One of Will's worst fears had come to life. He'd done everything in his power to stop it, but it had been all for naught. In the end, Hannibal had won, and now, Will had to live through this nightmare.
"So, how did you and Hannibal meet?" Bella asked. She looked uncomfortable sitting at Hannibal's dinner table, and had been on edge since introductions. Will already liked her well enough. He always approved of good survival instincts.
"Right here actually. At one of Hannibal's dinner parties." Jack answered for Will who drank his wine, and waited for Hannibal to return with the first course. Will desperately wanted a distraction even if it was the other other white meat. Hannibal had even gone so far to make him wear a suit. It fit perfectly, but that wasn't the point.
Bella looked like she was still waiting for Will to answer her question, more than likely used to her husband's manner.
"He determined I had encephalitis, and took me to the hospital the next day." Which was the truth, but definitely not what she was expecting.
"That's...unusual." Bella tactfully searched for the right word for their 'meet cute' story.
"Yup. That's us in a nutshell." Will said. He'd never been a fan of small talk, lousy at it. His job was not small talk material, his family life was all canine now that his dad was dead, and he had colleagues and acquaintances instead of friends.
If Chesapeake Ripper wasn't a prolific serial killer that specialized in sadism and cannibalism, Hannibal might have been the best thing that's ever happened to Will. He tried not to dwell on that, or drink his wine too fast.
"A masterpiece foie gras au torchon with a late harvest of Vidal sauce with dried and fresh figs." Hannibal announced the food, Will staring down at his plate.
The presentation, like always, was art, quite beautiful in execution, but here was a fucking animal's jawbone on it as a decoration. It was really starting to irk Will that no one else had noticed Hannibal was a serial killer. He practically advertised it.
"Wonderful." Jack was over the moon about it, of course, completely ignoring the oddity on his plate. Normally in their line of work, something like that was usually referred to as a clue.
"Jack probably doesn't know it's one because I haven't cherry picked it out for him." Will thought very uncharitably at the head of his FBI department. Bella, however, glanced over to exchange a look with Will. She was not pleased about something on her plate. Will hoped it was the bone's presence.
"Mrs. Crawford, your husband introduced you as Bella. Are you an Isabelle, or an Annebelle?" Hannibal was good at small talk, thrived on it.
"I'm a Phyllis. Jack only calls me Phyllis when we disagree." Bella corrected. That said something about their marriage, Will deciding not to look too deeply into that. He still had to work with Jack after all.
"So, named Bella for your beauty."
"We were both stationed in Italy. I was army, she was NATO staff." Jack "All the Italian men kept calling her 'Bella, Bella, Bella'. Well, I wanted her to be my Bella."
Will had no idea how he managed to do it, but Jack was quite obviously very deeply in love with his wife. That love was returned back, but something was off about Bella. If Will had to take a wild guess, his money would be on resentment. He could understand that in correlation with Jack.
"Mmm...Cold foie gras with warm figs."
"Yes." Hannibal smiled with a nod.
"Would I be a horrible guest if I skipped this course?" Were the words that came out of Bella's mouth. Will guessed the bone garnish was a dealbreaker.
"Too rich?" Hannibal asked graciously. He appeared to be intrigued so Will sat back and waited to see how this played out.
"Too cruel." Bella stated firmly, force fattened liver her hill to die on apparently. Will just hoped it wouldn't be in the literal sense.
"Phyllis." Jack admonished.
"Jack." Bella didn't flinch, or back down an inch. She was quickly becoming Will's new favorite person.
"First and worst sign of sociopathic behavior: cruelty to animals." Hannibal said, making Will glad he had been pacing himself on the wine.
"That doesn't apply to the kitchen." Jack said decidedly.
"On the contrary, I have no taste for animal cruelty, which is why I employ an ethical butcher." Was the bull hockey that came out of Hannibal's mouth. If the Ripper was ever caught, Jack was going to have to quit the FBI to avoid embarrassment.
"Oh, do you? An ethical butcher?" Will grinned before he could help himself. He was really glad he had paced himself tonight. It would have been really inappropriate to start laughing and not stop. "This should be interesting."
"Be kind to animals, and then eat them?" Bella nodded in agreement with Will.
"I'm afraid I must insist on it. No need for unnecessary suffering." Hannibal said, pausing to take an appreciative sip of his wine. "Human emotions are a gift from our animal ancestry. Cruelty is a gift humanity as given itself."
"You'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Will said, pausing to take his own sip of wine. He enjoyed the facade Hannibal was maintaining. He also enjoyed poking at it. "Being a psychiatrist and a doctor. I'm sure you've seen more than your fair share."
"A gift that keeps on giving." Jack said as Hannibal got up to play host, topping off their wine.
"Your perfume is exquisite. Similar to the aroma on the earth just after lightening strikes. Is it Jar?" Hannibal said as he multitasked.
"That is some nose you have there, Doctor." Bella said in amazement.
"He really is quite charming, isn't he?" Was not the reaction Will expected from someone who's wife just got sniffed by a guy who decorates his food and home with bones. "That's how he diagnosed Will's encephalitis. I was there when he did it."
"I first noticed my keen sense of smell when I was a young man." Hannibal said as he poured more wine for Jack. That didn't sound likely to Will, that Hannibal suddenly just woke up one day with this, but he also wasn't a doctor, or had a super sniffer so he drank his wine and kept quiet. Something else was going on here.
"I was aware one of my teachers had stomach cancer even before he was." Hannibal continued as he looked up from what he was doing to make quick eye contact with Bella, the exchange unnoticed by Jack who was quite intent on finishing his food.
Well...fuck. And there it was. That's what was wrong with Bella, why she was so on edge. Will wondered if she was already hiding the pain of dying, if this dinner was as difficult for her as it was for him.
"It's an astonishing ability to witness." Jack said, his attention on Hannibal when Will and Bella exchanged looks, Will offering up a sad half smile and a subtle nod. Everyone was on the same page except for Jack.
"For our next course, roasted pork shank." Hannibal moving to clear all the plates, empty or otherwise. "And I assure you, Bella, it was an especially supercilious pig."
"Will, are you all right?" Bella asked as the profiler began to choke on his wine.
"Drinking problem." Will wheezed, going for his water. He was going to be so pissed if he survived all this to only be killed by a pun.
Like all things, good or bad, they come to an end. It wasn't soon enough for Will, but he managed. At least the odds of doing couple's night on a regular basis had gone down significantly.
"Well, that was terrible. Thanks having them over. I hated it." Will said as soon as the Crawfords were gone, Bella leaving distraught but hiding it well, and Jack as oblivious as ever. "How long do you think she's got?"
"It's stage 4, and it's aggressive. Not very long at all. Less than a year." Hannibal said as he undressed. For all his love of layers, when he was done with dealing with others, Hannibal enjoyed being naked. Will suspected he was the catalyst for that though.
"Eesh." Will doing the same, even folding them to keep the other man from twitching. "And Jack really has no idea."
"It would appear so. In all fairness, she's hiding it well, and we both have unfair advantages when it comes to finding out hidden truths."
"What's it like?" Will asked, tapping the side of his own nose.
"Daunting and overwhelming at first, but eventually mastered over time with practice in compartmentalization and mediation. That being said, certain cleaning materials will make me nauseous. Fabuloso is one of them, the lavender scented one in particular. Play-Doh as well." Hannibal said as they moved into the bathroom, running the water for a bath. They showered while they waited for the tub to fill and the scented bath salts to melt. "What?"
"I'm just shocked you know what Play-Doh is."
"I worked in the ER for years. Yes, I quite unfortunately know what Play-Doh is. Absolutely vile odor." Which was amazing to hear considering their last case that involved two families in different stages of decomposition.
"Wait, it that why you're bathing me all the time?" Will said as he was being scrubbed down. He decided not to get offended about it. "Can't say I blame you. I would as well if our positions were reversed. It must be like wearing canine cologne."
"No, your cologne smells more like something that has a ship on the bottle. Much worse than dogs. At least dogs smell organic. I don't mind them on you."
"I keep getting it for Christmas."
"That doesn't mean you have to keep wearing it." Hannibal grumbled as they got out of the shower to settle down in the bath. Scented wisps of steam were tantalizingly coming off the surface of the water, aloe mixed with lemongrass and coconut.
"Better let Alana know that then." Will said as he rested his back again Hannibal's front, the man's long dancer legs bracketing him on either side. "Preferably in a non-murdery way."
"I'm surprised. She usually has better taste than that."
"She got it for me because of the ship on the bottle. It's more of a traditional gag gift than anything. I'm also not the easiest person to shop for." Will shrugged, "Exchanging gifts is uncomfortable for me."
"Your empathy doesn't do you any favors in the giving or getting."
"Knowing immediately when someone is politely lying to cover up disappointment can be a real buzzkill. Knowing someone wanted more of an reaction from you can be just as daunting."
"I will keep that in mind." Shouldn't have sounded so ominous.