Chapter 2: Meet the Grahams
It had been an eventful day for Clarice Starling-Graham. She and her department had captured and arrested the Net Slayer, another ridiculous nickname bestowed by the National Tattler to the man also known as Michael Breen. Breen had raped and killed seven young women over the course of 18 months. He had scouted out his victims in chat rooms online before the FBI's Investigative Support Unit headed by Clarice and formerly known as Behavioral Science had tracked him down. Breen had gone into custody quietly with no incidence but Clarice was tired from months of emotionally exhausting long days and was ready to go home to her family.
My family, she thought and smiled.
How much her life had changed over the last four years. Before she had recruited Will Graham's help several years back in tracking down Hannibal Lecter, she had been something of a workaholic, staying at the office long after all the other agents had left, burning the midnight oil. At the time she would have told anyone who asked that she did it because it was her duty, her job, and she did it to help silence the screaming lambs in her dreams. But now when she reflected on it, Clarice realized that she had been a workaholic to help escape the vast loneliness that had permeated her life. She'd had no one to go home to, only a cold, empty townhouse. Subconsciously, she had long given up on the notion of a husband and children. Ironically, the job that she had given up the notion for was exactly the mean that had brought her future husband into her life.
The more she and Will had worked together to find Dr. Lecter and to stop the "Guilty" murders, the more she had realized just how much they had in common with each other. She had found in him a kindred spirit, a soul mate if you will. They understood one another and eventually came to love one another.
Now in two weeks, Clarice would be retiring as Section Chief of the Investigative Support Unit. She had served in the position for nearly four years and it was time to move on. She had seen enough atrocities to last her several lifetimes. For the immediate future she would take a long, well deserved break and spend time with her family. After that, she was not sure. She'd already been offered a teaching position at Quantico but she was unsure if teaching was for her. And it was not as if she had to work.
Because of the intense media coverage of the events four years ago, the public had become entranced with their story; two FBI agents who knew Dr. Hannibal Lecter better than anyone in the world joining forces to capture the monster, one having ended up tortured and nearly killed once more by Lecter, the other fatally shooting him, and ultimately the two falling in love and getting married, it had been a story that captivated the public's imagination. Because of the public's fascination, she, Will, and Joshua had sold the rights to their story several years ago and because of that, neither Clarice nor Will would ever have to work again in their lives if they chose not to. Their investments and stock options would be enough to live on. Clarice supposed she could do what Will did: advising, consulting, and guest speaking at law enforcement agencies around the world. But for now, she was just looking forward to spending time with Will and the kids.
At least three times a day, Clarice found her thoughts turning to the man that loomed over her life like a specter, the man that had once tormented her dreams, the man that had seen strength in her beyond her imagination, the man that had taught her so much about herself and the world at large, and the man who ultimately tried to take away the man she loved in attempts at forcing her to love him, Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
Four years ago, she had thought that she was finally free of his hold on her. She had thought him dead, shot by her own hands. But once more, he had escaped death as if he were more knowing and more powerful than God himself, if indeed there even was a God. She had been heartbroken and relieved at the same time, hating herself for feeling relieved. Her dilemma was this, while she hated Dr. Lecter for all the crimes he had ever committed, he had been in her life for so long and had nurtured her much like a father would that she did not know if she could live life without knowing he was out there somewhere, thinking of her and watching over her. It was repulsive to think that way she knew, but she could not help it.
Will and Clarice kept no secrets from one another except one. Clarice had never told Will of Dr. Lecter's visit to her and Serena in the hospital and the fact that he had given her a way of contacting him. Will had been upset enough when she had told him on their honeymoon that Dr. Lecter was still alive; Clarice had never seen him that angry before or since. She knew very well Will's feelings about Dr. Lecter and the insecurities he attempted to bury over her feelings for Lecter. She had reassured Will many times that she loved only him but she knew that he continued to harbor uncertainties. Clarice could sympathize, it was much the same way that she felt about Molly. Clarice knew that Will did not love Molly anymore yet she could not help but feel anxious whenever Molly was around. But all in all, Clarice and Will had a very good marriage, full of love and respect and trust. They were very happy together.
There was a brief rap on her door that interrupted her thoughts as she was shutting down her computer and she glanced up. One of her agents and very close friends, Seth Williams, entered. Clarice observed that he had removed his tie and rolled the sleeves of his white dress shirt up. He flashed his white smile at her as he entered her office, closing the door behind him.
"Hey Claire," Seth said.
"Heya Seth, what are you still doing here?" She asked. "I know I ordered everyone to go home. Are you disobeying orders now just because you're taking my place as Section Chief in a couple of weeks?"
Seth's grin broadened and he moved to sit in one of the chairs in front of her expansive desk, slouching low into it and putting his feet up on her desk. "Oh come on boss, don't bust my balls the last few weeks you're here!"
"Why should I stop now?" Clarice grinned at him and pushed his feet off her desk. "Just because I'm leaving?"
Seth chuckled and nodded his head. "Okay, okay," he said, "I give up. Yes ma'am, I'm going home." He paused and watched Clarice shove some files into her briefcase and close it up. "What time are we supposed to come over tonight?" He asked.
"Six," Clarice replied. "And tell Delia not to forget the cheesecake."
Her long time friend Ardelia Mapp had married Seth Williams a year ago. Clarice had introduced the two of them years ago when she and Seth had both been working under the tyrant former Section Chief, Kendra Mitchell.
"Don't worry, she's been up since six this morning working on it," he grinned again, his teeth vibrantly white against his dark skin.
Clarice shrugged into her leather jacket. "Good. I love Del's cheesecakes." She picked up her briefcase and made shooing gestures at Seth toward her office door. "Be gone Seth. I'm going home to kiss my husband and children."
Clarice Starling-Graham, hardened veteran of the FBI's former Behavioral Science division, had seen many strange and horrific things in her days but it all paled in comparison to daily life with two toddlers. She walked through the door of the family's massive two-storied Victorian – style Bethesda, Maryland home and felt as if she had walked straight into a hurricane. Clothes and toys were strewn about the living room, she heard the TV blaring "Barney" from the other room, sippy cups, crackers, and dirty socks lay discarded on the couch, jumbo crayons and paper lay scattered across the coffee table, and she heard three year old Serena singing at the top of her voice along with the TV show as she skipped through the house.
"Mommy!" Serena Clarice Graham called as she spied her mother and ran to envelope her in a three year old bear hug, her red ponytails flapping against her head.
"Hi pumpkin," Clarice smiled and kissed the top of Serena's head. "What are you up to?"
"Nuttin," Serena said as she let go of her mother and just as quickly as she appeared, she was gone again, resuming her skipping and singing.
Clarice grinned wryly as she hung up her jacket in the entryway closet, kicked off her loafers, and dropped her briefcase on the floor of the closet before closing it. She turned and made her way through the living room to the spacious kitchen. She stopped in the doorway to watch one year old John William Graham, named for Clarice's father, sitting in his high chair eating spaghetti and Will Graham, in jean shorts and a white tank top, standing at the sink rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.
Clarice smiled as she stared at Will's backside and thought how she still loved to gaze at him. His faded blonde, near-brown hair held the tiniest bit of gray at his temples but Clarice, her own long red hair gray-free, found it terribly distinguishing. They had been married almost four years and they were still like newly-weds; he could still turn her on with just a look or a simple touch of his hand.
Clarice's gaze moved to her son just in time to see him dump the remainder of his bowl of spaghetti over the top of his head, turning his short blonde baby-fuzz hair orange. He laughed heartily and dropped the bowl to the floor with a hollow thud. Clarice saw Will at the sink turn his head at the sound of the bowl hitting the floor. He groaned and hung his head briefly and Clarice wondered where Cindy their nanny was.
"Oh John," he said quietly. "You little stinker! But I guess I should've known better than to give you spaghetti."
Clarice watched as Will picked up the bowl, put it in the sink, and set to the task of cleaning up the spilled spaghetti from the floor, the high chair, and the baby. He glanced up and noticed her watching him amusedly.
"Hey you," he smiled and continued to wipe at the mess. "You're home early. Slacking off now that you're retiring huh?"
Clarice smiled, walked to where her two men were, planted a kiss on John's head, carefully avoiding the spaghetti, and squatted down next to Will. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. He put his arms around her as best he could given the fact that he was holding paper towels full of spaghetti on them.
"Actually we caught the Net Slayer today," Clarice replied quietly. "So I gave everyone the rest of the day off."
"Really?" Will asked. "Oh honey, that's great. How'd you do it?"
"Actually I used your idea of running various screen names through VICAP."
"You're kidding me," Will said incredulously. "That was such a long shot."
Clarice nodded. "I know but one hit. We came up with the name of this guy, Michael Breen, who had a prior for molesting a young girl a few years back. We obtained a warrant to tap his computer and monitor his online activity. And sure enough, it was him. This morning the two agents I'd put in charge of monitoring him came in and said that we needed to pick this guy up and talk to him. Apparently he'd been chatting with various young women online and had finally got one that agreed to meet him. In addition, he cruised many hard core sex sites that show and promote rape scenes. So I gave the go ahead and we went out to pick him up. Turns out it was him. He had videos of all his victims. He was trying to sell them to some of those sites."
Will shook his head. "Jesus," he whispered. "What a fucking moron. At least you got him. I'm so proud of you Claire." He hugged her tightly.
John sat in his chair and pounded the tray with his open hands watching as the food bounced every time he hit it. Will stood up, removed the tray placing it on the table, unbuckled John and gingerly lifted him out. He held the baby at arm's length out to Clarice.
"Welcome home, love," he grinned at her. "You can clean up your son while I clean up the kitchen…..again."
Clarice took John, carefully holding him away from her pantsuit. "So now he's my son is he?"
"When he dumps spaghetti all over himself, yes, he's your son," Will chuckled.
Clarice rolled her eyes at Will but smiled nonetheless. She bounced John gently on her hip as they spoke. "Where's Cindy?"
Will groaned. "God, of all days for her to get sick, it's today. I swear I've got piles of laundry that are strewn all over the living room thanks to Serena breezing through there after I'd gotten everything folded and threw most of it around while I was in John's room changing him. I've got people coming over in a few hours for dinner and haven't pulled the steaks out to thaw yet. I've got……" he trailed off when he saw Clarice's bemused grin. "What? Are you gonna tease me about the whole Mr. Mom thing because you know….."
Clarice put her hand on his shoulder gently, interrupting him. "No, no, baby," she said softly. "You know I would never do that. I just think it's cute when you go off on a tangent like that."
She knew what a touchy subject it was for him that he did not work full time and was often home with the children while she was at work. He enjoyed being home with them but he received a lot of ribbing about it by people they knew. Will leaned in to kiss her and John smeared spaghetti on the front of Will's shirt. He glanced down at it and sighed softly.
"Now I get to change my shirt," he replied sardonically. "The risks I take to kiss you!"
Clarice grinned and looked down at John. "Alright munchkin, its bath time for you."
At the word 'bath,' Serena ran into the kitchen and jumped up and down in front of her mother. "I want to take one too, Mom! Please! Please!"
Will scooped Serena into his arms and covered her face with kisses while she screamed with delight. "Yes," he said to Clarice. "Let's corral them both in the tub while we get to work on the house."
Clarice kissed Serena's nose and nodded.
"Sounds good to me," she said.
Carrying John she followed Will and Serena back down the hallway toward the bathroom thinking that life did not get much better than this.
To be continued. Please review.
Kurt: LOL! Great review! As far as Clarice's married name, yes, it bugs Dr. Lecter immensely. In the last chapter of POI, I make mention that he refuses to say her "loathsome married name." Thanks for reading and reviewing.
Ducki: Thank you so much for your review. Yes, I had to give the GD a playmate! It seemed only right.
guber: LOL! Are you ever going to get your wish that Hannibal and Clarice end up together? Come on, you learned from the last fic that I can't tell you! It keeps you coming back for more!! I'll try not to keep you waiting too long in between chapters but I'm tremendously busy right now so we'll see. But thank you so very much for reading and reviewing.
devil: Thank you so much, I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far.
Troesnaja: Yes, I will continue with LoT writing "All the King's Horses (ATKH)." I'm pulling a Kurt now, writing two stories at once! AGH! But it won't be too bad because I'm not writing the second one alone. And you'll have to stay posted to see what mayhem I have in store for the characters this fic!! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing.
Saavik: LOL to your whole drill bit…..eh…..eh….get it? Drill bit?!! Oh that was horrid, I apologize! Anyway, thank you so much for reading and reviewing. Your reviews are always so nice.
Tilly: **snicker, snicker** Thank you, oh Partner In Crime for your great review. Of course the GD could never love anyone like he loves Clarice. Yes, Clarice is a bit burnt out and ready for family life. A "reunion" huh? We'll have to wait and see. LOL! That's right, you were one of the ones that wanted Will dead at the beginning of POI weren't you?!! I'd forgotten that! Thanks for reading and reviewing, pal-o-mine!
Shattered Mug, AKA POI Junkie, Faithful Reader, what other names did you have last fic?! As always, thank you for your review, you are too kind. Yes, we have a few new additions but all your favorites will be back this fic. LOL to 'Graham baby!' I hope this story keeps you as enthralled as the last one. But please let me know if it sucks, okay?! Thanks and see ya next chapter.
