Cometh the Hour

The Shattering

With the child safely tucked up in bed once more, Hannibal Lecter sat on the sofa beside Clarice, pouring her another measure of whiskey.

"When did you find out?" he enquired, handing her the glass.

She took it. "Find out what, Doctor?"

"About the pregnancy."

Clarice shrugged. "Two or so months after that night, I guess."

"I'm curious, Clarice, as to how you explained it away?" he asked with a smirk.

His amusement irritated her and she knocked back the whole measure of whiskey before giving him her deadpan response.

"I told them the truth, Doctor Lecter – that we fucked up against the fridge, handcuffed together." 

"Very eloquent," Hannibal said softly, moving to take the glass from her again. "Now, why don't we try the truth?"

She maintained her grip on the tumbler as he tried to pry it from her. 

"Give me the glass, Clarice."

"Don't patronise me, you son of a bitch." 

His eyes flashed dangerously as he tried once again to remove it from her grasp. 

"The glass, Clarice. There's a good girl."

"Don't talk to me like I'm a goddamned child!" Clarice snapped, strengthening her hold on the glass – holding on as tight as she could to prevent him from taking it, purely out of principle and nothing more.

And then it smashed.

The tumbler shattered into a million pieces, several of which embedded themselves into her palms. The blood was instant and very, very red.

A brief moment of silence passed between them before the Doctor sighed, standing and disappearing from the room, only to return several moments later with a first aid box and a dustpan.

All Clarice could do was watch as he swept away the glass, before turning his attention to her hands. Slowly, meticulously he used a small pair of tweezers to removes the shards, before cleaning up the wounds and bandaging her hands with the contents of the first aid box.

The Doctor held her hands in his for a moment to inspect his work, before his eyes moved up to meet hers. She returned his gaze, somewhat sheepishly.

"If you do not wish to be treated like a child," he began softly. "Then you would do well not to act like one, Agent Starling. Are you in pain?"

"A little," she mumbled, glancing down at her hands.

"Given the sedative still in your system, it would not be prudent of me to administer any further drugs by way of pain relief. However, there was a mild numbing agent in the antiseptic cream which should kick in momentarily," he told her.

She murmured her thanks, sitting further back into the cushions of the sofa again and he returned to his position beside her.

"You are most welcome. Now then, where were we?" he pondered. "Ah, yes. That's right – you were about to tell me how you explained your predicament to your superiors at the Bureau."

"One night stand," she shrugged.

"You worked throughout the pregnancy?" he asked.

"Pretty much. Desk duties, mostly."

He arched a brow. "Thrilling, no?"

"To tell you the truth Doctor, I figured I was pretty lucky to have a job at all considerin' I disobeyed orders going after you at the Verger Estate," Clarice told him.