A/N: Thank you for your wonderful reviews. They're really inspiring as usual. You guys should have seen my brother and my friends Simon and Jonas today when they asked me to rent a movie with them and I told them I couldn't 'cause NCIS would be on in 5 hours. They looked at me as if I was crazy. Maybe I am… but who cares when there's NCIS on tv?
Disclaimer: I had this dream the other night where you could buy NCIS and its cast and crew on eBay… and I did! It was great… until I woke up and realized that it was all a dream (yes I did check on eBay that morning to make sure, I'm not stupid!) so I guess that lucky bastard that owned NCIS before still owns it. But one day… one day….
Through Troubled Nights Chapter 8: Logic And Reason
"Who are you?"
The man slowly stepped inside and bent down to pick up the knife that Ally had dropped.
Ally was sure the stranger could hear her heart beating as it was pounding in her chest. She suddenly forgot how to breathe when he took another step towards her holding the knife in front of him.
He looked at her but she couldn't read him. She had no idea what he was thinking… but on the other hand, not breathing, caused her to not know what she was thinking herself. She jumped when he finally spoke.
"Good girl… Number 9: "Never go anywhere without a knife". If only I could get Kate to adapt my rules we wouldn't be standing here right now."
He handed the knife back to her and she accepted it with trembling hands after a few seconds of hesitation.
"…and she wouldn't be stuck with DiNozzo watching out for her and her bruised ribs."
Ally felt someone tug at her arm and felt her eyes glaze over with tears as she looked down at her little daughter. Megan stared at the kitchen knife in her mothers hand.
Ally gave her a small smile.
"It's okay honey, we won't need this" she glanced towards the man standing in front of them. "right Mr..?"
"Gibbs… Special Agent Gibbs" To reassure her he showed her his NCIS badge. "I work with your sister. We need to get going." He looked down at the little girl and then back at Ally. "I don't think you'll be going back here for a while."
Ally nodded and she ushered her daughter towards Gibbs. "Stay here with Special Agent Gibbs Megan, I'll be back in a second"
She disappeared into her bedroom and Gibbs was left by the door alone with a wide eyed five year old. He looked back at her and expected her to say something. Nothing came and Gibbs felt stupid as he realized that he had managed to create an awkward silence with a five year old.
He searched his head for something to say. If I stood here… five years old, with a strange man, waiting for my mother who had just been scared as hell, what would I want to hear?
He cleared his throat.
"There's coffee in the car…"
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Kate and Tony stepped off the elevator only to find McGee alone but not where he usually was.
"What do you think you're doing at my desk?" She glared at him and Tony shook his head.
"Not cool Probie… not cool"
Tim looked from Tony to Kate.
"I-I… Gibbs… well I… I mean Gibbs said…" he stuttered.
Tony rolled his eyes and turned towards the elevators. "I'm going to see Abbs…" he called over his shoulder. Kate ignored him and stayed focused at McGee.
"Tony gave you his name, didn't he?" she asked, her hands on her hips.
"Well… actually he gave Gibbs his name and then Gibbs told me and-"
"McGee!" Kate cut him off. "What are you doing at my desk!"
"I was supposed to go through your phone records when Tony called and Gibbs told me to look up our guy instead… I guess I just didn't bother changing computers."
Kate stared at him for a while.
"I'm going to take some more painkillers and you better be at your own desk when I get back!" She pointed a finger at him.
She had just had one man invade her space in the last 72 hours. She didn't want Tim to go through her computer on top of it.
She headed for the bathroom and Tim was once again left alone. He shook his head to clear it. What had just happened? He knew he should just rise and sit at his own desk like Kate told him to but he found himself frozen in her chair. Had the whole hard drive that was the world just been rebooted or something? Had someone downloaded new updates for the system? Everything seemed to kind of crash around him and nothing seemed to be the same to him.
He wasn't supposed to be brought closer to Abby because Kate got hurt and they were supposed to solve murders, not chase possessive ex boyfriends.
McGee liked systems. He liked things that made sense. Like html or java script. Logic and reason. He loved that 1+1 always became 2 no matter what it was or where in the world you were and he always had. 2 + x 5. x 3 in McGee's world. This early morning though the equation didn't add up. There was no system, no manual, no guide to read. There was no program to use to clear up the picture or key to read the cryptic text.
As he sat there in Kate's chair taking it all in he was sure he could see the walls around him come crashing down. He could hear the whooshing sound and he could smell the dust. He stared into space trying to will it all away. Trying to find the logic… the reason.
There wasn't one and he knew it. He just didn't know how to live without it…
Kate returned from the bathroom and as their eyes met from across the room he knew that she wouldn't yell at him for still sitting at her desk. She came closer and closer to him and as she reached the desk he felt as if he was staring right through her.
"What have you got?" she asked bringing him back.
"No logic" he stated, honestly.
She gave him a weak smile.
"I have no control. What do you say we make things right again?"
He looked at her and realized that her world didn't function the way it should right now either. As she pulled Tony's chair over and sat down next to him, looking at him expectantly trusting him Tim knew that her walls had fallen too. In more ways than one.
He nodded and typed in the name Mitchell Devon.
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A certain farting hippo was being tossed in the air, up and down, up and down by a pacing Tony.
Abby tried to concentrate on her evidence and listen to what Tony was telling her but found it hard not to follow her precious Bert with her eyes as he flew through the air. She fought the urge to cut Tony off and reclaim her animal but knew that she was being silly. Maybe Tony needed to toss him around like that to vent and since she honestly couldn't remember a word Tony had said in the last ten minutes since she hadn't paid any attention she deserved to be punished by having her dear hippo thrown in the air.
Tony wouldn't drop him and what if he did… it wasn't like Bert would break any bones or- screw it, Abby might not be listening to her confiding (or whining? She wouldn't know, she really wasn't listening) friend but Bert was not the one that should be punished for it.
"Tony can I just…" she took small steps towards the agent and then before Tony could react she snatched the stuffed animal from him just as he was about to catch Bert after another of his trips through the air.
"…sorry Abbs" Tony tried, not really understanding why he couldn't keep the animal any longer.
"No, no… that's okay…" she placed Bert on one of her shelves and made sure it was out of reach for Tony. "You were saying?" She returned to her computer.
Tony hesitated for a second or two before continuing. "… well we kissed! And I just don't want her to think that I'm using her, being hurt and vulnerable right now. I mean it's Kate… I just want her to know that I'll be there for her, whether she wants this kissing thing to become a more permanent and frequent thing or not. I would never go to Kate for a one-night-stand… that I have a ton of other girls for."
Abby looked at him sceptically, eyebrows raised.
Tony recognized the look on her face and nodded. "Okay, yeah, one of the things that will have to go if I'm serious about this me and Kate thing… right?"
Abby nodded a stern look still on her face.
"If you actually start a relationship with Kate and you as much as mention 'one-night-stand' and 'other girls' Gibbs will probably be first in line to slap you."
Tony frowned. "Ah… so you're saying Gibbs would have to know?"
Abby sighed. "Get out of here!" she threw a pencil at him.
"Ouch!" Tony laughed running out of the room. "Alright, alright I'm going!"
Fingerprints and blood… she thought as she hurried around the room in a way that to a stranger would look unplanned and messy but Abby knew what she was doing. She was in control. She would have her blood work done in… 45 minutes and she would be ready to put the prints they got off the pipe through AFIS in a few minutes if she hurried up. Fingerprints and blood…
They needed to put Mitchell at the scene. Gibbs wanted to know for sure that it was him that took a swing at Tony. Not that he didn't think it was Mitchell but he needed proof. No guessing would be good enough here…
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Tony knew something was up the second he stepped off the elevator. The air was standing still and not a single English word seemed to be remembered by the few occupants of the room.
He slowly made his way over to where the others were standing, careful not to make any sudden movements. No one seemed to notice him and he was afraid that if he broke the silence and actually said something it would be the wrong thing to say or give one of them a heart attack. This kind of silence was suffocating. Sure he knew Gibbs could make even the toughest person uncomfortable but this was different.
As he came to a stand behind Kate he locked eyes with Gibbs and realized that he was trying to figure out what the hell to do as well.
Gibbs wasn't much for wasting time and especially not on staring competitions that were supposed to be family reunions. He wanted, no needed to continue his investigation and did not have time or patience enough to just stand by the elevator watching Kate trying to figure out something to say to her sister all morning.
If this was a normal morning Tony would be trying to decide on whom to laugh at first; Kate standing speechless and uncomfortable in front of him or his Boss who looked like he wanted to bark something so badly but was stuck with a six year old and a still shaken up Ally Todd who refused to move any closer to her older sister than she had to. Yes, any other day Tony would have laughed his ass off but not today.
No, today it was all about whom to help out first. Tony felt almost sickly noble and helpful but knew that he had to do something. He cleared his throat without really having figured out what to say.
"So… dinner with the Todd family must be a blast." He flashed Ally a smile. "You all being so talkative and all"
He could feel Kate staring angrily at his back.
She thought she was handling this just fine. What was she supposed to say anyways? 'Sorry I dragged you to the office at this hour but since we last saw each other I've been beaten up by some guy I dated briefly. Oh and by the way he threatened to take out his revenge on you and your daughter… breakfast?'
Gibbs saw Tony's ramblings as an opportunity to get things moving. He put a hand on the back of the little girl next to him and pushed her towards Tony.
"Here, DiNozzo, take Megan with you and get some coffee." He looked towards were McGee was still seated at Kate's desk trying to be as invincible as he possibly could. "How's that background check coming? Anything that could help us?"
McGee looked up and met his gaze mumbling and stuttering something that Gibbs thought, possibly could be a 'yes'… or a 'maybe'.
Tony looked down at the little girl that was obviously his responsibility for the next few… minutes. His eyes wide, he turned towards Kate. She could see the panic and insecurity in his eyes. He was pleading for help.
She closed the space between them and a placed a hand on his arm.
"Whatever you find funny, she'll find funny. Whatever you like to eat, she likes. Whenever you're confused, she's confused. She's six, Tony. The two of you are on the same level."
Tony glared at her and mouthed a sarcastic "Thank you, honey" to Kate before once again turning around to face his new best friend.
"Well princess… looks like the two of us will be getting some coffee."
Megan glanced around the room.
"That's the most important thing for us to do?" she asked unbelievingly. "I thought we'd catch bad guys"
Tony shook his head. "I know! You'd think-" He cut himself short. Hey, I totally agree with a six year old… He cleared his throat and looked around to make sure that Kate or Gibbs hadn't caught his and Megan's conversation. They hadn't. "Let's get moving…"
Gibbs was currently standing next to McGee back at Kate's desk and Kate had finally advanced on her sister. Neither of the women seemed any more comfortable with each other yet but Tony was glad they had tracked Ally and Megan down and hoped that the new company would do Kate good.
With a last glance back towards Gibbs, Tony grabbed Megan's hand in his and walked towards the elevators.
"Wanna push the button?" He asked looking down at the little girl. To Tony she looked quite a bit like Kate. Dark hair, deep eyes and a facial expression that made her look like she could take care of herself.
Eyebrows raised Megan looked back up at him.
"No that's okay…"
Tony grinned and hurried to push the button himself.
"Great! I wanted to do it anyways" He loved the way the button would light up under his touch.
The six year old next to him shifted on her feet.
"I could tell"
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"I sent some people to the address that Kate gave me as his home address and it's empty, so where could he be?" Gibbs looked expectantly at McGee who'd done the background check.
"That's his only listed address but his last employer told me he has a brother."
"Any other relatives?"
"No… not according to Mr Hastings, his last employer. Mr Devon, Mitchell, worked at his real-estate agency for…" McGee searched through his newly printed documents. "6 years. He got fired three months ago after two of his female colleagues filed sexual harassment complaints against him. I don't know when he met Kate but I'm guessing it was shortly after…"
Gibbs sighed.
"Do you have an address for the brother?"
McGee shook his head. "No."
"Find one!"
With that Gibbs took off towards the elevator, wanting to pay Abby a visit next and find out if she had any information on those prints yet.
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"Mr…?" Megan played with her seatbelt.
"Tony"
She looked up at the man driving the car.
"Mr Tony?"
Tony flashed her a broad smile. "Just Tony…"
"Just Tony, do you know my aunt?"
The agent rolled his eyes at his "new" name.
"Sure… Kate and I work together, we're partners. I know her."
Megan leaned her head against the car window.
"I don't" she sighed, her young face sad.
Tony cringed… he was pretty sure he wasn't the best person to handle this. Now this is why I wanted Kate to help me out…
"…She wants to get to know you, she's just… busy" he tried, hoping that the little girl wouldn't think more about it.
Megan drew hearts in the fog that she'd created breathing on the window.
"Does Mr Gibbs have her do a lot of important things?" She asked, breathing against the glass again.
"Yeah. She's a great agent and Gibbs wants the best of the best to help him catch bad guys" Tony parked the car outside Starbucks.
Megan looked at him. "You're not too busy to get coffee and look after me?"
"No" Tony answered unfastening his seatbelt.
"No important things for you then… I guess that's smart"
"Hey! I get to do loads of important things and I want to get to know you. I'm like a James Bond type of guy, isn't that cool?"
Megan opened her car door and stepped out on the sidewalk, turning and looking back at Tony, who was still seated in the car. "I like Winnie the Pooh better"
Getting out of the car Tony muttered, "I'll introduce you to McGee then" to himself.
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"What do you have for me Abby?"
Abby spun around finding Gibbs in the doorway.
"There you are Gibbs. I expected you to be here at least 15 minutes ago…" She smiled at him.
"I'm here now. What about those prints?"
"Our guy's in the system. Sexual-"
Gibbs broke her off.
"Harassment case, yes I know. So the prints belongs to Mitchell Devon then?"
"Wanna know whose blood it was?" Abby grinned.
Gibbs sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Guess for Kate's!" Abby said.
Gibbs looked shocked. "Kate?"
"Wrong! The correct answer is Tony's!"
Abby loved playing little games with Gibbs to get him to relax… she wasn't sure it made him relax very much though. But she enjoyed it.
Without a word Gibbs turned and left the lab, heading upstairs again.
Mitchell was the one who attacked Tony at Kate's and all they had to do now was catch him. Gibbs knew that he had to catch this guy or he'd go mad. He had to get a look at the guy that dared to touch Kate. That had the nerve to hurt his agent… Tony's partner and their friend. Kate was a proud and private person and the fact that someone had tried taking that away from her… that this man had laid his hands on her against her will sickened him.
And as if attacking Kate hadn't been enough this guy then took a swing at Tony. Gibbs cared more for Tony than he'd ever admit to himself and definitely not to Tony.
Both Tony and Kate were his people and Mitchell would pay for entering their lives. Gibbs clenched and unclenched his fists as he waited for the elevator to arrive. This should be simple… they had a name an address, Kate knew what he looked like and they had his prints. He was still near by, Gibbs could feel it, and still it felt as if he was so far away… far away from where he belonged, prison.
One thing Gibbs knew for sure. He wanted to hit someone and soon!
He arrived back at the desk area and found Kate and Ally alone.
"Where's McGee?" he barked, scanning the are with his eyes.
"He said something about Mitchell's brother…" Kate said looking a bit pale.
Gibbs took a deep breath. Good… For a second he forgot what he was supposed to do next. Kate doesn't look well. I should- No! Catch bad guy – then rest. Should be my rule number 51!
"Ally why don't you visit Abby in the lab? I'll get Ducky to take you down there." he then addressed Kate. "Kate, we're going to get your car. It's still at Mitchell's, right?"
Kate was now, if possible, even more pale. "Yes… but-"
"Good. Let's go." Gibbs handed Kate her coat and left for the elevator.
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Mitchell thought laying low and taking it easy for a while would do him good. Just sitting around on the couch with his ankle on ice watching television should be really relaxing… it wasn't. He couldn't tare his eyes off the laptop on the coffee table and every time he checked the map only to find Kate's car just where they left it the night before he wanted to shoot something.
This wasn't the way it was supposed to go down. Why hadn't she picked up her car yet? Something was wrong he could feel it… what if they were on to him? Were they on their way right now?
His eyes wide open he threw himself to the floor and crawled over to one of the windows. He peeked under one of the blinds… could they be out there? Hiding between the trees? His gaze travelled to the sky… would they arrive in choppers any second now?
He was in way over his head going after an NCIS special agent… right!
No… she's nothing. She can't beat me… she's a woman. She's weak and helpless. She needs to be controlled, like all other women. She just doesn't know it yet.
He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself and couldn't believe he almost lost it moments before. The sickening feeling of panic was still present in his chest and as he rose from the floor he could swear it shifted a bit.
"She's weak and I'm going to teach her… She'll see… they'll all see that she needs me to control her." he said aloud as he scrambled over to the couch and his laptop again. The car was still parked in his street.
"She thinks she's playing games with me… she's insulting me and I'm just sitting here!"
He stood up in fury.
She wants me to leave her alone… she wants me to sit around and wait for nothing and I'm doing exactly that!
His eyes grew darker as he threw his fist through the living room wall.
He blew the dust off of his now red knuckles and with his mind slightly clearer than before searched the kitchen drawers. He was a man of action and he would prove it. This wasn't only between him and Kate anymore and that wasn't his fault. No it was Kate's. She was the one who brought her team into this… she was the one who took that guy to her apartment.
He'd taken care of that situation and now he would take care of this situation. He'd prove to all of them that he was the one in charge.
The frantic search ended as he found what he'd been looking for. The key.
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Things had moved quickly and it hadn't been more than 72 hours since she last saw Mitchell's apartment but as her and Gibbs pulled up next to her car it felt like years ago. Years of jumping at high noises. Years of giving in to Tony and letting him take care of her and help her. Years of hating herself… years of physical pain…
Again her throat felt tight and breathing, for what felt like the hundredth time these past days, was hard and something she had to concentrate really hard to do.
I bet this is what it feels like being allergic to peanuts…
"We'll just do this and it'll be over with" Gibbs mumbled in the drivers seat. She nodded, reminding herself of letting her chest rise and fall every now and then… this was supposed to be something that happened automatically but Kate didn't trust her body to dot his on its own right now. As fast as she stopped instructing herself her lungs burned and stars danced before her vision. In and… out… in and... out… c'mon Kate you've been doing this your whole life.
She jumped, startled, as Gibbs suddenly got out of the car. She followed.
They entered the building.
"I want you to go over what happened… I want you to show me where you were and what he said and did." Gibbs didn't stop to see if she'd heard him or agreed. He ushered her up the stairs to show the way to the right apartment. It wasn't really hard to figure out which one it was 'cause two other agents waited outside the door for them.
Kate tried not to see anything around her as they walked down the corridor. It swayed slightly and she wished she had taken her painkillers with her. What Gibbs had told her to do as they entered had finally started to sink in. She would have to tell him what happened. She'd have to tell Gibbs of all people how she let herself down… how she lost control. Not being able to breathe seemed like a small problem as she willed her feet to move… She felt exhausted as if she'd walked for miles and miles and the corridor didn't seem to end. She blinked as she felt panic come over her as she realized that she didn't want it to end.
Gibbs easily recognised the unsteadiness in his agent and placed a hand on her back to steady her. He was afraid he would scare her but she didn't even react.
"He's not in there this time. It'll be just you and me…" Gibbs tried.
She continued to stare ahead of herself, her breathing ragged.
Gibbs decided that they shouldn't make this visit longer than necessary. They'd be in and out.
He flipped his phone open and called Tony.
"DiNozzo… yes I know I'm not at the office… my coffee? Leave it I need you to pick up Kate's car."
"Yes, just come here, pick it up and drive it back to the office"
He hung up the phone and guided Kate into the apartment, his hand still on her back.
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"We're heading out on another adventure!" Tony beamed. Megan sighed.
"We just got back here…"
"Move it missy…" Tony pointed towards the elevators.
She rolled her eyes and jumped off the chair.
"More coffee?" she asked. Tony ignored her question.
Gibbs hadn't said anything about the kid but as they got back with the coffee, cold by now by the way, Tony had been told by Abby that Ally had fallen asleep and he did not want to leave the girl by herself in the office.
She played with the radio the entire way over to Mitchell's street. She started out by finding out what happened if you pressed all of the buttons at the same time. Tony rolled his eyes at her and almost told her that he'd already tried that but stopped himself… playing with the radio didn't seem very James Bond-ish… not even to him and he had to prove to Megan that he did get to do important stuff.
They arrived and Tony collected the teddy bear, extra sweater, hairbrush, a pink pen that lit up when you wrote with it that Abby gave to Megan before they left and a drawing of piglet.
"We're changing cars" Tony muttered as he balanced all of Megan's clutter, getting out of the car.
"Why?"
"Because we are!" Tony called back at her as he crossed the street. She hurried after him, picking up the hairbrush that Tony had dropped.
"Why?"
"Because!" Tony called again, taking out the extra car key that he'd taken from Kate's desk before they left from his pocket. He unlocked the car and threw all of the girls' things in the back seat of the car. "This one not only has a radio…" he said with a grin as he turned around to greet the girl. "…but a cd player as well!"
"I'm done with buttons." she said and climbed in the back seat to join her teddy bear.
Tony gave up. He got into the car and pulled in to traffic.
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Gibbs saw Tony drive off in Kate's car through the window. He turned back to Kate who stood behind him looking like she'd break into tears any second.
"Tony took your car. He'll take it back to the office… I thought you'd probably not want to do it."
She shook her head. "No… thank you."
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He hurried past the coffee table when he caught a glimpse of the laptop and what was happening on the screen.
Her car was moving!
He grabbed the computer and headed for his car. His laying low plan was now officially in the bin.
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"You okay back there?" Tony watched Megan in the rear-view mirror. She looked tired and even though she practically sounded like Kate, Tony was reminded of the fact that she was only a little kid and being pulled from bed in the middle of the night by a stranger must have taken its toll on her.
"Lets stop for some juice" he said. As a kid he used to drink orange juice when he was tired all the time, it always ended with him jumping up and down driving people nuts for three hours afterwards. This girl needs to jump up and down for a while, he thought.
"I know a really great place… it's called 7-eleven!" he continued.
Megan raised an eyebrow.
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Mitchell couldn't help but smile as he glanced towards the laptop in the passenger seat and found the red dot that showed the position of Kate's car, standing still just around the corner. It'd been standing still for a few minutes allowing him to catch up.
He grabbed the laptop and a few other items from under the passenger seat and left the car. He walked around the corner and recognised the car immediately. He walked closer and froze in his tracks as he realized that Kate wasn't in the car.
Damn it! Where is that little whore?
He took small steps towards the car and found a little girl in the back seat. He knew Kate didn't have any children… right?
Unless she lied about that!
Mitchell was angry as he continued to look for Kate as he stepped up next to the car. The child did look like Kate… he then saw him. The man that he knocked out with the pipe, he was inside the store.
Kate wasn't here… she had tricked him, again! He felt his blood boil with anger and he knew that he couldn't just turn around and leave. He would get to Kate, one way or another and as he pieced together that this man must be more than a colleague to Kate since she brought him home with her that night… and… and… this child must be theirs he formed a new plan in his mind.
I'll break you Kate. You and your little family.
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Crap, was the first word that popped into Tony's head as he exited the store, two glasses of orange juice in hand.
Megan stared at him through the window of the car and she wasn't alone.
"I could have sworn there was no creepy-looking man in the back seat when I left" he muttered under his breath as he slowly walked closer to the car.
Megan leaned further back into her seat and Tony felt like throwing up as he saw that the man had a gun to Megan's head.
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TBC…
I hope anyone's still with me on this one. I'm sorry about the elephant-sized delay :)
I hope this chapter wasn't confusing or anything.
Thank you for reading and please tell me what you think.
/Malin