Welcome back fellow Lecter Lovers! Hope you enjoy the chapter!
FAIR WARNING- MILD LEMON! NOTHING THAT INTENSE BUT JUST A HEAD'S UP!
FOR DEVYNI
Clarice and Hannibal had moved to their master suite. Hannibal's muscles where strained from the physical exchange with the police officer so he went directly to the bathroom that he might run a bath. Clarice helped him off with his clothing knowing that his back and shoulders had thoroughly paid the price for the day's events.
She slipped the shirt from Hannibal's body and kissed his back as he pulled his arms stiffly from the sleeves. Her voice was filled with concern, "About that press conference, H...Don't you want to discuss it? How can you be so sure of yourself? Isn't there ever even one solitary moment of self-doubt?"
Hannibal shrugged and rolled his shoulders to work out the tightness, the muscles burning hot from the effort. He shook his arms and shoulders out, leaning into the door frame much like a bear rubbing against a tree; his response to his wife's worry was confident, assured.
"Doubt? No. Never. This may be a bit uncomfortable Clarice but it must be done. We are having a child and I would have all well when he arrives. I have long thought of this and waited for the perfect opportunity. The process began months ago with a specific end in mind. This will now go quite a long way to achieving that end."
Clarice checked the heat of the water filling the bathtub. She remained unconvinced, "You keep talking about this situation in reference to the baby and I'm just not getting it. What the hell does this press conference have to do with Nine anyway?"
Hannibal stepped out of his slacks and folded them neatly. "Nine? Are you still referring to our child with a numerical designation?"
Clarice ignored the question focusing on the bathwater, "Hop in H, the water is perfect. I'll be in the bedroom if you need me."
He stepped out of his boxers and placed them in the hamper. "Are you not joining me?"
She looked at the tub to assess whether it would be a comfortable fit for two adults. Although the master bath had been meticulously remodeled Hannibal had decided to stay true to the style of the home's architecture. The bathroom was fully tiled in glossy white marble with wispy veins of silver running throughout.
The vanity was an antique dry sink painted a glossy white that had been repurposed by cutting out the center and counter fitting a bowl with silver and white fixtures. The antique tub was original to the home and one of the main features that had attracted Hannibal to the house. It was very deep and extremely long at five and one half feet and served as an elegant focal point. Hannibal spared no expense and had seen that it was meticulously restored down to the highly detailed and polished silver clawed feet.
Clarice inhaled deeply, the comfort of the steam twisted into her nostrils heating and expanding her nasal passages as she breathed in the humid warmth. Smoky vapors rose and curled toward the ceiling and Clarice sighed as the water looked so deep and inviting.
"It really does look so relaxing and I know how sore you must be…You wouldn't mind sharing? I'll give you a nice back rub?"
"I would prefer a nice front rub…" he teased, getting a playful slap from Clarice for his comments, "though with you I would share gladly my Love."
Clarice slipped quickly out of her garments and reached a hand to Hannibal. He held it and guided her by the elbow to assure her steady footing. As she entered the tub and settled comfortably he took his place as well. Always the gentleman he was certain that his back remained on the side of the tub that housed the fixtures to insure her comfort and relaxation. He did not forget their earlier conversation and upon sitting sought clarification, "We were discussing a moment ago your numerical nickname for the child?"
Hannibal spun his hand in a circular motion that Clarice might turn and offer him her back. Without a word she did as she was signaled and leaned forward, hugging her knees to her chest as best her pregnancy would allow. Hannibal reached for a plush washcloth, soaped it thoroughly and began to smooth it across her back and shoulders. He kissed each area as he cleansed it.
Clarice sighed deeply responding to his touch. She was certain he would tease her about the variety of nicknames she was trying on for their child. Clarice arched her back and craned her neck in response to his touch.
"Are you distracted by my hands, Clarice? I asked you a question a moment ago."
Question? What question? Oh…Nine!
She stirred from the comfort of his touch, "I don't only call him Nine…I call him Little H too. I don't know…Hannibal will be great when he is older but it's too much for a baby and I haven't settled on a nickname yet…and don't distract me from the topic! What does the press conference, and all of the mayor's propaganda bullshit got to do with our baby?"
Clarice turned and realized Hannibal was leaning against the faucet. "H, take this side of the tub, your back is already stressed."
He leaned forward a bit and looked back at the fixture then back at Clarice. He was confused as to her concern, "I am your husband and as such it is my duty to care for you. I wouldn't dream of making you uncomfortable Clarice. I can handle the fixtures."
"Take this side and open your legs. I'll rest between them," she offered knowing he would not refuse.
Hannibal winked, "Why don't you open yours? I would love to rest between them."
Clarice splashed a palm full of water at him as she blushed, "You are incorrigible H! Move!"
Hannibal smiled a devilish grin, wiped a palm across his face and licked the remaining water from his lips. "I will move Clarice for your comfort not my own as I intend to lavish attention on you."
She shrugged him off playfully, "Whatever… Just move your ass over H."
Clarice lifted her legs and moved to the side of the bathtub to allow Hannibal room to switch ends with her. She then climbed over, pushed his knees apart and settled herself carefully between his legs. With a satisfied smile she rested her body against his, her head leaning back on his chest. He pressed a cheek against hers. Clarice pushed him back.
"Okay…now that I'm relaxed you can go ahead…explain all of the propaganda bullshit to me."
Chuckling at Clarice's persistence, Hannibal took the cloth and rubbed a bar of almond scented soap against the fabric. When he determined it to be well soaped, he began to smooth it across her throat, collarbone. When he reached her breasts, swirling the soapy fabric over and under, caressing each with equal attention she arched against his body, stretching out comfortably along the length of him.
The sensual nature of his movements contrary to the conversation Hannibal adeptly maneuvered both.
"The propaganda bullshit to which you refer has little to do with the mayor and everything to do with our family," he continued as he gently washed her body, "I seek to limit the pervasive use of the name Hannibal the Cannibal. Not that I am offended by the moniker as such as is it is accurate. It is also obnoxious and for the sake of Devyni I shall do any and all in an attempt to dissuade or at the very least limit use of the abhorrent appellation."
"I don't care what they call you. You're the same man you were when they trapped you behind the glass and attempted to throw away the key. I don't need to defend myself to the public or seek anyone's approval and you shouldn't either. And what the hell is a Devyni?" Clarice asked as she reached back and forth to vigorously massage her husband's legs and thighs the exertion of the effort calming her.
Hannibal shifted as her touch relaxed him so much that he dropped his head back and rested it on the lip of the tub.
"Devyni… It is my response to your usage of a numerical designation for our son. It is the number nine in Lithuanian," he was not really focused on the conversation, "Mmmmm, Clarice you are distracting me."
"I'm not trying to H. I just really like touching you…I really like that nickname, too. I'll call him Dev for short. I'm still upset with you though… it seems like you want someone's approval and that's not what we're about."
Hannibal wrapped his arms around Clarice and sitting upright began to smooth the wash cloth over her swollen belly. Hannibal smiled as he felt the baby shift with his touch.
Hannibal's voice was low and soothing as he sought to reassure his wife, "Rest assured Clarice I am not seeking approval nor am I worried about the perception of others in regard to us. I am concerned with their perception as it pertains to our son. To put it bluntly Clarice who would you rather to be the father of you baby, Hannibal the Cannibal or Hannibal Lecter respected member of the community? The child will hear of me as the former. I would like him recognize me as the latter."
Clarice turned within Hannibal's embrace, the comment touching her so deeply that she sought his lips.
Hannibal understood the connection she was making and kissed his wife very gently. It was a kiss of sensitivity and understanding, Clarice had come to the instantaneous realization that although Hannibal was comfortable with his place in the world, he wanted to make an easier path for his child. Clarice wished the same.
The kiss lasted for several minutes. Each spouse communicating to the other their wants and needs as they searched each other with their lips. This kiss was unlike any other of their marriage as it was filled with sudden understanding that they were no longer merely a pair. They were now a family. They were parents responsible for a life and this life now gave meaning to their own.
This life would define and form every decision made from this point forward. The pressing of their lips upon the other, the searching of their tongues, the tantric dance between them was now so deep, so meaningful, and so full of passion and want and need that it became a lasting and unspoken covenant between them.
This kiss was now their promise to each other that the needs of their child would supplant their own. This moment between them was so powerful that when several minutes later their lips parted it was as if a Mass had ended, so solemn and filled with love and grace that neither of them spoke.
Ten or fifteen minutes later Hannibal stood from the bath and stepped out. He toweled off quickly and grabbed his robe from the silver hook behind the door slipping into it quickly. He reached a hand for Clarice and assisted her from the bath as well. He helped towel her off and assisted with her robe, then escorted her to the bedroom. Hannibal turned the bedcovers down and helped Clarice off with her robe. She entered the bed and he covered her gently. As Hannibal walked to the other side of the bed, Clarice broke the silence.
"H…I'm worried."
Hannibal removed his robe and placed his, along with Clarice's on a chair beside the bed. Hannibal took his place beside his wife and pulled her into a gentle and loving embrace. He whispered, "Clarice there is no need."
Clarice placed her head on his chest and teased at the soft hair growing there, "It's going to be a circus. Look at the front lawn! Every local and national news affiliate is out there."
Hannibal stroked her hair gently, brushed it back from her forehead and nuzzled against it inhaling deeply as he moved his nose within it. He loved the smell of her hair, the scent of her strong within it mixing with the almond scent of their bath. His body warmed at the sensations it stirred within him but he placed the physical aside for the moment.
Hannibal wanted Clarice to agree with him, therefore he would take his time to make his plan known to her, "The press conference will be active and engaging but it is not a circus; moreover it is a trial in the court of public opinion. Tomorrow I shall take the stand."
She kissed his stomach and rubbed her hand across it. There was a distinct sadness about her voice, "So why do you want to set yourself up for this? It could go so wrong in so many ways."
Hannibal took her hand in his and kissed the pulse point on her wrist. His wish was to fortify her, "Because I have been seen in every paper and on every new broadcast as a flesh eating monster hidden in a dungeon trapped behind a mask. As it was my deeds by which the mask was placed, it must be through my deeds alone by which it can be removed. I must make every effort to do so that I may begin to remove some of the stigma associated with my past. Our child will carry my name. I would have him do so with pride."
Clarice looked up at her husband, somewhat convinced though not fully. "Do you think that might work?" she questioned with some small hope in her voice.
"If I am found to be a positive and contributing member of society it will go quite a long way to providing our son with a much more conventional childhood than we could have otherwise provided. The concept makes sense, yes?" Hannibal traced his fingertips up and down his wife's arms feeling the sudden appearance of tiny raised bumps.
Stimulation of the pilomotor reflex…appearance of cutis anserine. Is this a reaction to my touch or the cooling of your body from the bath Clarice?
Hannibal inhaled deeply to assess if his wife's scent to discover which of the possible motivators had been the cause of the goosebumps. He smiled when his keen senses attuned to her body, gave him the answer he hoped.
Increase in pheromones…my touch.
Clarice continued the conversation, distracted somewhat by Hannibal's now persistent attention to her body. She chose to ignore the physical stimulation for the moment as she wanted answers to her questions.
Her voice took on a new determination, "It makes sense but it makes me nervous. Why didn't you tell me before you went out there that was what you were up to?"
Hannibal had no difficulty processing differing streams of stimuli coming in simultaneously and answered her question while attending generously to her breasts. He could feel Clarice's heart beat against his left cheek as he searched the peak of her breast. He paused each time he captured the flesh in his mouth.
"Initially I was…merely planning… on assisting our neighbor…. as I have known her…for a very long time and she has been… kind to me. The overzealous officer… provided the impetus for …the idea as his… assault painted me publicly…. in a more favorable light."
Clarice lifted his head from her breast and took a deep breath. She responded, breathless with her face flushed hot with passion, "Yeah… he was…a dick!"
"Accurate but blunt as always my Love," he joked before returning to her breast.
"We are seriously going to have to start weaning you before this baby is born, H…"
"Why Clarice...I won't mind sharing. You do have two breasts therefore I offer that you should designate one for Junior and one for Senior. As I prefer the left you can offer Junior the right…I was after all here first."
"Yeah…we'll have to talk about that cuz I really don't see that happening."
"Give it some thought Clarice…give it some thought. It would be very generous of you and that one of the infinite reasons why I find you so immensely appealing."
"I find you just as appealing, H."
"Prove it."
Clarice stripped back the covers from the bed and swung a leg over Hannibal's body. She sat up straddling him, the heat of her centered on his belly. He cupped his hands over the blossoming belly, his child moving actively within her.
"The baby is very active as of late. Soon he will be making you uncomfortable. I wonder will I go wanting when that happens."
He smiled to himself. His wife had a libido that while not exactly matching his own, was similar enough to make life quite pleasurable for both. The words, 'not tonight' were in neither of their vernacular.
"As long as you ask…I'm saying yes," she teased as she leaned toward him and captured his lips with hers.
"Clarice the only time I will not be asking is when you are actively in labor. I may be fairly well-endowed but I would not want to attempt to pleasure you when you are fully dilated. It might prove to deflate my substantial ego. Other than that and I will be most willing."
Hannibal admired his wife as she moved over his body. She was far too high on his torso for her intention to have been his entrance. She sought simply to enjoy, to forestall, and to tease a bit to heighten the experience.
In his mind he named the anatomical parts, bones and muscles as they moved and rippled along his body, in order to distract him from the stimulation. Hannibal memorized the heat of her thighs as they slipped slowly along his side. He could feel the athletic pressure of her calves and the convex curve to her malleolus she hooked her ankles just beneath the bend in his knees. He did not want an early end to the evening and her movements were beginning to drive his passion.
She noticed he was shifting his attention, "Stay with me, H."
"Clarice…I am attempting to stay but your body is driving me very far forward of you."
She slipped lower on his frame, now riding just above the hips. His body now fully responding to her rhythms, she centered herself so that his erection was slipped between her flesh. She angled so that he could not, unless she separated slightly allowing access, enter her.
Hannibal, frustrated by this position, complained, "Clarice…you are teasing me and it is not very becoming of you."
Clarice could see the flush in his face as he struggled mightily for control. Hannibal was breathing short deep inhalations in order to control the onslaught of an impending orgasm. His body pulsed with the strain as he held himself in check for her pleasure. She saw the power and seized it continuing to rock seductively against his arousal.
She whispered, "So what are you going to do about it? Arrest me?"
Clarice could feel the shudders overtaking his body each time Hannibal's sentence were chopped through his tightened lips as he inhaled when he spoke, each breath sucking at a word and driving it forward in the sentence slowly in an attempt to avoid his inevitable release.
"I will be… patient for now…Clarice…though if… you continue in this… much… past my… tolerance to… bear it… I will finish… ahead of you…leaving me… at…. least… minimally… satisfied and…you to be… left…quite… wanting."
Clarice rocked much more aggressively against his body, "You wouldn't dare."
Hannibal gasped for breath as he spoke. He grasped her hips and pressed his arousal against her stressing through the tactile pressure just how far along his body was. Hannibal could barely speak much less breathe and speak, "Though I… would not… prefer… it I… will… if forced… to it. Mind that… you play… fair my… Love and…slow down… so that… we may… both… enjoy… this."
Clarice smiled, "Okay, you don't have to make idol threats."
Clarice leaned over and began to kiss Hannibal. He tugged and her lips with his teeth raising his torso toward her again and again the repetition causing a good deal of friction against Clarice's sensitive flesh. Her movements slowed and became much more specific, slipping over his member up and down, gliding along his firm flesh now slick from contact with her heightened sexuality.
Hannibal's heart began to sink deeper in his body and surge forward in his chest, thumping against his sternum as if attempting to leap free. He was still lifting for her lips, now alternating with bites to her throat. Clarice began to arch her back with the heat of her own arousal. This position now fully offered her breasts to her husband. With the next crunch upward he captured her left breast in his mouth and latched to it.
Clarice gasped and clutched at his head as his teeth gently sunk into the flesh. He held the bud firmly between his teeth increasing the pressure just enough to cause slight pain though not enough to make her pull from him. Listening intently whenever they made love Hannibal had discovered Clarice was intensely stimulated by certain discomforts. She groaned low at the pressure, the sound so deep that it rumbled up softly from the back of her throat. Hannibal's breath hitched and his belly burned from the sound of it, his desire so intense to fill her.
"Clarice…Please…now!"
Hannibal clutched at her buttocks and shook to hold back his release. As he drove forward he took her breast once more, again he bit down and holding his breath, he listened.
Again, she groaned, this sound so low, primal, animalistic and raw that she nearly drove Hannibal to his end. He crushed his eyelids closed, exhaled slowly and ceased all movement in order to rein in the tumult of his threatening rapture. Several quick uptakes of breath and his fingers kneading Clarice's flesh and he was able to temporarily tremble back his ecstasy.
"Clarice…Let me in."
She leaned over and whispered huskily in his ear, "What are you waiting for H?"
THE PRESS CONFERENCE
Hannibal wore a new formal black Gucci suit to the press conference. Clarice wore a beautiful maternity version of a classic black dress. The pair looked elegant and understated. The mayor and the police chief sent an armed escort to help Hannibal and Clarice maneuver through the gauntlet of reporters fighting to have a question answered or a photo op.
The pair was rushed into a waiting limo, the mayor and police chief already inside.
The mayor spoke first, "Doctor Lecter…Hannibal? May I call you Hannibal?"
Clarice interrupted, "Doctor Lecter if you don't mind."
The mayor continued, "Doctor Lecter…thank you for doing this. The young police officer and his wife are already at city hall. That's where the press conference will be held. I will make a statement as well as the chief, if you would like to make a statement you may and then the officer in question will present his apology. I believe your neighbors will also be in attendance. We will take a few questions and it will be over before you know it. Do you have any questions, Sir?"
All eyes were on Hannibal, especially the police chief. Hannibal was his usual charming self. He flashed a smile, "No questions Mr. Mayor and there is no reason to thank me. I am more than happy to oblige."
The door to the limo swung open and the mayor and police chief exited quickly, and waited for Hannibal to exit. Hannibal stepped out and reached his hand out to Clarice. She took his hand and stepped out of the vehicle.
Clarice smoothed her dress and exchanged a quick glance with Hannibal. Knowing every camera was trained on them, Hannibal, still holding her hand lifted it to his face and kissed it gently.
"Would you do me the honor of taking my arm Clarice? I would like to keep you close."
"H…I don't know about this…"
"We are doing this for Devyni, Clarice…for Devyni."
Don't forget to read and review. If you have any questions you want to ask either Hannibal or Clarice at the press conference pm me and I'll try to fit them inWe could have some fun!
Until the next chapter my friends!
LH