Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 9 of Messed Up World. Thank you to those who have left reviews for this story. It really does mean a lot to me that you guys are enjoying this. I hope that I am doing alright with trying to write each of these characters out. We had a bit of a Will and Margarita section which was good. But there is more to come in this future chapter. I can't wait to show you guys what will happen next. Without further ado Chapter 9. ENJOY!

Chapter 9

Margarita took a soft breath as she carefully sat down rubbing her face softly. She was rather concerned about what her husband was dealing with when that red haired woman went into the office to talk to him. She just couldn't place her finger on why this woman bothered her so much. It irritated her to know that this woman was trying to get involved in something that she wouldn't understand. She should've taken whatever the woman had hid in her pocket but didn't know her husband had a way of dealing with people who infringe on people's confidentiality.

Mischa came up to her mother and pulled lightly on her pant leg.

Margarita carefully picked up Mischa and put her onto her lap. "Hi sweetie." She said softly kissing the top of her head.

Mischa gripped her mother's shirt softly in her hands. "Mommy will daddy be done soon?" She asked sleepily resting her head against her mother's chest.

"He should be finished soon." She told Mischa softly stroking her hair back knowing that it was very close to their daughter's bed time. She was thankful that she was able to get Mischa to eat, but her and Hannibal hadn't eaten just yet. She was able to talk their daughter out of making something for him to eat.

Mischa hummed softly as she shifted a bit on her mother's lap curling up a bit more.

Margarita smiled a small smile knowing that Mischa would be falling asleep at any moment which meant that Hannibal would have to help her get their daughter in bed for the evening.

Not too much later the door opened revealing the red haired woman looking real pale followed by her husband. The woman gripped her bag tightly rushing out of the room.

Margarita looked at her husband. "She tried to do something, didn't she?"

"She was recording my conversation with her and what Will and I were talking about."

Margarita let out a breath. "Sorry I should've taken her bag from her."

"Rita, it's fine. You had a long evening." He told her, looking at her with a soft look.

"I don't feel like it is alright." She said softly as she held their daughter close to her knowing that she had finally fallen asleep.

"Looks like our little Mischa fell asleep." Hannibal said coming over closer to her.

"She did. She had a long day today." Margarita said softly, looking up at him.

Hannibal carefully took Mischa into his arms holding her small body close. "We should put her to bed."

Margarita nodded her head slowly getting up to her feet. She wrapped her arm around Hannibal's waist and followed him towards the stairs. She walked with him up the stairs and into Mischa's room.

Hannibal carefully changed Mischa into her night clothes before slowly putting her into bed covering her up. Hannibal placed a soft kiss upon her head.

Margarita leaned down kissing the top of Mischa's head.

"She ate?"

"Yes, she was a little disappointed in not being able to eat with us though."

Hannibal hummed softly as the two of them left the room. "Well I talked to Agent Crawford."

Margarita turned her head blinking a few times. "You talked to Agent Crawford?" She questioned softly wondering why her husband would have talked to Jack. "Why did you talk to him?"

"I invited him over to dinner."

Margarita looked at her husband rather flabbergasted. "You invited him for dinner?"

Hannibal nodded his head. "Yes, and I would love it if you helped me cook."

Margarita took a soft breath and then slowly nodded her head. She liked cooking with him and she wouldn't admit it outloud that she missed cooking with him.

HANNIBAL

The table had been set for three people in the dining room. Jack sat at the table as Margarita stood next to her husband who had a plate in his hands.

Hannibal put a lion dish elegantly presented on the plate with a blood red sauce. "Loin served with a Cumberland sauce of red fruits. Strawberries, raspberries, currants."

Jack looked up at Hannibal from his plate that had been put before him. "What kind of loin?"

"Pork." Hannibal said, pulling a seat out for his wife.

Margarita sat down in her chair looking at her husband with a thankful look on her face.

Hannibal took his seat in front of his own plate.

"It's rare I get a home-cooked meal. My wife and I both work. Hard as I tried not to, I married my mother."

"Your mother didn't cook?" Hannibal questioned looking at Jack.

"She cooked. I just wished she didn't. She used to make this dish she liked to call Oriental Noodles. Spaghetti, soy sauce, bouillon cubes and spam. I was a thin child." Jack said as he took another bite of the meal before him.

"Next time bring your wife. I'd love to have you both for dinner. I am sure my wife and daughter would think the same."

Jack washed the last bite of the food he ate with a swig of wine. "I'm curious why Will went back to see you after you signed off on him. He was so adamant about not going to begin with."

"I lost the stick, kept the carrot."

"Insisting on a Psych Eval for a guy like Will Graham is hardly a stick."

"As a psychiatric professional, I feel duty-bound to point out that blackmailing somebody into therapy tends to negate positive benefits."

Jack took a sip of the wine and savored it. "Mmmm. This wine is delicious."

"Piorat from Catalonia. My wife's favorite wine." Hannibal said looking over at his wife, giving her a soft smile.

Margarita carefully picked up her wine glass and took a sip of the wine.

"Why did he go back?" Jack questioned looking over at Hannibal.

"A guy like Will Graham? I'm sure he recognizes the necessity of his own support structure if he's to go on supporting you in the field."

"Will Graham knows exactly what's going on in his head, which is why he doesn't want anyone in there."

"Are you not accustomed to broken ponies in your stable?"

"You think Will's a broken pony?"

"I think you think Will's a broken pony. You ever lost a pony, Jack?"

"If you're asking if I've ever lost someone in the field, yes. Why?"

"I want to understand why you're so delicate with Will. Because you don't trust him or because you're afraid of losing another pony?"

"I've had my Psych Eval."

Hannibal smiled warmly at what Jack had said. "Not by me. You've already told me about your mother. Why stop there?:

Margarita cleared her throat looking at her husband when she heard the noise of shuffling coming down the stairs. Her eyes traveled over and saw their two and a half year old holding her little stuffed dog that had stars on it that glowed in the dark. "Mischa honey." Margarita said getting up to her feet and going over to their shuffling daughter who was rubbing the sleep from her eyes with her free hand. "What are you doing up sweetheart?"

Mischa rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Nightmare." She said softly, her voice coming out fairly small.

Margarita kneeled down to her level pulling her into a hug.

Jack watched from where he sat the interaction between mother and daughter. He noticed out of the corner of his eyes Hannibal getting up to check on the small girl as well.

"Mischa sweetheart, why don't you let your mommy take you upstairs and I will finish entertaining our guest and I will be up shortly after?" Hannibal said softly stroking her hair back on her head.

Mischa looked up at her father with sleepy eyes. "Okay." She said in a rather small voice.

Margarita looked at her husband.

"Go, I'll finish entertaining our guest with dinner and will be up shortly."

Margarita nodded her head as Hannibal kissed the top of her head. Margarita then picked up their daughter carefully in her arms before slowly heading for the stairs.

"I do apologize about that." Hannibal said, turning his attention to Jack.

"It's fine, I understand. She's fairly young."

"Yes, she'll be three soon." Hannibal said as he took his seat in front of his meal.

"You and your wife are very good with her. She'll grow up to be a wonderful bright young woman." Jack said as he took another bite of his food.

"I would only like to hope so." Hannibal mused softly thinking of how Mischa had taken to him without really knowing him fully other than the stories that Margarita had told their child.

HANNIBAL

A body of the man that Will had found who was alive but had died on his way to the hospital was on a table in the examination room.

Margarita stood next to Will, Jimmy, and Brian all dressed in gloves, aprons, and splash shields.

"Like he's been soaking in glucose." Brian said, looking at the body over.

"What has he been soaking in?" Will questioned as he looked the body over, his brows furrowed slightly in thought.

"A highly concentrated mixture of hardwoods, shredded newspaper, and pig poop. Perfect for growing mushrooms and other fungi." Jimmy explained to them what they had found.

"Wasn't the mushrooms. What killed all of them was kidney failure." Brian said as he covered the victim up. Behind him were the other victims that were also hidden by sheets.

Beverly entered the room carrying fists full of I.V bags. "Dextrose in all the catheters. He probably used some kind of dialysis or peristaltic to pump fluids after the circulatory systems broke down."

"Force-feeding them sugar water. " Will said, thinking pursing his lips together.

"You know who loves sugar water? Mushrooms. They crave it. As much as a mushroom can crave anything." Jimmy explained thinking out loud.

"Recovering alcoholics crave sugar. Don't take that personally." Brian said, suddenly looking over at Jimmy.

"I'm not recovering."

"Feed sugar to fungus in your body, the fungus makes alcohol. It's friends helping friends really."

"Is someone preying on recovering alcoholics? Other than themselves?"

"Alcoholics aren't the only ones with compromised endocrine systems." Margarita said, looking over at the team. She looked over at Will and saw him nodding her head knowing that she had said the right thing.

"They all died of kidney failure? Death by diabetic ketoacidosis?" Will questioned thinking.

"Did you know they were diabetics?" Beverly questioned Brian.

"We don't know they're diabetics." Brian said, shaking his head.

"They're all diabetics. He induces a coma and puts them in the ground." Will said, looking at them.

"How is he inducing diabetic comas?" Beverly questioned looking over at Will with a questioning gaze.

"He changes their medication. He's a doctor or a pharmacist or works somewhere in medical services."

"He buries them, feeds them sugar to keep them alive long enough for the circulatory systems to soak it up."

"So he can feed the mushrooms." Jimmy said softly not liking how this murder was getting away with such a crime.

"We dug up his mushroom garden." Brian pointed out.

"He'll want to grow a new one." Margarita said softly crossing her arms letting out a breath. "Meaning we won't have a lot of time to find our next victim and the man that's behind this."

Will nodded his head. "We only have a short window before our killer strikes again. And we're going to have to keep an ear out on anything suspicious."

Margarita removed the gear that she wore letting out a soft breath.

"You look tired Mar." Beverly said, looking at the woman.

"Had a long night last night." Margarita said softly, putting the gear away to be washed and throwing the rubber gloves away.

"Long night with your little one?"

"She had a nightmare last night. Normally she doesn't have nightmares… so last night was the first. But my husband and I were able to calm her down after a while."

"You should've called Jack to take the day off."

Margarita shook her head lightly. "As much as I wanted to do that, I still have a job to do. Granted I could help my husband in his office, but he knows that the FBI is my actual job not working with him."

Beverly nodded her head in agreement. "Well, you should head home. Get some rest. We'll keep you posted if anything happens."

Margarita nodded her head slowly. She looked at Will, seeing the look on his face. "Try to have a good night Will."

Will looked up at Margarita not quite making eye contact with her, but close. "You too Margarita."

Margarita slowly walked out the door letting out a soft tired breath. She knew that she was going to have a long night at home. She could only hope that Mischa wouldn't have a nightmare to give her and Hannibal a chance to talk about what they had been talking about before when they were in Minnesota.

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This is the end of Chapter 9. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. I hope that I did fairly well with it. I think I'm starting to get my groove when it comes to writing the characters. Or at least I hope that I am. Do you think that Will should be an interest to both Hannibal and Margarita like Hannibal was in the series or should Hannibal be only interested in his wife? I'm just trying to figure out ahead as I am writing this story. I can admit that I am having fun writing this story even though it took me almost two years to continue on with this story due to having a writer's block. Which I absolutely hate. Please leave a review and let me know what you think of this chapter. Reviews help me keep on going when it comes to writing. I will update on Friday. Until next time.