The Universe's Mixer

Zoe hadn't hidden her conversation with Wash from Jesse, but she hadn't come out with it. She'd let it be. There was something perverse in her for wanting to keep it quiet, and she knew this. She needed to keep this to herself for now. Then again, that particular day had been awful all round, and she hadn't know if she wanted to share it then, or now.

There was a darkness about her had not lifted as of late. She couldn't explain why she felt so very angry other than emotions weren't always easy for her, not like these. Not lately. She'd carried that same darkness with her recently into a required physical.

The warrior woman had passed all the tests; she'd done so very well. There was the usual recommendation to watch her diet and her stress and her health in general. There had been a few more tests that she wasn't expecting, but it was all in the name of science. They'd get back to her later on the findings.

Life was back to normal, even if it wasn't an overly happy one. She went home and began dinner. Perhaps tonight Zoe would talk to Jesse about Wash. About a sense of unrest inside her. Perhaps she'd simply have dinner and give into a much needed bit of carnal knowledge.

Hannibal carried in his hands a copy of the official report that he'd made about Enigma and her state of mind, and the not-official writeup of his time with her. A full account of the whole thing, beginning to end. The authorities would never see that part of it. He'd done it specially for the person that he was going to see now.

The cab dropped him off at the doors to Arkham despite the argument of the cabbie that he didn't feel comfortable getting that close. Hannibal had persuaded the man that it was in his best interests to not make his passenger walk from the front gates. It wasn't a long walk, per se, not in the grand scheme of things, it was just the principal of the matter. Hannibal had hired the car to take him to Arkham Asylum, not anything else.

He'd come because he wanted to know more about the family ties Enigma had spoken of. He wanted to see the complexity for himself. And more than anything, he wanted to get Jonathan's reaction to the encounter. He wanted to watch Crane's face as he read what Hannibal had done. Possibly see that other face there, too, those other eyes gazing out of the darkness.

"I'm here to see Doctor Crane." Hannibal told the front desk person. "No, I do not have an appointment, but I think he'll see me anyway. Tell him it's Doctor Lecter. If he still states he doesn't wish to be bothered, I will go. But only then."

Hannibal waited.