Hi everyone, so this is my first story so please please pretty please me nice to me. This is following the movie Hannibal with one added extra character, as the title sort of suggests. So…hope you like it and fancy leaving your opinions at the end, I don't mind.
Hannibal – Plus One
Clarice Starling allowed a hiss of relief to enter the hospital room as the pain, which had encased her, passed, only to result in the sounds of the cries from the huddle of nurses at the foot of her bed. Four hours and seventeen minuets of contractions and pain had resulted in the small bundle one nurse held – weighing a total of seven pounds and three ounces. Even with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, strands of hair managed to cling in sweat across her brow as she began to regain her normal breathing pattern. All the way through she'd been alone – no man by her side who was the father of her child; he was long gone. One month after the Jame Gumb case he had visited her, a night where she abandoned her duties which she had craved and slaved for in result of a night of passion which resulted in months of a much healthier lifestyle and fall back from potentially dangerous cases, before a few months of loss of work as she was forced to stay at home with mounds of paper work and a swelling abdomen. With regular visits from Ardelia she kept herself social. Even Jack Crawford had given her the odd brief visit during her absence from the Bureau. As the nurse holding the pale blue blanket began to move away from the room, Clarice felt her arms stretch out in longing before she could deny her action – she made the nurses, doctors and the adoption agency representative swear to keep the child away from her as soon as it were born, but her motherly instincts begged her to reach for the new born, but they kept their promise; she didn't need to make it all the more difficult than it already felt to be. The nurse didn't look back on her (just as promised) as she left the room with the wriggling bundle in her arms. As the cries left the room Clarice was left with her own thoughts that normally occupied her mind during sleepless nights. He hadn't contacted her once during the whole pregnancy. Did he know? Was that why he was avoiding her? Did he realize the mistake he'd created and fled? Or did he not know? Had he simply left the country to lie low, unaware of the changes Clarice was experiencing?
She may never know. All she knew was that after than one visit he's paid her after everything that had transpired, there was now a piece of them both in the world that neither of them could have – Their son deserved a life free from the pain he'd receive at being the son of the cannibalistic serial killer.
The son of Hannibal Lecter.
It wasn't often Clarice thought of her son's birth. No...their son's birth. Clarice's eyes snapped open to be greeted by the crowd of sweat drenched agents surrounding her within the metal casing of the juddering truck. If the event arose in her mind, Clarice always found herself imaging what he'd look like. But now was not the time. She pushed aside the feelings and memories as she sat up within the truck, focusing her mind on the task ahead of her.
XXX-xxx-XXX
All the way on the other side of the world, in the heart of Italy, tourists were pouring down the streets of Florence. Amongst this crowd was a young couple in their thirties, drinking in the splendour around them as well as keeping an eye on the young figure several steps ahead of them. The heat bathed the people of the city, stifling and all breezes welcome, creating the perfect weather to relish in along side the culture they sunk themselves into. The small American family crossed a widely populated square, where numerous acts were taking place in front of a large historic looking building, a clock tower perched neatly on top. The clear mother of the family directed her husband up several stone steps to the deserted entrance to the building. The husband called the young boy over who abandoned his interaction with a group of nearby pigeons to meet his parents.
'It's the Capponi library, are we allowed to go in?' The mother asked as she moved towards the door.
'It's a history library. You're a history teacher; you probably know everything that's in there already.' Her husband stated as with one hand he lit the cigarette in his mouth and the other held the hand of his nine-year-old son by his side. The woman was far from satisfied by her husband's answer and took the opportunity that was approaching in the form of a slightly older man in a well-tailored black Armani suit and topped off with a white fedora.
'Excuse me?' The woman asked as her son rushed to her side and swung on her arm. The man turned around, his maroon eyes gleaming in the sun of midday.
'Yes? May I help you?' He asked with a far from Italian accent, more close to their own American accent, but with much more of a sophisticated air about him.
'Is this library open?' The woman smiled in a pleasant way to the older man as she wrestled her son who was becoming bored and agitated with standing around in the heat for too long. 'I would enjoy learning about the local culture and maybe have my son here learn more of what's around him.' The man's maroon eyes fell from the woman to the boy being held back by his mothers arm, sweating in the sunlight.
'I'm afraid the library isn't open to the public for the time being. They are attempting to find a new curator. I myself have applied but the job is yet to be set.'
'Oh.' The woman's face fell. 'Well maybe next time. Thank you.' The woman nodded in a respectful manner which the man returned as she followed her husband. He watched them leave before turning back to see their son still standing there, watching him with slight curiosity. The man studied the boy's face to be met with matching maroon eyes. His eye colour wasn't common and the man supposed the boy wasn't used to seeing someone with the same, resulting in his curious stare. The child was a rather small stature; pale ivory skin told him of his first time in extreme heat, explaining the sheen of sweat donning his head beneath a mop of ebony hair.
'Anthony!' The boy's mother called him but he did not respond, as he continued to stare. Dr. Hannibal Lecter, known as Dr. Fell, matched the boys curious stare before the boy broke and ran off to join his parents. The boy grasped his father's hand once more and followed them down the steps. Dr. Lecter watched as the boy glanced back once more before they merged into the crowd. Dr. Lecter straightened the hat atop his head before merging into the crowds himself, contemplating the idea that for a second – but no matter how brief – he could have sworn on his new found freedom that he saw the faintest glimpse of Clarice Starling in the boy's face.
XXX-xxx-XXX
In the heart of her home, Clarice Starling wept due to the unneeded and unplanned ending of the Evelda Drumgo case. It was supposed to be an arrest. A bit of a struggle, not all the bloodshed and pain, for which she felt the majority of guilt of the events that had transpired. Not only had she lost her friend and former instructor John Brigham, she had also orphaned a child. Damn Bolton, if he didn't feel he needed to massage his hurt ego at having a woman in charge then the operation may have smoothed out, the odd hitch here and there as what was expected, but now there was a baby boy out there with no parents.
As she had rinsed the mother's blood from the wailing child, she could not help but imagine a different child in that place, a light dusting of ebony hair with ivory skin and maroon eyes, just as she's always imagined, water spraying over the blood of the killed, but not completely washed away.
Tears streamed down the Special Agents face as she sat at the table, knowing she had left another defenceless child alone in the world, to be brought up in a new life – whether it would be a safe or dangerous life, she did not know, all she knew it was her fault as guilt trickled in rivers down her face.
A/N: I've never written a story to be posted online before so I hope this meets everyone's standards. I haven't gone into great detail on characters yet, but I will in the next chapter, if you all think this is worth continuing. Let me know and I'll update soon!