Disclaimer: Guess who shows up in this chapter? Yes, finally the whole team (sort of) is back together. The daring heroics will soon start up in the next chapter. But until then Sam and Murdock share a sweet little moment and the bad guys start closing in.

Oh and yeah, I don't own anything but Sam and the original characters included with her.

Chapter 24

Face and BA finished their lunch and went in search of their fellow Ranger and his princess. They found them still in the arcade battling it out on the Mortal Kombat machine. Murdock was actually sweating and so was Sam. Face looked concerned…how the hell do you work up a sweat playing a video game?

"Uhm…Murdock…" Face started to ask.

"Not now…" Murdock didn't look away from the screen as Sonya Blade deflected Raiden's latest attempt to beat her senseless. They were tied and this game was the last one as he'd run out of quarters and his wrists were starting to hurt. They'd played ten games and this was number eleven. They'd each won a round and this was the third fight. This was for the whole enchilada and the god of thunder wasn't going to let him down.

"Taste lightening chickadee." Murdock executed another move and was sadly disappointed with the result as she avoided it completely.

"Taste floor hat boy." Sam replied and with that Sonya Blade slammed the ancient god into the pavement. The words Finish Him flashed up on the screen and Sam, with more than a little satisfaction thanks to the memory of the Trivial Pursuit battle, blew a flaming kiss that fried Murdock's on screen persona into a cinder.

The pilot's head fell forward in defeat. She'd bested him, the man who'd taken on all comers at the arcade in his home town and never lost a match. The guy who's initials were on every spot on every high score board at every base he'd called home that had an MK machine. She'd beat him. Murdock didn't know if he should be crying or begging her to have his children. Maybe both…he was still in shock so he wasn't sure.

"Good game Lancelot." Sam held out her hand and Murdock sulkily shook it.

BA laughed. "Someone got schooled."

Face still was trying to figure out what had just happened and was rather creeped out by the fact a blonde with great boobs could burn a man to death by blowing a kiss. He had some big time worries if this game had any truth to it. "Uh, so as I was saying…or trying to before you got immolated and emasculated by Sam here." This garnered a dagger glare from the pilot. Face held back his laughter but only just. "The Colonel should be crossing the border in about an hour. So we should be getting ready."

Murdock nodded and Sam started looking nervous. The Colonel was the man who would be the deciding vote on if they were going to help her get her life back and the thugs put away who'd destroyed it. That included her asshat of a brother.

Even though Lancelot was full of assurances they'd help her no matter what, that could all change. And she wasn't going to cause a rift within the group. She'd leave before she'd cause that and would deal with everything on her own. Her knight and his friends had done enough already. Even though the thought of not seeing Lancelot anymore made her wince just to ponder it, it would be for the best. Yeah the best, sure Sam…you believe that. Inwardly she groaned and flipped herself the bird. She didn't need her smartass brain to start down that path.

"He's coming through at the same spot as always, so we'll meet him there and bring him back here." Face glanced at Sam and then back at the pilot. They'd have to talk about their newest recruit with the boss at some point and that discussion was going to happen very soon. He could already feel the tension rolling off of Murdock in waves. "It would probably be best if the princess stays here. You know how Bernie is when he sees new faces."

Bernie was their contact who helped get them back and forth across the Canadian border. Sometimes Face thought the guy may have been even crazier than Murdock. He had trust issues and was completely paranoid. Considering what he did for a living that was rather ironic. But the rat like little man's sense of being overly cautious was why he was so good at getting fugitives back and forth over the line. Face knew that probably the only reason he was even remotely friendly with the colonel was the fact he'd saved his life at least three times that Face knew of.

Murdock didn't look happy with Face's suggestion. He didn't like having Sam out of his sight but he knew Face was right. Bernie would probably freak out and have a stroke if anyone other than the team even saw what he looked like. But he wasn't going to leave her alone there either. He wanted a chance to talk to Hannibal about the situation and the drive back would be perfect. He looked trapped to put it mildly.

"I'll stick with guard duty for the royal pain." Boscoe said noticing the way Murdock was starting to look like a cornered ferret. "I want her to teach me how she just kicked your scrawny behind on this thing."

If he didn't think BA would throw him through the nearest wall or window the pilot would have kissed the big guy. If he could trust anybody with Sam it would be BA. He still didn't like leaving though. "Thanks Boscoe. Next chance I get I'm making you some Murdock Marinade Special Ribs." He grinned at his compadre.

"As long as it's not the secret sauce I'm all good with that deal." Boscoe walked off to get some quarters and Face went to get the van leaving the knight with his princess.

"Well it sounds like I'm going to get some alone time with the big guy. This should be interesting. Should I let him win?" Sam asked, pursing her lips.

Murdock looked thoughtful. "He may sense the fact you are going easy. It could be worse…maybe just once." He took off his cap and started fiddling with it nervously. "Hey…I…I don't like leaving you behind. But this is a chance to talk to the Col about the situation. And well…I trust Boscoe. So I don't want you thinking I'm shirking my duties…I just…"

Sam took hold of his hands that were going to twist his ball cap into pieces if he wasn't stopped. "Lancelot it's okay. I think I'll be alright for a while with Boscoe and a video game to keep me company. And no one on this earth could accuse you of shirking your duties as my knightly protector. So stop worrying." She grinned up at him from beneath the brim of her own ball cap. He still looked worried as he met her gaze.

Sam realized she could be in a maximum security lock down vault and he wouldn't be convinced she was safe unless he was standing nearby and ready to pounce on whoever tried to get near her. She gave his hands a squeeze. "And if I haven't said it yet today, thank you for being my knight."

She saw his eyes lose some of the tension from around them and he smiled at her, that crooked grin she'd come to really like. "Oh! I almost forgot." Sam reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a tiny plush airplane. It had cartoon eyes in the windows and a big smile on the front. There was a little keychain hook connected to its tail section. She'd used one of the quarters he'd given her on a crane game the minute she'd seen it inside and had snared it. "This is for you. I thought Jumbo would be a good name."

Murdock looked like she'd handed him a million dollars. His face lit up like the fourth of July. "How…where…he's perfect!" He exclaimed.

"I snuck over to the crane games. It's a knack." She grinned, nearly blushing. "But he had to be yours."

Murdock loved the little guy immediately and clipped him to the belt loop of his jeans. He had a feeling that Jumbo would bring him some luck in the future. "Thank you Guinevere."

Samantha knew she was full on blushing at that point. His eyes were doing that crinkle thing again and his voice was doing that whole Texas thing and it was just a little fuzzy airplane. Why was she blushing? "Well you know us royals and our talismans." She laughed, feeling nervous herself for some unhealthy reason she wasn't going to think about. Nope not thinking about it…

Face thankfully picked that moment to honk the vans horn to signal it was time to go.

The pilot glanced over and then back to her. She looked like she was blushing, but he couldn't be sure. The brim of the hat kept her face in a bit of a shadow. Why was she blushing? Well…princesses were supposed to do that right? Innocence and prim and proper behavior, that sort of thing. He had to admit though she looked cute as button from this angel.

"I'll wear him proudly." He told her. "I am off to retrieve the commander at arms from his journey my lady. When I return we shall joust once more upon the field of pixelated battle so that I may earn back my honor that you stole with your fair hand. Till then." Murdock pulled back on his cap and with an air of chivalry to rival a Disney Prince he grasped hold of her hand leaned down and kissed her knuckles, his forest green eyes locked on hers.

It was only for a second, maybe two but she felt the jolt go up her arm and straight into her chest. Good lord did he have some sort of residual current left over from the shock therapy sessions he'd gone through? Because…that…that was not normal…was it? Maybe all women felt like that when a guy did the courtly bow knuckle kiss? Was it only two seconds because it seemed like it was longer, or was that just her? Oh boy…

Murdock let go of her hand and gave her a wink that wasn't quite knightly and then he was heading off to the van where Face was waiting.

Sam found herself glancing down to see if there were scorch marks on her fingers and was surprised to see none. "Oookay….we need to just take a breath and not dwell on that anymore." She said aloud.

"Dwell on what?" BA appeared next to her and nearly made her have a heart attack.

"Nothing! Uh…let's see what you can do big guy." Sam nearly stumbled walking back to the arcade machine. BA shook his head and wondered just what the crazy fool had going on that would make a girl get all weak in the knees over him. Then he decided he was probably better off not knowing and ignorance in this case was bliss.

Outside in the parking lot Travis and one of his associates watched anxiously as the mini-van pulled away with only two of the three males inside. "You're sure that she's still in there?" Travis spoke into a blue tooth headset hooked to his ear. On the other end was his associate Chet who had gone inside to get an idea of what they would be dealing with and to keep an eye on the target.

"Yes, she's with the big black one. They're in the arcade." Chet took a sip of coffee as he casually observed BA being taught how to block a flying kick by the girl in the glasses. He didn't know what she was wanted for by their boss, but that wasn't his business either. His business was to bring her back on a plane to the man who was going to pay them a lot of money for her.

"Alright well two of the three problems just left the parking lot. We have to do this with the least amount of issue and witnesses." Travis gauged there were probably around twenty or so people at the rest area. Subtle would be the way to go. He turned to Bret, Chet's brother who sat next to him. He was always thankful when he heard their names that he wasn't a member of their family. "Check the bag and see what we have on hand." Bret nodded and grabbed the big leather satchel from the back seat. When Travis looked inside he nodded. "That'll work. Let's move on this now, there's no telling when those two will be back."

Hannibal looked tired as he walked towards his fellow teammates. Bernie wasn't the best driver in the world and the job hadn't been the easiest either. He would be grateful for a day or two of nothing but sleep. He waved a salute to Bernie who immediately took off back to the cabin he had in the middle of a dense wooded area that Hannibal had been to just once. And even that time Bernie had made him wear a blindfold.

Face had a nervous grin on his face and Murdock looked just plain nervous. There was no sign of BA which was surprising and worrisome. "Captain, Lieutenant…good to see you."

"Same to you sir." Face moved to grab the bag from Hannibal's shoulder. The boss looked worn out. "So how'd it go?"

"As well as could be expected when half the intel was wrong and the other half was guessing. But to answer your question, yes we got paid." Hannibal gestured at the bag that Face had tossed into the backseat of the van. "It's in there, less Bernie's piece. It should keep us for a while." The Colonel looked over at his pilot who hadn't really said anything yet…and that was not Murdock at all. "Captain, I'm glad to see you're out and about and okay. But you're awfully quiet." Hannibal raised a grey brow as he reached into his pocket for a cigar.

Murdock looked at the ground for inspiration, but only saw dirt…which wasn't a good sign. Okay, he had to do this. It was for Samantha, and he wasn't going to let her down. "Well sir, I do have a lot on my mind." He actually half expected BA to say "How's that possible fool…you lost it a long time ago." But as he wasn't around Murdock kept talking. "I…I need your help Colonel, you and the rest of the team."

Hannibal lit his cigar his brow furrowing. "What sort of help son?"

Face cleared his throat. "Boss, Murdock's got a story for you. I already know it and so does BA. It's part of the reason Boscoe's not here right now."

The Colonel exhaled a plume of smoke and sighed, letting the taste and familiar ritual of that first stogie after a job do its work. He had a feeling that his one or two days of rest were going to have to wait. "Alright Murdock let's hear your story."

Face opened the driver's side door of the van. "He can tell it on the way back to the rest stop. Boscoe's there now with the princess." This last bit Face added grinning.

Murdock hopped in the back, his cap in his hands twisted in a knot while Hannibal slipped into the passenger seat looking very confused. "Princess?"