Someone to Watch Over
Hannibal had seen the key to the room Face and Murdock were in tossed to the side and pocketed it while they were eating. B.A. noticed him doing it, but didn't remark on it. At least not until they had returned to their own room.
Hannibal emptying out his pockets before grabbing a shower gave B.A. his opening. Picking up the other key, he just let it dangle from his fingers. Seeing that, the Colonel just gave a half-smile and a shrug,
"I just want to be able to check on them during the night, B.A. We both know Face has been having nightmares and would it really surprise any of us if Murdock was too?"
"No, sir. Not a bit."
As the Sergeant glanced over to the wall that separated the two rooms, Hannibal gave him a thoughtful look. One night when they had been alone on a stakeout, he'd found the usually self-contained man to be more open than usual - Hannibal had discovered later that the night happened to have been Mother Baracus' birthday, now approaching again. That night, he had learned more about the Sergeant than he had in almost all of their previous time together. They'd even talked about why he kept his hair the way he did. B.A. had been flipping through a National Geographic and seen a Mandinka warrior. He had been impressed with the strength he viewed in the style and taken it on as a personal statement.
He could see that warrior attitude in B.A.'s whole stance right then, but it wasn't speaking to him as being a warrior who was heading off to war. No, he was the warrior alert and watching out for danger to his family. The sergeant's next words told him why that attitude was showing so strongly.
"I need to call my momma, just I don't know what to say, Hannibal. But we can't be showin' up at her door with Murdock lookin' like he does. She'd - well, I ain't exactly sure what she'd do, but she don't need no shocks like that without warning."
Hannibal moved over and laid a hand on the well-muscled shoulder.
"I can only think of how I'd want to be told. First, make sure she knows he's alive and going to get better. Then warn her that he looks bad. If she wants details, give them. If she doesn't ask, don't volunteer. I know that after I've heard I have a man down, no amount of description or details help until I can see for myself. There's likely not a way around her being shocked, son - I think we can all agree his appearance warrants that reaction."
"Yes sir. Shocked me and I thought I was braced for it. I thought of them doing a lot of things, but starvin' him that bad wasn't one of them. When I picked up what was left of him, first thing ran through my mind was that I'd eaten more that morning for breakfast than Murdock had likely eaten since we lost him. Made me sick. Nearly lost it alongside of Face. Crazy fool making that joke was the only thing that helped me keep it down."
"Murdock's always had a gift for defusing tension. Sergeant? Let me call your mother. Explain the situation and then let the two of you talk."
A slight smile formed.
"I really would appreciate that, Hannibal. Momma will hear the worry in my voice just from me trying to think what to say and end up worrying all the more."
"Let's do it now then. I'll talk to her, then take my shower so that you can have some privacy."
"Thanks."
B.A. looked back at the key he was still holding.
"If you don't mind, I think I'll go check on them while you talk with her."
"Fine idea, Sergeant."
Leaving Hannibal, B.A. went back and checked on the other two members of the team. He noticed that the lights were still on and he almost turned them off before he remembered that room Murdock had been trapped in all that time. Wouldn't hurt anything for the lights to stay on. Sure didn't seem to be interfering with their sleep.
Moving over quietly, he noticed a slight shivering coming from Murdock. Well, man didn't have any body fat left to help keep him warm, so that made sense. Probably one of the reasons he was practically on top of Face was to get a little warmer. Didn't seem to be bothering Face any. Lieutenant was getting his first real sleep in a long time - his face wasn't twisted like it had been whenever B.A. had watched him over the past few weeks.
Opening the closet in the room, B.A. found an extra blanket and tucked it around Murdock. The touch of his hands seemed to do more to ease the trembling than the blanket did. Well, he guessed he could understand that too. Isolation bothered him and he didn't need folks around to feel alright. Not that he minded his team being around, but he was perfectly content being by himself. Murdock wasn't built that way. Man was... what was that word that that one corporal had used to describe him? Gregarious. That was it. That had always stuck in the back of his mind. He remembered asking the corporal why he couldn't just use a normal word to describe the Captain and the man had just laughed and said 'normal words are for normal folks like us, Baracus. You have to pull out a dictionary to find words to describe folks like ol' Howlin' Mad.'
He had to admit the corporal had had that right. B.A. had never met anyone else quite like Murdock - for which he was grateful. One was plenty. No, that wasn't quite right. One was just enough.
Murdock shifted slightly and Face automatically reached out in his sleep to comfort him. Any traces of irritation left at Faceman melted away at that. It had been a bad six weeks for the conman, but he'd pulled himself together and gotten them what they needed to get Murdock back. Still, he knew that the Lieutenant wasn't going to feel quite right if there wasn't something he could do to make up for things. Then he remembered some of Murdock's jibber jabber. Conman like the Faceman should be able to swing a few passes to Disney World. Yeh, sure he could.
A soft tap on the connecting wall got his attention back. Must be time for him to have that talk with his mother. Easing back out of the door, he pulled it shut as carefully as he could until he heard the lock click, then headed at a more brisk pace back to his own door.
To his vast relief, his mother had taken the news from the Colonel well. Baby was free and they were all on their way to her. She was trying to stay focused on that.
" I know you all can't stay, but Baby can stay with me until he gets his strength back. Bosco? How long do you think that will take?"
He knew his mother. This was her way of asking how bad it was without asking to know the details. B.A. was silent for a minute as he thought about the sores, the ribs and the need to put some meat back on those bones.
"I'd guess about a month, momma."
He heard the slight hitch in her voice and knew what that meant. He was getting mighty tired of folks upsetting his momma and he pitied the next fool that made it happen. Then she spoke again and her voice was as strong as ever.
"I'm just thankful that the four of you are together again. I worry when you get split up, but together, you all watch out for each other."
B.A. thought back to watching Face move in his sleep to comfort Murdock, smiling again.
"Guess that's something we all need, momma. Someone to watch over us."