Murder Husbands

Chapter 12

"Go get cleaned up," Cioya instructs Hannibal. "You're patched up. Will got it worse." She sees the way he's looking at Will. "He will survive. I have got him. Bring Abigail with you."

"Abigail, do you want to swim?" Hannibal asks and the toddler agrees quickly and she chases after him.

Cioya hickory rips open Will's bloody button-down shirt and she gets it off. She uses the water she collected from a bucket she had on the boat and she cleans the blood from the man's face and patches it up. She works to stop the bleeding the rest of the way in Will's chest.

"Abigail..."

"She's safe," Cioya promises. "Hannibal has her."

Will nods. "Am I dead?"

"You almost were," Cioya replies. "I found land before you could. We'll stay here for about a week or more for you to recoup because you got it worse than Hannibal, but you will survive, Will Graham."

"Did he... like my gift?"

Cioya smiles. She killed her living mate, but Will put him up like an animal as a gift for Hannibal. "He did, yes," she says. "He told me about it after he stabbed you. That's when he knew that you were it for him."

Will winces when Cioya starts stitching him up. "I knew when... he let me find him in Europe," he says. "I was sane then. And a father. I knew what I wanted."

"En wat jij wilde was hem," she says.

"Yeah," Will says. "What I wanted, and what I want, is him."

"All he wants is you and Abigail and the family he gets from it," Cioya says calmly. Her accent is heavy but her English is good and understandable.

"Will," Hannibal says as he walks back over with Abigail. "I can take him to clean up."

Cioya finishes patching Will up and she nods. "Take him," she says. "Abigail, want to go hunt for some food and firewood?"

Abigail grins. "Daddy, can I?"

"Remember what I told you, Cioya," Will says weakly. "Onthoud alsjeblieft dat ik van hetzelfde vlees geniet als Hannibal."

Hannibal smirks. "Come with me, Will," he says. "You can threaten later."

Hannibal leads Will away and guides him down the beach of the small patch of sandy land that Cioya found about an hour and a half after Hannibal and Will's fall. Hannibal helps Will out of his clothes and he gets him into the grass.

"Is the fall why Cioya has clothes for us?" Hannibal asks as he uses his hands to caress Will's body so he a clean the blood off of him.

"And I had a feeling it would get messy," Will replies as Hannibal runs some water over his head with a bucket.

Will rests his head against Hannibal's shoulder while he cleans the rest of him. Hannibal doesn't tense up or anything, he keeps his calm because he doesn't want to scare Will away. He's allowing him to seek the comfort he needs.

"Thank you, Will," Hannibal says.

"For what?"

"For saving me," Hannibal says.

"I saved us both," Will replies. "Jack would have stopped at nothing to keep us apart. I couldn't have that. I want you."

Hannibal closes his eyes when he hears those last three words. He shakes shakily and he stands up. He helps Will up.

"I want you, too, Will," Hannibal says as he helps the man dress. "Let's go set up shelter before Cioya and Abigail return." Hannibal guides Will to their camp for a while and he puts him in the sand. "You just lay down."

Will falls back and Hannibal sets up a shelter with leaves and sticks while they wait for Cioya and Abigail to return with possible dead animals, some berries, and firewood.