Wednesday, December 22nd

Will stared at the ceiling of his bedroom, his alarm yelling in a rhythmic beat as if it needed to take breaths in between each wail. I could call in sick. Something he'd done maybe twice since he'd become a teacher. It wasn't his classroom he was trying to avoid, though. It was where he'd decided to go after work. If he didn't go today though, he'd have to go tomorrow, and thanks to the proximity of Christmas eve, that would only make it worse. A lot worse. I have to go today.

He flipped over in bed and stared. All eight of his dogs were lined up next to his bed, waiting patiently for him to get up and feed them. Okay, seven of them were waiting patiently. Adam was sitting and trying to behave like all the others, but Will could tell the pup was not having an easy time of it. His tail kept thumping against the floor in agitation and he kept shifting his weight from side to side, inching little by little towards Will's bed.

"I'm coming," he groaned. "Go. I'll be in the kitchen in a minute."

The dogs all stood at that and left the room two by two in an orderly manner. Or started to. Adam decided he wanted to be first and bolted through the forest of legs belonging to the rest of his pack, causing some of them to stumble and let out yips of surprise or growls at the little one in warning.

He needs more training. With a sigh, he climbed off his bed. He was sure that Adam would calm down once he got past his puppy stage. Until then, his other dogs were no doubt going to keep giving him looks. Ones that said Will was a traitor and how could he allow this asteroid into their home?

It took Will another four minutes to convince himself that he would: A. be okay and B. would not murder anyone before the day was over. Believing neither of those things, he forced himself to get up, mostly because he knew all his dogs would come back to guilt trip him if he didn't. He hit the alarm clock off and staggered towards the kitchen. He needed coffee. And sleep. And for the holidays to be over with already. A new life, perhaps? Could he change his request for socks to a new life?

He entered the kitchen and grabbed all the dogs' bowls from the drying rack next to the sink. After lining them up on the counter, he grabbed the food he'd made the night before from the fridge and started portioning it out into each of the bowls. He gave Adam his food first to avoid any mishaps with the others and then put all the other bowls down. Tomorrow he'd start making the pup wait for his dish.

When everyone had finished with their food, they lined up at the backdoor. Will opened it and his entire pack bolted out. Coffee in hand, he stepped out onto the back porch. There was just enough snow to cover the grass, which, of course, meant the dogs were soon having their version of a snowball fight. No one seemed to be winning, but there was no question that they were all having fun.

If only this could be his life. Minus the part where he had to visit a mall to buy a gift. Or that Hannibal had chosen Alana over him. That was his fault though, since he'd never told Hannibal that he was the only person to ever evoke a single romantic feeling in Will in his entire life. And while he was required to be happy for the two of them, and did his best to act the part. It didn't stop him from fantasizing every chance he got about Alana mysteriously disappearing and Hannibal coming to him for comfort. And by mysteriously disappearing, he meant leaving his friend tied up and sunk to the bottom of the deepest depths of a lake somewhere so far in the woods no one would ever find her again.

Which was probably why Hannibal had chosen Alana over him in the first place. If she was anything, it was stable. And far more adept at navigating social situations. He couldn't imagine trying to help Hannibal host a dinner party or join him at an opera. Alana could probably do either without a single suggestion from Hannibal.

Will took a large swig from his coffee cup. She's your friend. Stop hating her. Sad that he had to remind himself of that more and more often, even though he hardly saw her or Hannibal anymore. I should find a new psychiatrist. Without the weekly sessions, he doubted he'd see Hannibal outside of crime scenes and the dinner parties he couldn't get out of. Maybe he could bury his feelings then and all his murderous plots to remove Alana from existence. And if he got a new psychiatrist, someone who was closer to his house, he'd have more free time. Perhaps enough to go searching for a ninth dog?

A loud yelp brought him out of his thoughts. Ellie was lying on top of Adam like he was nothing more than a chew toy while the pup desperately tried to get away.

"I'm sure he deserved it," he said, snickering quietly and looked back down at his phone. On the screen were the numerous drafted text messages he'd almost sent to Hannibal the previous night, before he'd come to his senses and stopped himself. There were twelve, all of them one to two sentences long, letting Hannibal know he was having trouble sleeping.

Before Alana, he wouldn't have thought twice about sending any of them, and Hannibal would have responded immediately. Hell, he might have even called Will. They would have talked for a while. Hannibal would have given Will some suggestions, and Will would have calmed down from hearing Hannibal's voice alone.

Then Will would have woken up and Hannibal would have been at his front door, with food of course in multiple reusable containers and sealed mugs full of freshly brewed coffees. They would have enjoyed breakfast together and then come outside and sat here on the steps, watching the dogs play. Basically, anything to start Will's day on a good note. A saving grace for him, because even if the rest of his day went to hell, he could at least replay the morning meal over and over in his head until it made everything that'd gone wrong seem bearable.

For the briefest of moments, he could see Hannibal sitting beside him, a cup of coffee in hand, smiling.

With a sigh, Will looked away. Hannibal was never going to sit on these steps again. Hell, the only reason Hannibal messaged him anymore was to remind him of his weekly sessions. Even if they happened to meet by chance somewhere, Hannibal's conversations had become nothing more than polite small talk. He didn't bother inquiring about Will's mental state or life in general unless they were locked in a room together in Hannibal's office. And since Will had felt the distance between them growing, he'd stopped feeling comfortable telling Hannibal the more subtle things going through his mind at the crime scenes he'd been to lately.

Will held his index finger on the drafts until the options list came up and deleted all of them. His phone vibrated in his hands as the drafts vanished. Will's breath caught. For a second, he thought he'd accidentally sent them. A quick look after he'd suffered a minor panic attack showed him, he'd not somehow sent a bunch of whiny text messages to his psychiatrist. Instead, it was a reminder for Will to come get the credit card he'd been using to pay for the food tomorrow and the address to the restaurant.

'Oh, and we're going to be dressing up in ugly sweaters, so make sure you get one.'

Will felt his mouth drop open as he reread the text. Now he had to find a scarf and an ugly sweater? This just keeps getting worse…

"Okay guys. Time to go back in! I have to get ready for work." And convince myself not to drive into a wall on the way there.

The dogs rushed back to the door and waited in line for Will to dry them off with a clean towel before they entered the house. All of them of course, but Adam, who, now that he was free from Ellie, was doing flips and rolls in the snow like he'd lost his mind.

Okay. Train Adam and then look for a ninth dog.

(X)

Will arrived at work on time and went straight to his classroom and read some of his work-related emails to distract himself before his students came in. Then he assured Jack via text that he would grab a protein drink during his first break period at ten. He'd planned a lecture for his classes, even though it was the last day before the holiday, but between his lack of sleep from the night before and his growing anxiety about heading to the mall, he ended up playing a documentary on Dr. Al Carlisle instead, so he could stare at a map of the mall on his phone and plot. This only did so much good, though. Sure, he'd figured out he should go in through entrance D, because there were two clothing stores he wanted to check out near there, but beyond that, he'd fast realized he was screwed. If he didn't find a scarf for Jack in one of those two shops, and possibly an ugly sweater, he'd have to venture further in. A lot further in.

He was hardly conscious when the last bell for the day went off. His students had already gathered their things and most of them were rushing out the door, a few lingering to tell him 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy New Year.' He was pretty sure he'd managed to mumble the greetings back. With the remote for his room, he got the lights turned on. Staring back at him from across his desk was the protein drink he'd promised to consume for breakfast. Crap. He grabbed the drink and shoved it into his bag.

Okay. Get the card from Jack and head to hell.

(X)

Okay. You deal with crime scenes, murderers, and their victims all the time. Only he was a pro at making sense of all the chaos at a crime scene, and he usually didn't have to interact with anyone alive besides the BAU members. Here he had to deal with thousands of strangers, and he hated it. But where else could he go to get a decent scarf for about thirty dollars a few days before Christmas eve?

He turned his car off and sat there, trying hard to get his breathing under control. People wearing winter attire walked past his car heading for the mall. He counted at least forty before he dropped his head onto the steering wheel of his car and groaned. He really wished there'd been an alternative, beyond handing Jack a tracking number and telling him his gift was on the way. That would have been fine for anyone else, but he owed Jack to an extent, so here he was. Forcing himself to tolerate this hell hole that he didn't even want to remember existed most of the year, let alone now.

He pulled his phone out of his coat pocket to check for any missed messages, just in case he hadn't noticed one while he'd been having a small breakdown. Nothing. There were a lot of people here though and all their phones would be fighting for the limited WiFi.

He opened his phone and pulled up his messages.

'I'm going to be busy for a while, anything I need to know about before I start?' He sent the message to Jack, hoping for a dead body. Or anything that would require him to leave this place without going inside.

'Nope. We're good. Holiday cheer is still working its magic.'

Will cursed and shoved his phone back into his pocket. Just get this over with. He forced himself out of his car, the cold air calming him enough to at least let him get to the doors without making a run for it. You can do this. He promised himself that ninth dog if he survived this, pulled open the door to the mall, and stepped in.

His hearing was the first of his senses to be assaulted. The mall had Christmas music blasting through every speaker. The only time it stopped was for a woman to give a friendly reminder to everyone present that there were only three more days left of shopping until Christmas, in case somehow someone had managed to miss the hundreds of signs everywhere saying just that. Will was used to tuning music out easily enough, but the yelling between people trying to be heard over the music was another story.

Kiosks ran down the center both ways. People shouted from within them trying to get shoppers' attention. Christmas decorations hung not only from the ceiling, but around every store front, and kiosk. Even the walls had cutesy decorations of cartoon santos and reindeer slapped onto them.

No matter where he looked, there were huge crowds made of hundreds of people. There wasn't a single spot that didn't have at least three people standing or moving in it. They went about their shopping, like this was completely normal. And maybe it was normal for them, but it sure as hell wasn't for him. They pushed each other and tried to get ahead, only to have no choice but to backtrack to grab their kids because the children hadn't been able to keep up.

Turn around. I can just give Jack money and tell him to buy his own scarf.

Will moved into the mall cautiously and pulled up the map of the mall on his phone so he could start his journey. The first two clothing shops weren't far. Five minutes without the crowd, probably closer to fifteen with it, because he would have to fight to break away from all the people that'd immediately enclosed around him the second, he'd started walking towards the place. This is normal. The problem wasn't them though, it was him. It was impossible to avoid listening to anyone or catch glimpses of their faces and as soon as he did, he had a good idea of what was going through their heads. Parents stressed out, both over keeping their children in sight, and all the planning for Christmas they had to do, not to mention the expenses. The workers, also stressed, and not wanting to be there, but having no choice, because they needed the money. The children were all on excitement overload, because in just a few days Santa would be coming to give them whatever gifts they'd asked for. He was basically walking through an emotional hurricane he wanted no part of.

His eyes kept darting from the phone to the signage above the shops with the shops' names. Not that it was always easy to read them. Plenty of the signs now had wreaths and other decorations hanging from them, with only small glimpses of the sign beneath showing.

The few letters from one sign to his left caught his attention. He looked at his phone, back at the sign and with an insincere apology, gave a large push to force his way out of the crowd and into the first clothing shop he'd wanted to stop at. Not wanting to waste any time, he scanned the place from near the door, until he spotted a saleswoman in a bright red polo. He made it across the shop, ignoring all the other displays and items set out and went straight to her.

She plastered a fake smile on her tired face as soon as she saw him. "Merry Christmas! How may I—"

"Do you sell winter scarves for men?"

The woman blinked a few times. "We do."

"Where?"

"I'd be happy to show you." She recovered her smile and started towards the back of the shop.

With no other options, Will followed her. "I also need an ugly sweater." Maybe his luck was turning around. If he could get both items in the first shop he entered, he could pay for them, whatever the price was, and make a run for it. He could be home by five and pretend like this entire thing never happened. Then he could spend the whole evening with his dogs and—

"We sold out of those weeks ago." She stopped at a corner of the shop and motioned to a small selection of very flimsy, would never keep anyone warm, 'winter' scarves.

"Eh… do you have something a bit…thicker?"

"These are thick," she said, giving Will a look.

I should have known not to get my hopes up. "That's not what I'm looking for. Thanks." He turned on his heel, ignoring her as she started talking to him, and made a quick exit from the store. Getting away was easy enough. The second he stepped outside of the shop; he was once again absorbed by the river of people.

He stopped at the second shop, which was almost empty of both people and items. The man at the doorway apologized and told Will they'd sold out of both the items he was looking for days ago and pointed to another shop on his phone map. This one was on one of the upper floors, meaning he needed to find an elevator or escalator. Which of course, were on the other side of the mall.

By the time he'd been shoved into one of the small Christmas trees placed outside of every shop for the third time, he started pushing his way past everyone, trying to find somewhere in the mall that wasn't so crowded he wanted to puke or make him want to commit mass murder.

If he remembered correctly, the center of the mall was an open commons area with a few small vendors, a handful of chairs and tables, and fountains. He could sit down, catch his breath, and ask one of the vendors where the damn escalators had gone. Decision made; he slipped into another current of shoppers that were headed in the direction he wanted to go.

The closer he got to the center, the more numerous the Christmas decorations. Christmas lights hung from the ceiling, and every few feet, he spotted a fake reindeer or elf. Soon he was seeing arrows pointing towards the center, but the crowd was going so fast he couldn't read any of them, less he wanted to be elbowed or shoved.

One of the skylights towards the center of the mall came into view, and Will managed to free himself from the crowd. He stumbled to the edge of the common center, stopping short of stepping into a pile of snow. Wait. "Snow?" He did a double take. Yes, it was snow. And no, the center was not going to be his paradise safe haven for the next ten minutes so he could gather himself. The vendors had been moved as had the tables and chairs. Instead, what stretched out in front of him was the definition of a 'Winter Wonderland.' A sign claimed that somehow, he'd made his way into the North Pole despite having been in Virginia a few seconds ago. Given the sight before him, he couldn't totally deny the sign's claim.

Fake snow fell from somewhere carpeting the floor. And in that snow? Life-sized and lifelike animatronic reindeer bobbed their heads up and down as if eating grass beneath the snow while the others moved their heads from side to side as if watching the mall crowd go about their shopping. A few of them even walked a few steps before they'd stop, wait a few minutes, and continue on. People dressed up as elves helped take photos of families posing next to the reindeer or one of the many fake gingerbread houses that were large enough for people to walk into and look out the windows. Surrounding all of it were at least fifty fake Christmas trees, all of them decorated in different colors and styles.

Just when Will thought it couldn't get any stranger, he felt himself gasp. A fake tree, easily three stories tall, maybe larger, stretched from the floor all the way to the tip of the middle skylight in the center. It was there Will could see the fake snow shooting out of its top from behind the star. When he pulled his gaze down, he could see a gigantic line of people extending from the other side of the mall to the tree. At the midway point, you actually got to enter the tree and walk through it. On the other side, in all his dazzling glory and sitting in a fully decked out sled, was Santa with two animatronic reindeer ready to fly him out of the mall. Currently, three children sat next to Santa, with an elf taking photos of them.

For a second, Will considered jumping back into the crowd and letting it whisk him away to some other part of the world. That would be the most sensible thing to do. Maybe he'd get lucky and end up in another part of the world and then he could get out of this stupid party. He'd just need to call Alana and beg her to watch his dogs… which wouldn't work because last he'd heard from Jack, Alana and Hannibal were going out of state for Christmas.

"Will?"

Will's heart constricted. Somehow, despite all the noise pollution, he could hear the voice calling out his name perfectly. He took a breath and released it before turning around, trying his best to look like he was not, in fact, ready to end his life by climbing to the top of the giant fake Christmas tree and jumping. "Hannibal?"

The older man smiled at him. He looked no different from usual, except for a few bags hanging from his arms. "What are you doing here? This is the last place I'd have ever expected to find you." His gaze swept over Will and the profiler found himself wanting to run back into the crowd despite everything.

"That makes two of us," Will muttered. But it was Tuesday night and the Christmas party was Thursday, and according to Amazon, if he wanted any chance of getting Jack a gift that would arrive before the party started, he had to go in person to a store rather than order it from a website. And everyone knew if the Amazon gods couldn't get your item sent by a certain date, no one else had a chance in hell of doing it. "I'm looking for a gift," he mumbled.

Hannibal raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh? For Christmas?"

Will nodded. "And it has to be something decent, because I'll never hear the end of it if it's not." He sighed. "I was going to order it off Amazon, but the website said it couldn't get the gift here in time for Christmas." Could I sound any more pathetic? Hannibal didn't want to know about any of this. He'd just happened to see Will and felt socially obligated to acknowledge his existence. He'd relied on Hannibal for some years before Alana had monopolized the other man's time, and he was so overwhelmed at the moment that it hadn't even occurred to him to tell Hannibal he couldn't talk to him right now.

Hannibal hummed. "Why don't I help you pick something out? Then we can leave and go out for dinner."

The words brought Will back to his senses with almost a piercing sensation to his heart. Why did Hannibal have to play these stupid games? They both knew Hannibal was only being polite and Will was not supposed to take the invitation as a serious offer. "I should be fine… as soon as I find an escalator." He muttered the last part under his breath. When Hannibal made no moves to excuse himself, Will continued. "I have a pretty good idea of what I'm getting. I just have to find it." Though Hannibal was exceptional at reading better, sometimes better than he could Maybe he could recommend something else for Jack? Something that didn't require Will to spend the rest of his evening stuck in what had to be the worst place on earth right now. "What do you usually get for someone if you don't really know what they want? I was already told no gift cards." Not that he'd have known what gift cards Jack would want, either. Maybe a VISA, so he didn't have to keep paying out of pocket for all of Will's protein drinks.

Hannibal gave a small chuckle, his eyes dancing. "Will, are you trying to ask me what I would like as a gift?"

Will frowned. "What? No. I have to buy Jack a gift." Sure. He'd considered getting Hannibal a gift the year before, but he'd had even fewer ideas about what to get him than he did Jack right now. He had come across an expensive set of cooking knives, with hand carved wooden handles and uniquely crafted blades, made in Italy, that he'd be paying off for a few months after he bought them. And he'd almost purchased them, too. Thankfully, he'd listened to his gut and hadn't. He'd gone to Hannibal's for lunch, still debating if buying Hannibal anything was appropriate or not, when Hannibal had proudly shown him a beautiful new set of knives that Alana had purchased for him. Will was pretty sure the ones he'd been looking at were of better quality, but he couldn't exactly get Hannibal a superior set of knives and start a gifting war with his friend over her boyfriend. In the end, he couldn't decide on anything else. Besides. Hannibal had everything he wanted and could get anything he didn't have, so there wasn't much of a point.

Lucky for him, Christmas came and went, and Hannibal hadn't even hinted that he'd expected anything or purchased a gift for Will.

Hannibal's lips thinned. "Jack?" He practically spat the name out.

Will couldn't help tilting his head slightly at the sudden tone change. Usually, the other two men were on good terms and before Hannibal and Alana had begun dating, they'd tag teamed to make sure Will's mental state never crumbled beyond repair. Maybe the two of them had gotten into a fight recently? Jack hadn't mentioned anything.

"And why do you need to purchase something for Jack?"

"It's for—"

"Oh my God, Will? I haven't seen you in months!" Alana came rushing towards him, no doubt about to give him a hug. Will took a step back at the last second, partly because he didn't feel like being assaulted by the many bags hanging from Alana's arms or what was no doubt very hot liquid inside the two cups in her hands. And then there was the fact that it was Alana and he really didn't want her anywhere near him, let alone touching him.

He noticed the flash of hurt in her eyes as he stepped back and sighed. "Sorry, I should really get going."

"Nonsense," Hannibal said, immediately.

"Come walk and talk with us a bit. I haven't seen you since before Thanksgiving," Alana said. "How was yours by the way?"

Odd? The original plan, as always, had been to go to Hannibal's. Not wanting to be rude, he'd accepted the invitation and then spent the next few weeks dreading the gathering. Luckily, some guy had decided he wanted to kill a bunch of people down in Florida. He and the BAU unit had spent Thanksgiving week helping the Florida Bureau of Investigation catch the guy. Jack had been pissed he'd missed one of Hannibal's spotlight meals, so he'd gone to The Honey Baked Ham Company and bought an entire Thanksgiving meal. They'd shared it in Jack's room, while his boss criticized every bit of food on the table. And while Will agreed, the food hadn't been as good as Hannibal's cooking, it had still been pretty good. "It was fine. Thanks again for watching my dogs."

"It's no trouble at all. They're perfectly trained." Alana seemed to remember she was holding two drinks and handed one to Hannibal. "Sorry Will. I'd have gotten you one too if I'd known you were here."

Will gave a small shake of his head. "I'm fine. I have a protein drink in my bag." Actually, he had two. The first half drank one that was supposed to have been his breakfast and the second one he'd grabbed right before leaving the school when Jack had reminded him to drink his lunch. With the way his stomach had felt on his drive over though, he hadn't bothered.

"A protein drink?" Hannibal asked, wrinkling his nose. "Will, those things aren't nearly as healthy as they claim. You'd be much better off getting your nutrients from consuming real food."

Real food. Right. If only Hannibal knew his 'real food' now consisted of SpaghettiOs, sandwiches, and sometimes a pizza, usually frozen. Basically, anything simple and fast that he could cook while tending to his dogs. Sometimes he got takeout. More often than not, he had a Lunchables. "I just have it in case I wanted something before I got home," he lied smoothly. "I wasn't sure how long this was going to take." Considering he'd left the school at two pm and it was almost six, quite a long time.

"What are you doing here anyway," Alana asked.

Hannibal snorted. "He's looking for a gift for Jack."

Will arched an eyebrow at that. It had almost sounded like Hannibal had choked on the name. Something was definitely wrong.

"Oh?" She laughed. "Is this because of the Christmas party Jack's throwing?"

Hannibal's eye snapped to Alana. "What Christmas party?"

"The one he invited us to last week? It's on the same day as Casandra's and we already agreed to attend her's, so I told her we couldn't go." Will nodded. "Do you know what you're getting him?"

"Yes." If he could find it in this hell maze anyway.

"Hannibal and I have been all over the mall already. Maybe we can point you in the right direction."

"A sale's person told me to try upstairs." It seemed in the four or so years since he'd last came to the mall, the owners had moved to escalator.

Will felt a hand rest on his shoulder and jolted so fast, Hannibal actually looked surprised. "Will. I'm saying this as a friend and as someone you confined in. Being here on a busy night like this, is not good for you."

"I have—"

"To get Jack a gift, yes," he hissed. "You're so overwhelmed you don't even realize it. Your breathing is off, your pupils are dilated. You're sweating. I'd think you sick if I didn't know you were going into shock. Come." He handed Will the hot drink Alana had just bought him and moved his hand to Will's lower back and gave him a gentle push. "Instead of holding our therapy session tomorrow at my office, we'll go shopping, together, during the day, where there will be less people."

"Stop. Wait." He dug his feet into the floor getting a very disapproving look from Hannibal. "We have a session tomorrow?"

"Of course we have a session tomorrow. I told you last week we were changing it to Wednesday because of the Christmas party I was attending, and Alana and I will be leaving straight for the airport afterwards."

Oh shit. Hannibal had said something like that, but he'd thought the man had meant the following Wednesday, not tomorrow. "You didn't send a text reminding me it was this week. I thought it was next week."

"I did send you a message, yesterday."

"I didn't get any messages from you."

"I assure you; I sent the message. Now let's go." He gave Will another gentle push towards the opposite direction he'd come from. Or was pretty sure he'd come from.

"I parked on the side," he protested.

"So, I shall drive you to your car."

With a sigh, Will started walking in the direction Hannibal was directing him in. "You don't have to do this," he mumbled. In fact, he wished Hannibal wouldn't do this. It was things like this that always made him misinterpret their relationship. Or had before Hannibal had gotten together with Alana.

Hannibal gave a very brief nod. "I know. But I'm worried about you. Please, allow me this indulgence."

Oddly enough, the crowd parted and went around Hannibal, no questions ask, very few of them making eye contact with him, as they made their way through the 'North Pole.' If Will had known his psychiatrist had that sort of power, he'd have asked him to come with from the beginning.

"We can come back tomorrow for pictures," Hannibal said.

Will almost opened his mouth to protest when he realized the other man wasn't talking to him.

"That's fine. I just thought it'd be fun. Will's more important than any photos."

Within minutes they crossed the mall and were outside. The temperature had dropped since Will had come in. He pulled his gloves out from his coat pocket and pulled them on.

"I believe I parked over there," Hannibal said, motioning to a section on the left. "I can see your car from here."

"Because I got here early," Alana said, snickering. "I'll see you at home." She leaned over and kissed Hannibal on the cheek. "Will. If you have time, you should have lunch with us tomorrow after you get your gift for Jack."

No way. "We'll see. I promised my dogs some outside time."

"Well, it was nice seeing you. We should get together again after the holidays."

"Sure."

She started towards her car and Hannibal began walking to his own. "Come."

"I can walk to my own car," he said, trailing behind Hannibal.

"And I can just as easily drive you." A set of car lights flashed, and a horn honked as Alana drove by, waving at them. Hannibal made a face and when Alana was halfway down the parking lot, he snatched the drink from Will's hand and threw into the closest garbage can. "Your 'protein' drink probably has more nutrition and taste than that." He walked over to his car and unlocked the door. "I have freshly brewed coffee, from my house in my car you can have."

"Okay…?" What else was he supposed to say to that? He heard the door unlock with a click and climbed into the passenger seat. Sure enough, in the cup holds were two mugs. "Isn't one of these for Alana?"

"It was until she insisted on buying that filth."

…Are they fighting? They'd seemed normal enough, but then Hannibal hadn't returned Alana's kiss, and he'd barely acknowledged her once he'd decided Will was in need of caring for. Shit. This was his fault. Hannibal's need to care for people had taken over the second he'd seen Will's distress, and he'd ended up ruining what was no doubt a perfectly good shopping date for the two of them. Will dropped his eyes to his lap. "Sorry."

"For what?"

"I didn't mean to intrude on your date."

"Nonsense. We were just about to leave before we ran into each other." He turned the car on, a rush of heat coming from the vents, and pulled out the parking spot in one smooth move, despite the people walking in the parking lot. "Will."

"Yeah?"

"I know we haven't seen much of either other since Alana and I got together, but I am always here for you. You should have told me what you were planning. We could have come together."

"I think the fact that we barely see each other anymore is proof that that isn't possible," he said before thinking.

"That's not fair Will. I've offered you many invitations to join us for dinner. You always turn them down or a crime scene comes up. I've offered to come by your house, or for us to meet at restaurants, and you're always not home or too busy with something or another."

Will pointed in the direction his car was parked. "And you think pretending our relationship is the same after you and Alana got together is fair?"

Hannibal frowned and pulled up beside Will's car. "What do you mean?"

Will opened the car door and climbed out. "Go home and be with your girlfriend Hannibal. I'll find somewhere else to get Jack's gift tomorrow. Then I'll meet you at your office, where we'll sit in silence for most of the session, like we do every week, pretending—" His brain turned back on, and he forced his mouth shut. "I'll see you tomorrow." He slammed the door shut before Hannibal could protest and made it into his own in record time. Luckily, the spot in front of him was empty and he was able to turn his car on and drive off before Hannibal could react.

"Damnit!" He hit his steering wheel with both hands after he hit his first red light. What in the hell had he been thinking!? Now Hannibal was going to demand information from him during their session tomorrow and he really didn't want to talk about any of this. Just cancel. He took a few breaths. He could cancel, set an appointment up with a new psychiatrist while Hannibal was out of town, and refuse to see the man ever again.

(X)

After what felt like an eternity, Will stumbled into his house, each one of his dogs giving him their best 'how could you do this to us?' looks. "Sorry guys. I know, I know." He started giving each one of them some attention as he slowly made his way to the kitchen. "I promise, my vacation starts tomorrow. I'll be with you all day."

As if they understood, the dogs started barking and nudging each other and Will, happily playing. "Okay, you guys go out. I'm going to get your food ready." He stopped with his hand on the knob. "Stay close to the house," he warned them before opening the door. The dogs ran out without giving Will a single look back. He left the door open and, as promised, started portioning out their food.

Will sighed as his phone started vibrating. He was going to turn the damn thing off if people didn't start leaving him alone. A look at the clock told him it was probably Jack asking him if he'd eaten dinner or not. Well, Jack could wait. It was his fault Will had ended up wasting hours of his life inside a mall and why his dogs hadn't been fed yet, despite the time.

He put the bowls down, walked over to the back door, and whistled. All eight of his dogs came running, even Adam. "I promise you'll get more time outside tomorrow." He locked the door, grabbed his phone from off the counter, and went into the bathroom. The phone vibrated again in his hand. Without bothering to check who was sending him the messages, Jack was the only one who bothered him at this time, he sent a quick reply. 'It's been a long day. I'll finish the protein drinks tomorrow and eat two dinners to make up for today. I'm going to bed.' He held the power button until it turned off.

After a quick shower, he went into his room and crawled under a blanket. Tomorrow will be better. Worst case scenario, he'd give Jack a card with money in it so he could go buy his own damn scarf.

(X)

Frowning, Hannibal read the message Will had just sent him. It obviously hadn't been intended for him, as Will's response pertaining to protein drinks and eating dinner had absolutely nothing to do with what he'd just asked the other man. It would seem him giving Will some space to adjust to his and Alana's relationship had not been the proper course of action.

With a flick of his finger, he brought up his contacts list and tapped on the name of the last person he wanted to talk with right now. This is for Will.

The phone rang a few times before the line clicked over.

"Hello, Dr. Lector. What can I do for you?"

"What is going on with Will and these protein drinks?"

Silence.

"Jack."

"…It's kind of a long story Dr. Lector and I'm pretty sure if Will wanted you to know, he'd have told you."

"Jack," he growled. If this man thought he could withhold information from him about Will, he was going to be learning a very hard lesson. "You have two minutes before I hang up and come to your house."

"Alright, alright," Jack sighed. "What exactly do you want to know?"

"Everything." And if he found out Jack left out a single important detail, the man had better hope for a swift death before Hannibal found out and got to him.

(TBC)

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