12. Sibling Rivalry

Jean let out a mouth stretching yawn as she took her soda into the living room of Hannibal's apartment where everybody was gathered around discussing the details of Hannibal's latest plan.

"Hannibal, you know that these schemes always work better if I have a woman to take in with me," Face said, "People may suspect that I alone am a fake, but they would never suspect a couple of being frauds."

"So where do we get a woman on short notice?" Hannibal asked smartly.

Murdock raised his hand and pointed over to Jean who was sitting beside him on the couch.

"A tempting offer, Murdock, but I don't think they'd buy Jean," Hannibal said.

"What about Amy?" Face asked, "When I talked to her the other day she said her shoulder's better, she could do it."

"Call her up and see if she's interested," Hannibal said.

"You guys got her shot the last time she helped you and now you're asking her to go another round?" Jean asked, "How much a glutton for punishment do you think she is?"

"It's nothing like that this time," Hannibal told her, "She's going to help Face get the supplies we need."

"Famous last words," Jean said.

"You want me to what?" Amy asked.

"We go in together, sell this guy a story about being new in the area and needing some equipment to get started on our rustic vacation," Face started to explain.

"Of course for that it will require a change of clothes," Jean pointed out and told Amy, "Right now you look as ready for the outdoors as Eva Gabor in Green Acres."

"Thanks a lot," she cynically replied.

"Uh," Jean raised her hand and asked, "How're you two going to go into this?"

"What do you mean?" Face asked as he turned to look back towards her.

"I mean are you two going in as a married couple, or as brother and sister?" Jean thought about it and added, "Or what's the difference?"

Face's eyes bugged out, "What do you mean what's the difference?"

"I mean what's the difference in your husband and wife act and your brother/sister act?" Jean asked, "There really is very little difference you know."

"Are you nuts?" Face asked.

"Well," Jean gestured to Murdock.

Face rolled his eyes and groaned, Jean took that opportunity to speak up.

"I'll tell you something, Face, for all the time Murdock and I were married, when we went out in public together, people always asked if he was my brother," she said, "Haven't you ever noticed? Siblings fight all the time, and so do married people, the only difference is that there's no such thing as spousal rivalry."

"Hmm," Hannibal took the cigar out of his mouth, "She has a point, Lieutenant. I never thought about that."

Face and Amy looked at each other and Face said uncertainly, "Well I don't know, what do you think, Amy?"

She looked him up and down and said teasingly, "I'm not sure…what would I ever see in somebody like you? I guess I'd have to be stuck with you by birth."

Face growled under his breath and reached over and messed up her bangs.

"That's married alright," Jean said, "But it doesn't look right."

"Now what're you babbling about?" Face wanted to know.

"I mean you don't look like Amy's type for either, Murdock looks more her type," Jean said.

"Are you serious?" Face asked.

Jean gave Murdock a light shove and told him, "Get over there, let's see how it looks."

Murdock got up from the couch, took Face's place standing next to Amy, and the others looked at them and considered.

"Murdock," Jean raised a finger and tapped the side of her head. Murdock took the hint and removed his cap.

"Hmm," Hannibal said as he walked around them, taking a look, "It might just work…they do almost look related."

"Either way it's a no win situation to be stuck with that fool," B.A. said.

"I don't know, Hannibal," Face said, "I mean Murdock is very good at scamming airplanes and helicopters, things like that no doubt, but…"

"But what?" Jean asked, "Face, anybody who's been around you long enough would have no problem scamming 2 cases of road flares, two dozen kerosene lamps, half a dozen mosquito nets, and 100 feet worth of fly paper," she turned to Hannibal and added skeptically, "Butwhat do you want it all for?"

"Oh, you'll see," Hannibal told her.

"Oh, I'm coming along?" she asked.

"No, we're going to put everything together here."

"Definitely kiss your cleaning deposit goodbye," Jean said.

Murdock looked to the reporter and asked her, "Well what do you think, Amy?"

"Think of what, you as my big, older, stronger brother?" Amy asked.

"Well two out of three ain't bad," Jean said.

Murdock stuck his tongue out at her. Amy stole Murdock's cap and put it on, Murdock drew his hand back like he was going to punch her but instead just placed his hand on her face and pushed her back slightly. Then he turned around, and Amy took two large steps towards him and playfully kicked him in his seat.

"I still say there's no difference," Jean told the others.

Face checked his watch and said, "Murdock and Amy have been gone for a while, I hope everything's going alright."

Right now it was just he and Jean in the apartment. While Murdock and Amy were out getting all the wilderness supplies, Hannibal and B.A. were checking the equipment in the van to make sure they had all the practical stuff.

Jean looked at the clock and commented, "I'm sure they're doing alright." She put her book down and said to the Lieutenant, "Hey Face, I just thought of something, do Murdock and Amy ever do anything together when she's not helping you guys on a mission?"

Face had to stop and think. "…I don't think so, why?"

"Just seems odd," she replied, "She's not a member of the Team but she is a part of it, and you four do all kinds of stuff when you ain't working on a mission, just seems to me that since Murdock is so far around the bend on her that he would do something with her in their free time as well."

Face looked up from his magazine with a puzzled look on his face. He turned towards Jean and asked her, "What makes you say that?"

"Come on, Face, Murdock and a pretty girl, what more one he has constant access to, you can't say you haven't noticed that he likes her, almost as much as you do I'd say," Jean told him.

Face turned his head and glared at her.

Jean seemed to take an immense pleasure in making him uncomfortable and she folded her arms against her chest and sat down on the arm of Hannibal's couch and added, "And please, don't act like it's some big surprise, like I couldn't possibly have known. I've seen how you look at Amy, it's not quite how you look at all those bimbos you have walking around on your arms all the time. You use those women, you may like them but I know they don't mean anything to you, not like Amy does anyway."

Face let out an exasperated huff and said, "Boy you're a real piece of work, you know that?"

"I'm the best," she replied, "I told Amy when she was shot, Murdock went all to pieces over her, because he loves her, she pretended that she didn't know, just like she pretended she doesn't love him…but I know they do…but it's not like she thinks anyway. The reason they work so well together as a brother and sister act is because that's exactly what they are, you however…"

"I what?" Face asked.

"You're not attached to any woman and Amy is the most available one within your reach," Jean said, "If one of you's going to make a move in her direction, it's going to be you, I'll guarantee it."

"Boy you sure got a lot of nerve," Face told her.

"I know it," she replied proudly.

"You really think that there's anything between me and her?" Face asked.

"I think there could be," Jean said, "Despite the fact that she seems to be the only woman in the world, other than myself, who cools your lava."

Face sneered at her and laughed bitterly and commented, "Yeah and as usual you're just a big glass of ice water. You got a big mouth, Jean, you know that?"

She showed her teeth in a cold smirk and replied, "And I just bet you'd love to see how it looks without any teeth, wouldn't you? Go ahead, take your best shot."

"I still don't get what Hannibal's going to do with all of this stuff, Murdock," Amy said during the drive back to Hannibal's apartment.

"Well he hasn't exactly told the rest of us yet either, I think he's still putting it all together," Murdock told her.

Amy looked out her side window and saw everything racing by. She also noted the gray clouds starting to move in and shade everything from the sun.

"Murdock," she said, "Why didn't you bring Jean with you for this job?"

"Hannibal said they wouldn't buy her as Face's girlfriend," Murdock explained.

Amy looked at him and said, "But you were given the job instead, why didn't you take her with you then?"

"Well…I think it'll do her some good to be in an enclosed space with the Faceman for a while…they've still got some stuff to work through."

"What kind of stuff?" Amy asked.

"Well…like what she was talking about earlier, it's kind of a sibling rivalry thing, these two are always going at each other's throats…when Hannibal suggested I come instead, I figured we could leave them behind and let them work it out."

"What if they kill each other?" Amy asked him.

"Then they would've done it long before now, you missed out on a lot of it, Amy, these two used to go at each other all the time before you got back from Jakarta," Murdock explained.

"Why's that?"

"Well it's a long story, uh…I guess part of it is we're looking at 2 different generations here, see Face was brought up, as we all were, in the generation of you don't hit girls, you don't let anybody else hit them, that kind of stuff, but Jean is a firm believer in knocking their heads off and spitting down their throats if the situation calls for it. And she's definitely been trying Faceman's patience as well as his traditional beliefs towards women."

Amy was trying to follow it but she felt clueless. "Well why's she doing that?"

"Trying to bring him over to the dark side," Murdock said with a mad scientist cackle, "I think she's honestly trying to get him to clock her, because she knows the last thing Faceman wants to do is hit a girl."

Amy laughed and said, "I get the feeling Face doesn't quite see her as being all girl."

"You noticed that too, eh?" Murdock asked, "Well, she certainly uses it to her advantage."

"So noted," Amy replied, "Murdock, how did you ever fall in love with a crazy woman like that?"

"You mean besides the obvious of I'm crazy too?" he asked, flashing an innocent grin, "Be honest, I'm not exactly sure I know, it just sort of happened."

Amy nodded understandingly and said, "Well, I'm happy for the both of you."

"Oh I really appreciate that, Amy," Murdock told her, "You know we ain't exactly worked out a date for our new wedding yet, but whenever it is, you think you'll be available for it?"

"Sure," Amy answered with a smile, "Whenever you need me."

Murdock glanced over and smiled at her and said, "Thanks, Amy, I really appreciate it, and I know Jean does too, she just don't like saying anything."

"I get the feeling she doesn't like women very much," Amy noted.

"Yeah I kind of get that feeling too," Murdock confessed, "I guess it's 'cuz she…she don't really fit in with the rest of them, you know?"

"Oh," Amy nodded and laughed, "Believe me I've noticed. I guess that's why I was surprised to hear that you'd actually married her."

"Really?" he looked to her again.

"Well, you and Face are a lot alike, you go out with a woman, and she's more…."

"Like you?" Murdock asked teasingly.

"I was going to say feminine," Amy said.

"That's what I mean," he said, and laughed, "I still remember the time we went to San Rio Blanco, and they got you in on the film commission scam, you in that pink dress going on about the missing script pages. Ooh you had that guy going."

Amy laughed as she also recalled it and said, "Yeah…for some reason I just can't see Jean pulling it off the same way."

"You kidding me? She'd strangle you with that dress and tie it around your neck for a bowtie before she'd wear it," Murdock told her, "Or any for that matter.'

Amy tried to stop laughing and she asked Murdock, "Why do you think she's like that?"

"After wearing that wedding dress at Calvin Cutter's ceremony, I can take a guess," Murdock told her, "They're not practical for running in at all."

"Hannibal, we're back!" Murdock called as he and Amy made their way up the stairs to the apartment.

The response wasn't an expected one however. They heard the sound of something crashing and something else that sounded like someone moaning in pain, and they ran up the stairs. Right outside Hannibal's apartment, Jean was sitting pressed against the wall with both hands covering the sides of her head, her eyes were squeezed shut and she was just about screaming in pain and Face was knelt down right beside her, looking confused.

"What did you do to her?" Amy asked Face.

"Me!?" Face did a double take as he got up, "I didn't do anything to her! She just fell down and started groaning."

Murdock knelt down at Jean's side and tried talking to her to get her to open her eyes, that didn't work so he settled for just grabbing her hands and gently pulling them down from her head. "What's the matter, Jean, what happened?"

Jean was all but crying as she forced her eyes open slightly and begged him, "Shoot me, Murdock, just shoot me…"

"She just started doing this, I don't know what's wrong with her," Face said.

Murdock placed the tips of his fingers against various parts of her head and watched as she shrank back against the contact and continued to groan.

"It's a migraine, she gets them sometimes, especially if we're in for a storm," Murdock said as he slipped one arm behind her back and helped her up and then picked her up in his arms and carried her into the apartment.

Amy ran over and held the door open as he came in and carried Jean into the bedroom. Murdock called out to Face to turn on the weather report and see what the forecast was, then he got Jean settled on Hannibal's bed and went to look through the medicine cabinet for some pills. When he came back with a bottle of painkillers and a glass of water, Jean's face was scrunched up in a mask of pain and she had one hand clutching her forehead.

"Come on, hon, take these and then you can try sleeping it off," he said as he helped her sit up to take the pills.

Jean swallowed the pills but looked the entire time as though that alone was putting her through further excruciating pain. Murdock tried getting her comfortable on the bed and then went to the window to close the curtains, but when he did he could see the sky was suddenly becoming dark with a bunch of clouds moving in at a fast pace. He heard Jean moaning from the bed and he closed the curtains and went back to her.

"It's alright, Jean, looks like the rain's gonna start soon and then you're gonna be alright," he said as he took one of her hands in his and rubbed it comfortingly.

Jean closed her eyes tightly and kept her mouth clamped shut but the agonizing moans and whimpers still worked their way loose.

"Just try and take it easy, darling," he said as he carefully placed his other hand on her forehead and stroked up to the crown of her head, "Just try and get some sleep, it's alright, I'll be here."

Amy and Face watched from the doorway and then without a word, pulled back into the living room and looked at each other.

"How often does she get those migraines?" Amy asked.

"Only once that I know of," Face told her, "Remember that time before Christmas when we had to cancel dinner at her house?"

Amy blinked, "Only once and Murdock's already an expert on them?"

"Must be some migraine," Face commented.

Hannibal and B.A. had finished restocking everything in the van and were making their way back to the building entrance when the wind picked up. Hannibal wasn't sure how hard it was blowing, he would definitely guess well over 50 miles an hour, it got strong enough he could hardly walk for a couple instances, so the sergeant who outweighed him by at least 50 pounds and an additional 40 in gold jewelry, got behind him and pushed him all the way to the front doors.

"Real storm blowing in this one," Hannibal noted as they got inside.

B.A. pushed the door shut and locked it, it was a safe bet nobody else would be coming in here, few people were tenants in this building as it was.

"Let's see if the others got back yet," Hannibal told him as they started up the stairs.

They got up to the third floor and were talking to each other as they went into the apartment, but were immediately met by Amy and Face who were sitting on the couch and both addressed the men with a loud, "Shhhh!"

"What's the matter?" Hannibal whispered.

Amy pointed to the bedroom, "Jean's sick, she's been begging Murdock to shoot her."

"What?" B.A. asked.

Hannibal went over to the bedroom and peered in. Jean and Murdock lay beside each other on top of the bed, both of them appeared to be asleep or at least near it, but every time Jean moved at all she whimpered in her sleep. Hannibal spotted a bottle of pills on the nightstand and recognized it as the painkillers he kept in the bathroom. He also took into consideration the closed blinds and stepped back out.

"The human barometer strikes again," he said.

"What?" Face asked.

"This has happened before when we got hit by a bad storm," Hannibal explained.

"How often?" Amy asked.

"Oh…once or twice," he answered.

Amy and Face looked at each other again with equally puzzled expressions.

Murdock moved his head from side to side and realized the sounds he was hearing weren't part of a dream, he opened his eyes and saw Jean on the other side of the bed groaning.

"Jean," he said in a low voice as he reached over and touched her, "Jean, you alright?"

She opened her eyes and looked at him, then closed her eyes and rubbed them with one hand and asked him, "What time is it?"

Murdock pulled himself up onto his knees to look over at the clock and saw it was after 5 o' clock. Then he heard something else and he went over to the window and pulled back the curtain, it was pouring down rain outside.

"Jean, how's your head feeling?" he asked.

"My head?" she asked, confused. Then after a minute it came back to her, "It's better now…what time is it?"

"5 o' clock, and the rains just came," Murdock told her.

"5 o' clock? Holy crap," Jean muttered as she got to her feet, "Another day wasted on these stupid headaches."

"Technically it was just an afternoon," he replied.

Jean looked to him, surprised, "And you were here with me the whole time?"

He turned away from the window to see her and asked, "Where else would I be?"

"Hannibal's going to be mad about this," Jean said.

The door opened and Hannibal leaned in, hanging on the doorknob, and he said, "Oh I don't know, I'm known for being endearing too at times. I heard you two getting up, how're you feeling, kid?"

"Better now," she said.

"I figured you might," Hannibal told her, "We got a real mother of a storm coming down out there, nobody's going to be going anywhere tonight unless it clears up and fast."

"Hannibal, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for Murdock to," Jean started to say, but was cut off.

"It's alright, Jean, we got everything taken care of," he told her.

"I'm sorry, I usually don't get these headaches," she said.

"It's alright, Jean, it couldn't be helped. Hey listen, dinner's going to be ready in a few minutes, are you guys hungry?"

"Sure," they answered.

"Good," and with that, Hannibal turned and left the room.

"He's in an unusually good mood tonight, has he been drinking?" Jean asked.

Murdock laughed and told her, "Come on."

Out in the living room, B.A., Face and Amy were watching the TV, but of them all, Face hadn't been paying much attention. He wanted to believe that Murdock had been right about the weather being the cause for Jean's headache but he just didn't know. He hadn't told the others that right before they got back, he and Jean had been having a heated argument and it had led out into the hall so nothing of Hannibal's got broken. Thinking back now he wasn't sure that anything would have come of it but he wasn't about to get blamed for busting up any of Hannibal's furniture.

As they waited for any sign of improvement, he sat on the couch and his face cringed up and he looked like he was the one with a migraine. Of all days to let Jean get to him, why did he have to let it be today? She always ran her mouth off with him because she knew she could, and was always trying to get a provoked response out of him, and now this…if it turned out he'd had anything to do with what happened to Jean...of course realistically he knew that was impossible, still, it didn't make him feel any better. Ohhh, he could just imagine what Hannibal was going to do to him if he found out about this. He about jumped off the couch when the bedroom door opened, first Hannibal came out, and then a couple minutes later, Murdock and Jean emerged as well. He and Amy got up and went over to them.

"Jean, are you alright?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied.

Face pushed his way between them and said, intending for only Jean to hear, "Hey listen, Jean, I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

She looked at him as if she almost couldn't remember what he'd said, she shook her head dismissively and told him, "Don't worry about it, Face."

She moved past him and over to the kitchen, and Amy came up behind Face and asked him, "What did you say to her?"

Face turned to look at her and he explained, "I'll tell you later."

Murdock watched them from the doorway in the kitchen and he commented with a knowing smirk on his face, "You know, Saint, I do believe Face is getting sweet on Amy."

"You noticed that too, eh?" Jean replied and shrugged innocently, "I thought it was just me."