When Clarice entered Jack's office, she saw Will sleeping on the couch. Jack Crawford was nowhere to be seen. She closed the door very carefully, not wanting to disturb Will.
Last night he had murdered her in her dreams. She still felt the knife piercing through her, the blood. Will under Hannibal's control.
She shook the thought of him being a murderer off.
He had killed people, in self-defence though.
She took a seat in the chair where Jack had given her first task to interview Hannibal Lecter.
Clarice watched Will sleep. He stirred a lot, but didn't yell like she did at night. From where she was sitting, she could see the dark circles under his eyes. Are you the monster everyone claims you to be?
How long had he been here?
Suddenly Jack walked in. Clarice jumped up, making a gesture to him that Will was sleeping.
Jack looked from Clarice to Will, frowned and closed the door with a loud bang before dropping a big pack of dossiers on his desk.
Jack hadn't forgotten his conversation with Will a few hours earlier.
Will opened his eyes, shocked about Clarice and Jack's sudden presence.
"How long have you been here?" Jack was suspicious. Will took the seat next to hers. He seemed disturbed, his hands were shaking again.
"Just a few minutes, sir," Clarice replied. She would never snoop around in his office.
"Half an hour," Will said rubbing his eyes.
He smiled slightly when he saw Clarice looking at him. Will started to realise Clarice was paying attention to his mental state. Not openly like Alana but more like Molly looked after him.
"We know the man was indeed a Swedish sailor name Klaus Dam, 34 years old. Went missing a few years ago," Jack sighed, "Lecter was right."
"What did he say?" Will asked. He hadn't been there last night, Clarice presumed he'd get a transcript of what Hannibal Lecter had said.
Clarice looked confused at Will to Jack. She understood being in the prison was hard for him because he'd been there himself. But this was something else. Will couldn't be involved for some reason.
"I thought you knew," Clarice didn't understand any of this crap.
Jack looked nervous.
"Alright, then." Jack focused on his computer, looking for the right file.
"You can just tell me wh-" Will started when he knew Jack was doing.
"Hello Dr Lecter." Clarice heard her own voice on tape. Oh god no.
"Hello Clarice," Lecter's voice echoed through Jack's office. There was silence, she remembered how Dr. Lecter had stepped out of the darkness.
She looked at Jack. How could he do this to Will? When Clarice woke up, she did something she had never expected herself to do: google Will Graham.
She found pictures of his trial where he was declared innocent. From crime scenes. Mostly Freddie Lounds. She had been sceptical about but Clarice had to admit that Lounds had gained a lot of Clarice's respect after reading some of her articles.
Hannibal and Will being friendly as if it was normal that a cannibalistic serial killer and a disturbed FBI profiler were working together. Clarice wondered how the FBI could have been that blind. He was right in front of you, Jack. You were dining with the devil. Quite literally.
There was an article where Frederick Chilton stated on the record that Hannibal Lecter "made a lot of jokes about eating his tongue and dropped a lot of cannibal puns". Dollarhyde had read this article too probably.
Clarice got more and more confused about the skills of the FBI. She was going to join a group of idiots very soon. The FBI had been very unprofessional by believing a psychopath could never intrude their high ranges. Oh boy, they had been so wrong.
She remembered the strict screening procedures to start at the FBI academy. The psych evaluations never seemed to cease.
Some articles about Hannibal and Alana Bloom, who had been consulted by the FBI. Just like Hannibal Lecter. They had a thing before he was caught.
Will Graham and Jack Crawford found bleeding to death in Hannibal Lecter's house.
Alana Bloom broke her back after falling out of a window.
The daughter of the Minnesota Shrike, Abigail Hobbs, was found dead. Her throat had been cut.
And Lecter was nowhere to be found.
"Hannibal Lecter is the Chesapeake Ripper" followed by:
"Murder Husbands spotted in Florence" Clarice was confused by that nickname at first.
Then there was the death of Francis Dollarhyde, or more the manslaughter of the Great Red Dragon. Hannibal and Will had killed him. Together.
Freddie had snapped a photo of what was left of him.
There had been a great fight afterwards between Hannibal and Will where Lecter had tried to kill Will by throwing him of a cliff. Clarice found that hard to believe.
Lecter wanted to flee the country instead of getting back to prison so Will had to die.
Hannibal had failed and both men had fallen of the cliff, into the sea.
With Will heavily injured, Hannibal had captured and brainwashed Will until the FBI had found them again.
After she had done her research, Clarice felt worse about everything. She should have done this before she first visited Hannibal Lecter. Will Graham wasn't the person she thought he was, he was a killer, manipulator and a criminal. Clarice needed to be careful when she was around him.
Her nightmare had been a wakeup call.
"You found my Valentine's Gift?" Hannibal Lecter's voice again. Clarice didn't want to hear this again.
She looked at Will, he looked more distressed than ever. Why was Jack doing this to him?
Jack was also staring at Will, focussing on his reaction.
Clarice stared at the tip of her shoes, not wanting to look at Jack or Will anymore. She felt embarrassed somehow. Trying to think about something else failed.
"How's dear Will, Clarice?" that's when Will got up and left the room without saying anything.
Jack stopped the recording and looked at Clarice.
"Why did you do that?" Clarice asked almost angry.
"I wondered how he would react," Jack said.
"Mr. Crawford, I need to ask you this. Is he capable of doing this? He looks very unstable and I know I'm not in this position to say that but I just wanted to let you know."
Jack listened to Clarice. He needed to keep her on his good side and she had already proved herself in this chaos. She could be of use as soon she'd graduate.
"This is just between you and me, Starling. No, he was never capable of doing this. Never," Jack said.
Clarice raised an eyebrow.
"You can't trust him. Especially when Hannibal Lecter is involved. You need to watch out he's not playing you," Jack said.
"Will of Dr. Lecter?" she swallowed hard.
"Both," Jack said.
"I don't know on whose side he's on," was Jack's conclusion when Clarice didn't respond.
"Why did he run away?" Clarice asked him. Hey eyes were focussed on the scar in his neck.
"He had promised me to stay away from Hannibal Lecter after.. all that had happened." Clarice nodded. She didn't knew what he meant exactly. The running away with a cannibal part, she guessed.
"How did he behave himself in the field the other day?" Jack asked her in return.
"He was shaking at the crime scene, hands trembling from… addiction, he seemed disoriented, confused. Not violent, more scared," Clarice said.
"And a the hospital?"
"Will waited in the car," Clarice thought about Alana, she thought it was better if she didn't bring her up. Alana looked like the type that wanted to go in mysterious ways.
Jack sighed.
"Keep an eye on him," he ordered her, "and keep up the good work." He force himself to smile at her. Clarice reminded him of the daughter he never had. The only thing he regretted in life is that he didn't have any kids.
"I'll do, sir. Thank you," Clarice said with a light smile.
"We're going to investigate this further, maybe I'm going to need your help again. It's better for your schoolwork and Will's sanity that I give you two some time off," Jack said.
And knowing Jack that would be like two days, Clarice thought.
"Do I need to search for Will?" she asked while getting up.
"If you can find him," Jack said. Clarice smile politely and said goodbye before closing the door behind her.
Will needed to get out of that room. Clarice and Hannibal's conversation did hurt him, he needed time for himself. Space to breathe.
He had left Jack's office and looked for a place to be alone. This was what happened if he saw way too many people. It would become too much.
He could see flashes. Hannibal's blooded shirt, the rocks, the waves. He remembered the fall. It wasn't the fall that nearly killed him. It was the landing.
After a few minutes Clarice walked in. Offcourse did she knew where he would go. Will sat on the ground, his back against the wall. He hope that he wouldn't see him but she knew he'd be around here somewhere.
"There you are," she said. Will didn't say anything. He hoped that she'd go away if he ignored her. He was wrong.
She sat next to him, copied his position and said nothing. Will continued to ignore her but after a while it grew harder and harder to ignore her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
She smiled at him.
"I could ask you the same. Why did you run away?" Clarice asked. Will looked at her.
Will opened his mouth to answer her but he shut himself up and shook his head.
"It's him right?" Clarice asked him in a way only Abigail could have asked this. He had made a place for us to be together. All of us. She had been wrong and now she was gone.
"You know that, Clarice," Will said quickly. You need to watch out he's not playing you, Jack had told her.
She sighed.
"Sorry that Jack did that," she said, "confronting you with that tape."
"It wasn't your fault," his blue eyes locked into hers, "what did Hannibal say?"
You can't be the monster everyone is talking about. It can't be.
Clarice told him, calmly. She made sure she didn't upset him or anything. Will nodded and returned to staring at his shoes. They remained there sitting in silence.
"Thank you for this," Will said.
"For what? Sitting in a half dark room in silence with my teacher whining about our pasts?" she smiled at him.
Will smirked.
"Kind of," he said.
"I'm going back to studying, anyway so," Clarice said. Jack had kindly pronounced that he'll handle things from now on. She was sad but happy to get back to easier things, things from books. For now. She still wanted to join the BSU.
"He sent you back to school?" Will asked.
"Yeah, I guess so. I think that's what he meant," Clarice said.
"We both know that he will call on you again soon, he's desperate. Hannibal will only talk to you, Jack needs you." Will said.
He didn't like that Clarice would leave, he liked her company.
At least she wasn't a psycho killer who abused his imagination to frame him for murder.