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What she’d expected, she wasn’t sure. Will wasn’t a very average man in the slightest. He was quiet, liked his routines, his dogs, and time to fish. They’d bonded over the morbid hatred of the world pitying them, in one way or another. They were each other’s harbor in the storm.
But lately, her harbor seemed further and further away from her. It’d started as Will spending longer hours fishing, then going to bed later and later.
Today, she’d decided to follow him 15 minutes after he’d left their home. What she didn’t expect was, to end up driving up to the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
After a confusing interaction with a sneering man named ‘Dr. Chilton’ through a crackling speaker, she was ushered down to the place her Will had receded to. The inside seemed more like a hall out of a haunted castle than an institution.
There was a man, cordial looking, standing with his hands tucked behind him behind a glass wall. Something in his gaze sent a shiver down her spine as she watched him watch Will on the other side. His hair was neatly combed into place, jumpsuit the drab kind of color that forces your eye to brush over it.
“ ...I mean it, Hannibal. I’m tired of the games. “
Something in the man’s demeanor changes, his brows furrowing softly and the slight tilt of his head seemed to tip Will off, as he looked to the poorly lit hallway blindly. “What?“
The unfamiliar scent filled Hannibal’s flaring nostrils. It smelled like lillies. Almost sickly sweet. He knew how everyone who worked on his wing smelled, but he did not recognize this.
He turned to look at Will and then glanced back toward the hallway, squinting his eyes to see if he could find the person that foul smell belonged to.
Hannibal could see a figure standing in the hall, but it wasn't till she moved in a little closer, that he realized she was watching them.
"Do you know her?" He pointed a finger to the woman who appeared to be watching intently from the hallway.
From what he could tell, she looked to be distressed. It didn't take Hannibal long to figure out she must be Will's wife.
A delighted grin tugged at the corner of his lips, slowly revealing those impossibly sharp canines. He cocked an amused brow up as he turned his attention back to Will.
The look that crossed Wills face wasn’t particularly surprise or guilt, it stayed in a state of denial, as if he believed he might be hallucinating again. But there she was, in flesh and blood, for Hannibal to take in and eventually dig his claws into.
“Molly? What’re you doing here?”
She felt like she was in trouble, and guilt crossed her face, before she remembered how she got there. Her sweet features then hardened with determination.
“I followed you. Who is this?” She asked, stepping forward with a glare in her eye. “You’d said you were going fishing, Will. Why would you lie about this?”
Wills jaw ticked, and he looked to Hannibal, before moving to position his body between the two of them. “Molly, you really shouldnt be here. It’s dangerous.”
Hannibal couldn't even fight the look of excitement on his face. The chuckle that escaped his throat was riddled with delight. This was hilarious for him.
He'd been waiting patiently for Will to break things off with his wife, but Will kept dragging his feet. Worried about her feelings and silly nonsense like that. Now he'd have to face it.
"I'm Hannibal Lecter." He interrupted. A look of territorial smugness on his face.
He knew the name would ring a bell. Surely Molly knew of the tattler articles and Will's history with him.
Will let out a breath at Hannibals infuriating smugness, attempting to herd Molly out of the room, but she simply side stepped him with a glare in her eye.
“Dr. Lecter, Hannibal Lecter?” She took the man in, before looking back to Will. “Will, why-“
“Molly, Im not joking, please-“ He said, his suave outer shell she’d seen on him when she first arrived quickly slipping.
“Fine.” She interrupted, crossing her arms before walking directly up to the glass. Her blue eyes leveling with the bloody maroons that seemed utterly delighted. “Dr. Lecter, will you be so kind to tell me the truth of why my husband is here?"
Hannibal's brow cocked high above his eye, as he met Will's gaze, before he quickly turned his attention to Molly.
"Because he loves me." He replied, this time trying to fight the smug grin that threatened to pull at his lips.
"He's always loved me. At the end of the day, it always comes down to me and it always will." Hannibal managed to get it all out with a straight face. His words spoken very matter of factly.
He'd be harder on her, if he could. But he knew it would upset Will, so he held his tongue, eyes looking back to Will's again.
"I'm sorry, but now's as good a time as any to tell her."
Wills mouth was tight, and he refused to meet Hannibals gaze as Molly continued to stare at him.
Her eyes went wide, something so shocking about the cold way the doctor told her. A moment of stunted silence, before a jagged laugh bubbled up from her throat.
Will blinked to her, as he watched her cover her mouth. He really didn’t know what to do with the reaction, and her laughter seemed to only get louder as she looked between the two of them. It echoed off the cold walls, like that of a madman.
Hannibal furrowed his brows at Molly's reaction at first, but he supposed it was quite a natural reaction considering the circumstances. After all, Hannibal was a famed serial killer and Will the FBI agent assigned to stop him. Not to mention Molly finding out her husband is romantically involved with another man, would naturally be shocking.
It was hard to tell if she was laughing because she thought Hannibal was joking, or because laughing was all she could really do.
"Please, Molly. Do tell us what's so funny." He narrowed his eyes at her, tilting his head in curiosity.
Molly shook her head, “S-sorry, Im sorry. You’re right, I shouldn’t have come.”
Her words and expression were strong, but Will could hear the emotion cracking into her voice. It struck a guilty chord in him, he really didn’t want her to have to find out like this.
She walked towards the dimly lit hall, and Will sent a death glare to Hannibal before jogging after her. Her sniffling seemed to get louder the closer she got to the door, and Will thought it was the perfect chorus to his world falling apart.
“Molly, wait-“ He put a hand on her shoulder, and she jerked out of his grasp and turned to glare at him, her blue eyes enraged and teary.
“Don’t- DONT. You do NOT get to touch me,” Will jerked his hand back, like her words burned him.
“I- I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but you can leave me and my son out of it. Alright?” She spat, and the rock that was motherhood for her seemed to set her in her resolve, like it always did.
She hadn’t called Wally ‘her son’ in almost a year. It stopped Will dead in his tracks. His shoulders lowered slowly, and he looked to her fisted hands with a sad resignation.
In the still silence, Molly seemed to only get angrier. “You promised you’d keep us safe, Will. “ She shook her head, her hands moving too fast for Will to see in the dark, until she pressed a warm ring into his palm. “This isn’t how you do that.”
He let her walk out, seeming to take any last semblance of his hopes of a normal life with her.
Hannibal still found the whole thing amusing. He couldn't give the slightest care for Molly or her son for that matter.
He was a selfish man. Always had been. Will Graham being the only one that could bend his iron will.
He knew Will was angry with him, but he also knew if Will couldn't tell her now, he never would.
Hannibal also knew Will would forgive him, he always did. He'd turned a blind eye to many terrible things Hannibal had done. Will always chose Hannibal. And he always will. Over Alana, over Jack. Over his job. Over himself.
Neither could seem to live without each other. They were conjoined.
"I'm sorry, mylimasis. But it had to be done." Hannibal sighed, ready for the wrath he expected Will to unleash.
Will stood in the space between one life and the next. Between a lie, and the truth he buried for three years. Maybe even longer.
“Don’t- Dont call me that. You don’t deserve to use soft words right now.” He wasn’t sure who he was talking to, in that moment. It didn’t matter, they were both equally poisonous.
Slowly, he walked back to the space Molly invaded, swirling the diamond ring she gave him on his index finger. As if he’d plucked out the heart of the Will Graham he knew he was supposed to be. He inspected it, like it may change shape if he looked close enough. He thought it might even vanish into smoke, if he were lucky. “Are you satisfied, now that any semblance of normalcy I had is gone?” He didn’t look up to the other man, he didn’t need to.
"It was going to be gone again anyway." Hannibal replied bitterly. "You said you'd leave her. Was that a lie? Were you just telling me what I wanted to hear, Will? While you strung us both along?"
Hannibal wasn't one to let much get to him, but Will grieving the loss of Molly in front of him, did.
He knew Will loved him more, but he still felt a pang in his chest at the other's reaction.
He recognized that he was in fact a bit overzealous. Hannibal couldn't help it. It was in his nature to be jealous and possessive. Petty even. Seeing Will's wife face to face just did something to him. Brought out his possessive side. Gave him this burning need to mark his territory. Will was HIS. He wasn't about to back down to some little bitty housewife.
Will shook his head at Hannibals accusations, pocketing the ring and sighing softly. “Of course not, Hannibal.”
He’d really only said the words out of some sick fantasy that he’d still get to play the victim, that Hannibal was a mastermind behind the undoing of Will Graham.
But the reality was, he dug his own grave here.
Walking up to the glass, he put his hand up against it, sullen blue eyes taking in Hannibal’s form.
Hannibal put his own hand up against the glass, right over where Will's laid - Hannibal's just slightly bigger.
He let out a sigh, holding contact with those big doe eyes, that could somehow keep even a man like Hannibal under a spell, while feelings of sadness welled in his chest.
He knew it was selfish to ask Will to be only his, considering their circumstances. And Hannibal had really tried to get used to sending him home to Molly every day, but the jealousy kept him awake at night. It sat on his shoulders like a heavy burden. Although splitting them up didn't bring him the relief he thought it would.
Hannibal supposed the only real solution was to find a way out of there, and try and give his boy the life he deserved. Not a simple task, but where there's a will, there's a way, and Hannibal had an iron one.
Will could see the resolve slide into place behind Hannibal’s eyes. They would need to make a plan, to get him out of his glass box.
Will let out a soft breath, letting his hand slowly slide away from the glass. Looking over his shoulder, in the general direction of where he knew Chilton had positioned a camera, his mouth tightened before he looked back to Hannibal.
“I just need time to think. Jack’s already come knocking on my door, and I don’t have much reason to say no anymore.” Blue eyes gave a look that wouldn’t be decipherable by anyone other than the man that had spent his free time picking through Will’s skull.
“Maybe i’ll just let it consume me, this time.” He gave a half crooked smile, back straightening for the glass eye that watched them. A soft, airy laugh left his lips as he rubbed at his mouth. “Might even end up in here with you.” His words were acidic, but he knew Hannibal would see straight through them.
Hannibal's head tilted in curiosity, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. His boy was up to something too. Surely the two of them together could come up with a decent plan. Both extremely intelligent men. A dangerous and deadly combination.
A satisfied smirk threatened to spread across his face, but he swallowed it down, aware of watchful eyes, who will already be suspicious when they see the altercation with Will's wife. They'd have to move fast.