V
Face happily strolled into his 'home', a bag containing all the ingredients for a wonderful breakfast in his arms.
He was met by five sets of eyes all on him, Hannibal, BA, Frankie, Stockwell and Carla. Oh well, even Stockwell's appearance wouldn't put a dampener on his mood this morning. Not after his night last night.
His smile got a little broader.
"Where have you been, Lieutenant?" Stockwell asked, clearly not amused.
"Well, I was out." Face said, he made eye contact with Hannibal, checked to make sure he wasn't mad at him. He saw the same humour Hannibal often had in his eyes, and decided that screwing with Stockwell wouldn't piss Hannibal off too much.
"You're not supposed to be out of here without letting me know so I can assign an Able to accompany you." Stockwell continued.
Hannibal couldn't help but smirk. He had a pretty good idea what Face had been up to all night and a third person there really would have been a good idea.
"Sorry, it really wasn't that kind of, er, evening." Face said.
Fed up with Face's attitude, Stockwell signalled Carla to give them the file she was holding. She handed it to Hannibal, who after briefly looking at it, handed it over to Face.
"I'm sure you'll agree that for men of your calibre, this is an easy assignment."
"So, why give it to us then?" Hannibal asked.
"There are certain elements that make it appropriate for you and your style, Colonel. The file you have to retrieve will be extremely well guarded and your escape will be tricky. There are enough maps and such that you shall be able to plot out an effective escape route."
"So, what's in the file?" Face asked.
"That's of no concern to you, Lieutenant. You'll have 48 hours once you reach you destination." With that, the General turned and walked towards the door. Before he exited, Murdock entered the room, having been brought down by some Ables who had been sent to retrieve him.
"Ah, Captain, nice that you could make it. Smith can fill you in."
Murdock shot Stockwell a dark look, but said nothing, just made his way inside without another word.
"Hey, Murdock." Frankie greeted, enthusiastically. He got on with Murdock well and felt that he had bonded with him more at first because of their working together to save the others, but now Murdock lived alone and Frankie remained with the team, he was probably the person he felt he knew the least about.
Murdock returned Frankie's greeting with a nod and smile, but didn't say much else. He was in a bad mood and Stockwell's men coming round hadn't helped much.
"What's the mission?" He asked as he approached Hannibal and the others who were studying the file and it's contents.
"Retrieve a file with some top secret information in it." Face said, not looking at Murdock. He was still a little hurt from his snub the other night. He hadn't even got a reason from the pilot.
"You alright, Captain?" Hannibal asked.
Face heard a hint of concern in Hannibal's voice and instantly looked at his friend.
Murdock looked a little surprised, like if there was something amiss with his appearance and he hadn't noticed it. "Yeah, I'm fine." he answered, looking down at the file and ignoring the attention he was receiving.
Face could see a tiredness in Murdock. Not the kind you get from missing a few nights sleep, the type that happens when life's just running you into the ground. He'd seen it in himself and the others before.
Hannibal patted Murdock on the shoulder as he called Frankie and BA to start loading some supplies into the van with him.
Leaving Murdock and Face in the room together alone hadn't been very subtle, but for someone who used the front door approach 99.9 of the time, subtle wasn't one of Hannibal's strong points.
Murdock looked at the file, Face still looking too, even though he'd read all the relevant information.
"Uh, sorry about last night." Murdock said, staying transfixed with the file.
"Oh no, it was fine. We had a real nice time." Face amended, hoping to make Murdock feel a little better.
"Great." Murdock said, forcing a cheerful voice. He wasn't thinking it was great though, he was thinking about how Face had a better time without him while all he'd done was row with Erica and then spent half the night awake thinking things through.
"Yeah." Face said, agreeing with Murdock. There was nothing else to be said. "I'm gonna go help the others."
"'Kay." Murdock said. "Oh, I just need to call work, let 'em know I won't be there for a few days." He added.
"Yeah sure." Face said, leaving the man alone.
Murdock called Erica's apartment. It rang several times before the machine picked up. She was probably ignoring him. He listened to the message she had recorded and felt his heart skip a beat.
He knew he'd been rotten to her and felt bad. He really did love her. He heard the beep.
"Hey Erica, it's me. Um, I'm gonna be outta town for a few days so I'll see you soon and I promise we'll talk things through when I get back. Love ya." With that he hung up.
He stood there a moment, before going out to help the others.