She grimaced as she took a sip of the steaming liquid within the polystyrene cup, the flavour leaving a foul taste as she set it back down on the table. Weak with far too much milk only making it worse, the coffee beans clearly burned whilst being passed through the machine. In short, this poor substitute for what she would normally drink was only making her feel worse as she tried to think of something to say to the man sat with her at the table.

"One good thing about living with Felicia: The girl has good taste, I think I've gotten far too used to the Venezuelan dark roast that she gets delivered"

She tried to cover the slight smile that threatened her lips as Will gave a soft chuckle, feigning eye contact as he chose to focus upon the tip of her nose. She couldn't quite put her finger upon it, but something about Will gave her a strange feeling of comfort in the hectic haze that seemed to be her mind, the scent of cinnamon spiced apples laced with a small twinge of honey sweetness as a subtle wafting of a log burning fire cut through to give a delicious smokiness to the fragrance that reminded her of perfect winter nights and snug log cabins that soothed away the bite of the first snow fall. It took all her control not to inhale that scent and let herself drown within it.

"It's been a while since you lived with Felicia. Sera, can I ask you something?"

She tilted her head slightly, earning another smile from the empath before her. It might not have seemed like anything important to someone else but, to Will, it was a gesture that brought back fond memories of his mate, a cute sign of confusion or inquisitiveness and, on the odd occasion, of teasing ignorance to her own behaviour. There was silence for a moment as Will thought of how best to phrase his question.

"What do you remember before waking up from the coma?... Do you remember the attack at all? Anything about myself, your life or even Felicia and Hannibal?"

Sera frowned at his words. There hadn't been an attack, not that she knew of at least. It had been a car crash that had landed them in the coma. And of course she remembered Felicia, it was hard not to remember the foul tempered woman that she shared an apartment with, or at least used too. But none of those memories seemed to contain Will or Hannibal. So why was he speaking as if she should have had a life time of memories with him?

"I don't remember ever being attacked, just a regular morning that ended with a lorry ploughing into the side of Felicia's car... Sorry"

Will felt as though a weight had just crushed his heart. He had suspected amnesia by the simple fact that, whilst she seemed to be acting friendly enough, Sera was acting distant towards him, like she had no memory of who he actually was. She would normally have at least sat as close as she could to him, enjoying the calming effect his scent had always had upon her as they spoke of everything that crossed their minds. She was one of the few people he knew that he felt any true happiness with and to have it taken away seemed like the cruellest twist of the knife. To make matters worse, her subconscious seemed to have recreated the events that had lead to the coma. What else had it recreated and would Felicia be under the influence of the same thoughts?

"It's fine, you're OK and that's what really matters, The doctors warned that the road to a full recovery would be a long one... Though I don't think you should have spoken to Dr. Lecter like you did"

The smile that crept along her lips was slow, crooked and mischievous with a slight flash of teeth in the corner of her mouth. Her eyes glistened as she took another sip of her coffee, ignoring the foul taste in favour of planning how to word her reply.

"Oh? Why's that? Is the good doctor a little sensitive behind that stoic mask he wears so well?"

"More than you'd believe"

Will's words were muttered around the polystyrene rim of his own beverage, thankful that Sera seemed oblivious to his own words. He wished he could just remind her, reawaken the memories of her life with himself that seemed repressed within her mind, but the nurse had warned against such actions. Such an abrupt course of action could cause damage to her neurological system and that was something he really wanted to avoid. He sighed, taking a look at his wrist watch before moving his gaze back to the tip of her nose, standing carefully with a sad smile upon his lips as he spoke, hand offered out to help her up onto her own feet in a silent request for even the smallest amount of contact to sooth his need to be close to her.

"I've got to go, I have a lecture in just over an hour... But I'll walk you back to your room. You need all the rest you can get if you want to get better"


Hannibal frowned as he pulled the door closed behind him, cutting off the view of the young woman within the room as she lay upon the bed. Whilst he was overjoyed that she was out of the coma and aware of his presence once more, he couldn't help but feel that something definitely seemed wrong with her behaviour.

He knew that she had never been an overly affectionate person, choosing to keep her heart far away from her sleeve when dealing with others. She had never taken any pride in her status as an omega or the belief that she needed to be submissive to her chosen alpha's every desire, he had learned rather quickly that there was not a submissive bone in her body unless provoked by her own biology. It had been one of the first things he had taken a liking too about her, the fiery personality and ability to hold her own against others making her stand out where others had failed before in his affections, her behaviour in comparison to other omega's catching his attention upon their first meeting. But even for all her strengths, before the attack, she had still allowed him to care for her when they were alone together, allowed him to hold her close and fulfil his role as her bond mate. Now it was as if a wall had been thrown high around her, blocking him from getting close to her as she spoke warily with him and eyed him with a look of mistrust. It was like he'd been thrown back in time to the first few weeks of his attempting to court her.

It was clear that amnesia had taken a firm hold of her mind when, having tried to speak with her about the attack, she had adamantly insisted that a car accident had been the cause of the coma. He would need to question further about this notion, if her subconscious had recreated the event then what else could it have altered? Could that be the cause for her distance towards him?

He sighed, feeling tired for the first time in a long time as he began to walk down the corridor and towards the exit, he still had an evening appointment with a patient to attend too and, despite his desire too, he could not cancel now. At least, in the hours after the two women's initial awakening and Felicia's rejection of his presence, he had been able to return home and prepare a simple meal for both before returning. Hell would freeze over before he allowed his mate to eat sub-par hospital food that contained god only knew how many artificial components and, as much as the raven haired woman irritated him, the same went for Sera.

"Are you leaving too Dr. Lecter? I was just bringing Sera back to the room before heading for my next class"

Will's voice caught his ears as the other man turned the corner, arm holding Sera's arm gently as she pulled along the IV drip. He raised an eyebrow slightly, taking in the slight stiffness of her posture at the alpha's vague touch and the look of uncertainty within her eyes. Clearly Felicia wasn't the only one struggling with even the slightest form of intimacy at this moment in time.

"Yes, I have an appointment that cannot be cancelled. And besides, Felicia does not seem in the mood for company at present"

Sera scoffed as she moved away from Will completely and placed her hand upon the door handle. Of course her friend would be reluctant to speak, she was probably doing her best not to have a fatal heart attack at being in the same room as a cannibalistic serial killer, coma induced dream or not.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll come round eventually. It's all just one giant shock to the system right now"

Sera was about to vanish into the room, eager to return to the only other person she could talk too about everything that seemed to be happening, only to be stopped as Will's gentle voice caught her ears.

"We'll be back tomorrow, the doctors said that you'll both probably still be here for a few more days or a week at most so I'll bring some clothes with me. I know that you never liked the hospital clothing... Just let Felicia know that Hannibal is going to bring some clothing for her as well"

Sera gave a small nod of thanks, unsure of how to react to his kind suggestion or the attempt at a reassuring smile from Hannibal as the door shut behind her when she entered the private room, grinning in amusement at the sight of Felicia, still in the bed. She was upright now, propped up by her pillows as she glared down at the plate in front of her, an expression caught between horror and bewilderment upon her face as she poked the food with a fork.

"Did the big bad cannibal make dinner?"

"Yes. Yes he did. He made it whilst I was rejecting their visits apparently... He made one for you as well"

Her voice seemed weary as she pointed towards the other woman's night stand, Lecter's presence still lingering within her mind and causing a small part of her to yearn for his return. That was the last thing she needed right now, his exotic scent muddling her thoughts when she was trying to think of a way to get them both out of this situation and out of this frightening sub-reality that they had been placed within.

"Well wasn't that nice of him. So what are we having?"

"Liver. Liver with some fancy French name attached to it"

Sera nodded slightly in vague acknowledgement before taking the plate from her side table and settling herself back within her bed, staring at the food for a moment before happily picking up her fork and eating. Felicia felt her stomach give a nauseating flip as she watched the other girl, her expression shifting to full horror.

"The fuck is wrong with you, don't you remember what that is?"

Sera shrugged, humming in approval at the explosion of taste that occurred upon her tongue as she swallowed her mouthful. Sure, it was a human liver but damn, that man knew how to cook.

"Meat is meat and, to be honest, I'm starving. It's like the vegetarians say really: 'all meat is murder'... So we might as well enjoy it. And besides, I'm thinking that we need to play dumb to what the good doctor really is if we want to survive this messed up dream. Just until we either figure out a way of getting home or establish where the boundaries are with both Will and Hannibal"

Felicia groaned as she turned her gaze back down to the plate in front of her, not exactly happy at how logical the other's reasoning seemed to be. It was the safest route at this current point to pretend that they had no clue to Hannibal's true nature, at least until they were able to wake up or be certain that he would not make them into his next meal. She lifted a fork full to her lips, willing herself to imagine it to be anything other than what it was as she took the mouth full, a groan forcing from her throat as her eyes shut at the flavours assaulting her taste buds.

"Damn it, why does he have to make murder taste so good"


Just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed and Followed/Favourited the story so far, I hope you all enjoyed the update and will continue to show your support as the story progresses.

I am hoping to have the next chapter up within a week, although I can make no definite promises. But I can be certain that we shall soon be leaving the confines of the hospital as the girls are placed under the care of Will and Hannibal.