"That's weird," Dr. Sheppard murmured as she looked into the screen.
"What is it?" Elizabeth asked worriedly as her hand gripped Hannibal's as she lied down on the table in the doctor's office.
"Well, I don't want to frighten the both of you, but there happens to be two babies inside of the womb," Dr. Sheppard informed them.
Elizabeth and Hannibal froze as they both questioned, "What?!"
"Two," Elizabeth questioned as she sat up a little on the table. "I-I don't understand. You said that there was only one baby."
"No, I said that I didn't know about its gender, this is probably why because it is two instead. One of them is much larger and stronger than the other, almost as if it were hiding the weaker child." She told them carefully.
"I don't like the look on your face," Elizabeth said softly.
Dr. Sheppard turned the screen over to them. "The reason why I didn't hear the other heartbeat was because the baby died and somehow the other baby was over it on the screen, but now…it moved over."
Silence filled the room and Elizabeth suddenly let out a sob as she covered her face with her hand.
"I'll leave you both alone, but we need to perform a c-section to get the baby out so that the nutrients can go to the other baby." Dr. Sheppard told them.
"Was it a boy or girl," Hannibal asked breathlessly.
"It was a girl," she answered and then left the couple in the room together.
Elizabeth gripped Hannibal closer to her as she cried. Hannibal shed tears as well for their daughter and shushed her cries. "I'm here. It's alright."
"No, it's not," she cried. "She's been dead inside of me for weeks, Hannibal and no one noticed. No one!"
"You can't blame yourself. No one can," Hannibal reminded her. "Sometimes things happen and this is one of those things. It's life and we can't let this weaken us. At least, our other child is still alive and healthy."
Elizabeth nodded. "We need some kind of funeral or something for her. She needs to be remembered. Promise me that you won't leave my side when I have to go into surgery…"
Hannibal immediately nodded. "Don't worry. I will. Penelope won't be forgotten."
"Penelope," she repeated. "I like that name for her."
"I was reading The Odyssey and thought that Odysseus's faithful wife had such a beautiful name. It suited her at the time," Hannibal explained.
"So I guess we're going to name our children after literature characters, huh?"
Hannibal nodded and kissed her forehead, holding each other closer than ever.
"Dorian, Ichabod, D'Artagnan, Athos, Vlad, Abel, Jay, or Perseus," Hannibal suggested, smirking a little.
Elizabeth gave a warm smile to Klaus as he opened his eyes. "Hey there, Satan."
Klaus chuckled then winced in pain. "Don't make me laugh, Cricket."
She shook her head and held his hand. "I'm glad you're okay."
"I knew that you would save the day," Klaus informed her as he smirked at her.
Elizabeth took out a photo from her purse. "I wanted you to have this."
Klaus took the sonogram in his hands. "Aw…you're getting sentimental with me."
She rolled her eyes and pointed a threatening finger at him. "When you were kidnapped, I honestly didn't know how I felt about you dying. I know that I felt sad and I had major anxiety to save you. I was scared."
"Guess you actually care about me after all, huh?"
"Don't sound so smug about it."
"Oh, I'm not being smug. This is my happy face," He admitted, still smiling. "So this is my grandson…"
Klaus's smile slowly turned into a frown which made Elizabeth question, "Why do you look sad about seeing your first grandchild?"
"Oh, it's not that. I'm happy about this, I am. I'm happy that you trust me enough to share these special moments with me even after everything," Klaus told her softly. "There is something that I need to tell you."
Elizabeth whined in frustration. "What is it now?"
"It's about Bedelia." Klaus answered. "She told me something and I didn't believe her when she told me…until Roger told me the same thing. He had photos, Lizzie."
Elizabeth's eyebrows knitted in confusion and cautiously looked over to the machine where his heart rate beeped quicker. "Klaus, calm down. Your heart is beating faster."
"There is something about Hannibal," he gasped as his chest heaved up and down.
"Klaus-"
Klaus gripped her hand, pulling her closer to him. "I don't have much time so listen carefully."
"Why?" She asked worriedly. "What's wrong? The doctor told me"
"I am fine. I need to tell you that Hannibal is not who you think he is," he told her breathlessly.
Elizabeth shook her head and slammed the door shut. "No. I can't hear this story all over again. I thought that we were done with this shit. I'm pregnant for god's sake. With Hannibal's child. Do you really think I want to hear about how Hannibal, the man I love is The Chesapeake Ripper?!"
"He is though," Klaus insisted. "How did you know?"
"Oh, come on," she drawled out. "It's not that hard to put together especially when your brother was in jail giving you hints. Not to mention that the fact that Bedelia was in on it too probably since she told me how much we looked alike. Hannibal is not a killer."
"He is," he whispered. "Roger had a photo, but chances are that you won't find it because Hannibal took it."
"Do you know what horrible things The Ripper has done to me?"
"Yes, I do. Back when you barely knew Hannibal and the Ripper considered you a threat yes?"
Elizabeth was silent as he continued, "Then the Ripper's tactics started to change towards you once you kissed Hannibal. Then you were with him so he stopped. What happened next? You broke up with him, didn't want a relationship-basically rejected him. The Ripper started to kill again. You apologized to Hannibal and make everything okay then he stops again. You tell him that you're with child-his child, his legacy so he does everything in his power to protect the both of you. He fell in love with you, Elizabeth. Why do you think that we haven't gotten any murders lately? It all fits into the timeline of when you met Hannibal Lecter."
Elizabeth pursed her lips and couldn't form some kind of response which made Klaus nod at her. "I'm right, aren't I? It all fits into the puzzle. The Ripper has always had an obsession with you and you know it, he's always been close to you so why not get emotionally close to you? Why not save you from the man who was gonna take away his family? Hannibal has a history of manipulating his patients; Will is an example of it and so many others. Has there ever been a time when you almost lost your mind?"
Elizabeth froze and stared at Klaus with a blank expression as she came forward.
"This conversation doesn't leave this room, Klaus, no one can know. Not even Will, it'll just set him back since he's recovering finally. I can't…I don't have the strength to hear this anymore especially after everything I've just went through."
"You can't ignore this forever. I get that he's the love of life, but eventually you have to open your eyes to what's in front of you, Cricket," Klaus replied lowly. "I know what you're going through and that you're tired of hearing all of this from the people you love. I've heard it all too when I met your mother. They told me that she was bad news; hell her family told her that I was bad news. You're mother wasn't a good person and I didn't want to believe that. I wanted to believe that you actually loved us."
"What changed?"
"I met fucking Graham is what changed. He popped up on my doorstep and told me about his life. She had a second life and she left them to start a new one with me. My older brother told me that I should leave her and take you with me, but I didn't listen. Then when I confronted her about it, the next morning all of her things were gone. She didn't even leave a note. I was so devastated and you know the rest."
"Yeah. You left me alone. I was lucky that the Graham's found out and took me in. You and that woman were made for each other," Elizabeth said angrily. "I can't do this right now because I can't be stressed out especially after…I need to think of my son first before anything, Hannibal included."
"You have to admit though that it all seems a bit coincidental, Cricket. Everything fits and makes sense; he fits your profile of The Ripper, right?"
"I have to go," she muttered.
As Elizabeth walked out of the hospital, she receives a call from Jack, answering it, "Hello, Jack. I know I'm late. I had to see Klaus"
"Elizabeth. At the TattleCrime offices, a burning body in a wheelchair rolled into the parking garage, and a dental analysis confirms it is Freddie Lounds," Jack told her.
"Oh my God…is it the Ripper," she dared to ask.
"No, it doesn't look like it."
She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Good. He's been dormant lately which worries me."
"Well, didn't you say he made an appearance when you were kidnapped at the factory?"
"Yes, he gave me a flower."
"Roger was obsessed with your baby so why would the Ripper keep it alive? I mean if he really wanted to make you miserable and torture, why not take the thing you love most in the world like all of his other trophies?" Jack asked in confusion.
Unless it was his child, Elizabeth thought suddenly.
"Elizabeth?"
"Yeah, I'm still here. Listen, I'll come right away to the office, but first…there's something I have to do so I'll talk to you later, Jack. Bye."
Elizabeth hung up and got inside of her car, driving towards Hannibal's office like a speed demon. Her hands tightened onto the wheel as she slowly shook her head.
No, it can't be Hannibal. Not again. It's not Hannibal. No, it's not Hannibal.
The conversation with Klaus replayed in her mind over and over again.
Then everything clicked.
Memories came flooding inside of her while chaos seemed to spread its wings as she thought about the pills Hannibal gave her. It made her hallucinate the next day and she killed someone thus calling Hannibal.
Oh my God, he wanted to break me and he knows everything. Every secret. He knows. He broke me in the end.
He stopped when I told him that I was pregnant. He wanted…it all makes sense. How could I have been so blind to not recognize the sighs? I'm a profiler, but he knew my weak spots. Hannibal knew everything about me. He bumped into me the first day we met…was it intentional? It was all a game to him and he won. He fooled me. He made me love him.
The Ripper made me love him. He fooled me twice.
TBC…
THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS, FOLLOWS, AND FAVORITES! YOU GUYS ARE STILL SUPER AWESOME AS ALWAYS! So Elizabeth finally finds out about Hannibal! I made this a little earlier than expected since I was planning on making her find out in the season finale episode which is the chapter after the next one then we get to season three which I have so many plans for!
Elizabeth doesn't how to feel about everything because there are two Hannibals that she knows: The Chesapeake Ripper and Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the man she fell in love with. I think we all remember that Elizabeth is no stranger to darkness, much like Will.
I'm sorry for the cliffhanger once again, but it's because I felt that this was a really good place to end. I hoped you liked this chapter.
REVIEW. FOLLOW. FAVORITE. Until next time…