He had given her flowers.

He always gave her flowers after fights. It was the only way to make it up to her. He would threaten to leave, but he never did. He would come back in the middle of the night, raging drunk, and that was when the argument would begin. It kept her up late at night. She often never found sleep once he had finished. The arguments had been very few and far between, but they were slowly becoming more frequent.

And then the bruises appeared.

She would cover them as well as she could. She caked her face in make-up, her hair covering her neck and the marks there. She sometimes wore long sleeves and she often kept her head down. She would do her best not to let anyone see.

But Will Graham always saw.

"Rachel-"

"-I have the papers you marked from the other day," she interrupted him before he could say anything else.

She held a stack of papers in her hands, cradling them to her chest and scrunching up the white blouse she wore on her body. She crossed one ankle over the other, her gaze set down on the stack she held.

"I also put the marks on the system in case no one can collect their paper but wants to see the mark," she informed Will before glancing up to him and passing the papers over to him. "You had a student who was searching for you earlier, but I told her that I hadn't seen you."

Will nodded to her and she kept her gaze on him for a few moments as one of her hands tugged at her hair unknowingly and she pushed it down her shoulder. Her honey blonde hair had grown past her shoulders and hung halfway down her back in straight strands. She could try to hide the marks on her skin, but he could see them. She knew that.

"Is there anything else you need or can I go home for the night?" she asked of Will and he shook his head, pulling his glasses from his eyes and folding them into his pocket.

"Are you going back to him?" Will asked of her and she bit down on her bottom lip and shrugged.

He watched her turn around and grab the flowers she had placed into her vase before moving them over on her desk. Will straightened out the grey jacket he wore on his body before looking to the woman whom had become his PA during his time teaching, waiting for her to respond.

"He apologised," Rachel commented.

"He always apologises before he does it again," Will said, refusing to be sensitive around the issue like he knew he should be. "You know that, Rachel."

"It will be different this time," Rachel responded with a small smile to Will as she packed her possessions back into her bag.

"Why?" Will asked. "It is scarcely different because he has sent you a bigger bouquet than usual."

Rachel looked over to Will and glowered for a few moments. He couldn't even look her in the eye. She wondered if he had ever looked her in the eye before. His gaze was shifting anyway but her face, but she could sense that his eyes had settled on the marks on her neck.

She was usually grateful that he didn't look her in the eye. If he did then he would note how her mascara was threatening to run down her cheek. It always happened when she didn't need it to happen.

"And what should I do?" Rachel whispered in the small office which Will rarely used. "I live in the same apartment as him. I have no money to move out with...I can't leave...he promised me things would be different this time."

Will inhaled sharply and he took a step closer to her. He moved his hands to rest on her desk as she stood the other side of it, zipping up the tote bag she always carried around with her. She draped it over her shoulder and grabbed the red winter coat she always wore to rest over her arm.

"What about your parents?" Will asked of her.

"They don't know anything," Rachel said. "I told them about Andrew, but they are all the way in Canada. They still have Chloe to put through college and dad is working two jobs to help her...mom has enough on her plate with the twins."

Will took a moment to shake his head as he heard her. He often wondered what ran through her mind, but he did his best to find out by looking at her. It was a talent he had. He could read people better than a book. He could put themselves into their position, but Rachel was different. He rarely wanted to put himself in her position for fear of knowing what had happened to her. She was his PA, but she was a good one. She had always been there for Will when he needed her.

"You know that you...well...I'm sure...I can..." Will stammered as he searched for the right phrasing. "I have a sofa."

He blurted out those three words so fast that Rachel scarcely comprehended what he was saying. She gave him a kind smile and shook her head, her hand skimming the petal on the bouquet of large flowers.

"Thanks, Will," she said to him, "but I'm fine...everything will be fine...Andrew will have calmed down and we will be alright this time."

She began to sweep from the office, but Will grabbed her wrist to stop her. He continued to look down to the floor, his gaze content there instead of her wide green eyes. He shook his head as Rachel stared at his well chiselled face and he raked his free hand through his mop of dark curls.

"It has gotten worse, Rachel," he informed her. "It was bruises first...and then a cut...a split lip...and now your neck-"

"-Don't analyse me, Will," Rachel said, her voice sounding more pleading than demanding. "I'm not one of your students."

"But you are my colleague," Will declared to her. "I recognise the signs of strangulation, Rachel. His hands were around your neck and he left marks. How do you think this will play out? It keeps getting worse."

"Don't," Rachel said, her voice threatening to break as Will stepped closer to her, his grip on her wrist lighter and he looked to her face, gazing at her as she glanced to the ceiling.

"You're scared," Will whispered. "I can see it, Rachel. You're scared of what he will do, but you're scared to leave him."

Rachel's hand shook as Will kept her wrist in his grip and she finally looked to him and he dared to move his other hand to her neck, stroking her hair away as his thumb ran the length of the marks she was trying to hide. He remained silent, but he knew that he had been silent for too long on the matter.

"I should have intervened-"

"-No," Rachel said. "It is not your fight, Will. I can cope. I have coped."

"I understand how scared you are," Will promised her. "But you can't go back to him, Rachel. You need to recognise that."

"No," Rachel shook her head and pulled her wrist from Will's hand. "I have to go, Will. I'll see you tomorrow morning, okay?"

"No," Will declared to her. "Rachel, what kind of a man will I be if I let you go back to him? I cannot let you go back."

"You don't control me, Will," Rachel hissed and she stormed over to the door. "Look, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Will could say nothing more to her as she ran away from him and shut the door to his small office. He inhaled sharply and closed his eyes at her behaviour before resting on the back of his desk and wondering what more he could do.

...

A/N: So I recently became a Hannibal fan and this is my attempt at a Will/OC story! Do let me know what you think!