Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 28 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. I am trying my best with trying to make this story as good as I can since it does take me hours to write each part of this story out and make it look good. I've noticed that sometimes it is hard to write chapters out and make them long enough to enjoy. I am trying to make sure that my chapters aren't less than 1000 words. I don't like writing short chapters, but sometimes it can happen. I hope that I don't fail with this next chapter. Without further ado chapter 28. ENJOY!

Chapter 28

Hannibal began to shut the light off in his office looking over at his wife who was grabbing things to take up to their room so it wasn't sitting in the office. He went to open the door that led into the waiting room only to see Jack sitting quietly in the waiting room.

Margarita slowed behind her husband seeing her boss there. Her brows furrowed in concern of wondering why Jack was here at their home and office so late at night.

"Agent Crawford. Do you have an appointment?" Hannibal questioned before ushering Margarita's boss into the office. He turned on a few lights to illuminate his work space to make it more hospitable. "May I take your coat?"

Jack swallowed the lump in his throat looking up at Hannibal. "I'm not staying. I was just…"

"In the neighborhood?"

"Something like that."

Hannibal studied Jack for a moment knowing that there had to be a reason for why he was here. "How's Mrs. Crawford?"

"That's why I'm in the neighborhood. She tells me she's fine. And she'll tell me when she's not."

"You expect me to tell you more."

"Bella's at a NATO summit, so I can't talk to her. And I couldn't talk to her even if she were here."

"About her condition?"

"About her cancer. About her dying. She doesn't want to talk about it."

"I'm prohibited from talking about it. Doctor patient confidentiality." Hannibal pointed out looking at Jack knowing that the man was grasping at straws. He didn't like the idea that his wife was dying and it was doing more harm than good and Hannibal knew it.

"You talk to me about Will Graham."

"Will Graham isn't officially my patient. We have conversations."

"What do you consider this?"

"Desperate coping."

"You don't think I have a right to know what's happening with my wife?"

"You have every right to know what's happening. But not from me."

"I'm not going to stand outside my marriage and watch this happen. If that's what she wants, too bad. She married the wrong guy."

"I'll offer this one insight: she thinks she married the right guy." Hannibal gestured to Jack to sit down. He looked at his wife. "I will meet you upstairs."

Margarita nodded her head before looking at her boss. "Night Jack." She said softly before leaving Hannibal's office to go and head upstairs of their home to check on their daughter and make sure that she was alright and still very much sound asleep.

HANNIBAL

Jack, Margarita, Will were in the morgue. Jack was staring absentmindedly at Nurse Shell's corpse.

Will was studying Jack more than he was studying the body.

Beverly, Brian, and Jimmy were more close over the body in lab coats and rubber gloves.

"Nothing ever came up connecting the Chesapeake Ripper and Dr. Gideon on the Latent Descriptor Index." Jimmy said letting out a breath knowing that this case wasn't an easy thing to work with.

"There's no detectable consistency with the Ripper victims. He doesn't hunt exclusively within his own ethnic group. He's killed all creeds, colors, men and women." Beverly pointed out looking up.

"She has the exact same wound patterns as the last known victim of the Chesapeake Ripper. Exact." Brian said thinking.

"We didn't find a body for his last known victim."

"Then the victim before that."

Will let out a breath shaking his head lightly. "I see the Ripper but I don't... feel the Ripper. He's an artist. This is... plagiarism."

"We never made the wound patterns on any of the Ripper victims public." Jack said, looking over at Will.

"Maybe he is the Ripper, I don't know. But if he is a plagiarist, the real Chesapeake Ripper is going to make sure everybody knows it."

"And knowing the MO of the real Ripper… he won't be none too kind… there will be a chance of more killings than what he would normally do." Margarita said finally voicing her opinion. Her face wasn't showing much emotion knowing deep down inside of her heart knowing that Hannibal wouldn't be pleased to think that someone else was taking credit for the crimes he commited so easily under everyone's noses. There was just no way she would know how he would react other than maybe going on another spree, but knowing that he hadn't killed anyone in two years meant something good at least to her anyways. It meant that he was thinking the way that he should've been.

HANNIBAL

Margarita sat in their bed reading the book that she was reading the night before when Hannibal came in and found out that she had gone to the hospital for the criminally insane. She looked up when she heard the door opening, seeing her husband coming into the room.

"You look like you had a tiring day, Rita."

Margarita let out a soft chuckle. "Yes, but I would say more of a fun day watching everyone stumble around trying to figure out if the Chesapeake Ripper was in the hospital or if he was still running around loose. They were looking at the victim from the hospital and how it looked so much like other killings… But Will is seeming to catch on a bit faster than what I thought he would. He thinks that Gideon isn't the Ripper."

"And you didn't say much of a word."

Margarita let out a soft chuckle shaking her head lightly. "No, and you know I won't Hannibal." She mused softly as her lips quirked into a smile.

"You think I'll kill again?" He mused as he came over to her joining her in bed.

"Not unless provoked."

Hannibal leaned in and kissed her lips softly. "And you would be correct on that."

"But I also know that you'll be careful if you do decide to start killing again." She said looking into his brown eyes.

"And you would support me no matter what."

"Of course I would. I'm your wife and first and foremost partner in this whole thing. They won't ever know that I knew that you're the Chesapeake Ripper nor would they know that I helped you with some of your crimes."

Hannibal hummed softly and kissed the top of her head. "And our daughter will never know."

"Of course not." She said softly, shaking her head lightly. "We must keep our daughter safe and sound."

"And we will." Hannibal said softly kissing the top of her head knowing that his wife was always concerned about such things.

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This is the end of Chapter 28. I know that it might have been a bit choppy towards the end, but I wanted to try and make my chapter as long as I could and get it up over the 1000 mark for words. I don't like writing short chapters when it comes to stories. But sometimes it does happen and I do apologize. I think this is one of my shorter chapters for this story so I do apologize if it is a bit too short. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Reviews actually help me keep going when it comes to writing. I will update on Friday hopefully. Until next time.