Inheritance of the Beast

Jack, on the other end, won over his surprise rather quickly, understanding he met Hannibal quite recently and that it made sense for him to not know about Hannibal's personal life, trying to remedy that, he uttered with a smile: "I didn't know you had a son, Hannibal!"

Hannibal sat at his seat at the table with his son lying on his lap, holding the small child with one arm. "Yes, I don't usually mention him, as a child is hardly an appropriate topic at work", Hannibal held the child up, making the toddler sit straight on his lap facing the other three adults, making him notice the strangers at the table, he stopped drinking from the bottle to look up at his dad. "Tėtis? (Daddy?)"

"It's okay, mažylis (little one), they are my friends, we work together." Hannibal kissed the little blonde's head before pointing to Will. "This is Will Graham. Remember I talked about him?"

Will, hearing his name, looked at Hannibal with wide eyes, seeing a toddler looking at him with big brown eyes filled with curiosity, the tears long forgotten. Not knowing what to do, Will looked between Hannibal and the small child, seeking any kind of support. "I-I-" he stuttered.

Maybe feeling sorry for him, the child decided to take the initiative. "Hi..." the kid gave a small wave. "My name is Tomas Hannibal Lecter, I am four." Tomas introduced himself, enunciating the words carefully, looking up again at Hannibal for approval, readily receiving a kiss and a "Good" from him.

"I- Hi, n-nice to meet you..." Will mumbled, looking down at his plate, feeling embarrassed. Hannibal's intense eyes were locked on him during the exchange, and it was making him nervous. The soft voice he used to talk to the little child was making him feel things, things he didn't want to think about now. It was enough for him to embarrass himself for not knowing how to talk with a child; he didn't want to acknowledge those feelings; it was better to bury them deep within. It's easy when you start to get annoyed by Alana's never-ending looks of pity, Will doesn't need anyone's pity, thank you very much.

"You are the one who catches the killers?" Tomas asked, surprising Will, who thought the interaction was over, expecting Hannibal to introduce Jack and Alana. "I-hum, yes, I help catch serial killer-" he started before being promptly interrupted by Alana. "I don't think that's an appropriate topic for a child!" Alana reprimanded with a strong look towards Will, who, uncomfortable, didn't look at her, mumbling a "He asked".

"That one is Doctor Alana Bloom, mažylis (little one), she's a psychiatrist like me", Hannibal told Tomas who was now sucking on his bottle not seeming to pay attention to the conversation anymore, Tomas loved to talk about serial killers and being interrupted like that didn't sit well with him. "There is no need to worry, Alana. Tomas knows what my job entails, he is a very smart boy, right, mažylis (little one)?" Catching the attention of the little toddler who was now finishing his milk.

"Daddy helps find serial killers too! Like with the cannibal, the sh-Shrike?" Tomas mumbled, uncertain of the name, before his lips turned into a pout. "I don't like him, Daddy was supposed to spend the day with me! Good thing he died... Hmmph." Tomas crossed his little arms around himself, the baby bottle forgotten, almost falling to the floor if not for Hannibal catching it and setting it on the table. While the three other adults looked at him in shock, Alana gasped, not believing what she had just heard, especially from a small child!