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Hannibal lounged back on his bed, eyes closed, smiling as he listened to Bella talk about her dance practice and the lack of talent in some of the other dancers. She segwayed into her coach's behavior towards her and how his friend from Broadway was coming to the performance Friday night. "You don't believe in this friend of his."
"I think he's real. I just don't think he's from the Broadway he leads everyone to believe." Bella smirked with a roll of her eyes. "He's not the worst person to deal with though. The kids my age are. . .not like me. I feel like an outsider in a group of kids I've grown up with."
"Speaking of the kids your age, your mother mentioned that the young Krendler made some frightening advances towards you this morning." Hannibal stated. The silence he received from the other end caused his maroon eyes to open to the unpleasant view of his room. The tacky wallpaper and horror movie inspired China dolls were part of his cover, and he made a mental note not to let his cover affect his surroundings like this again. "What did he say to you, Bella?"
Bella stared up at her ceiling, biting her bottom lip. "It was nothing."
Hannibal wasn't going to let her back out of this conversation that easily. With a warning, his voice came out much lower. The metallic doctor voice. "Bellona. What did he say to you to make you fear for your well being?"
It was Bella's turn to close her eyes. The way he said her name made her feel like she was five and being scolded. It also made her feel like she was protected and safe even if she had no clue where he was. Even when they were talking about one of the most disturbing conversations she'd had in her life. "He told me rape isn't rape if I enjoy it. I told him that it's rape once I say no."
"What did he say to that?" Hannibal prodded.
Bella felt the tears prick the back of her eyes, and she sucked in a breath in an attempt to keep them away. "He said, 'If I make you cum, it's not rape.' He said it exactly like that and smirked at me like he'd just won a trophy. He stalked me the rest of the day. Mom said she saw him heading to my locker when she came to pick me up." She heard the change in Hannibal's breathing. "I won't give him the chance."
"That's the thing. He won't wait for you to give it to him. He'll take it. That's the whole point of the act itself." Hannibal breathed. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "You fight like hell. Do you remember what I told you about last defenses?"
"Yes." Bella whispered, glancing to the tape on her nightstand. "What if I like it?"
Hannibal stretched out his back slowly, allowing the muscles to seize before releasing. "Well, you'd be like your dear old dad. There are tons of recipes I could show you that the rest of the world doesn't seem too interested in. Well, other than the average collector yearning for a prize from the famous Hannibal Lecter." He smiled when Bella chuckled on the other end of the line. "Don't worry, my little bird. I'll be watching you closely. I won't be leaving anything to chance. I'm here for whatever you desire, including the end of the young Krendler."
Bella smiled. "I know." She looked up when Clarice stepped inside the ajar door.
Clarice grinned and leaned against the door frame seeing Bella was still on the phone with Hannibal. "Honey, I think it's time to go to sleep. It's nearly midnight." She held out her hand. "But, I'll talk to your father."
"So naturally that comes off your lips now." Bella smirked before returning her attention to the phone. "I guess I have to go, but Mom wants to talk to you."
"I'd be happy to talk with her." Hannibal replied softly. "Remember what I told you, Bella. I'm nearly leaping myself with my excitement for your performance Friday night. Whether you see me or not, I'll be there." He heard shuffling - Clarice's feet on the carpet of Bella's room. "Goodnight, my little bird."
Bella smiled. "Goodnight."
Clarice gently took the phone when Bella extended it towards her. Holding the receiver against her shoulder, she leaned down and kissed Bella's forehead. "Goodnight, baby."
"My Clarice, our little bird seems rather shaken up over today's events. I hardly blame her, but I would blame myself if I didn't prepare for the young Krendler's eventual attack against her." Hannibal sighed into the phone. While Clarice bid a peaceful sleep to their daughter, he took the opportunity to slip on his shoes and sneak out of the small bed and breakfast. If the owner locked the front door for the night, she had given him a copy to get back in.
Now, he was sitting in the driver's seat of the old station wagon he had borrowed from a family on vacation. While running in the park to catch glimpses of the crime scene, he overheard two women running side by side. The woman who had been referred to as Diane had said that she and her family were headed out of town until next Friday. He wouldn't keep the car that long, but the family certainly wouldn't need it.
Clarice sat in her bed, comforter pulled into her lap, with her bottom lip tucked between her teeth. "As long as it doesn't affect our timeline, I would welcome any precaution you see fit. There isn't much I wouldn't do to protect you two."
"As is for me." Hannibal purred. "I need you to track that other number tomorrow, Clarice. Keep your burner with you. I believe Will could be in grave danger. He's here in Virginia. That can't be a coincidence."
Clarice nodded. "I agree. I'll go in early tomorrow. I think avoiding Ardelia would be wise for the time being." She slid down her mattress, falling back against her pillows. "But, I'll attract attention to myself if I don't talk to her. I told her not to come to Bella's ballet Friday night too, and Delia wanted to take her and I out for dinner afterwards."
"What exactly did Ms. Mapp say to you to stir such a fire?" Hannibal asked, his thumb stroked the worn leather on the steering wheel. The leather that still clung to the wooden wheel was smoothed over with years of use. The family must have had the car since the parents were teenagers.
Clarice pinched the bridge of her nose. "She thinks you're involved with the Beer Can Killer. I told her, even if she didn't read your file, you wouldn't murder random people unless you had something to gain from it. I reminded her that you once told me you would never call on me. She didn't seem to care, which is what made me mad. She treated me like I was fighting against her, like she already knew Bella's DNA matches yours."
Hannibal stared ahead, eyes gazing over the dirt road leading to his temporary residence. "Has she ever questioned you as to who Bella's father is?
"Briefly when I first told her I was pregnant. I just told her I didn't want to talk about it, and she let me put the whole topic to rest. Things were crazy with Paul's recovery and your escape. My news of Bella was low on the totem pole during those days." Clarice explained. "Today, I knew she wanted to ask me. She hinted at it, prodded a question with a question. I was just mad that the last person in the FBI I could really count on to have my back and not question my decisions was now putting me in the spotlight with the million dollar question everybody in Quantico had been asking since we first met. If we were more than just people in an FBI assignment. If we were actually doing all the things The Tattler claimed we were doing."
"So Delia's trust and silence on the topic kept you satisfied with the friendship?" Hannibal questioned.
Clarice sighed. "I guess. I get I was lying to her, and I owe her an apology for all of this someday. I just didn't think that Delia would ever turn to me with those questions. She's always had my back, but I know that she won't ever understand my decisions going forward. Our friendship will never be the same. To be honest, it hasn't been the same since Bella, since our night together so many years ago."
Hannibal hummed in response, his eyes catching sight of the hawk again. It circled lower to the ground and dove like a rocket to Earth when it caught the slightest movement in the dry and crinkled leaves that had fallen to the ground from the autumn chill. "Does that make you sad, Clarice? That the friendship that bound you further to the FBI is no longer what it used to be. That Ms. Mapp will never break her ties with your once sacred ground and try to destroy the future you wish to build now, if you still want to build it after this discovery. Does it make you regret your choices?"
"Yes, it makes me sad." Clarice admitted. "And my loyalties to her will vanish once she begins her hunt to catch me with the eventual hopes of getting to you. She may go after Bella to try and get us, but no. I don't regret my choices. I could never regret you, Hannibal. Despite what I'm losing in this life, I know I'll be so much happier in the next. I'm not going to choose anyone else. You've got Bella and I more excited to leave than for Christmas, and that's her favorite holiday."
"I shall plan accordingly." Hannibal smiled. The hawk's neck contorted back as it plucked the lifeless body of a mouse from it's powerful grasp. With a few pumps of its neck, the mouse went down its throat. The yellow eyes blinked before it took position up in the trees again, waiting for its next victim to surrender its position in the leaves. Even the lack of moonlight couldn't save its next prey tonight. "I have made travel arrangements on your birthday. We have a nonstop flight from Miami to Argentina. You and Bella do at least. For precaution, I will not be flying down with you. There are flights to Europe in your names that day. You and Bella will have aliases for the Miami flight. For appearances sake. Bella will be attending college in Europe after all."
Clarice smiled. "Christmas in Argentina. I hope you plan for a Christmas tree. Our daughter will be very upset if she doesn't have one." The memories of a stubborn Bella on Christmas and having things a certain way reminded her of another person she knew with particular tastes. "Her outlook on Christmas is like your outlook on fine wines. Everything must be perfect."
Hannibal's eyebrows rose in curiosity. "I see. Should it worry me that our little bird has an attachment to such a religious holiday? We aren't exactly the most religious people, Clarice. While I respect the choice of faith in others, our stars don't exactly aline with that of Jesus Christ."
Clarice rolled her eyes. "When she was little, we did Christmas because, well, everyone does Christmas. A lot of her classmates don't even know it's a religious holiday and they celebrate even though they're atheists. I always told her that Santa would bring her the things she wanted most."
"What did she want most?" Hannibal asked, already feeling a dread fill his chest with the answer he was expecting to hear. And, Clarice confirmed it with two words.
"Her father." Clarice whispered. "After a couple years, I couldn't console her. I finally told her the story of the Virgin Mary and how she had Jesus through the spirit of God. I told Bella that she may not see her father, but he was watching over her. He knew that she would change the world though, much like Jesus."
Hannibal smiled, amused thinking of his little bird as a small child listening to the comparison between herself and the Son of God. "I would've enjoyed listening to you explain that to her. How did she take your interpretation of her sudden holiness."
Clarice chuckled and covered her eyes with her hand. "She was seven, maybe eight. For six months after that, she would walk out the front door, wave to the sky, and say hello to the father watching over her." Her eyes began to feel heavy, but she didn't dare close them hearing Hannibal laughing so freely on the other end of the line. "I think she eventually thought I just uttered bullshit to her."
Hannibal rested his head back against the leather seat. "You weren't entirely wrong with that comparison. She will change the world. Her DNA would change the belief system behind my psyche. Scientific theories would be shattered. I'm sure the FBI would change with that piece of information."
"They may learn to protect their own for a second before reverting back to the politics." Clarice breathed. Her eyes landed on the alarm clock. "I have a feeling you are up to something at this late hour, and I don't want to keep you from it. Just be careful."
Hannibal smiled as he turned the key in the ignition. Even when he thought his actions were concealed with his careful movements and actions, she knew him better than he would like to admit. "As always, Clarice. Sleep tight."
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