Red wine and a velvet voice

~Disclaimer: I do not own the characters even though I wish i could but yeah i dont have that kinda money =( Nor do i own mcdonald's cuz then i would have the money!!!
Please be nice this is my first fan fic EVER!!! k So Review please otherwise i wont continue *hides* .... *pops back out* Oh n thanx to Poodle who helped me tonnes! Love yah poodle! *hides again*

~*~*~*~*~*~

Late Friday afternoon sitting in her dingy basement office where she called home, Special Agent Clarice Starling hid from the constant press that seemed to be so interested in tearing her apart. She worked minor cases since her last encounter with Hannibal, as it seemed the bureau didn’t trust her so much: Go figure. Reading the newspaper Clarice sat with her feet up on her desk leaning back in her desk chair. She flipped the page and there in a small column the title read “The Beauty and the Beast. “ It was more trash about how she was having a secret affair with the doctor.
“Damn press they’re vermin. The newspapers may as well be the tabloid now. But at least its now a small column article rather than some long drawn out load of crap” She thought distastefully “And at least they referred to me as a beauty” She laughed softly at this thought.
She folded her newspaper not bothering to read the lame article and instead opened up a web browser on her computer. Just as she did so Ardelia came down the stairs and walked into Starling’s office. “Hey girl! Wanna come out with me tonight?”
Clarice looked up and smiled at her friend. “Heya, no I think I’ll stay here and do some more work.”
Ardelia frowned at her friend’s response. “You mean you’re gunna search for some more clues to as the whereabouts of the good doctor. Hon, you need to get out of this basement office and come with me to…SPEED DATING!! Ardelia exclaimed like it was some paramount event.
Clarice rubbed between her eyes with her forefinger and thumb. “I was not going to look for Dr. Lecter’s whereabouts!” She replied rather unconvincingly. “Besides what’s speed dating? Doesn’t sound like something I would enjoy.” A fine line appeared between her brows as she frowned.
”Oh! It’s the latest rage you meet a large number of single men in 10 minute intervals, you quickly learn the basics about one another then you guys both mark each other on your score card n’ if you both rank each other highly then contact info is exchanged later by the coordinators! Simple dating without all the fuss!” Ardelia replied excitedly.
Clarice raised an eyebrow at her friend’s enthusiasm. “You mean without all the romance? No thanks I’m good why don’t yah go by yourself?”
Ardelia made a whining sound. “No Clare its no fun by yourself yah gotta go with a girlfriend PUH-lease come with me?” Begging she grabbed her friend’s hands melodramatically.
”Fine! Fine, I’ll go with you, but only cuz you begged!” Laughing Clarice got up grabbing her belongings.

~*~*~*~*~

Later, that night they arrive at the Beetle Jüs bar which had been turned into a room meant for speed dating; tables spaced out with a number, a score card, and two chairs at each. The women sat down at a table of their choosing after getting a drink of their choice, the servers promising to continue bringing them the same drink unless requested otherwise.
Clarice sat down dressed in a taupe flared skirt enhancing her delicate milky skin and a deep olive colored, low cut top heightening the redness in her auburn hair. She sipped at her Merlot wine closing her eyes letting it trickle down the back of her throat savoring the first sip. A moment later she was pulled out of her reverie as the coordinator spoke up explaining the rules and such then turned some music on as to drown out the other conversations going on around one, and then called out the men.
The first man who sat down in front of Clarice was a lawyer, of course. "He’s lying” Clarice thought to herself as he blabbed about how he was high up and rich and just wanted to settle down with, blah, blah, blah. Some how he managed to talk the whole 10 minutes and none too soon the buzzer went off signaling the rotation. While the scuffling line of men moved a server came and topped up her glass of wine. The next man sitting in front of her was a taxi cab driver “How honest of him to say so!” Clarice thought surprised. He asked her a few questions about herself and she answered and asked some of her own to be polite not that she was genuinely interested. Finally the buzzer went off again signaling the men to keep moving, and again the server came to her to fill her empty glass. “Empty?” thought Clarice as she watched her glass become full again “Wow I must be more bored than I realized!”
After that she met a small business owner, was about to file for bankruptcy be assured; a interior decorator, who admittedly was just in the wrong place but enjoyed the small chit chat she actually found him interesting…figures; a waiter at some big fancy restaurant, probably McDonald’s; and a DJ at a club, someone who was pretending to be something he wasn’t. Seeing them all the while drinking one more glasses of wine. And finally her last one was a…actually she didn’t know because from the table in front of her she heard a voice a velvet thick voice penetrating the annoying music, she froze her world spinning. As she heard him saying to the woman sitting at the next table, “No, I’m a doctor I actually just came over from Europe to see a close friend of mine and I thought I’d drop in…..”