Clarice was debating on whether or not to really change into the dress or to further tease by showing up in her regular attire. She decided to let him have his way for now and put on the dress. She looked in the mirror and let down her hair from the ponytail. When she decided she liked the look, she went into the kitchen to find his back was turned to her. She smiled, I wonder how long it would take for him to notice or has he already?, She took two steps closer before he finally inhaled and sighed deeply.

"Trying to sneak around now?"

"Did you notice I was in here as soon as I walked in?"

"Of course my dear, your scent is...intoxicating."

He turned around to face her. Of course he was dressed nicely too. He was actually in all black.

"Interesting choice of words, Hannibal. I must say this is a nice change of pace from work all day."

It was his turn to smile, "Glad I can please you."

She approached him and placed her arms on his shoulder hands locking at the back of his head. She brought him in for a kiss.

"Maybe we should skip dinner tonight, Hannibal."

He placed his hands at her waist, "You wouldn't want to spoil your meal would you?"

"I can think of some other things I would rather do." She was challenging him, which was something she had grown to be quite good at in the past four days.

"And what would that be?" Of course he always had to fire back with his own comments.

This time she took several steps forward and shoved him against the counter kissing him long and hard. He was caught by surprise at this act and pulled her back.

"I think we can wait don't you? Besides things are already prepared."

She backed away and walked over to the table. "If you insist. I could use a nice meal."

Hannibal pulled out a chair for her and placed their meals on the table. Clarice ate quite a bit of food that night. It was definitely filling, and she began their dinner conversation with an interesting topic.

"So, I have prepared something I think you will like."

"And what would that be, my dear?"

"A laptop. For you to stay in touch with me while your away. I have a private chat room setup on both computers that only you and I may be on."

"Very good. Now I have a method of staying in touch." He glanced up to notice she had stopped eating and was staring at her plate. "You know I am not leaving forever. I am just trying to get things straightened up so we can leave when the time comes. I don't want you to have to worry about anything."

She looked at him, "I know. I don't want to think about you being gone when you just got here. I would much rather enjoy your company right now."

"You are right, by the way, in both matters."

"Both matters?"

"Yes about enjoying each others company…and skipping dinner a little earlier than expected."

Clarice was glad to hear this as she rose from her chair. Hannibal had done so as well, and pulled down the straps of her dress. She began to remove his shirt as well. The kissing had started again. They made it out in the living room before he had her pushed against a wall. She her leg up around one of his. Clarice decided this night was going to be much more fun than she had imagined.

In town during the busy night, Ardelia was enjoying her date with Nathan Brown. He was tall around 6' and he definitely had a muscular build. He was dark in skin tone and had dark brown eyes. Ardelia hadn't been on an actual date in a very long time. Work out of the country had kept her busy, and she was glad to finally hang out with Nathan again. They had actually met in the academy. They were good friends for quite a while, but work and getting sent to different divisions kept them apart for a while. Now they were finally together again, and they grew really attached to one another.

"So Ardelia, how did it feel to leave the country?"

"Different. I had never really been outside the US until then. There is so much out there, you know?"

"Yeah, actually I do."

"So what about you Nathan? How has your work been treating you?"

"Busy, busy, busy. Especially with this new case. The one you and Clarice are working on. The guy is tricky, almost like he knows the ins and outs of every detail."

"Maybe he does, who knows?" She took another drink at the bar and glanced down at her bottle.

"Speaking of Clarice. How has she been doing since what happened?"

"Its hard to say. Lecter really got to her last time…something has changed, but I can't be sure what. I mean, the FBI was literally her life, and now she is quitting. She stays cooped up in her house all the time too."

"Maybe she is just eager to get things done with this case and be gone."

"Yeah but, sometimes I worry about whether or not Lecter would ever attempt to come after her again."

"Your concerned about that? Ardelia, I wouldn't worry too much about it."

Ardelia looked over at Nathan and wasn't sure what to say, but the worry was evident in her eyes. He sighed and thought for a minute, "Why don't we just check in on her every once in a while. We can just look out for her for the next month or so. If nothing goes on within that time period then obviously nothing is wrong."

"No. I don't want to drive her crazy with my superstitions. She will be fine I am sure of it. She is strong."

"Well then there you have it. She will be fine."

"How do you know Clarice exactly Nathan? I mean sure we all went to the academy together, but you two really never talked much."

"The case, mostly. Its more of the situation where she knows of me but doesn't know me."

"Ah I see. Well its getting late and there is more work tomorrow. So lets get out of here."