Work Text:
The First Encounter:
Chiyoh enters Hannibal’s residence, her gun slung around her shoulder. She walks with both caution and complete confidence. She knows what to expect. Hannibal. Always Hannibal. And she isn’t scared of him. She isn’t scared of anything, actually. The only thing that keeps her on edge is the thought of losing Hannibal.
Chiyoh thought she knew what to expect. That is until she sees a woman sitting, needle in her arm, and smirking as she turns around in her chair.
Chiyoh knows this is the woman Hannibal had run away with, and she also knows this person was supposed to be Will Graham. She isn’t completely sure about the relationship between this woman and Hannibal, however.
“You’re his psychiatrist,” Chiyoh whispers.
“And you are?” the woman says, removing the needle and placing it on the small table next to her.
Chiyoh notes how sensual the woman’s voice is, so calm. Like a dream. She holds her gun firmly on her side and says, “Family.”
The woman offers her hand, “Bedelia Du Maurier.”
Chiyoh takes her hand, giving it a firm shake. “Chiyoh.”
The two women look at each other for a moment, processing each other.
“Where is he?” Chiyoh finally asks.
“He’ll be back soon.” She pauses, walking over to clean up her mess that is the table.
Bedelia notices Chiyoh’s questioning glances and says, “Medicinal purposes.”
“Right,” Chiyoh says with a slight smile.
“Make yourself comfortable.”
Chiyoh still stands near the doorway. She was never good at “making herself comfortable” in unfamiliar places. Bedelia doesn’t seem to mind her hovering, however. Quite the contrary, actually. In fact, Bedelia seems content with her presence. Too content.
“I could just kill you right here, you know.” Chiyoh toys with her gun.
“What will you tell my husband?” Bedelia’s voice doesn’t stagger one bit.
“Hannibal is not your husband.”
“Italy thinks he is. I am Mrs. Fell.” Bedelia walks over closer.
“He wouldn’t care if I killed you,” Chiyoh snaps.
“That is true.” Bedelia smiles. “Do you want to kill me?”
Chiyoh pauses for a moment. The women are so close Chiyoh can feel her breath against her lips.
“No,” she lets out.
Right then Hannibal walks in. He obviously notices the moment he is interrupting and smiles.
“I see you have met Chiyoh,” he says, taking off his coat and stepping inside.
“I have.” Bedelia looks over at Chiyoh who has not taken her eyes off her.
The Second Encounter:
A month has gone by since Hannibal has turned himself in. Bedelia sits by her fireplace, a glass of wine in her hand. She doesn’t exactly know why Hannibal did what he did, but she knows enough and that’s fine with her. She sometimes thinks of Chiyoh, too, though that’s something she completely doesn’t understand. She thinks about where she is, what she's doing, if she thinks of her as much as she does. Bedelia lets the wine seep onto her tongue, savoring the flavor. She wished she had savored the way Chiyoh had looked at her the first time they met.
There’s a knock at the door and Bedelia stands up, straightening her blouse and setting her wine glass on the table. Chiyoh has her back turned when Bedelia opens the door, but she knows it’s her. Her long coat, lean physique, gun on her shoulders. Her black hair is down now; it’s grown since the last time Bedelia saw her.
Chiyoh turns to face her and smiles. “May I come in?”
Bedelia opens the door wider and extends her arm inside to welcome the woman in. Chiyoh smiles as she steps inside, taking off her coat. She was getting comfortable. Bedelia takes her coat and hangs it up next to the door on the coat rack.
“Thank you,” Chiyoh says.
“Would you like to sit down?” Bedelia says, gesturing towards the chair across from hers by the fire.
“Please, but I can’t stay for long.”
The two women sit down, legs crossed, staring at each other. The silence, though short, feels like a lifetime to Bedelia.
“Do you want something to drink?” Bedelia asks, trying to break the ice.
“No, thank you.” Chiyoh directs her eyes towards the fire, now.
Bedelia notices how beautiful the woman looks against the warm glow of the fire, the soft features of her face look like a painting.
“What brought you here?” Bedelia finally sighs. “Or who.”
“I do checkups here sometimes to make sure everything is okay here. Here being this whole state, and the people in it. The people who had relations with Hannibal.”
“He’s still in his cage.”
“He is. Are you?”
Bedelia breaks eye contact for a moment then. “In a way.”
“You also brought me here.”
Bedelia looks up. “To kill me?”
“No. I don’t want to kill you.”
“Why not?”
Chiyoh tilts her head to think for a moment and then focuses her eyes on Bedelia’s. “I don’t know yet.”
“Let me know when you do know.” Bedelia smiles, something she hasn’t done in a while.
“I will. For now, though, I have to go.” Chiyoh stands up then, shifting the air in the room.
Bedelia frowns while looking down at her lap, trying not to let Chiyoh notice this. She stands up and walks her to the door where they say their final goodbyes. It was starting to snow. Bedelia notices the flurries stick to Chiyoh’s hair and coat. She looks over her shoulder at Bedelia who is resting on the door frame. The two women exchange a glance and then Chiyoh disappears into the now-blizzard air. Bedelia doesn’t even notice how cold she is until she closes the door and sits by the fire.
She rests her cheek on her hand and slumps down on her chair. She wanted more, but she would take what she could get. She should start dinner soon.
In her cage.
The Third Encounter:
Fall. Spring and Summer had gone by so slowly for Bedelia. Everyday she waited for her. Waited for something. Another knock at the door, a call, anything. But there was nothing. Nothing for two whole seasons. Bedelia had lost hope that she would ever see Chiyoh again, and she had come to terms with it. Now it was colder, and leaves were falling. Red and brown leaves paint the trees outside Bedelia’s house. Rain pours outside with a low roar. Bedelia sits by the fireplace, listening to the pitter patter of droplets against her window and the wind howling outside her door.
Her telephone rings, disturbing her peace. She saunters over to the table where the phone is resting, and picks it up.
“Hello?” she hums.
“I’m sorry,” a voice says.
It’s her voice.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call or stop by again.” Chiyoh pauses, obviously distraught. Bedelia waits, doesn’t say anything; she lets the woman speak. “I want to see you.”
Bedelia doesn’t care that there was no word, no presence, from the woman. In that moment she forgets everything about the past. She just wants to see her, too.
“I’m always here.” Bedelia smiles through the phone.
Chiyoh hangs up.
Bedelia worries. She had said nothing afterwards. Was she going to see her again? She waits and waits, sitting by the fire.
I’m always sitting by this fucking fire waiting.
An hour goes by, she has almost finished a whole bottle of wine, when there is a knock at the door. She recognizes the knock. She recognizes everything about the knock.
The pattern.
The volume.
The pressure against the door.
Everything.
She opens the door to Chiyoh waiting with her back turned like the second time she had seen her. She had cut her hair a little shorter. She was wearing a dark red blouse with the same coat from winter. Her tight paints were tucked into a pair of black boots. She was radiant.
“Hi,” Chiyoh says in a low breath, turning around.
“Hi.” Bedelia lets Chiyoh inside.
The two sit by the fire, bathing in the glow from the flames. There’s an unspoken feeling of assurance the two women have with each other; as if they’ve known each other for years.
“Why didn’t you call?” Bedelia asks.
“I was in trouble,” Chiyoh whispers.
“Do you get in trouble often?” Bedelia stirs the wine glass in her hand.
Chiyoh smiles. “Every so often. Does that bother you?”
“Why are you worried about my comfort?” Bedelia questions.
“I care what you think.”
Bedelia raises her eyebrows. “You hardly know me.”
“I think I will have that glass of wine now,” Chiyoh says, changing the subject.
Bedelia gets up to fetch a glass from the kitchen. There is a shift in the air, she feels. A border has been crossed. She carries the glass back over to where Chiyoh is sitted with one leg crossed over the other. She looks like the same painting, just a different version from the first.
What a gorgeous painting you are. You belong in a gallery. I want to sit and watch you all day, my beautiful bird. I’ll sit in my cage and watch you fly in your painted sky. I don’t mind being locked in here as long as you can be free.
Chiyoh’s hand brushes over Bedelia’s as she takes the glass. “Thank you.”
“Do you,” Bedelia finally asks, “want to know me?
“You’d be surprised at how much I already know,” Chiyoh hums, taking a sip of her wine.
“When you came here for the first time, you said you didn’t know why you didn’t want to kill me. Do you know why yet?”
Chiyoh really looks at her then, taking her all in. Suddenly she’s resting her glass on the table, standing up, and walking over to her chair. Suddenly she’s straddling Bedelia’s lap and whispering in her ear.
“Yes,” she whispers.
Bedelia almost spits out her wine, then. Here Chiyoh was. Right on top of her lap, with her lips on her neck, and her hair tickling her cheek.
You chose to stay with me in my cage, beautiful bird? Why? I’m still his, in a way, and maybe you are too. Let’s be his together.
Chiyoh’s lips taste like wine and the woods. Like a crisp winter night, when the snow is fresh on the ground. They’re all over her, tasting Bedelia’s skin. Bedelia tries to cherish every moment; every kiss and every touch. She knows Chiyoh won’t be here for long, and that she will probably be gone by morning, but she doesn’t care. She needs whatever the beautiful bird can give her now. Chiyoh’s weight against her is like the beautiful star-filled sky falling down on her; covering her like a blanket. Chiyoh is everything to her in the moment. She’s a beautiful bird, the Moon, the stars, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranas, and Neptune. She’s the whole Universe. Bedelia needs this. She needs someone to let her be in her cage that she likes; someone who flies free but doesn’t mind to stay a while. Chiyoh is just that. She smiles against Chiyoh’s lips, savoring them the way she always wished to.
Bedelia wakes up to an empty bed, though she can still smell the woods on her sheets.
The Fourth Encounter:
Bedelia doesn’t hear anything from Chiyoh for two weeks. The truth is, Bedelia thought Chiyoh may have started to settle down. After that night, Bedelia thought maybe she would stay. Or call the next day. There was nothing. She wasn’t mad at her, however. No, she missed her presence, but she wasn’t mad. Bedelia could rarely get angry. Part of her wanted nothing more than for Chiyoh to stay forever; she wanted to see her everyday, when she woke up, when she went to sleep, when she got home from work she wanted Chiyoh to be home waiting for her, but she knew that’s not who Chiyoh was. She also knew that’s not who she was, either.
She is sitting on a park bench, freezing, but content. She can’t be home right now, it just doesn’t feel right. There are kids playing in the grass, leaves sticking to their coats, and there are people walking their dogs with visible breath exhaling from their mouths from the cold air. Bedelia crosses her arms in an attempt to warm her chest and hands, but nothing is working. She wasn’t prepared for this cold, she might as well just go home.
She opens the door to her house to Chiyoh sitting in her chair by the fireplace. Bedelia tries not to smile, she has to act at least a little angry. She looks even more beautiful than the last time she saw her.
“You never called,” Bedelia says, hanging up her coat and walking over to sit across from her.
“I rarely do.”
“You never do.”
“ You could have called,” Chiyoh snaps, raising her voice for the first time.
Bedelia is shocked for a moment, she has never heard Chiyoh like this. She’s almost relieved that Chiyoh feels something.
“I never know where you are,” Bedelia answers, still with a steady voice.
“Do you care when I leave?” Chiyoh asks, avoiding eye contact.
Bedelia pauses for a moment, taking into consideration all the ways the conversation could go. “Yes.”
Chiyoh’s face turns into a small grin and then quickly straightens out. “Why don’t you do anything about it?”
“I let you,” she takes a breath, “do what you were born to do. Fly.”
I’ll always let you fly if you want…
Chiyoh smiles at that.
If it makes you smile, I’ll let you fly. Sometimes I wish you would frown at the thought of leaving me, though...
A moment passes where neither women speak. They just sit looking at each other. Bedelia gets up to start dinner.
“Can you stay for dinner?” she asks, walking over to the kitchen.
“If you want me to.”
Bedelia smiles as she opens the door to the refrigerator to grab the vegetables. “I do.”
As she starts to chop peppers Chiyoh gets up and walks to the island in the kitchen and leans on the counter, watching her. Bedelia wishes it could be like this every night, just the two of them. Bedelia suddenly notices Chiyoh’s brows furrow. She watches as the woman looks around with a curious but disturbed manner. She walks over to the bedroom and Bedelia follows.
Taking one of Bedelia’s pillows in her hands and smelling it she asks, “Have you been seeing someone else?”
Bedelia knew this question would come up at some point, knowing how perceptive Chiyoh was of senses. She knew she would find out somehow, or Bedelia would tell her.
“Once,” Bedelia says, stepping closer to her.
“When?”
“About a week ago.”
“More or less?” Chiyoh’s voice is a bitter snarl.
Bedelia crosses her arms defensively. “Does it matter?”
“It does. Who was she?” she growls.
“I met her at a bar, Chiyoh. I didn’t know you wanted me all to yourself,” Bedelia says almost with a smile.
Chiyoh springs on to Bedelia, pushing her against the wall.
“I do. You’re mine, okay?” she says with her breath against Bedelia’s lips.
She kisses Bedelia then, devouring her.
“Okay,” she says against Chiyoh’s lips. “Can you please stay longer this time?”
“Yes.”
Bedelia smiles then.
The two women fall asleep next to each other, bathing in the new serene air between them. Bedelia sleeps peacefully knowing she will wake up next to Chiyoh.
You can stay with me for a little while. I want you to stay for a long while. If you want to stay forever you can, too.
“How long can you stay?” Bedelia asks through a yawn, stretching her arms over the headboard of her bed.
Morning sun pours through the blinds, coating the room with fragments of light. Chiyoh. Oh Chiyoh. She was a sight to see. She was sprawled out, tangled under the sheets. Her skin looks so good, so defined, against Bedelia’s white, silk sheets. She was meant to be here. She always was. Chiyoh smiles up at her and Bedelia leans over her body to plant a lingering kiss on her lips.
“Until more trouble comes along,” she answers.
“When will that be?”
“I estimate around two weeks. Then I should probably head back to my home to organize some things.”
Bedelia frowns. “You could,” she pauses, “bring your things over here, that way you can come straight here when you’re done with your trouble-making.”
“Are you asking me to move in?” Chiyoh asks, getting up to get dressed.
Bedelia sits up to watch as Chiyoh throws on one of her silk robes. Her clothes look so nice on Chiyoh. She doesn’t even ask to wear them, not that Bedelia cares. Chiyoh could take anything from her and she wouldn’t mind.
“I suppose so.”
Chiyoh crawls back onto the bed for a moment to kiss Bedelia, taking her face into the palm of her hand.
“You know that would never work,”
Bedelia just takes in the woman in front of her. Her woman. She did know. She knew Chiyoh couldn’t live here so close to him. She always knew. It still stung, though, to hear it come out of her beautiful mouth.
“I know,” Bedelia frowns, joining Chiyoh in getting dressed.
The two walk into the kitchen to make breakfast. Both of them watch each other’s movement in silence.
Chiyoh comes up behind Bedelia, wrapping her arms around her waist. “You could always come with me.”
Bedelia pauses; she wasn’t expecting that. “I have work.”
“If you’re worried about money, don’t be,” Chiyoh whispers.
“I can’t just leave.”
Chiyoh grabs Bedelia’s chin, twisting her head around to face her. “But you can.”
Bedelia yanks herself out of Chiyoh’s hands, then. “I. can’t.”
“Do you want me to leave?” Chiyoh growls.
“No.” She looks down at her tiled floor.
“Bedelia,” Chiyoh pauses, “I cannot stay. I just can’t. But you can go. Unless you don’t want me.”
“Believe me, I want you.”
“Then prove it.” Chiyoh leans over behind Bedelia to grab a knife.
She takes Bedelia’s left hand, which isn’t shaking whatsoever, and leaves a light slit on her palm. Bedelia breathes deeply, watching the blood start to seep from the wound. It’s beautiful. Chiyoh lifts it up to kiss it, licking at the blood. Bedelia thinks how beautiful Chiyoh looks with her blood on her lips.
“You’re mine,” she says, licking her lips.
“I know.”
“I’ll give you until this heals and a scar forms. Then, I want your decision.”
Chiyoh leaves Bedelia in the kitchen after watching the rise and fall of her chest for what felt like an eternity.
Chiyoh is out the door before Bedelia could even say goodbye.
Both women know that their lives simply aren’t fit to drop everything and be together, no matter how much they want to. It’s just all too complicated. Bedelia weeps that night, holding her wound and wishing she was with Chiyoh. It was growing colder and colder. She hated winter. Well, she liked it when she had someone by her side to keep her warm. Now she was just freezing all alone, a frost settling on her skin that ached to be melted away. Her footsteps echo around the house that had grown hollow. She stops in front of the doorway to her bedroom; she just can’t go in. It still smelled like Chiyoh in there. Her Chiyoh. She takes a deep, agonizing breath and steps inside. There, on her dresser, is Chiyoh’s gold pendant. Bedelia wonders if she meant to leave it, so she would have something to look at, so she would never forget. That almost sounds like Chiyoh was leaving her for good. That wasn’t it. No, it was a promise. The pendant is a small gold rose, wrapped around in such a delicate way. Bedelia remembers toying with it while laying beside Chiyoh, kissing around where it rested on her neck.
She puts it on.
Please come back soon, my beautiful bird, I can’t stay here alone much longer.
And so Bedelia sits.
And she waits.
Waits for the scar to heal.
Waits for the knock at the door.
She knows her decision, she just hopes Chiyoh hasn’t forgotten.
Have you forgotten? Have I let you be so free without a cage that you have forgotten me in mine?
The Last Encounter, The First Forever.
Two weeks go by; her hand is healed, only with a faint scar as a reminder that it wasn’t just a dream. There’s a knock at the door and her breath hitches. She hasn’t forgotten. Bedelia opens the door to Chiyoh. Her back isn’t turned this time. No, now she is standing so close to the door she doesn’t even need to let her in.
Chiyoh reaches for Bedelia’s hand and looks at the scar. “You’re healed.”
“In some ways.”
Bedelia smiles. “Have I wounded you in others?”
Bedelia frowns, closing the door behind them. “I thought you had forgotten about me.”
“That is the most preposterous thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth.”
“Then make me shut it,” she taunts.
Chiyoh kisses her, then. Oh how Bedelia missed her lips. It’s always just like the first time. Chiyoh feels around Bedelia’s neck and pauses when she feels the small chain.
“You’re wearing my necklace,” she says, holding the rose in her fingers. “It suits you.”
Bedelia looks up at her with a final clarity she always wanted. “I want to go with you.”
“What about your life here?” Chiyoh asks, tilting her head.
“I’ve been caged here too long. I think it’s time I cut the ties that have been grounding me to this house, this city.”
Chiyoh says nothing, just presses her lips to Bedelia’s again. They both know this is the start to a new age. A new time. They will keep each other cold through the harsh winters, refreshed through the summers, comfortable forever. No longer will Bedelia wait by the fire. She has all the fire she needs in front of her, and now she won’t have to wait for it. The warmth will be there when she sleeps, when she wakes up, and when she dies. An eternal flame, no tears of embers, just flame.
Finally we can be uncaged together. Where will we go first?