Will and Grace

Chapter 10

"We got this guys hangout." Jack turned to them. "But now we need info on him."

"Meaning?" Grace questioned.

"One of you needs to go undercover and I believe we know which one of us is going to do it."

All of them glanced at Grace, anger crossed Will face, while Hannibal looked extremely unamused with the idea.

"Do you really think that's going to work?" Will gritted his teeth with frustration.

"What works best on a guy, what gets him talking, bragging about things he's done?"

"A pretty girl." Hannibal chimed.

"Exactly." Jack smiled, as if though he had already solved the whole case.

Emotions were running high and the room felt as if all the air was sucked from it. Grace's senses felt smothered and all she could smell was stale coffee and musty papers. The smell of the police station made her lunch rise up into the back of her throat, the acid stinging and leaving a bad taste in her mouth. She quietly wondered if one of them had some gum, but didn't dare ask at a moment like this.

Pushing every thought and feeling from her head she made her decision.

"I'll do it."

Will looked completely dumbfounded, Hannibal had a little bit of shock written across his face, but Jack looked extremely pleased. Her answer wouldn't have mattered, she felt, he would have never took no for an answer anyway.

"Great!" He smiled widely.

"Wait, no, no, no." Will held his arm up in front of her as though he was protecting her from some unseen danger. "What makes you think that's really going to work?"

"I know it will."

"You sound very assured of yourself, Jack." Hannibal cocked an eyebrow at the notion of this actually working, but was intrigued to watch as this all panned out.

"I'll be fine, don't worry." Grace said more to herself than them. She was very worried, she could feel it in her gut something was going to go wrong tonight and they all secretly knew it.

"You gotta dress?"

"I'm afraid I don't."

Hannibal had a stack of dresses folded over his arm and was scanning the racks for a few more while Grace stood behind him staring at a mannequin. 

"Ready Grace?" 

"Yeah." Grace followed him to the dressing room. He was known for his good taste and Grace felt he would know what he was doing and looking for, he had an eye for things such as fashion.

She stepped in with the first dress and changed, struggling with the zipper and straps before stepping out. Hannibal made a twirling motion with his finger and she did as she was asked, he scratched his chin and thought for a moment. "Maybe something a tad shorter."

She sighed and went back in with the next dress.

Five dresses and a series of twirls later she found a dress they both agreed on.  Hannibal left her to redress but not before asking for her shoe size.

By the time she was walking away from the dressing rooms and slipping on her coat, she spotted Hannibal at the register already paying. 

When she got to him she spotted the total of the cost. "One-hundred and forty dollars?! Hannibal no." That price was ridiculous. "You don't have to pay for that."

Hannibal looked at her with his tired looking face. "It's perfectly fine, besides it's a lovely dress." Hannibal seemed not to be bother by the cost.

"Are you really sure?"

Hannibal looked at her again and smiled. "It's fine; I promise. Besides, I'm a doctor." He winked. Hannibal never spoke about his pay grade, but he made enough where one-hundred and forty dollars was a moderately decent bottle of wine.  

He watched as she pursed her lips together while still holding that worried looked but said nothing; his confidence assured her that he wasn't worried or bothered what-so-ever.

He slid his credit card into the machine and it soon pinged with approval. He placed the card back into his wallet and into his pocket; before thanking the cashier and taking the bags from her hand.

"Now." He looked down to Grace. "Hungry?"

The two stopped at a cafe that was on the corner a few blocks away from the motel. Hannibal watched as Grace picked at a muffin.

"Is something wrong Grace?"

"Hmm?" Grace's head shot up.

"Is something wrong?" He asked again patiently.

"Ugggh." She sighed. "Kinda, I suppose."

He waited for her to continue, but instead she went back to staring at her muffin. "You can always tell me what's on your mind."

She smiled, suddenly reminded that she could indeed put her confidence in him. He was her therapist and more importantly her friend. " I'm just a little worried about Jack's plan. Something doesn't feel right. There's so many angles he's not covering."

"Jack has always seemed to go into a plan half-cocked." He agreed. "Try not to worry, you won't be alone, there will be others with you inside and Will and I won't be far away, just outside."

She smile quirked slightly in response; still not assured.

"I won't let anything happen to you, Grace. I promise." Beautiful hazel eyes looked up at him, silently holding him to his promises.

"Okay."

He could only hope that nothing would go wrong with Jack's little sting. Since they had been there, the string of murders continued all in the same style.

 His mouth went dry with a series of thoughts and wonders of how tonight would pan, for once he wasn't sure if he wanted to see how this all went. He had seen many things while working alongside Will, though this man wasn't as scary or odd as the other serial killers he had seen, it didn't mean he wasn't dangerous or a threat when faced. 

Hannibal simply smiled back at her, not mentioning any of his thoughts.