La Cadienité de Will Graham

by lepetitmonde

Will finds an excuse to return to his native Lafayette, Louisiana, and while he assumed everything Cajun about him has dissipated, he gets back in touch with his roots and speaks a little Louisiana French, too. Pretty safe to assume that this is probably an AU without insane!Hannibal and, most importantly, Will Graham has a very good couple of days.

1. Chapter 1

Early one Tuesday morning, while Will sat slumped over his kitchen table with an extra-strong cup of coffee, his hand absent-mindedly scratching behind one of his dog's ear, his old cell phone rang. Jack, on the other end, had called to request that Will accompany him to a crime scene in Biloxi. While the FBI was already rather sure of who they should be looking for, it would be a good distraction from the Ripper, and Dr. Lecter had quietly advised Jack in his office that it would do Will some good to leave Virginia and the premises for awhile. Will felt a strain in his chest, the word Biloxi striking an incredibly familiar chord with him. Will had grown up a mere two, three hours away in Lafayette, Louisiana, and while he did not consider himself to be a sentimental man, it was difficult to ignore the strong fondness he felt for his hometown. After spending year after year away from Lafayette and away from the South, he rarely paid a thought to the heavy, humid air of Louisiana. His accent had disappeared during high school and college, and he no longer had family he kept in touch with; he had, for all intents and purposes, been rendered joliment amaricain*, or so his father would have said.

So, with the old cell phone pressed against his cheek, he nodded.

"Yeah, Biloxi." He felt his heart leap in his chest. Distant memories of another lifetime came to life in his mind's eye: the heavy, damp summer air, the thick, green kudzu covering any place there was no road, and the musical, quick Cajun French that Will once knew how to speak, too. Unable to suppress a smile, Will stood from his kitchen table and glanced around his kitchen at the numerous dogs sprawled out on the floor, wondering how he would fit them all in the car for the trip to the pet daycare.

Notes:

1*: Many Franco-Lousianans refer to American Anglophones as "Amaricains," excluding themselves from American-ness despite Louisiana being a part of the U.S. The use of the word joliment, meaning beautifully in European French, means "very" in Louisiana dialects.