complete herself. She was the only one that could stop her own reckoning, all Mike could do was point her in the right direction.

"He did this because of me." it was that guilt that was eating at Liette more than anything else. The fear of being caged up with Joe again was playing against her as well but Joe's words echoed in her head, forcing her to remember the role that he had placed her in. He had cast her as some sort of unlikely damsel or love interest in his sick and twisted tale.

"No, he didn't."

"He told me himself Mike."

Her voice was clear and solid even as her body shook and her hands moved to grasp the plastic frame of the hospital bed. Mike's eyes narrowed as he peered at her, realizing that more had come out of the meeting with Joe today. Still, her words didn't make sense to him. Why would Joe have done this because of Liette?

That part couldn't matter right now but Mike knew it would later.

"You can't do this to yourself." Mike jumped right back into the conversation, his voice growing stronger as he found his purpose in comforting Liette. He wanted to get to his feet and pull her into an embrace that might comfort her and ease the pain but with his condition he knew he had already reached the limit of his moving. Besides, there was no guarantee that touching Liette wouldn't just make her more uncomfortable. "Joe's a cold blooded killer Liette, his doings were his own, it was not because of you."

"I feel responsible."

"Don't let him do that to you."

Liette felt herself choking up again and she wasn't interested in crying in front of Mike. She had let enough people see her tears today so it was time to maintain some dignity. "I need some air. I'm sorry. I'm glad you're okay."

Liette's small frame tore through the hallways of the hospital quickly, her face turned down to the floor so people wouldn't notice the spherical tears that dropped from her eyes freely. She didn't want to be stopped or helped by anyone around so she tried to look okay as she rushed out. She found the first exit and pushed through the double doors with a forceful thrust, emerging to the fresh air, her head lifting once she realize she was alone. Distraught and disgruntled the young woman looked everywhere for comfort but there was nothing to hold onto in this place. The break into solitude reduced her to tears once again.

When had she become this fragile?

What had she become this afraid?

When had she become this weak?

Liette didn't have any time to answer the questions in her head before she felt a hand grab her arm and twist it around her back. Before she could react she felt the dampness of a wet cloth close over her lips. For a moment her body thrashed but in a matter of moments her world swirled into physical darkness.

And then they took her.