The Eyes of a Lamb

Gluttony

Clarice awoke the next morning with Hannibal's arm wrapped tight against her. Too tight in fact.

She tried sitting up but he pulled tighter on her, his arms crushing her ribs against him as a slight shiver escaped him. Clarice could tell he was still asleep, but his breathing had become ragged as his body constricted around her like a snake.

"Hannibal" Clarice croaked as his arms caved her inside of him.

He was having some sort of nightmare as Clarice felt the pressure start into her face, her eyes growing blurry as she yelled out to him.

"Hannibal!" Clarice got out when suddenly his arms released her and he sat up panting. Clarice took a few choked breaths before turning over and looking at him with scared eyes. He looked gray in the face, those once piercing eyes now vulnerable, like a animal backed into a corner. He didn't look at her, but simply turned, his breathing now normal as he gained composure before turning over to her with a nonchalant look.

"Are you alright?" Clarice said covering her body up with the covers as she looked at him in worry.

"I am" Hannibal said trying to remain calm "Did I harm you?"

"I think you broke a rib" Clarice said feeling her chest as the stinging pain shot through her body.

"Forgive me" Hannibal said reaching for her "I'll take a look and-"

"No it's alright" Clarice said swatting his hand away "I'll be fine just give me a moment."

She sat up and took a few deep breaths to test out her ribs. One had definitely been cracked, but there was nothing to do about it but let it heal. What had caused him to dream so violently that he had pulled her into him?

"Clarice" Hannibal said softly as his hand touched her shoulder.

"I'm okay" Clarice said shaking back her bed head "Just a cracked rib, nothing to do about it. What were you dreaming about?"

"The past" he simply said as she finally turned to look at him. Clarice suddenly saw Hannibal Lecter in a different light. His always perfect neat hair was messy, the sandy blondness in wisps around his face while his naked body seemed relaxed in the most handsome way. She liked him like this, she liked the unpreparedness about him, the way he simply was when nobody was around. But sadness was in his eyes right now, even though she could tell under all the ice, a lake of bad memories resided under there that she knew could not be picked at so easily.

"I'm just glad it's over" Clarice said crawling towards him and gently kissing his shoulder.

"Will you be staying tonight?" Hannibal asked as she laid across his lap.

"If you would like" Clarice said staring off into the distance.

Hannibal found his hand hovering over her hair, wanting his fingers to dig into those brunette locks and finger through them. If he had only known Clarice for a night or two, the act would have not even registered in his mind, but Clarice was his lamb, his fevered dream, and she was his. His fingers moved into those beautiful strands, his skin feeling the softness as he played with her hair with affection.

"You seem better now" Clarice said quietly.

"It was a nightmare, that is all" he said "I have not had one in quiet some time."

"I used to think if I had a nightmare" she said "That one day it would come true."

"That is because your nightmares were real Clarice" Hannibal said softly "But now that is all behind you. The lambs can stop screaming."