Frederick sat across from the one woman that he did not want to see. He had been drugged, framed for murder, and chased all because he had decided to believe Will Graham. His world had slipped away from in less than 24 hours.
His career was gone.
His freedom was gone.
His good name was gone.
Carolyn, the most important thing in his life, was gone.
She hadn't answered his phone calls after she left him alone. She hadn't answered his calls when he woke up after a long night of boozing it up to chase the shame away. She hadn't answered when he was trying to find a place to hideout, which had led him to Will Graham's residence in the middle of nowhere. She hadn't answered to listen to him beg her to leave the country with him so he wouldn't be alone in exile.
His waitress was gone.
Carolyn was gone and wasn't ever going to take him back. Not after news broke about the Chesapeake Ripper.
He knew that she'd be ashamed to have people know that she had been with him.
He felt emptiness in his chest that made him feel like the world was pressing down on him. He was alone in this horrible world again, and he wasn't sure how he could survive these unfortunate circumstances without Carolyn there to hold his hand.
The room was both too cold and too hot. It was both too bright and too dark. The psychiatrist that sat across from him glared at him as if he were dog shit that she had stepped in on her way inside Will Graham's dog infested home.
It was all an act to make him crack, and it would have worked if he were actually the Chesapeake Ripper.
"Does it have to be you," he heard himself ask as he looked over to Alana Bloom who sat across from him.
He'd found that he lost what little respect he had for her after she refused to even consider Hannibal Lecter to be the Chesapeake Ripper.
"It seems like one final indignity," he said sadly as he thought about all he had been through with Carolyn and the Chesapeake Ripper.
"It's not like you to hide an achievement," Alana informed him.
He could hear the distaste in her words as she stared him down from across the table.
"The achievement is not mine," he answered with finality.
"Whose is it," she asked, "Hannibal Lecter's?"
"Those are just words coming out of your mouth. No weight to them. No consideration that they may be true."
"They are not true," he heard her say with anger clearly in her words as she leaned into the table.
He had always known that she had a strong distaste for him, but he'd never in a thousand years thought that she would put her own beliefs before what was happening in reality.
"You were using coercive therapies, influencing Abel Gideon and Will Graham to point the investigations in false directions," she informed him as if she knew the real truth behind everything.
She was wrong about everything.
"You cannot see it," he heard himself inform her quickly, "and you will not see it until it is too late. Don't say I did not warn you, Dr. Bloom."
Frederick watched as she slammed the velvet box that had remained in his jacket pocket onto the table. Confusion filled his mind as he looked at the bloodstained box.
"Then explain why the ring from this empty box was found on Carolyn Long's mutilated finger," Alana asked, her anger betrayed her.
His felt his heart stop at the mention of Carolyn's name. He felt his body shake at the thought of Carolyn being gone.
"Explain why Carolyn Long was found in a wedding dress splayed out on your bed, Frederick," Alana demanded as she glared daggers into him.
He shook his head and his bottom lip trembled as he reached for the empty box and held it tightly in his hands. Hannibal had known about his plans to give her the ring and he was using it against him.
"Did she refuse to marry you," Alana asked, "Is that why you mutilated her? Or was it because of the baby?"
"Baby," he asked in confusion as his lip trembled freely.
"Carolyn was pregnant," Alana informed him harshly, "Are you telling me you didn't know about that?"
He felt nausea come over him at the revelation that Alana had dumped upon him like a bucket of cold water. His hands shook as anger, sadness, and defeat radiated throughout his body.
"Is she," he had to stop as he finally felt a sob forming in his throat as he thought about losing her in a new way, "Is she…"
"Jack said you came to him earlier," Alana informed him with words that were as cold as ice as she changed the subject back to him, "He said that you told him that Hannibal made a joke about eating your tongue. You want to throw the blame at Hannibal Lecter's feet to confuse the-"
"I would never do anything to hurt her," he insisted in a level tone as he tried to keep calm under the pressure that was being shoved upon his tired shoulders. He forcefully buried the sob down deep inside of his chest.
"Then why is she laying in a hospital bed," Alana asked, her voice was low, "She fought against you. Those scratches on your back prove that she fought against-"
"We made love before…"
He shook his head as he thought of Carolyn in a hospital bed hooked up to machines. The thought made him sick to his stomach. He had kept her out of his work to make sure that she had stayed out of danger, but in doing so he had put her in even more danger. If he had only told her about Hannibal the Cannibal, then she wouldn't be in the hospital.
He had never wanted a child before, but the reality that the one woman he loved had lost her child cut deep into his chest.
"I did not hurt Carolyn," he replied, his voice was flat as he tried to focus on keeping himself from death row, "You just can't see it. Hannibal Lecter is a monster. You can't see it, and you won't see it until it's too late."
He glared at the woman that had tried to blame him for harming the one person in this world that had decided to fall in love with him and who he loved in return.
"In fact," he added, "I believe these should be my last words on the Ripper until my lawyer arrives."
The only thing that was running through his mind was Carolyn's predicament. He had gotten her too close to Hannibal and she had only been to one of his parties. Hannibal had known about the ring and had used it against him.
Hannibal Lecter truly was a monster to hurt an innocent woman that knew nothing about him.
Hannibal Lecter was the devil on earth to be able to hurt Carolyn who had never done anything wrong to anyone.
Frederick's eyes widened as understanding finally dawned on him. Hannibal Lecter went after Carolyn because it wasn't that hard to believe that he could have told her everything about his career. Hannibal had made him his patsy and Carolyn was just a chess piece that could be moved around for him.
He needed to let Jack Crawford know that if Carolyn was still alive that she needed to be protected from Hannibal, but just as he opened his mouth to voice his concern, the glass that separated the interrogation room from the snooping box shattered.
He watched in frightened silence as the bullet travelled so quickly that he had almost missed it coming at him. He felt the bullet tear through his face and exit out the back of his skull. There was no pain as he slumped from his sitting position.
The last thing that he heard before his world went black was Jack Crawford screaming and the soft voice of Carolyn whispering that he made her happy. As her faint words passed through his mind, he could only hope that he survived just to hear his angel say that she loves him.
...
Carolyn woke to the sound of the constant beeping of the machines that monitored her heart rate. The gauze that wrapped around each individual finger itched from the missing nails that Hannibal had ripped off in an attempt to hide all evidence of their previous altercation. Her eyes burned and her throat felt raw from all of the screaming that she had done when she first tried to escape Hannibal Lecter, which landed her in a whole new mess.
She knew she should have just listened to him, but her stubbornness had forced her to find a way to escape. She hadn't rolled over on her belly when she was attacked in her old office by violent men that had been searching for her boss. She'd fought them back and survived.
She had fought off Hannibal Lecter and he had let her survive. Though she had no idea for how long he would let her live.
Her eyelids were heavy from the amount of morphine that the hospital had injected her with to keep her sedated and out of the pain that would hit her at full force soon if they did not deliver her another injection.
They doctors had told her the horrible news as soon as she was awake and fully able to comprehend the situation.
She'd never speak again.
The trauma that she had experienced at Dr. Lecter's hands had caused her body to abort the fetus that had started to grow inside of her. She hadn't even suspected that she was pregnant, but it didn't take away the pain that burned inside of her for the loss of something special that she and Frederick had created together.
Hannibal had ruined lives. He was the devil.
She could feel that her face was puffy from the swelling of having what was left of her tongue sewn up by Hannibal after he had cut her tongue out to insure that she kept her mouth shut.
Her eyes slowly scanned the small hospital room that she had been placed in. The FBI had set her up in a private room so she could fully recover from her injuries.
Her lips trembled as pink tulips came into her view. They sat in a very beautiful, very expensive glass vase. They brightened the dark room, but they sent an uncontrollable, fearful shiver down her spine as her eyes lingered on the simple card that leaned against the case.
'-H'
It was the only thing that was written on the case, and she knew exactly who the flowers had been from. Hannibal Lecter had been in her room while she was under the effects of the drugs.
Her swollen lips trembled as hot tears formed in her eyes. Her body shook like a leaf in the autumn air as it tried to hold on to dear life to the twig that it had spent its entire life on. The fear was overtaking her body and pushing her into a panic as she glared at the pink tulips.
"You've awoken," his voice rippled through the white noise of the hospital machinery and air conditioner, "I've been waiting for you to wake up, Carolyn. May I call you Carolyn?"
She turned her head to see him standing in the door frame with sparkling eyes that almost seemed red as the light reflected off of them.
He was the devil. He had come to collect on her soul.
Her body shook violently as she watched him edge closer and closer to her. Her chest tightened as she watched him smile at her with those vile teeth and that tongue that could tempt an angel to sin. The tears fell freely from her eyes and drenched her face.
"Jack Crawford of the FBI has sent me to speak with you," Hannibal informed her as he stood at her side.
She watched as he slowly pulled her hand from the bed and inspected the bandages that covered her mutilated hands. It was then that she noticed the ring on her finger. The diamond glinted in the soft light of the hospital room and her heart sank.
"They wanted me to speak to you about Frederick Chilton," he admitted, "and what he did to you."
She shook her head back and forth as the tears continued to stream down her cheeks and soak her hospital gown and the pillow that she laid on.
"I also wanted to offer my condolences about your loss," Hannibal informed her as his eyes traveled away from her fearful eyes to her stomach, "The trauma was too much for it-"
Her sniffles and deep breath forced him to stop speaking for only a moment. She could feel his eyes peering into her soul as he patted her fingernail less hand.
"They are going to want a statement from you about the trauma that Frederick put you through," he said flatly.
Carolyn shook her head at his words as the tears burned her skin.
"It would be a terrible tragedy if something should happen to Frederick while he's in recovery," he stated simply.
She looked up at him with worry in her eyes. Confusion painted her pained, swollen face. She wanted to scream to anyone that would listen what he had done and who he was, but he had taken that power away from her.
"There was an attempt to take his life by a surviving victim of the Chesapeake Ripper," he added, "He's lucky to be alive. I suspect it was seeing you again that kept his heart beating."
He was strategically using her love for Frederick against them to ensure that he remained free.
She closed her eyes for only a moment to calm her nerves. She was quick on her feet, she'd always been able to think things through, and the idea came to her quickly as she forced herself to look back up at Hannibal.
She sighed and shook her head, agreeing to play his game if only to keep Frederick alive.
He smiled at her and winked at her as he replied with a pat upon her hand, "There's a good girl."
Carolyn watched in a silent rage as he turned and left her alone in her private hospital room. The rage that bubbled inside of her could rival any rage that she imagined Godzilla harbored against any large metropolitan area or the rage that Lucifer held against humankind.
For the first time in her life, she had wished that she was a violent person that could stand her ground against men like Hannibal Lecter.
But she was just a waitress that didn't have a violent bone in her body.
As the door closed behind Hannibal, she forced herself out of the bed. Her bare feet touched the cold floor and she stumbled for only a moment before forcing herself towards the table that held the gift he had sent her.
Carolyn grabbed the fine glass vase and threw it to the ground. She ignored the pain that came from the pressure on her fingers as the rage bubbled through her body. The sound of glass shattering and water splashing upon the white tiled floor rippled through the room. She felt like falling to the floor in defeat as she thought over what Hannibal Lecter was doing to her Frederick.
"Are you okay," she heard a soft voice ask from the door.
She turned quickly to see a very thin, fashionable red head staring at her with concern on her face. She tried to calm her nerves as her chest heaved up and down in anger and panic.
"You're Dr. Chilton's girlfriend, aren't you," the woman asked.
Carolyn closed her eyes and nodded as she thought back to how horrible she had been to him the night before all because he had been nice enough to pay her attention.
He could be on his death bed and the last thing that she had said to him had been said in anger. Regret bubbled inside of her.
She slowly nodded to the woman.
"My name is Freddie Lounds," the woman informed her as she walked into the room, "from Tattle Crime. I was with Dr. Chilton when…"
Carolyn nodded as she watched the red head slowly kneel over to pick up the small shards of glass from the vase.
"I'm sorry for what has happened to you," Freddie said as she stood to throw the glass and flowers into the trash, "They are saying that Dr. Chilton is the Chesapeake Ripper."
She shook her head and looked down at the ring that sparkled on her finger. She had known that Frederick would eventually give her a ring, but she hadn't wanted it at the expense of their happiness and his freedom.
"Ms. Lounds," a deep voice announced with anger laced within his tone, "What are you doing here?"
Carolyn pulled her attention to the door once again to see Jack Crawford standing with an unreadable look on his face. She'd expected Cheryl and Sammy to be visiting, not strangers and her attempted murderer to be dropping by.
"I'm a friend of Carolyn's, Jack," Freddie lied, "I'm not leaving her."
"Is this true," Jack asked of her.
She looked over at Freddie and then down to the mess that she had cleaned up. She turned to Jack and nodded. All she wanted to do was fall to the floor and sob from the stress that she was under. She'd never felt so defeated and pushed around in her life.
"First off," Jack said as he edged closer to her with his hands held out to her to show an act of good faith in case she was jumpy around men, "I wanted to offer my condolences. I can't imagine what you are even feeling right now, but we really need a statement from you, and the sooner we can get that the sooner we can get this mess figured out."
She simply nodded and waited with shaking nerves for him to ask her the questions that he had.
"Are you aware of what Dr. Chilton is being accused of," he asked, "and of what happened to him after he was taken into custody?"
She nodded. She closed her eyes and wished that she hadn't been rendered a mute. She so desperately wished that she could speak.
"Did he do this to you? Is Frederick Chilton the Chesapeake Ripper?"
Carolyn looked around the room and sobbed. She ignored the pain as she quickly shook her head and attempted to say "no" but the simple word came out as a banshee-like wail, pathetic sound that could be compared to the sad cries of an animal dying alone in the woods.
Carolyn shivered and shook in her place as she continued to shake her head. The tears fell freely as she stood in front of them. She couldn't tell them who the Chesapeake Ripper was, but she could make damn sure that they knew it was not Frederick.
"But you know who the Chesapeake Ripper is," Jack asked as he watched Carolyn begin to break.
"Jack," Freddie warned softly.
"Did the Chesapeake Ripper threaten you," Jack continued in a hard voice as he tried to extract information from her.
"If he threatened you, we can protect me."
The rage that was already bubbling inside of her began to bubble over and she quickly pulled Freddie's cellphone away from her and began rapidly texting out a statement before handing it back to the red head.
"What did she say," Jack asked as he ignored Carolyn's sad eyes.
She watched as Freddie looked from her phone and back at her before revealing what she had requested.
"She wants to see him."
"I can't let you-"
Carolyn felt the sob escape her and she looked over to the tubes that connected her to the machines. She shook her head and jerked on the cords.
"Jack, just let her go to him," Freddie informed him as if she were really Carolyn's friend, "What can she say to him?"
Carolyn sobbed as she slowly pulled the IV out of her hand and threw it upon the bed. She was going to Frederick even if she would be placed under arrest for doing so.
She needed him like her father had needed a shot of whiskey every night.
She wasn't going to let him be alone anymore, and she couldn't be alone anymore. She'd spent too long searching for him to let the FBI or a killer come between them.
"Let her go, Jack. She just wants to see him."
...
Frederick heard the door open and close softly. He couldn't see who had entered, but he was sure that it was most likely a new guard to stand watch over him. The cold metal of the handcuffs bit into his wrists as he lay helplessly in a drug induced fog.
He could feel his chest moving up and down, but the weight from knowing that Carolyn had been harmed pushed down on him. No amount of pain medicine could chase that pain away.
The familiar pitter patter of bare feet filled his ears and he slowly made himself look towards the door. He could see Carolyn standing in the dark room. He could see the swelling on her face, the bruising that was just begin to color her flesh, and the red tear stains that had fallen only moments before.
His heart felt heavy and his chest tightened as he watched her edge slowly towards him.
He knew there was no way that he could make it without her. He couldn't survive without her in his life. He just wanted to hear her say that she loved him. If she were to say that she loved him, he knew that he could live through anything.
"Caro," he stopped, the pain in his jaw rippled through him, "Lynnie."
He watched as she stood above him. Her eyes were filling with tears again as she looked upon him. He wanted to comfort her. He couldn't bare seeing her like this.
He hadn't received the full details of what Hannibal had done to her, but he could tell that whatever he did to her had been brutal. Her hands came into view and he could see the gauze wrapping around each individual finger from where Hannibal had ripped her nails from her nail bed.
He wanted to hug her and tell her that everything was going to be okay, and that they were safe now. The handcuffs sparkled in the dark room.
Carolyn was the only bright thing in his room. There were no flowers on his table or cards from well-wishers. Everyone had seemingly given up on him. If she were to laugh or smile, she could light up his room like the Fourth of July.
Everyone but Carolyn had given up on him. She was his only light in this dark world.
Tears fell from his eyes as he looked up at the waitress that had come into his life. They'd gone from small talk and little flirtations to being so far in love that even Hannibal Lecter couldn't break them.
He ignored the burning sensation that rippled through him from his salty tears. The way that she looked down at him, her eyes were clouded over from the drugs, but that sparkle still remained, told him that she loved him.
The cuffs and his injuries kept him flat on the bed, but he so desperately wanted to reach out to her and cup her cheek in his hands. He wanted to run his hands through her hair like she liked. He wanted to kiss her again.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, he bit through the pain.
He knew he would bite through any pain when it came to his Carolyn.
The sob that escaped her revealed to him how far the damages that Hannibal had brought upon her. He could see the stitches of what was left of her tongue.
He took a deep breath as nausea came over him momentarily as he thought about all the things that Hannibal had taken away from her. She'd lose her job, she'd never be able to make a joke with her friends again, she'd never be able to sing to her children, she'd be voiceless for the rest of her life.
Hannibal had cut her tongue out to keep her silent. Anger bubbled through him as he listened to her sobs of pain and heartache escape her bruised body. He couldn't hold her, but he could offer her something.
He lifted his fingers from the bed and the handcuffs jingled against the plastic of the hospital bed offering her his hand. He needed to hold her if he were to keep his sanity in this situation. The guilt and pain were too real.
The sudden touch of her wrapped hand sent warm chills through his body. The same chills that he had felt on their first date rippled through him as he watched her fall to her knees in pain and defeat. He felt her chapped lips against the palm of his hand and he held onto her hand tightly as they cried together in the darkness of the hospital room.
The heartache that seeped into the room was almost tangible like a fog rolling in over the ocean in the early mornings. It was almost too much for him to take in. He wanted to sob as the emotions tried to suffocate him.
"I love you," he finally revealed softly as he held her hand. He closed his eyes and wished that she could tell him those words back.
He was filled with so much regret. He had wished that he had told her sooner. He had wished that these revelations had happened one night before all of this mess. Regret bubbled inside of him.
He'd never hear those words escape her lips.
He closed his eyes and listened to Carolyn breath softly as she held his hand. He felt his heart stop as he felt her drawing on his palm. His heart stopped as he felt her finger form an "I", then the shape of a heart, and finally a simple "U".
He wanted to laugh at her declaration of love to him. It was cute. She'd always been the cute waitress and that label still shown through even if she was now the beautiful girlfriend.
He heard the mattress squeak for only a moment as he watched her pull herself from her current position. He moved ever so slightly as she crawled onto the side of the bed and cuddled against him.
Their hands never left each other as she settled herself beside his sore body. He was thankful that she was careful of his new wounds as she laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes.
They needed each other. She had been the lighthouse on the coast line while he just been the wandering ship at sea bringing in a fresh light.
The sound of the beeping machine was soon joined with her soft snores and he couldn't help the soaring of love that bubbled through him.
Everything would work out for them.
The world had finally given him someone that he could call his everything. He still could not believe that the cute waitress that he had thought about so often, the cute waitress that danced happily to La Bamba, and brought him extra coffee.
Carolyn Long was the miracle in his life that he never thought would come.
She was going to be his unborn children's mother one day. She was going to be the one that sat next to him in the rocking chair as the grandchildren played in their yard. She was going to be the only woman that he needed.
It was them against the world and he had faith that they could survive it as long as they were together.
In the dark hospital room with Carolyn's head against his chest and her hand still holding his tightly, he finally understood what all those old men had been saying about being in love with the only person in this world that matters.
For once in his life he had done something right and he'd give everything to make all of her dreams come true.
The End.
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