To pursue the heart of Agent Grace Williamson

Part 10

——— Hannibal's home ———

I knocked on Hannibal's door as I had Alice in my arms. She was holding her favourite teddy and wasn't as chatty to me as she used to be. My mum was standing beside me with Katie and Collin, the depressing atmosphere was stabbing into me slowly. The door swung open and Hannibal smiled at us all.
"Do come in" he said to us all.
"Thank you for inviting us, Hannibal" my mum said to him as we all entered. We all gasped and looked around the office. Although I've already seen it before, it was still super impressive. Alice's mouth dropped as she looked about.
"Wow... this is nice" Collin said as he took a hold of Katie's hand.
"Isn't it?" Hannibal smiled. I looked at Alice and she smiled to me.
"Do you like it?" I asked her. She nodded her head and we both giggled together. She then picked up a few of my curled, brunette hair strands and put it over my shoulder.
"I want my hair likes yours" she told me.
"Oh you do not want my hair. It's all burnt and disgusting, but yours is all natural and moisturised." I reminded her. She looked down at her hair and smiled faintly.
"If you'd all come this way" Hannibal then lead us to a dining table in another room and we all followed. I knew where Alice was going to be sat straight away, since there was a colouring book. I did a fake gasp and pointed it to her.
"What's that?" I asked her as I put her down on the floor.
"And there's even crayons!" She gasped as she hurried over. Everyone snickered and I looked at Hannibal who was right next to me.
"Thank you, I can give you the money for how much it cost" I said to him but he shook his head.
"That won't be necessary. You can all be seated as I get the dishes" Hannibal then left the room. I sat next to Alice and the head of the table, my mum sat next to Alice and in front of me was Katie and next to Katie was Collin. I looked around the dining table and viewed all the decorations and the chandelier above the dining table.
"He has a nice home" Katie said.
"He does, imagine coming home to this everyday" my mum added on.

Hannibal sat at the head table and he had served us a posh looking dish and some champagne, but Alice had water.
"Gracie" Alice whispered to me. I looked over at her and she pointed at the potatoes on her plate.
"They're really nice, mummy normally makes it taste soggy" she whispered to me. We both broke out snickering and I saw Hannibal was smirking while he was cutting something up on his plate.
"I heard that Alice" my mum groaned as she continued to eat. Everyone started to laugh and I drank my champagne as I smirked.
"So, what meat is this?" Collin asked Hannibal.
"Rabbit" he answered. I continued to eat the food he served me and it was probably the best meal I've had in my entire life.
"If I knew how well you could cook, I would've asked you to cook at my wedding" smirked Katie. Hannibal smiled as he drank his alcohol.
"Yeah, Alice never eats anything that has potatoes in it and now she's eating some roasted ones" I teased her, as I nudged her arm. She blushed a little and everyone looked over at her.
"How very rare" my mum added. Everyone smiled and I was really enjoying myself.
"So, what do you and Grace do exactly?" Katie asked us both. Me and Hannibal exchanged looks and he nodded his head at me once, meaning for me to talk.
"Alana said he's good profiling some baddies" I looked down at Alice and tried to avoid using terms like 'murderer' and 'psychopath'.
"The first few days working together, we caught a man named Francis Doyle. He was lonely man, divorced with no children in his 30's." I exclaimed to them all.
"Have you done any work like this before,Hannibal?" Collin asked him.
"I had to track down four terrible men in my youth, just from name tags" he exclaimed to us. Katie raised an eyebrow and seemed Intrigued by what he had to say.
"Did you... accomplish it?" She asked him. He nodded his head and took another bite from his meat.
"Indeed I did" he replied.
"Were they bad men?" Alice asked as she took another bite from her food and swung her feet since they didn't touch the ground.
"Yes they were, terrible men" Hannibal promised her.
"So, what else have you two done together?" My mum asked us.
"We both found the Minnesota shrike.. you guys saw that on the uh, article. We were also really close to finding someone but he got away" I sighed.
"We shall find him again" Hannibal promised me.
"And what about the Chesapeake ripper..?" My mum asked me. I nearly choked on my food and I drank some champagne to clear my throat. I felt all eyes burning into me and it was so stressful.
"It's a weird case... but we're getting closer" I promised everyone. I purposefully didn't mention the letters so they could all relax, that is the very least they all deserve.

I helped Hannibal collect the plates even when he begged for me to stay sat down. I collected Alice's plate and she went straight back to colouring. I headed to the kitchen and I saw Hannibal prepping some dessert plates, adding a cranberry sauce onto it. I put the plates beside the sink and I viewed what he was doing. He glanced over at me and back at what he was doing.
"If I knew how well you could cook, I would've asked for this dinner sooner" I joked. Hannibal chuckled and picked up plates.
"Then that means I shall cook more often for you" he smiled at me then left to serve the plates.

Alice tried to scoop up all the leftover sauce and she savoured her spoon.
"Did you even taste it?" Katie joked to Alice. Everyone laughed and Alice smiled. Hannibal smiled and he glanced over at me then back onto his plate.
"It's insane how good these are" Collin said as he took another spoonful.
"Thank you, I was fond of cooking as a boy" he told us all.
"Oh Grace loved to bake. She used to always make a mess but made some cakes to die for" my mum informed everyone. I smirked and took another spoonful.
"I remember when we baked mum a cake for her birthday. I think that will always be the best cake ever" Katie smiled. I chuckled and I gave Alice a spoonful of my dessert, since she didn't have anymore left and seemed to love it so much.

Everyone had left and I hugged them goodbye and decided to stay with Hannibal to clean up. I washed up the dishes and he dried them with a towel.
"I can't thank you enough for today, it really means a lot to me" I told him. He gave me a faint smile then looked back at the plates he was drying.
"Anytime. Alice seemed to enjoy herself" he said to me. I chuckled and didn't break my eyes away from the sink.
"Yeah, I think you now owe a lesson to my mum about how to cook roast potatoes" I joked. He chuckled lightly and I finished washing the last plate.
"You think I've forgotten about this tune you owe me?" I asked him with a smile on his face. He smirked and finished drying.
"Of course I haven't" he replied. He took a hold of my hand and lead me to the piano in his office. He sat down on the stool and patted the space next to it. I sat down and since it was such a small stool, we were squashed together but I didn't mind that. He put his hands on the keys and began to play a tune (song above). I watched his hands play the keys elegantly and the song he played was perfect. Once he finished, he put his hands on his lap and looked over at me. My jaw was open from how impressed I was.
"Oh.. my god, that was amazing" I chuckled nervously. He smiled and looked back at the piano keys.
"How long have you known how to play?" I asked him.
"Ever since I was a boy" he answered me. I was so impressed with his skills I couldn't stop smiling.
"You really are a man with many talents" I teased.
"And there's many more talents I possess that you haven't discovered yet" he said to me. I slanted my head at him and he gave me a faint smile.
"Hmm.. yet..." I murmured to him.
"You intend on finding out all my hidden talents?" He asked me. I just shrugged my shoulders and stood up from the stool.
"You have anything to hide?" I asked him as I stretched.
"Everyone has their secrets, their fears. It's apart of being human." He said to me. I nodded my head in agreement and he stood up from the stool.
"I got you something" he told me. I raised an eyebrow and watched him walk over to his desk. He opened a drawer and he grabbed something out the drawer but put it behind his back. He smirked and I bit my bottom lip in anticipation. Once he got in front of me, he revealed it to be the book my grandma adored. I gasped and took it out of his hands.
"No way!" I flipped the book over and scanned read the blurb. I dashed in to hug him and he nearly fell backwards but managed to gather himself together.
"Thank you so much" I whispered in his ear.
"Of course"