Spiders Web - A Hannibal Fanfiction

Survivors

The coffee tasted like hogwash, yet she took sip after sip hoping the cup would never be empty and simultaneously begging for it's near end. It was a way of avoiding to talk and she'd do anything to maintain her facade right now, even if it meant to drink thin brown soapy water.
She couldn't even tell why it tasted horrible. Maybe it was the blend of cheap coffee and disinfection odours which insulted her nose, or maybe it was her surrounding in general, the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Certainly, and mostly, it was the fear that made her hold her breath every time she glimpsed at the clock.
She wasn't sure how much time Hannibal had left but with every second another drop of blood was lost and the fever was climbing higher. The in the empty corridor oddly loud clock was ticking precious lifetime away and made her heart sink deeper with every second.
She would never openly admit it, but now that he probably was dying, she didn't wish for him to do anymore. Before it turned out to be one of her darkest nightmares their history was a lovestory once and it was something she cherished nonetheless.
Another 'tick', another 'tock', another sip out of the white paper cup that started to feel frightening light in her left hand.
Her right one was dug deep into the pocket of her black woollen coat, clinging to a phone she wasn't able to use.
Jack, who was sitting next to her on another uncomfortable blue plastic stool, wasn't directly looking at her, but surely had an eye and both ears bent on her.
Dammit! She needed to make that phone call or better get out of this place, but she was tied to Crawford even though he had assured her that she wasn't under arrest. It felt like it anyways.
She could go to the bathroom tho, why didn't she think of it right away. You're getting slow Anna!
"Not the social type, huh?" Jack interrupted her inner monologue.
"I live alone in a cottage in the middle of nowhere. What did you expect?!" She stated dryly, not sure if it'd been meant as a joke, but causing him to laugh.
"Yeah, right! Well I certainly didn't expect to wait for an eternity in here!"
Annas impatience finally had passed onto Jack, but the feeling of victory didn't last long. Tick tock.
"Me neither." She assured, really meaning it. "Actually, would you mind?" She waved with her phone. "I need to call in at work. It's almost 6. I guess I won't be on time today." She smiled a little to make sure he swallowed her lie.
"Do you even reach someone at this hour?" He was suspicious.
She nodded. "My boss is baking every morning."
"Okay! But be quick!"
"Done!" She got up akwardly with stiff legs, but he stopped her before she could even turn towards the exit.
"Do it here!" he commanded.
"But we're in a hospital."
"I don't care."
She stood the look into Jack's eyes for a moment before she broke it to dial Emanuele's number.
"Hi! It's Anna! I'm sorry, I won't be able to come in today. Yeah, I'm okay! It's just... Something personal came up. Family business. I need to be at home. Yeah, I'm sure it'll be fine! Thank you!" She hung up hoping Martinelli would get the real meaning of her voicemail and would take it from now, so she could focus on Jack and his plan that was still a mystery to her.
"Italian?" It was more like an observation of his than a question.
"I work at a small restaurant by the harbour. It reminds me of Florence, so..." She sat down again explaining and hoped giving away little personal crumbs would make Jack follow the path she hoped to lead them both down.
"I met my wife in Florence!" He immediatly picked up the first one and Anna smiled a triumphant half smile towards a white neon lit wall.
"Oh lovely! What's her name?"
"Bella! Her name was Bella." Jacks eyes wandered off into painful memories.
"I'm sorry!" Anna whispered barely hear able, understanding there was nothing she could possibly say. She knew about the power of sounds, and the power of silence in which the unusual pair found themselves in for the next half hour, before the quiet was interrupted by squealing rubber soles on the linoleum covered floor.
"Mr. Crawford?! You can see him now!" said a doctor that looked even more tired than they felt.
Anna followed them both down the hallway and grew insecure with every step.
Will he see through her mask?  After all, he's been where she's been. They were alike in a way. Hannibal had made them.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and almost choked on it. Shaking her head slightly she reminded herself of the feeling she couldn't name anymore, but knew she'd felt immediately when she heard those five words earlier tonight.
"Will Graham has been found."
Jack entered the patients room without knocking and introduced her to him in the same breath. "Will, this is Anna Kingston!"
As soon as their eyes met she was swallowed by the blue and knew that maintaining her facade would be easier said than done. It was like he was looking into her soul. Something she'd only said about Hannibal before.
"Hello, Miss Kingston!" Will said in a rough voice, the atlantic water still taking its toll.
"Anna, please!"
"Why? Cause we're both survivors of the mighty Dr. Hannibal Lecter?!"
"For one reason."
"What's the other?" Jack threw in. In her focus on Will Anna had forgotten he was still there.
"I don't like my surname. I don't feel like it belongs to me." she answered Jack.
"Yeah, that's common with fake names. Even tho you choose it, it never feels quite like yours, right?" Will said with enough sarcasm to make her feel safe.
Still she looked into his scared and stitched up face and wondered what else he could see in hers, yet she couldn't help but to admire the emotion and depth it inhabitated even tho it was motionless.
"Right!" Her voice sounded strange.
"Okay! I'll leave you alone!' Jack excused himself, ignoring the fact Will just had pointed out for a higher purpose. "Before I go, I just want to know one thing! Is it possible that Dr. Lecter survived too?"
"Of course!" Will and Anna said at once.
"Well then we'll continue our search! I only believe Hannibal Lecter is dead when I see his body with my own eyes!"
Anna jumped almost unnoticeable, cause of his words and got herself a chair as an act of compemsation to her feelings.
The door clacked loudly in her ears and it hit her hard that she was alone with Will now. She felt exposed in a way.
"Do you really think he made it?" She asked him trying to get control over the situation, while she sat down on another uncomfortable chair and crossed her legs.
"Well, we're talking about Hannibal, right?"
"Yeah, right!" Anna nervously folded her hands in her lap.
"So nervous." Will observed, his voice sounding amused.
"Aren't you?"
"Why would I be?"
"Cause of the questions spinning in your mind." She could play that game too. It gave her strength even tho she didn't know exactly what was waiting around the corner.
"Why do you think you know them?!"
"They're spinning in my mind too."
They both looked at each other observingly, but less suspicious.
"Why you?" Will finally said tiredly, letting his head sink into the fluffines of his pillow.
"Why you?" She fired back.
"I've asked myself that multiple times!" He closed his eyes letting the tirednesss win.
"I guess we should be flattered!" She joked.
"Yes! It just doesn't feel like flattery, does it?!" A hint of a smile ran over his face.
"No, not quite!" She smiled.
Anna started to like Will and wasn't sure if she was comfortable with that.
Tiredly she looked out of the big window while Will drifted into dreamland, and watched the sun rise thinking about the man fighting for his life in a cottage by the sea and how from now on, her life would be more complicated than it ever was before.