Chapter 7:

Hannibal's shoulders slumped slightly as he turned and left the room to get the others.

He was first to return announcing that BA and Murdock would be there in a minute.

"I want Murdock to hold his arms and talk to him. He doesn't need to see this. BA will hold him down and you have to hold his foot steady for me."

As expected, Face's eyes flew open the moment Maggie started cutting.

"Nooo, no stop, please stop."

"Easy there, muchacho, it's just Maggie. She is going to help you feel better."

"Maggie? Oh no….they captured her too…"

"Shh, you are safe, we are all safe."

'Safe? Real bed. Oh yeah… stupid me…not the camps…Hannibal's house.' Murdock was in his line of vision and he could feel BA holding him down and Maggie working on his foot; no trace of Hannibal though.

This time the suffering didn't last for long. Face was so weak from the ordeal of the last few days that it took only about a minute before he passed out. Maggie had them holding him down anyway, just in case, and had Murdock monitor his breathing.

Maggie cut open the wound and a large amount of puss greeted her. After wiping it away as good as she could she inserted one gloved finger into the wound and was able to push inside for about two inches. The infection had spread towards the front of his foot and a bag had developed. She cut another opening at the other end of the bag and washed any puss out of the wound. After she was satisfied to have cleaned it thoroughly she reached for a sterile glove, cut off one finger and inserted it in the wound to keep it open. Then she wrapped the foot lightly and let out a sigh.

"You can let go of him now."

"What did you do?" Hannibal asked.

Maggie answered while writing something down. "The infection had spread and created a bag full of puss. Why I don't know, the wound was free of debris and washed out with peroxide. His body was probably too weak to fight the remaining germs and my guess is that he has developed a resistance to the antibiotics I used. I inserted a finger of a glove into the wound to keep it open. We have to wash it out and replace a finger inside every day until all signs of infection are gone and we can allow the wound to heal close. At the rate he is going I would guess we need about a week. BA, can you get this prescription from the pharmacy? It's a different kind of antibiotics."

"You got it." BA was off in record speed.

"The pain in his foot should lessen considerably by the time he wakes up. Once the pressure is gone he will feel better. It's a very sensitive area though. If only he had said something about the pain, this would not have spread so far."

"We'll stay with him. Go and get some rest, we'll get you when he wakes up."

"I want to wait for BA to return and hang up the first bag of antibiotics."

"I can do that, get some rest."

It was afternoon before Face woke up again. The first thing he noticed was that his foot felt better. It still throbbed along dreadfully with his heartbeat, but at least the searing pain was gone. The next thing he became aware of was Hannibal sitting in a chair across the room watching him.

"Hey," Face said weakly.

"How are you feeling?" Hannibal questioned.

"Tired of everybody asking me that," Face responded, not meeting Hannibal's eyes. 'He is sitting as far away from me as possible,' he thought.

"You didn't answer the question, Lieutenant."

'And now he is calling me by rank.' Face began to shift uncomfortably under the sheets, thinking of how to respond, but stopped abruptly as he jostled his foot.

Hannibal saw Face's complexion pale and his entire body stiffen. He was out of his chair and at the ailing man's side in seconds. "I guess that answers my question," he said, taking hold of Face's hand while he rode out the wave of pain.

"Damn, that hurts," Face muttered, then immediately regretted the statement. Hannibal didn't need a cry baby on his team.

"It's about time you admitted it, kid," Hannibal smiled. He paused a moment than knitted his brow. "But Maggie said it should be feeling better."

Face nodded his head. "Oh, it does. Yesterday it hurt worse," he made sure to add, and it was true.

There was something about the way the older man was looking at him that made Face actually believe Hannibal meant what he just said about admitting how he was feeling. Either that, or Face was too exhausted to put on an act anymore. "It hurts pretty bad," Face confessed, running a shaky IV-free hand over his eyes.

His eyelids start to grow heavy; he felt completely drained mentally and physically. "I really don't feel so good," he whined, fatigue removing his inhibitions.

"I know you don't, kid," Hannibal soothed, patting his leg sympathetically. He could see that Face was about to go out again. "I'm really sorry…for everything," he apologized. He wasn't sure if Face heard him or not, but he felt better for saying it.

Maggie had not noticed just how tired she was. She had slept through the whole day. When she came back to her patient's room she found the entire team there. Face was propped up to a semi upright position, held up only be the pillows behind him. He was pale and sweaty and obviously not well. But always the con man he was wearing a bright smile and was listening to a happily chatting Murdock who was sitting cross legged at the foot of the bed. BA was sitting in a chair by the window, reading a mechanics magazine and Hannibal was sitting in the chair Maggie had vacated earlier on, reading her book.

"Okay, everybody out." Maggie was obviously pissed.

"I don't think I'm up to it," croaked Face throwing his best smile at her. She just glowered at him, saying nothing and he ducked his head.

"I'll…"

"You too John. I want to speak to Face, alone."

"I'm his commanding …."

"And I'm his doctor and as long as he is under my care I outrank you. Out. Now."

Knowing when they have lost they left the room. Each giving Face a reassuring pat or squeeze on their way out.

Maggie's posture and voice said she was not in the mood for nonsense so Face didn't even try to talk his way out of whatever lecture he had coming.

As soon as the door closed she got started. "All right young man, this ends now. I thought you had learned your lesson about putting up an act for your friends and lying to your doctor. You're weak, you're exhausted, you're still in quite some pain and here you are, half upright and happily chatting with Murdock."

"He was…"

"I know he was the one talking but only because your throat still hurts. You should know better by now and so should your supposed friends too. You need rest."

"But Murdock…it's been hard…"

"So Murdock relived some war memories and you think it will make him feel better if he finds out you are hurting yourself because of him? Murdock is not an idiot. He knows you're in pain and he can damn well cope with it. He knows this is you and we are not in a war right now. Even though it stirs bad memories he would never want you to suffer because of him. He is your best friend and you can tell him when you are hurting."

"And now let's get you to lay down. You need to rest. I'll go and get you some light soup…as soon as I'm through with the rest of this glorious team."

"No please, you don't need to talk to them. They are mad enough as it is. I caused enough trouble."

"Is that what you really think? I'm not sure whether Murdock is the right person to live in the VA. Get your rest, I'll get you some soup." With that she left the room, shaking her head.

She found the other three culprits in the living room. "What is wrong with you guys? He is hurting, he needs rest, he does not need to be entertained."

"Sorry, we just thought that with all we did to him earlier on and now that he is doing a little better… and you know how he hates to be bedridden and to be alone, you know….it's just….we thought we could allow him a little slack and let him have some normality…as far as possible with his family around him." Saying it out loud it sounded more stupid than when they did it.

"A nice family you are. Normality? You think he wants this? Let me tell you something, he is putting up this act for you, thinking you want it. Thinking he is causing you trouble. He is weak and still in pain and needs rest. Some family you are."

"But he told me he was hurting earlier on. Why should he go back to denying it."

"Why? Are you really asking this? Because, he is Face and you should know him by now."

"Now go and sit with him, one at a time, and make sure he rests."

She left the three men to themselves and went to the kitchen.

"Oh man, we seem to screw up often lately. I knew he was hurting but I thought I was doing him good ignoring the fact that he was not able to hide it well. After all it's not like we could have offered pain killers and we know how he hates it to be weak." Murdock was turning his cap in his hands.

"Yeah, here we was thinking we do something nice for him an instead he tried to be nice to us. Just when did everything get so difficult?" BA got up shaking his head. "He's one complicated dude, even after all this years."

Hannibal ran a weary hand over his eyes. "What worries me the most is that he thinks he is a burden to us and trusts Maggie to tell her, but we don't notice and he won't open up to any of us. He never tells when he is hurting and is insecure up to today, but we are usually aware when something is truly off. This team used to be so in sync that something like this could never have happened. Just when did we fall apart?"

"Somewhere between the time he received the letter and we went to Ecuador. At least that's where it started. We didn't quite do our best to get things back in line over there either." Murdock's words were very true and Hannibal mentally added, 'and back here it also took a while before I even started to try and right things'.

"I'll take first watch…I mean sit with him first."

"Okay, Murdock, let's get some rest. I'll relieve you in four hours. Murdock you are up next." Hannibal wanted to sit with Face but knew that the others also needed to be close to him so he didn't object to BA's wish.

Face's emotions were all over the place. As sick as he felt, it was so good to have the whole group together again…and smiling. For the first time in days, it felt right. The team felt right.

But, at the same time it was a relief not to have to put on a brave face anymore. It took all of his remaining strength to keep up with Murdock's antics and not to let his discomfort show. He hadn't realized just how worn out he was, as he closed his eyes and drifted off.

He heard gunfire and the sound of tires screeching. Lying on his back, he rolled over onto his stomach and looked up just in time to see the van peeling away without him. He stumbled to his feet and started to run down the dirt road after them. "Wait, wait," he yelled. "Don't leave without me." The back door flew open and his three teammates looked back at him with disgust. "Please…stop!" The doors slammed shut and they continued speeding away. He kept running and running…and running…

B.A. was at the bottom of the staircase heading toward Face's room for his shift when he heard the screams. Taking the stairs two at a time he sprinted to the top and was almost bowled over by Face who was rushing toward him. B.A. grabbed onto the railing with one arm and prevented Face from falling down the stairs with the other.

Once he gained his balance, B.A. let go of the railing and pulled Face into his chest and dragged him away from the staircase. Face's eyes were closed and he was mumbling incoherently. "Wake up, man," he pleaded as he lightly tapped his cheeks. "Maggie! Hannibal! I need some help up here!" he shouted. Again lowering his voice he said, "C'mon Faceman…you dreamin'…you're safe…I got ya." Face opened his eyes for a brief moment, then sighed and drooped back against B.A.