I don't own anything. The main characters in this fiction belong to Thomas Harris. There is no profit involved here.
Once again, I want to thank those faithful readers who have been following Exchanges from the beginning, and the new ones, who motivate me with their comments. Thanks
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Exchanges XXVI
Barney's Past
Clarice Starling, never one to dwell in fears or phobias, was befuddled by her almost pathological fear of Hannibal getting apprehended or killed, in short, her fear of losing him. The only way she finally managed to curb her fear was her firm commitment to do away with anyone who presented a threat to his safety or his freedom
She was determined to protect their life together with the same zeal she had once protected the law, and thus, became more dangerous than the Doctor, and in her zeal, far more implacable.
Just hours away from marrying a man labeled a monster by his peers; she simply didn't mind his past. In her opinion, the doctor had consistently displayed far more integrity than the Krendlers and the Mason Vergers of this world; in fact, more integrity than most of the higher ups at the Bureau. She reasoned that if any single element from his past would be missing, he would probably be someone other than the man she loved -past and all.
The voice of the seamstress brought her back from her reverie. Using a mixture of Italian, English and sign language, the woman indicated that she should put on the shoes she'd wear during the ceremony, to fit the length of the dress and mark the hem.
Clarice looked at herself in the mirror and instinctively placed the palm of one hand on her middle, as women do to verify the flatness of their belly. She smiled to herself.
The dress was lovely and she mentally congratulated Rachel for the choice. Then briefly checked the length and nodded her approval.
As the seamstress continued to fuss, Clarice's thoughts drifted back to Hannibal.
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With his characteristic strong determination and his iron will, Hannibal Lecter was committed to do whatever it took to make their relationship work. Inscrutable by nature, and never prone to exteriorize his emotions, he made a conscious effort to verbalize his feeling for Clarice.
As a rule, gods and monsters, geniuses, madmen, demons and laymen are all equally vulnerable under the spell of the first love. Dr Hannibal Lecter was not an exception.
Back in their rooms, he opened all the packages from Rachel; not just those brought by Barney, but the box that arrived along with that of the wedding dress, which he had hidden in the adjacent bedroom.
He opened the large box first, and removed a gorgeous formal evening dress by Carolina Herrera, a sleek and elegant white straight halter made of silk satin organza with a subtly swish patterned ice pink silk chiffon overlay. The effect was stunning and would compliment Clarice's blond new look, the palest of pinks accentuating the beautiful tone of her skin. He estimated the whole combination would be light and delicate, almost ethereal.
He hid the dress in his wardrobe until the time was right. Then, proceeded to place the other items in their boxes and wrapped them.
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When Clarice finally made her way back to their room, she found the Doctor sitting in the sofa by the window reading a travel magazine. He stood up as it was his custom when she entered a room; she went to him and put her arms around him, buried her head on his neck and rubbed her face against it like a cat, kissing and nipping his neck and chin at every turn. He circled his arms around her, nudged her head upwards to meet her gaze, and looked deeply into her eyes. The look they exchanged spoke of feelings impossible to verbalize; yet with a choked voice, the Doctor tried to condense it into a simple "I love you, Clarice."
Deeply touched by his effort to break a life long practice of veiling his emotions, Clarice held his face between both her palms and whispered, "I love you, Hannibal. I love you exactly the way you are." Hannibal Lecter closed his eyes briefly, so moved was he by her words; then tried to speak, but she captured his lips with hers, moving her tongue slowly inside his mouth, exploring, probing avidly as if she wanted to dive in the depths of his soul.
"How much time do we have?" she murmured.
"We have forever," answered the Doctor in a hoarse voice, "but for now, less than two hours will have to do."
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While Clarice dried her hair in their bathroom, Dr. Lecter removed the dress from his wardrobe, hung it in Clarice's, and closed the door.
He was already dressed by the time she finished with her hair. He looked gorgeous in black tie; Clarice looked at him approvingly and suddenly remembered Barney.
"Hannibal, surely you don't think that Barney brought formal wear –should he own any. Do you suppose we should dress less formally?"
He grinned in a self-congratulatory manner, and winked, "I took care of that, both his attires for tonight and for tomorrow's ceremony were delivered earlier today."
"I should have known," Clarice declared with an affectionate sigh.
The Doctor hurried downstairs to check on the arrangements, Barney was due to join them in a few minutes, and he wanted to verify that everything was in order, before he allowed himself to enjoy his last dinner as a single man. The thought made him smile.
When he left the kitchen, Barney was already in the terrace, leaning against the railing looking at the ocean.
"Good evening Barney, Did you manage to get some rest?"
"Good evening Doctor," Barney turned to face his host, "I did manage to take a nap, but didn't yet unpack." Then swept a hand up and down to point to his attire, "This is the first time I wear formal, Doctor, very thoughtful of you, thank you."
"You are welcome, Barney, you look very nice." The Doctor said, "Is a good thing that you didn't unpack, I hope you realize that we didn't bring you all the way here just for the wedding. We have rather interesting plans. If you agree, tomorrow, after the ceremony, Sal Maugeri will bring us to Greece by helicopter; where just yesterday I leased a small Villa not far from Sounion, driving distance from Athens. There, Clarice, you and I will be able to relax, resume our chat, and explore ancient culture at our hearts content. I'll do some of the cooking and I'm sure we'll be able to locate some of the classic wines we enjoy. According to my research, my name is mostly forgotten there, which will make for a relaxed vacation."
"Sounds good," Barney said; then unexpectedly he blurted, "happiness suits you Doctor Lecter."
"I have plenty to be happy about." The Doctor said motioning Barney towards the living room.
The arrangements were simple. The Doctor had made sure there were plenty of flowers; on the sideboard there was an elegant arrangement of tiny plates, forks and minute ivory spoons beside an arrangement of minced onion and sieved egg whites and yolks, a few lemon slices and toast points , all clearly waiting for a bowl of Caviar. In addition there was a plate of Goat Cheese and Truffle appetizers, two buckets of ice, one containing a bottle of Champaign and another with two bottles of Chateau dY'quem . The doctor had opened one of the bottles of Y'quem and left it off the ice.
The maid walked in with a bowl of caviar and placed it on the sideboar.
"Thank you, Angelina," the doctor said. Then turned to Barney.
"Barney, would you prefer champaigne or Chateau d Y'quem?
"Frankly doctor, I'd rather follow your advice. What are you having?"
"Take the wine, Barney" Clarice said in greeting.
The two men looked up and visibly held their breath.
"You took our breath away, Clarice," Hannibal Lecter's eyes sparkled when he looked at her, "you look beautiful."
"Starling, I wish that your former bosses could see you now." Barney whispered. " Is inspiring to see how happiness becomes the both of you."
The doctor handed him a glass of wine.
"Doesn't it seem incredible, Barney, the three of us gathered here in this Villa on the Mediterranean; and us getting married in just a few hours?"
"Not really" Barney responded with a wide smile. "You both looked like fairy tale characters from day one. A fairy tale outcome seems like the only suitable alternative."
"Thank You, Barney." Clarice said a little teary eyed. "Did you manage to get some rest?"
"Yes, thanks you, I did took a short nap."
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Clarice and the Doctor sat on a comfortable sofa whereas Barney sat on a huge chair facing them.
The appetizers were sumptuous and the Doctor had made sure the kitchen staff organized themselves so as to give them plenty of time between the appetizers and dinner, which they would eat in the formal dinning room.
After a brief silence Hannibal Lecter asked
"Tell me Barney, did you ever contemplate the possibility of becoming a physician?"
Barney was a little surprised by the question.
"I did Doctor Lecter, that was the long range plan, unfortunately, a week before I turned eighteen, everything changed." His eyes were down and he seemed to be talking to his hands. "I served two years for involuntary manslaughter. That destroyed any chance of becoming a physician. "
"No, it didn't, I checked your records, Barney." Clarice interrupted.
"I checked because I suspected you might have a prior and I wanted to make a deal and wipe your record clean, but there was not need. You were a juvenile; your records were sealed after the trial."
Barney had a disoriented look on his face, as if discovering that one piece of the puzzle had been inadvertently fit in the wrong place, and yet unable to find exactly where that was.
"I served in and adult prison," he said tentatively
"You had a Legal Aid lawyer, not very interested on your case; maybe that worked in your favor because the judge took an interest, he noticed that you had no priors, and had recently graduated high school with outstanding grades; he felt that a high security juvenile institution might do more harm than good. Instead, he sent you to a minimum security adult institution where you'd be relatively safe among the petty thieves and recurrent shoplifters, away from hardened criminal juveniles.
Regardless of where you served, due to your age, you were still a juvenile under the law. Your records were sealed as those of a juvenile. They can't be opened without a court order and the courts seldom grant them."
Barney took it all in and remained quiet for a moment. Then, as if talking to himself, he said "I killed my stepfather. I hit him once and killed him."
"Self defense?" the Doctor asked simply
"No Doctor, you can call it mother defense. The bastard was beating my mother; he had been beating her for years but this one time I walked in on him. Hit him right between the eyes, one single punch. He fell like a sack of potatoes; he was dead. "
"We do what we have to do, Barney, some take it further than others, and yet, there is no cause for regret." Dr. Hannibal Lecter, murder of many, believed that explanations served no purpose, thus, wanted to save Barney the pain of reliving his past for their benefit.
The Doctor had an agenda, however, and he fully intended to carry it through.
"Once Clarice told me the facts that she just mentioned, I took the liberty to make some plans, with the hope that you would follow my suggestion and pursue a medical career.
I have set up a Swiss account for you, a numbered account. There are enough funds there to carry you through, not in luxury, but enough to pay for tuition and living expenses. You'll be fine." He stood up refilled his glass and walked around with the bottle offering to refill Clarice's and Barney's.
"You are offering to put me through medical school. Are you nuts, do you know how expensive that will be?" Barney heard himself and paused, startled by his own faux pas
"That goes without saying, I thought you knew." the Doctor chuckled. "Regardless, I urge you to accept the offer."
"Is too much," Barney murmured, "in all fairness, I don't think I can accept."
Hannibal Lecter leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, extended his hands palms up as if surrendering, and went on. "I could never repay what you did for me...what you did for us. In fact…I'm not even trying."
"Take it Barney" Clarice said softly. "You deserve it."
"It will be frightfully expensive," Barney rambled weakly.
Clarice smiled, "We can well afford it."
There was a short silence before his whole expression changed. "OK, I accept!" a huge smile spread slowly over his face; his entire expression was beaming. "I feel a little guilty, but I accept."
"Good, it's settled them," the Doctor said "now we all have something to celebrate."
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Please, let me know if you like where this is going.
Comments are encouraged. I've been writing this fiction for a long time, and somehow might miss the forest from the three.
