▫Point of Possible Return▫ [Hannibal Lecter FF] ▫AU▫

Ch. 17

"And though this way is stringing us along.
Just know your not alone,
'Casue I'm gonna make this place your home."
-Home by Phillip Phillips

Mia walked through the door, seeing Patrick with his mandolin. She instantly stopped and this made the man look up. "I think I've overstayed my welcome." He put his instrument in its case and he stood up. He started for the door to the back, opening it before turning back towards me. "Want me to tell 'im that yur here?" He asked with as much sympathy he could muster up.

I looked up at the man before shaking my head. "Can you jus' tell him to meet me later?" Patrick nodded his head.

"So, what's the sitch?" Mia came walking towards the desk and leaned against it.

"Zack's still missin'... I'm just worried." I sit up but my eyes were still on my hands.

"You jus' need to calm down. You're worryin' yourself sick." She pulled a chair away from the wall and positioned it in front of the desk. "Zack'll be back." She pulled a soft smile before clapping her hands together. "Now, let's talk about something different cause you are bumming me out."

Mia started to talk about the new movies that came out, something about one of them that caught her attention and how it was so different from the book she couldn't believe it. It was pretty funny seeing her expressions, but it didn't hide the fact that my best friend was still gone...

I sat on my couch, doodling away in my sketch book like many times before. My cellphone vibrated to life by my side. I looked down at it to see Aunt Delilah's number. I answered it with some anticipation. "Hey." A small smile came on my face.

"Hey, 'Melia." Her voice sounded happier than it has been all week.

"How's Uncle Rob?" I lay my sketchbook over to the side.

"He's doing so much better than he has been." I heard something crash, my aunt gasp in return, then I heard her groan in frustration.

"Whas was that?" I ask, trying not to laugh in any sort of way. I know I shouldn't have, yet it had to be something Rob done, so I couldn't help myself.

"Your uncle just dropped some plates..." Her voice was a mix of sadness, frustration, and annoyance.

"Were they your china?" My Aunt Delilah loved her fine china, and nobody could even so much as think about them without her looking at them with that fury in her eyes. Nobody knew where she hid them, and something told me that Uncle Rob just found them, probably wanting to put them to good use.

"Yup." Delilah replied with a huff.

"I'll glue 'em back tog'her, don't chu worry, Mas'er Malone!" I heard Rob yell from the kitchen in a southern accent. I let out the laugh that I was holding back; this was too good.

"He jus' watched American Carol with that Kelsey Grammer in it, an' he will not stop callin' me Mas'er Malone." I could tell that Delilah was rolling her eyes.

I started to smell something; it smelled like someone was cooking down the hall or something. After I talked with Aunt Delilah some more and got off the phone, there was a knock on the door.

I stood up and hurried to the door. I looked through the peep-hole, seeing Hannibal with a couple plates. I opened my door, a smile unconsciously putting itself on my face. "Hello." He gave a small smile as he raised one of the plates. "Hungry?"

He lead the way to the couch -since the kitchen was still fairly unfurnished, with just the refrigerator being the only thing being new. I'm just hoping at the end of this school year I could get a coffee table...

Hannibal fixed baked spaghetti with some toast. It was delicious, and tasted a bit sweeter than I remembered mom making. After we finished eating, I gently pull his plate away to take it to the kitchen; I mean, he's done so much for me, and its only right, right?

"I-"

"No, its okay." I quickly turned to him, waving it off, before going to the sink.

I placed the plates in the sink and turned on the water. He came in soon after, standing at the doorway for a minute before coming over to me. He placed his arms around me, pulling my body a bit closer to his. A small smile appeared on my face. Hannibal kissed the back of my neck, making me blush; a shiver ran down my back as he started to turn me around, gently pushing the plates out of my hands as he turned me; his kiss was just as passionate as the last; Hannibal wrapped his arms around my waist once again, and I wrapped mine around his. He pushed me against the counter and one of his hands went to the back of my head.

My eyes glinted open, seeing the face of my best friend. I pulled away and tried to push back the tears as I looked down at the ground. Hannibal looked at me with a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry." I shake my head and my eyes close.

He brought my head to his shoulder. "It's alright-"

"My friend -my best friend- is missing, how can I possibly be alright?" My knees began to buckle, and Hannibal took a step back, and as I fell to the ground, he fell with me.

He sat down completely and pulled me into his lap; one arm was wrapped around my back, the other was wrapped around my shoulders, his hand cupping my cheek. I take a handful of his shirt, and my nose went into his chest. He started to rock back and forth, cooing as softly as possible, as he tried to calm me down. "Calm down, darling, everything's going to be alright."

My heart felt like it was breaking and building itself right back again and again, over and over. Life is like a box of chocolates... you never know what your gonna get. That was the first thing that popped into my mind. For Forrest Gump, everything that came his way was pretty much good luck; he graduated college, won the congressional medal of honor, opened a business where he earned millions, then invested in a company, and it got to the point that all he had to do was find a way to spend all his easy money. The only things that were terrible in his life that I could think of was his mother, best friend, and the love of his life dying. So far, I've experienced two of those things, with dad dying and Zack disappearing to no where. He could be considered dead at this point. As for the last one, I just hope that this moment would last.

"Pl-please, d-don't le-leave me." I managed to say through the tears.

"I would never." Hannibal's voice was low and soft.

"P-promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die."