The main characters belong to Thomas Harris, I own very little.
Well, we've come to the end of the saga. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read it; I sure had a great time writing it.
When I started, all I wanted was to fill the gap between the end of the movie and the end of the book. I guess I took the scenic route.
Exchanges
The Final Chapter
In the silence that followed the revelation of Mischa's true identity, Clarice felt nauseous and clammy, she looked at Hannibal and was not surprised to see him totally composed; behind his cordial façade, his expression was inscrutable; his eyes veiled, cold and remote. A shudder ran through her.
She wanted to get out of the room, to a place where they could be alone, undisturbed and free from outside complications. She's much rather fight criminals that shadows from his past
"Are you all right, dear? You look pale as a ghost!" Their hostess leaned towards Clarice with visible concern.
Hannibal Lecter reached for her hand, and felt her brow.
"Maybe we should get some rest; this has been quite a remarkable day. Will we have dinner together, Aunt Etna?"
"Yes, and then, if you agree, we can reveal the nature of our family ties to Lucy and Luke.
"Fine with me, but I'd rather we let Mischa's memory be left to rest. We have the more pressing issue of mourning Sal's death."
After a few more formalities, they were in their way back to their rooms.
Hannibal Lecter closed the door to their suite, turned Clarice around, and pinned her against the door. He devoured her with his eyes, while his month, hot and demanding sought hers with greed. The intensity of his passion triggered hers, and she lingered on their kiss before moving her own mouth towards his neck and back over his face. Moaning softly and panting with unabashed lust for him.
He began to rip off her clothes with harried movements, his mouth still exploring her, while he abandoned any semblance of his characteristic self control. He maneuvered both of them away from the door and into the adjacent room until they stood in front of the bed, pawing at each other with unconstrained lust. He lowered Clarice onto the bed and himself on top of her, hot and wild. They tore each other's clothes with uncharacteristic urgency and he lowered his trousers half way down; just enough to manage to penetrated her. She tilted her head backwards panting from the sheer pleasure of feeling him inside her; aroused further by the look on his face, mad with passion. With her eyes semi closed Clarice gasped for air calling his name. She raised her hips to meet his thrust and threw her arms around his waist while she dug her nails on his back in a clumsy, desperate attempt to draw him deeper inside her; both of them fully unrestrained and almost feral while they gave in to the intensity of their need for each other.
Somewhere, in the back of her mind Clarice noticed that for the first time in their lovemaking he entirely let go of his self-control and she found it erotic beyond description.
At one point he shifted them both so they sat facing each other and he could hold her while he fucked her and run his mouth over her as if he wanted to possess every inch of her at once; while Clarice threw her head back moaning "please, Hannibal, please..."
After they both climaxed he continued to hold her tight against his body, holding her thus until their panting subsided. Then he rolled her over until she was on top of him, and continued to hold her against his chest with both arms wrapped around her as if he feared she'd vanish.
They rested like that in silence, until they were able to breathe normally again.
Clarice broke the silence whispering against his neck.
"I love you, Hannibal."
He was quiet for a long while. She knew that eventually he would talk, and waited.
He shifted again, so that they lay beside one another; and ran a hand up and down her body, pausing at the hips and them up again coming to rest on one of her breasts. He propped himself on one elbow,
"Your body is changing, Clarice, is there something you want to tell me?" His smile was mischievous; the love and tenderness in his eyes quite in contrast with the wild lust that veiled them when entered the room.
"Quid pro quo, doctor," she teased, "You go first. So tell me, how do you feel about your aunt's revelations?
The doctor looked at her with undisguised admiration. This woman, who never ceased to surprise him with her courage; who dazzled him with her insight, and her ability to see beyond his disguises and he marveled, again, at fact that he had she won her; that she wanted to share her life with him.
After a few moments he began to talk,
"The incomprehensible horror of the death of my sister, as I envisaged it when I was five years old, somehow disconnected me with the rest of humanity. From then on I saw the world in two factions, them, and me, and believe me I intended to be as merciless to them as they had been to us. From then on I went thought the motions as an observer rather than a full participant. When I actually participated …well, you know the results.
When I met you, somehow I perceived a connection there, as I'm sure you did. As we connected something inside me changed; imperceptible at first but as time went by, while I was haunted by the memories of you, the balance shifted.
Make no mistake, Clarice, the beast is still in me, I am the beast." He chucked, "they say love tames it; and I am living proof. Love nullified it, and the man it concealed stepped forward, transformed by the most powerful of human connections."
He was silent for a few second and she waited, certain that there was more.
"I'm relieved to find that my sister survived, lived a happy life, and was cared for by a man that was loving and devoted. But, at this point it hardly makes a difference, dead is dead." He shrugged, "You are all that matters to me, Clarice. The rest is just noise, echoes from another time, long gone and totally outside the world we are creating, you and me."
She shifted her head imperceptibly to kiss his shoulder.
"You and me and the baby" she whispered, so softly she was not even sure she had voiced it.
Hannibal Lecter took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. She saw his eyes fill with light while he watched her in awe and a peaceful smile spread on his face.
Very slowly, she reached out and touched his face.
Never breaking eye contact, he took her hand and brought it to his lips.
"I was saving it for later, but this is the right time." She was still whispering.
He closed his eyes, pulled her to him, and accommodated her head on his chest. His arms around her, he lowered his head so his lips barely touched he forehead.
"You just said my memory hounded you, Hannibal. Did you per chance mentally replay our conversations at the dungeon over and over and over again?"
"Aha, constantly" his mind was somewhere else. Clarice smiled to herself… "A penny for your thoughts.,"
"I'll have to plan the next steps more thoroughly than ever, Clarice. We want to spend the pregnancy in peaceful, beautiful surroundings; far and away from all traces of the past."
Words failed her, instead she felt a tremendous need to hug him, and literally wrapped herself around him. He freed one of his hands to pull the bed cover over them. They snuggled up and fell asleep.
That night while having cocktails before dinner, Aunt Etna asked her son, Lucy and Luke to follow her into the library and there she recounted how it was not until that very morning that Luke, pressed to secure sanctuary for Hannibal and Clarice, finally revealed to both she and Marco the true identity of his parent's house guests.
She went on to explain that Sal had kept his meetings with the doctor absolutely secret and while she had revealed to Marco the identity of his long lost cousin, neither had any idea that the Maugeris had kept in touch with him after his escape.
"Now," she said with evident relief, " after more than half a century, we are finally reunited, and I can relax."
There is one thing, however that I would like to see before I die".
Everyone in the room knew she was referring to a resolution of the relationship between Lucy and Marco.
At first nobody made a sound and it seemed as if the comment would just blow over, then Lucy gasped and left the library in tears.
Both Luke and Marco got up to follow her, but Calvacanti signaled his son, and Luke sat back, while his father went after Lucy.
The two joined the rest of the family about 20 minutes later; by their body language it was clear that they were at ease with one another.
During the weeks that followed the burial of the scarce remains of Sal Maugeri; both Hannibal and Clarice made it a point of to spend quality time with both Barney and Signora Calvacanti. They also took long walks by themselves and talked about art and discussed poetry. They practiced Clarice's rusty French and Hannibal began to teach her Spanish.
At some point, Aunt Etna explained to Hannibal that his mother's inheritance never left Italy and had been earning dividends and collecting interest for the past 60 years. She informed that an extraordinarily large fortune was available for him to claim.
The Doctor said that he already had plenty of funds, but would think of a way to put his mother's fortune to good use and in just a few days will let his aunt and cousin know how to proceed.
Barney had worried about his job, but the doctor and Calvacanti both convinced him to accept the doctor's offer. Barney applied to several medical schools and waited
After two and a half month Calvacanti announced that it was certain that the elements that threatened their safety had been successfully eliminated.
During the preceding weeks, both Lucy Maugeri and Mario Calvacanti seemed to become "reacquainted" and it was not unusual to see them strolling together on the vast promenade overlooking the ocean, talking and sometimes laughing. Once, from a distance, Hannibal and Clarice saw them actually holding hand, and they both chuckled in a conspiratory manner.
Barney was accepted to two medical schools and made his choice after careful deliberation with the Doctor.
Before Barney's departure, he and the doctor had a private talk.
"Clarice and I are expecting a child, Barney…"
"Great news, Doctor, Congratulations. I can't wait to see the baby." Barney interrupted, genuinely happy.
"You understand my first priority is the safety of my family. During this two month, I developed a plan that seems fair and will give us a chance to create a peaceful, secure setting to raise our children, in some faraway place. In other words, we want to disappear.
Before we do, I want us to make a pact, Barney. I would like for us to meet in Paris, every three years, other than that, if out path should cross elsewhere, we would both act as if we never seen each other before.
We can plan the meetings starting with an ad in the paper as we did in the past and take it from there.
I've transferred to you the title of a tiny apartment that I own in Paris, on the Left Bank, where I lived as a young medical student and purchased years later on a whim. Clarice and I have a larger one, that I intent to keep. I had planned for the apartment to be my gift to you for standing as my best man, so you can't turn it down."
"As usual, Doctor, I feel a little uncomfortable by the offer, but I accept. I don't have to tell you how much I enjoy your company; and I do hope we get to meet in Paris as planned.
Until then, if you think it's safe, I would like it if you sent me a picture of the baby, sometime."
A week before their departure Lucy and Marco announced that they would get married in a private ceremony in the Chapel at the Villa.
Lucy asked if Hannibal and Clarice would like take the opportunity to exchange vows again, being that their wedding ceremony had been blotched.
To Hannibal's surprise, Clarice responded was immediate and quite decisive "Thanks, Lucy, but that wont be necessary, we already exchanged vows once are as married as married could be."
The day after the ceremony, Hannibal and Clarice left for their undisclosed destination.
The following Christmas, Barney found an anonymous Christmas card in his mail box at the school, the postage was from Las Vegas but he was certain that was the site of the delivery service. The envelope contained just the picture of two tiny babies, a boy, and girl, obviously fraternal twins. The boy had no hair and the fair freckled skin characteristic of redheads, the little girl had abundant black hair and dark piercing eyes. The message was short
"Your buddy can't wait for you to meet the babies.
We are very happy
Merry Christmas"
Epilogue
Hannibal Lecter rested his opera glasses on the ledge of their box beside the stage. He then leaned over and whispered.
"I just saw Barney sitting in the rafters,"
"Ah…Barney…where?" Clarice sounded disconcerted
He said a few words, pointed with his chin, and handed her his own opera glasses.
"Barney," she confirmed softly, handed back the glasses and held his hand. "I don't think there is reason to worry."
"No," Lecter said softly, "but he might be concerned." He chuckled
"I'm sure he is," Clarice laughed quietly. "Once he thinks it over he'll realize is all reight, as long as everyone sticks to the deal." She paused and added wisely, "I can imagine how much you hate to lose any opportunity to show off the children. But a deal is a deal. Let it be."
He nodded, squeezed her hand, and brought it to his lips.
Hannibal Lecter was no longer surprised by the way his wife anticipated some of his thoughts.
"Besides," she chucked "if you seek him out now, he'd probably have a heart attack."
They both laughed. Their happiness evident in their every move.
FIN
