Chapter 26

"It's okay, it's okay, calm down, he's just sleeping. His vitals are getting better, he's relaxing." The doctor actually had a smile on his face while reading Face's vitals.

"He's not…oh god." Murdock went boneless in BA's arms shaking all over.

"Why don't you go sit down for a minute fool?" BA gently guided Murdock to a chair in the corner of the room and a bit away from the bed.

The doc did a quick check up of Face and after he was satisfied turned around and ushered Hannibal over to the other two team mates. "Colonel Smith, I believe you did the right thing. His vitals are improving fast, given that they were off the chart a moment ago that doesn't mean that he's doing well now but at least it shows that he's deeply relaxed and getting the rest he so desperately needs. Now, none of you got much rest since you came here and from the look of things I won't get any of you to leave this room. Why don't we see about organizing some bunk beds or mattresses so you can take turns sleeping while being close to him?"

They all nodded, lost in their thoughts. Hannibal was the first to regain some control over his emotions. "Doc, why is he in so much pain?"

"Well, I wouldn't want to change with him. He wasn't only propelled through the air several meters to land in the dirt but it happened with a great force. That must have been one hell of an impact and I'm surprised his leg is the only broken bone. What hurts most now is all the bruises coupled with laying in one position for long. If you consider his general condition and the fact that I can't risk any strong painkiller until he's stronger you can imagine how he feels. I'm glad he's out of it and relaxed now. Looking at the deep bruising along his chest and ribcage breathing alone must be hell."

Later that evening Hannibal and B.A. had finally drifted asleep on their cots, but Murdock lie wide awake. Finally, deciding it was useless to even try to sleep, he got up and sat in the chair by Face's side. 'Oh Face,' he thought as he watched his best friend. 'Please don't scare Billy and I like that aver again.'

Face came back to awareness feeling as if he was being watched. He forced his eye open to see Murdock's brown eyes intently staring at him. "Mur…dock?"

Murdock nearly jumped out of his skin. "Hey, buddy."

"Hey," Face rasped. "M'sorry."

Murdock raised his eyebrows in confusion. "What for?"

"For worrying you and Billy."

'But I didn't say that out loud,' Murdock thought. But he didn't have to; he and Face seemed to be able to communicate nonverbally.

"M'gonna be okay," Face murmured as his eyes slid shut again. "I promise."

Murdock sighed with relief. Face had yet to make a promise to him that he wasn't able to keep. 'I'm going to hold you to that, Face.'

"I know," came the weak reply.

Murdock shook his head in amazement before making his way back to his cot. Now that he knew Face would be okay, he was suddenly exhausted.

True to his word, Face started to show drastic improvement over the course of the week. He remained awake for longer periods of time and his temperature returned to near normal and stayed that way. And while the pain was bad, he now was in the right frame of mind to deal with it. But there was one thing bothering him…and that was Decker.

Face thought he remembered Hannibal saying something about Decker wanting him to get better and giving him back the note himself. But where was Decker? There had been no mention of the colonel and Face couldn't remember much of anything that happened after writing his good-bye note to the team.

Face had grown fond of Decker during the time they spent together. The older man had made him feel relatively safe when the team was gone…and few others would have been able to do so. He had remained by his side when he could have easily bailed.

But Face was also no fool; he realized that once this mess was over they would go back to being enemies. Still, he was surprised that he dropped out of the picture completely.

One afternoon Face asked Hannibal, "where's Decker?"

Hannibal flinched; he didn't know why it made him jealous that Face would ask about Decker. His lieutenant had no idea that the man was right below them and for some reason he had wanted to keep it that way.

Face detected that he had somehow made Hannibal uncomfortable.

"Please tell me nothing bad happen to him. Did I do something?"

"Nothing happened to him and while you can be dangerous when you're out of it you were way too weak to be of any danger."

"Good, so…where is he then?"

"Why are you asking of Decker?"

There was still this irritated tone in Hannibal's voice that made Face feel like he was doing something wrong but he didn't know what. "I just want to know, he cared for me all the time at the hospital and later too, you told me he wanted me to get better." 'and he still has my note' he mentally added.

"We cared for you too." Hannibal himself didn't like the way this had come out and also not the way Face flinched at his hard words.

"I know…I'm just…"

"Sorry kid, sorry, I didn't mean it to come out that way. I don't even know why but I feel….ah, never mind, I think Decker and me have been enemies for far too long."

"He didn't leave me."

The statement hung in the air for a while, Hannibal deliberately waited before saying anything to get his emotions under control and not say the wrong thing again.

"We did the best we could but it was dangerous to come to the military hospital you were in."

"I know, I wasn't saying that. I mean, he could have left me to the staff but he stayed. He's not one of you but he did his best to get me through my nightmares. I somehow felt safe with him."

This time Hannibal chose not to answer since he was sure nothing good would have come out.

"So…you know where he is?"

"He's ermm…our guest."

"Our guest? You mean he came with us? That's nice of him…. but dangerous for his career." Face was feeling proud that Decker cared so much to even come along and make sure he was okay, but then again, why had he not come to see him yet? The doc had allowed Edna and Charles to see him yesterday.

'Kid, I know you have blue eyes but I didn't think you're that blue eyed.' "He's not here on his own wish."

Face paled as realization hit. "You mean…you did…oh no, we can't do that Hannibal, That's a real crime, we're not criminals."

"Calm down kid, he's having his own apartment in the basement, he's not lacking anything. Consider it a holiday for him."

"Hannibal, you have to let him go. I don't want to be responsible for that, please let him go."

"Not until you're fit for travel. We have him here so he wouldn't come after us. Soon as you're fit he can go."

"No, I can't have that on my conscience. Let him go, please."

"Face…"

"No, please, just let him go, please. He was good to me and you kidnap him. I want to see him."

"No."

"Hannibal!"

Hannibal sighed, "Face look, he's downstairs, he's not lacking a thing but he doesn't know where he is and we need to protect our host, and Murdock. I can't bring him up here. He might recognize something that could compromise their freedom. "

"Then just let him go, you can drop him in a big town or something, please. And he still has my note."

"It's too dangerous to let him go now. What if he somehow finds his way back here?"

"How? If you don't send him home straight the chances are close to nothing. It's better than to have the whole army searching for him, and us."

"They won't miss him, officially he's with you in a sanatorium."

"Ever stopped to think he might be in contact with Crane just like we are? If he doesn't call in for a week they will sure search for him."

Hannibal could kick himself, he really hadn't thought of that.

"Okay, we'll let him go, or rather BA will drop him off." Sure BA had taken a scenic route to get here and will take the same to go back. While they were only about two hours away from Edna and Charles place they had taken about five hours to get here and Decker was blindfolded long enough to lose all orientation and think they went straight instead of circling back.

"Take my note from him please, and tell him I thank him for all he's done for me."

"Okay, don't worry kid." One day he would have to tell Face the truth about that note but for now it was a good way to avoid telling him that they lied.

The doc wanted BA to bring back some things from his clinic and BA decided that it was as good a place as any to drop Decker. He removed his blindfold and restrains some way before their destination when he was sure Decker wouldn't know the way he took, it was already getting dark too. Decker joined him up front but they rode in silence. Close to their destination they had to cross through a small forest and came across some fires in the woods. BA stopped the van and they walked into the woods to see if it was a bushfire. As they came closer they heard voices and decided to better be careful. They crept close and as soon as they could see the people BA took Decker by the arm and pulled him back.

"What?" Decker hissed.

"Move it." BA made a beeline back to the van and took off.

"What's going on Baracus?"

"That's Lehmann and the two goons that escaped us, they're forming a new group."

"What?"

"Long story." BA grabbed the phone and called Hannibal. After quickly relaying what they had found to his colonel, he asked, "what you want us to do man?"

"Go back and keep an eye on them. Murdock and I will head your way now."

"What about the Faceman?"

Hannibal chewed at his lip for a moment before answering. "He'll be safe here with the doc, Edna, and Charles. Now, where are you guys?"

B.A. gave him the best directions that he could before hanging up. "Okay, Decker, here's the deal. We gonna go back and keep an eye on them creeps. I ain't gonna have time for any nonsense so you better not try anythin' funny."

Decker nodded. "You have my word." And he meant it; if there is one thing he hated more than the A-Team it was criminals out to do no good. At least the A-Team seemed to help others while being on the run.

By the time they got back to the clearing, the fires had been put out and Lehmann and company were gone. "Damn," B.A. cursed, picking up the phone yet again. "Maybe they didn't leave yet."

But it was a long shot seeing as it had been thirty minutes since the last call. Sure enough, the doctor confirmed that Hannibal and Murdock had left. And while there was a phone in Charles' pick-up, for some reason it wasn't getting reception.

"If you got any ideas, Decker, I'm all ears."

Decker sighed. "Smith is the one with the plans, isn't he?"

"Yeah…but they ain't always good ones so I'll take anythin' you got."

"I think our only option is to work our way back toward the clinic and hope we intersect them. I'll keep trying the phone and maybe we'll get lucky."

"Luck is somethin' we are way overdue for if you askin' me."

Eventually they did get lucky and Hannibal picked up the phone, but it had taken close to an hour and a half. Little did they know that Lehmann's group was minutes away from making a surprise visit with Face.

"What do you mean they are gone? We're only about thirty…erm…three hours and thirty minutes away. Okay, go on to the clinic and see if you can find anything suspicious, keep an eye out." Hannibal had almost let the real time slip, now that there was no emergency there was no need to give away too much information to Decker.

"Murdock, we have some three hours to kill, let's head to Edna and Charles place to see if anything has been going on there."

"I can see some cars in the distance."

"You think the Colonel and Murdock are already coming back?"

"I doubt mom. The cars are too many. I never saw that much traffic since we came here." Henry looked out of the window worried. "I'll go get Bill."

Bill, their current host, was also worried but couldn't place what was going on. The cars seemed to slow while approaching the house but kept advancing. He decided to inform the doctor who was with Face.

"Yeah, I can see them from the window. Doesn't look like anything official."

"Let me see."

"How? You want us to bring the window to the bed? Because you're sure not going to get up."