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Hannibal Lecter the ninth, the four year old with his daddy’s curls and papa’s eyes, set staring up at Agent Jack Crawford. The big man seemed to be focused on some files and on ignoring the boy. Hanni came over and tried to peek over the man’s arm but the file was quickly closed and moved away.
“Where’s my daddy?” Hanni asked, leaning on the desk.
“Working,” Jack answered. His voice held its usual gruffness mixed in with irritation from having to answer that question before. Several times. He turned back to his file.
“Mr. Crawford?” Hanni’s voice was respectful as always.
“What, Junior?” Jack asked, without looking up.
“Where do babies come from?”
Jack’s head snapped up and Hanni takes a step back. “You should ask your dad that question.”
“Daddy is working,” Hanni tells him and if the boy wasn’t four, Jack would assume the tone was mocking.
“Do you want to draw?” He tries to distract.
“Do you have crayons?” Hanni’s eyes light up and he smiles.
Jack’s eyebrows rise before he remembers the boy wouldn’t understand why that question is ridiculous.
“I have a sharpie,” he offers.
“Papa says I’m not allowed because I get messy,” Hanni informed him.
“Your papa isn’t here,” Jack huffs and hands over the marker and some forms. “Draw on the back.”
Four minutes later he is grabbing the marker out of the boy’s hand. “What are you doing?”
“Drawing Winston,” Hanni shrinks back at the tone.
“On the table?” Jack’s voice rises.
“I ran out of paper,” Hanni’s voice shakes and Jack instantly calms.
The child looks like he’s about to burst into tears. Jack has never been good with kids. As unnerving as it would be to have the small boy cry, Jack is more worried about the reaction from Will. The man had entrusted him with his only son in exchange for checking in on the autopsy as a favor for Jack.
“Hey, it’s all right,” Jack tried to be gentle but the boy didn’t seem to be falling for it. He caught a glimpse of Beverly as she walked by and called her over.
“Junior!” her voice was full of excitement, till she saw his face and came right over to kneel by the distraught boy. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“I colored on the table,” Hanni sniffled.
Beverly shot Jack an angry look. “It’s all right, kiddo. Uncle Jack doesn’t mind, right Jack?”
“It’s fine.” Jack said through gritted teeth. “Bev, I need you to look after him till Will gets back from autopsy. Please?”
She opened her mouth and closed it before smiling. “Sure. No ‘parts’ in my lab,” she winked at Jack. “And my report might be a little late.”
“Fine. Go,” He huffed and went back to his desk.
Beverly scrunched up her face and Hanni giggled.
“Want to go make a volcano or silly putty?” Beverly asked, poking Hanni gently.
“What’s silly putty?” Hanni giggled and squirmed away.
“Something your papa is probably going to hate,” Bev grinned wickedly. “Yes, we should make some silly putty! Ready to go?”
Hanni nodded but before they made it to the door, he turned and ran to get his drawing. He ran up to Jack with it and placed the picture in front of the agent.
“Bye, Mr. Crawford,” Hanni said, standing on his toes to give him a quick hug before running to take Beverly’s hand again.
“Bye,” Jack said, his voice soft and face uncertain, until he caught Beverly’s knowing look. He snorted and went back to work.
**
Beverly mixes the ingredients and lets Hanni pour in the food dye. She holds back a curse as small fingers quickly turn green in addition to the marker smudges. The boy doesn’t seem to mind of course and tries to add more before she pulls it out of his hand.
“Where do babies come from?” he catches her by surprise.
“Mommy’s belly,” she answers automatically and then winces at what she knows is coming.
Male pregnancy had become more common in the last few decades but the mutation had only affected less than ten percent of males. Most of those were heterosexual males and would never find out they were capable of carrying children. Beverly thought of herself as very open minded and was slightly upset at herself for such a sexist slip.
“I don’t have a mommy. Papa makes me peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” Hanni explains.
Beverly’s mouth opens and closes into a frown. “I’m sure he does. I think you better ask your daddy.”
“He’s working,” he told her, his voice sounding as serious as a child’s can be.
“Right, well you can ask him after,” She said and handed over the putty in hopes of distracting him.
“Ok,” Hanni smile was wide and eyes bright as he pulled the putty apart. “When daddy tells me, Ms. Katz, I’ll tell you.”
**
Brian Zeller and Jimmy Price could be heard from down the hallway. Their laugher covered up most of the inappropriate things they were discussing. Beverly poked her head out and motioned them over.
“Hey, where did you disappear to?” Brian asked coming into her lab.
“Jack recruited me for a special assignment,” Beverly said with a head nod towards the boy.
“Hey, Junior,” Jimmy walked over to high five the boy, grinning when it came back with green silly putty.
“Yea, Will told us he was here. How are you making out?” Brian asked, going over to the kid as well.
“Good, but I need to start running some test,” Beverly chewed her lip. “Where’s Will?”
“With Jack. They shouldn’t be to much longer.”
“Shi-oot” she finished lamely, and Brian mouthed ‘nice save’. She rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated breath. “You have to help. I took my eyes off him for a minute and half the putty ended up in his hair!”
Jimmy chuckled and removed a few green bits but didn’t think he could get them all. He fussed over what remained of the putty, talking to Hanni about all things he could do with it, including making key copies.
“How hard could it be?” Brian shrugged. “Hey, kiddo, Jimmy and me are heading to the café to grab ice cream, want to help us it?”
Hanni nodded but corrected the older man, parroting what his papa had been trying to teach him, “Jimmy and I.”
Jimmy snorted and chuckled, “No ice cream for Brian.”
Brian was laughing but Hanni frowned. “I’ll share my ice cream.”
“Well at least someone cares,” Brian held out his hand and Hanni took it.
Jimmy laughed again at the look on Brian’s face when he felt the putty squish between their hands.
***
Hanni held the cone in both his hands and nibbled on the nuts and chocolate that covered the vanilla center.
“Where’s my daddy?”
“Aren’t you having fun with us?” Jimmy asked, trying to look hurt.
“I am. You’re nice,” Hanni wiped at his chin with his sleeves and then went back to making a mess as he ate his ice cream. “I need to ask daddy a question.”
“Are you going to ask your dad for ice cream?” Jimmy asked.
“No,” Hanni shook his head, “I got ice cream. If I eat to much I’ll get a tummy ache.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Brian nodded. “Are you going to ask him for a tattoo?”
“No,” Hanni shook his head hard, curls flying.
“Going to ask to borrow the car on Friday night?” Jimmy winked. “Got a hot date, stud?”
Hanni giggled and shook his head. He wasn’t sure exactly what they meant but he knew they were joking because he wasn’t suppose to sit anywhere but his baby seat.
“Ok, Jimmy we can figure this out,” Brian chewed his lip. “You’re going to ask him to stay up really late and watch cartoons?”
“No,” Hanni giggled at their silliness. Every one knew little boys grew while they slept and he had plans on being taller than papa.
“Well, we are stumped. What are you going to ask your daddy?” Jimmy gave in and asked.
“I want to know where babies come from,” Hanni said, he licked off the ice cream that dripped down to his hands. “Do you know?”
There was an ‘um’ and a ‘eh’ and the two adults exchanged a look.
“Stork,” Jimmy spoke at the same time as Brian who said, “cabbage patch.”
They exchanged a look and turned back to Hanni.
“Cabbage patch,” Jimmy said with a serious nod.
“Stork,” Brian at the same time as his colleague.
“You don’t know?” Hanni asked, and his brows went up in surprise.
“Well,” Brian stretched out the word to give himself time to think but came up with nothing. “I know that your daddy knows.”
“Yes,” Jimmy agreed. “Yes, he knows. We’ll go find him and ask after you finish your ice cream.”
“You’ll ask,” Brian clarified. “Jimmy has work to do. I have to make sure he’s not slacking off.”
Hanni shrugged and continued eating his ice cream.
**
“Oh my,” Will said, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. “What have you been doing, little man?”
Will looked up to glare at the two men in the hallway outside the cafeteria. This afternoon, he had left a clean little boy in Jack’s office. Now the boy’s finger were black and green, there was remnants of ice-cream and chocolate on the sleeves and front of the shirt and … something green stuck to his hair.
“He was like that when we found him,” Jimmy said, hands up to show he was not at fault.
“Well the ice cream-” Brian started but was cut short by his friend.
“We cleaned the ice cream!” Jimmy stated.
Will rolled his eyes, as the little boy clung to his leg.
“Well it’s been a blast!” Brian grinned, and pulled Jimmy away. “I’m sure you have a lot to catch up on.”
“Thanks for watching him,” Will said, eyebrow raised at their weirder-than-normal behavior.
“Daddy,” Hanni pulled on his pant.
“Seems like you had a good day,” Will said with a tired laugh. Kids got messy, he was used to that but not looking forward to cleaning him up. “Why don’t you tell me how you got to be such a messy little boy?”
“Will papa be mad?” Hanni asked taking a step back to look over his clothes with care that four year olds never possess or at least shouldn’t.
“No,” Will told him gently, smiling at the boy. “We’ll get you cleaned up.”
Hanni slipped a slightly sticky hand into Will’s and told him about the green putty and ice cream.
**
Hannibal had frowned at his son’s little green fingers but let it go with only a raised brow.
Will didn’t believe in lying to his lover but he omitted the fact that their son had ice cream for lunch with just the barest amount of guilt. He hadn’t realized that was the case till Hanni told him that ice cream wasn’t just dessert but the whole meal. After that, he was just not hungry. Once in four years was not going to hurt the kid.
Besides, Hanni’s appetite returned by dinner time. He happily ate his food and giggled when daddy distracted papa and then stole a green bean off his plate. Will winked at Hanni and held a finger to his lips. Hanni took the request seriously and would not tell papa who ate his missing green bean no matter how much he got tickled.
“All right, the investigation shall be suspended till new information surfaces,” Hannibal eyes narrowed on Will. “But you will remain a person of interest. Do not leave the state.”
“You’d find me if I did,” Will shrugged.
“You’re under the assumption that you’re worth looking for,” Hannibal leaned in close to his son. “Is daddy, the green bean plunderer, worth looking for?
“Alleged!” Will screamed and Hannibal shushed him.
“Yes,” Hanni grinned, “Daddy gives kisses.”
Hannibal seemed to consider this and then nodded, “We will have to keep him close.”
“Where do babies come from?” Hanni asked suddenly, making Will choke on his wine. Hannibal did not seem fazed.
“That is a very good question. It is a processes called fertilization,” Hannibal answered easily, “It is an event that occurs when a the egg cell fuses w-”
The rest was cut off by a soft thud and Hannibal turning to Will with a surprised, and slightly murderous, look. The older man resisted the instinct to reach down and rub, what he was sure would be, a bruised shin. And other, much darker, instincts too.
“Babies come from the hospital,” Will said tightly, throat raw from coughing.
“The hospital?”
“Yes, the doctors get them,” Will explained it.
“Like papa?” Hanni asked looking up at the older man who was frowning at his daddy.
“Yes, but like the doctor papa used to be,” Will clarified and ignored the glare to keep eye contact with his son. “Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Hanni nodded, satisfied with the answers. “Can we go see the babies?”
“Why do you want to see the babies?” Hannibal asked, turning to the boy finally.
“I don’t know,” He shrugged. “Daddy takes me sometimes to see puppies in the store.”
Will turned a little pink and looked down at his plate.
“Do you want a baby?” Hannibal asked softly.
“No,” the boy scrunched up his little face. “I rather have a puppy.”
Will covered his grin with his wine glass and ignored Hannibal’s icy glare.