[Written for Twelve Shots of Summer: Nine Tales.]
Alana waited until after they put Morgan to bed to start this discussion with Margot. Their son was still young, but he was old enough to understand when there was something wrong, and she didn't want to stress him out unnecessarily. She knew that they wouldn't be able to protect him from the realities of the world forever, but she wanted him to keep his innocence for as long as possible. Someday he would learn that monsters actually were real, and they looked like him. As the Verger heir, he would have no shortage of enemies, and that wasn't taking into consideration any enemies that his mothers had.
She poured two glasses of wine and handed one to her wife before taking a seat next to her on the couch. The Verger wealth allowed the two of them to buy some truly excellent wine, although a part of her did miss drinking beer. In the grand scheme of things, having a beverage tarnished for her was the least of what Hannibal had done to her, so she supposed there was no point in dwelling on it too much.
"You seem to have a lot on your mind," Margot observed.
"There's been some new developments," Alana began. "We are going to use Hannibal as bait for Dolarhyde."
"And who's idea was this?" Margot asked as she swished the wine around in her glass.
"It was Will's idea. He wants to fake an escape so Dolarhyde will come after Hannibal," Alana explained. She could see her own doubts reflected on Margot's face.
"I can't say that I'm surprised that Will is the one to come up with this," Margot responded. "Where is his head at right now?"
"Honestly, it's hard to tell," Alana sighed. Will had changed a lot over the years, and even more so during this case. "He's always been a little hard to read."
"Except for Hannibal Lecter," Margot said with a wry smile. "So, you use Hannibal as bait, and then what?"
"Then we kill them both," Alana answered. There was a time where she wouldn't have been so unbothered about a plan like this. She would have argued against it, in fact. But she wasn't that person anymore.
"So it's a high risk, high reward type of plan. I'll start preparations for us to leave if this all goes south," Margot decided.
"That would be best," Alana agreed. "If this works, we will finally be safe. If not, then I want our family as far from here as possible."
She desperately wanted this to work. Even with Hannibal under her own lock and key these last few years, Alana hadn't felt completely safe. The only way she could ever feel secure was with him dead. If this didn't work, and Hannibal managed to actually escape, then she would have to take matters into her own hands. She had tracked him down once, and hopefully she would be able to again. It would be a lot harder, of course, but she had plenty of resources.
Margot took the wine from her hand and set both of the glasses down. "We'll be okay, no matter what happens."
As usual, Alana felt strengthened by Margot's promise. She had learned to find strength in herself, but meeting Margot had taught her what it truly meant to have a partner. She had never expected to love someone enough to be willing to kill for them, and yet she had helped Margot kill Mason. He had made the mistake of underestimating his sister, and it had cost him. She looked delicate, and could convincingly pretend to be beaten down, but Alana had seen the spine of steel in her from the beginning. She hadn't intended to fall in love, but she knew now that there was no chance that she wouldn't have loved Margot.
"I know we will," Alana agreed, giving Margot the soft smile reserved just for her.
She leaned forward and kissed her wife, and she felt her worries temporarily melt away. Margot pulled away first, and Alana saw the desire in her green eyes.
"Let's go to bed," Margot said, and when she rose from the couch, Alana followed.
Tonight, she would focus on worshiping Margot. Tomorrow they would plan, but for now they could just lose themselves in each other. Alana didn't ever need a reminder of what she so fiercely wanted to protect, but she would gladly accept it all the same. She had more to lose now than she did before, but that would only make her fight harder. And with Margot by her side, Alana felt that she could survive anything.
Noiz: Apologies in advance, because I will likely be all over the place with TSoS this year.
This was written for the week two prompts, [Team Play] and [Will of Fire]. I've wanted to write Murder Wives for a while now, and it's pride month, so it seemed like a good time. I'll probably go back and edit this eventually, but I just wanted to finally get something posted. Title is from "Lock Me Up" by The Cab.
I have something in progress for week one, and I'm definitely going to be posting a sequel to my Abigail oneshot from last summer at some point. When will that happen? Who knows.
As always, please go check out what other people are writing this year for Twelve Shots of Summer! I know both Aviantei and Chronic Guardian have already posted a couple oneshots, so definitely go take a look.
Thanks to Aviantei for encouraging me to write and helping me feel better about being off to such a late start this year!
