I do not own…
…A week after New Years…
Deep asleep in the master bedroom Hannibal and Annabelle were rudely woken up by his cell phone ringing. Now neither Hannibal and Annabelle were morning people. They didn't like getting up early unless they had to. With Mischa and Penelope, this is where they were considered normal in this area as they loved sleeping in too. After a few more rings Hannibal pulled away from Annabelles' body and answered the phone.
"Someone better be dead or on the brinks of death for calling this early." Anna groaned, as she pulled the blankets over her.
Hannibal just smiled at her comment.
"Hello." He said
It was Will that called and explained that he needed to talk to him.
"I see. Yes, you can come over if you want." He said "Okay, bye."
He hang up and lay back down. Annabelle came out of the blankets and lay her head on his chest.
"What's wrong with your puppet now?" She asked
"Don't know…but he'll be here in an hour?" He said
"Oh joy." She muttered
"Would you like to come and see him again?" He said
"I don't think you need me there to pull the strings." She said
He chuckled before kissing her head and getting up to refresh himself. After an hour it wasn't long till Will came by. Hannibal let him in and showed him to the kitchen to make themselves some coffee.
"Although I may be, is it safe to assume you're not sleepwalking now?" Hannibal asked
"I'm sorry it's so early." Will said
"Never apologize for coming to me." Hannibal said "Office hours are for patients. My kitchen is always open to friends."
He poured some sugar in the cup before handing Will the cup.
"Onset of sleepwalking in adulthood is less common than in children." He said
"Yeah. Could it be a seizure?" Will asked
"I'd argue good old-fashioned posttraumatic stress." Hannibal said as he poured himself some coffee. "Jack Crawford has gotten your hands very dirty."
"I wasn't forced back into the field." Will said
"I wouldn't say "forced." "Manipulated" would be the word I'd choose." Hannibal said
"I can handle it." Will said
"Somewhere between denying horrible events and calling them out lies the truth of psychological trauma." Hannibal repiled
"So I can't handle it." Will said
"Your experience may have overwhelmed ordinary functions that give you a sense of control." Hannibal replied
"If my body is walking around without my permission, you'd say that's a loss of control?" Will said
"Wouldn't you?" Hannibal asked before taking a sip of his coffee.
This made Will think about what he was saying and he had to admit that he agreed.
"Sleepwalkers demonstrate a difficulty handling aggression. Are you experiencing difficulty with aggressive feelings?" Hannibal asked
"You said Jack sees me as fine china used for special guests. I'm beginning to feel more like an old mug." Will said
"You entered into a devil's bargain with Jack Crawford. It takes a toll." Hannibal said
"Oh, Jack isn't the devil." Will said
"When it comes to how far he's willing to push you to get what he wants, he's certainly no saint." Hannibal said
It got quiet between the two and looked over at the stairs when they heard footsteps coming down. It was Penelope that came down in her princess' feety-pajamas, holding one of her dolls and rubbing her eyes.
"Good morning Penelope." Hannibal said
"Morning." She mumbled
"You're up early." He said
"I was thirsty, and I wanted some juice." She said "May I have some, please."
Hannibal smiled at her manners before getting her a cup to pour her some homemade Orange Juice. Penelope looked over to the other side of the counter and saw Will. He gave her a kind small smile that made her get shy and hid behind Hannibal.
"Penelope, there is no need to be shy. This is a friend of mine, Will Graham." Hannibal said, picking her up. "Will, this is our youngest, Penelope. Say hello, Penelope."
"Hello." She said softly
This was so strange to Will as he still couldn't believe that Hannibal was a family man.
"Can we have french toast for breakfast?" She asked Hannibal
"Of course, now why don't you go to the living room and watch some cartoons." He said
He placed her down and she headed to the living room. Hannibal started fixing up breakfast and more noise was made upstairs. He believed that it was Annabelle getting up and knew Mischa would get up in a bit. Not wanting to intrude on their family breakfast, Will decided to leave as his phone started to ring and it was Jack. So he said his goodbyes and left. After a few minutes Annabelle came downstairs wearing a red silk robe and matching slippers. She checked on Penelope first before heading towards the kitchen.
"Will left I see." She said "Was it because of us?"
He walked over towards his special coffee maker to make herself some.
"Sort of…but Jack called him. I assume it was for another case." He said as he was cooking. "I'm surprised you got up."
"Noona, called me. Guess what they are planning to get for Mischas' Birthday." She said
Mischa was turning 11 in two weeks and both Hannibal and Annabelle have been planning it for months. Hannibal was still new at this but he wanted to do something special for his little angel. This year the little girl wanted to have a Circus theme party. Since it was gonna be big they were gonna have it at her house. For activities they rented out a bounce house, rocking climbing wall, and a face painter. A vintage circus cake, some games, a cotton candy and popcorn machine. The food they were still thinking about as Hannibal wanted to cook it while Annabelle wanted to hire a catering business.
He raised a brow, wondering what they do?
"They hired an animal showing. And this one has a cub lion and a tiger." Anna said "Mischas' gonna love that. I just hope she doesn't try and keep them."
"I think you mean to say; you hope your parents don't buy them for her." Hannibal said
"That too." She replied
.
.
.
A few days later Hannibal and Annabelle were having another dinner with Jack again. This time he had brought his wife with him. Raven had taken the girls to the mall to do some shopping and see a movie. Annabelle had stayed in the dining room to talk up Jack and his wife while Hannibal cooked the meals. He called her in the kitchen to help him with the plates.
"How is it in there?" He asked
"Well Mr. Crawford looks a bit tense and uneasy. I think she is hiding something and Jack doesn't know it." She said after taking two plates from him.
"We shall see. After you, dear." He said
He took two plates himself and they both headed back to the dining room. She placed a plate down for herself and Mrs. Crawford while Hannibal did the same with his and Jacks.
"A masterpiece foie gras au torchon with a late harvest of Vidal sauce with dried and fresh figs." Hannibal said
"Wonderful." Jack smiled
Hannibal sat down next to Annabella.
"Mrs. Crawford, your husband introduced you as Bella." Anna said "Are you an Isabelle or also an Annabelle?"
"I'm a Phyllis." Phyllis replied "Jack only calls me Phyllis when we disagree."
"So, he calls you "Bella" for your beauty. That's really romantic." Annabelle smiled
"We were both stationed in Italy. I was Army, she was NATO staff." Jack said "All of the Italian men kept calling her "bella, bella, bella." Well, I wanted her to be my bella."
He smiled at her lovingly before taking a bite of his meal.
"Cold foie gras with warm figs." Jack said
"Yes." Hannibal smiled
"Very nice." He replied
"Would I be a horrible guest if I skipped this course?" Phyllis asked
"Too rich?" Hannibal asked
"Too cruel." She said
"Phyllis." Jack warned
"Jack." Phyllis said
"First and worst sign of sociopathic behavior, cruelty to animals." Hannibal smirked
Annabelle had to hide her smile as she drank her glass of water.
"That doesn't apply in the kitchen." Jack said
"I have no taste for animal cruelty, which is why I employ an ethical butcher." Hannibal said
"An ethical butcher?" Phyllis asked "Be kind to animals and then eat them?"
"I'm afraid I insist on it." Hannibal said "No need for unnecessary suffering." He picked up his glass of wine, inhaled it before taking a sip. "Human emotions are a gift from our animal ancestors. Cruelty is a gift humanity has given itself."
He stood up and grabbed the wine glass to refill everyone else's'.
"The gift that keeps on giving." Jack smiled
Hannibal started with Phyllis first and with his high sense of smell he noticed something.
"Your perfume is exquisite." He said
"Similar to the aroma on the air just after lighting strikes. Is it Jar?" He asked
"That is some nose you have there, Doctor." Phyllis said
"He really is quite charming, isn't he?" Jack joked
"I first noticed my keen sense of smell when I was a young man." Hannibal said, walking over towards Jack to refill his glass. "I was aware one of my teachers had stomach cancer even before he was."
Annabelle saw Phyllis tense when Hannibal said that. She looked over at Jack but he didn't notice anything.
"Wow, that must have been some parlor trick." Jack replied
Hannibal nodded and placed the wine back on the table.
"For our next course, roasted pork shank. And I assure you, Bella, it was an especially supercilious pig." He smiled
After dinner Annabelle and Hannibal had just finished up cleaning the kitchen and they went upstairs to change. Raven had brought the girls back an hour after it was over. They only bought a few clothes and ate at the BJ restaurant that was at the mall before seeing the movie. After getting them washed up they put the girls to sleep before heading to the master bedroom to change themselves.
"Phyllis has something, doesn't she?" Anna said
They had finished taking a shower together and now she was drying and brushing her hair in the bathroom when she asked this.
"Indeed." He said, as he was placing his pajamas on.
"And since you mention your teacher with stomach cancer, I guess she has something similar." She said
"Yes. It's a bit stronger than what my teacher had." He said
"And since Jack didn't say anything or even reacted to it, I guess he has no idea." She said, when she was done she sat down on the bed to place some lotion on herself. "I doubt that'll last long. If she keeps being distant with him he's gonna think that she's either cheating on him or she is ill."
Hannibal looked over at her and started to think how he would feel if Annabelle was ill like Mrs. Crawford. He knew that he would have noticed before she did but would have done anything to help her and he knew she would do the same for him. When he was done he sat down next to her, moved her hair over her shoulder and started kissing her shoulder. This made her moan a little.
"You have nothing to worry about Hannibal." She said as she placed a hand on his cheek and looked at him. "I would tell you if there was something wrong."
"I know. I would as well." He said
He pulled her top strap down as he continued kissing her neck and shoulder as he reached under her shirt and squeezed her breast. Feeling where this was heading Annabelle smirked as she turned off the lights. The girls were fast asleep and the door was locked so the two took off their clothes and started being intimate. He first ran his lips up and down her body. He stopped by her thighs as he sucked and nibbled her skin. Annabelle moaned as she always had the liking of pain done to her. Then he bit her inner thigh hard on an old scar he gave years ago. It was his mark of his claims on her. He licked and sucked her blood before licking and sucking her lower lips. Then he started to thrust his fingers inside her. Annabelle moaned his name and started to fondle her breast. He got up a little and kissed her deep as continued to thrust his fingers inside her. Every once in a while he would lean down to suck and nip her other breast for a while before turning towards the other. It wasn't long till she cummed over his fingers. He didn't give her a chance to breathe as he placed his cock inside her. Hannibal thrusted in and out of her. Going harder and harder each time she begged him too. When he would bury himself deep inside her she would claw his back, making him moan in delight. In and out, harder and faster. They were doing their best not to make too much noise to wake the girls. The two always had animalistic heated sex as the two could never get enough of each other. After a couple of hours they had just finished their fourth round. They were now just laying in each other's arms, listening to each other breathing and heartbeat. Annabelle was the first to fall asleep in his arms. Hannibal had stayed up for a little longer as he was thinking about things. How he wished that he had asked her to stay with him. He would have never denied her of her dreams of becoming a rockstar and would have worked it out somehow. There was so much more to her that many small minded people didn't know about her. She is artistic, both as a painter and as a sculptor. On the road she or when she was free from tours she would paint or sculpt a masterpiece. She even wrote a few famous books herself that became really good sellers.
If he had asked her to marry him then he would have had the pleasure to help raise Mischa. He knew that Penelope wouldn't exist in the same way but also knew that they would have tried for another child, boy or a girl, he wouldn't care.
Hannibal looked over towards his side of the closet where hidden behind a safe. Inside it was mothers engagement ring that has been in his family for generations. He has been thinking about it for months but has been wondering when to ask her.
.
.
.
The next few days Hannibal has been helping both Mrs. Crawford, dealing with her cancer and Will, with his case with Angel Maker. On Will's next appointment he told Hannibal that had another sleepwalking episode. This morning he found himself on top of his roof. Raven wasn't around but he was woken up by his dogs.
"It's difficult to lie still and fear going to sleep when it's there to think about." Hannibal said "You listen to your breathing in the dark and the tiny clicks of your blinking eyes."
"I dream more now than I used to." Will replied
"Well, your dreams were the one place you could be physically safe relinquishing control. Not anymore."
"Yeah, I thought about zipping myself up into a sleeping bag before I go to sleep, but…" He let out a little laugh at the thought of that. "Sounds like a poor man's straightjacket."
"Have you determined how this Angel Maker is choosing his victims?" Hannibal asked
"Well, he doesn't see people how everyone else sees them." Will said "He can tell if you're naughty or nice, or he thinks he can."
"So God has given this person insight into the souls of men." Hannibal said
"God didn't give him insight, God gave him a tumor." Will scoffed, and walked over to the small statue of a stag. "He's just a man whose brain is playing tricks on him. My brain is playing tricks on me?"
"You want to feel such sweet and easy peace." Hannibal said "The Angel Maker wants that same peace. He hopes to feel his way cautiously inside it and then find it's endless, all around him."
"He's gonna be disappointed." Will said
"You accept the impossibility of such a feeling, whereas the Angel Maker is still chasing it. If he got close to it, that's why he will look for it again." Hannibal stated
"I've tried to reconstruct his thinking, find his patterns." Will said
"Instead you find yourself in a behavior pattern you can't break. You realize you have a choice?" Hannibal said
"What is it?" Will asked
"Angel Maker will be destroyed by what's happening inside his head." Hannibal said "You don't have to be."
He walked over towards will as had his suspicions. When he was close enough he inhaled Wills' scent and just like he thought Will had an illness.
"Did you just smell me?" Will asked
"Difficult to avoid. I really must introduce you to a finer aftershave." Hannibal said "That smells like something with a ship on the bottle."
"Well, I keep getting it for Christmas." Will said sarcastically.
Have your headaches been any worse lately? More frequent?" Hannibal asked
"Yes, actually." Will said
"I'd change the aftershave." Hannibal said
After work Hannibal had gone to pick up Mischa from her Judo class. He arrived just in time to see his little Angel taking down an opponent that was bigger than her. She was a brown belt and has been training hard to earn her black belt. When her sensei has dismissed them Mischa smiled when she saw her father. She quickly grabbed her bag, waved goodbye to her friends and hurried over towards him, giving him a hug.
"Did you see me take down that guy?" She asked
"Yes. I'm very proud of you." He said
He knew with a few more years of training she would be as lethal as both him and her mother. Anyone that dares to try to hurt her would be the last thing they do. Whether by her or Hannibal.