Title: Caring for Will

Summary: After rescuing him from Mason Verger, Hannibal cares for Will's injuries. We all know how it ends but this is how I pictured the middle happening

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Hannibal - that belongs to the author and Bryan Fuller.

Author's Notes: I wrote this for a fic exchange. I only hope that it filled her request.

oOo

To say that Hannibal had felt mixed emotions when he had walked into the poor excuse for an operating room would have been exaggerating. He had felt precisely two things. Firstly there had been nothing short of rage as he glimpsed the scalpel which had been held so tantalizingly close to Will's jaw. He was perfectly okay with Will being cut into, providing he was the one holding the scalpel. For other people to do so was unacceptable. Hannibal had controlled it, of course, choosing to use it against the man who fancied himself a chef but who, in reality, was merely a butcher with a bit of training in the kitchen. Once that slight problem was taken care of, Hannibal felt content enough with his timing to merely stand and observe Will as he lay, helpless, and tied down, leading to the second emotion which had overtaken him - lust.

Though Will's body lay still, almost relaxed, in the chair, his wide, frightened eyes told Hannibal that the butcher had given him something to deaden his body while leaving Will to fully experience everything. It was considered a form of torture by some, but it was a method which Hannibal himself had used once or twice in an effort to service the meat which he'd be taking. As that was not the case here, all Hannibal could only see it with distaste and disappointment.

Ignoring the way Will's beautiful eyes pleaded with him for help, Hannibal allowed his gaze to travel the length of Will's trapped arms, admiring the muscles which stood out even though they were lax. Though not as tan as he was prone to being, Will's skin was a lovely hue of sun-kissed. Leaving the arms for the moment, Hannibal's gaze swept down to his lovely, if bony, wrists which disappeared under the leather straps before landing on the long, slender fingers. Brief flashes of when Hannibal had cleaned blood off those knuckles entered his mind, leading him to smirk.

Flicking his gaze back to Will's face, he found the bound man had fallen into unconsciousness. It didn't surprise him as Will's body had gone through a great amount of stress in the past forty-eight hours, but it did disappoint him a little. With a sigh, Hannibal began to untie him. "Oh my dear Will," he said as he released the strap across Will's chest. His gaze caught and held to the surgical site where some hack of a surgeon fixed what Hannibal had intentionally broken. Stifling his desire to caress the scar, Hannibal continued to free the man. "What ever shall I do with you?"

oOo

In spite of his light-framed appearance, Will Graham was a fairly heavy man. Hannibal had known this before he had decided to carry the man to safety, of course, but it was brought home to him several times during the trek whenever he stumbled or nearly fell from the dead weight and weaknesses of his own body. With Chiyo watching out for him like she usually did, Hannibal didn't worry about Mason's guards. He kept his pace as steady as he could make it. When a Cadillac Escalade pulled up in front of him, Hannibal briefly tensed until Chiyo got out and opened the back driver's side door for him then waited. With a half smile, Hannibal set Will down in the backseat then climbed into the front passenger seat, enjoying the heat which blew out of the vehicles air vents and the warmed seat which heated his aching back muscles.

Chiyo didn't wait for directions to a place. She simply drove. Knowing that he was in safe hands, even with Will in the backseat, Hannibal allowed his eyes to close and his mind to rest. When he awoke, it was to hear Will calling his name. Sadly it was not with any form of desire or want in it, but even so, he was saying it. When he turned to look for Will on the backseat, Hannibal was shocked not to find him there, but rather on the floor where he had, evidently, fallen. With a look, he inquired of Chiyo why Will was in such a position but as her only reply was silence, he pushed the thought out of his mind and stared at Will instead.

The younger man had obviously fallen in such a manner as to reopen the wound in his shoulder since blood was smeared all along his arm and it streamed slightly from where one of the stitches had opened. The contrast between the deep red and the paleness of Will's skin was mesmerizing for a time but eventually the scar on his stomach drew his attention. It was ugly, to be sure, but even so, it made Hannibal proud that Will would have to carry that with him until he died since it ensured that a part of Hannibal would always be with Will, even if the man himself wouldn't be.

Oh yes, he knew that Will was leaving him; he had known the moment he had seen the knife that Will had hidden up his sleeve. It had hurt to know that what little trust he may have had left for Will was gone with the last act of betrayal and had both he and Will not have been taken, Hannibal would have showed Will just how badly he had wronged Hannibal. Sadly, that was not to happen now. Jack would be coming for Hannibal the moment he could. The question was, should Hannibal run, as he had before? Or should he stay and be here for when Will is finally ready? These were not questions which Hannibal had answers to yet, though he had certainly thought about them while he'd been carrying Will to safety.

When the vehicle stopped, Hannibal gave Chiyo yet another inquiring glance. He hadn't expected her to bring him here. Will, yes; Hannibal, no.

Chiyo responded by staring evenly back him, saying, "You both need to rest. I'll keep watch," before exiting the car and leaving Hannibal to get both himself and Will into Will's home.

oOo

Once Will was settled on his bed, Hannibal began to clean up both of their wounds. He began with his own of course, showering then bandaging what cuts were still bleeding afterwards. He was dreading having to attempt to dress in anything that Will had in his closet when he was pleasantly surprised by finding a suit, tailored perfectly for him, hanging from the molding of the ceiling. With a small smirk, Hannibal took it down and slipped it on.

Feeling far more normal once that was finished, Hannibal returned to Will, looking him over while he decided which cut he should address first. The wound to his shoulder was still bleeding rather sluggishly, leading him to believe he should restitch that before he did anything else. Instead, Hannibal sat down on the bed, his right hip grazing Will's left, and grabbed one of Will's hands. While his fingers caressed Will's, Hannibal placed gentle kisses to the marks which the leather straps had left behind. Although Will had not been able to fight back even in the slightest, the butcher had evidently thought it best to tie him down as tightly as he had been able to, leaving the skin around his wrists, arms, chest and stomach rather raw.

As Hannibal slowly made his way from Will's wrists to his chest, he heard little moans escape from Will's lips. The sounds could have been taken as pain but Hannibal knew better. Though he was far from admitting it now, Hannibal knew that Will wanted him. The idea didn't bother him in the slightest since the feeling was more than mutual. For all the damage they had done to one another, Hannibal loved Will as much as he was able to love any human being. From the beginning, Will Graham had intrigued him - an emotion that had only grown into something that Hannibal would call love, though many possibly wouldn't.

Out of the corner of his eye, Hannibal noticed Will's eyelids fluttering. He stopped just in time to see Will's beautiful blue eyes open and stare at him with a glazed interest. "What are you doing?"

Hannibal hesitated a moment, wondering how much of this conversation Will would remember and how aware he was right at this moment. Deciding it was best to play it safe for now, he answered, "I am checking to make sure you do not have injuries I cannot see."

Will's brows furrowed. "With your mouth?"

Having had his answer, Hannibal kept his features smooth, showing nothing of what he was thinking on his face. "Does that bother you?" The furrow deepened as Will attempted to figure out how best to answer that, no doubt torn between the yes which he wanted to give and the no which was the truth. Hannibal waited for a moment longer when, after still not receiving an answer, he said, "Shall I continue?" As he spoke, he leaned down so that he was hovering over the scar on Will's stomach. Once he was done, he placed a gentle kiss to it, drawing a small "hmm" of pleasure from the man.

"You should stop," Will groggily answered, though his voice was a little stronger than when he had first woken. Evidently the medicine was wearing off. A pity. Hannibal wouldn't have minded having Will's body to himself for a bit longer.

As much as he didn't want to, Hannibal did as he was bid, saying, "As you wish," as he did so. For most, their wishes would never have been part of Hannibal's consideration. However, as this was Will, he took them into consideration. "How are you feeling?"

Will shifted to sit up but his limbs were still under the control of the drug so he didn't get far. Hannibal watched him for all of two seconds before he pulled the anesthetic and needle out of his bag and began to fill the syringe. Will's eyes widened in alarm but Hannibal paid no attention to it. As Will made a small sound of protest, Hannibal inserted the needle and pushed the plunger down, injecting the liquid into the muscle in Will's shoulder.

There was a moment's silence as Hannibal began to thread the needle before Will said, "You're numbing me this time? How generous of you."

"This time you didn't try to kill me first," Hannibal answered as he began to sew.

"All's fair in love and war, is that it?" Will mumbled, his eyes closing briefly in what Hannibal assumed was exhaustion.

"Something like that, yes." Hannibal almost corrected Will's quoting of the phrase but he didn't see a point to it. Will was almost asleep and since no one seemed to know the full quote it would be quite a waste of time and he would only be talking to himself.

By the time he was finished, Will was sleeping deeply. Not comfortably, Hannibal thought, as his eyes kept rolling under the lids and he would often let out a sound of distress, but it was deeply. After cleaning the cut that he had made on Will's forehead, Hannibal pulled the most comfortable-looking chair he could find over and sat down on it. He didn't know how long he would have to wait for Will to be lucid again but he had a feeling that it wouldn't be long enough because he knew that when it happened - Will would either break Hannibal's heart again or he'd make it fly and Hannibal wasn't sure he was ready for either just yet.

Fin