Sweat runs across his face. His feet pound the ground as he races towards his friends. The girl in his arms doesn't move, so he hugs her closer, trying to keep her safe.

"Hannibal!" he shouts at the top of his lungs. His commander looks up from his position, clearly startled by the panic in his voice.

Murdock skids to a halt in front of him, kicking up the dust near their feet. Hannibal looks down on the girl in his pilot's arms. The girl he considers a daughter. So small and so vulnerable she seems. Momentarily stunned, his brain can't come up with a plan for the life of him. Not when she looks so nearly dead. Hannibal looks up into Murdock's eyes and something clicks in his brain.

"Face, BA!" he shouts, running towards them. Murdock is left standing there, clutching Cassie to his chest.

"I'll keep you safe Cas. Just hold on for me now please. Come on girl, don't you dare leave me alone. Come on Cas, open your eyes. Please Cassie please. Please don't die Cassie. Please open your eyes Cas."

Ltd Colonel Smith finds him still rooted to the spot, still talking to their Cassie.

"Come on Captain, let's get her into the van." he says.

Murdock looks up into the blue eyes of his leader.

"What's the plan commander?"

Hannibal takes Cassie's shoulders and together with Murdock he hoists her into the van. She sits there slumped in the car seat, like a puppet who had his strings cut. Hannibal gets in the driver's seat and starts the van. It roars to life and suddenly leaps forward like it senses the urgency. A groan comes from the weak figure in the backseat. Her eyes open slightly.

"Murdock?"

He had never taken his eyes of her, so he's with her in a heartbeat.

"Yes Cas?" he asks. "I'm here girl."

Another groan. "Did he get you?" she manages to ask. Fighting to stay conscious, she looks in the pilot's eyes.

"No girl, he didn't." he says, cupping her face with his hands. "Stay with me now. Hannibal will get you somewhere safe."

She smiles at him. "Good" she says, and lets unconsciousness take her away.

"Cas? Cassie! Colonel, we've got to get her to a doctor!"

"We're not far from Bad Rock, Murdock. The three of us are gonna pay another visit to Maggie. How is our girl?"

Murdock looks at his commander, and he clearly sees the worry in his eyes. Hannibal is driving as fast as he can, and at the same time trying to keep the van stable. Murdock suddenly realizes BA and Face aren't in the van with them.

"Where are BA and Face, Colonel?"

Hannibal turns around to look him in the eyes. "They stayed behind." He turns towards the road again. "Somebody had to stay behind to make sure the bad guys are delivered to the police. They'll meet us tomorrow at Maggie's house at noon."

Murdock turns back to the girl next to him. He keeps a steady pressure on her back, there where the bullets had hit. He starts rummaging around for the bandages in the truck. As the van keeps eating the kilometers, he patches her up as best as he can. It's too little too late, but it's all he can do right now. At least it seems to stop the bleeding a little.

"How is she Captain?"

The voice seems to come from far away, so absorbed he is in his task. He looks up from Cassie to face his commander. The guilt creeps in his heart again. It chills him from the inside out. He doesn't want to tell him what happened. Everything can happen on the battlefield, but she's not a soldier. This shouldn't have happened to her.

Gathering his courage, Murdock starts to respond. "She's weak Colonel. I've bandaged it as good as I could here, but the bullets are still in. I don't know how long she'll hang on."

"What happened out there?" Hannibal asks. He focusses on driving for now, but he's determined to get to the bottom of this. His Captain remains silent. Hannibal looks around quickly again, and sees him looking at Cassie.

"Captain." Here his voice changes. It's clearly an order. "What happened out there?"

Murdock lifts his gaze to meet this leader. Now Hannibal can also see the guilt written on every line on his face.

"It's my fault, Hannibal." he starts, tears streaming from his face as he tells his tale. "Me and Cassie took care of the guys at the back of the house, just like you said. They were laying on the ground, and we had them under control. My ammo was low, so Cassie gave me her gun. She was going to get you guys."

As the memory overtakes him, Murdock starts to sob softly. "I didn't see the guy's gun in time, but Cassie must have seen it as she walked past him. He pointed it at me, Colonel. But she jumped in between."

Hannibal looks at the road again. He understands Murdock's guilt all too well. A few years prior Murdock had taken a bullet for him and the scar still reminds him every time. Luckily they would arrive at Maggie Sullivan's house soon. She'll fix this. She must fix this.

"Colonel, I'm sorry."

Hannibal looks away from the road to face his Captain. He smiles at him. "Don't beat yourself up Murdock. It wasn't you who shot her."

Murdock won't have any of it. "It was me who should've seen the guy's gun. I should've seen it Hannibal."

Hannibal turns towards the road again. "Do you blame me?"

Murdock looks confused. He doesn't understand his commander's sudden change of subject.

"What do you mean, Hannibal?"

"Do you blame me for the time when you took a bullet for me? I didn't see that scumbag's gun either. Do you blame me for missing that gun, Murdock?"

Suddenly a light of understanding shines in Murdock's eyes. He looks at Cassie and at Hannibal.

"No Hannibal." he says. Then he smiles the smallest of smiles. "I have never blamed you. We all miss things sometimes."

"Well, it's a bit more difficult when you're the one who made the mistake." says Hannibal. He looks back with an encouraging smile. "But nobody will blame you for this. Especially not her." He turns back to the road.

They sit in silence for a while. Cassie's situation has worsened. She looks as pale as a ghost and it's frightening how close she is to becoming one. Her breathing is labored and irregular. Suddenly the van lurches to the right. They are off the main road. Murdock looks at the landscape. They are almost there. Maggie Sullivan's house is only 10 more minutes away.

The van screeches to a halt. They've arrived at the house of Maggie Sullivan. Hannibal jumps out of the van and runs back to help Murdock. He cradles her into his arms once more and walks as fast as he dares towards the door. Hannibal is already pounding the wooden door with his two fists as loud as he can.

"Maggie, it's Hannibal! Please open up!" he shouts through the door.

The door opens up, and a lovely looking woman steps through. Looking at the limp form in Murdock's arms, she swallows any questions and ushers them in.

"Put her in the operating room Murdock."

Murdock knows this house very well. This is where he gave BA a blood transfusion, so he knows his way towards the right room. He gently puts Cassie on the bed, and retreats a little. Maggie enters with Hannibal. He has clearly explained everything very quickly, so there's nothing left to do but wait. Hannibal gently takes the pilot by the shoulders and drags him outside the room.

"We've got to let her do her thing Murdock." he whispers softly. "Why don't you go and change out of these clothes first."

Murdock looks up at Hannibal. He's confused.

"We can't let that blood get everywhere on Maggie's nice couch, now can we?" Hannibal explains. "We'll get cleaned up, and then we are going to wait. Just you and me, we're going to wait together."

Hannibal worries for his pilot. He doesn't look good at all. They've all been wounded at some point, but he has never seen Murdock react like this. Maybe it's the fact that it's Cassie this time. Cassie isn't like them. She isn't a soldier, she didn't go through the same ordeals as the team and she is a girl. A young girl. That always hurts more. In the short period they had known her, she had become a person they could all depend on.

The first time they met her, she had stolen Hannibal's jacket from his chair. How is that for the start of a relation? She was just a small time pickpocket from the streets of New York, and she saw the team have a quiet drink in a bar. Convinced there was some money in it, she had nicked Hannibal's jacket right from under their noses. Unfortunately for her it had been tagged by some bad guys. She had accidentally saved the A Team from a nasty trap. As she ran of with the GPS tag, the bad guys found her. The A Team had come just in time to save her.

After that she had tried her best to become useful to them. She became an informant for them, helped them evade Decker by listening to police radios and went out to get food for them when they couldn't get out of hiding. She was kind, funny and loyal. They all loved her energy and spunk. She could tell stories like no other and they all loved to have her around.

Hannibal never had a daughter but he started to love that girl like a daughter. The first time she hugged him was when they rescued her from the bad guys. Even then he felt he needed to protect her, keep her safe. He didn't want to take her out on missions, but she didn't listen. Often she snuck out against his orders to come and help the team. She had saved his life on one such occasion. She's been an active member of the team ever since. She used to sleep on the street, so another reason for keeping her on was looking after her. It's not often people hire you because you're a great pickpocket. This way she could look after herself and get off the streets.

It had worked out for everybody. Except for this time. This was the time Hannibal wished with all his might he would've left her at home. He put on his jacket and checked up on Murdock.

The pilot looked odd without his leather vest. He had put his clothes in a plastic bag and holds it out for his commander. "Thanks Murdock." Hannibal says and he puts his own clothes in the bag.

"Let's go inside, shall we?"