The characters belong to Mr. Harris. However, they seem to be doing pretty good on their own.

This chapter is very long, I thought I could make two chapter out of it, but then changed my mind, and decided to give you the whole thing as is, otherwise I might never get the nerve to upload it.

Anyway, I can't thank you enough for the enthusiastic response. Special thanks to Marcus Aurelius, Ducki, Elbereth, Kurt, Guber, C, Jane Moss, Morbid, Holly Greenfeld, Rivan Knight, Shifter, Christine, Claire Starling, and all the other who took the time to read it.

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Exchanges XV

The Question

They arrived back to the apartment at about 5 o'clock. Clarice was exhausted and happy. And needed a long bath to relax.

"How much time do I have?'.

"All the time in the world," he chuckled, "If I may, I'd like to have two hours to prepare the festivities, is that acceptable?"

"Is more than acceptable, that would give me time for a long soothing bath and to make myself presentable." She kissed him softly and left for the master bathroom; taking her shopping bags with her.

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Two hours is not a long time to organize a formal dinner, even if only for two, but Hannibal, always very organized, had already prepped some of the ingredients before breakfast.

He had all he needed to set up a spectacular table and the flowers would be delivered any minute.

He set his pans on a server beside the table. Prepared the Crème Brule they'd have for desert and placed the ramekins in the oven in a bain-marie. Set the timer. Made the salad of greens, cored, peeled and sliced the apples and set them aside. Then assembled the bouchees; removed the butter from the fridge and also took out the Foie Gras to remove the chill; curled a few butter balls and piled them in a butter dish .

He was set. It took all of forty five minutes.

He them made a call to one of his bankers in Switzerland and arranged the reassignment of what he considered a conservatively modest amount of money and set a numbered code for the new account. By then the florist delivered the flowers which he arranged in the dinning room and just about all around the living room. While Clarice was taking her bath, he removed the clothes he was going to wear from the room they shared and took them to the guest room, he used the guest bathroom for his shower.

Dr. Lecter was particularly meticulous about his attire for the evening.

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Clarice didn't generally fuzz with her hair. But this evening she wanted to look different, more alluring, wilder, such as it was. She didn't pull her hair back or otherwise restrained it, but let it fall lose, like cascades of gold, framing her face and enhancing the milky creamy of her skin.

The dress was a bias cut halter on pale sage green crepe satin by Pucci, that fell on her like water. She looked at herself approvingly in the mirror. "I think he will like" she said to herself.

She could hear him playing his clavichord and walked towards the music.

Hannibal Lecter was playing with his eyes closed. His handsome face peaceful and relaxed. He was wearing a formal dark suit, white shirt and a blue tie with green paisley motive. Several tasteful flower arrangements were artfully distributed around the room. Clarice leaned against the archway that gave entrance to the living room and enjoyed the music and the scene of him playing, silhouetted in front of the windows against the lights that illuminated the Cathedral of Notre Dame . The whole room seemed to have acquired a dreamy quality to it that captivated her

Hannibal smelled her the moment she approached the room, but chose to keep his eyes closed for a few minutes anticipating the impact of seeing her there. When he opened them, she stunned him with her looks; he took a deep breath and got up slowly, his eyes intent on her face; he approached her murmuring "Beautiful, Clarice, you look beautiful!"

She whispered a quiet "thank you" and nuzzled against his neck.

He took her left hand, guided her to the couch, and with a gesture, invited her to seat. Still holding her hand, he sat next to her, his eyes locked on hers. Clarice sensed something changed in his behavior and knew, with that gut feeling one gets when about to be faced with the unexpected, that something was happening that will affect them both forever.

Hannibal removed something from his jacket pocket and still holding her hand, his eyes never leaving hers, he whispered, "Would you consider the prospect of becoming my wife?" then, his voice strangled, "please, marry me, Clarice." He paused, while Clarice placed her free hand against his cheek and choked with tears, managed to say "yes, oh yes Hannibal, yes, I will marry your."

Dr. Lecter slipped the ring in her finger and they kissed for a long time. At times such as this one, all beings may be equally overcome by emotion, regardless whether they are monstrous, virtuous or Godly

Clarice looked at her hand and gasped "Hannibal, the ring is beautiful!". She leaned over and kissed him, a long, tender, loving and yet passionate kiss. "thank you."

He opened a bottle of 1971 Don Perignon and they tossed to their life together. With the Champagne, he served a Black Truffle and Spinach bouchee for appetizer.

Then on his 35,000 BTU portable professional style burner he caramelized the apple slices tableside, removed from the pan and set on warmed plates, then seared the Foie Gras and removed to the plates with the apple. Deglazed the pan with wine and shallots, poured the sauce on the foie gras and toppled with truffle shaving. Served it with a green salad. Offerings of slices of fresh baguette and the curled butter balls were available.

Halfway thru the meal, Hannibal asked "Do you remember the name Salvatore Maugeri?"

"The name rings a bell; is he the Italian businessman whose son was kidnapped and then died in Maryland-Misericordia " she slowed down at this point "after he was rescued by some unidentified sources?"

"He didn't die, Clarice, I signed a dead certificate and released a live body to his parents. They wanted to make it appear as if he was dead because they feared for his life. The boy could have identified the kidnappers. They were likely to go after him again.

"You did that?" she couldn't hide her surprise "that was…amazing."

"I wonder how many such wonderful things you did, that nobody knows about" she trailed off.

"It seemed like the right thing to do, however illegal," he continued, shrugging, " as you know legality is unimportant to me when confronted when harsh realities such as that one. The boy had been brutally tortured, he was at the brink of death, his parents feared that if anyone knew he survived they will kidnap him again" he paused for a few seconds and then went on. "Luckily, I was able to offer an opportunity for a new start, a reprieve so to speak. The boy bounced back, physically, anyway."

"How about emotionally?" asked Clarice.

"I don't know first hand, I never had an opportunity to treat him. His parents, wisely, smuggled him out of the country and into a private island they own off the northern coast of Sicily. The boy is now married and lives there with his wife and two children. He never leaves the island, they have a hand picked staff, mostly natives of their island, whose families lived there for generations and never leave. Some left to be trained in skills such as nursing, or culinary arts, then came back to the island where they are employed by the Maugeri family" He paused.

"Anyway, the parents were most grateful." He went on explaining

"I got in touch with the father a few times while in Florence, they are very nice people. We met a couple of times during the last few years." He paused a few seconds. Clarice watched him intently.

"I thought that , if I was lucky, and you agreed to marry me, you might want to have a real Christian wedding in Italy, in their island. Using both our real names and our acquired ones. Salvatore, with his influence, his underworld connections and his own planes and helicopters, will be able to provide us with plenty of safety from any authorities. We'd be legally wed under God and walk out with two marriage certificates. We'll have privacy, and a small, but very real wedding."

"They have a small Church in their island, a real Catholic Church with a real Catholic priest. I know you are a Protestant and can't offer you a Protestant wedding, and I assure you I'm not trying to impose Catholic beliefs on you. This days, the Christian religions recognize each other practices" he trailed off.

She was dumbfounded, totally speechless, looking at him intently with her mouth slightly open as if watching an apparition of sorts.

He waited…. his own almost supernatural stillness, internally a little offset .

She remained astounded.

Finally, he asked

"So, what do you say, Clarice?. You want to do it?…" he was smiling at her with all the charm and serenity he could muster –which was plenty

She sighed , shaking her head in disbelief "Of course I want to do it," she answered, "I'm just amazed at your planning. I might spend my life forever in awe at your resourcefulness."

She leaned back on her chair, took a sip of wine and reflected aloud, "we are having a real wedding"….

Then, like waking from a dream

"Do I get to wear a real wedding gown?" she asked, beaming.

He loved it, he loved to see her happy, radiant, like a little girl on Christmas morning, totally out of character, and definitely far removed from the woman so bitterly disillusioned by the FBI. Hannibal Lecter promised himself to make Christmas mornings happen often, just to watch her glee.

"Naturally, a real, designer wedding gown."

She giggled, "Sorry buddy, but you don't get to see this one until I walk in the church…I'm not going to risk any bad luck here"…she was bubbly now.

"Nope, I don't get to see it before hand, I'm just the guy who gets to take it off you after the whole celebration is over. Yeah…." He gave he a mock meaningful look, rubbed his hands, raised one eyebrow and winked .

She burst in laughter and he joined.

After a pause, "What about Barney? He expects to visit as soon. He is making arrangements." she was concerned, remembering their previous plans.

"Ah, Barney"…said Hannibal, visibly smug with his cunning "do you think he'd agree to be my best man?"

Her eyes got moist again, and she nodded mutely before she managed to say. "Oh yes, Hannibal, he will. In fact, I suspect he'll cry when you ask him."

Clarice was full of thoughts and questions.

"We have to get the rings?"

I have a special one for you, but we nee to buy a pair of matching ones as well, and we can pick those tomorrow at Cartier. They will all be blessed during the ceremony.

She was pensive. A memory from the old days at the dungeon, nudging her. The façade fell on sixty-five grandmothers at a special Mass. Was that evil? If so, who did it? If He's up there, He just loves it.

"Do you believe in God, Hannibal?" She didn't remember asking him this before

"Oh yes, I was brought up strict Catholic. I believed strongly, and hence my rage as a result of His whimsical punishment of the righteous. His abandonment of the virtuous as if he found purity an aberration that confronts him, his ironically indiscriminate killing of the innocent. I was full of rage against God ."

"So, what now?" she asked noticing he implied a change

"He sent you to me after all, didn't he?" he reflected "he is allowing us this happiness. We have this moment, we are here together and love each other, here and now and with his blessing for as long as we live. If the roof fell on us this minute, the fact remains that we found , love and enjoy each other and are as one." He went on

"So, I'm grateful, and that changes me. I don't know yet to what extent, but it changes my relationship with God. It smothers the rage. It gives me some degree of acceptance, it reaffirms my conviction that if I did something that I honestly believed was justified, then I'd be safe in the eyes of God."

He smiled " In addition, self protection is always justified. Is in the Bible" **

She pondered on his statements.

"I love you," she said simply

They ate quietly for a while, then she declared, a little troubled

"I have no one to give me away. Actually, I never did."

"Yes you do, Clarice. You always did, and, in fact if anybody is going to give you away, to me, only one person will do"

She gave him an odd look, "Who is that?"

Hannibal came around the table, helped to her feet, put his arms around her and boring his eyes into hers, announced slowly , meaningfully, … "yourself, Clarice" and kissed her as if he had never kissed her before and the world would come to and end if he stopped.

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** Timothy 5:8 But if anyone does not provide [protection] for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

I know is ultra mushy, but I'm a hopeless romantic.

Please let me know what you think. I know is a looooooooong chapter, but, somehow I didn't want to truncate it. There are some surprises in the next one.

Clariz