Alright, I know it's a little early. Blame the holidays and all the leftover turkey waiting for me right now :P Enjoy!

Damla: Thanks :D And I will write another story after this...which one depends on how the vote falls ;)

halfcent: Heh, no worries ;) I do sometimes screw the continuity up, but like you said, in this case it was a plot device rather than a plot hole XD

Mystery Reviewer: Not quite sure who you are; there was no name on the review, but thanks XD

I glanced up at Hannibal, who had been silent throughout this entire story. My mouth was dry, not just from talking so much; I had no idea if he was going to believe this or not. I wasn't given to lying – at least, not for the hell of it – but I had to admit, this wasn't your average story.

Hannibal stayed silent for a long time, so long I began to get nervous. I knew him well enough to know that he was piecing it all together in his mind, working it through and trying to find an alternative explanation for what I'd just told him.

"I'm not making this up, Hannibal," I told him, after five minutes had ticked by without a word.

"No." Pause. "No, I didn't say you were."

"But you don't believe me."

"I didn't say that either, kid. It's just...this is one hell of a story."

I was quiet. Hannibal was right; this was one hell of a story.

Murdock got to his feet and walked out. He was calm about it, not looking at either of us, but it still hurt a little. I didn't think he disbelieved me, just that he needed some space to clear his head.

Hannibal sat there a while longer, then said, "C'mon Face. You need some more sleep."

I swallowed. "Hannibal, you believe me, right?"

There was a short pause, then Hannibal said, "Face..."

I waited for him to reassure me, but instead he continued, "You want to go back to bed, or would you rather sleep here?"

"Hannibal—"

"Here or in there?"

I really wanted to go back to bed, but I didn't think I could face the walk. Telling my story had exhausted me.

"I'll stay here."

He nodded. "Alright. I'll get you a pillow and some blankets."

I was asleep by the time he brought them in and didn't wake up until late the following afternoon to an empty house. That was alright, though; Hannibal would have made sure the place was secure before leaving. To be honest, I was glad not to have to face him just then. There was something I had to do first.

Struggling to my feet, I limped over to the phone and picked it up, then dialed. A few minutes later, I was put through to the person I wanted.

"Tawnia? Did the paper ever do a story on someone called Nadia Stegner?"

I know, I know. Not much by my usual standard of greeting, but I couldn't help that. I didn't have time to be polite.

I heard Tawnia groan on the other end of the line. "Face. Did you have to bring that up right now? I just started lunch."

"I'll take that as a yes. What can you tell me about her?"

There was a short pause, then Tawnia said, "Alright. Hold on."

I held for about three minutes before she came back on the line.

"Got it. Face, are you sure you want to hear this?"

Not really. I wanted to curl up somewhere and forget this whole thing had ever happened, but somehow I didn't think that was going to be an option.

"Tell me."

"Nadia Stegner, died age fifteen. Cause of death..." She trailed off.

"What?"

"Face, do you really have to know? I mean, do you really have to know right this second? When I'm about to eat a hamburger?"

"It's important, Tawnia."

A gusty sigh blew down the phone. "Alright. Cause of death, dissection."

"Dissection? As in laboratory?"

"No. I don't think there's an exact word for what happened to her; dissection was just the closest they could come to it. There were too many pieces of her for it to really qualify as dismemberment."

"What did happen to her?" I demanded. Tawnia's digestion be damned; I was not going to let go of this point.

"She was tied to a timber slicer. It was like one of those things you see in cartoons, you know? Only this time it was for real. That poor girl was sliced and chopped into cubes. It took the authorities two hours just to put enough of her together to identify."

I felt a cold shiver run down my spine.

"So Decker wasn't playing games?" I said. That had been my last, rather futile hope. "Nadia really is dead?"

"Face, she died two years ago. And what's Decker got to do with it anyway? Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine." That was a lie. I wasn't sure we'd ever be fine again; Hannibal still seemed to be tiptoeing around me and I still couldn't figure out whether or not he believed me, or thought I was a liar, or crazy. I wasn't sure which of the two latter scenarios I'd prefer. "Thanks Tawnia. I owe you one."

"Just give me first refusal on whatever this story is and we'll call it even."

I grinned – really grinned – for the first time in what felt like forever. "You got it. Ciao."

The grin didn't last much after I put the phone down. The fact that the paper's account of Nadia's death coincided neatly with Decker's theory of events didn't do much to ease my mind.

Three days passed, during which Hannibal...well, he didn't quite avoid me, but he seemed a little reluctant to be pinned down for any kind of discussion about what I'd been through.

On the fourth day, a package arrived in the mail. Since there was no name on it and I was bored, I tore the paper off to reveal a video with no label and a curt note in Decker's handwriting:

Tell Peck he doesn't have to worry about this happening again; I found the one behind it and took care of her.

PS: Contact me again, Smith, and all bets are off.

For a long moment, I just gaped at the message. I didn't even notice the PS until much later; one word had fired itself off the page and into my brain.

Her?

It had never entered my head that the Voyeur could be a woman. I guess if Amy were still around to witness my reaction, she'd start whining about sexism. In a way (and unlike the five thousand or so other times we'd had to put up with her whining about sexism) she might have a point; if women can claim equal rights with men in terms of jobs and pay, then they can claim it for being sick, sadistic serial killers as well...if you can call that a right. Equality doesn't just cover the nice bits, no matter how many feminists think it does.

We sat down to watch that video together, me and Hannibal. I wasn't sure I wanted to, if I'm honest, but part of me had to. Part of me had to have some proof that it really had happened, that it hadn't been some kind of hideous dream.

Everything panned out exactly as I'd told Hannibal, until we got to the timber slicer. Some of that matched my description; I watched myself as I darted around that machine, fumbling at straps, cables, controls, just like I remembered doing back in the building. There was only one small difference.

The slicer wasn't running. It was covered with cobwebs, half rusted away, just like Decker had told me.

Hannibal paused the tape and turned to look at me, not saying a word.

I shook my head very slowly. "Hannibal...it was going. I swear it was going."

He turned the VCR off. "Face..."

"It was," I interrupted. "I'm...I don't get it. Maybe someone edited the tape." I grabbed the remote from him and set the tape going again, fast-forwarding it, rewinding it and then pausing it and playing it through frame by frame.

"Face," Hannibal said again, more gently this time. Reaching out, he retrieved the remote and stopped the tape. "There's nobody else."

"But..." My voice, usually my best ally, abandoned me. "Hannibal, I'm not crazy. That thing was going. She—Nadia was there."

I made another grab for the remote, but Hannibal placed it out of reach and caught hold of my shoulders when I tried to go after it.

"Face." He spoke in a low voice, staring at me, and I would have given anything to know what was going on inside his head just then. "I believe you."

"You're just saying that."

"I never just say anything," Hannibal reminded me. "Look."

He fast-forwarded the video to the part where we met Decker in the water room. Decker and I were clear, or as clear as pictures ever got on something like this.

Nadia, on the other hand, was still nowhere to be seen.

"If you hallucinated her and her conversation, then so did Decker. If you'd been alone, I might find it harder to swallow, but Decker?" He shook his head. "No. If he hadn't been able to see her, he would have said something. It's just..." Hannibal's voice tailed off.

I nodded. "Yeah. I know. Nuts."

He grinned. "Well, I was going to say weird, or maybe unnerving, but we can go with nuts if you'd rather." The grin disappeared and he said, "Face, what would you say to getting away from this place for a while? Like out of the country for a vacation?"

I perked up a little. Hannibal doesn't splurge on his men often, but he never stints on vacations. He likes luxury retreats almost as much as I do.

"Where were you thinking? Rio?"

"Actually, I was thinking somewhere a little further afield," Hannibal answered.

I perked further, hardly daring to hope.

"Europe?" I asked. Visions of me in Paris with a beautiful French woman on my arm danced through my mind. It was a big improvement over some of the images that had been dancing through it before, let me tell you.

"Actually, I was thinking of somewhere down under."

It was at this point that my jaw hit the ground.

"Australia?"

Hannibal shrugged. "Well, I've always wanted to go there. Murdock's happy wherever we go and BA'll come around to it as soon as he, well, comes around. And think of the cultural experiences you can impress women with, talking about kangaroos, the Sydney Opera House, and...well, kangaroos," he finished, somewhat lamely.

I hesitated before answering. Part of me was a little reluctant – after what had happened the last time I left the apartment, I didn't much like going down the grocery store, much less halfway around the world – but that part of me was quickly squashed by a much larger part, the part which wanted to be able to impress women like he said.

Besides, I'd be surrounded by the Team. It would be what Hannibal said; a nice, relaxing vacation. What could possibly go wrong?

Sorry it's a little short, but I couldn't finish this story without going into the Team's reactions ;) Thanks to everyone who followed and reviewed this (and a belated Happy Christmas!)

There will be a new one up, although I'm not sure when...probably early to mid-January. As for the type of story, I'll leave the voting poll open for another week ;) In the meantime, hope you liked this final chapter and if you read, please review!