Tainted | Hannibal Lecter

19. The note

Hannibal, instead of getting up and starting the day as he usually would, decided to stay in bed with Madison. After realising Madison hadn't been doing as well as he'd thought, he felt he needed to question her, not only on her mental state but also on her ability to lie to him about it. He'd always felt, from the first moment he met her, that he understood her, but the recent events had disrupted the security in their relationship.

He watched as Madison slept, wrapped in his white bedsheets. He admired how perfect she looked with the gilded sun beaming on her skin. He couldn't believe that she was his, completely his. He lifted his hand and began to trace her features - her lips, her jawline, her cheekbones - he had never seen someone so beautiful.
Madison's eyes slowly opened when she felt Hannibal's warm touch.

"Good morning"
Hannibal said as he tucked her hair behind her ear, something Madison loved.

"Morning"
She returned with a smile

"Did you sleep well?"

"I did, thank you," she rubbed her eyes and glanced towards the clock that read 9:12, before turning back to Hannibal, "Is everything okay? You're normally working by now"

"Everything's fine, i have completed my work for the week already."

"Oh, that's good"
She couldn't hide her mile, she knew that the less work Hannibal had, the more time he could spend with her.

"Look...Madison,"

She knew nothing good could follow those words, so she sighed and buried her head back into the pillows.

"You know we need to speak of it sooner or later."

"Later"
She groaned into the pillows

"Madison"
He said with a slight smile

She lifted her head slowly and looked at him with a sarcastically angry expression.

"You could've told me how you were feeling."

She quickly became more serious.

"I know"

"Then why didn't you?"

"I didn't want you to blame yourself for me not getting better."

Hannibal knew he shouldn't have been happy in this moment, be he couldn't help it - Madison was looking out for him, she was trying to protect him.

"Madison, you cannot feel guilty for being human. Grief isn't a straight line, you need to allow yourselves to lean on me when things get tough."

Madison nodded slightly, offering a small smile as she does.

"I'm sorry"

"For what?"

"Last night. I overreacted, i don't know what came over me."

"It was a perfectly normal reaction from someone who has gone through what you have."

Madison leaned towards him slowly, Hannibal closed the gap between them by placing his lips in hers. Before Hannibal lost control, he pulled back.

"I will make us some breakfast, what would you like?"
He said as he got out of bed and began to dress

"I don't mind, you can pick"

Hannibal smiled to himself.

He then went into his wardrobe, pulled out a maroon knitted jumper and made his way back over to Madison. She sat on the edge of his bed as he pulled the jumper over her head.

Once they were both dressed, they made their way downstairs.

Hannibal began by preparing the meat ; he gave Madison the easier task of cutting some tomatoes and mixing a few ingredients together in a bowl.