Chapter 16: Fireworks and Explosions

Let us leave poor Jack Crawford to sort out his thoughts, and return instead to a quiet attic in Portugal...

Hannibal sat suspended between an ironic smile and a confused frown. He was, in some deep, menacing part of him, pleased that Clarice had brought an end to Paul Krendler's life. From the few times Hannibal had seen him, he had become decidedly sure that the man was more than incompetent. But then, WHY did Clarice kill Krendler?

Hannibal's mind wandered far away as he remembered the reason that Clarice had been driven over the edge. Inwardly, he sobbed. He felt so much love for this woman, and he had caused her a deep mental anguish. It hurt him to think of what he had done to her; caused feelings that never should have been in her heart and then made her face them without any way to protect her from herself.

Clarice felt the tension in her ribs, tightening with each breath. Hannibal was looking off into the space above her head, deeply lost in his own thoughts. His glazed eyes blinked softly, giving an innocent illusion.

Clarice began to fidget, worrying that Hannibal was upset with her for killing Paul and Stephan. She reached across the space that separated them to touch his knee. "Hannibal? Hey, what's a matter? Are you mad? Hannibal are you mad at me?"

With a mental shake, Hannibal returned from his thoughts to the present. Clarice's voice sounded so... different. It was full of the Virginian twang now, not just the slight hint he'd heard earlier. And her vocabulary was slowly deteriorating to slang. Hannibal felt sure that more was wrong with her than he could have guessed.

He laid his hand across hers, gently stroking it with his finger. He again reverted to his therapist/patient frame of mind. "Clarice, have you felt any different lately?"

She tilted her head over to the side, thinking to herself. "No, I don't think so."

He sighed quietly. After a moment's thought, he decided on a course of action to solve Clarice's problem. "Clarice, can we try something?"

Clarice's eyes flashed with some delicious emotion that Hannibal had never seen: desire. "Like what? What do you want to try?"

Hannibal shook his head softly, wondering why he didn't just take advantage of her state of longing. "Not what you are thinking..." Did she look disappointed when he said that? His pulse jumped higher than it had in years at the thought of what she wanted from him. "Not now, anyway. I'd like to put you under hypnosis. Would that be all right with you?"

Clarice looked aside, studying the pattern of the quilt on the bed. "Why?"

Hannibal tilted her face toward him with his fingers. "Because I need to, so that I can understand something about you. Will you try?"

Clarice rubbed at the blanket with her palm. After a moment, she sighed deeply and said, "Fine, yes, I can try it for a spell."

Hannibal paused again at her word choice: a spell? He assumed she meant a small amount of time, but why did she say that? Hypnosis now seemed necessary to find out what was going on inside her head. "Good. May I use your necklace?"

Clarice looked down at her chest to see her diamond and emerald heart necklace glittering from the sun in the window. "Are you taking it back? I told you I like it..."

Hannibal smiled gently and reached around her to unclasp it. "No, I will not take it. I just want to use it for this exercise. You will have it back soon, I promise."

He felt Clarice's shoulders relax under his forearms as he worked to undo her necklace. She was clearly relieved that she could keep the necklace, and he was glad she liked it so well. With the necklace in hand, he moved to lean back from her, but she was too quick. In a move that Hannibal had never seen nor had he used, Clarice grabbed his arm and pulled up. In less than three seconds, he was flat on his back on the bed, with his attacker on top of his chest.

Hannibal reached up to grab her arm, but her reflexes were remarkably quick. She had his arms pinned above his head with her forearms, causing their faces to be mere inches from contact.

She was breathing fast from the bout of exertion. "Hannibal..." she breathed. "Why don't you want to try now?"

The good doctor was too surprised at her reaction to reply instantly, but recovered in record time. "It's not time for that, we need to talk now." He could feel his excitement growing, contrary to what he spoke aloud. He fought his emotions from surfacing again; he could not risk further mental damage to Clarice, not before he could diagnose what was happening to her.

Using strength that had been abandoned since the last time he had killed, he pushed Clarice off him and onto the pillows of the bed. With a deep growl, he pinned wrists with one hand, grabbing a robe from the end of the bed. He removed the tie from its waist and used it to bind Clarice's hands to the headboard. She struggled as Hannibal held her legs down, to prevent being kicked in the chin.

"Hannibal?! What the hell are you doing?"

Lecter moved from Clarice's legs to look into her eyes. "I am preventing a situation for which neither of us are ready."

She looked at him with mixed fear and annoyance. "We are ready..."

Lowering his eyes to look over her body, he mentally restrained himself. "Trust me, sweet Clarice, we are not. I believe it best if I leave you tied to the bed."

Pouting her bottom lip, Clarice whined softly. "But why?'

Hannibal lightly ran his fingers over her face. "Because...because. Because I said so." As Hannibal gently kissed Clarice on her forehead, he pondered the real reason she had to be restrained.

'Because,' he thought, 'I might not be able to control myself.'

RETURN TO QUANTICO

The FBI building was in a state of chaos. People were running all around, trying to find out if the Tattler's story was indeed the truth. Most of the secretary's were crying, and several representatives from Justice were calling to find out how a gossip paper could know about poor Paul's death before they did. Everywhere within the building, distraught voices took control of the air. Everywhere, except...

Jack Crawford still sat at his desk, eyes misty, hands in a trembling steeple under his chin. Since he had hung up on Pearsell, he had not moved from his chair. The chaos did not reach him from the halls outside his office; he was alone with his own thoughts.

His shaky hand moved from his chin to his forehead, wiping away invisible perspiration. The room was overwhelmingly hot, insanely hot, but he shivered nonetheless. He felt his clammy skin and decided it was time for an asprin, so that he might avoid the headache that was sure to come.

Crawford rattled two tiny pills from the bottles, chewing them dry. He tasted the bitter powder coating his tongue, but did not reach for his water. This was a small form of punishment for himself. 'And if anyone deserves to be punished,' thought Jack, 'I do.'

The acrid, slimy substance sat on his taste buds, the awesome heat of the room beating down on his balding head. The heat reminded him of a hot summer night, the air thick with humidity and sweat. The warm air suffocated his thoughts beneath an old memory, previously removed from conscious thought...

*&*&*&*&*FLASHBACK, ALMOST ONE YEAR EARLIER*&*&*&*&*

The sticky, sweet smell of wet grass hung in the air, though not so pungent as the smell of gunpowder. Jack and Bella's Fourth of July party was well under-way; all the guests invited had come, and the fireworks were starting. Jack walked away from the grill behind his house, removing his "Kiss the Cook" apron as he went, and called to his guests to meet on the deck of their house. The deck had the best vantage point of the firework display.

Walking up the stairs of the deck, he saw Bella sitting on a lounge chair, surrounded by people raving about Jack's hamburgers. A quick scan showed Crawford several fellow agents, a few secretaries, a few people from Justice and Forensics, and... someone was missing.

Jack walked around the crowd of guests on his desk, scanning them again. Yes, someone was definitely missing. Who had he invited? Mary, Sam and Anthony from Forensics, Susie, Tara, Phillip and Kroeler from the secretarial pool, Clint and Barringer from Justice... they were all there. Then his co-workers: Jeremy, Ardelia, Leonard, Jimmy, Clarice... Clarice wasn't there.

Jack went over to Bella, kissing her on the cheek as he bent down. "Hey, Bella. How are you doing? Need anything?"

She smiled sweetly before she kissed his hand and laughed. "No, you've got me covered, Officer Crawford. Isn't this going well? Everyone came!"

Jack smiled, taking a seat at the edge of her chair. "It seems like it. Did you see where Clarice went? I know I saw her earlier."

Bella leaned forward and looked behind her chair, toward the back door. "Yes, I saw her about ten minutes ago. She asked me if she could go inside for a while, so I told her sure, that was fine. Some young man followed her in, I'm sure she's just resting. She looked a little peaked, you know?"

Kissing her forehead, Jack stood from the chair. He hadn't seen any man with Clarice before, but there were many people at the party Jack hadn't talked to yet. She must have brought a date. "Yeah, I know. I'll just run in and get her before she misses the lightshow."

Before he could move toward the house, Bella grabbed his hand. "No, Jack, she's fine. Just let her rest a bit. I'm sure her young friend is capable of taking care of her, just let her be. When she hears us oohing and aahing like fools, she'll probably come out anyway."

Shrugging, he patted her hand. "OK, If you say so-" His sentence was interrupted by the first loud BOOM of the night, as the colored lights flashed in the sky.

About twenty minutes into the fireworks, Clarice hadn't shown up outside yet. Looking over the side of the deck, he saw her beat-up mustang still parked by the side of the house 'Oh, well,' Jack thought, returning his gaze skyward, 'She is definitely still here...'

While Jack was looking up, he heard the back door open. He didn't look back immediately, just waited for Clarice to say hello to him. But she didn't.

Crawford looked back and saw no one beside the door. Instead, he saw the form of a young man walking away from the house, toward a car. Though Jack couldn't make out a face, he saw the man glance back and forth before getting quickly into his car and pulling away.

Jack was confused; was that the young man Clarice came with? Crawford turned to the closest person, Barringer from Justice. "Hey, did you see who just left?"

Barringer turned toward the cars and saw the car leaving. "Aw, yeah, that was Paul."

Jack shook his head. "What? Paul who?"

Barringer grinned a semi-stupid grin. Even though he was a nice enough guy, Jack often wondered how he had made it into the bureau. "Paul Krendler, of course. I told him he could come along, I hope you don't mind."

Jack managed to mumble, "No, that's fine," before retreating to his house.

He opened the door and closed it behind him, muffling the noises of the party on the deck. He looked around the living room and saw no one. He walked down the main hall, glancing in the kitchen as he went. Nothing. The bathroom: nothing. His and Bella's room: nothing.

Jack was wondering if perhaps Clarice was outside somewhere and he just hadn't seen her, when he heard a soft cry from the guest bedroom. He sprinted down the rest of the hall and stopped. It sounded like woman crying.

He knocked softly and opened the door. What he saw both terrified and enraged him....



A/N: I'd like to apologize now for ending this chapter on a cliffie. I'm sorry.

Well, at least I said it, ya know? Give me some credit! I promise I'll post my next chapter VERY VERY soon! School is out, so there are very few distractions left!

I'd like to take some time now to thank the people who have reviewed this story:

Tibet: Thanks for reviewing my story twelve times! The recommendation is appreciated...

Diana: My first review, I hope you've enjoyed the ongoing insanity. In case you didn't know, it was your work that inspired me to write for hanfan, thanks for being a practical genius. And don't forget, it's the pelvic thrust....

Hannibalover1181: You reviewed 8 times, and each one is identical: please do continue! I will, thanks for your support!

Nothing-brite: Thank you!!!

JB: Thanks, this is definitely going to be going for another 3 chapters... that's the bare minimum!

Nanci: Thank you for so many reviews! Your feedback made me so happy!

Jan: Thank you!

Meg Binks: If you check my bio page, you will see that there are now three hanfics. Enjoy and thank you!

Chameleon302: How can I thank you enough? With your steady reviews and emails, you helped me out a lot. You are a real sweetie, thank you for being there to cheer me on!!!

Tara: Wow, I hope your need for more has been quenched! Thank you for reviewig, hope you like the cliffie!

Steel: It would've been awesome if Clarice had joined the mile-high club... hmm... another fic, perhaps? Look out for lemons! Thank you for being a constant reader!

luna: I love reviews, that's so fun! You are marvy!

Screaming Lamb: Thank you for your oh so patient reviews!

Kurt: Thank you, Grand Poobah!

Lilyayl: Thank you, dear sister, for your critical reviews. They made me think about the depth of my characters, believe me.

DarkShadow: Thank you for your patience. If you've been keeping up, then you'll know that I am %evil% (yes, sam, the E word), and I haven't been posting regularly. Don't beat me!

Samantha Bridges: Many thanks, my esteemed Lecterphile friend, for your lovely reviews. Is Clarice as evil as your dear Emily? I can only hope.

troesnaja: Thanks for your comments. Your support and criticism kept me on my toes!

Strawberry Lecter: Thank you thank you thank you!!!

Heidi: I'm glad you found enjoyment within my fic, thanks for reading.

angelofnight: Thank you for reading. Once again, the "soap opera" commentary was intentional!

LadyofTruths: Thank you for not considering me to be evil. I am, a little, of course, but thanks for the benefit of the doubt.

Saavik: Many thanks, dear, I hope I can continue to fulfill your reading need.

Applegate: I did not know that Crawford died in the movie. Thank you for informing me.

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Shattered Mug: I want to apologize for the cliffies, but... I can't help it. My name is Fauna, and I have a problem... Thanks for reading!

Memor Sol Solis: OMG, STOP HITTING YOUR HEAD ON THE KEYBOARD!!! Thank you for enjoying my story, now go take an asprin and lie down... poor dear....

*~*~*BIG HUGS*~*~* TO MY CONSTANT REVIEWERS!!!
(reviewed more 5 or more times)
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I can't thank y'all enough for sticking with me on this. I hope my story continues to thrill you, and I promise to pick up on some of the other Hanfics (scenarios?..sigh...)

Love to all who love lecter~
Fauna