A fic I did for a prompt long ago, but can’t find on my blog anymore.
Bedelia and Hannibal discuss Hannibal’s upcoming trip to Palermo, among other things. Hannigram is in there if you read between the lines ;) Reposted for #LadiesofHannibal.
Bedelia sat in front of the cafe, cool morning breeze rustling her hair as she sipped at her coffee, with Hannibal perched on a chair opposite her.
In the excitement of one Anthony Dimmond returning home with Hannibal after his lecture, Hannibal had forgotten to buy coffee, which had led the two of them out of the house before breakfast. It seemed like an awful joke: a cannibal serial killer and his psychiatrist slash pseudo-wife walk into a cafe. Except for this joke there was no foreseeable punchline.
Somewhere around four in the morning, Hannibal had roused her from her bed to ask her to retrieve the trunk she’d used to cart her belongings to Florence. Bedelia had roused herself and taken the last of her hats from the bottom before handing it over and returning to bed. Remarkably, despite his long, sleepless night, Hannibal looked brighter and more alert than he had since their arrival in Europe.
“I’ll be taking a trip to Palermo,” Hannibal said suddenly. “I expect to return within two days. You may stay here in Florence while I’m away.”
Bedelia kept her face smooth as glass. “Where else would I go?”
“Where indeed?” Hannibal answered, head cocked as the gears of his mind turned over all of the implications of her question.
In couples’ therapy, public places were sometimes suggested as the best location for small confrontations. With the pressure of strangers present, both parties were more likely to maintain a facade of calm; keeping the conversation from escalating. The irony of last night’s events, their current location and Bedelia’s provocation would no doubt, not be lost upon Hannibal.
“Though, I have to say, I wonder what exactly you expect to leave behind in Palermo,” Bedelia said slowly, thinking of the trunk. “Or, perhaps, what you intend to bring back?”
She had seen the articles left open on Hannibal’s tablet. One Will Graham, missing for some time now; last seen at a boat dock not far from Wolf Trap, Virginia. Bedelia would have given three guesses as to where he was headed, and the first two need not have counted.
The only hint to Hannibal’s feelings about her question was the twitch of his upper lip; a hint for Bedelia to drop the subject.
“As your therapist, I feel obligated to warn you against making such a trip,” Bedelia continued. “After all, we all know Captain Ahab dedicated his life to the hunt of his white whale, only to discover the task would destroy him in the end.”
Hannibal set his mug on its saucer with a soft clink. “Are you casting me as hunter or prey?” he asked.
“Both. Neither.” Bedelia shrugged, fur collar rising to tickle her cheeks with the motion. “I believe that through your shared experiences you and he have begun to blur into something far more difficult to define.”
Together they watched as a young couple walked down the street, arm in arm, laughing about some private joke. Hannibal’s face, for all the control he exhibited over it, was an ever changing pool of emotion if only one knew what to look for. Bedelia watched his lips transform into a tight, thin line; the muscle on his jaw bulge as he clenched his teeth.
For a second, she could have sworn she saw wetness at the corner of his eye, but then he turned his head to look at the basilica in the distance.
“Captain Ahab was consumed by the desire for revenge,” Hannibal said softly.
“And what are you consumed by, Hannibal?”
Hannibal didn’t respond, choosing instead to swallow the last dregs of his coffee. Bedelia waited, hands folded in her lap, the picture of patience.
“You said as my psychiatrist you would advise against such a trip. What would you say as my wife?”
“I think I would feel it best to say that my husband knows his needs best,” Bedelia said, and then added, “though I would be concerned about his fidelity.”
Hannibal smiled that rattlesnake smile he had when something had amused him enough to allow it to pass by unperturbed. He stood, one hand out to help Bedelia to her feet. “Come, let’s return home. I have much to prepare before I go.”
