He bumps into her literally as he walks out of his office. It's 9pm and no one else is supposed to be in the building apart from the cleaners. Will straightens and pushes his glasses higher on his nose. "You're here late."

"Jack called." It's code for there's a case. She never tells him directly when she's on a case. "I'm going to Florida for a few days." She smiles tightly then cocks her head at him, blue eyes narrowing. "You look tired."

"I had the first year trainees for a two hour lecture."

"Ah."

Someone yells in a room down the corridor and another person yells back. He turns at the sound, turning back to Alana just in time to see her roll her eyes.

"That's my cue. Honestly, you'd think some people had never learnt about inside voices." She moves to walk past him but stops. "Here." She presses the cup of coffee she was carrying into his hand. "If I finish it now I won't sleep tonight."

The coffee is still warm. "Thanks."

"You need it more I do right now." She smiles at him and leaves him in the empty hallway.

*/*

He teaches his classes, feeds his dogs and life is normal for a week. He wonders about Alana's case but stops himself from thinking about it too much. After two weeks, he gets a text from her. She says that she'll be back at Quantico the next day and if he sees Jack Crawford, walk the other way. The case didn't end well. Will knows from the Guru's reputation that he has a temper. He googles for news in Florida and reads about a woman who'd cut her cheating husband and his mistress into cubes and feed them to the fish in the pond by a school. She'd shot herself in front of the police.

Will buys her coffee the next morning. "For the last one I borrowed."

She eyes him like she knows that he's trying to cheer her up. "You didn't have to."

He shrugs as he sits beside her. "I wanted to."

"Thank you."

*/*

She sidles up to him at the compulsory staff Christmas party. He's sulking in a corner, counting down the minutes until he can escape. "The fire door is open if you want to make a run for it."

"My boss told me if I try to leave before 10, I'll be stuck teaching first years again next semester. He's trying to socialise me."

Alana moves to his other side, giving him a reason to glance to his left. "I'm fairly certain he won't notice." Will's boss had the starry eyed, red-flushed expression of someone who'd had too much of the spiked eggnog.

"Aiding and abetting an escapee from FBI custody is a felony, Dr Bloom." He smiles.

"I won't tell if you won't." She smiles back. "Merry Christmas Will." She kisses him on the cheek and goes back to the party. He slinks out of the room and goes home.

*/*

After he meets Hannibal, he calls Alana and asks her what's going on. She sighs heavily before explaining that Jack wants someone to be able to pull him back if he gets too close.

"Why isn't it you?" It's the logical answer to Jack's question. He knows that Will trusts Alana and he trusts Alana himself.

"Because," She hesitates before she answers. "You're not my patient." She expounds on Hannibal Lecter's skills for a minute, giving Will a little more faith in the doctor. If Alana thought he was one of the best, he probably was.

He tells her that he's going to Minnesota for the case; she tells him to be careful. He says he will.

When he's back in his hotel room after shooting Garret Jacob Hobbs, he calls her again. She picks up on the first ring and he knows that she knows. "Will."

He hadn't really planned what he was going to say. "Can you cover my classes for the rest of the week?" He doesn't think he could do it. All he can see every time he blinks is Hobbs' face. Every moment of silence is filled with Abigail's frantic, strained breathing.

"Of course. Are you okay?" He can hear the concern in her voice.

"No."

She takes his classes for week and a half.