Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 23 of Messed Up World. Thank you to those who have left reviews for this story. It really does mean a lot to me that you guys are enjoying this story. I hope that you guys continue to enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it. I am taking my time with writing each part out so I don't get too long winded, and I am sure that you guys understand why I am doing that. I am going to try my best to keep the chapters rather calm and well written and hopefully not overwritten. I hate having chapters that are overwritten because they never really end well whatsoever. Without further ado Chapter 23. ENJOY!

Chapter 23

The two victims were on stainless steel slabs.

Beverly looked at the two corpses letting out a soft breath. "Death makes angels of us all…" She said as she ran a small plastic tool along the flap of skin hanging off of the exposed muscle of Mrs. Anderson's back.

Brian carefully removed the fish hooks one by one, dropping them into a pan.

"And gives us wings where we had shoulders smooth as ravens' claws."

"Robert Frost." Brian said as he worked.

"Jim Morrison." Will and Margarita said at the same time.

"Even a drunk with a flair for the dramatic can convince himself he's God. Or the Lizard King." Beverly said, nodding her head thankful that someone got the saying correct.

"God makes angels. Jesus was fond of Fisherman. Are we going hard core Judeo-Christian upsetting or just upsetting in general." Jimmy said thinking.

"This is a very specific upsetting." Will said, looking over at Jimmy.

"Increase of serotonin in the wounds is much higher than the free histamines so she lived for about 15 minutes after she was skinned." Brian explained.

Jimmy entered from his workbay. "The powder residue on the neck of the soda bottle was Vecuronium. Scotch'n soda'n a paralytic agent."

"Had them kneeling in supplication at the feet of G dash D."

"Supplication is the most common form of prayer. Gimme-gimme-gimme."

"They weren't praying to him. They were praying for him. He's afraid." Will said, thinking his brain began to work over time.

"What is somebody who could do something like this afraid of?" Beverly questioned looking over at Will.

"He's dying. What's in his vomit?"

Beverly moved to the toxicology report. "Dexamethasone... kepra…"

"He was epileptic. Radiation?" Brian questioned looking up from his work.

"Gamma four."

"Steroids for inflammation. Anticonvulsants for seizures. Radiation from chemotherapy. Our guy has a brain tumor."

"He's afraid of dying in his sleep. He makes Angels to watch over him."

Margarita let out a breath and shook her head. "Well I'm going to head home if you guys don't need anything else…"

Beverly looked over at Margarita. "Yeah you should go home to your husband. You didn't look good earlier when we went over to the crime scene."

Margarita let out a soft breath shaking her head lightly. "I'll be fine… I just haven't seen a crime scene that gruesome in quite a while."

"Well I don't think I've ever seen you about to get sick from a case like this." Beverly pointed out looking at her friend with a little bit of a worried gaze.

"Honest I'm fine. I feel fine. Even though I did have a wake up call this morning." She said looking over at Will.

"I'm sorry next time I'll be much more careful in waking you up." Will apologized to the woman softly knowing that she was probably exhausted.

She waved her hand as she slowly walked towards the exit letting out a tired breath.

HANNIBAL

That night Margarita and Will were in Hannibal's office. Margarita in a chair looking over a book that she had on her lap.

Hannibal standing over Will on the second floor, scanning the shelves for a particular book on Neurology. He pulled it out after finding it. "There's no one and only spiritual center of the brain. Any idea of God comes from many areas of the mind working together in unison." Hannibal climbed down the ladder and then tossed the book to Will.

Will caught the book and began to look through the book. "Maybe I'm wrong. How do you profile someone who has an anomaly in their head changing the way they think?"

"A tumor can definitely affect brain function, even causing vivid hallucinations. However, what appears to be driving your Angel Maker to create heaven on Earth is a simple issue of mortality."

"Can't beat God, become him."

"You said he was afraid."

"He feels abandoned."

Margarita continued to look through her book, biting her lower lip softly.

"Ever feel abandoned, Will?" Hannibal questioned his brow raising.

"Abandonment requires expectation."

"What were your expectations of Jack Crawford and the F.B.I.?"

"Jack hasn't abandoned me." Will said looking up at Hannibal not feeling like he was abandoned by Jack.

"Not in any discernible way. Perhaps in the way Gods abandon their creations."

"Well, this should be interesting. Please proceed, Doctor."

"Jack gave you his word he would protect your head space. Yet he leaves you to your mental devices."

"Are you trying to alienate me from Jack Crawford?"

"I'm trying to help you understand this Angel Maker you seek."

"Help me understand how to catch him."

"If he were a classic paranoid schizophrenic, you might be able to influence him to become visible."

"Scare him out into the daylight."

"Might even get him to hurt himself if he hasn't already."

"If he were self-destructive, he wouldn't be so careful, Hannibal." Margarita said looking up from the book that she was looking at. Her voice sounded rather tired from everything that was going on.

"Unless he's being careful about his self-destruction. He's making angels to pray over him when he sleeps. Who prays over us when we sleep?"

Will blinked a few times trying to think of the answer and he couldn't come up with one.

Margarita pursed her lips together knowing that there really wasn't an answer to Hannibal's question. Margarita closed the book she was looking at letting out a soft tired breath. "Will you go home for the night and try to rest."

Will slowly closed the book he held and carefully put it down on the desk. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stay this long trying to figure this case out."

"Will, it's fine, honestly, but we can't be combing over the books with lack of sleep. And you can't tell me that you're not tired." Margarita pointed out as Hannibal came over to her wrapping an arm around her knowing that she was tired.

"Have a good evening Will." Hannibal said, offering the younger man a smile.

Margarita waved her hand softly to Will, also wishing him a good night.

"You two have a good night as well." Will said softly as he headed towards the door to leave the two of them alone.

Hannibal looked over at his wife. He stroked her cheek softly. "You look haunted."

Margarita slowly looked up at her husband. "More than what I thought I would be haunted." She said softly letting out a soft breath. "I don't think I've ever seen something that brutal."

Hannibal hummed softly, pulling her close to him. "You don't like skinning people."

Margarita shook her head lightly. "No, I suppose I don't like that, but with you being you, you would think I would be desensitized to that."

Hannibal placed a soft kiss on her head. "What were your symptoms?"

"It made me sick, Hannibal." She said softly, looking up at him. "I don't think I've had a crime scene do that to me in quite a while."

Hannibal led her out of his office and towards the stairs. "You don't think you're…"

"Pregnant Hannibal? No, I know I'm not pregnant." She told him softly.

Hannibal let out a soft hum as the two of them walked up the stairs. "You're certain?"

"Hannibal you can smell cancer… I'm sure that you would be able to smell the change if I was pregnant." She pointed out as they headed towards their room slowly. "I would think you would know before me if I was indeed carrying your second child."

Hannibal kissed the top of her head. "Perhaps, but I didn't know you were pregnant the last time."

Margarita took a soft breath as they went into their room. She slowly began to shed her clothes off that she wore that day.

"Take the day off… in fact tell Jack that you don't want to be on the Angel Maker case." Hannibal said as he removed his tie putting it into the hamper before removing his suit jacket and then his button up shirt.

"He's going to be pushing this case hard, Hannibal." She said letting out a breath as she grabbed one of her nightgowns. "This guy has already killed two people and who knows how many others that this guy would have already killed."

"I don't want you to over do it, Rita." He told his wife softly as he changed his clothes.

"You want me to stay away from everything that is happening with this case. Do you think that it might hit too close to home? When we were in New Jersey… Jack mentioned the Chesapeake Ripper."

"Oh he did, did he?"

"He knows that it will be forever the case that haunts him."

"You're afraid he'll figure it out."

"Hannibal he hasn't even figured out anything yet. He doesn't even know what I know. The man can be dense sometimes and that is a good thing for us." Margarita pointed out looking at him.

"You're afraid at some point he'll figure it out." Hannibal said as he came over to his wife slowly putting his hands on her arms, rubbing them softly.

"Some point yes, but nothing is pointing to the Chesapeake Ripper. And I know that there are others who think that the Chesapeake Ripper has already been caught…"

"According to whom?" Hannibal questioned his lips quirking a little bit as he looked at his wife.

"Oh I am sure you know who." Margarita mused with a soft smile.

Hannibal let out a soft laugh knowing exactly who Margarita was talking about. A colleague of his so to speak that worked at the hospital. "We should go to bed." Hannibal said, kissing the top of her head lightly.

"Yes, before Jack finds another reason to call me in."

"Don't go in when he calls."

"He's going to be breathing down my neck Hannibal. I'm part of this case now, even if I don't want to be."

Hannibal let out a breath as he rolled the blankets down allowing Margarita to get into the bed first and then he joined her. He pulled her close to him to allow her to cuddle up to him.

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This is the end of Chapter 23. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. I know I'm finally mentioning the Chesapeake Ripper. Which is fun for me to write since I think we all know it's Hannibal. And of course his wife knows who he is and refuses to give him up which is a good thing. It means that she is very loyal to her husband. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Reviews help me keep going when it comes to writing and keeping my muse up. I will update on Friday as long as I have chapters to post. Until next time.