Author's Note: I promise, one of these days I will finish this story and post it all at once. I just have less time on my hands than I would wish for.


My head was spinning as I drove back to D.C. My mind couldn't quite grasp the consequenses of what had just happened to me. What had been happening to me ever since that cold winter's day in Februari, when I first met Dr. Hannibal Lecter. I was falling in love.

I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry at the realisation, and ended up doing both. Clarice Starling, FBI, falling for a cannibal. Jack Crawford would die if he knew, instant heart attack guaranteed. I blamed myself for my lack of self-control. I did not need this right now, just as my career was heading in the right direction. Damn those eyes.

Damn Ardelia, whose deductive skills could match Lecter's any day.

'I know that look, girlfriend. You might as well tell me his name right now, 'cause you know I'm gonna find out one way or another!'

Having a roommate who reads you like an open book has its advantages, but it definitely has a downside to it. This was not something I wanted Ardelia to know, and if I wasn't careful and she found out - my career at the FBI would be over. I decided to play dumb.

'Delia, I don't know what you're talking about. As much as you would like to see me have a 'special someone' in my life, I can assure you that this girl is still a swinging single.'

She gave me 'the look', her patented Mapp-frown the likes of which I have only ever seen on her little sister. One eyebrow raised, brown eyes wide open in a look that held the middle between sarcastic and incredulous, lips turned slightly upwards.

'Fine, you obviously don't want to tell me. That's alright though Clare, 'cause I already know.'

I felt like I had just poked a screwdriver into a light socket. She knew? She couldnt...

'It's Brigham, isn't it, Clare? I always knew you had the hots for him, girlfriend, and don't you deny it!'

Slowly, I started breathing again. 'Brigham?'

Ardelia grinned. 'I'm right! Tell me I'm right, you kissed him, didn't you?'

Yes. Tell her you kissed him, keep her happy.

'Maybe...' I grinned. Don't tell, don't deny. That's the way to go. If only she knew.



The next morning, there was a handwritten letter in my mailbox at the office in Quantico. Sighing contentedly, I dropped down at my desk and opened it without really looking at the return address. If I had taken to a closer examination, I would have noticed that the stamp read 'Newport, RI' and was dated yesterday.

Clarice,

Out of the eater came something to eat
Out of the strong came something sweet

To find the answer to this riddle, Clarice, you need only look in the mirror.

Regards,

Hannibal Lecter, MD


'Mr. Crawford, sir?'

'What is it, Starling?'

'Out of the eater came somthing to eat, out of the strong came something sweet... what's the answer to that riddle, sir?'

He shot her a puzzled look, his brow furrowed. 'Why? Is it important?'

'No, it's just... I was just wondering, sir.'

'Well, it's in the bible, Starling. Samson poses this riddle to his friends on his wedding day. The answer is the honey in the lion. Bees tended to make their nest in a lion's carcass.'

'The honey in the lion, sir?'

'Yes. Now, won't you tell me what this is all about?'

'Ah, it's nothing, sir. Nothing important.'

I was trembling inside. The honey in the lion... what did he mean by that? That I was the only sweet thing ever to come out of the FBI? You need only look in the mirror... I was the honey in the lion. And damn, I was proud of it.