Rachel had been relieved to get to Alana's and Margot's apartment, carrying Annie into the building as Margot greeted them with Morgan by her side. The two children had looked at each other cautiously and Rachel had smirked as she knelt on the floor with Annie, holding her waist as Margot did the same for Morgan. Will had dragged her suitcase into the bedroom down the large hallway. He couldn't help but wonder how much this apartment cost, knowing that it was probably three times more than his house.
"So how have you been, Rachel?" Margot decided to enquire.
She had met Rachel a handful of times, but she did not know her as well as Alana did. However, she had heard a lot about Rachel and she knew what she had been through with Will. The two of them had suffered almost as much as Margot had. Perhaps they had suffered more? She doubted she could put a number on pain. She knew it was not possible.
"You know," Rachel shrugged, knowing that Will was unpacking her suitcase for her, "I've been fine until now…"
"I understand that," Margot said with a nod of her head and pursed lips as Morgan handed Annie one of his toys, a small car, and Annie took hold of it. The two of them sunk to the floor and Annie began to laugh softly as Morgan pushed the car away and Rachel smiled. It was amazing how easily entertained children were. "I do not particularly like the idea of Alana being close to him after she worked with my brother to bring him back here."
"She reassured me that she was fine," Rachel said. "I think she likes the fact that she has the keys keeping him from the outside world."
"I sleep a little better at night knowing that," Margot said with a nod. "Alana has been extremely controlling over him. She restricts access to him and only lets in people who she truly trusts and has clearance."
"That makes me feel better," Rachel said with a nod. "So how are you, anyway, Margot? Alana seems to be doing really well. I think motherhood suits her."
"It suits both of us," Margot smiled, looking to her son. "Alana is an amazing mother. She adores Morgan just as I do. I only wish she could be here more than she is at work."
"Does she work late often?"
"More than I would like," Margot scoffed. "I never really had the happy family as a child. I mean…I have it now with Alana and Morgan and I just want it all of the time. Alana told me that you grew up in a big household?"
"Well, big enough," Rachel shrugged. "My mom and dad had me, my sister Chloe and twin boys. The twins are…well…nearly fourteen now and Chloe just finished college. She wants to be a lawyer and stay in Canada. I try to see them when I can, but it is difficult and…well…after everything that happened I don't know if my parents still trust me entirely. They are kind of weary of Will after what happened, but they're slowly getting to terms with the fact he didn't do what he was accused of all those years ago."
"Families are pretty complicated," Margot said.
"They are, but my parents love Annie to bits," Rachel said, "and Will is growing on them. You know how he can be…he's pretty shy and can seem standoffish when you first meet him. I know it took a while before I got to know the real him."
"Alana said the same," Margot said, "but the two of you seem happy enough."
"Oh, we are," Rachel nodded vehemently. "We've been so happy since Annie was born. We just don't know where the time has gone. It still feels like yesterday when she was born."
Margot did smile at that, looking to the children who were still racing little cars on the floor.
"I know that feeling," Margot said. "I don't know how he has grown so much. Every day it feels like he is changing and I am dreading the time when he goes to nursery or school and leaves me. I don't know what I will do without him."
"I don't know what Will would do," Rachel admitted. "He is devoted to her. He's…well…he's taken on the role as the househusband while I work. I never thought that he would be able to do it for as long as he has, not with his mind, but he really just loves spending time with Annie. He just wants to be with her all of the time."
"It's refreshing," Margot said. "You're definitely different to any couple I have met before."
"I think we both defy stereotypes," Rachel smiled. "Morgan has two moms and Annie's dad is the stay at home husband while her mom works."
"The scandal we have caused is ridiculous," Margot drawled, stretching her arms above her head before tugging on the cashmere jumper she wore. "I went to a mother and baby bonding class and the mothers there just looked at me with such disdain when they found out I was one of two mothers. I almost couldn't stop myself from laughing at them."
Rachel's lips curled upwards. "I know what you mean," she said. "Everyone was surprised when Will went into town with Annie. He told me that someone asked him how he was coping as a single parent."
Margot rolled her eyes and moved to her feet from the floor and Rachel did the same.
"People are so judgmental," she commented. "It becomes dull."
"I can imagine," Rachel agreed as Will moved into the sitting room, looking between the two women and then down to the children. Rachel turned to look to him as he stood by her side, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans as he nodded to Margot.
"Thanks for letting them stay here, Margot," Will said. "Your entire guest bedroom is our entire first floor."
Margot's lips broke into a sly smile. "You have Alana to blame for that. Ever since her salary increased she hasn't minded splashing out. But, it's not a problem. It seems that Morgan quite likes having someone to play with."
Annie was still giggling as Morgan laughed too, the two children seemingly entertained with the toys on the floor. The three parents in the room smiled on adoringly before Will looked to his wife and spoke in a hushed tone.
"I've got to go, Rachel," Will admitted to his wife. "I need to meet with Jack to talk about the case."
"Okay," Rachel said. "You'll be careful, alright?"
"Yeah," Will said. "I'll come back in the morning. I've got a room booked in a motel-"
"-Oh, Will," Margot spoke in a gentle voice. "You don't need to do that. You can come back here instead of going to some motel. Besides, I doubt your daughter would mind. I'm certain she would want to see you before bed."
"I don't know what time I'll be back," Will said.
"Take a key," Margot urged from him. "We don't mind. Alana would be terribly upset with me if she found out I had just accepted you went back to a motel so I insist you stay here."
Will ached a brow. "If you're sure?"
"Positive."
….
Rachel had put Annie to bed, kissing her goodnight and leaving her in the bedroom next to hers. Padding down the hallway, she opened the door to her own guest room and looked around, unable to believe how intricately decorated it was. Rachel could only imagine how much it had cost Margot and Alana to do up. But there was something missing. There was something that Rachel didn't like. It didn't feel like home. Then again, her idea of home was stacks of washing, ironing and dogs that needed walking. Compared to that, this was luxury. She had felt guilty leaving the dogs with the local kennels, but they had always looked after them whenever they had left town for a while.
Sitting in bed, Rachel was about to begin reading when the door opened and she saw Will walk in. He tugged his coat from his body and tossed it over the chair in the corner as Rachel put her book back down and he sat down on the side of the bed, burying his head into his hands. Moving her fingers to rub the small of his back, Rachel chewed down on her lip.
"I watched the video of the family that was murdered…the Jacobi family…they were normal, Rachel. They were just a normal family who were killed in cold blood."
"Will," Rachel whispered softly before he looked up, sniffing loudly and turning his gaze to his wife. "I don't know what to say."
"There is nothing that you can say," he promised her. "I just know that I need to keep going. I need to find this son of a bitch so that he doesn't do this to anyone else…so that he doesn't hurt anyone like them…good and honest people who deserve to live…not to…"
"Will, darling, come here," she urged from him, moving to wrap her arms around him awkwardly, kneeling to the side of him as she kissed the side of his neck and closed her eyes. He moved his hands to clasp hold of hers, holding them tightly in his grip.
"I'm sorry," Will told her, turning to look at her. "I shouldn't be burdening you with this."
"You should burden me as much as you like," Rachel said. "I'm your wife and you're my husband. We don't keep things from each other. We don't bottle things up. Okay?"
Will searched her gaze. "I don't deserve you," he whispered.
"You deserve better," Rachel said and kissed him before he could start to argue with her. "Now come to bed and you can tell me what you're going to do tomorrow."
Will nodded and tugged his clothes from his body, reaching for the top and bottoms Rachel had put at the end of the bed. He pulled them on before climbing into bed next to Rachel, the duvet thick as he tugged it to his cheeks. He closed his eyes for a moment as he laid down on the pillow, wondering when he had ever rested on something so soft. He felt Rachel move a hand to his chest as she laid on her side, facing him and waiting for him to talk to her.
"I need to go and see Dr. Du Maurier."
"The woman Hannibal was with in Italy? Why would you go and see her?"
"Because she spent all that time with Hannibal," Will said. "She knows what he is like. She knows how his mind works."
Rachel frowned. "I thought this was all about finding the Tooth Fairy? Not Hannibal?"
Will closed his eyes and frowned. "He's…I think this is connected, Rachel. I need to know more about Hannibal before I solve this case. I need to know things that she can only tell me. There are things that I do not understand that I think she might. Once I understand them I think that I will be able to catch the killer."
Rachel frowned at hearing him. "Don't let him back inside your head, Will," she begged from him. "Don't do this to yourself again."
"I'm trying my best not to," Will whispered and Rachel closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh, knowing what she had to do.
….
Will had left early after hearing that Bedelia was giving a guest lecture. He knew that the two of them had to talk, but he didn't particularly enjoy the idea. However, he had no idea what his wife was going to do. He had no idea how she was going to go and see the one person she despised more than anyone else.
"Does Will know about this?" Alana asked her as she drove with her to the hospital.
"No," Rachel said.
Alana sighed loudly. "Rachel, he would want you nowhere near him," Alana said in a soft voice. "It's bad enough that Will insists on still seeing him, but why you? Why do you want to go and see him?"
"Because Hannibal Lecter is getting into his head again," Rachel said. "He is consuming his thoughts and I can't let it happen again. I can't let Hannibal get close to him."
"And what do you hope to achieve by seeing him?" Alana wondered with a shrug of her shoulders as she pulled into the parking lot. "You cannot warn Hannibal to stay away from Will. You cannot stop Will from coming to see him. I do not see what this will achieve. I already threatened Hannibal not to do anything."
"Then I want to extend that same warning," Rachel said. "Alana, I can't just sit back and let it happen without trying to do something. I just need to see him…to see if I can figure out what his game is."
"I don't like it," Alana said. "Will will like it even less."
"I know," Rachel said, "but I'm not being kept in the dark…not again."
Alana could only nod. Leading Rachel from the car and into the building. She gave her the necessary credentials and guided her through the hospital. Rachel could hear some people talking from their cells as she passed by, gulping as a sense of fear took hold of her once she came to a security gate that went down another staircase. It looked different to the one she had gone down to see Will. There were no other people down there.
Alana stood by the open gate and nodded her head. "He's down there," she said. "We have cameras watching at all times and the glass is safe, but just stand behind the yellow line. I'll wait for you here, okay?"
"Okay," Rachel nodded, fiddling with the visitor's pass as she looked to Alana and nodded before moving down one step.
"And Rachel," Alana called out to her. Rachel stood still and looked back to her. "Don't let him inside of your head either."
Nodding, Rachel continued to move down the steps, almost expecting to come to a dark and dingy basement. But the opposite was true. The room was warm, decorated with white washed walls and intricate carvings on the ceiling. Looking to them, she moved her gaze over into the cell protected by the thick glass. There was a bed and a desk, a bookshelf in one corner while drawings lined the walls. But then her eyes settled on him. She inhaled a sharp breath as soon as she saw him, his eyes piercing and set on her.
"Rachel," he spoke her voice in his familiar accent.
Inhaling a sharp breath, Rachel swallowed back the lump in her throat. "Hannibal," she responded.
He laced his fingers behind his back and stood in the middle of the room, eyeing Rachel with intrigue as she wandered further into the space, standing behind the line and tucking her hair behind her ear.
"I admit that I am shocked to see you here," Hannibal informed her. "I would have thought that Will would have kept you locked away from me. Then again, you were never the stay at home and do as your told wife, were you?"
"You know why I am here," Rachel said, not engaging in his conversation as his lips pulled up in amusement. "I know that, for some unknown reason, Will needs your help with this case."
"Very tragic case," Hannibal nodded his head. "Whoever killed those families is slowly realising his potential. He is realising what he can become…the power that he has. I would think that Will would do well to stay away from him."
Rachel found her eyes widening as she folded her arms over her chest. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Hannibal smirked to himself, remembering the phone call he had made earlier. He had used his phone call to gain the address of Margot and Alana's apartment. He had it in his mind. He had it and he knew what he intended to do with it. This was his revenge. He would gain his revenge when possible.
"It is supposed to mean that you need to be careful, Rachel. Will has a family now…you are his family…you and his daughter."
"Do not speak of Annie," Rachel hissed.
"Will never told me her name," Hannibal mused. "Annie…short for Annabelle, I assume? She must be a lovely little child if she is a mixture of both you and Will. Although I worry…does she have any of the mental tendencies that Will has? He was always so scared of becoming a father when I spoke with him."
"I am not here to talk about this," Rachel said with haste. "I am here to tell you not to hurt my husband…not to get into his head like you did all those years ago."
"I care deeply for Will," Hannibal spoke to her.
"Don't lie to me."
"I do not lie," Hannibal responded. "I still care for him, Rachel. He was always close to me, as I was to him. Does that bother you? Is that why you are here?"
Rachel scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You think that I am jealous about your relationship with my husband?" she wondered from him. "You do realise that Will said goodbye to you that day, don't you? He wanted nothing more to do with you. He wanted you gone from his life after everything that you did to him…how you set him up for those murders…let him rot in a cell…"
"How I took away the one thing he loved the most," Hannibal continued to muse as Rachel looked away from him. "I suspect you still think about that, despite the passing of time."
"I hardly think of it," Rachel responded. "I was an idiot who was blinded by you. I know the truth now. I know that I love Will. I always did love Will…"
"Yet you turned against him," Hannibal spoke. "Tell me, Rachel, do you think you will ever turn away from him again? What would it take?"
"Nothing," Rachel responded. "Don't you get it? We're married. We have a daughter. Nothing can come between us."
Hannibal's lips pursed. "You should not sound overly confident, Rachel," Hannibal responded. "I have a feeling that the tide is turning."
"Stop toying with Will," Rachel demanded, a chill running down her spine.
"Be safe, Rachel," Hannibal said as she turned on her heel and began to leave. "You never know what is around the corner."
…
Packing a small bag in the guest room, Will intended to travel to Buffalo to spend the evening there before going to the museum the following morning after talking with Hannibal about the Great Red Dragon. But then Hannibal had told Will who had visited him that morning. But Will hadn't needed to worm that information out of Rachel. As soon as he had returned to the apartment he had found her in the sitting room, perched on the edge and looking on edge. Annie and Morgan were playing while Margot sat and joined in.
As soon as he walked through the door, Rachel was on her feet and moving into the bedroom, tugging his hand and urging him to follow her.
"I went to see Hannibal this morning," she said in a soft voice once the bedroom door was closed and Will pulled his coat from his body.
"Well, that was easier than I thought," Will mused, pulling his coat from his body and laying it on the bed before adjusting his glasses. "I thought that you might try to deny it."
"No, I just didn't want you to know I intended to go," she retorted. "Look, Will, you know why I went. I'm worried for you…I always am…I just wanted to warn him off, but he ended up saying something that freaked me out. He was going on about how…well…I don't even know…but how we weren't safe…that something was going to go wrong. I don't know, Will, but he scared me, okay? He's up to something."
Will shook his head. "Rachel, he isn't going anything," he promised her and she shook her head, pointing to him.
"You can't be sure of that."
"He is locked in a cell under the most secure hospital I have ever seen," Will informed her. "Trust me, he isn't doing anything."
"Then what was he doing?"
"Trying to get in your head," Will said. "Doing what you were worried about him doing to me. Listen to me, Rachel, he is trying to make you feel uneasy. You know that this is what he does. He does it all the time. Don't listen to him, okay? Just stay away from him, got it?"
"Don't need to worry about that," Rachel scoffed and Will moved to kiss her softly on the forehead.
"Everything is going to be okay…I promise," Will said as he moved to hold her tightly in his arms. "It's all going to be fine."
…
A/N: Not sure if anyone is really reading but if you are then do let me know what you think!
