Written for a prompt on hannibalkink :)
PROMPT: Will's latest stray is a great big beast of a dog (Great Dane, Irish Wolfhound, Mastiff-type, Newfoundland, etc.).
Suddenly, everyone has to learn to deal with Will's massive, furry, sharp-toothed shadow.
She was a Newfoundlander Saint Bernard mix, a great big beast of a thing Will appropriately named Nana. He was never a fan of Disney movies, but something about Peter Pan really spoke to him. Growing up in poverty stricken Louisiana was not an exciting prospect.
He found her covered in bumbles, whimpering softly from under the underbrush. She was lucky he chose to come to the river that day, because from the sight of her she wouldn't have lasted another day. As it were, it was touch and go for the first couple of hours, while he paced the waiting room anxiously at the local vets'. A few hours later and she was free to be carted of to his house, placed on bed rest and strictly wet food diet. Will tried not to recall how much effort it took to hull the two hundred pound weight from the back of his pick-up and into the house.
The first few nights, Will slept downstairs in a sleeping bag, so as to be within hearing range. As it turned out, he was right on target. She was plagued with night terrors and whimpered and barked uncontrollably throughout the night. Will sat beside her, petting her giant head. It didn't seem to be calming her in any way, but the repetitive motion helped ease Will into a restful, nightmare-freel sleep. It was over a week later that she first got up from her bed and walked outside to do her business. Will couldn't be happier, now that he wouldn't have to clean up from under her tail. Another week and she was running merrily with the other strays and asserting her place in the pack by rearranging Will's minuscule flower garden. He thought good riddance. The pathetic little patch of daisies erected by his ex-girlfriend, stuck out like a multicolored sore thumb on the backdrop of yellow wilderness.
Thinking back on it now, Will should have seen this coming. Nana became quite attached to him during his four weeks of annual leave. She followed him around the house, up and down the stairs; though she clearly struggled with descending. When Will went fishing, she would follow him to the river and back, panting and clearly exhausted but non-the-less persistent in keeping up. When he went swimming, she got right in the water with him, and when he had to go into town for supplies, he would always find her waiting for him in the back of the pick up. At first he tried to remove her, thinking a dog of that size could be a problem outside the supermarket. People might be apprehensive to walk by. Yet the more he tugged at her collar the more she reared, then sat and if he was tenacious enough to continue, lay down and rolled on her back, all four paws up in the air in display of cheeky defiance.
So Will started taking her to town and back, and people soon learned to love the gentle old creature who lay Sphinx like outside the general store, ears perking expectantly every time the front door slid open for departing shoppers. Mother's began letting their children approach and stroke Nana, and old folk would walk by and sneakily drop biscuits on her paws. Will became more popular than ever. People he didn't know would greet him by name and compliment his dog, asking him for advice on how to train such a massive animal and even asking if he could sit for their pets when they went out off town. Will took it all in stride and was actually surprised when the holidays went by faster then expected, with all the new attention he received from the locals, he hardly spent a day alone.
However when annual leave came to a close, Will locked his dogs inside as he was prone to do, and walked to his car alone. From the passenger seat he could see one lonely face staring at him from the window. Big, round eyes peering pleadingly at him from around the curtain. Just when Will thought the scene couldn't get any more heartbreaking, Nana placed one giant paw against the glass. If Will could hear inside the house, he'd bet his last penny that she was wailing. Sighing, he started the car and backed out of the driveway.
"So Eleanor Dewitt and Jason Dewitt were the first to be decapitated, followed by their nine year old son Harry. The baby Margaret was smothered in her crib and decapitated post mortem, from the wound pattern around the neck we were able to ascertain…"
"Oh my god," squealed Beverly, interrupting Jimmy mid-way, "is that a dog?"
Will felt the dread of realisation before he found the courage to turn around. From the looks on his colleague's faces, he deduced that the dog in question was quite impressive and not behaving aggressively since all three scientists were smiling like loons. When finally he did turn around, he wasn't all together surprised to find Nana, on the other side of the glass looking up at him and wagging her tail enthusiastically, tongue lolling out and threatening to spill thin lines of saliva on to the pristine floor.
"Nana!" Will exclaimed in a hiss.
"Woof,"
'Fuck!' Will turned back to his colleagues.
"Ah yeah," he said, scratching the back of his neck, the scientist were still gapping though their attention had switched to him, "she's mine."
"Will!" Beverly exclaimed. She quickly rushed around to grab him by the arm, and began pulling urgently towards the door. "Get her out of here. If Jack sees a dog in the FBI headquarters, he'll…"
"Tell you to get a brain," shouted Jack, pushing through the door and getting slobber on his pant leg from Nana, who eagerly pushed alongside him to get to Will. He managed to slip in and shut the door on her before she could put her head through the gap. Nana must have thought this a major offence, since she hefted herself up against the door on two legs and barked loudly.
"What the hell is this Graham?" Jack turned on Will, pulling a hankie from his inside jacket pocket. He began to dab ineffectively against the large wet spot on his thigh.
"I…" began Will, paling unnaturally at the sight of Jack's throbbing temple.
"I asked you a question! Why is there a dog in FBI?"
"I didn't bring her here," said Will, knowing from the look's the others were shooting at him, that this excuse wouldn't fly for shit.
"Then who did?"
"I don't know!" Will threw both hands in the air and linked them behind his head. "I locked my front door, and all the windows were closed," he muttered to himself. "I don't know how she got out Jack?"
Sighing and squeezing the bridge of his nose between two fingers, Jack hung his head and pointed to the door.
"Out, you have an hour to get her home or wherever the hell you want, then I want your ass back here, to continue with the investigation. Are we clear?" He barked at the psychoanalyst.
"Crystal," Will breathed from the room and opening the door pushed past Nana and began to walk quickly towards the elevators, the crossbreed trotting happily behind him.
Though it was supposed to be a one off, over the next few days Nana had managed to break out from the house, the pantry, the upstairs attic, the outback shed, and Allan's 8th floor city apartment. She had also successfully untied herself from a lamppost, a tree, a parking lock and stairway railing. She escaped from the local kennel and even crossed a lake when Will had to take a ferry to an offshore inland in order to investigate a crime scene. By the time four weeks passed, not even Jack had it in him to yell at Will anymore. Everyone learned to accept her and work with the friendly giant by Will's side. Though she was overall stubborn, it amazed the team when she allowed Will to enter victim residences alone, as if she was aware that her presence would contaminate the crime scene. But in the office, at the lecture theater and even in the morgue, she was Will's shadow in every way, always pressing against his thigh in companionable silence.
Eventually Will found himself driving the old girl to and from work, since the vet had warned about hip dysplasia at that age, and in Newfoundlanders it was hereditary. Still, Will knew that if Jack were ever to find out that Will was encouraging Nana, he would have a coronary. So Will would drive Nana in, drop her off around the block from the FBI building and let her walk the rest of the way there. By the time he parked and was on the way to the foyer the old dog would be waiting for him by the elevators, tongue lolling.
If he were to be honest, if only with himself, Will had to admit that having Nana around had certain perks. For one, his classroom was now, almost always, full on time, since Nana greeted every new comer with a reprimanding bark. Forcing everyone's attention on the tardy student. The FBI gossip around the office had dropped dramatically since her arrival, rumor had it (or so Beverly had divulged to him gleefully, over coffee) Nana would stare down anyone who was badmouthing the psychoanalyst, discouraging the gossipmongers with a throaty growl.
Jack's usual level of battering was reduce dramatically when Nana, growing nervous with the volume of Jack's voice the first time he dished out on Will's performance, began to pace back and forth in front of her master before rearing up against Jack's desk and barking loudly in his face. Jack was quick to reign in his temper, knowing that losing the dog meant losing Will; and he couldn't afford to loose Will at any cost.
That was weeks ago, now Nana would simply yawn when Jack stepped out of line, displaying her impressive arrangement of teeth. The captain of the violent criminal division would instantly focus all his attention on her and lower his voice. It was very likely that this amount of repression would lead Jack to premature retirement, but Will was just glad he could catch a break, now that Nana had his back on everything.
"Will," Hannibal announced, opening the front door, "please come in." Will smiled at the sight of his friend and off the record psychiatrist. Stepping forward, he felt Nana push past him and walk over to sniff curiously at the blonde man's crotch. Will, mortified beyond belief, quickly stepped forward to tug her back. Hannibal, to his credit, didn't so much as blink at the canine invasion.
"I…I'm sorry. I'm not sure if you're aware of the situation but Nana is kind-of my constant companion," he stuttered nervously, finally coaxing the giant back to lean against his thigh.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, Jack had informed me about your peculiar situation just the other night over dinner. I assure you it's not a problem. Nana and yourself" Hannibal said the name with a smirk, "are both welcome to join me in the office." He turned and walked inside, Will sighed in relief and followed Hannibal. Nana's shaggy, big bulk bumping against him with every step.
"Have you solved the case?"
"Yes," Will sank into the baby blue couch and gratefully accepted a pint of beer. Hannibal, holding a glass of red wine, made to sit beside Will, when Nana lifted herself from the floor where she lay reclining against Will's legs, got up and climbed heavily onto the couch, until she was pressed against her horrified master.
"I am so, so sorry Hannibal," Will set his glass down on a nearby coffee table and got up to try pull Nana off the couch. She didn't budge, but craned her neck just far enough to lick Will's chin, along his cheek and all the way up into the fringe of his hair.
"Yuck," Will rubbed at his face with one hand while continuously urging the dog off the couch with the other, "Nana, bad dog. Off, off!"
"It's fine Will. I'm not all together surprised. She seems very protective off you." Hannibal smiled and took a seat against the side of his desk. Will looked apologetically at his friend, but sat back down beside the panting dog and finished his beer. Hannibal made light conversation about the particulars of the case and the psychology behind the motivation of the perpetrator. When they were both done with their drinks and the chatter died down into a companionable silence, Hannibal shot Will 'one of those' looks. The younger man blushed as he usually did and hastily made his way across the room to the other.
"It's been a while since I've seen you Will," Hannibal set his empty glass on the desk and traced the contours of Will's face with one hand. The other man shuddered with repressed want and leaned subtly into the soft caress.
"Not my fault you went to Lithuania and kept extending your visit. It's been just over two months," Will stuttered and made a gasp when the hands descended into his v-neck and traced the ridge of his collarbone. "I need…" he couldn't finish, because Hannibal's tongue began tracing intricate patterns on the skin of his neck. Will fell against him and hung heavily on the lapels of Hannibal's suit, the suit that probably cost more than his monthly salary. But Hannibal didn't seem to mind, in fact the complete loss of power on Will's behalf excited him beyond reason, and his attention only grew more intense.
They probably would have started undressing, had the giant mother-hen of a dog stayed put on her velvet throne. But the old bitch was anxious at her master's sudden increase in heart rate and perspiration. He was in danger and she had to save him. In a moment she was across the room and pushing her wide muzzle between firmly pressed thighs, sneezing at the intense scent in the crotch area. Will groaned and reluctantly stepped away, slipping free from Hannibal's slackened grasp he glared down at Nana. Will tried to summon all his anger and let it go, but one look into those chocolate smiling eyes and he was reaching out to pat her before he could stop himself. Nana wagged her tail and began to nuzzle against his palm, slobbering all over his fingers.
"Silly dog," Will said affectionately, moving his hand to scratch behind her ear. Out of the corner of his eyes Will could see Hannibal fixing his suit and smiling.
R&R