A/N: I do apologize for this chapter taking so long. I wanted to get this chapter up before I leave for France tomorrow. As always, please let me know of any ideas you have for a chapter. I would love to hear what you all think!
"Abby, could you get that?" Will called from the kitchen as the doorbell rang.
"On it!"
Will heard the front door open, followed by a few polite "Hellos."
"Beverly and the sassy husbands are here." Abigail announced as she led them into the living room.
"Abigail, don't be rude. You know what happens to the rude." Hannibal chided. Abigail rolled her eyes and went back upstairs into her bedroom as he entered the living room. "Hello Beverly, Jimmy, Brian. How are you this evening?"
"As well as we can be. Beverly's deviled eggs were stinking up the car." Brian said, earning him a smack on the arm from said woman.
"It was not, and you know it." Before either men could make a comment to that, she turned her attention to Hannibal. "Is anyone else here yet, or are we the first ones?"
"Jack and Bella arrived not too long ago. They're outside. Shall we join them?" Hannibal motioned for them to follow him and he led them outside.
oOo
The doorbell rang again and Abigail, smiling, opened the door to find Chloe and Nithya standing on the front porch. "Hey, Chloe. Hey, Nithya. I'm glad you guys could make it."
"Thanks for having us. My mom made me bring her stupid potato salad. Does anyone even eat potato salad?" Chloe asked with a mixture of sarcasm and seriousness.
"Maybe the adults will, who knows. Come on in, anyway. You can take off your shoes if you'd like; we're going to be eating outside and the ground isn't wet."
The girls stepped inside the house, looking around at the elaborate design of the interior and slid off their shoes.
"Damn. I don't know what I expected, but it sure wasn't this." Nithya admitted.
"Want a quick tour? My dads want to meet you. We're all outside in the back. Oh and by the way, we have six dogs. Are either of you allergic?"
"Nope, not allergic. But a tour would be great. Do you have fancy soap in your bathroom that I can steal?" Nithya asked, earning her a jab in the ribs from Abigail.
"Six dogs? Shit, man. Does your family collect them or something?" Chloe asked.
"Ah… Something like that. My dad will take home any stray that he finds. He says they're lonely and scared, and that he can relate to it from his past."
"That's… positive and reassuring. But that's too bad for him." Nithya said sympathetically.
"Yeah, my dad's really helped him out with that. But anyway, let me give you a quick tour."
Abigail led them through the living room, showed them where the powder room was, ("You do have fancy soaps!"), the dining room, and finally brought them into the kitchen where Hannibal was.
"Hey, daddy. These are my friends, Nithya and Chloe."
Hannibal greeted them with a friendly smile and wiped his hands off with a hand towel. "Pleased to meet you, girls. I am Mr. Lecter." He extended his arm, shaking hands with the girls.
"Thank you for having us over, Mr. Lecter. You have a very interesting taste in interior design. I love the warm colors; it's very cozy. I also like your use of the antlers. I noticed that most of the antlers aren't attached to the head of an animal. Any reason why?" Nithya asked as she shook his hand.
"Thank you, Nithya. It took me quite a while to do the whole house, but I had it completed in about two years. It was truly a feat. As for the antlers, I find that they hold the beauty in the creatures they belong to. I also find it unnerving to have a stag head watching me when I'm drinking my morning coffee." He joked.
"I have to agree with you on that. It would give me the creeps."
"Yeah, me too." Chloe agreed. "Oh, my mom made me bri… Made some potato salad. She puts some spices in it that I can't even begin to pronounce, but I hope you like it." She gave him a charming smile and handed him the container.
"I'm sure it will be delicious, thank you for bringing it. Please tell your mother that we are very grateful for it."
"Oh, I will."
"Let's go outside. I have some more people I want you guys to meet."Abigail led her friends outside and was immediately greeted by the six dogs. "They won't bite, they'll just jump and lick you."
Nithya and Chloe kneeled down to the dogs' levels, patting their heads and letting them smell their hands.
"What are their names?" Nithya asked.
"The brown fluffy one is Winston. He's the newest one in our little pack. This little white one is Millie, the border collie is Maximillion, Max for short. The one that looks like a big Jack Russell is Hugh, the fluffy golden one is Casper, this big brown one," she kneeled down to their levels and rubbed the dog's back, "She's Alice. And this little guy is Buster."
"They're just precious, Abby. They must eat a lot." Chloe noted.
"No shit, Sherlock." Nithya rolled her eyes.
"I'm just saying! God. Did you forget to drink your prune juice this morning or something?" Chloe responded.
"What does that even mean?"
Chloe paused for a minute, a smile crossing her face. "I have no idea, actually. Some kid named Chet said that about my PE teacher in middle school." She laughed at that, Nithya giving her a look.
"Oh, uh, sorry, girls. Are the dogs bothering you?" Came Will's nervous voice as he made his way over to them.
"Oh, not at all. They're just looking for some loving." Chloe said, giving Sebastian's back a good pat.
"Dad, this is Nithya, and this is Chloe." Abigail introduced.
"Nice to meet you." Will gave an awkward nod of the head to them, seeing as his hands were full with trays and containers of food. "You can… You can just call me Will." Using last names is too formal, he thought.
"Would you like some help with the food?" Nithya offered.
"No, I got it. Um, thanks though. Nice meeting you." Will walked off to set the food out on a long table.
"He's not very social, is he?" Nithya noted.
"Not really. He's pretty antisocial, and he's still… healing from something that happened a few years ago." Abigail told them.
Not wanting to pry, for once, Nithya remained silent. Chloe, on the other hand, was distracted by Hannibal, who had just walked past them and she was admiring the view. He walked right past Will, who was obviously struggling with setting all of the food and containers down onto the table. Just as she was thinking that someone should help him, a woman with long black hair and a professional air walked in through the back gate and hurried to help him, preventing a platter full of vegetables from falling to the ground.
"Thanks, Alana." Will said as she took the platter.
"No problem, Will." They placed the different dishes in eating order; dinner foods on one end, desserts on the other end of the table. "Thanks for inviting me. I could really use some out-of-the-house time."
"Yeah, of course. I know how you feel. How, uh, how did you get back here, anyway?"
"No one answered when I rang the bell, so I figured you would all be out back. Looks like I got here just in time, too."
"Who's that chick over there with your dad, Abby?" Nithya asked, looking at Alana and Will.
"Oh, that's Doctor Alana Bloom. She helped me out when I was going through that thing with my parents. The biological ones. She also helped my dad when he was going through some rough times. She works with my dad and the people sitting at the table over there." Abigail informed them, pointing to Jack, Bella, Beverly, and Jimmy and Brian. "They all work together. She's dating Beverly, the one sitting with the two guys. My dads don't really get out too much. But they're happy with it, so I don't really think about it. Come on, I'll introduce you to her."
oOo
"When will the… Meat be ready?" Will asked.
"It's nearly done, no worries. I would say about five more minutes." Hannibal responded.
Will glanced around to make sure no one was within ear shot before asking, "Isn't it supposed to… You know… Smell bad?"
Hannibal smiled and gave Will a look. "It's the flesh that smells, Will. Not the meat." He nudged him with his elbow. "You should know that, considering your line of work."
"My line of work has nothing to do with that. I work with bodies after the fact, not while it's happening. Anyway, I'm going to check on the garlic bread. I hope it didn't burn. But with my luck, it'll be burnt worse than that one lady in that show Abigail likes to watch sometimes."
"Oh? What happened to her?" Hannibal inquired.
"She burned on the ceiling, I think. Don't ask me how or why." He added when Hannibal gave him a questioning look. "I don't understand those shows she watches. I'm going to get the garlic bread."
Surprisingly, the garlic bread hadn't burned to a crisp. Proud of his work, Will was about to take it outside, but stopped when he heard a knock at the door. Setting down the bread, he made his way to the front door, and his smile grew and his shoulders relaxed.
"Hey, Georgia."
"Hi, Will. I'm so sorry for being late. I took a nap and I overslept."
"Not a problem, George." Georgia was the one person outside of his family that he was comfortable using a nickname for. "Come on in. You got here just in time. I actually just took out the garlic bread that I made."
"That you made? All by yourself?"
"Is it really that surprising?" Will asked, becoming self-conscious of his cooking skills.
"A little bit, yeah. But I'm sure it'll taste great. I can smell it from here. Oh, I made some rocky road brownies. My mom and I made them all the time when I still lived at home."
"You seem pretty confident about it."
Georgia gave a smug smile. "Well, I like to think that I've perfected it over the years."
"I'm sure you have. Come on out back. The food should be done by now."
She followed him into the kitchen, helped him put the garlic bread onto a plate, and the two went to the backyard to join the group. Georgia was greeted by the other guests, Abigail introduced her to her friends, and the small talk began.
"Is that a Scottish accent I hear, Chloe?" Georgia asked.
"It is, actually. I moved here from Scotland two years ago with my family."
"That smells delicious, Will. Did you make that yourself?" Bella asked, turning to him.
"I did, actually. First time, too." He smiled, proud of his work.
"I can't wait to try it. What kind of bread is it?"
"Garlic pull-apart bread. I hope it turned out okay…"
"If it tastes even half as good as it smells, it'll be superb." She smiled, placing a reassuring hand on his arm. Will tensed, but didn't move away.
"The steak is finished. Please, help yourself to anything on the table." Hannibal announced to the group, who stood up and made their way to the table of food. They each took a paper plate and a good portion of the flank, filling the plates up as much as they could. The deviled eggs ran out quickly, much to Beverly's liking, finding it even more humorous when she discovered that it was Brian who was eating most of them.
Hannibal and Will were the last ones to serve themselves, and they took the opportunity of being away from the group to talk.
"Abigail's friends look nothing like her." Will stated.
"Yes, is there anything peculiar about that?"
"Yeah. But not in a bad way. It's just another way that she's separating herself from her old life, creating a new one. You remember how the girls her father killed looked just like her?"
"I remember. Very observational of you, Will. I hadn't caught that. It makes sense. Having friends that don't look like her put her in the mindset that she won't have to aid in killing them. I wonder if she is doing it consciously or unconsciously."
"Probably both. Just stored in the back of her mind and her subconscious is making her do it."
"I'm glad for it. They seem like nice girls, and I hope we won't have to… Have them for supper sometime."
Will scoffed and elbowed his husband in the ribs.
oOo
"So, Abigail. Are you thinking about college for next year? I haven't heard anything on the topic from Will or Hannibal." Alana asked Abigail.
Abigail shook her head and swallowed the food that was in her mouth. "I'm going to take a year off. I'm not ready for college life just yet. I haven't had time to really think about my future."
"Maybe you could go into criminal justice or help out Beverly in the lab." She took a sip of her wine.
"I've considered that, actually. I think what you all do is really interesting, and we all know that I don't get freaked out when I see a dead body." She laughed nervously. "But I want to work for the FBI."
Alana chuckled. "Maybe you will. Or you could follow in my footsteps and become a psychiatrist."
Abigail smiled, "Maybe I will."
A/N: Reviews are always appreciated.