CH 14: The Sacrifice

"And this happened how?"

"It was an unfortunate accident," Hannibal said, folding his hands over his knee. "Will and I were conversing in the drawing room when we heard a great, terrible crash from out front. It would seem Miss Lounds had been attempting to break into my home. She must have lost her footing by the window and fallen."

Jack appeared skeptical, but he knew the story matched the evidence. "Freddie Lounds has no living family – or at least, none whom are willing to claim her – so the BAU will remain in custody of her remains until funeral arrangements have been made. Thank you for your cooperation, Dr. Lecter."

"But of course."

Hannibal rose with a faint smile, then headed out the office door just as Will stepped inside.

"You wanted to see me?"

Gesturing to the seat across from him, Jack waited for Will to sit before saying, "Your story checks out. Both you and Dr. Lecter gave the same account, so we're now waiting on the autopsy report." The older man frowned. "Are you alright? This is the second incident on your record in less than two years."

Will released a breath. "Believe me, I know. Lounds was a snake in human's clothing, but I never wished her dead. I feel…badly."

"Responsible?"

"I never said that."

"You didn't have to, Will. You wear your heart on your sleeve," Jack said, frowning as he leaned forward in his seat. "Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

Thinking of Hannibal and how he'd surely turn Abigail over to science, Will quickly shook his head, attempting to seem confident in his answer.

"Very well." Leaning back with a sigh, Jack closed the file and nodded toward the door. "You're dismissed. We'll all confer again once we have the final results."

"If I could give you a hug, I would."

With a strained little laugh, Will glumly pushed his pie around on his plate with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Abigail – dinner was wonderful, as usual, but I can't help but feel that this is just the beginning. I mean, what if Hannibal decides he wants something else? He knows I won't be able to resist, because it'd put your life in danger."

Abigail felt her heart clench. "I wish you'd stop making decisions based on what you think I need. No matter what you might believe, you don't have to protect me."

Will winced. "But what if he turns us in? You know you'll be quarantined for scientific analysis."

"I don't know any such thing, and neither do you. We're just theorizing at this point, and that is not the way I want to live my life. I didn't die just to come back and live in fear." She touched her gloved hand over his. "We'll find a way, Will. We always do."

He smiled weakly. "I suppose you're right… I'm sorry."

Pressing a kiss to her gloved palm, Abigail smiled and placed it over his mouth. "You're forgiven – as long as you finish the dessert I worked so hard on, of course."

Will grinned and moved to do exactly that, but that's when the phone rang. He sighed and set down his fork. "Just a second," he said. Now lifting the phone from its cradle, he strode into the kitchen and paused at the entryway. "Hello?"

"Hello, Will. So good of you to answer."

"Dr. Lecter…" Paling, Will exhaled and began to pace. "What do you want?"

"It would seem that my Mischa is slowly regenerating. Though barely noticeable, I have measured her, and she has grown at least an inch since last night. If this keeps up, I hope to have all of her in her entirety within a matter of months."

Will abruptly stopped pacing. "What do you mean, she's regenerating? That's…"

"Impossible? Evidently not, dear Will, which brings me to my next request."

He held his breath. "Hannibal, you can't just-"

"I wish for you to bring back my parents."

"Your parents? But that would mean-"

"I am fully aware," Lecter irritably cut in, "but you will either do as I ask, or suffer the consequences – or rather, watch as Abigail suffers for your ineptitude."

Will grit his teeth. "I'll think about it."

"Please see that you do. And once you have your answer, please call me at your earliest convenience. Goodnight, Will."

The line went dead, and Will slammed the phone down in a huff.

Abigail had heard everything. Despite her remarkable ability to remain calm, she had quickly ascertained Will's dilemma, but hadn't remarked on it when he'd returned to the dining room. And even after they had gotten ready for bed and settled down for the night (she in his bed and he on the floor), she had remained silent in her turmoil. But now, more than ever, it was growing quite clear what she must do. She had become a burden – and more importantly, someone to lord over Will in exchange for his compliance – so Abigail knew she needed to remove herself from the equation. Hannibal couldn't prove a damn thing about Will's gift if she was gone.

Rising from off the bed, Abigail carefully knelt down alongside Will with tears in her eyes. She had grown to love him more than life itself, and now she needed to give up that life in order to free him. It was time that she stopped being so selfish.

Leaning over Will's peacefully sleeping form, Abigail watched his careful breathing and was tempted to touch him – to truly touch him – but was appeased with what she intended to do before her death. She would kiss him.

As tempting as it was to touch his face, Abigail instead hugged herself and began to cry harder. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I hope one day you can forgive me…"

The old grandfather clock upstairs struck midnight, but still Will did not stir. With a hand over her heart, Abigail added a soft, "Goodbye, Will – I love you," before coming down to his level. With a shuddery intake of breath, she closed her eyes and gently pressed her lips to his.

A/N: Just one more chapter to go! I apologize for practically falling off the face of the earth, but the truth is, I became very uninspired, and there was far more interest in my Hannibal/Path AU, so I delved into that fic instead. I'm truly grateful to those who have reviewed here, however, because without your continued support, I'm certain this fic never would've even come this far.

INDIVIDUAL THANK YOUS:

Abigill Fan: It's definitely a struggle for them, and despite Freddie's more unsavory qualities, Will does feel badly about what happened to her. Thank you so much for reading/commenting! Hope you enjoyed!

city bookworm: I don't think it's ridiculous, given how Will is discovering different elements of his gift even after all these years of having it. The thing is, on Pushing Daisies, it was very unclear about regeneration. For instance, in the pilot, Ned's dog, Digby, is hit by a HUGE semi-truck and killed, and yet when Ned brings him back to life, he doesn't seem to have a scratch. Granted, I very much doubt they would've shown the gory details of a poor dog getting smashed on TV, but that made all the other deaths super inconsistent. Like, Digby was fine and able to live regardless of his injuries, but anyone Ned would bring back would still be stuck in whatever state they were in when they died. If he'd allowed them to live, maybe they could've regenerated, but it's unclear if regeneration would've taken place. Chuck's father was brought back too, but he wore bandages like a mummy to hide his state of decay, so it's not like we would've known if he was slowly regenerating. I obviously took creative liberties here. I figured regeneration would make things more interesting... And I feel like I used the word regeneration WAY too much in this paragraph, haha.