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After several months of radio silence, one particularly foggy Morning, the phone rang, and the person on the other end just says: “We need you again.” Will knew that this bubble of domesticity and calmness would not last for long although these states of being are quite relative if the person you are living with has a double life as an infamous serial killer. Of course, Jack Crawford had to intrude into the life that he and Hannibal had built for themselves. So he got up from their bed and sees Hannibal is undisturbed by the phone ringing.

Will gets dressed and goes downstairs to make himself some coffee because it is only 5 am and he is really not ready to deal with Jack uncaffinated. Will leaves a note next to the coffee machine and of course by the time that he is prepared to leave his pack of dogs has noticed that he is already awake, so he lets them outside as he walks out the door.
On a last minute whim, Will decided to take Winston with him because he feels like he does not want to face Jack alone, especially after this quite rude awaking. He notes to himself that he should text Hannibal later to stop him from any rash actions as Hannibal abhors rude people.

When arriving at, Will notices that there quite a few people who are curiously watching him as he enters the Behavioral Analysis Unit Building. Will sees some familiar faces but does not really want to interact and greet them. He finally arrived at the Lab where Jack and the others are already waiting. When Beverly sees him, she squeals runs up to him and envelopes him in a long hug. Jimmy and Brian also seem quite pleased to Will again, but then he sees Jack’s face, Will moods sour still.

“Okay, Jack, what have you got that you had to call this early in the Morning and take me away from my warm bed. “I did not know that you actually started sleeping in your bed and through the night Will.” “It definitely changed after you suggested to take a break and go see a Psychologist and take therapy seriously. I did just that and totally committed to Hannibal.” Will had to hold back a smirk because Jack did not know that Will had gone to see Hannibal again when he was taking his break. Beverly is the first to speak again and says “Good for you, Will. Maybe after this case, I could come by sometime because it has been ages since we saw each other outside of work” “Yeah maybe.” Will replies.

After many hours immersed in the minds of criminals, Will decided to call it a day and go home as it already was getting dark outside. He had said goodbye to Beverly, Jimmy and Brian and then made the way to his car, Will felt happy when he saw his home from the distant and hoping that Hannibal had made some dinner during his absence. Will parks the car lets Winston out of the car and makes his way to the house. As he is coming through the door, he can hear Italian opera music playing and a particular mouth-watering smell wafting from the Kitchen.

When Will enters the Kitchen, Hannibal does not turn around as he is busy preparing a beautiful piece of meat and so Will hugs him from behind and inhales the scent of Hannibal’s clothes and skin. “Good Evening Will, what did Uncle Jack want this time?” Hannibal says with a slight sneer in his voice. “Good Evening Hannibal, I am sorry for leaving you so early, but of course criminal do not stop killing people just because you are inconvenienced by it. “Will replies teasingly. There were a few minutes of silence until Hannibal said “Will you still have time until I finished with preparing and cooking dinner” “Sure, I am going to let the dogs out until dinner, and then I am going clean up” Will says, kisses Hannibal on the side of his neck and leaves the Kitchen. His pack of dogs is already eagerly awaiting him, and they jump up in glee when they see that Will is opening the door and letting them out.

Running around outside with Will, his pack is all tired out, and so he lets them back inside and makes them their dinner. All sweaty and dirt covered Will climbs up the stairs and takes a hot shower. Afterwards, he feels like wearing his pyjamas, and he wants to see what Hannibal’s reaction to this, so he puts on his PJ’s and Hannibal’s dressing gown.

Will’s ventures into the Kitchen and sees that Hannibal is just putting their finishing touches on their dinner. “This looks amazing Hannibal. What do we have today ?” “I have prepared balsamic glazed pork tenderloin with young potatoes and sauteed vegetables.” Will stays silent for a minute and then says “Hannibal could you do me a favour, and could we maybe eat here in the kitchen or in the living room.” “Of course my dear Will, I could never deny you anything, especially while you are wearing my clothes,” Hannibal says with a smile teasing around his lips. So they sit down around the small kitchen counter, and Will has relaxed more now that the setting is even more informal.

After their meal, Will is feeling quite content and slightly sleepy, which is why he directly makes his way upstairs to their bed. After having cleaned up and checked that everything is locked, Hannibal also makes his way upstairs where he peels out of his suit. He makes a short trip to the bathroom to clean up and then goes into the bedroom to get his Pyjama and lay down next to Will. Although it seems like Will is falling asleep, Hannibal still wants to read for a while. An hour later he closes his book and turns of the light and slings his arms around a sleeping Will.

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Hannibal is the first one to wake up, and he is glad that Will is still next to him asleep because he was afraid Jack would want to disturb them again. He probably will but not today, so Hannibal getting out of the bed without waking Will up and making his way downstairs to make some coffee and arrange a small breakfast. While the coffee is brewing in his stainless Steel french press, he is making some scramble and Cumberland sausage as well as some fruit. Once everything is assembled on the breakfast tray, Hannibal goes upstairs again to wake up his lover.

Hannibal sets the tray aside and then kneels on bed and kisses Will’s cheeks and throat from behind, and after a minute Will starts to wake up and tries to turn around to Hannibal who leans in for a kiss. “Good Morning, mylimasis,” Hannibal says with a fond smile. “Good Morning,” Will says his voice rough from sleep. “I took the time to make us a small breakfast,” Hannibal says and gets up to get the tray onto the bed. Will looked at the different items on the tray and noticed that it is precisely the breakfast that Hannibal brought over after they had just met. “Thank you. I remember when you came to my house for the first time, and you brought this dish after I had been rather rude to you.” “Of course, I remember my little mongoose nothing gets past you. I am glad that you appreciate the gesture.” Will loved it when Hannibal called him mylimasis or my little mongoose even though in the beginning he did not appreciate it at all he has grown to love it very much.

After a while, Will went to get the files that Jack has given him to have a look at Will was feeling good today so he thought it would be an excellent opportunity get some work done until Uncle Jack as Hannibal likes to call him, comes knocking to demand some kind of result or insight. As Will is diving into the minds of criminal, he is quickly losing track of time. Sometime in the afternoon, Hannibal brings him some Coffee as well as some snacks that he had prepared and then lets Will get back to his work. Around 6 pm in the evening Hannibal urging Will to take a break as well as having some proper food for dinner.

There is a short but not uncomfortable silence until Hannibal says: “How did you get on with the case that Jack assigned?”. Will looks up from his plate and answers:” I am doing fine much better now that my brain is not trying to set itself on fire.” There is definitely a trace of sarcasm mixed with some fond teasing in his voice. A small smile is playing around Hannibal’s lips until he retorts:” I am glad to hear that, Darling. What an incompetent Doctor you had ?” Now, Will is full of laughing, which used to be rare, but now it nearly happens daily. When Will had settled down again, they finish their dinner and Hannibal starts cleaning the Kitchen and the dishes.

Will is making his way to the couch in the living room, and he is not alone for long as his pack soon joins him on and around the sofa. While laying on the couch Will’s mind wanders, and he starts thinking about when the last time was that he read an actual book just for leisure and not at all related to academia and work. Will cannot really recall such an instance although Hannibal has read literature to him, which he much enjoyed it does not really count. So he sits up a little and looks at the variety of books under the living room coffee table. There is a lot of classic literature such as the Divine Comedy by Dante, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Faust by Goethe, a compilation of Shakespearian Plays as well as a complete Collection of the stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Will does notice that not all those books are in English, but it does fit with Hannibal’s need for feeling superior as well as being, but also Hannibal speaks a fascinating amount of languages fluently. Will picks up Pride and Prejudice because it had never had the time or mental capacity to read it, and he is curious as it is a famous piece of literature. He settles back into the couch with the dogs all over him and starts to dive into the world of 19th Century England in which Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy meet.

Hannibal finished cleaning up the dishes and the Kitchen, and now he wants to join Will in the living room. He goes to the living room where he sees that Will and his pack of dogs have already made themselves comfortable on the couch, so he takes place in one of the armchairs that stand around the living room coffee table. Hannibal powers up the tablet which were still laying in the armchair and pulls up some newspaper site that he is interested in reading. Before he even starts reading, it captures his attention that Will is holding a book which he is reading intently. After turning his head to the side, Hannibal can see that Will is reading Pride and Prejudice, and he feels that this warm sensation of fondness is overcoming him. A minute after appreciating the picture in front of him, he returns to his tablet. Hannibal checks upon the ever controversial Freddie and her yellow press blog Tattle Crime where she posts outlandish theories and distorts facts until they are unrecognizable.
After what feels like hours Hannibal looks up and sees Will already falling half asleep and not being able to keep his eyes open properly. So he says” My dear Will I think it is time for bed.” Will looks at Hannibal and just nods in response showing how tired he is as he has resorted to completely nonverbal communication. They make their way upstairs where they head for the bathroom and then straight diving into their bed.

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Today Will is the one that wakes up early but strangely enough not because he had a nightmare and he feels somewhat rested.
So Will gets out of bed and pads down to the Kitchen to turn on the coffeemaker. Of course, once there is noise, his pack comes running in and demands some attention. He goes to the pantry and gets the fancy dog that Hannibal bought for them. The thought that Hannibal cared enough about the dogs to implement his strict and pretentious rules on the dog’s food made Will smile, and he felt a warm sensation spreading throughout his body. After feeding his pack, Will was in the mood for cooking as he did not often have the freedom to cook as Hannibal loved food, and the Kitchen was his domain.

Even though Will’s cooking is nothing like the pretentious and European inspired meals that Hannibal creates, he does not know to cook as he was born and raised in the south. So he knew his comfort food and a lot of Cajun dishes. He decided to make a Cajun Breakfast Skillet Scramble with homemade cajun sausages, eggs, potatoes, onions, cheddar and some homemade bread on the side. Will got all the ingredients that he needs from the pantry and the fridge and started to prepare everything as the pan was heating up. While he was cooking the smells brought a bit wave of nostalgia over him for his family and living in the south even though he did not have the most carefree childhood and they were quite poor at times their neighbourhood stuck together no matter how hard the times were and there was always enough food to go around. The wonderfully rich and comforting smell and those pleasant memories made feel happy and quite content, and that's when he realized that it had been a very very long time since he had been genuinely delighted and content with his life.

Now that the food was nearly ready. Will could hear Hannibal coming down the stairs and making his way towards the Kitchen probably already knowing what Will was cooking as he had a very keen sense of smell. Will did not turn around as Hannibal entered the Kitchen but said “Good Morning Hannibal. Did you sleep well?” He replied “Good Morning, my dear Will. I was a little surprised when you were not with me in bed when I woke up, but I am glad to see that it was not a Crawford induced Nightmare. Yes, I did sleep well, thank you.”

Will looks up from the skillet to Hannibal who is now standing next to the stove and says “I woke up and I felt like cooking some breakfast.” “What are we having ?” Hannibal asks with curiosity in his voice. “I am making Cajun Breakfast Skillet Scramble,” Will says while scooping heaps of the delicious smelling food into the bowls he had already placed next to the skillet. Will takes the bowls and goes straight into the living room because such comforting food needs to be enjoyed in a comfortable atmosphere. There is a short silence then Hannibal breaks it and says “Mylimasis, this is utterly delicious.” Will is slightly smirking because this is quite high praise.”

While Hannibal was cleaning the dishes, he was thinking maybe it would be better if Will would permanently take a step back from being a profiler as it does really take a toll on his mind every time. “Will Darling you come here for a minute?” Hannibal calls to discuss the thoughts that he just had.

Will comes into the kitchen “What do you need Hannibal ?” Will answers him. “My enquiries is not about what I need but about what you need. I was thinking after this case do you want to keep working as a profiler for Jack, or would you rather take up another profession?” Hannibal poses the question with some concern in his voice. “I think it would not be very wise for me to continue being Jack Crawford special asset. I would rather go back to teaching and spend my time with the dogs and you.” “I am glad my love because I was worried that Uncle Jack lured you back in,” Hannibal says with a smile. “Don’t worry I am done being used by Jack Crawford, so I am also not going to go back to teaching about Profiling and Serial Killers, but I want to put my degrees in Entomology to good use.” Will answers. “That sounds splendid my dear Will, and I have read some of your monographs which were excellent so I have the utmost confidence that you will succeed in your new teaching endeavour.” Hannibal’s praise and support of Will’s idea to teach on the subject of entomology gives him the strength not to doubt it too much as well as stand up to Jack when the time comes.

After having discussed his future career plans with Hannibal, Will felt so much better, especially knowing that Hannibal supports him and everything that he does. Also, it means that when the time comes and Jack tries to get Will back as a Profiler Hannibal will be there for Will. To put his plan into action, Will is driving to Quantico today so that he can get the paperwork in order to teach different courses.

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Of course, once Will had left the administration office, Jack Crawford saw him coming out of the office, coming up to him and asking “Hello Will, what are you doing here?” “Hello, Jack I was just handing in some paperwork regarding some of the courses because I want to change some of the courses I am teaching,” Will said with a slightly bored expression. Jack looks taken aback but then says “Oh okay but you are still going be consulting on cases right ?” “Don’t worry, I have finished up this case, but Hannibal has suggested that it might be better for my mental health for me to take a long hiatus from consulting and focus more on teaching.” “I do understand Hannibal’s concern, but I have to ask how long do you think will your profiling hiatus last?” Jack says with mild panic in his voice. “I am not sure, but I will let you know,” Will says with finality in his voice. “If you will excuse me, I still have some errands to run before I head home to Hannibal.” Will leaves without waiting for another word from Jack because he knows that Jack will contact him as soon as he needs Will’s special party trick even if this time Will won’t jump at every opportunity.

On his way out, he sees Beverly, and she says surprised “Will what are you doing here today ?” Will answers “I made the decision to step back from profiling and to focus more on teaching so I there was some paperwork that I had to hand in.” “Good for you but do not think that means that you get out of having lunch with me at least once a week,” Beverly says with a teasing smile. “Yeah, why not although you will have to coordinate with Hannibal because he has set his mind on bringing me Lunch. “No problem. Speaking of lunch do you have time to have a quick bite with me in the canteen?” Will looks at his watch and sees that is only a few minutes past twelve and says “I have a little bit of time.”

As it is noon the canteen is quite busy already, there are not that many empty tables left, but Beverly spots Brian Zeller and Jimmy Price, and so they join them at their table. Both of them greet Will enthusiastically, and Jimmy says “Hello Will what brings you here? Normally you avoid the canteen.” Will smiles a little and says” Beverly kindly enough dragged me along and besides there, no time pressure for me as Hannibal has a full day of patients today so he cannot meet me for lunch.” “Wow Will I have never heard you talk so much outside a crime scene. This a totally new side of you.” Brian exclaims. “Taking a break and not being constantly bombarded with gory crime scenes really did wonders for my mind,” Will says with a sarcastic undertone. All three of them start laughing after his sarcastic remarks.

The four of them keep talking, and as they are halfway through their meal, Dr Alana Bloom is joining their table and says “Hello Everyone. I did not expect to see you here, Will.” “Today is an exception. Even if it would not be so loud and crowded the food is not all that great, but I guess by having Hannibal cook most the meals I have become spoiled.” Alana looks surprised by the mention of Hannibal “Will is Hannibal still your therapist ?” After she asked the question now, it is the rest of table’s turn to look surprised as everyone assumed that she knew that during the month hiatus Will and Hannibal had stopped their professional relationship in favour of a romantic one.
“First of all, Hannibal never officially was my Therapist even if he would have been Hannibal would have stopped any professional arrangement between us before anything could have happened,” Will says with a mildly annoyed expression on his face. “Will you do not have to sound so offended I was just voicing my concern which I thought as your friend I was allowed to do,” Alana responds. “Of course you can be concerned, but I don’t know why it concerns you about Hannibal and my relationship. He did not reject me when I was suffering from encephalitis and struggling with my mental health, but he took care of me the entire time.” “You are making it sound like you were of sound mind to be able to consent to anything which you were not,” Alana replies. “That might be true, but for my relationship with Hannibal, he cared for me and waited until I was healed up from my illnesses as well as able to give consent,” Will says with a stern look on his face. He hoped that with his last answer Alana would just let this matter rest. Even though Alana still did not seem happy with the situation, she had stopped her questioning. There was an awkward silence for a while but then Beverly started to talk about the newest gossip that she had heard. When everyone was done with their Lunch Beverly , Jimmy and Brian need to get back to the Lab and Alana has also work to do. Will makes his way to the car and drives back home.

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As Will turns into the driveway of their home he can see the door opening and his pack spilling out to greet him. Hannibal is not far behind but he stops to stand on the porch and wait for Will to make his way over to him. Will gets out of the car and greets the pack for several minutes before walking towards the entrance of the house and greeting Hannibal with a kiss and short hug. Then Hannibal says “ How was your day darling?” “ It went surprisingly better than i thought as Jack did not beg me to stay and i actually had a pleasant lunch with Beverly , Brian and Jim. Even Alana joined at some point and decided to be the judge of our relationship.” Besides from her snide comments it sounds like you had a good day. Will smiles and says “ But I am glad to be home again.” “ Very well William. I have prepared dinner for us so why don’t you join me at the dinner table.

They walk inside with Hannibal guiding Will with his hand on Will’s lower back. As always Hannibal has conjured up a mouth watering display of food but today it is not as elaborate as it is sometimes but it is rather simple for Hannibal’s standards which is something that Will is pleasantly surprised by. The dinner is Cumberland sausages which Hannibal made last week with nutmeg spiced potato Gratine and wine. Will did enjoy the lunch with Beverly and the others but his favourite person to eat with is Hannibal. Towards the end of the meal Will remembered that he had not asked how Hannibal’s day has been so he sought to rectify that. “ Hannibal have forgotten to ask you how your day was ?” Hannibal gives Will a little smile and answers “ Thank you for asking and my day was nothing extraordinary as i just had 4 patients then had some lunch at my office , overheard how a Delivery boy was rude to my secretary and read some of the fascinatingly narcissistic articles by Chilton. “ “ Sounds like a good day although i hope you did not do anything rash to punish the rudeness of the delivery boy.” Will answers with an raised eyebrow. “ Of course not dear Will I just had some stern words with him.” When dinner was finished Will got up and said “ I am going straight to bed because i am really exhausted.” “ Of course my dear Will . I will just clean up the dishes and then join you up upstairs.”

The next morning Will wakes up with Hannibal’s side of the bed already cold and so he gets up and goes downstairs. In the Kitchen Hannibal is preparing a little breakfast for Will has he has been awake already for two hours.
Will arrives by his side and gives Hannibal a small kiss on the cheek before taking the cup coffee. Will leaves the kitchen with his coffee to greet his pack who run to Will at the sight of him. When Hannibal and Will first had gotten together Will was skeptical of Hannibal’s tolerance of the pack but he had surprised Will with his compassion and fondness of the dogs that meant so much to Will. He would spend hours preparing home made dog food as well as take care of them when Will was not available just like this morning where Hannibal let the dogs outside and fed them. Will had to admit he was rather happy with the way that Hannibal had accepted the presence of that many dogs on his life. Also it showed Will that Hannibal could show kindness and compassion toward someone else than Will himself. Before Hannibal came into his life the pack of dogs were his only loyal companions because Will had not let anyone else get close to him. Will must have lost track of time because as he is staring into his empty coffee mug he can hear the door opening which means Hannibal is back. “Good Morning Hannibal. Where were you?” Will says with a yawn in his voice. “ Good Morning Will. Although my practice is closed today I did not want to spend the whole day in bed as appealing that might seem. So I went to the near by farmers market where bought lots of fresh produce to accompany the meat that I have mind for today’s lunch.”Hannibal answers while unloading his bags. Will watches him for a while and smiles because he loves that Hannibal provides for him. In some ways he is very similar to the canine members of the pack.

There is still some time until it is lunch so Will makes his way to the living room where he plants himself on the sofa and begins reading some newspaper articles on Hannibal’s tablet while Hannibal is busy preparing everything for lunch.