Chapter Text
Beau had woken shortly after Hannibal and Will had returned home and had slipped upstairs. He had snorted to himself when he felt the wash of a silencing charm come from Will’s room.
He understood. He knew that they needed to complete their bonding, as was traditional.
Sabine had told him when they had gotten back the night before that trouble would be at their door sooner rather than later. He would be sure to put himself between it and his family.
He heard the oven buzzer go off and figured that the casserole that Hannibal had put in before joining Will upstairs was most likely finished. Slipping Bastien into the chair carefully he headed for the kitchen and pulled the casserole from the oven setting it on the stovetop to cool. Beau knew that it wouldn’t be long, and Will and Hannibal would be coming back down.
They both needed to put the blood wards up and then tell him what had happened at Gringotts.
He could feel it, the edge of the abyss that was starting to push in, surrounding them.
It wouldn’t be long and their peace would be shattered by it.
He heard it then, the crunch of gravel from a car pulling up the drive.
Buea slipped up the stairs quickly and dismantled the silencing charm on the door before he pushed it open quickly.
“Will, m’boy…. Its time.”
Will’s eyes snapped open hearing his Daddy’s voice, taking a split second for it to register what he had said. Sitting up quickly he felt Hannibal doing the same. Glancing over at his… mate… husband he arched his eyebrows.
“How are we going to play this?” he asked curiously. He could feel that someone had just pulled into the driveway and the engine had turned off. Judging by the sound or lack of sound of the vehicle he was going to go with it being Alana.
Which was a bit odd considering he hadn’t called her or texted her giving her any reason to show up unannounced. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and turned it on to see if he had missed any messages.
“I feel that we should… let things play out and react accordingly?” he was also curious to why Alana had decided to call upon Will at such an early hour with out a proper invite.
Scrolling quickly as he waved a hand over the two of them cleaning them up he frowned, not seeing any missed calls or messages from her. Glancing up at Hannibal he knew that he could tell who their unannounced visitor was as well. “This should be… interesting.” He said blithely.
Slipping a pair of sweats on and not bothering with a shirt and smirking at Hannibal. “Well then, let the games begin.” He leaned in stealing a kiss from him before he slipped down the stairs quickly to make sure that he was the one that greeted the guest. He could see that Bastien was still asleep in the chair where Beau had left him and let him stay there, after all if Jack was the one that had sent her then she would have known it was a family emergency supposedly that had kept him from work the last two days.
He let his shoulders roll in on himself slightly letting the appearance of being haggard and overwhelmed radiate from him. He could almost hear his Da snorting from the kitchen at the mask that he pulled on.
Just before Alana could knock on the door Will swung it open quickly and put his finger to his lips in a shushing motion to forestall any noise from her. He didn’t want her to wake up Bastien.
Alana nearly jumped back when Will yanked the door open, but before she could say a word he shushed her before waving her into his house. The dogs for the first time not getting up to greet her as she walked in. She took in Will’s appearance and could see that he did not look well at all. She had known and had told Jack about her reservations about taking Will on as a special investigator. The man wasn’t mentally able to do this kind of work anymore! She had told Jack that repeatedly! She was so close to personally recommending that Will take a mental health leave and have himself some time in a proper facility till he was able to control himself better. It was obvious to her that he wasn’t taking care of himself. Or that he couldn’t do that. Especially given the reason she was there in the first place, Jack had called her in to ask if she could step in for Will as he had taken a sudden leave of absence siting a ‘family emergency’. She knew that Will didn’t have any family outside of his father in Louisiana, She had checked his name in the hospital data bases to make sure that he hadn’t been admitted. So now she was trying to figure out why Will had lied to Jack about why he wasn’t working. It was just another nail in the proverbial coffin for her. She was just about to ask why she was being shushed when she saw something that was completely out of place.
A child.
A sleeping child in a chair in the middle of Will’s living room.
Her brow furrowed concerned.
She followed Will slowly into the kitchen, her eyes not wanting to move from the boy.
Alana startled when she felt a warm cup being pushed into her hand and was surprised to see an older man standing there in front of her. She could see the resemblance of Will and knew that he had to be his father.
“Oh… I’m sorry, you startled me.” She tried to plaster a warm smile that came off clinical at best.
Beau snorted and shook his head looking at his son. He knew what he was doing and wholly approved. “Je vais mettre Bastien au lit.” he rasped out softly before he squeezed Will’s shoulder knowing that Hannibal most likely would watch over the boy in his room.
Will nodded once to his Da whispering softly “Je monte bientôt .”
He slipped out of the kitchen and headed for the living room to take Bastien away from whatever would happen in the next few moments. He could feel it in his bones, that woman had nothing redeeming about her.
Will could see out of the corner of his eyes that way that Alana tried to figure out what his father had said. He knew that a lot of people even knowing French had a hard time understanding it with the thick cajun accent. His daddy had been deliberate in not speaking English reverting to their mother tongue. He didn’t trust her.
Alana frowned again. “I didn’t know you spoke French.” She said slowly trying to piece together everything that was going on in her head. Trying to make sense with what she had just walked in on.
Will arched his eyebrow slightly and shrugged his shoulders without giving her a verbal answer. “Why are you here Alana, I told Jack that I had to take some time off for a family emergency.” He stated softly letting his magic slip around him like a cool shroud soothing the burning anger that was starting to simmer just under his skin. The amount of condescension she was putting off was enough to set his teeth on edge.
Alana pulled herself up. “Well, I was concerned, I knew that your father was your only family, and he wasn’t in any of the hospital data bases for being ill…” she trailed off realizing that it probably sounded rather ridiculous, but considering the man in front of her she had every right to be worried. “And I know that you haven’t been well yourself and was worried that you wouldn’t be able to handle the stress without it overwhelming you.” She finished resolutely.
Will could barely contain his irritation at the number of boundaries that Alana had crossed in just that simple sentence. “Well as you can tell I am quite fine and if that is all you are worried about then you can leave.” He said trying to keep the snide tone out of his voice. He could sense Hannibal on the stairs and knew that if push came to shove… literally. His mate would have his back.
Alana nearly scoffed at that. “I think that you are unable to see that you are not well Will.” She glanced toward the hallway knowing that his father had gone upstairs and hadn’t come backdown, that bolstered her attitude toward the situation.
“Who was that boy.” She questioned finally getting to the heart of what her biggest concern was now.
Will crossed his arms over his chest in an effort to keep from pushing Alana out the door. “That isn’t any of your business.” He said firmly, a tendril of steel flitting out in his voice.
Alana pushed her hair behind her ear and grimaced “You can not tell me you can take care of a child Will; you can’t even take care of yourself!” she said not keeping the disdain our of her voice.
“I am not a child Alana, nor am in mentally incompetent. If that is all, please leave.” Will could feel the vein ticking at his temple, his magic wrapping around him tightly. He could feel Hannibal’s reaching for him, trying to help ground him.
Alana looked at the man disbelievingly. “You can’t be serious! Whatever you are playing at Will needs to stop! You can’t pull some innocent child into your delusions! It’s bad enough that you have managed to ensnare Abigail, but she will see that I am right and that you are not good for her. She needs to heal, and you aren’t allowing her to do so! She needs to get over what happened to her not be reminded every day that you show up to talk to her that you shot and killed her dad and failed to save her mother.” she blurted out, the words steam rolling through every one of her neatly ordered arguments that she usually spouted off. But something about the way that Will was holding himself had her on edge.
Will sucked in a sharp breath feeling the edges of his anger starting to bleed through. He gritted his teeth and leaned over the kitchen table his hands splayed out bracing himself up as he nearly snarled, his voice harsh and cutting.
“You have no idea what you are talking about, and it is obvious in your attempts of trying to make me seem unstable.” He growled out. “Now get out of my house Alana and leave me and my son out of your unneeded and unwarranted verbal vomit.” He pushed away from the table, his hand pushing her lower back as he led her quickly to the door. He opened it and all but pushed her out over the threshold. He refrained from slamming the door in her face.
Alana clenched her jaw tight as she looked at the man on the other side of the doorway. Squaring her shoulders she looked him dead in the eye. “You are not fit to have a child in your care, whoever thought that was a good idea needs their head examined as much as you do!” She spat out and then turned angrily stalking her car.
Will waited till the car left the driveway before he let the anger and hate bubble out of him his hand at his side as he made a clenched fist drawing all the energy he had balled up and let it suck the life out of the planted bush next to the steps. He watched in satisfaction as the bush’s leaves started to wither and curl, drying up and dying as Will forced the life out of it to disperse into the ground.
He felt arms wrapping around his waist and Will slumped into him wearily, all the energy he had leaving him as he let Hannibal ground him.
“She will not be a threat to our family my love… this I promise.” Hannibal whispered into Will’s neck with a soft kiss sealing the vow.
** Je vais mettre Bastien au lit - Going to take Bastien to bed
** Je monte bientôt – I’ll be up soon.