Hi! I've decided to make this a multi-chapter fic after all! Let's see where this goes...

Her baby bump was so small that it was barely noticeable, but Clarice felt eyes on her when she went jogging the next day. She had forgotten her sports bra. That did not help. Her former classmates jogged by at different paces and she had to fight the urge to hold her stomach.

'Why are people staring at us?' She couldn't stand it anymore and hissed at Ardelia. Her old roommate was wearing a matching academy sweatshirt and her hair was clipped back. Sweat glittered on her neck.

'What do you mean?' Ardelia puffed.

'Everyone is... Looking..' Clarice immediately felt foolish. 'Never mind.'

The two ran in silence. The air was uncomfortably humid. It felt like a shower room.

Clarice stared at her feet. They jogged along at a steady rhythm, leaving prints in the moist dirt and not slipping on the wet leaves. She felt her ponytail slap her neck occasionally.

It must have been something in her face; Ardelia spoke suddenly. 'You okay, Clarice?'

'Hmm? Oh, yeah.'

''Cause no one's been looking at us. Well, Jim and his goons tried to check us out again, but nothing new.'

Clarice forced a smile. 'Haha. I'm just feeling a lil' paranoid. Just a feeling.'

Ardelia didn't answer.

'It's all good!' That was a little too forceful. 'It must be the weather! Let's finish this run so we can get to the bathroom, I didn't properly brush my hair this morning. Want some gum?'

If Ardelia was still suspicious, she didn't show it. 'No, thanks. Race you?'

'Sure!' Clarice took a deep breath and sprinted ahead, calling out as she ran, 'READYSETGO!'

'Hey! That's cheating!' Her friend was left behind, but good-humored.

Starling slowed her pace when she felt the sun touch her skin. She reached a warm patch. The decrease in chill was comforting and she wiped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve.

A classmate that Clarice was vaguely familiar with jogged by, going in the opposite direction. His eyes flickered over her body. Instinctively. There was nothing threatening or even leery about the harmless glance.

'What's your problem?!' The girl snapped at him. Her hands instinctively covered her stomach, which looked normal to the average Joe.

'Hey, easy,' he frowned and moved on, slightly picking up his pace and lowering his eyebrows.

Clarice sighed and rubbed her tummy. She felt like it had grown in the last five seconds.

Realizing that she was expecting a child hadn't been healthy for ex-Special Agent Starling. She had grown paranoid of someone finding out her secret. It wouldn't be helpful for her already sideways reputation of white trash, failing agent... woman.

The unavoidable fact that her body would change loomed in the back of her mind like a large spider in the attic. I need to remember to kill that fucking spider.

She'd also showed lots of the negative symptoms of pregnancy- depression, anxiety, loss of appetite and insomnia, which worried Clarice since she was barely three months along.

Her first nightmare had happened during the night of conception. They happened once every two or three days. Clarice always woke up crying. She could not believe how twisted some of them were. The one from last night came to mind...

Just on cue, the sunlight faded.

Clarice felt a small lump grow in her throat. No, no, you can't cry now!

Out of the corner of her eye, Ardelia popped up around the corner. Clarice wiped the four tears that were biting her eyes away and started running again.

'Clarice, wait!'

She didn't. Ardelia and that rubber-necker were friends. He'd probably told her as he passed by: "Ardie, what's with your friend? Anyone would think that she's-"

No! Clarice ran faster.

She reached the building in twenty seconds and dashed inside without looking back. Once inside, Starling dodged a younger student, bumped into the wall, and cursed rabidly before stumbling into the ladies' room and locking herself in a stall.

The younger student gave it a second thought, but quickly forgot the small pandemonium.

Clarice crouched on the toilet seat, still wearing her pants. She dabbed at her eyes roughly with the thin membranes of toilet paper squares.

Technically, she wasn't even supposed to be in any of the FBI buildings. But no one tried to stop her from hanging around at the academy.

She put pressed her hands on her face, trying to calm herself down. She wasn't even sure why she was making such a big deal over anything.

Just another one of those goddamned symptoms. Clarice gritted her teeth.

She felt guilty for ditching her friend, but she'd rather sit whimpering in a bathroom stall than have to tell anyone that she was pregnant.

I'll have to tell someone eventually. Clarice ran her hand through her hair and freed it from the ponytail. The tangled sheet flopped against her sweating neck and blocked ventilation. Oh well.

Sitting at her desk at home, Clarice absently drew squiggles on her wrist. The ink's odor was giving her a headache.

A sheet of paper stared blankly up at her. Starling held the pen between two fingers and swung it slowly, the tip just brushing the blue lines.

Do I? Don't I? Do I? Don't I? Do-I-Don't-I-Do-IDon'tIDoIDon't-

That same train of thought had stomped in her head back then when she was on the ranch.

They're killing the lambs!

She smacked her head in an attempt to expel the thoughts. The pen marked the paper furiously, driving its tip into scarring the paper.

Dear Dr. Lecter,

I'm pregnant. Please help me.

~Starling

She wished that she knew his address. After some thought, the address that Benetti was investigating was added at the top.

After a bit more thought, "please help me" was whited out.

She was planning on sending it right away, before she changed her mind, but Clarice found herself flopping onto the bed and losing waking consciousness.

Her eyes twitched behind the lids; the images from melted memory and scarlet fear were already coming out to play.

What did you guys think? Please review and let me know! Thanks!