"I should've let Decker die in the explosion, I should've," Jean said later that night.
"Well why didn't you?" Murdock asked her, "For all you've said you wanted to kill him, you had a chance to let nature take its course and you didn't, instead you did the right thing, why?"
Jean looked up at him and said, "I thought maybe if I saved a life for once instead of taking it, it would break the chain and I wouldn't want to anymore."
"It's an interesting way to look at it," Murdock said, "Is it working so far?"
"No," she replied, "Now Decker knows you're involved."
"He always knew," Murdock told her, "But he's not going to do anything about it."
"How do you know?" she asked.
"Oh, I think today was a very…humbling experience for Decker," Murdock told him, "He found out the hard way that even his best planned actions have consequences for him to suffer in the end, even if it takes 15 years."
"I hope you're right, Murdock," Jean said as she looked up at the ceiling, "I hope you're right."
Murdock had agreed to stay the night and he was in the process of getting the second bed in the room ready, he turned around and asked Jean, "So how're you really?"
Jean pulled the cover down, revealing her arms were blistered, but not nearly as bad as they had been for Decker's benefit. It had been one hell of a trick getting the movie makeup skin on in between her being removed from the ER and when Decker came into her room but it had been well worth the trouble for that look on his face when he first stepped in.
"The doctors say in a couple of days I'll be able to get out of here," she said, "I called the studio, they have finished shooting so I'm currently out of work again, and I know that Decker's given you guys 72 hours to get out of town so I'm going to be on my own when they let me go."
"He has given Hannibal, Face and B.A. 72 hours to get out of town," Murdock told her, "I was never considered a part of the Team because I was insane, and now that I'm released I am completely off the army's radar, so I can go or stay anywhere I want at any time."
Jean smiled at him weakly and said, "But you're going with them."
He smiled at her in return and answered, "You knew I would…as the snake said to the fox after he bit him…"
Murdock didn't get to finish that thought because someone was knocking on the door. It opened up and Hannibal came in, "Hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"Not at all," Murdock answered.
"Where're B.A. and Face?" Jean asked.
"Back at the house," Hannibal said.
"Getting ready to leave," she said.
"Could be," he replied, "Murdock, you got everything here you need?"
"I gotta run back to the house and get a couple things for the night," he told Hannibal, "I'll be back."
When Murdock had left, Hannibal went over to Jean's bed and asked her, "How're you feeling, kid?"
"I'm alright," she answered, "The nurses tried slipping me some pills earlier, but I didn't take them."
"Have you two reached an agreement yet?" he asked.
"No," she shook her head, "We're still debating on the matter, we're going to leave it alone until he can come back to Los Angeles again."
"Ah, I see," Hannibal told her, "Incidentally there's something I've been wondering about and I thought you could explain it to me. The night that we came home and you were on the phone screaming at Crowley, what was that about? You had called them before I ever told anybody what my plan was, so how did you know what to tell them?"
"I didn't know what your plan was, but I knew you would come up with one and I told Crowley since he and Kellerman had already helped us once before with that fake funeral, that they were going to help us again, whatever it was you came up with, they were going to help us and I told them to be ready at a moment's notice because I would call them as soon as I knew what it was."
"I see," Hannibal said, "But how did you know that you could trust them?"
"We were able to the first time," she told him, "Besides, I didn't know, but I was willing to take the chance that we could, and it paid off."
"You're right, it did," Hannibal replied, "But if you ever go out to Vegas, don't press your luck like that at the casino, I doubt you'd do as well."
Murdock could hear Jean tossing and turning in the hospital bed, moaning and mumbling. He could've expected this would happen. He got out of the bed on the other side of the room and quietly padded over to the bed Jean was occupying and he watched her twist and flop around in the bed restlessly, moaning under her breath constantly. When she finally stopped in one position for more than a few seconds, Murdock took the opportunity to gently pry her left arm open and slip Bogey the Bear into place; Jean's arm locked down on the bear like a hydraulic press and subconsciously she must have realized that something was different because she started to calm down.
Murdock heard somebody tapping at the door, followed by Hannibal's muffled voice asking quietly, "Murdock, is everything okay in there?"
He went over to the door and opened it up and let the colonel in. Hannibal looked over to the bed and asked, "Something wrong?"
"Yeah," Murdock answered as he closed the door, "One of those nurses slipped Jean a couple of morphine pills earlier when nobody was looking, and now she's doped up again, it's been making her act weird."
"Oh boy."
"I'm leaving Bogey with her to keep her company while we're gone," Murdock explained.
Hannibal looked to the bed again and saw that Jean had just about buried her whole face in the back of the stuffed bear's head; she had stopped rolling around on the bed and finally settled in one place and was breathing heavily but evenly, it seemed that she would finally sleep and stay that way, for a while at least.
"You're a good friend, Murdock," Hannibal told the captain.
Murdock looked down at the floor and responded, "I'm still trying to be a good husband."
"I heard."
Murdock looked to the side and said, "It's going to be a long night, Hannibal, you better go on ahead and I'll join you guys in the morning."
"There's no rush, Murdock," Hannibal told him.
Nobody had to ask the next morning how Jean's night was; she hadn't said a word since she woke up, her hair was all sticking up in tiny spikes and sometime during the night she had bitten Bogey's ear and still had it in her mouth, her arms were wrapped tightly around the bear and her lips were pursed so close together her mouth was about ready to disappear altogether. Murdock had left the hospital room early in the morning and so Hannibal, B.A. and Face had stayed behind to keep an eye on her until further notice. With a little persuasion, Hannibal and Face managed to get her to separate her jaws and release the death grip on the teddy bear's ear and take the toy away from her before she could try it again.
"When the hell can I get out of this place?" she asked Hannibal.
"For one thing, when the doctors say you can, which should be soon, and for another, as soon as we can get you out of here without that press circus down below," Hannibal said as he looked out the window, "I'd like to know who got them all here in the first place."
"Somebody put the word out that the explosion Jean was involved in had to do with the filming of the movie," Face said, "If that's what people want to believe I say more power to them." He turned to Jean and pointed at her and told her, "You wait, let this keep up and you're going to be a celebrity before you even get a starring role."
"You really think so, Face?" she asked.
"Well if I'm lying," he said, "May I be attacked by a giant mountain lion."
"Hey Face," he heard Murdock come up behind him.
Face turned around and started to talk but instead he screamed when he saw a giant tiger in front of him and he jumped five feet across the room and over to Hannibal before he realized that it was just a giant stuffed tiger Murdock had been carrying over his head.
"Well it's no mountain lion but it's close enough for me," Hannibal told him.
"Very funny, Murdock," Face dryly remarked.
"What is that?" Jean asked.
Murdock hauled the tiger, which was about as big as he was, over his head like a trophy he'd bagged and dropped it at the foot of Jean's bed and told her, "That, is for you, I figured you might need a larger animal that can take more abuse than poor Bogey can."
"It would definitely take longer to bite his ear off," Face murmured to Hannibal.
"Very nice, Murdock," Hannibal told him, "Where'd you find it?"
"In the hospital's gift shop, on the top shelf," Murdock answered, "And you know what, Hannibal? Somebody needs to put the word out that they have to build those shelves stronger, I just barely managed to climb up them."
"I'm sorry I missed that," Jean said sarcastically, "You must've made a great monkey."
Hannibal went back to the window and said, "Well the crowd's starting to disappear, I'll go talk to the doctors about getting you released."
"That's the second order of business, first order is finding me some clothes I can wear out of here," Jean told him.
"I got that one taken care of," Face told her, and picked up a travel bag from the floor, "At least it'll be something to get you home in."
Jean went into the bathroom and came out a couple minutes later changed, and everybody noticed she was wearing a pair of jeans one size too large, and an army green tank top that was two sizes too large on her and she said, "I'd sure like to know how come every time this happens I always wind up with B.A.'s clothes to wear?"
Hannibal looped his finger through the back of the shirt's neck and snagged the tag to get a look at it and he told her, "That's my shirt."
"It is?" she asked, "Well what do you know? I guess you're getting pudgy too in your middle age, eh Hannibal?"
He was willing to let that one slide because he knew she'd had a rough night and just wanted to get the hell out of there, and he couldn't blame her.
They got Jean checked out of the hospital and back to her home early that afternoon. She was still out of it from the morphine so B.A. carried her up the stairs and helped Hannibal get her settled in her own bed. Hannibal had also brought up the giant tiger Murdock had gotten her and placed it on the bed beside her, for company or a pillow he wasn't sure yet. After B.A. had left the room, Hannibal went over to the bed and stared down at Jean. Through her half closed eyes she looked up at him and asked, "What're you looking at?"
"I was just thinking," he told her humorously, "You remind me of a movie star."
She smiled weakly and replied, "Let me guess, Pearl White, the stuntwoman from the old Perils of Pauline serial."
He smiled in return and said, "I see you've done your homework on the history of this business."
"Yeah well, I just hope I don't end up like her," Jean told him.
"Alright, Colonel, that's the last of it," Murdock said as he came up the stairs and into the room, "So I guess this means we're going to be leaving now."
"I guess so," Hannibal replied.
Murdock went over to the bed and sat down on the edge so he could see Jean as he spoke to her. By now she was more asleep than awake, but Murdock took her hand in his and told her, "We've got to go now, Jean, but I'll come back and see you as soon as we can get back to Los Angeles, okay? Okay…" he kissed Jean's hand and let go of it reluctantly, and got up from the bed.
Hannibal looked at him and did nothing for a minute, and then he told Murdock, "We're not going anywhere, Murdock, we're going to stay right here."
"What?" Murdock looked at him confused.
"I said," Hannibal calmly explained, "We, are not going anywhere, we're not leaving the city."
"You can't do that," Jean said as she suddenly sat up, "Decker's going to be looking for you."
"That's right," Hannibal replied, "He said we had 3 days to get as far away from him as possible, meaning that's the first place he's going to look is someplace far from here. So if we stay here instead, he'll never know where to find us."
"Man," she said as she fell back against the pillows, "I'm never going to figure you guys out."
"It's like I told you before," Hannibal explained, "Decker lives for the chase, he knows that once it's finally over, the purpose goes out of his life, so while he would never admit it, he needs for us to always get away, so he can continue chasing after us, it's the only thing that's keeping him going."
"And they said Murdock was the crazy one," she said in disbelief.
"Guilty as charged," Murdock responded with a big grin, "You mean it, Colonel? We're really staying here?"
"Sure, why not?" Hannibal replied, and nodded toward Jean, "I don't think Jean's in any condition right now to be on her own, she needs somebody around here to help her."
"Why didn't you tell him that before?" Jean wanted to know.
"Oh, I have my reasons," he answered.
Jean turned to Murdock and told him, "Just as I suspected, Decker's crazy and Hannibal's just plain weird."
Murdock laughed as he fell back on the foot of the bed.
It had been a few days since Jean was brought home from the hospital and things were getting back to relatively normal. It was after midnight and Hannibal had been in a dead sleep when he was woken up by the phone ringing. He'd swapped rooms with B.A. so his was on the ground floor so he had the closest access to the phone in the living room, dragging himself out of bed he answered it, "Hello?" The response on the other end shocked him fully awake, "What!?"
When he hung up, he got Face and B.A. up and told them where they were going. Jean had called Hannibal and asked for them to come down to a bar where she and Murdock currently were and she told them to hurry but didn't specify why.
"You think they're in any trouble?" Face asked Hannibal.
"If they were I'd think she would have said so," he replied, "I don't know what it is but she sounded frantic."
They pulled up at the bar and just missed being hit by a man thrown through the front window, and figuring that a fight was going on they rushed in but upon entering found the place looked like everything was normal. Hannibal spotted Jean right away and she saw him too because she practically ran over to them.
"Thanks for coming, Hannibal," she said.
"It's alright, where's Murdock?" he asked.
Jean pointed to the bar and they saw Murdock sitting on one of the bar stools with his head and a good part of his upper body sprawled on the bar's counter.
"What's wrong with him?" Face asked.
Jean looked at them and explained, "We're going to get our marriage annulled."
"What!?" was the general consensus among the men.
"Oh man, no wonder he's depressed," Face said.
Jean shrugged and said, "It was his idea, Face, he was the one that said we should get the annulment. Then he said we should stop somewhere for a drink and we came in here an hour ago and he's been like that the whole time, he never even ordered a drink."
"Has he said anything?" Hannibal asked.
"I don't think he wants to see me right now," she told him.
"Alright," he said, "Face and I'll go talk to him. B.A., you stay here with Jean."
"Right, Hannibal," B.A. responded.
Hannibal and Face went over to the bar and found Murdock sprawled on the counter with his head laying on its side and a faraway look in his eyes.
"Murdock," Hannibal said, "Are you alright?"
He rolled his eyes to look up at them but otherwise didn't move, "Yeah, Colonel, I'm fine."
"We heard what happened," Face said as he sat down beside him, "I'm sorry, Murdock."
"Yeah well…I decided it would be the best thing for us, for both of us…for all of us," the captain replied.
Hannibal carefully placed one gloved hand on the man's back and asked him, "Why do you think it's best for all of us, Captain?"
Murdock sat up and looked at them and said, "I know you guys didn't approve of the marriage, but that's not what this is about. I don't want Jean being a liability and that's all she is, that's the only reason she agreed to get married in the first place. I'd rather have Decker chasing me along with the rest of you, than have her become a target too just because she's my wife."
Hannibal felt he already knew the answer to his next question but he asked anyway, not really asking so much as stating, "But you still love her."
Murdock turned to him with a sly smirk on his face and a coy look in his eyes, "Very much, Colonel, but I think it would be better for both of us if we weren't married, at least not to each other."
"Well that's a very open minded way of looking at it," Face commented.
Murdock surprised them both by picking up a vase that was set on the bar and he took the flowers out and drank the water in it. Then he bit the stems off the flowers and started chewing on them, then he put both items down and slumped on the countertop again. Face leaned forward on it to look at him as he said, "You shouldn't beat yourself up about this, Murdock, Jean was lucky to have you."
Murdock had given up on chewing the stems and spat them out and asked, "You think so, Facey?"
"Sure," Face told him, "I mean think about it, by some standards you were the ideal husband: you never came home late, never worked late at an office, you never left your dirty laundry all over the floor, always picked up after yourself, any time Jean needed you, you were always there."
Murdock tried to smile but he buried his face in his hands and said, "I think I'm cursed."
"What do you mean?" Hannibal asked.
"First I leave Cutter at the altar, and now I actually go through with a marriage and I can't stay in it either," Murdock told him as he shook his head, "Something's wrong with me. Maybe I'm just not meant to be married to anybody."
"It could be," Hannibal said, "But I don't think that's the case." He sat down on the other side of Murdock and told the captain, "I think the problem is you and Jean got married for the wrong reason…another thing to consider, I think you both also got married too young." Murdock smiled and sheepishly looked the other way. "You said it yourself, neither one of you had been married before, maybe you needed a crash course to get some experience with it first, so you'll do better next time."
"Next time?" Murdock repeated.
"Who knows?" Face asked, "You know, maybe after a couple of years, you and Jean could even get married again…like Hannibal said, you'd have a better idea then how to make it work. It has happened, it's a very common fact that most remarriages are to the same people."
Murdock's eyebrows scrunched up together as he considered what Face said, "I hadn't thought about that."
"It's something to think about anyway," Hannibal noted, "You're young, Murdock, you've got plenty of time to decide if and when you want to be married, and you have the perfect opportunity now because you got yourself declared sane meaning by law you can marry anyone at anytime when you're ready."
Murdock jerked a thumb back towards Jean's direction, "Because of her."
"Well she helped speed the process along when she told Richter you two wanted to be married," Face admitted, "But I think she's right, I think you could've gotten released at any time."
"I suppose so," he replied.
"Well whatever you decide," Hannibal told him, "I don't think you'll have to worry about much competition, look."
Murdock and Face turned back to see one of the barflies who clearly had had too much to drink was hitting on Jean and she was trying with great difficulty not to send him out the window as well, tempting though it clearly was. Then B.A. came into the picture and with very few words and surprisingly few movements, managed to scare the man off, and most likely anyone else in the bar who would've had any similar ideas.
"Looks like B.A.'s doing what he does best," Face said, "Scaring people."
Hannibal clapped his hand on Murdock's shoulder and asked him, "Feeling better, Captain?"
"Yeah I guess," he replied and stood up, "Guess we might as well go home."
They got up and followed behind him incase one of them had to catch him, Murdock managed to stay on his feet and he walked over to B.A. and Jean and he hugged her and said, "I'm sorry, Saint."
"It's alright, Murdock," she told him, "If this is what you want to do, then we will," she looked to the lieutenant and added, "Tomorrow Face and I can go to the courthouse and get the annulment papers."
"Me?" Face repeated, "Why me?"
"Are you sure?" Murdock asked her.
"Sure," she replied, "I'm relieved…" she smiled at him and explained, "At least this lets me off the hook for motherhood, I'm not ready to worry about kids yet."
Hannibal told Jean that he would go with them in her car and drive them back, and Face and B.A. would follow in the van, and as they left he leaned over to Face and B.A. and told them that they would drop Murdock and Jean off at the house, and then the three of them would find a motel room for the night, because he had a good idea that between the two spouses, emotions would run high and raw and they were entitled to their privacy when that happened. The lieutenant and the sergeant agreed and without a further word they left the bar and headed for Jean's home.
The next night Jean and Murdock were seated at the dining room table downing shots of whiskey and going over the annulment papers while Hannibal, B.A. and Face tried to stay out of the way by watching a game in the living room, but they couldn't help overhearing the discussion.
"We gotta come up with a reason why we're doing this," Jean told him, "The court wants to know since we're having our marriage declared legally non-existent, on what grounds."
"How about the fairgrounds?" Murdock asked.
Jean slapped him on the top of his baseball cap and pointed with her pen at the paperwork, "I mean look at these options: bigamy, incest, prior existing marriage…"
"Three strikes and you're out on those," he told her.
Jean read on, "Physical force, lack of consent, under age of consent…"
"Wrong, wrong, wrong," Murdock replied.
She continued, "Unsound mind."
"Not anymore," he grinned.
"Ohhh," Jean laughed, "Here's one." She leaned over and whispered it into Murdock's ear, and his grin disappeared, and he told her, "Find something else, I don't want that listed in a record next to my name for the rest of my life."
Under her breath she told him, "Next time Face marries a woman for business, he ought to use it." That got a snicker from Murdock, and Face found himself reaching for the remote control to turn up the volume on the football game.
"Here's one," Murdock told her, "Here's our perfect excuse. Remember before we went to the judge's house I said we should stop off and get a drink first?"
"Yeah and we both had champagne, so what?" Jean asked.
"So," Murdock said haughtily, "The court cannot prove how much we had to drink on the night in question, so our legal reason why our marriage is fit for annulment is because we were both too drunk to know what we were really doing."
"Sounds good to me," Jean agreed, "I'm just glad we decided to do this before we had children." She stopped and scratched her head, "But you know that reminds me of something."
"What?" Murdock asked.
"If we did have kids, who do you think they would look like?"
Murdock pointed into the living room for his answer.
"Then it's a good thing we're calling this off now," Jean said, "I'm not ready to have kids and I'm in no mood to start off with triplets."
Hannibal was awoken in the night by the sound of somebody knocking on his door. "Who is it?" he asked.
"It's me," he heard Face reply, "Can I come in?"
Hannibal yawned and sat up, "I suppose so, what's on your mind, Face?"
The door opened and Face came in, closed it behind him and went over to the bed and sat down at the foot of it, "I wanted to ask you a question about Murdock."
"What is it?" Hannibal asked.
"Well it's about what we talked about before, about where he's going to stay now that he's been discharged from the V.A.," Face explained, "I mean now that he and Jean are getting divorced…"
"An annulment," Hannibal corrected him.
"Right, anyway…"
They were interrupted by somebody else knocking at the door.
"Who is it?" Hannibal asked again.
"It's me, Colonel," Murdock answered, "Can I come in?"
Hannibal rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to laugh, "Sure Murdock."
The door opened and Murdock stepped in and paid little attention to the lieutenant being in the room other than to say, "Hi, Face." He made a beeline over to the bed and jumped on the unoccupied side and sent them all bobbing up and down on the mattress.
"Murdock, I'm getting seasick," Face told him.
"Sorry, Face," Murdock turned to Hannibal and asked him, "Colonel, can I talk to you?"
Hannibal smiled like the cat that was in the process of swallowing the canary and sat back against his pillow, "What's on your mind, Murdock?"
"Well actually, Colonel, I wanted to talk to you about the present situation of my living conditions, you see…"
Murdock was interrupted when they heard someone else coming and they saw B.A. standing in the doorway.
"This is getting to be a regular slumber party, don't tell me, let me guess," Hannibal said, "You were lonesome out there all by yourself."
B.A. growled and told him, "No," and he revealed he had Jean by the arm and gave her a slight shove in, "I figured since everybody else was up, we might as well get everyone in here and get this over with so I can go back to sleep. All your jibber jabber is keeping me awake."
Jean walked over to the bed and sat down on the other end at the foot of it, "Hannibal, I want to talk to you."
"That seems to be a running gag around here," Hannibal said, "Alright, what is it?"
"Look, I just want you to know that just because Murdock and I are getting our marriage annulled, it doesn't change what you and I agreed on." She glanced over at Murdock and said, "If he wants to stay here, he's perfectly welcome to it, I can just make up one of the guest rooms permanently for him. I'd be happy to have him here, and the other rooms will still be in reserve for whenever you guys come back."
"That's very generous, Jean, all things considered," Hannibal said.
"I'm not bitter because we're not going to be married anymore," she told him, "It doesn't change anything."
Hannibal looked to Murdock and asked him, "How about it, Captain? Would you be up to that?"
Murdock didn't answer right away and Hannibal thought he knew why; Murdock was a hard one to read but after knowing him for as many years as Hannibal did, he found it was a gradual progress and figured in a few more years he'd be able to read Murdock like a Zane Grey novel. For the time being he was able to read in Murdock's facial expression many things: hesitation, confusion, anxiety, he was starting to wonder if the others wanted him around anymore. It came as a real kick in the head to Hannibal because he had always questioned if the captain would want to be around them anymore once he was out of the hospital.
"Or would you rather stay with us?" Hannibal asked.
Murdock's eyes lit up a bit at that, but he still seemed uncertain about what was the best decision.
"There's a third choice," Jean told them, "We alternate, we all have a turn with him, he stays with one of us until he can't put up with us anymore, then moves onto the next one."
"Hey now that's a great idea," Murdock said as he got up, "One week I could stay here with Jean, then the next week I could stay with you, and the week after that I could stay with Face," he went around the bed pointing at each of them, and then went over to B.A., "And then the next week I could…" B.A. turned and glared at him and growled under his breath, so Murdock sidestepped around him and went around the bed and said, "Come back here and stay with Jean again."
"You see?" Hannibal asked, "It's the perfect plan, that way everybody's happy."
"Great, maybe now I can get some sleep," B.A. said dryly.
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Face added.
"Me too," Hannibal said, "Alright, everybody get out of the bed, and goodnight."
Everybody exchanged a round of 'goodnight's and headed off to their own rooms.
"You're alright with the idea, aren't you, Facey?" Murdock asked.
"Sure, Murdock, you know I can always scam a place big for both of us, hell big enough for the four of us," Face said, "No inconvenience whatsoever."
"You want to talk inconvenience?" Jean asked him, "Try getting dragged out of bed in the middle of the night by a 300 pound mudsucker wearing pajamas with footies on them."
Murdock and Face stopped in their tracks and looked at the man walking ahead of them. B.A. stopped and turned around and growled, "What're you looking at?"
"Uh, something else entirely," Murdock answered.
"What he said," Face added as he reached his door, "Goodnight, B.A."
Murdock went down the hall to Jean's room and shut the door, leaving just she and B.A. in the hall.
"You will let him come and stay with you, won't you, B.A.?" Jean asked him, when he took his time to answer she added, "It would mean a lot to him."
"I know it," B.A. quietly replied.
"You never could fool me, B.A.," Jean said, "You act like a grump around him all the time, but I know you like him. He is your friend."
He gave a little smile and confided in her, "Alright, I do." He looked to make sure Murdock wasn't around to hear that and added, "But don't let him know that, if the fool knew I liked him he would drive me crazy by acting even crazier than he already does."
"I think he already knows, B.A.," Jean told him, "Goodnight."
Jean went to her room and closed the door behind her and as she went over to the bed she asked Murdock, "You asleep?"
"Not yet," he answered as he sat up.
"I want to talk to you," she said as she climbed on the bed alongside him.
"Sure, what is it?"
"I think we should hold off on filing for an annulment. It's nothing that needs to be done right away, we do have a few months before we'd have to get around to it you know."
"How come?" he asked, "You want to stay married?"
Jean shrugged and said, "It's like we said before, a marriage license is just a piece of paper, it's all just a legal technicality. But, the longer we hold off on it, the longer you don't have to worry about the government hunting for you. And, maybe in a couple of months we'll call it off, or maybe we won't. You remember what Hannibal said, better marriages have started on less. I do like being married to you."
"I like being married to you too," he said, "But I just don't know if it's actually going to work, if it's what's best for all of us."
"You have a good point, that's certainly true," Jean agreed, "But if you're not sure, that's all the more reason why we ought to just leave this alone for a while and think about it, we'll still have time later to make it official if it doesn't work. But in the meantime we could have one of those long distance relationships, you know, you and the others travel the earth on missions, helping the widows and orphans and all that, I'll stay here and work on my own life."
"Oh that reminds me!" Murdock said, "Do you feel up to seeing a movie tomorrow night?"
"What movie?" she asked.
"Oh it's a new one that's still in progress, it's a preview screening to see if it'll work, the working title for it is Down and About in L.A."
Jean grimaced and said, "With a name like that they might as well rename it The Rover Boys: The 609th Adventure."
Murdock smiled and told her, "I think you'll like it."
"Why?"
The next night, Hannibal, Face, Murdock, B.A. and Jean were seated in a private screening room at the film studio after everyone else had gone home for the night, for the first screening of the movie Hannibal and Face had spliced together combining Murdock's camera footage, and various bits and pieces from many old movies they found readily accessible in the studio's film vaults. All of them laughed themselves sick as the film changed from the food fight at the restaurant with the MPs, perfectly exposing each and every one of their faces for the world to see, to stock footage from black and white movies involving much larger brawls in restaurants, bars, and in the middle of the streets. Then the film cut back to Jean driving, and then cut to Murdock getting in a helicopter, and cut to Jean pushing Decker out of the helicopter.
"It'll be better here if we can dub over it," Hannibal explained.
When the film ran out, Face got up to collect the film so when people came in the next morning, nobody would ever know the projector had been used.
"Our biggest problem," Hannibal told Jean, "Is that we don't have a real ending for it yet."
"That's your biggest problem?" Jean asked over her laughing, "Hannibal, the whole film is barely held together by the footage that changes on average about every three seconds, from black and white, to Technicolor, to today's color, and from silent with music, to full sound…and you really think this is going to launch my career in the movies?"
"It's publicity," Hannibal told her, "It'll put your name, your face out, we make a thousand copies of this film, ship it to theaters all throughout the country, word of mouth draws a lot of attention to it, who knows? It could be a big sensation."
"Hannibal, who do you know stupid enough to want to make a thousand copies of that thing?" she asked.
Face extended his hand to her and said, "My name is Templeton Peck and I'll be your idiot."
"You?!" she asked in disbelief.
"I guess I forgot to tell you about the film company I've started, Miracle Films, 'If it's a good film, it's a Miracle.' Catchy, don't you think?" he asked.
"You're going to produce this film?" Jean asked, "Your company will sink like a stone."
"Well you know what they say," Murdock said, "Eat, sink and be merry."
"Shut up you crazy fool," B.A. told him, "You're talking less sense than usual."
"The way I see it, we're killing two birds with one stone," Face explained to Jean, "We're on the path to making you a household word as far as fresh new actors goes, and since Murdock's sane and has a place in the outside world now, we can get him billed as the director of this film, and if it's a hit, he becomes a household word too."
"And if it doesn't?" Jean asked.
"Then he can still get work in the movies as a stunt pilot," Face answered, "You already got that ball rolling."
"Hey that's a great idea, Face," Murdock's eyes lit up, "I'd be perfect for that."
"Yeah," B.A. agreed, "You do that and we don't go flying anywhere." He turned to Hannibal and warned him, "I told you for the last time, Hannibal, I ain't getting on no plane."
"Who said anything about a plane?" Hannibal asked.
"I've got another idea," Jean said, "You said we need to dub over the film? Well we know Murdock's capable of about a hundred voices, we could have him dub over the speaking parts and if all else fails, he could get work as a voice actor."
"It's an idea alright," Face noted, "I wouldn't necessarily say a good one, but it could be worth a try. The real problem is we still don't have an ending for it."
"That's easily solved," Jean said, and turning to Murdock she asked him, "You know where to find a new reel of film to record with, right?"
Murdock just grinned and nodded rapidly.
"One thing is for sure, it's a lot easier to actually shoot a movie straight through than piece it together," Murdock said as they wound the footage back to watch again.
"Really ingenious, Face," Hannibal said, "Actually letting yourself be recorded on film. Decker's going to think you're slipping."
"Well it's not like anybody's going to calling me to make any further appearances in the movies," Face told him, "And we're not getting paid for this anyway so what does it matter?"
"Well let's see how it turned out," Hannibal said as he started the projector again.
On the screen they saw Face, Murdock and Jean bust into a room dressed in tan camouflage and combat helmets and carrying rifles. The footage had been changed to stock footage of a Bengal tiger stalking around and growling; it cut back to the three hunters firing their guns at an angle just slightly off from the camera. A lot of smoke came up from somewhere and when the smoke cleared it showed Murdock hauling the stuffed tiger over his head, but he fell to the ground as if it was a real 300 pound tiger. So Jean and Face had to help lift it off of him and Jean took one end, Face took another end, Murdock took the end in the middle and they marched off with their catch. Then the film switched to a streak of tigers running through the jungle, then switched back to the three hunters loading their kill into a helicopter, then one by one they climbed in and Murdock flew them out of there. In the movie they heard one of Murdock's deeper voices narrate, "It's a long, hard road that leads both into the concrete jungle, as well as nature's own, but the three travelers found out the easiest way to travel is by air where there is no freeway in the sky." Then THE END came on the film and the credits started.
"That's got to be the worst ending I've ever seen," Face told Hannibal once the film stopped.
"I've seen worse," Murdock told Face, "Remember the Wizard of Oz?"
"What about it?" Face asked.
"That ending," Murdock said, and went on a mini tirade, "Why did they change the story so it was all a dream? What was the point in that? What sense does that make? They had a chance to leave the doorway open for 13 sequels, and what did they do? They shut that door, why? That means none of it happened, no flying monkeys, no wicked witch, no evil apple trees tossing their fruit at innocent passersby, whose bright idea was that one?"
Hannibal smiled at Murdock's rant but instead of offering his own two cents, just said, "We'll put the finishing touches in later, but we got enough film put together to make the movie an hour and a half long, that's good enough to get it established as an actual movie and get it distributed."
"You really think this is going to help Jean's movie career?" Face asked.
"It can't hurt any," Hannibal said.
"You really believe that?" Face asked him.
"Well even if he doesn't, Face, look on the bright side," Murdock told him, "It'll get her name out and give her talent some promotion and it's going to draw a lot of attention to the local branch of the Army."
"Well that's because we had such a great cameraman during the shoot," Face replied humorously.
"I should've brought this up sooner," Murdock told Jean as they headed for the front door, "While I'm here…and while I'm gone, would you mind letting Billy stay here with you? I don't like the idea of taking him with me right away, he's traveled a lot more over the last few months than most dogs do, I want to make sure he's fully recovered from the last flight before I take him up in a plane again."
"You know I don't like dogs, Murdock," Jean told him, "But I know how important this is for you, so yeah he can stay here, as long as he keeps out of my way."
"Oh you don't have to worry about that," Murdock assured her, "Billy's a very good dog. Now he likes doggie biscuits and he likes to sleep on two of your shoes at the same time, and…"
They stepped down from the front porch and Jean followed him out to the van and handed him his bag as he got in.
"So who is this new client of yours?" Jean asked Hannibal, "Isn't it kind of odd you guys leaving the state without putting this guy through your usual wringer with the Asian laundry man and all that?"
"It's an old friend of ours," he explained, "We know he's okay." He leaned out the window and told her, "Incidentally, Jean, I'm sorry we have to leave before you guys were able to go through with the annulment."
"Oh that's alright, Hannibal," she told him, "We'll just wait and get the papers filed when you guys come back." As she spoke she glanced towards Murdock in the back and winked at him, but Hannibal hadn't noticed and neither did Face when Murdock returned the knowing look.
"Oh that reminds me," she said, and knocked on the back window. Murdock put it down and she told him, "I've got something for you, I'll be right back." She disappeared back in the house and returned a few seconds later and held something up to the window and Murdock didn't know what to make of what she held in her hand.
"Your teddy bear?" he asked.
"I wanted to make up for about biting Bogey's ear off when I was in the hospital," she told him as she dropped it in the window, "Besides, I don't need it anymore, now I've got Murdock."
"You named the tiger after Murdock?" Face asked.
"Yes," Jean said matter-of-factly, "That way the next time Decker comes nosing around asking questions, I can swear to the fact that Murdock has been at home with me the whole time."
Hannibal laughed, "I like your thinking, kid."
Jean looked back at him and didn't say anything at first, and when she did speak she told him, "You better get going."
"Right, we'll see you when we get back to town," Hannibal told her, then turned to B.A. and said, "Alright, B.A., hit it."
Jean stood in the driveway and waved as they pulled out, Murdock watched from his window until she was just a blur, and when he couldn't see her anymore, he gripped her teddy bear in his hand. He remembered it was the same one her mother had sent with B.A. when they first took the case for the Rhodes to find their daughter. He also remembered seeing it in her bed at the hospital after she'd been shot, the big mudsucker had carried the bear around in his pocket until they got her to the hospital and once she was settled in a private room he'd put it with her. And now she had given it to him, he wasn't exactly sure what to make of that but he felt a sense of pride on some level that she trusted it in his care.
"How long do you think it's going to take us to get there?" Face asked Hannibal after half an hour.
Instead of checking his watch, Hannibal leaned over to look at the speedometer and he told Face, "At the rate B.A. drives, I'd say another hour. By the way, Face, did you get those copies of the film made and sent out?"
"Yes, Hannibal, the theaters we picked should be receiving them by Thursday," Face told him.
"That's good, and did you make the changes I told you to?" Hannibal asked.
"Yes, during the ending credits I froze a closeup frame of Decker and put under the picture, 'Miracle Films wishes to thank Colonel Roderick Decker and the United States Army for their support and cooperation with this film'."
"Good," Hannibal said, biting back a laugh, "And did you take care of that other thing I told you about?"
"Yes," Face answered, "I had an extra copy made and sent it directly to Decker's home. It'll probably be the first movie he's seen in 20 years and once he catches the ending he'll most likely be sorry that he did."
"I'm just sorry we couldn't get a closeup of you in it, Colonel," Murdock told him.
"Oh that's alright, Murdock," Hannibal responded, "For now I'm content with my role as the Aquamaniac. Though that reminds me, how's that idea for working as a stunt pilot working out?"
"Well there's nothing so far," Murdock answered, "But I figure once this first movie we did gets out, then people will be interested."
Up front they heard B.A. snort at that and he told Murdock, "Anybody that'd hire you to fly would have to be crazier than you are, fool."
Murdock looked over to the side and saw Face preparing a syringe with B.A.'s night-night shot and said only, "Whatever you say, B.A., I guess things are just back to business as usual."
Author's note: I originally wrote this story because I wanted a followup to "Brutus" that wasn't as dark and serious as it had been. It was also written with the intention to officially end the run for featuring my OC, Jean Rhodes. I've since then decided instead to leave that particular door open for the possibility of a third story someday. I'm thankful to the readers who stuck around for every chapter, and especially to those that took the time to let me know what they thought of the story. I hope you've enjoyed it, as well as how it ended.