Part One

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Will Graham was sitting in his psychiatrist's office at 7:30 in the evening. Hannibal Lector sat in the chair across from Will, watching his patient intently. Will had been coming to see Hannibal for several weeks now and Hannibal was beginning to be concerned for Will's mental health. He had been watching Will's slow mental deterioration. It was getting worse every week; Will had begun to lose time and was hallucinating more and more frequently. Hannibal believed that Will's condition was triggered by Jack Crawford's constant use of Will's special ability, being able to recreate the thinking of serial killers, to try and catch the Chesapeake Ripper once and for all.

            "Will," Hannibal said quietly. Will looked over at him. "I feel that it would be best if someone were to stay with you until these hallucinations pass. We don't want anything worse than tearing apart your chimney to happen."

            "We?" Will asked.

            "Doctor Bloom and I," Hannibal clarified. "I've discussed the subject with her extensively and she would be willing to stay with you," Hannibal told him.

            Will sighed and rubbed his eyes. The nightmares had been getting worse. "I don't know, maybe you're right. It would probably be safer for everybody if someone was watching me," Will said bitterly.

            Hannibal could detect the self-loathing in his words and didn't particularly like it. He considered Will his friend and was worried about him. Hannibal nodded to Will. "I'll call Alana when you leave. She'll meet you at your house." Will nodded and got up. He grabbed his coat and Hannibal opened the door for him.

            When Will had gone, Hannibal walked to his desk and grabbed his phone and dialed Alana's number.

            She picked up after the second ring. "Hello?" she asked.

            "Will has agreed to let you stay with him," Hannibal told her.

            Alana sighed with relief on the other side of the line. "Thank God. I'm beginning to seriously worry about him. Just the other day he contaminated a crime scene while he was doing his thing and Jack said he ran out of the room panicking," she told Hannibal.

            "Really?" Hannibal asked. He was curious as to why Will hadn't mentioned this to him.

            "Yes. He even had Jack worried about him," Alana said. "Well, I'd better go if I'm to meet Will. Thank you for the call, Hannibal."

            "You are most welcome, Alana," Hannibal told her and he hung up the phone.

            He sat down at his desk and stared at the pad of paper he had had Will draw a clock on. The circle was elongated and only the first five numbers were actually inside it. The rest were smooched together at the bottom right-hand corner of the page.

            Hannibal sighed. He was very worried about Will and if Alana could handle his nightmares.

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