A/N: I only own the idea
The drive had stretched out in silence. This was not the quiet that thrummed with unspoken words and awkwardness, however. This was the quiet that followed the clash of two strong willed spirits. As the car approached its destination the bodies that served as their vessels used this time to regroup and centre themselves. Where they were headed would require from them both a inner calm that took most of the drive for them to achieve.
For Hannibal what remained of this place held little meaning to him. It wasn't the physical building but the memories it would unleash upon him that would cause his anguish. It was for that reason he had refused to return for so many years. Even now as they approached what little was left of his once grand home his nose picked up the smell of smoke. In his mind a cacophony of sound and screams. His knuckles went white from how tightly he gripped the steering wheel.
Clarice watched silently as the change came over him, feeling a perverse fascination with how she couldn't pull her eyes away from his face to look at the building. The car had stopped moving and through the window a slight breeze blew. Watching as his nostrils flared, she wonder what his memories were detecting in it. Someone stronger would have looked away to give him his anguish in privacy, but she was unable to do so. In that moment she felt guilty and inadequate because she knew not how to help him. Her voice shook as she spoke. "Hannibal, I don't know what to do. How do I help?"
When he spoke it was as if he had not heard her words. "My mother was beautiful and gentle. Even when flames took her from me it held a haunting beauty. The snow wasn't cold enough to extinguish her, but I tried. It all happened so fast. In my mind at the time I remember feeling so powerless. I remember thinking with my parents gone I had to protect Mischa, then I failed. Please, look at this place now so we can leave. It only holds memories I wish I could forget."
She knew when she looked away he would break. Not able to be so close to him when he did so she stepped out of the car. The wind blew her hair as she looked at the remaines of his family home. Not knowing how it looked before tragedy struck it made it difficult to see as more then the wreckage time had turned it in to. Still she tried. She stared at the structure until it's shape burnt on the backs of her eyes. She drank it in until she felt his arms come around her and his face press in to her hair. When she felt him tremble she twisted so she could hold him.
When a sob broke from him it was the most pain she had felt in her life. Squeezing him tightly she let her hands run over his shoulders and back. She hoped in her caress was the strength he needed to walk away. "I'm here," she whispered as she didn't trust her voice to say any more. When his hold tightened to the point of a dull throbbing pain she ignored it, tilting her head up to kiss his jaw. It was wet from his grief. "I'm here," she said again, her words a little more firm.
The pain in his voice when he whispered her name caused a shudder to run through her. "Clarice," his hands shook as they smoothed her hair. They ran over her body not as a lovers would but in only the way ones would when scrambling for a lifeline. "I need, we need to, please." For once he was scrambling for words and in that moment she hated that she had ever wished for him to do so.
Pressing herself against him she ran her hands over his back again. "It's ok, you're all right. You were only a child, it was not your fault. Let's go, please I don't need to see any more. Let me drive." Her words did not hold a question and he didn't stop her when she took the keys from him. Pushing him gently she led him back to the car. When she looked over her shoulder at what was left of the place that hurt him so, she hoped to never see it again.
Keeping her eyes on the road was difficult. Every time his breath hitched she had to remind herself to keep her focus. When she heard him exhale and swallow she wished she did not know the sound of his tears. As she pulled up to a red light she glanced over at him. He had been looking at her.
"You have no idea where we are going do you?" His question had came out soft with emotion.
"No idea," she said eyes back on the road. "I figured I would just drive until, until you were, until you told me where to go." Her voice started to shake with emotion but she clawed it back down. Breaking down when driving was a bad thing.
"I can drive now," his words were still soft but were starting to sound normal again. She shook her head and continued to drive. "Wasting time and gas is unnecessary, my dear. You have done enough, now pull over and let me drive so you can take care of yourself. That or let me do it for you. That choice is yours, but pulling over this car is not. Do it now."
She wanted to be angry at his demands on her, but she knew he was right. When she found a spot she pulled the car over, letting her forehead gently thump against the steering wheel.
When he spoke next she could feel his eyes on her. "I believe I am ready to lose myself now. You are all I need to hold on to." When she met his gaze she had expected to see desire, but her breath hitched when she thought she saw love.