After Bad Rock

Warning: This following story contains extreme,graphic, and repetitve physical, sexual and psychological torure. We love Face, but we were not nice to him at all in this one. Consider yourself warned...read at your own risk...and hopefully enjoyment!

Chapter 4

"Faceman don't know who we are…or who he is…or nothin' at all."

"B.A….that isn't funny."

"Nah…it ain't funny. But this time it true."

"You sure he wasn't just ripping you again?"

"I'm sure, the ride must have been hard on him, especially the sudden stop."

"Hmm, Murdock said he bumped his head again. Can also be the dehydration that makes him delirious."

"He ain't delirious; he has no memory of nothing."

"Was his speech slurring more than before?"

"Nah man, he was slurring but not worse than before."

"I brought a package of straws, next time we rouse him we have to try to get him to drink something."

"Yeah and we have to reach the fool. He has to tell the doc what happened now."

"You're right BA, but how do we reach him? Let's see, I really didn't want to contact Amy in case she's being watched too but don't really see an alternative."

"What about that sheriff? He owes us."

"And nobody suspects him. BA, you're a genius. We should have thought about that earlier, would have saved Murdock the drive."

"Nah, man, woulda got us all in prison. If the fool wouldn't have gone to town he wouldn't have known Lynch was on the way."

Hannibal reached for the phone and called the sheriff's office. Just in case the MP's were still around he tried for a safe story. "Can I speak to the sheriff?"

"Speaking."

"Sheriff, I have relatives in your town and heard about a lot of military being there. Do I have to be concerned about their safety?"

"Don't worry, everything is quiet here, they've been gone for about three hours now."

"That's good to hear. So they found who they were looking for then?"

"No, they finally understood that they wuldn't find those people in our town. They just happened to pass through our place, same as all the other towns they pass through." He sounded tired of explaining that particular fact.

"That's even better to hear. This is Colonel Hannibal Smith…I need your help, sheriff."

"Colonel, why the story telling?"

"I just had to make sure you were alone and had successfully gotten rid of Lynch."

"He sure is one dumb person. Took him ages to understand that you people escaped from my prison during the attack of the rockers and that I almost captured you again as you were unsuccessfully trying to talk Dr. Sullivan into giving you all overdue vaccinations. And no, none of you three was hurt."

"That's a nice story. Talking of Dr. Sullivan, I didn't want to chance calling her from our phone in case she was bugged. I need her help for one of my men, can you get her to your office so I can talk to her?"

"Sure thing, though I don't think her phone is bugged. Well, if he didn't buy my stupid vaccination story he may have bugged it. I'll get her, call me back in 15 minutes."

"Thanks."

Hannibal hung up and proceeded to get a cup of water before going over to Face's bed.

"Okay kid, time to wake up. Face, wake up, c'mon."

"Hannibal, he doesn't know he's the Faceman."

"Maybe by now he does. Wake up, kid, open your eyes." He stroked Face's hair and arms and when that didn't have the desired effect he brought a cold washcloth to his face all the time talking to him.

It took a while but finally confused blue eyes blinked up at him.

"Tell me your name, kid."

"Holmes…Holmes Morrison. Who … are you, sir? Where …where am I?"

Hannibal knew Face had gone through several names as a child and this was one of them, so at least the memory was correct, even if it wasn't up to date.

"How old are you?"

"Nine years, sir. Owww." Face brought his hands up to reach for his head and was headed straight for the bandaged side so Hannibal grabbed his wrist before he could do some damage.

"No, no, let go off me. I told the truth, please don't hurt me, please."

"It's okay, kid, nobody's gonna hurt you. Just don't touch your head, you're injured. Do you remember me?"

"No. My head hurts."

Hannibal saw that Face would not be awake for long and reached for the water. "Here, drink this…I'll place the straw in your mouth, kid."

Face closed his lips and eyed Hannibal with suspicion. Hannibal decided to trick him.

"But earlier you told me you were thirsty and now I went to get you water and a straw and you made me walk around for nothing? That isn't good behavior at all."

As he had thought, playing with Face's guilt was working well, even for his kid self. He opened his mouth a little and managed a few sips. However, it took only moments for him to turn green and wretch the water up again. After that his eyes rolled back and he was out again.

"Ah man, what was that?"

"Holmes Morrison was one of the names Face used as a child, it's in his file. Some memory is back, he's only missing some 20 odd years now."

Face coughed up some of the water he had swallowed.

"Damn, I hope he won't get an infection in is airways in addition. It's not easy to get it all out of his mouth while he's not responding."

Together they waited another five minutes in silence before Hannibal called the sheriff again who quickly passed the phone to Maggie.

"John, Hank told me BA is worse. What happened?"

"Hi Maggie, it's not BA, it's Face."

"What? What happened?"

"It's a long story, but in a nutshell B.A.'s fist went into Face's temple full force."

"I knew B.A. was angry, but I never thought he would actually hit Face," Maggie said in shock.

"That's the long story part...it was an accident. But still Face has some deep cuts, and what I think is a bad concussion and whiplash."

"Did you treat the cuts?"

"Unfortunately, I had to practice my sewing on the kid. And we have his neck supported by a brace." Hannibal paused, the memory making his stomach turn. "But that's not the worst of it. At first he seemed to be oriented, though slow to respond. But, he woke up a little while ago with no memory. And most recently he thinks he is nine years old."

"Has he been complaining of a headache, nausea? Or had slurred speech or blurred vision?" Maggie asked.

"All of the above. He's vomited a few times too."

"John...he needs to be in a hospital," she scolded. "Head injuries are serious."

Hannibal knew she was going to say this, and he also knew that she was right. "I know Maggie, but it's too great a risk. We've been in the papers and..."

Maggie cut him off. "No need to explain...I understand...really I do."

"Do you have any advice?"

"Well, it's encouraging that while he has some memory loss it appears to be coming back. To be honest, even if he was in a hospital they would probably just prescribe bed rest, fluids and pain medication. It's an old wives' tale that you need to keep concussion victims awake all the time...let him sleep as much as possible. Is he able to drink...and keep it down?"

"No...he threw up the little water he took in."

"You're going to need to get him on an IV...darn, I wish I was there with you."

Hannibal thought of the brunette beauty and replied, "That makes two of us."

"If I tell you what you need, do you think you can get it?"

"Face is usually our supply man, but we'll make it happen. I sent Murdock to another town to call you...before we thought of getting the sheriff involved. You should hear from him soon. Can you tell him what we need and where he can find it?"

"But of course. Just a few things to keep in mind. With a concussion, especially one as serious as Face's, he may suffer effects anywhere from days to weeks...to even months."

Hannibal swallowed hard. "Months?"

"It's called postconcussive syndrome. New symptoms may develop, or he may continue to be bothered by symptoms from the injury. Don't be surprised if you notice him having trouble concentrating, sleeping too much or too little, or even being unsteady on his feet. He may also exhibit personality changes. For example, he may become angry, sad or anxious for no clear reason."

"Oh...wonderful. A con man with multiple personalities...this can get real interesting."

"One more thing, you said you suspect a whiplash injury and have his neck supported by a brace. Since he's lying down anyway because of the concussion that's not necessary. It's better for him to move his neck and start range of motion exercises after three days at the latest. The brace is okay for the first few days to avoid sudden movements but in bed they are not likely. Instead of holding his neck stiff he should do controlled slow moves."

"Erm…I doubt that's such a good idea, not until we got him x-rayed and he's more lucid. I coaxed him into moving his head just a tiny bit and he yelled in pain. Also he suffers from nightmares and with the vomiting going on, trust me, even in bed he does sudden moves."

"John, you need to get that boy of yours x-rayed ASAP. What you're telling me could be a very severe case of whiplash but could as well be a broken bone in the spinal cord or another neck injury. That symptom is nothing to wait around and see…one wrong move and he could be paralyzed for the rest of his life."

"I know, I hate to keep him away from medical care but it's just too risky right now. BA fashioned him a brace like those emergency ones, the type that immobilizes the neck and head completely. I hope that will do until we can get him proper care."

"John, really, the risk is too high. Just take him to a hospital to get the x-ray and leave."

"They would never allow me to take him home in his condition. Especially if he wakes up and claims to be nine years old and that he doesn't know me."

"Oh god, this is a terrible situation. And what about his vomiting? If you fashioned him that type of brace his jaw is immobilized too. How are you going to clean out his mouth? If bacteria enter his lungs it can cause pneumonia."

"He can open his mouth a little and I tried to clean him as good as possible, but that's my big fear too."

"Think John…think of something and I'll do the same, we need to help that boy. I'll wait for Murdock's call and in the mean time get the prescription for IV bags, pain meds, anti-inflammatory drugs, and muscle relaxants ready."

On her way home an idea hit Maggie. As soon as she entered the house she started to search her office for that complimentary card the salesman had left the other time, the one with the equipment rental for doctors. She thought she remembered that he mentioned portable x-ray machines too.

Murdock felt as if had been driving for ever before he finally came across a payphone. He barely had the car in park before he jumped out and ran toward the booth. He had the receiver in his hand when it hit him that he had no money.

'Now not only are you crazy, but you're also stupid.' He wasn't normally so hard on himself, but this was Face's health they were dealing with. 'Think, Murdock, think!'

He exited the booth and began to pace. Stopping in his tracks he thought, 'you can call collect!'

He began to pace again. 'Nah…too easy to trace.'

He paused once more. 'You can disassemble the phone!'

Back to pacing. 'If you were B.A. maybe…but without tools, not likely.

'I got it!' He snapped his fingers and headed for the car. "Here, Billy...come here, boy! I need you to use that nose of yours and find a dime."

Five minutes later Murdock was feeding the coin into the slot and smiling down at his dog. "And to think that they say you aren't real…this'll show 'em!"

Just a bit shy of 90-minutes later, he was back on the road and headed toward the motel stocked with all the supplies Maggie called into the local pharmacy as well as the x-ray machine. She had also given him the address of her friend in the area that had access to a special scanner for x-ray pictures to be digitalized and send via network. Though the quality was not the same as the original it was better than nothing. She pretty much ordered them to send over the results as soon as possible.

Murdock drove faster than he had ever done before…his foot pressed almost all the way down to the floor. But it would still be well over an hour before he got to the team; he just wondered what state they would be in when he arrived.

B.A. sat staring out the window willing Murdock to come pulling into the lot. Face hadn't woken again since he thought he was Holmes Morrison and B.A. couldn't remember the last time he felt so scared.

Face meant a lot to him…not that he allowed it to show much. They were both so different, but yet at their core they were quite alike. They both hid their true selves; B.A. behind his gold and muscle and Face behind his fancy clothes and perfect smile.

B.A. knew that Face's childhood had been quite difficult and that he harbored a lot of pain inside of him. And now he had just added to that pain…both physically and mentally.

Hannibal could see that B.A. was struggling to keep his composure. He also knew it would do no good to tell him yet again that Face's injuries weren't his fault. In fact, in a way they were. Not that any of them blamed the big guy; they knew he would never purposely hurt Face. But he had been riding the lieutenant mercilessly since the shooting and it was bound to end badly.

Hannibal took a seat next to his sergeant and put a hand on his shoulder. Sometimes words weren't necessary and actions spoke louder. B.A. looked over and smiled slightly; it meant a lot to have the colonel's support.

Their attention was quickly drawn to the man on the bed when they heard some small sounds. Face was crying.