This storyline is set after the end scene of the movie Hannibal. Hannibal has escaped again. The bodies of the men in the pigpen have been found. One has been identified as Hannibal's old victim. The deaths have been placed on squarely on his shoulders as has the corpse found in Special Agent Starling's house.

Obviously I do not own any of the characters from Silence of the Lambs or Hannibal. I never said I did.

Chapter One:

Clarice sighed as she sat down for the first time in what must have been close to ten hours. After she had been found in the woods near the water outside her property, she had been cuffed, read her rights, and taken down to FBI headquarters to be interrogated. The effects of the morphine and the events of the night had come together to leave her nauseated and with a killer migraine. She laughed at that thought. A 'killer' migraine must have been what Krendler had had just prior to his death. They had had left her in a small holding cell for a time with nothing more than a small latrine and little else. There was no bed on which to sit or lie down but she had been to psyched up on drugs and adrenaline to have even contemplated sitting at the time. That was the last chance she had had that night.

About two hours after they slammed the bars shut on her, they returned. She had begun to contemplate whether Dr. Lecter had ever sat in this particular cell or one similar waiting to see what they had in store for him. But no, they wouldn't have put him in a regular cell like this. It wouldn't have been enough to keep Dr. Hannibal the Cannibal Lecter in. She felt some how more pathetic for not being able to go to the measures the good doctor had gone to to gain his freedom.

They dragged her into an interrogation room that she recognized easily although the last time she had been in it, she had been the interrogator not the interrogated. They started off, as she would have, speaking quietly as if talking to a child or simpleton, making sure to keep their voices calm and serene. When this didn't work the two officers, one a talk man in his late forties from the looks of it, with graying hair and a pork chop mustache that he chewed at when he was frustrated or thinking, and the other a younger man, dark hair with glasses and a large mole on the side of his neck. When he spoke he tended to gesture wildly as if telling a comical story. They began to play off each other in a routine of good cop bad cop so poorly rehearsed that it could have been a vaudeville act performed by two clowns, one with a tear on his face and the other with a spraying flower.

The one said they should throw her in a cell to rot until she was ready to talk, the other put a soothing hand on his shoulder and said that, you must remember this is Special Agent Starling, she wouldn't willfully hold back information on a known serial killer, now would you Clarice? He said her name as though he had known her for years not minutes and yet the way he said it made her skin crawl like unclean things now traveled down her spine. Still she was silent, she would give them basic information of course. Her name, identification number, age, and current address were really of no use to them and they knew it as well as she. When they would ask her questions specifically involving Dr. Lecter she would say that she had been sedated with morphine and remember very little of the past night's events which was true. When they asked her what had happened to her shoulder she looked on stone faced and told them she could only assume that it had something to do with the amount of morphine in her system, didn't they think?

At this, the younger man slammed his hands down onto the table making a terrible clang that resonated through the room. Damn it Agent Starling! Tell us what we need and we'll let you go! Don't you get that? Jesus Christ it's like she's in love with this psychopath!' He threw up his arms and turned towards the door as though to leave and then stopped as though a thought had just struck him.

'That's it isn't it? You filthy whore! You've been with that…that thing! That's why you won't say anything! Look at you! How could I not have seen it sooner? You have his mark all over you. Is that what that mark is? Do you let him have a little taste of you just before you do the deed? Tell me Claaaarice, do you like it? Do you cry out his name as he sinks his teeth into you?' By this time he had come to stand directly in front of her, using his body to try to herd her into the corner. He had a hand on her shoulder squeezing enough that had she still not been under the effects of the drugs she might have cried out. But no, she knew even then she wouldn't have. She would not let this low life scumbag know he had hurt her. Had caused her to show weakness. He leaned in closer. 'Maybe when this is all over I can help you get over him. Just you and me. Maybe a little bondage?'

'Derricks, that's enough!' The door swung open and the man that had been her boss for the past ten years strowed in. 'New evidence has been found. There was a bullet next to Special Agent Starling's bed. There's a good chance her story is the truth. Hannibal may have shot her after finding her with the man who he feels was trying to help his old victim. Why he sewed her back up we may never know but the fact is, Agent Starling was in no condition to commit any of the murders and may not have even witnessed them.'

Derricks seemed unconvinced by this and his voice went from what he must have thought was a very intimidating growl to a petulant whine. 'But what about the bullets we found in the three men in the barn where we found Verger? They were obviously from Starling's gun.' He flicked his thumb over his shoulder indicating her where she stood silently, arms crossed.

'Don't be an idiot Jason,' so that was his first name. 'If he was able to get into her house and shoot her and slice up Krendler like that, I'm sure he's smart enough to take her gun.'

'What about prints? Have they checked it to see if he fired it?'

'Do you really think Lecter is stupid enough to leave a gun with his prints on it? The gun is missing; Lecter probably took it with him and disposed of it in a way that we'll never see it again. A general APB has been put out for it but no one should hold their breath. We'll replace it for you of course,' he said turning to face Clarice for the first time in the whole course of the conversation. 'All I need from you is for you to answer me this one question honestly. If you do it will mean full reinstatement and all the nasty charges that have been lurking will just go away. If you don't, well, if we find out it will mean the end of your job for starters.'

She paused a moment and then nodded, clearly indicating the seriousness of this decision. 'Yes sir?'

'Why was … at your house last night?'

'Sir, if I tell you the truth will you listen to me without bias this time?' Even as she said it she knew it did not matter one way or the other. She looked on at the man who she had thought to be a friend and colleague. A man she should have been able to trust and speak freely with. Now all she saw was a graying man with two close-set eyes that made him look pinched and tired. She saw a man who had at the first chance, dropped her by the wayside on the say so of a man he had known ten minutes. She knew now that these past few weeks had changed her. Where before she thought she had hardened herself through her work and the things she had seen she now felt jaded and knew that betrayal she had been met with in the short number of weeks passed would leave her soul crystallized like a diamond. Hard and cold.

The older man nodded silently and the other two continued to look on waiting for her answer.

'I was having a physical relationship with him.'

((Okay people you know the drill. Please read and review. I won't post the next part of the story unless I get at least four reviews. I don't need flames and yes I know the ending of this chapter sounds bad but it really isn't what it sounds like. Before I give too much away I guess you'll have to review to find out why Starling said what she said.))