Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, I am only borrowing them for entertainment purposes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------As Clarice cut through a front lawn, she glimpsed one non-descript black federal car, along with a police car, in front of the house that she shared with Ardelia. Muttering obscenities under her breath, Clarice ducked into the backyard of one her neighbors. Luckily no one was present, and Clarice was able to vault over the wall.
"Only two more houses to go."
Clarice counted off the houses as if it were a mantra to help keep her going. Finally she made it to her own back yard. She crept up to back porch, reached under the door mat, and retrieved her hidden house key. She silently opened the door and made her way through the house.
"Hannibal?" Clarice whispered, fearful that at any moment she would find him already dead.
"Clarice, I'm in the bathroom."
Clarice ran to Ardelia's side of the apartment, made a sharp turn and ended up in the bathroom.
"Hann-" but Clarice stopped short, the sight that greeted her eyes too shocking for speech.
"Clarice, I can't seem to remove the bullet myself." Dr. Lecter whispered as he lay in the bathtub, stained red with his blood.
"What happened?" Gasped a stunned Clarice, as she rushed to the tub and started looking for Hannibal's wound.
"Our old friend Jack, was kind enough to leave me with a present. I'll have to return the favor, soon enough." said Hannibal with a small smirk as he continued. "After I was assured that your friend would go find you, I set to taking out this frustrating bullet. Unfortunately, it's position was such that I only succeeded in pushing it deeper. The resulting loss of blood left me unconscious, until about a hour ago. I must say, Clarice, I was never happier to hear your voice until just now."
Clarice blushed a deep red but only said,
"Well, we'll have to get this taken care of soon, before you loose too much blood."
"Yes, I agree. However, no hospital will accept me as a patient and then kindly send me on my way, you'll have to take it out, Clarice."
The determined look on Clarice's face was all that was need to set Hannibal's mind at ease. Clarice deftly helped Hannibal rise out of the tub, while she quickly wrapped a long towel tight around his waist so that it covered the gun-shot wound in his back.
"Come on, we have to make it to the couch, so you can lie down."
Thankfully it only took a couple of minutes to get him to the couch.
"Here, lie down on your stomach. I'll be right back."
Clarice went to go fetch a bottle of first aid antiseptic, a pair of long tweezers, a needle and thread, and a couple towels from Ardelia's bathroom. She hurried back in to the room and kneeled beside Hannibal.
"I'm sorry, if this hurts. I can't say I've done it quiet often."
"That's quite alright Clarice, I'm sure I'll survive."
"I'm glad to hear that." Clarice whispered as she set to work on removing the bullet and sewing up his wound. Dr. Lecter was a fine patient, he didn't even move as the sharp needle sewed up his skin.
"o.k., all done." Clarice said as Ardelia walked in through the door. Dr. Lecter gingerly sat up as Clarice stood and walked to meet Ardelia in the adjoining room.
"Good, he's still here." Ardelia muttered to Clarice as she glanced through the doorway at Dr. Lecter with a weary eye.
"Yea, now what happened. What did they say?"
"All they did was ask questions, where you were, when I saw you last, if you've returned. I know they can't search your place yet, since they don't have any concrete evidence for a warrant, but I wouldn't bet on that for long. But they're gone for now."
"Thanks a million, Ardelia."
"No, problem. So are we going to turn him in now?"
"What?"
"You know, turn him in. He's tied up on the couch isn't he?"
"No, what are you talking about, Ardelia?"
"Why's he still sitting on the couch then, if he's not tied up?" Asked Ardelia still glancing through the doorway every other second or so.
"Ardelia, we're not turning him in. He's not running because we're not going to arrest him." At this Ardelia started looking really confused and bit angry.
"Now Clarice, I don't know what the hell you did, but those guys out there are not messing around and if you have a chance to get your ass of the slab, I say do it, and turn him in." Ardelia said as she glared once again at the back of Dr. Lecter's head.
"Look Ardelia, to make a long story short. I found some information that Verger planned to torture and kill Hannibal, I couldn't just let that happen so I went to the Verger estate myself. While I was there Hannibal saved my life, helped me to evade the police, and he explained his um...previous motives. I can't just arrest him now! Besides I don't see why you're in such a hurry now, you let him go before."
"Only Because I thought you were in danger Clarice! I thought he had hidden you somewhere or something. But now that you're safe, we Need to turn him in! And I don't fucking care if he told how to cure cancer, he's still a murderer that needs to be put away!"
"You don't understand, Ardelia. I-"
"No, You don't understand, Clarice! He has brainwashed you or something. And he Is getting arrested whether you like it or not!" Shouted Ardelia as she stepped away from Clarice and reached down to her belt to retrieve her gun. Ardelia's heart froze as she simultaneous realized that her gun was not in her holster and that Dr. Lecter was no longer seated in her living room.
"Looking for something, hmm?"
Asked Dr. Lecter from behind Ardelia as he leaned against the opposite wall, absently holding her gun in his hands, as if it were any common item. Ardelia slowly turned around as Dr. Lecter continued.
"Really, quite irresponsible of you to just leave this on your entryway table as you came inside to have that absolutely charming conversation with Clarice...Whatever am I to do with you?" Sighed Dr. Lecter as a sly smile crossed his face.
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