Bedelia

The sound of her black heels touching the ground was silenced when she stopped in front of the door to open it.

"Agent Crawford." she said calm, facing the man with an even calmer expression.

"Dr. Du Maurier, may I come in?" the man asked simply, his eyes exposing the undeniable truth of his lack of trust on the woman before him, he analyzed her entire form, looking for a weapon.

Just as twisted as he is…

Jack pushed the thought away and entered the house once she allowed him.

"How can I help you?" Bedelia questioned closing the front door, she turned to see the man's back to her, he seemed to be studying his surroundings.

"I think you know why I came. I'm here to talk about Hannibal Lecter." said the agent, he continued as he moved to face her. "An agent is missing. You met her-"

Crawford's words died on his mouth once he saw who was beside Bedelia with a harpy knife at hand.

Hannibal

"Good evening, Jack." Dr. Lecter said quietly. "I heard you were looking for me."

Crawford studied the harpy on the man's hand before looking into his eyes with fury.

"Where is she?" the agent asked furious.

Bedelia moved her eyes to Lecter, studying him quietly as a loyal bird on his shoulder.

For a moment Jack wondered just how real their marriage in Florence was.

"You mean Miss Starling?" Hannibal had a hint of fake innocence on his voice, but his expression seemed entirely real, no one who wasn't aware of who he was would have doubted him. "Well,... I'd like to thank you, Jack. For such a great time and for the gift."

"Gift?" Jack's tone was furious, challenging. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Clarice of course" the other man answered, his maroon eyes never leaving the agent's ones. "You sent her to me… Like a lamb to the slaughter."

Crawford felt the fury burn, his hand found his gun and he drew it fast, soon pointing it at Lecter who didn't even flinch.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you"

Jack heard a gun.

Clarice

On his frozen state Crawford saw the growing smile on Hannibal's lips.

"You know, Jack, you made a mistake. Like you did with Will." said Lecter. "Will was a bloodhound, you sent him to the lion and almost lost him for a dragon. With Clarice, well…"

Jack turned around and found Starling with a gun to his face.

"Hello, Jack." she said. Her eyes held certainty and some pain. At the end of the day, she was still Starling, he was her mentor once, she didn't want to hurt him. However, in his current situation Crawford came to a conclusion: when the gun was to him, she didn't want to shoot; if it was to Lecter, she didn't either; but he knew somehow that if one of them were to be killed by her today, it wasn't going to be the good doctor.

"Not a lamb, Jack. A lioness" Hannibal finished.

Jack saw the truth setting in, the trainee he met years ago was not around anymore. No longer a lamb, no longer a cub. Now a claimed lioness.

He thought about how people had mentioned that she was getting more and more like Lecter and he didn't believe them. Never wanted to. Until now.

Her nostrils flared for a moment and Jack heard steps, soon Hannibal was by her side.

"It's on you, my dear. Your decision" Lecter said calmly to her. His nostrils flaring then.

Crawford saw a pattern. They were looking for each other's scent, like a pair of tigers.

Clarice didn't move when Hannibal touched her lightly, observing him like Bedelia observed him.

Starling put her gun down. "Let him go, he won't find us." Her eyes met someone behind Crawford, he made a move to raise his gun again, Starling mirrored it.

There was a bang and darkness came.

When Crawford woke up there was paramedics around him, treating him. As they took him out of the house he saw two guns on a table, one was Clarice's, the other he assumed to be Bedelia's personal one; Clarice's badge was beside her gun.

He didn't need a CSU team to know that each of those objects would lead nowhere near the three. His assumptions confirmed later, he took some time to think about what to say to Ardelia Mapp.

Starling watched the road as it went by, the Jaguar moved fast through the highway. Soon they would switch vehicles and be out of Canada with new identities and new lives.

She faced forward and saw Hannibal driving, Bedelia was silent by his side, for the first time she seemed truly calm to Clarice, however, the younger woman doubted Dr. Du Maurier would ever allow herself to be deep asleep and vulnerable near Hannibal any time soon. If that were to ever happen it would take a while. Starling, on the other hand, had the widows of her mind perfectly aligned and her lambs finally silent.