Final Chapter. This is the one you've been waiting for Kurt! LOL

The usual applies; I own no one or nothing pertaining to this story.

Chapter 6 Playtime

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When the unlikely trio arrived back home, Clarice and Ardelia helped Hannibal into the house.

He didn't really need help, but he was enjoying the attention from his avenging angels. Once settled upstairs, Hannibal had Clarice retrieve his medical bag.

"You do realize my dear, that you will have to remove the bullet from my shoulder?"

"WHAT!?!"

"Someone has to do it, and I'm unable to perform such a procedure on myself. Besides, you owe me." He said with a wink as he reached up touching her left shoulder, tracing the length of the thin scar through her blouse.

"Boy, you have more guts than I thought."

"Don't worry Clarice, I will talk you through it, you'll do fine."

Clarice started to laugh.

"Did I say something funny my dear?"

"I was just thinking about the last time someone said to me 'you'll do fine.' If I had only known then…."

"And if you had known?" He asked, already knowing her answer.

Her comeback was immediate, "I wouldn't have changed a thing!" She stated, with a confidence only she could produce at this point.

Hannibal dropped the veil on his emotions, and for a split second allowed Clarice to see the burning passion in his eyes that he held for her. He had thought at some point in their relationship, as time passed, the feelings they held for each other might possibly diminish, or a least calm. They had not. The more time they spent together, only served to intensify what they felt for each other. He literally could not imagine life without her now and knew she felt the same.

"Hey!"

Returning from his thoughts he said, "I'm sorry my dear, what did you say?"

"And where were you?"

"Why I was thinking about you of course."

"I bet." She said with a sly grin. "But if you want me to get this thing out of your shoulder, you better stay right here."

"Well then, I'm ready when you are."

"Okay, what do I do first?"

Hannibal told her which vile to use to fill the syringe and where to inject his shoulder. She worked on him, listening carefully to his instruction. Before she knew it, she had removed the bullet from his shoulder and was ready to close the wound.

As she began to sew him up, he lifted his left arm and ran his hand down her right side, stopping at her hip.

"You know H, if you keep distracting me, these stitches are going to resemble the laces in my jogging shoes."

"My apologies my dear, but some things just can't wait."

"I'm afraid they'll have to, for now anyway. You need to get some rest and get your strength back."

With his left hand that had been resting on her hip, he grabbed her around the waist pulling her to him. "My strength seems to be returning as we speak." He kissed her deeply before releasing her so that she could finish dressing his shoulder.

When Clarice had finished with his shoulder, she proceeded to clean out the thin slice on his stomach and then the graze on his left arm. After showing her which of the antibiotics to inject into his arm, she did so, hitting the vein on the first try. She kissed him on the forehead before saying, "I'm going to go check on Ardelia, then get cleaned up. Try and get some rest, I'll bring you some tea on the way back."

As she turned to leave, he grabbed her hand bringing it to his lips and kissing it softly as he said,

"You are as the air I breathe, as I could not live without either."

Clarice bent down, barely touching her lips to his as she spoke, "I love you too."

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When Clarice woke up the next morning, she was alone in bed. She could hear voices coming from downstairs. Throwing on her robe, she made her way toward the voices. She found Hannibal and Ardelia sitting at the dining room table having coffee.

"Good morning sleepy head." Ardelia quipped.

"Morning." Clarice responded as she stepped behind Hannibal, kissing him on the cheek.

"How's the shoulder feeling?"

"It's still a bit stiff, but I have an excellent physician and it should be fully operational in no time."

"That's good to hear because we still have some loose ends to tie up."

"That we do my dear. We will also need to make arrangements to be leaving here shortly. Is there any place in particular you would like to go?"

"Wherever you are works for me." She said as she poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. Their eyes met as they shared a look across the table.

"You guys are gonna make me blush if you don't knock that off." Ardelia said and took a sip of her coffee.

"What about you Delia? If I remember correctly, you have a date with deputy dog tonight, don't you?"

"Deputy dog?" Hannibal asked raising a brow.

Clarice and Ardelia laughed before explaining to Hannibal the circumstances that had led up to his rescue.

"So, you gonna go Delia?"

"Yeah, I think I will. He's kinda cute and I haven't had any other offers lately."

"Good for you girl."

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After Clarice had finished helping Ardelia get ready for her date and saw her off, with a hug for luck, she and Hannibal set out to finish what they had started the night before.

There wasn't too much to take care of in the house, since Will didn't seem to have a lot of belongings. Cleaning out the basement was the worst of it, but with her partner's experience, the work went quickly.

Finding the broken picture of Will and his family lying on the floor where she had dropped it, Clarice stuck it in her bag and finished cleaning up.

Hannibal decided to bury Will next to Agent Mills. It seemed only fitting that his two would be assassins should remain together in death as both had come so very close to taking his life.

After helping Hannibal place Will's body in the neatly carved hole in the earth, Clarice pulled the picture from her bag. Placing the broken frame and its contents on top of Will's body she said, "May you finally rest in peace Will Graham."

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Later that evening, Clarice lay in Hannibal's arms on the sofa. Both awake, just enjoying the feel of each other's bodies. Clarice knew they would be leaving here soon. She loved London, but she knew it was too much of a risk to stay. Hannibal had asked her where she would like to go and she had answered him honestly. It didn't matter to her where they went. To her, the place didn't matter, only the company. So he asked her if she wouldn't mind just traveling for awhile and if they happened to find somewhere during their travels, they would discuss it then.

She agreed and was excited when he revealed their first stop was to be Greece.

When Ardelia finally came in, she found Hannibal and Clarice asleep on the sofa. As she tried to be quite, not wanting to wake them, she heard Hannibal ask, "I trust your evening went well Ms. Mapp?"

"Yes, very well thank you. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"Not to worry my dear, I was not asleep, nor is this lump on my chest." He said with a chuckle as Clarice smacked him. She turned in his arms to rest her back against his chest.

"Okay Delia, give it up. I want to know everything."

Sitting up on the sofa Hannibal told his angels, "If you don't mind ladies, I think I will take this opportunity to change the dressing on my shoulder and retire for the evening."

Leaning in close to Clarice's ear he whispered, "And don't think I've forgotten about that surprise you promised." He gently kissed her neck just behind her ear, sending a shock wave through her whole body. Damn him anyway. Would she ever be able to control the way that her body responded to him? She hoped not.

Ardelia laughed at the sight of Clarice's response. She never thought she would see the day when someone was able to push her friend's buttons so easily, but after spending time with the two of them, she understood completely. She had never seen two people so meant to be together.

Ardelia also came to the realization that she was now prepared to do everything in her power to keep them out of harms way. As long as she had anything to say about it, no one would ever find the whereabouts of Clarice Starling or Hannibal Lecter ever again.

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Thank you again to all you fine individuals for talking precious time away from your busy schedules to review my little ramblings. You truly make this more fun for me than you could possibly imagine!

Steel-