Chapter 35:

Tomorrow came too fast for Face who walked outside to meet the van when it pulled up. A perplexed looking Mark stepped out, but he immediately smiled at the sight of his patient walking over to him. "Now look at you! Remarkable...just remarkable! You're looking good!"

"I'm feeling pretty good too, doc.," Face said. He noticed that Mark's expression had changed back to one of concern. "Something wrong?"

"Let's wait until we're back inside with the others and I'll explain."

Once inside they sat in the living room while Mark took Face's vitals and looked at his foot. "Looking good. I'd say that we are good to go for today's procedure, but we have a big problem."

"What?" Maggie asked in confusion.

"I had no idea that the cabin would be so far away from civilization. There is no way I can in good conscious put Face out under general anesthesia when we are so far away from a hospital or any other form of medical help."

"Is it that risky?" Murdock asked.

"Normally, no. However, life threatening complications can and do arise...and given Face's track record I won't take the gamble."

"What are our options?" Hannibal asked rolling a cigar between his fingers nervously. "The hospital?"

"That would have been my first suggestion, however, I saw some military men hanging about the other day."

Hannibal looked at B.A. who immediately said, "Don't worry, colonel…I was careful. We wasn't followed...I'm sure of it."

Hannibal trusted B.A.; if he said they weren't followed, that meant they weren't followed.

"Can we wait until the military vacates the area?" Face asked. "That shouldn't take more than a week for them to search the entire area."

"I'm afraid that I'd rather not wait too long. If I have to do any manual manipulations of the bones, now is the time to do it before they are completely mended."

Face turned a slight shade of green at the thought. "Lovely," he groaned.

Murdock removed his cap and scratched his head. "And the longer we sit here, the more we risk them finding us." He started to quack like a duck.

"What you doin' crazy man?" B.A. snarled.

"My impression of a sitting duck, which is what we are soon to be."

"I'm sorry," Face sighed.

But before he could apologize further, Mark said, "There is one option, but not one you will enjoy, I'm afraid. I could locally anesthetize the hand and perform the operation while you are awake."

Face turned a shade of green darker, but asked, "Will the end result be just as good?"

"It's the same surgical procedure. I remove the cast, make the incision, remove the wire, manipulate any bones if need be and stitch you back up. Simple."

"Simple," Face repeated, still greener.

"How painful will it be?" Hannibal asked. "If it's too much we won't do it until we can get to a hospital."

Mark rubbed at his neck, "I will make as many injections of the numbing agent as I safely can, but once I get down to bone, it's going to be uncomfortable. Possibly the same as last time...or maybe worse."

"And this time I have the added benefit of being more lucid. Sounds like a perfect way to spend the day, don'tcha think," Face smiled. He was trying to put on a brave front. "At least I won't feel sick afterwards from the anesthesia."

"Does this mean you want to go through with it now?" Maggie asked. "Nobody will blame you if you want to wait."

"It's too risky...for both my hand and the team's safety," Face replied. "Plus, I have you all here to help me through. I'll be okay. Let's do it."

Face was feeling mentally stronger than he had in years as he lay on the table they had prepared for the operation. When he felt the first needle enter his skin, he wondered if that strength would be enough to get him through. The guys were standing on his one side, Hannibal holding his good hand, while Maggie and Mark were engrossed in their work on the other.

The numbing period wasn't too bad; he had overcome much of his fear of needles since this whole ordeal had begun. And he didn't feel a thing as Mark slowly and precisely made a long and deep incision across the top of his hand.

Unfortunately, things quickly went downhill from there.

When Mark entered his surgical pliers and started to cut and tug at the wire Face's whole body tensed. "Oh god, stop. Please, stop."

Mark stopped for a moment until Face had the pain under control. "Sorry but we have to continue with it now that we started. Do you want me to stop when you tell me to get the pain under control or would you rather want to get it over with as fast as possible? There's always the possibility that you'll pass out from the pain. Now that you're fully lucid and know you're safe you don't need to fight the blackness when it comes."

Face pondered his options for a moment. "Okay, go ahead. Ignore me if I scream 'stop'."

Mark did as he was told and had to ignore quite a number of pleas and demands for him to stop until Face finally went out about halfway through the procedure. The rest of the surgery went in silence as everybody was lost in their own thoughts.

As soon as he wasn't needed anymore BA stormed out of the room. Maggie went to find him when Mark was done. She found him outside, venting his anger on a piece of wood that he smashed into a tree. Maggie let him vent until he stopped on his own and threw the wood away. "It just ain't fair, Maggie. Why does he have to go through all this pain? Mark said he would be sedated before he removed them wires and now this. Because of the MP's hangin' around he has to go through more pain. Can't blame him for thinkin' there's somethin' wrong with him. After the camps I promised to myself to never be helpless again…to protect my team, my family and especially Face…who had it worse than the rest of us, physically at least. I couldn't protect him from Lynch and I couldn't protect him now. What good does all my strength do if I can't use it to keep the pain away?"

"Maybe you can't see it BA, but Face needs you, all of you. He borrows some of your strength to get through times like this. You should have seen how bad it was when Matthews treated him and you guys were not there. He draws a lot of strength from you."

"Shoulda been there."

"You can't take every pain away from him, BA, and he doesn't expect you too. How many times do you protect him in fist fights? How often has he yelled for your help when you were fighting? You kept a lot of pain from him and he's grateful for that. He doesn't expect anything more from you."

BA sighed, "I know. Just wish I could do more."

In the cabin Mark did some last check on his patient's vitals while Hannibal settled in a chair to be close when Face woke up. Murdock got himself busy in the tiny kitchen. Baking and cooking was his number one distraction at the moment.

"Hannibal, I…Maggie told me how Matthews treated Face. I'm really sorry."

"Your being sorry doesn't do him much good afterwards."

"He's very good at what he does…one of the best surgeons I know. I never heard of anything like that before. And he owed me."

"Maybe he doesn't like to be blackmailed into helping a bunch of fugitives."

"I wanted to contact you to pick him up instead of giving him the address but I couldn't reach you. And the healing had to be checked. If his bones had been out of line or there was more infection…"

"Which wasn't the case. What would have happened if he had worn the heavy cast for two more weeks? The chance of the bones moving out of place wasn't that high."

"I just don't believe he's the one who tipped off the MP's."

"Who else would have done it? We had to leave the place where Face could have gone through the procedure under medication. Even if his hand had to be re-broken it would have happened under general anesthetics and not while in great pain on a kitchen table in a remote cabin." Hannibal knew he was irrational here, the check up needed to be done. If the hand had to be re-broken the chance for permanent damage would have increased rapidly. But right now all he knew was that Face, the man he considered his youngest son, had suffered through just more unnecessary pain.

Mark could see that Hannibal was just upset from what he had just witnessed. "I'm sorry. I never meant any harm. I have become quite fond of Face...of all of you."

Hannibal's tone softened as he took in the doctor's words. "No, I'm sorry. You've done so much to help us. It's just that I'm a bit protective of this young man here. He means a lot to me."

"I would have never guessed," Mark teased.

"So, what happens next?" Hannibal questioned all business again.

"There isn't much else to do but watch his hand for signs of infection from where I had to cut him. I'll start him on a new round of antibiotics just in case. Then he will have to begin some physical therapy for his hand...similar to what he did for his foot."

They turned in surprise as a small voice came from the table. "Does that mean I have to walk on my hands?" The voice was tinged with pain and his eyes remained closed.

Hannibal jumped up and was at his side in seconds. "Hey kid, didn't expect you up so soon."

"Not up," Face corrected, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Smart ass," Hannibal whispered, stroking his hair.

"How are you feeling, Face?" Mark asked. "How's the pain?"

"Not bad," he slurred, but the truth was revealed when his head lolled to the side and he passed out again.

Hannibal looked up at Mark, fear shining through the blue orbs.

"He'll be okay, Hannibal. It's going to hurt for a while and I don't want to mix strong pain killers with the antibiotics...so extra strength Tylenol is the best I can offer. I'm afraid it won't be much help." Mark stopped and rubbed his eyes. "I feel like a broken record; I have made that speech one too many times to you."

"I know what you mean," Hannibal sighed. "I feel like we have been running in circles."

"Well, this should be the last leg of the race," the clearly tired doctor encouraged.

Hannibal nodded his head and said, "From your lips to God's ears."

The next time Face gained consciousness it took him a moment to remember where he was and what had happened. Unfortunately, the searing pain in his hand reminded him of that before he even opened his eyes.

When he did take a peak, he found his three teammates staring at him intently. "What? Do I have a booger in my nose or something?" he mumbled. He didn't want to let on how bad it was; the guys didn't need to worry about him any more than they already were. Three faces smiled back at him obviously relieved that he was up to joking around. 'Stay strong,' he ordered himself. 'You've hurt worse.' But not much worse.

"You think you're up to moving to a bed?" Hannibal asked. "Maggie said we could move you carefully."

'No,' Face thought. It hurt to just lay there and the thought of moving was not a pleasant one. But, he didn't want to disappoint them. "Sure, sounds good," he answered. He kept his hand as still as possible as B.A. and Murdock each took a side and helped ease him up. He felt dizzy and weak and would have fallen right back down without their support.

Hannibal eased his legs to the side of the table. His hand barely moved, but it moved enough to send daggers up his arm and spots before his eyes. "Gimme a sec," he breathed, swallowing hard the bile that had risen to his throat. He began to think he had made a mistake and should have stayed put.

Hannibal took hold of his injured hand as gently as possible and acted like a splint. They moved as one unit at a snail's pace. Face shuffled slowly along propelled forward only by Murdock and B.A, while Hannibal walked backwards immobilizing his arm.

They were half-way to their destination down the hall when Face, who was getting progressively slower, called for another break. They could see the agony on his face and feel the trembles of his muscles shaking from pain.

But the lieutenant was still intent on putting on his act. Only the others were not buying it.

"Just when will you stop putting yourself through unnecessary pain?" Murdock voiced what the others were thinking.

Since Face didn't trust his voice he tried his best shot at a surprised and innocent expression but failed miserably.

"We asked if you were ready to move and you weren't. Why didn't you just say so?"

"You can discuss that when he's set up in bed and not halfway passed out from pain and exhaustion. Get outta my way, fool, I'm gonna carry him." BA picked Face up without any effort, he had lost way too much weight during the whole ordeal. The fact that Face didn't complain told them everything. He hated to be carried around like a bag of groceries but right now he was busy concentrating on breathing and staying conscious and had no energy to spend on complaining. Besides the only other option for him would have been to settle right where he was.

While Face was trying to get the pain under control without giving in to either the nausea or the beckoning blackness or both, Murdock decided to just talk to whoever was listening.

"We shoulda left him on the table…or maybe we should take him back there. If he's right there on the kitchen table he can enjoy all my cooking and baking first hand. As soon as I set a tray of cookies on the table he'd be right in the middle of it. Needs to be fed properly anyway, he's just skin and broken bones."

Murdock's speech of food and broken bones didn't do anything for Face. If anything he had turned a nice shade of green.

"Knock it off fool. Nobody needs to be near your cookin', especially not somebody sick."

"It's an open living room and an open kitchen, he'll be near my cooking anyway."

"Every inch that's put between him and you in a kitchen apron is good for him."

"But Face likes my cuisine. He can be our live tray for all our meals and just needs to open his mouth for us to feed him."

By now Hannibal had the bucket ready and Face's eyes were closed tight once again.

"Captain, go see if you can catch us some fish."

"But we still have…"

"Now!"

Murdock looked hurt but went anyway.

It took a few more minutes until Face won the fight with his stomach.

"Fool asked you a question and for once he was right. Why didn't you just say you weren't up to movin'?"

"I…I don't know. Just …I couldn't have stayed there anyway, where would you have eaten?"

"Sometimes you're crazier than that fool. As if that was a reason for you to go through more pain, stupid. You coulda waited 'til you felt stronger or I coulda carried you right from the beginning."

Face toyed with the seam of the blanket covering his lower half. He didn't know what to say.

"I'm going to work on the van…..and you better start working on them stupid habits."

After BA left Face was alone with Hannibal who let him rest in silence for a while until he felt Face looked better.

"How's the pain, kid? An honest answer please."

"It's…bearable…somehow….um…actually…it hurts like hell."

"Think you're up to eating something? I want you to get something down before the antibiotics kick in."

Face turned green again at the mere thought of food, he shook his head 'no' and Hannibal, seeing the younger mans parlor, accepted it. The room was silent once again and Face looked at the ceiling.

"Hannibal?" Face's voice was a mere whisper and his eyes were still trained at the ceiling.

"What is it, kid?"

"I…I heard you, earlier, when you talked to Mark. You said…told him, that….that I mean a lot to you…..Why?"

Hannibal didn't answer; how could he put into words the feelings that were held in his heart for the young man lying before him. He wracked his brain trying to think of how to express just how much he cared.

Face heard the silence and it seemed louder than any noise could have been. 'Maybe I was hearing things? Maybe I misunderstood,' he thought.

"Face, it's hard to…" Hannibal started, when there was a sudden loud crash. Startled, Hannibal jumped to his feet and instinctively reached for his gun. Unfortunately, Face did the same thing. They were trained soldiers and old habits die hard. Being fugitives hadn't helped matters either as they were always on guard at some level.

It was only when Hannibal found that his gun wasn't there and he heard Murdock and B.A. arguing that he let go of the breath he had been holding and took note of Face on the floor in a heap cradling his injured hand. "Face!" he exclaimed, practically leaping over to him. He knelt down and tried to pry his good hand away from the bad one. "C'mon, Face…let me see."

But Face wasn't hearing; the only thing he heard was Hannibal's words "It's hard to". Hard to what? Hard to love him? And the only thing he felt was agony.

Hannibal yelled for help. He didn't want to leave Face who was curled protectively in a ball around himself not allowing him anywhere near his hand.

The room went from quiet to hectic as all the other house occupants came running after hearing Hannibal's yells. Hannibal tried to coax Face into letting Mark look at his hand for about ten minutes more and then decided they would have to do it the hard way. "B.A….Murdock…get his legs," he ordered. Hannibal moved behind Face and scooted behind him so he could wrap his arms around him in a bear hug and keep his torso still. "It's okay, kid," he soothed. "I've gotcha. Just let the doctor take a look."

Face seemed to calm down in Hannibal's arms. "Okay," he whispered through heavy breaths. "Sorry…didn't mean…noise…scared me."

Murdock and B.A. hung their heads in shame knowing they were to blame. When Mark muttered, "Damn," a few seconds later, and sent Maggie for his medical bag, they began to panic.

"What? Mark, what's it?" Hannibal feared another painful procedure was coming Face's way.

"I don't know how he did it but five of the seven stitches I made are ripped out. As of now I can't tell if the bones also took some damage. I want to remove the last two stitches and check the bone that was wired. I'll feel the other two with my fingers after injecting another numbing agent. The risk of infection has gone up. I'll have to wash the wound before stitching it back up."

"No, no, Hannibal…pleas…. don't let him... not again…I can't take any more."

"Sorry kid, but it needs to get done." Hannibal hugged Face even tighter. "You are strong, you'll get through it just fine." His heart was screaming no, this can't be happening. How much more could he take. But on the outside he had to be strong for Face.

"No, please, just wrap it up… it'll heal just fine."

Face was turning pleading eyes on Hannibal who so wished he could do something for him. Instead he had to help restrict a panicking Face as Maggie prepared the solution for later use.

"I would like to get him back to the kitchen table rather than doing it here on the floor. Do you think you can immobilize him there?"

The three remaining team members looked at each other and made a silent decision. "Not unless we tie him down and we won't do that. You'll just have to make do with the position we have now."

"I understand. Maggie, get a sterile blanket, we'll put his arm on it. BA, can you hold his legs on your own so that Murdock will hold his arm still. I don't think Maggie alone can do it and assist at the same time."

They did as told and Mark got the syringe with the numbing agent ready. As soon as Face saw it coming near his hand he went wild. He was trying to free his arm from Murdock and Maggie while kicking his legs against BA and pressing his body into Hannibal. Mark quickly dropped the syringe and grabbed Face's fingers before he could flex them and dislocate some of the broken bones. This however made him only wilder. Mark took a moments decision, grabbed for the bottle with peroxide and poured a good amount on the wound. Face screamed and bucked and then his eyes rolled back and he was out cold.

Mark let out his breath "Thank God it worked. Now let's move him to the table and get it all done before he comes to."

They were grateful that Face was out but the price was high. They had to help Mark causing Face immense pain and hated every moment of it. At least it turned out the bones were all still in place and Mark stitched him back up after cleaning the wound thoroughly. He wanted to eliminate as much of the risk of infection as possible.

When they were all done Maggie stemmed her fists in her sides. "Someone care to tell me what the hell happened?"

"Fool was removing some tools from a toolbox to use it for his fishing utensils. We quarreled over it and it went crashing to the wall of the cabin."

"And Face and I both jumped up at instinct, grabbing for guns that were not there." Hannibal supplied.

"Something like this can happen anytime. Either like today or during a nightmare. I want to put his hand in a brace to prevent further injury. BA can you make one?"

"Sure Mark, just show me what you want."

Face was nothing but miserable for the next two days. The pain was bad and the side effects of the antibiotics had also kicked in full force. He was currently sleeping with the rest of the team and Maggie sitting outside in the clearing to not disturb him.

"I don't like the way this is going. The sadness is back in his eyes. I think he feels betrayed by us holding him down for Mark to go through with the procedure." Murdock was concerned over Face's state of mind.

"But he told me he was grateful for the pain causing him to pass out that fast." Maggie threw in.

Hannibal went pale, "Oh no, I'm such an idiot. I never answered his question. He must have mistaken the silence as my answer." He jumped up to go inside and wait for Face to wake up leaving the others puzzled, thinking about his answer. He had a thousand answers swirling through his mind but still didn't know how to describe his protective feelings.

What he found when he entered Face's room tore at his heart…Face was crying. His eyes were closed, but Hannibal couldn't tell if he was awake or not. So he stood there watching the tears flow and wiping away the moisture that was forming in his own eyes.

Face could feel somebody watching him and he tried to stifle his sobs, but he couldn't. He was so confused; things had been going so well until…until Hannibal wasn't able to answer his question. Face was embarrassed that he even asked him and now he was embarrassed that he was caught crying. Not to mention that his hand was throbbing. He felt hot and his hand seemed to be swelling…a sure sign of an impending infection. So Face gave into his tears…he didn't seem to have a choice.