The known characters belong to Thomas Harris, no copyright infringement is intended. I don't make any profit from these fictions, but sure have a lot of fun writing them.

I want to thank those of you read the first chapter; more so to the folks who took the time to comment.
In this chapter Clarice meets the still unborn Adam, and prepares for the homecoming. The doctor will show up in one of the next chapters and stay on active for the duration of the fiction. Don't be too surprised if Chapter 3 shows up sooner than expected.

Chapter 2
Meet Adam

After their short conversation, Tunberry suggested that Clarice wait in her old office at Behavioral Science, while he, Noonan and Pearsall finished conferencing. Forty five minutes later, she was summoned to Clint Pearsall's office. It was 11:30 in the morning.

"Hey, Starling, we both have a busy day ahead." The troubled look in his eyes detracted from his cheerful tone. "I made a list here; if we go through it together, we'll probably get most of it done today."
He handed her an envelope.
"Here is the information on the accounts we set up for you as agreed. There are instruction, phone numbers and two passwords. Don't forget to call when you get home to verify that the funds are there; then change the passwords. After that you'll be the only one who can access either account.
The money cannot be traced; of this I'm certain, because I set up the original accounts. However, if I were you, I'd avoid transferring large amounts into any of your known accounts. Instead, open a new, offshore account, once you do, transfer small amounts first, to avert attention.
Clarice nodded and put the envelope in her bag. Then, he suggested that they take a ride to the Lab, in Virginia, where the cloning project was in progress.

"I suggest you ask the folks there for a list instructions, we already know what formula they recommend they want you feed him, and several cases of different "Ready to feed" were delivered to the house in Virginia," he double checked checked his list, "you have 12 cases of 4oz bottles ready to feed, and 12 cases of one quart cans "already mixed", in case that after the first few days you prefer to use a disposable system with the plastic shells.

Clarice gave him a curious look "I didn't know it came in so many varieties." She declared, concerned by her lack of child care experience.
"Don't worry, you'll catch up fast. We can check their recommendations against my list here, and if any items are not already in the house, we can buy them on the way back; then we can swing by the rented property, and you can examine the nursery to verify that you have everything you need." He smiled encouraging. "Once you have the baby with you, a trip around the block becomes a project." he explained in a confidential manner that surprised her.

"Have you seen him yet, Mr Pearsall?" she tried not to sound overly interested but was curious about how much these people knew about the baby, on a fist hand basis.

"No, Starling," he chuckled bitterly, "I found the true nature of this fiasco shortly before you did, and don't know much more than you do. Frankly, I'd just as well keep it that way. Originally, when the money was transferred over from Treasure, I was told to set up a variety of bank accounts, and smoke screen them. Which I did, but was not informed the details of the project."
Clarice was surprised by the directness of the explanation and at the bitterness on his tone; she never heard him express a personal opinion before, much less a bitter one.
She turned to him, smiled and got in the car; then, with her usual persistence, she asked,

"Do you know if either Mr. Noonan or Director Tunberry came to see him? Or if anybody from the bureau has, for that matter?
"As far an Tunberry or Noonan going there to visit, I deem it very unlikely at best. This morning, when I asked how many people actually knew the true nature of the project. I was told that the information was dispensed in a need to know basis; and very few knew the full details.
I know that some technicians from the Bureau were assigned to the project, but most came on board while it was underway, and nobody there knows the identity of the donor of the DNA and tissue utilized in the project; not even the doctors who started it.
In fact, I'd be willing to bet that the technicians that are there presently don't even know that it is a cloning experiment. For all they know, the fetus was removed from the mother's body early in the pregnancy as part of an artificial womb experiment, or something such."

"So, to their knowledge, he could be anybodies child?" the thought simultaneously reassured her and dismayed her.
"Heck, Starling, they might even think you are the real mother, or the donor, or something.... being that you are the one who's taking him home."
His tone turned unmistakable bitter.
"Somehow, I think this was the fall-back plan that they had in place from the start. If things go wrong, we fall back on Starling." He raised his voice slightly, "I want you to know right now, that I didn''t participate in the planning. That I would have opposed this project with all I've got."

"He's beginning to see the light," she though sarcastically, then nodded to acknowledge his statement.
"Regarding the people at the lab, Mr. Pearsall, do you suppose they have been sworn to secrecy, or there is a chance that they'll call the Tattler as soon as I walk out the door?"

"I have no doubt that they have all been sworn to secrecy and, perhaps had to sign confidentiality agreements before they were even allowed in the program. I wouldn't worry about that." His tone still carried a bitter undertone

"Well, someone leaked enough information to resulted in the termination of the program." Clarice commented.

"You have a point there, Starling, and when it comes to the details of that leak, your guess is as good as mine."

Clint Pearsall paused for a few minutes as if mulling over his thoughts.
"I'm a family man, Starling. I don't know if you are aware, but I have three children of my own and I would be devastated if anything happened to any of them." He briefly took his eyes off the road to glance at her.
"If I was you, I'd take that baby, move as far from here as possible, and never look back. Move abroad, somewhere where neither of you can be traced, and make a new life there."

She nodded in agreement. "Point taken, Mr. Pearsall, I have been planning along those lines."
Pearsall continued as if on a roll. He almost appeared as someone who had been forces to chose sides and his choice was Clarice's.
"I might go as far as to say that at this point, nobody at the bureau wants to consider the possibility that Lecter survived that dreadful night at the Chesapeake. However, if a few years down the road the boy becomes unruly, you might want to find if Lecter survived; and if he did, see if he wants to help you straighten up the kid. I'm certain that nobody in the Bureau would care one way or the other, as long as nobody can trace the boy back to them." He smiled "if you ever repeat what I just told you I'll deny I ever said it!

"Understood," Starling said, and smiled. Suddenly things were getting too comfortable. And too much comfort felt uncomfortable in her circle.

Upon arrival to the facility they were escorted to the basement, to a foyer of sorts, furnished with a few chairs and a table with magazines, a water cooler and a Coke machine.
"You go in, Starling, I'll wait for you here." He loosened his tie and unbuttoned the collar of his shirt. "Like I said, the least I knew about this matter, the better off I'll be."

He accompanied her to a doorway and pressed a button, not unlike that to summon an elevator, then turned around and walked toward the Coke machine.

A light above the door blinked and a door opened. A small, chubby woman in a white lab coat greeted her with an outstretched hand.
"I'm Janice Duncan, I sort of run what's left of the Lab here. Please come in. I take it you are Clarice Starling, right?
Clarice nodded quietly, while almost imperceptibly, glanced at the name plate pinned to the woman's lab coat, it read Dr. J. Duncan, MD. She shook the woman's hand , "please call me Clarice."

"This way, please, Clarice. All the women here are a bit in love with the little fellow, they hate to see him go."
"Everyone knew I was coming?" Clarice was startled.
"Well, we didn't know about this visit until this morning. And only one other person here knows of your identity." She made a pause and tuned to looks at another woman who was entering the room.
The woman nodded at Dr Duncan and walked straight to Clarice with an outstretched hand and a warm expression on her face.
"Starling, is great to see you again, I don't know if you remember me..." Clarice reached for the woman's hand, recognizing her immediately, she even remembered her name, otherwise clearly displayed on the woman's name tag: Dr. A. Benning, PhD.

"A. Benning," Clarice said warmly, "nice to see you here." then turned to Duncan. "We know each other professionally." She muttered; and felt silly as soon as the words left her mouth.
Benning looked at Duncan who gestured for her to proceed.
"Let me show you to the incubator. I bet you can't wait to see him."
"In more ways than one" Clarice thought to herself

"He is adorable, Starling, wait till you see him. It'll be love at first sight" The woman's enthusiasm was contagious and it helped lift her sense of dread.

The incubator, or artificial womb was in the center of the room, supported by a hinged bracket.
It consisted, basically, of large jar with a cover the same diameter as the jar. One of the sides of the Jar was flat, as if originally it might had laid on the flat side; the rest was rounded.
Innumerable tubes were inserted through the cover, one apparently an artificial umbilical cord, attached on one end to the baby's navel and the other to several bottles standing beside the Incubator. Several thermometers and a variety of other elements were all attached through the cover by self sealing plugs.
Inside the amniotic fluid floated a small, full term baby, with abundant black hair and beautiful, soft features. He looked very peaceful and almost angelic. As most infants he kept his hands at eye level; the middle finger of his tiny left hand was perfectly replicated in the rarest form of polydactyly.
The entire scene tugged at her heart. Clarice Starling felt a shiver run through her as she realized she was in presence of a yet unborn Hannibal Lecter.
"This is madness," she thought.

Janice Duncan smiled and commented,
"He is beautiful, isn't he?" Then proceeded to explain further
"Is dark inside the jar, you know? We can see him from the outside, but on his side is dark as in a real womb."
Clarice Starling was silent for a moment, while she allowed herself to really look at the baby. Then quietly she turned to Duncan and smiled softly.
"He is beautiful, he looks so peaceful...like a doll" there was genuine wonder in her voice. "When will he be born?"
Benning hurried to answer,
"The day after tomorrow, early afternoon; you will be here for the birth, right?"

"You can bet on that, A. Benning. I don't want him to be out of my sight for one second after he leaves that bottle. Not for ONE second!" Clarice was rather emphatic, and the two doctors smiled with understanding.
"I don't blame you." Duncan said.
"Has anyone been able to touch him or physically reach him while he was in the incubator?" Clarice knew that her question sounded odd, even to her own ears, but she was privately afraid that they would insert a surveillance device under the baby skin or under his scalp or something to keep track of their whereabouts.
"Do you plan to bring him to me, Clarice? Said the voice that resided in her head from the start, "Could we, do you think, become the happy family we both ached for all our lives, Clarice?"
"Shut up!" She responded mentally, mildly annoyed by the intrusion, and tried to concentrate on the answer to her question.
"After he was set in there," A. Benning explained, pointing at the in artificial womb, "nobody could reach inside manually, it would disturb the PH inside levels inside the womb, and that could be lethal. In fact it was one of the factors that made the whole project so susceptible to failure."
She smiled triumphantly, pointing toward the baby, "yet...there he is, in all his glory, ready to come out and take on the world!"

"Take on the world, indeed! How well put, don't you think, Clarice" she decided to ignore his persistent meddling.

"I will be taking him home the day after tomorrow, then" it was both a question and a statement.
This time Duncan responded,
"We were informed that you are rather in a hurry to take him with you, and frankly I don't blame you. So, while we would prefer to keep him here for observation, the consensus is that you can take him after the examination and approval of the pediatrician."

"I want to be present during the examination. Once he is born, I don't want him out of my sight for one second." She was firm and sounded a little anxious.

"That will be arranged, Starling." Benning placed a hand on Clarice forearm as if to reassure her.
"In fact," she said, "it sounds like a good idea, this way you can ask all the questions that come to mind."
"The doctors are certain that he is a perfectly healthy baby as far as they can ascertain" Duncan explained, "But he has not yet been in contact with the "outside world." He still has to be born." she smiled again at Clarice, and handed her a piece of paper.

"I have made a list for you of the immediate items he'll need, such the formula he should be fed, and diapers and a few instructions for a head start. Also you'll find that a computer is an indispensable tool when you are stranded at home with a newborn, you can shop on line for groceries, formula, diapers, and most of the basics, and stores like BabiesR'us will deliver to your doorstep in a heartbeat."
"Oh," she added, as a second thought. "We need to know what you want to name him. The birth certificate will be ready when you take him home." She chucked. "Someone has pushed certain buttons with the department of records."
"I though the time of birth had to be recorded at birth" said Clarice, immediately regretting her big moth.
The other woman chuckled. "Yes, I guess for horoscope purposes it will be a little muddled, but this is not an ordinary birth, nor is he an ordinary baby."

She extended her hands as if to indicate that the matter was out of her hands. "The powers that be want you walk out of here with a birth certificate."
"Adam, his name is Adam." Starling said without hesitation, "the first man...made by God."
"No middle name?" Benning piped in; and Clarice responded only with a weak, if warm smile, as if to say it was enough that she come up with a name on the fly. Thought she had been tossing names since she left Tunberry's office.
Janice Duncan smiled, "never mind, I believe you have three month to modify the birth certificate, should you want to."
It was a done deal, Starling smiled back at the women to reassure them –and herself, that everything was fine.
Then she walked around the artificial womb, checking out the setup.
"What is this?" she said pointing at rather large, black rubber suction cups attached to opposite sides of the Incubator.
"They are speakers; one imitates the sound of the mother's heartbeat. The others are optional but we believe they are must." Duncan said, giving Benning a conspiratorial look "through them we can play music and voices, we recorded several children stories for him so he grows accustomed to the human voice, as he would inside his mother's womb."

Clarice felt her eyes moisten and the three women looked in different directions as if ashamed of their motherly feelings for the infant.
"He is a quiet baby," commented Duncan, as in restrospect. "we analyzed the amniotic fluid endless times and he's perfectly normal. So we concluded that he possess great calm, still qualities. Even for an fetus he is oddly composed."
"He loves music," added A Benning, "specially Barroque, when we play it for him, he uncurls off the fetal position and just floats there like an angel."

Clarice smiled, rather mysteriously and commented "Somehow, I'm nor surprised."
She thanked the woman and went on asking questions about the many unfamiliar items in the room.

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Please comment. If I made any errors, or mispelled something tell me and I'll give the spellchecker a couple of lashes.