Veronica sighed deeply as she set her purse on the cushion beside her and settled back to read her book. She'd never had any trouble with hallucinations, but vivid nightmares troubled her often and when she confided in Will about it, he recommended that she start seeing his psychologist, Doctor Hannibal Lecter.

She hadn't been too sure about it, but she trusted Will and he assured her that Hannibal had been a great help to him recently, so she decided to try it. But she was only coming for one session. This was the first and possibly the only time she would see Doctor Lecter and trust him to help her. She'd spoken with him on the phone when scheduling the time of their session and it was strange, but even just hearing his voice, there seemed to be something slightly off about him.

She hadn't said anything about this to Will, of course, but she knew that if she got the same feeling during their meeting, she could confide in Will about it and he would respond with a level head. He wasn't the type to get irrationally angry or defensive when someone challenged the people or things that he thought he knew. Veronica knew that Will wasn't too sure of anything at the moment, and he might not be too sure of the doctor.

Her eyes had been following the lines of words on the pages of her book, but she hadn't absorbed a single one of the words before her. Instead, she'd been lost in thoughts about Will and his strange and seemingly slightly off psychiatrist. But she was wakened from her reverie when the door opened.

"Hello," he said, extending a hand. "I am Hannibal Lecter. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Veronica stood and shook his hand. "Veronica Franklin," she said. "Thank you for having me."

"Of course," he said, standing aside and allowing her to enter his office first. He stepped in after her, closing the door behind them.

Veronica walked in and took a good look around the large, open room she was standing in before she took a seat across from the doctor, who had already sat down.

"So," Doctor Lecter said once she'd seated herself, "is it safe to assume that you were referred to me by a friend?"

Veronica nodded. "Will Graham," she said.

The doctor nodded once. "I'll have to thank him," he said. "But in the meantime, we're here to talk about you."

"Of course," Veronica said. She looked the doctor over carefully. He seemed friendly enough and quite interested in helping her in any way possible, concerned about her wellbeing, even. But there was still that small something about him that seemed strange. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it was definitely there.

She took a moment to gather her thoughts and then said, "The reason Will suggested I see you is that I am in the same line of work as he is, and I suffer from some of the same . . . side effects."

Hannibal nodded. "I assume that you have spoken quite extensively with Will on this subject, then?"

Veronica nodded once. "Yes."

"Then you will know that he frequently suffers from hallucinations, insomnia, and nightmares," he said. It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

"And you suffer the same things."

Veronica shifted in her seat. "Not exactly; my biggest problems take the shape of frequent nightmares and occasional insomnia. I've never suffered from hallucinations."

"I see," said Doctor Lecter. "Do you take medication for these things?"

Veronica nodded. "I've tried a lot of the meds they have for nightmares and insomnia, but they haven't worked for me. So I generally take something that'll knock me out cold instead."

"And does this technique work? Are you relieved of the nightmares?"

"No. It worked for a while, but recently I've been having nightmares even when I've taken the medication. And it only seems to make it worse, because I have a harder time waking up and escaping the dreams."

The doctor nodded. "Have you tried a more natural approach? Foods or drinks, or certain exercises can be calming and can reduce the possibility of stress, therefore reducing the possibility of nightmares and insomnia."

Veronica nodded. "I drink hot tea every night before bed. It's herbal, so there isn't any caffeine in it to keep me up. That seems to help."

Hannibal nodded. "Have you tried yoga? I have never done it myself, but have heard that certain exercises and positions of meditation can relieve stress and help to soothe."

"I haven't tried that," Veronica said.

Hannibal nodded slowly, just once. "These nightmares," he said after a moment, "is there one recurring dream that torments you, or are the dreams different every night?"

"Generally they're different every night," she answered.

"Generally?" the doctor repeated.

"Occasionally I'll have a nightmare that I've experienced several times before. When it does come back, it's always exactly the same, down to every little detail."

"Would you be comfortable telling me what happens in the nightmare?" Doctor Lecter asked.

Veronica nodded. "It's almost like a movie, like I'm going back and reviewing every case I've ever worked and every crime scene I've ever checked out. I go all of the way back to the first case I ever did, when I first started profiling. And then it plays out from there. It's just images flashing in a sequence through my head, but they're all crime scenes, so they're all bloody and gory and disturbing. I've had the dream enough times to know the exact sequence of the images."

"I see," the doctor said. "I assume that you wake up because of the dream?"

"Yes."

"Have you noticed any kind of pattern in the time that these dreams occur?"

Veronica was unsure. "What do you mean?" she asked.

The doctor frowned, though it seemed to be in concentration and deep thought rather than annoyance. "When you wake up from the nightmares, have you noticed a certain time of night that you often wake? Sometimes when a person has recurring nightmares, each time the dreams occur, they occur a certain amount of time after the person suffering has fallen asleep. Some people have such dreams within an hour of falling asleep, some after around three hours, and some after five and closer to the time when they will naturally wake up."

Veronica nodded, now understanding. "There's not really a specific pattern, that I can remember," she said. "But I'll try and remember to look at the clock every time I wake up from now on to see if there is a pattern that I've never noticed before." There was a short pause, and then she asked, "What if there is a pattern? What will that mean and how will that affect my ability to deal with the nightmares?"

The doctor leaned back in his chair. "Different techniques are used depending on the different pattern of dreams."

Veronica glanced at the clock, realizing that her session with the doctor was up. He looked at the clock as well, and then he rose from his seat. She did the same and followed him to the door.

"Thank you for listening to my problems," she said before walking out the door.

"Thank you for giving me such an opportunity," the doctor said. "May I be so bold as to assume that you will be back next week at the same time?"

"You may," she said smiling.

They exchanged nods and then she left and he closed the door behind her. He seemed nice enough, but something about him was still off. And in all of the time that they'd been talking, she didn't feel that he'd helped her all that much. Nevertheless, she would follow his advice and report back to him a week later. Maybe she could warm up to him by then.

But Veronica wasn't the only skeptical one; even as she was leaving Doctor Lecter's office and wondering just what it was that seemed strange about him, he was seated at his desk on the other side of the door, thinking almost the same about her. The only difference was that Veronica hadn't quite put her finger on that certain off thing about the doctor, and he knew exactly what he didn't like about her.

As far as Hannibal Lecter was concerned, Veronica Franklin was a threat. A threat that had, in a rather short amount of time, changed from a minor one into something much larger, something that was now big enough that it bothered him. Will had said that he felt stable when he was around Veronica. He had said that she somehow found a way to ground him and keep him focused while still letting him be himself and giving him complete freedom. And Hannibal's first encounter with her left him with new information; it had been very clear, even just by her presence, that she was the kind of person who could be very close to another person without bearing down on them, somehow both distant and completely accessible all at once.

It was clear by the way that Will had spoken about her that he cared about her, and that he valued her opinion and ideas, perhaps valued them even higher and with more regard than he valued Hannibal's. And Veronica had been uneasy at their meeting. She hid it well, but Hannibal had worked around good liars plenty of times, and he saw right through her smile. If Veronica decided that she didn't like Hannibal, and more importantly if she decided that she didn't think it would be good for Will to keep seeing him, she could overthrow the entire thing with a simple idea. She could easily get Will to quit seeing Hannibal and if she was enough to ground him and keep him stable, he might never again waver or be as vulnerable as he was now.

And what she could destroy was no minor thing. No, Hannibal had spent hours obsessing over the smallest detail, plotting out every possibility and deciding exactly how he could handle every situation. Will had come to him a broken man, and everyone thought that Hannibal was fixing him. But in truth, Hannibal didn't think Will was broken. Changed, perhaps, but not broken. Soon enough he would "break" enough and come to see things exactly as Hannibal saw them. Will was like soft dough in the hands of the doctor; Hannibal could easily mold his ideas to suit his purpose.

But even so, this plan was a delicate one. Hannibal had thought he'd foreseen any and every possible problem or setback, and he'd even prepared in the event that Will became romantically involved with someone. Alana Bloom, for example. She and Will had started to become involved, but Hannibal hadn't even needed to step in because Will wasn't stable at that point, and Alana could see it and new to avoid it. But he hadn't anticipated someone like Veronica. People like her were rare. She was very similar to Will in some ways, particularly because she had the same gifts he did. She could empathize with killers, but she could also empathize with Will, and that, coupled with her kind heart and her accepting personality, was enough to make her a very dangerous person as far as Hannibal Lecter was concerned.

There weren't many people in the world who he thought of as dangerous or threatening to him or a plan of his. But Veronica was one of the few who held that respect. Veronica Franklin was a threat, and, he thought with a cunning smile gracing his lips, all threats need to be removed or destroyed.

Hey! So, I've been promising a Hannibal/Veronica meeting/scene for quite a while now and here you have it! I'd love to hear what you thought of this chapter. And, as always, any additions, corrections, or suggestions you may have are welcome and I'd love to hear them. Thank you to all of my wonderful readers for being such lovely people and sticking with me and with this story for so long. And a big thank you to everyone who has left reviews! They mean so much to me and they make it all so worth it! Thanks again! ~Taelr