To pursue the heart of Agent Grace Williamson

Part 23

———Hannibal's office ———

I hurried into Hannibal's office, worried seeing all these detectives around. I thought if the ripper got to him or something else happened. I paced into the office and saw Franklin on the floor, with a broken neck. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open. I looked around the office and saw a broken glass table that would've been next to Hannibal's black leather chair and I saw a step on the ladder was broken off. I was so relieved to see Hannibal sat at his desk, looking a little beaten though- but alive. I stepped over Franklin's body and I walked over to him and he smiled at the sight of me.
"I thought you were dead..." he muttered to me.
"Sorry to disappoint" I chuckled. He smirked and looked back down at his leg, I noticed there was a bit of blood on it.
"What happened here?" I asked him as I looked around his office.
"Tobias came to kill my patient, Franklin" he exclaimed to me. I got a sharp pain around my throat again and I traced my finger where the string tightened around my neck.
"And what happened to you?" He asked me.
"Well I found him. He was waiting for me" I told him as I leaned on his desk.
"Doctor Lecter, can you go over on what happened?" Jack asked him, giving me a little jump since I didn't hear him approach.
"Tobias came to kill my patient and then he attacked me, I simply was using self protection" Hannibal answered him. I got a sudden ringing in my ear and I cringed at the noise and felt my ear.
"Grace?" Hannibal asked me.
"Uh yeah... I just had to shoot my gun close to my ear. It's okay though" I exclaimed to him as I tried to not focus on the ringing noise.
"Maybe we should get it checked out" Jack recommended to me.
"It'll go away on its own" I said back. Jack sighed at my stubbornness and I pushed myself off the desk and looked around his office again.
"Why don't you have the day off, Hannibal?" I asked him.
"Why don't you too?" Hannibal asked back, knowing I will try to refuse.
"I'm fine" I reminded him.
"Grace your hearing is all fuzzy, maybe you should have some time off" Jack repeated again to me. I just shook my head as I crossed my arms.
"I said no, okay?" I snapped to Jack.
"As am I, Grace. You're not going into work today and that is final!" Jack shouted to me. I went to say more but Hannibal put his hand on my arm.
"You two stay together" Jack said to us as he left. I just groaned and looked up at the ceiling.
"He was correct, Grace. You do deserve some time to focus on your well-being" Hannibal told me. I sighed and coughed a little, tracing my finger on my neck injury. I looked down at Hannibal's wrist and saw he was also bleeding from a similar wound to the on my neck.

——— 7 PM ———

I leaned on the sink in the kitchen, as I tried to catch my breath. I put my hand around my throat and felt the scab forming. My throat felt dry and on fire. I felt Hannibal come up behind me and tucked some hair behind my ear and give me a back hug. I leaned back on him and sighed.
"How painful Is your wound?" He asked me. I just shrugged my shoulders and cleared my throat.
"It'll be fine in a few days" I answered him. He planted a kiss on my cheek and let me go.
"You can wash the blood off yourself using my shower, I can bring you fresh robes" he said to me as he opened up his fridge.
"Okay, thank you" I walked to his stairs and headed to the bathroom.

I turned on Hannibal's shower and I undressed myself and stepped inside. After I cleaned myself off, I got out the shower and I wiped the steam off the mirror and looked at myself. I saw my throat was bruising a little and the scab was forming well. My cut on my arm was all scabbed up and I saw marks on my thighs. I leaned on the sink and took a few breathers before wrapping myself up into a towel and grabbing my underwear. I left the bathroom and saw Hannibal left a small pile of clothes on the chair in the corner of the hallway. I picked them up and changed in his bedroom. He had given me the red sweater again and some silky pyjamas pants.

——— 10 PM ———

Hannibal was sat at his desk, working on some papers and I was sat on one of his black leather chairs, with my knees tucked close to my chest and I was secretly drawing him. I kept glancing up at him and he just kept his head down as he wrote on the papers. I smirked when he licked his thumb and flipped onto the next page, completely obvious to what I was doing - I think. I added some more detail onto his hair and veining hands.
"How is the portrait coming along?" He asked me. I groaned, hoping this would be a surprise and he chuckled.
"I was going to surprise you" I murmured to him as I smirked. I still continued to draw him and started on the background.
"I haven't seen your art before, it will still be a surprise" he replied to me. Hannibal closed the file and went onto the next one.
"It's not that good" I warned him. He just lightly chuckled and continued with his work.