All the characters you recognize belong to TH. No profit is intended. But I'm having a lot of fun...which is indeed, priceless.

I want to thank again, those of you who took the time to read this chapters, specially the ones commented.
Please let me know if you think the chapters are too long, maybe I can split them and make two chapters out of one long one. Anyway here we go.

Chapter 5
Going Home

After it was apparent that the little rented house had not yet been set for surveillance, Clarice gave it a full inspection, moving things around to suit her needs.
She wanted the baby to sleep in her room during the first weeks or even months, so she brought the bassinet to the master bedroom and set it up beside the side of the bed she tended to favor.
Thus done, she unpacked some of the items she had purchased the day before and began to set them up.
She had picked up some toys that she though would serve a dual purpose. They all consisted of a variety of shapes made of baby safe mirrors framed with soft cushioned fabric of colorful patterns. Clarice distributed the mirrored hanging and stationary toys everywhere around the room, hence giving herself the chance to see the doorway while she had her back to it.

In addition to the dangling mirrors, the mobile that she attached to the bassinet had a canopy shaped like a carousel with mirrored roof that allowed her ample view of the opposite side of the room. She had purchased three such mobiles in different colors, and attached another to changing table as well.

Then she moved a portable crib to the family room adjacent to the kitchen and attached the third mobile to it. Once she had moved thing around and took care of other safety oriented touches, she surveyed the entire arrangement and felt satisfied with the result.

After lengthy introspection and soul searching, she came to the conclusion that if luck had it that the Doctor would, once again, come half way around the world for her, she was going to make sure to protect him against any possible risk of capture.
She concluded that in the event that he should pay her an unexpected visit, it was essential to prevent him from speaking a single word inside her house, to avoid the chance of his voice registering in any of the surveillance devices that she was still certain that the Bureau managed to plant around her.

Thus, with a plan well in place anticipating for a much hoped for possible "visit", she decided go to her office, pack the stuff she wanted to take with her, sign her resignation and return her weapons, ID, helmet and vests, her encryption cell phone and shotgun, and conveniently forget to turn over the CPM-700 surveillance sweeper, which had been in her car for so long that she suspected nobody remembered that she had it; after some deliberation she decided to keep the silencer for her gun as well, because it fitted one of her newly purchased weapon and she figured she might need it.
Starling was happy that she thought of buying herself two guns the day before and wondered if it would be a good idea to buy a Harpy, following the Doctors example to have an effective, undetected weapon safely hidden in a pocket at all times.
She made mental note to stop by the Springfield Mall on her way back and get one in Chesapeake Knife & Tool.

Thus, Starling went to her office for the last time; there she packed everything Lecter that she could take without breaking the law, not because of its finatial value, but because, she plainly wanted to take everything that reminded her of him.
"You'll have plenty to remind you of him, you fool" she thought "Tomorrow you'll have him in baby form, and probably for as long as you live –which might not be long for all you know."
Still that was not enough, she wanted them to have as little of the Doctor as possible. With that thought in mind, Clarice shredded all of the information she had compiled that might lead them to him. Only when she was certain to have covered all traces of her most revealing leads did she leave her office, took her possessions and closed the door behind her for the last time.

After placing the boxes in the car, she went to Mr Noonan's office and in just five minutes severed her ties with the institution that meant everything to her for almost a decade.

On her way home she was tempted to buy a bottle of Jack Daniels but refrained, instead, she treated herself to a new light robe, in anticipations for the night feedings, and another baby book "What to expect in the first Year". Once in the car, she wondered as to the usefulness of such a book, being that she expected that the baby version of Hannibal Lecter would be characteristically atypical, even on the first year. The thought made her smile.

Doctor Lecter arrived back to his new home just in time for the six O'clock news. He poured himself a glass of wine, turned on the small TV that he kept in the kitchen and began to prepare his dinner. The announcement of Starling's resignation was part of the local news, a brief blurb stating that Special Agent Clarice Starling, who had her 15 minutes of fame twice in association with the infamous Dr. Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter, had resigned from the Bureau for personal reasons and planned to retire to private life.

"Definitely Plan B" he declared aloud. Then congratulated himself for his perception and made a mental note to call Margot after his meal.
He planned to be up bright and early the next morning and further follow Clarice.

The conversation with Margot was short and to the point.
"Hello Margot. I hope you are doing well"

"Is good to hear you too, when did you arrive?" Margot was not prone to small talk.

"Yesterday and I have accomplished much. Plan B is definitely in effect and consists of what I suspected. Have you heard anything regarding the safety of both parties involved?"

"Not a word. But I suspect they won't be safe past the first week, and that they will be under some kind of surveillance."
The Doctor enjoyed her succinctness, and silently waited for her to continue

"I'm curious about the money. The Project was granted 2 billion, based on the claim by Tunberry that this was the research program that would revolutionize the field of criminal profiling. Apparently he never mentioned the real activities of the research. I wonder how much did they actually gave your friend to save their collective asses and how do they plan to recover it after they kill her and the baby?"

"There is not going to be any killing, Margot" he declared firmly, "…well none as they planned anyway." he added chuckling, in as an afterthought.

On the last night she spent in the townhouse that had been her home for the last 10 years, Clarice Starling had difficulty sleeping,

Her mind was on overdrive, reviewing her last peripatetic meeting with the Doctor, and promising herself for the millionth time that if he did show up again, she would just give in to her feelings for him and let him led them to safety.

"How odd," she reflected, "to think of Hannibal Lecter as a source of safety."

She worried about the upcoming birth, and wished it was all over and she had the infant safely home, thus finally able to start a new life.

For the hundredth time, Clarice reviewed the preparations she had made for the baby's homecoming. And finally fell asleep, exhausted, just three hours before she was due to get up.

At 7AM, at the first ring of the alarm, she jumped out of bed, and after a quick shower, towel dried her hair and carefully checked the list of the things she wanted to bring with her. The baby's outfit, her newly acquired guns and Harpy, and a bag she had packed with bare necessities, her laptop and the stroller and car seat. She was confident that the rest of her meager possessions would be delivered the next day by the movers.

She had spent some time the night before carefully reading the instructions to assemble the stroller and the matting of the baby/car seat, which was part of the stroller as well, then she practiced the process of folding and unfolding it, as well as locking the car/infant seat on to the stroller and releasing it, then learned that the same procedure applied to attach it to the car base already installed in the mustang. It took her two trips to get everything in her car.

By 9:30 AM she was on her way.

At the distance, Dr Hannibal Lecter followed.

Once in the lab, Clarice was assaulted by all kinds of fears. This was the first time in 9 years that she was fully independent from the Bureau, and with the sense of liberation came also a sense of dread. She was not even certain she knew how to act as a civilian or even to think like one.

Duncan and A. Benning were there to receive her. They brought her to a sort of break room, where they introduced the few remaining scientist involved in the project. They all greeted her warmly and commented how the entire project was going to be dismantled immediately after the birth and they had all been ordered to forget that it had ever existed.

"You and the baby are the only remaining evidence" said one of the scientists, and Clarice felt an increased sense of doom. She smiled and said nothing.
After coffee and rolls, which seemed to be the fare of their daily morning brakes, they all moved to the Lab proper, and began the procedure that would lead to the birth. It was a little past eleven in the morning.

A matted, rolling table was brought in and hooked up to another that had a large tub connected by a hose to one of the drains on the floor of the lab.
The bracket the held the incubator was swiveled so that the incubator laid in a horizontal position now, slightly tilted further toward the cover where all the hoses were connected.

The technician in charge stepped back then, and announced that they had to leave the incubator in that position for a few minutes, to compel the baby's head toward the cover in a semblance of the traditional 'engagement of the head' in a traditional birth.

"Why don't we take the opportunity for you to meet the pediatrician, and ask your questions?" suggested A. Benning

During the walk toward an adjacent room, A. Benning took a thick envelop from her pocket and covertly handed it to Clarice.

"Put this in your bag, Starling, you need to read this, all what you need to know is there, this is important." She spoke urgently, and Clarice nodded and swiftly placed the item in her bag.

They entered a room then were they were joined by a heavy man on his 50's wearing thick glasses and a lab coat. His face was jolly and he was apparently prone to smile. He extended a chubby but firm hand to Clarice and welcomed her warmly.

"OK, young lady, ask all your questions now, because the powers that be don't want anyone from the program to be involved with this little fellow again. And your future pediatrician cannot not be familiar with our boy's real background."

Clarice's sense of doom increased in proportion to the significance of the pediatrician's statement which was clear and significant enough for her.

"Is there any data as to what to expect here?" she asked feeling like a fish out of the water

"None whatsoever, he is first of his kind. We have no clue as to what to expect. We know he has no maternal immunities. Other babies are nourished from the mothers resources, whereas this baby didn't have that advantage. He had no direct connection whatsoever to the world outside the "bottle", so to speak. The artificial womb we provided doesn't substitute for the real thing.
You'll have to be constantly aware of that, his survival depends on it.
Take him to a pediatrician after 2 weeks and have him fully examined.
We are going to give him a shot Hepatitis B today as customary. He should get another in a month or two, at two month he will get his first DPT which will help a great deal.
Keep him away from crowds but expose him to fresh air. Dress him up appropriately and let him nap outside, place his pram or infant seat in the shade and don't let the sun ON his skin, ... Fresh air on a sunny day is good for babies; it invigorates them and is good for their lungs. Sunburn is not, be aware of that.

No airplane rides, no malls, no crowds. He needs verbal stimulation, cuddling and bonding. He lacks human contact, the kind that babies get in their mothers womb, so he needs to feel close human contact.

He is small, which means that he will eat less than a bigger baby and more often. Be prepared for a schedule feeding every two or three hours, around the clock. Grab your sleep when you can for the first moth or so. The more he grows the more he'll eat on each feeding and the less frequently."

Clarice was looking at him intently practically holding her breath and he took pity for her.

"You are going to do fine, don't worry. Use common sense and talk to him and hug him close to you. It will be fine."

The birth was simple, first they drained a bit of the liquid from the incubator, making sure the baby's head was still covered with liquid, then they removed the cover, the liquid gushed out and they simultaneously removed the baby.

The rest of the procedure was like that or a normal birth. They did the The Apgar scoring twice and gave him the customary Vitamin K injection. He cried a bit at birth, just enough so they knew his lounges were fine; then scanned his huge maroon eyes across the room.

Followed closely by Clarice, a nurse took him to a tub and proceeded to wash him, which was rather easy because he was not covered by either blood or mucus.
Clarice asked if she could wash him, but the nurse told her he was rather slippery and Clarice didn't want to pursue it.

Once he was clean, the nurse wrapped him up in a towel and gave him to Clarice, she then motioned them to a padded table and asked Clarice if she had brought up baby clothes.
Clarice pointed to a small shopping bag that she had just place on a chair alongside her -duly zippered handbag.

Seeing that Clarice was not about to leave the babies side, the nurse turned toward the chair and brought over the shopping bag, while the pediatrician approached the table to examine the newborn.

He nodded as he performed the routinely check up and gave the infant the thumbs up.

Clarice then diapered him, feeling that she was all thumbs, then dressed him, placed him carefully in the carrier across her chest and got ready to leave, announcing she had a newborn car seat already installed in the mustang.

The nurse said she would escort her to the car, just in case she need help. They all wished her luck, Clarice thanked them all, specially Duncan and A. Benning, and she was on her way.

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