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Title: Driven To Distraction
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Sequel to "Taking A Break."
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Hannibal Lecter or Will Graham, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Hannibal looked up with a frown when he heard a knock on the door.

Who in the world could be visiting him? He got to his feet and headed for the foyer, glancing out of the window at the street in front of the house as he walked.

Ah, it was Will. Hannibal sighed softly; he had expected this confrontation, but he hadn't thought it would come so soon. Will must be even more angry than he'd anticipated.

Of course, Will did have something of a right to be outraged. It really wasn't Hannibal's place to jump into his work life. But Jack Crawford had asked him for a professional opinion of Will's fitness to work at the moment, and Hannibal had given it.

In his eyes, Will shouldn't be working. Going to crime scenes, viewing dead bodies, and getting into the mind of criminals was only making his premonitions worse.

They weren't delusions. Hannibal was sure of that. Will wasn't losing his mind. No, Will was one of the sanest people he knew. He was seeing something.

Whether those visions were prophetic or not .... ah, that was the question.

Hannibal hoped that they weren't. A part of him withered away at the thought of a world without Will in it, a world without that beautiful bright light.

But he really didn't want to deal with Will's anger now. He simply wasn't in the mood for it. He knew that he would have to come up with words to defend what he had told Jack, and at the moment, he didn't want to have to make excuses and placate Will.

Perhaps it would be better to just let the young man vent his anger and stay silent, he thought with another sigh as he reached for the doorknob. He really didn't have a choice.

Steeling himself to meet that cold blue gaze, Hannibal pulled the door open, raising his eyebrows when he saw Will standing there, arms folded over his chest.

"Hello, Will," he said, standing back. "Won't you come in?"

But Will didn't take a step forward; he simply stood there, his blue eyes like chips of ice in his pale face, his lips compressed into a thin line. This was bad, Hannibal thought, his heart sinking. Will was even angrier than he'd thought the young man would be. He obviously didn't want to talk.

Hannibal tried again, giving his voice a conciliatory tone. "I know that you're angry with me, Will. But I told Jack that you shouldn't be working for your own good."

"Without even talking it over with me?" Will asked, his brows raised now. "You could have at least given me some warning before you had Jack cut me loose."

"Will, he didn't fire you from your job," Hannibal said, trying to keep his tone even and calm. "You still have a job. He just wants you to take a hiatus, so that you can come to terms with these visions you've been having. I think you need to do that, before they drive you to distraction."

To his surprise, Will seemed to deflate at those words.

"I don't know what to do, Hannibal," he said, his voice quiet. "Working all the time was helping me not to think about this. Not to be terrified of it."

"And now that you aren't working, you feel that the fear will take you over," Hannibal said softly, understanding what Will was afraid of. "I am so sorry, Will. I hadn't thought of that."

He really should have realized that Will was using his work as a way to cope with his fears, Hannibal berated himself. He hadn't even thought of that. He was used to thinking of Will as being fearless, but of course he wasn't. He was human, with all the weaknesses that anyone would have.

Those visions had to be terrifying in themselves. No one wanted to see their own death. And Will had been seeing that over and over again in his mind.

No wonder he was terrified of not having his work as a distraction.

Hannibal sighed softly, shaking his head. "Will, going to crime scenes and seeing these bodies is only making your visions worse, not better. You have to know that."

Slowly, Will nodded in agreement as he stepped into the foyer of Hannibal's home. "Yeah, I do. I guess I just needed somebody to lash out at. Sorry about that."

"Because you needed someone to blame for taking you away from your work, which is your only distraction," Hannibal murmured. He understood what Will meant. However, he wasn't entirely sure just what the young man needed to replace the distraction of work.

He would think of something, though. Somehow, he would manage to make things right. After all, it was the least he could do to help Will get over this hurdle.

He had taken something away from Will that the other man depended on, without thinking how it might affect Will's day-to-day life. So he had to replace what he had taken.

Maybe the two of them could go away somewhere together.

Hannibal turned the idea over in his head, liking it more as he thought about it. But where could the two of them go? What place would they both enjoy?

And then it came to him. They didn't need to go anywhere. He would simply stay with Will in Wolf Trap for a while. That was the perfect solution.

After all, it wasn't as though Will lived in some terribly isolated place where they wouldn't have access to what Hannibal deemed civilization. It was only a fifteen-minute drive from Will's house to the town of Vienna, and he quite enjoyed the quaintness of that place.

Yes, staying at Wolf Trap with Will seemed to be a good idea. They could walk in the woods, spend more time together, and talk about Will's visions.

It would be relaxing for both of them, Hannibal told himself. He might even be glad to get away from the city for a while, though he wondered how long that would last.

Now he just had to convince Will that this would, indeed, be a good idea.

***