Title: Impaled

They sat in the van driving in silence. Not a word had been spoken for over three hours now and Face didn't know how much more of this he could take. He wished that Murdock were still with them…at least he would have somebody to talk to. But Murdock had been away from the V.A. for longer than usual and Hannibal thought it best to get him back. It had been a rough couple of weeks for the team. Two grueling missions and Decker on their trail the entire time had left them physically and mentally exhausted.

On the plane ride back from the last case, B.A had unfortunately woken up early to find that they were no longer in beautiful Hawaii. Instead he was 30,000 feet above the ocean in a tiny plane being piloted by Murdock.

"The big guy must be developing a higher tolerance to the drugs," Face said to Hannibal as they noticed him starting to stir. They scrambled to the back of the plane to get as far away from B.A. as possible.

"Well, at least if he kills us, we died leaving paradise," Hannibal half-joked.

"I'm on a plane!" B.A. shouted. "Hannibal, I'm on a plane!"

"Now, calm down B.A. Decker was hot on our trail…we had no choice." Hannibal explained slowly approaching the angry man.

"I'm on a plane. I'm on a plane!" B.A. continued to shout, seemingly getting more agitated by the moment. He stood up looking around the plane as if he were looking for the nearest exit.

"I think we've established that already. Stand down Sergeant…that's an order!" Hannibal commanded.

Face was used to B.A.'s usual temper tantrum in the sky. In fact, he couldn't blame the poor guy for being upset. He was legitimately afraid to fly, yet was forced to do so against his will on a regular basis. What Face wasn't used to, on the other hand, was the way Hannibal was handling the situation. Normally he would try to talk to B.A. calmly…talk him down one might say. This time, however, Hannibal was becoming angry himself which only seemed to be escalating things.

"Don't be giving me no orders, man…this ain't the army anymore!" B.A. retorted. His fury turned to fear as the fact that he was on a plane finally hit home.

Face sensing this shift of emotion, walked past the irritated Hannibal and over to B.A. Placing a hand on B.A.'s back he guided him over to a seat and said softly, "Why don't you sit down B.A. We're almost home…no need to be afraid."

"I ain't afraid of nothin' Faceman…I just don't like flyin' is all. And I don't like Hannibal tellin' me what to do," he said shooting a dirty look the older man's way.

Hannibal give him a cold stare back and then turned toward the cockpit to sit with Murdock.

"Want me to give you something to relax?" Face asked B.A. knowing full well what his answer would be.

"You know I don't take no drugs man…except when you all don't give me no choice." B.A. grunted as beads of sweat started to form on his brow. He was gripping the armrests so tightly that Face was sure he would leave a permanent indent.

"Just hang in there big guy…Murdock will have this bird down in a jiffy." Face inwardly cursed himself for mentioning that Murdock was flying. Luckily, B.A. didn't seem to notice as he sat paralyzed in his seat until the plane touched down and came to a complete stop.

Hannibal and B.A. were still angry all these hours later. In order to avoid any more military run-ins, they decided they better skip town for a while. So after dropping Murdock off, they kept right on driving. The tension in the van was so thick that Face could swear he was going to suffocate on it. Plus, it had been quite some time since they had stopped for any food and he was getting hungry. Face didn't want to say anything because the only thing worse than sitting in the silent van would be sitting in silence at a restaurant staring at each other. At least in the van he could look out the window.

Unfortunately, his stomach didn't seem to care about the view and it started giving him away. After about the fifth growl Hannibal finally turned around and said, "You hungry, Lieutenant?"

"Um, yeah…a little bit," Face admitted. "But I can wait if you guys want to keep driving."

"I say we stop," B.A. growled without turning around. "But let's get it to go…I ain't in the mood for any jibber-jabber."

"Fine with me," said Hannibal and that was the end of the conversation.

After picking up some burgers at a diner they passed along the way they travelled on. Though Face was hungry, he wasn't a big fan of eating on the road. It never seemed to agree with him, but with the way this trip was going he didn't want to rock the boat. So he stayed quiet and ate his burger hoping that this time his stomach would be on his side.

When he first started to feel nauseous, he started taking deep breaths willing himself not to get sick. But after a few minutes all the deep breathing started to make him lightheaded in addition to nauseous. Finally Face knew it was time to either ask B.A. to pull over or puke all over B.A.'s van. If he opted for the later he would not only be a sick man, he would be a dead man.

"B.A., can you pull over?" Face moaned. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

Without a word, B.A. pulled the van off the road into a clearing that would allow Face some privacy. Practically before the van stopped, Face leapt out and headed for the bushes where he promptly lost his lunch…literally. In between heaves, he could hear Hannibal and B.A. start going at each other.

"I guess their vow of silence is over," he muttered as he pulled himself to his feet and made his way back over to the van.

"I'm getting real sick and tired of your attitude B.A.," Hannibal said, poking a finger at B.A.'s gold encrusted chest.

"Don't you touch me man. And I'm tired of you bossin' me around Hannibal," B.A. retorted, poking his finger back at Hannibal.

"Somebody has to be in charge of this team, and that somebody is me. You will obey my orders, Sergeant!" Hannibal took a step closer to B.A.

"B.A. Baracus don't obey nobody!" B.A. snarled back.

The two men were standing so close that their chests were almost touching. Face knew it wouldn't be long until things became physical. He knew he had to step in and try to break things up before it was too late. When he saw the two starting to raise their fists signaling that the fight was on, he started to make his move.

"C'mon guys…can't we at least talk about this first. You're really going to regret this later," said Face. When he could see that he wasn't getting anywhere, he jumped in between the two raging men. Holding his hands out, he made one last plea. "Stop it you two…you wouldn't want to mess up this face, now would you?" he said trying to lighten the mood. But then B.A. gave him a look and pushed him off to the side…hard.

Face felt the pain shoot through his leg as he landed, but was too stunned to realize what had happened. Plus, he was engrossed in watching his friends as they had moved closer together again and were now circling each other. It was almost as if they were doing a dance…each man daring the other to throw the first punch.

When Face finally did look down to survey his damage he couldn't help but gasp…he thought he might be sick again. He landed on some sort of metal stake which unfortunately was now poking through his right thigh. He called out to the two men in a weak voice, but they were too preoccupied to hear him. Knowing that he needed to get some help, he mustered up all his energy and yelled, "Help!"

Hannibal and B.A. turned to look at their friend lying on the ground. At first they just stood there looking at him not noticing what was wrong.

"Um…I think I have a little problem," Face panted pointing toward his leg. Realizing for the first time that Face was injured, the two men came running over to his side.

TBC…