As the night drew to a close, and both men had had more than their fill of Sazeracs, beer and (towards the end of the night, in Hannibal's case) wine. "Appelle-nous a taxi!" Will requested almost unintelligibly. Hannibal was very abashed at his current state; he hadn't had that much to drink since probably medical school. Seeing Will, though, swaying and laughing and joking effortlessly in his native tongue was worth it, and he desperately attempted to memorize this carefree version of Will through the haze and vertigo of their long night. Eventually, after somehow arriving at their hotel via taxi ("J'vais get the char demain*," Will had declared), the two men entered into their room. Will carelessly slipped off his shoes and fell into the bed, not quite willing to commit to a bedtime routine when the walls were spinning as they were. Hannibal, on the other hand, stumbled to take his briefcase out of the chair and make room for himself to sleep.

"Hey, nonsense," Will called, muffled by the pillow. "C'est un grand lit.*" Hannibal looked over at Will, whose face was obscured by the fluffy pillows and blankets.

"Will-" Hannibal protested, but Will was not convinced.

"Just veins icitte and sleep,*" Will mumbled into the pillow. Hannibal smiled, sitting on the foot of the bed just long enough to remove his socks before collapsing across from Will. Will blindly sought the lamp switch and clicked it off, waiting for inevitable sleep. The moon shone between the thick curtains of the hotel room and Will, just realizing his glasses were still on, pulled them off and threw them towards the bedside table. The good doctor already sound asleep, Will blinked and tried to phase out the bright moonlight. He knew, for one thing, he would be incredibly hung over the next morning. He knew that it would be hard to go back to Wolf Trap. But he reveled in the night, and the strange, wonderful swell of elation in his chest at the simplicity of being a part of his native language again. Despite years of being away from Lafayette, Will was surprised to find that re-admission was one of the easiest and effortless things he had ever done. The shame, the embarrassment, the associations all left him for a time; Will smiled tiredly, still awash in the feeling of just being himself. Despite the difficult memories of his upbringing, Will began to doze off into uncomplicated sleep, happy to be home, happy to be with a friend and happy, for the first time in quite some time, to be Will Graham, in his own complexity and entirety.

~*~fin~*~

Notes:

1*: Call us a taxi!

2*: I'll get the car tomorrow.

3*: It's a big bed.

4*: Just come here and sleep.