Clarice sighed as she pulled up onto the street. It had been a horrible day. Firs she had woken up sick, made a fool out of her self at work, and now she was coming home to her empty house.

Amy must have thought that she was some kind of a freak but thinking she saw Hannibal like that.

She was yanked out of her train of thought when she saw her house. The front was open and a couple of her lights were on. Her mind jumped to Hannibal again but this wasn't his style at all. Unless he had came and had to leave in a hurry.

Clarice jumped out of her car and ran into her house. Nothing was out of place. It didn't look like someone had broken in. Her living room and kitchen lights were on.

"Is there anyone here?" she asked the house.

Her only reply was silence. She gave a reluctant sigh shutting the front door. She watched into the kitchen and flicked the light off. She wouldn't be making dinner tonight. She was feeling sick to her stomach.

It was when she walked into the living room to flick off the light that she saw something out of place. The romantic novel she had been reading the night before was open and a line had been underlined what appeared to be pencil.

Clarice picked up the book and read the line out loud.

"And he released his seed into her giving her body and soul one of the things she was craving."

That was Hannibal like. It was deep and at the same time it didn't seem deep at first glance. But what did it mean? She closed the book and sat it down on the table. After she flicked off the light she went to bed.

---------------

The next morning Clarice awoke with the same sickness. This time she didn't even make it to the bathroom. She collapsed on the floor near her bed and was sick. Her stomach was almost empty anyway so not that much was on the floor.

She still felt sick.

After she got the mop from the hallway closet and cleaned up the mess she went down stairs. All she could stomach was a few slices of toast. One bite of egg made her stomach clench.

Amy hadn't been kidding. This flu really was horrible. Clarice sat down at the table and looked up at the calender. A date had been circled. She hadn't done that.

The 28th was circled in red marker. Seeing the date made Clarice think. She was supposed to start her period today. Why hadn't it come? She usually woke up with it.

Slowly something began to dawn on her. she was sick as a dog and her period hadn't shown up. But she hadn't had sex with anyone in years. There was no way she could be pregnant.

The couple from the lake flashed in front of her eyes. They had been sure they had then her and Hannibal engaged in sex. Clarice had denied it to death but maybe it had happened.

After all she had been seriously drugged. Maybe in the weekended state she had come on to Lecter. It didn't seem possible he had raped her. Hannibal would never lower himself to that.

Clarice jumped up from the table and ran into the living room. She picked up the romance novel and scanned for the line that had been underlined.

"And he released his seed into her giving her body and soul one of the things she was craving."

Her mind snapped back to the conversation she had with Hannibal during their little rat chase. He had said she had given up a husband and family. Had he tried to give her the family she craved?

Of course she was jumping here. She needed to go the doctor and find out for sure that she was pregnant. She picked up the phone book from it's place next to the phone and began to flip through it.

--------------------------------

After Clarice made the appointment at the doctors she called in sick for work. It was the first time she had called in sick since she started working there so no fuss was made.

She made her appointment at noon so that she could take a nap. She had gone up to the bedroom and tried to sleep but all she could done was twist and turn.

All she could think was 'I might be pregnant. I might be pregnant with HIS baby.'

At twenty minutes to noon she pulled out of the driveway and headed to the doctors. It occurred to her on the ride that she knew nothing on Lecter's medical history. She only knew he had mental illness. He seemed to be pretty healthy.

If she was pregnant it would be hard to have the baby. She would have to be pregnant alone. She would have to raise the baby alone. Hannibal couldn't be apart of the kid's life. He wouldn't even be able to sign the birth certificate.

She pulled into the doctor's parking lot shaking. This was too much. What was Hannibal thinking doing this to her?

Clarice got out of the car and walked in to the waiting room. After checking it at the front desk she took a seat. A woman was staring at her over the newspaper. She turned her eyes away from the stranger and picked up a magazine.

She tried to pretend to read it but couldn't with the woman's eyes on her. She glanced up at her and found out why this woman was staring at her so.

The front page read 'Hannibal love affair fresh'. There was a picture of a Clarice on the front page. She knew she could sue the paper but wasn't going to bother. That would just draw more attention to it.

After ten long minutes Clarice was called into the office. The nurse took her vitals and then asked her what was wrong.

Clarice explained that she had been sick to her stomach a few days and had missed a period.

"Well," the nurse said. "I'll give you a pregnancy test and the doctor will be right with you."

Clarice didn't notice she was still shaking as she slipped into the bathroom and picked up one of the plastic cups. She found it hard to pee but manged to go.

After washing her hands she went back to her room and looked nervously around the room.

"Why Hannibal?" she whispered to herself. "I wanted a baby but I didn't want it to be like this."

Each minute tickled by slowly and by the ten minute mark Clarice thought she was going to loose her mind. Finally the doctor came in, sat down, and pulled out of her chart.

"Well," he said looking at the paper. "You are pregnant."

Clarice let out a long sigh. She wasn't sure it if was a sigh of relief or sadness.

"Judging by the look on your face this was an unplanned pregnancy," the doc said setting down her file.

"Unplanned but...not unwanted," Clarice found herself saying.

She wanted a baby so bad and Hannibal Lecter had given it to her. If she ever saw him again she would have to thank him. Well thank him or punch him. She wasn't sure which one would actually happen.

"I see," he said. "So you want to go through with the pregnancy?"

"Of course," she said.

"Alright," he said getting up from his seat. "I'll make an appointment for an ultrasound and your first maternity check up and get back to you with the date. Would that be fine?"

"Yes that sounds good," Clarice said getting up and walking out of the office.