Hello everyone! Sorry for the lengthy layoff. I literally had way too much going on. But I am back and ready to finish this story. Warning! This chapter is a little bloody and gory.

Chapter 42

Leo had returned to his home, quiet and alone. He tried to coax Elijah into leaving with him, but Elijah remained adamant about staying with Henry. Leo tossed his keys on the counter and poured a glass of whiskey and sat on his couch. A long sigh escaped his lips as he reminisced the old days and his beginnings with Elijah.

Leo had worked with Elijah since the beginning when Elijah first joined the academy to become FBI. They were always close since college. Leo had spent some time away from the States when he enlisted in the military, special ops. By the time Leo returned home, Elijah had already started up his "side business." But of course, we all have to start somewhere, Elijah was a small-town dealer working his way up and seeking to network with whomever. Leo was not sure what to think, but after returning home to a cheating wife that left him, no family, no friends except for Elijah, he decided to tag along. He was angry resentful and admittedly did not have much use for his skills back home. Dishonorable Discharge – bad temper so to speak. Where was left for him to go? He did admit the money made life easy and pleasurable. Thanks to Leo's connections in the military from all those soldiers that suffered PTSD, it opened up a whole new revenue for them. Elijah, working his way through the FBI got some high profile customers which always made Leo nervous. Leo preferred under the table methods. When dealing with customers of any sort of status, the situation can turn messy. Leo had met Clarice several times and liked her strong, determined nature. But he also thought she was a little too clever. After the Buffalo Bill case, the first Tattler articles started about the "The Bride of A Cannibal" cover which Elijah was furious over. Leo always thought his obsession with her would be his downfall. Clarice had to work twice as hard after the Buffalo Bill case just to prove herself to her superiors. When a big drug bust opportunity presented itself, Clarice was on board. Elijah tried to bury the evidence before it was too late, but clever Clarice already had all the evidence she needed to put Elijah and the Senators he sold to behind bars. However, the Senators were quick to cover the scandal and pin the blame on Elijah. Clarice had made the initial arrest and argued the Senators deserved their place behind bars with him. That was the beginning of Clarice being placed on desk jockey duty for a while before they would allow her back on the field. Luckily, Leo had sensed Clarice's cleverness much earlier than Elijah. He anticipated it, he buried his side of the story so no connections were ever made. Leo always thought that Hannibal only admired those who could stand on their own two feet, someone with a back bone strong enough to challenge anything and everything. That is why he was always careful with Starling. Her intellect, ambition, determination, and prowess made her a deadly weapon. Elijah was always too love struck to see it, and once the Tattler started shipping Starling and Lecter together as lovers, Elijah broke down. He drunkenly made an attempt to confront her about it one night. Leo remembered the incident well. Leo tried to convince Elijah not to go, but he was too stubborn. So Leo went to keep an eye on him and to make sure the situation didn't get too ugly. Clarice came to the door still dressed in her sweats at 11pm. It looked like she was still working.

"Elijah? Leo? What are you two doing here?"

"Clarice, is it true?" Elijah muttered.

"Excuse me?"

Elijah held up the article written by the Tattler. This particular edition used to piss Clarice off so bad. Looking back now she finds it funny, but at the time, it was a difficult subject. The article spoke of Hannibal and Clarice and their love for one another. It claimed that Dr. Lecter had never spoken to anyone before Clarice. So begs the question…why her? Love. It spoke to her late night visits with the Doctor and how she had received a personal congratulatory phone call from the man himself on her graduation. Then came the crazy lies about how she had maintained correspondence and how she was seeing him.

"Elijah, you are clearly out of your mind and wasted. Get that garbage out of my face and go home please. Leo-"

Leo sighed, "Sorry Clarice, this was not my idea I assure you. Let me get him home."

Leo reached for Elijah, but he brushed him off, "Don't avoid the question. I know you are fucking him."

"Elijah! I do not appreciate this, that is absolutely not true, get out of my doorway now or else!"

Leo remembered dragging a busted up Elijah back to his car. Clarice had broken his nose. After Elijah went to jail, Leo moved out of town and had some plastic surgery done to alter his appearance as well as a change in hair style. He had only met Clarice 3 times. All 3 times were short and simple. Their longest conversation consisted of 5 minutes. He was sure he was a forgotten character in her mind. But even in those short conversations, he felt like he understood Clarice. He found it funny that after all these years she really was with Lecter. Guess Elijah had some crazy intuition about their connection. Leo admittedly did not see it coming, but then again he didn't really focus on that. His main focus was busting his best friend out of jail. Obviously, the process was long and took years to accomplish. By the time he got Elijah out, it seemed like he was a different person. His obsession with Clarice had evolved into something more sinister. Leo had maintained the business empire while Elijah was in jail. He grew it well and had built up so much money he was sure Elijah would be ready to flee the country and retire. He was not. Instead, he had turned that whole empire into a tracking system for Hannibal and Clarice. When they got wind of Henry, Elijah had a meltdown. He couldn't stand the thought that she was actually fucking him. That they had actually produced an offspring together. Elijah made a vow that Henry and Starling would be his and Lecter would die. Elijah had saved Leo's life once and Leo felt indebted to him. But this whole situation had gotten out of control too fast. It turned into something ugly.

All these thoughts and more entered his mind as he sipped on his glass of whiskey. He heard a creak in the back room. All lights had remained off in the house. Leo sat still and glanced upward smiling.

"Lecter, is that you?"

Hannibal approached from the shadows with a small smile, "Good evening."

"You really are good. I didn't even notice til just now. The stories I heard don't do you any justice."

"I am flattered really. But there is no time for small talk right now. We both now why I am here so I will not waste your time or my time any longer."

"'I?' So I take it your lovely wife isn't with you?"

Hannibal turned his head only a fraction, "No. She is getting ready for the next phase of these plans. I am more than enough to handle you."

"Hahaha," Leo's laughter echoed off the walls, "You really think so? Arrogant, aren't we?"

"Not arrogance, confidence. Now then, where is Henry?"

Leo still sitting turned the glass round and round in his hands. He caught glimpse of a shimmering light coming from Lecter's hand and deduced it was a knife, "Aaahh yes, Henry. Good boy, very intelligent for his age. But I suppose given his parents that is no surprise."

Hannibal's smile faded, "You are avoiding my question, so I guess you want this done the hard way correct?"

"Do you know what Elijah is doing to your son? He is teaching him all about you. Who you are."

Hannibal stiffened and glared down Leo, "That is not his lesson to teach Henry, that is mine."

Hannibal detected the slight shift in Leo's body and sensed that he was about to make a move. Hannibal readied himself.

Leo broke the silence, "I have a gun, you have a knife and gun. But I don't want to play with guns today. I would much rather finish you by my own hand. Elijah would be thrilled."

Leo threw the glass at Hannibal, but he side stepped and avoided it. Leo lunged with full force into a football tackle position and caught Hannibal around the waist. Hannibal drove his harpy down into the back of Leo, but Leo only exhaled. He slammed Hannibal against the countertops knocking the wind out of him and shattering the glass from the cabinets. Leo reached for a shard, but Hannibal delivered a swift kick into Leo's stomach. Leo slid backward, knife in hand. Hannibal charged with his harpy and swiped at Leo's face giving him no space to run. Leo dropped to his knee and dug the glass into Hannibal's thigh. Hannibal showed no emotion nor any signs of pain. Leo smiled. Hannibal's harpy connected across Leo's chest leaving an angry red mark. But Leo fired back with a punch to Hannibal's face. It knocked Hannibal down and Leo jumped on him immediately. Hannibal was ready and shifted the momentum to keep Leo moving and ended up on top instead. Hannibal delivered some quick punches to Leo, breaking his nose and busting his face.

He grabbed Leo's shirt, "Where is Henry?"

Leo laughed, "You are really good, you would have made one hell of a soldier."

Hannibal drug the harpy across Leo's cheek, "Where is Henry?"

"Fuck you Lecter!" Leo brought up a shard of glass again and dug it into the side of Hannibal's neck. Luckily the piece wasn't very large but Hannibal stood quickly holding the shard in place to make sure Leo didn't pull it out of his neck.

Leo stood as well and Hannibal braced himself against the countertop trying to focus on the fight at hand while simultaneously dealing with the bleeding from his neck.

"Love makes people weak Hannibal. Had it not been for your son, you could have killed me easily already. But you didn't. You are trying to keep me alive so that you may obtain information. I also got a tip off that you hit up some of our warehouses. I guess you have been through a lot huh? But alas, kill me and you won't know where to go next. I must confess that I do wish Clarice was here. I would love to see the look on her face as the light leaves your eyes."

Leo lunged for Hannibal again. Hannibal kicked Leo's knee out from under him so that he fell face first on the ground. Hannibal then came around and sat on Leo's back. He grabbed his head and began scalping him with his harpy. Leo screamed.

"I don't have time for your games Leo, you will tell me now, or I will carry this out for as long as possible." Hannibal was in pain and the glass in his neck was throbbing. Blood had soaked the floors. Leo shook his head.

Hannibal sighed, "Then I suppose your resolve shall be tested tonight. But I can be very persuasive."

Clarice stayed in a nearby hotel gathering supplies waiting on her husband. She insisted they both go to visit Leo, but Hannibal convinced her otherwise. After the incident at the warehouse where she took the leading role, Hannibal became cold. He told her he couldn't stand the thought of losing her. Clarice insisted they were stronger together so Hannibal compromised. He informed her that if his time with Leo took more than 4 hours then she could come looking. She glared at her phone. The last message sent from Hannibal was him confirming the car had pulled up…that was 3 hours ago. Clarice felt her head spinning. First her son is taken, then Amelia is killed, and now her husband won't message her. All of this because of her. She wanted Elijah gone, and she wanted to be the one to do it. She glanced at the message one more time.

"Fuck 4 hours." She grabbed her gun and drove to Leo's address. The lights were still off and it was still dark and quiet out. Clarice crept slowly. She glanced through the window and saw the broken glass and blood. She snuck to the back door and opened it. She stayed low to the ground until she was sure what the situation was. She heard raspy, labored breathing coming from the other side of the counter. Clarice stood slowly and made her way around to a sight that she would never forget for the remainder of her life. There sat a man laying against the countertops with a completely disfigured face. It was sliced up and bloody. The labored breathing was coming from this man and Hannibal sat across from him bloody as well, and breathing quietly.

"Hannibal! Are you ok?"

Hannibal strained a laugh, "Such a gruesome, hideous sight to behold and yet you immediately run to my side."

"Hannibal I am being serious, there is a glass shard in your neck, and….and…" Clarice began to cry, "I told you, you shouldn't do this alone. You took out those men in the warehouse, you were injured, I could have helped you. Why didn't you want me here by your side?"

Hannibal reached up and placed a hand on her cheek, "Clarice, I didn't want to put you in danger any longer. After Amelia's passing, you were upset. I didn't want you to make a mistake. I didn't want Elijah to have a chance to capture you. It is ok my dear, I will be fine. Leo broke…I know where Henry is."

Clarice grabbed the Harpy from Hannibal's hands and came over to where Leo sat. She sliced his throat and his last mangled breaths escaped. She struggled to hear Leo's last word, but she still heard it none the less.

"Beautiful."

Clarice reached for Hannibal and helped him up. She couldn't take him to the hotel in this state. She guided him into the back rooms and found a bedroom. She laid him down gently and went back to the car to get the medical supply kit Hannibal always kept. She returned and found that Hannibal and shed most of the bloody clothes. She cleaned him up and worked on stitching the place in his neck up. Not deep, but very bloody. Hannibal grabbed Clarice's hands.

"Clarice, let me, you don't have to bloody yourself up on my account I-"

He was cut off when Clarice slammed her lips against his in a rushed kiss. When she pulled away from him she spoke, "I am never letting you go."

After Hannibal was cleaned up, he got dressed in long sleeves and a turtle neck to hide the bandages. They drove back to the hotel room and Clarice told him they should probably get some rest first. They would need to be fresh when they confront Elijah. Hannibal agreed.

Only one more destination was between them and their son.