Not long after the van drove of screeching, Cassie slowly makes her way to the living room. Her back hurts a lot and her shoulder is in a strong cast. It feels more like a straightjacket than anything, not that she'd know how that feels. She does know that if she has to sit one more minute in that damn bed, she'll explode.

She is a street rat, the only job she has ever had is being a thief. With that comes a penchant for never sitting still. Being confined to a single room is her worst nightmare. The one thing she fears is confinement or prison and yet her career sometimes seems to only have one conclusion. In her worst nightmares she sees herself sitting behind bars and slowly going insane. She's always alone in those dreams.

She looks at the man sitting next to her on the couch. Maybe that's why he wouldn't leave her alone, she thinks, as Murdock starts to peel a tangerine. Maybe he somehow knew. He's a lot smarter than people give him credit for. Must be his weird behavior that fools everybody.

Cassie sighs. It's never easy, living your life. Especially with people like these guys as your best friends.

Murdock sits there, hand extended. He smiles at her. "Piece of fruit?"

-

Screeching wheels outside. Maggie and Murdock quickly helping her into her sickbed. A stabbing pain in her shoulder when she's lowered a little to quickly and hits the bedframe. A sharp intake of breath to conceal the hurt, but you don't fool your own doctor or a man like Murdock. They know, she can see it in their faces. They look around a little panicked.

"Murdock, get out." Maggie whispers. She looks panicked, but Cassie can't really tell. Everything starts to get a little fuzzy. Too much movement too quickly. It's too much for her recently damaged body and she lets go.

Somebody pounds the front door. "Miss, let us in. United States Army!" Murdock looks around frantically and jumps through the window. He lands like a cat on all fours. Luckily they are on the ground floor. The grass tickles his nose as he looks around. In a less serious situation, he'd loudly sneeze. Today isn't one of those days though. He spots the two cars by the front door. He can even see the green uniforms, but the soldiers don't see him. They are all focussed on the front door but not for long.

He stays as low to the ground as possible and creeps through the grass on his belly. His shirt gets dirty, but he doesn't care. He saw a cat do this once. It was hunting something, a mouse maybe. He always thought he'd be the mouse in that situation, but smiling to himself he realizes he is the cat. A soft miauw escapes his lips as he crawls to the back of the house. There, safe and in cover, he quickly brings up his claw to wash his face.

When he does that he freezes for a second. He isn't a cat. He knows this. His hand is still near his face, fingers contorted like a claw. He studies his fingers for a second. Then he snaps out of it. This is not the time. Cassie is inside. There's nothing he can do for her at this point, other than not getting caught. They'll never connect her to the A Team if they don't find him here. So as difficult as it is for him, Murdock shakes his head firmly and focusses on the present. He can't get lost in memories of cats and mice.

He's at the back of the house. They will certainly check it, so if he stays here long, he'll get spotted. What to do? His brain comes up with 10 different answers to this problem, none any good. He doesn't wish Hannibal was here. He knows he is perfectly capable of thinking his way out of this. Just as long as he doesn't purr or something like that. He can feel a purr coming up. Sometimes it's just easier to pretend to be a cat than to try and escape army guys.

Lightbulb moment! Murdock smiles to himself and starts crawling towards the tree. "Miauw, miauw" he purrs.

Colonel Decker stomps out of the sick room. The girl in the cod isn't of any interest to him. The girl on the A Team looks nothing like this one and she's a reporter. He believes the story Maggie told him about her being a tourist passing through. He's convinced that a member is hurt and this is the nearest doctor available. So if one person on Smith's team is injured, he'd bring that person here. Decker had silently hoped it was Hannibal Smith himself. Those idiotic plans of his always manage to work and he always escapes because of them.

"You two, search the area. Look for tire tracks made by a van. Corporal, you search the house again. I'm outside."

His men salute and move out. He has trained them well. The doctor just glares at him. It's clear she doesn't appreciate having them around. Now is that because she's a friend of the A Team or because they are an inconvenience? Given that there is a wounded patient in the house, Decker suspects the latter.

He nods at the doctor apologetically and goes out. He walks slowly towards the back of the house. He takes in his surroundings. Smith was always the clever one with the gut feeling. He could sometimes grasp a situation just by coming to the right conclusions. Decker isn't wired that way. He looks at things methodically. It might take him a little longer to come to a conclusion, but it will be the right one. Right now he's looking at some flattened grass underneath an open window to the side of the house. He squats down to take a better look at it. He loosens his gun in his holster, just to be able to grab it quickly.

The grass is certainly flattened, but why. It looks like a cat could have done it. Or a raccoon perhaps. Only there are no trashcans nearby. There seems to be a trail of slightly flattened grass leading to the back of the house. Very slowly, Decker follows the trail. He's careful not to step on it though. Best not to tamper with evidence, when it's not necessary of course. Decker arrives at the back of the house. Unfortunately, there's nothing there. Just a tree in a backyard. The back of the house is paved with lovely black stones. There is a lounge chair and a small table. His trail has hit a dead end. No more flat grass, nothing.

Just to be sure, he takes out his gun and circles the tree. Nobody is here. He hears some branches cracking up above him and a leaf falls down.

He smiles to himself and says. "Get out of... Shit!"

He jumps sideways with a fright when a fat ginger tom jumps down, missing him by inches. He looks at the animal whilst pointing his gun at it. The cat isn't impressed with the gun. The cat simply approaches him, starts purring and rubbing his back to the shocked Colonel's boots.

Decker lowers his weapon with a sigh."Blast." he says. He bends down to pet the cat and walks towards the other side of the house. You should always do a full perimeter check, even though you were just chasing a cat.

High up in the tree, Murdock smiles to himself. "Miauw miauw." he purrs, as he washes his face with his claw.

-

Maggie watches the Army guys drive off. Colonel Decker sure was disappointed not to find the guys here. She was very worried that they'd find Murdock, but apparently the good pilot had managed to hide. Her first priority is her patient, so she walks agitated to the second bedroom.

Hopefully that'll be all the excitement there was going to be. Cassie needs rest and a stress-free environment. Maggie is glad the guys were gone. They are not what you'd call stress-free. She enters the room and smiles happily. Nothing has changed. Cassie is still asleep. She takes away the bedspread and sees that the bandage still holds. No new blood, no new nothing. Everything is as it should be. She's healing just fine. Maggie starts by tucking her in. Best to let her sleep for now.

"How's she doin' doc?"

Murdock's southern drawl comes from behind her. She turns to find him standing there as if nothing special had just happened. Just a very dangerous game of hide and seek, nothing special. Maggie realizes it's nothing he hasn't done before. Nothing out of the ordinary for Howlin' Mad Murdock.

"She's fine Murdock. Just asleep." She turns to usher him out of the room. "Let's leave her sleep now."

Murdock shakes his head firmly. "I'll stay here and be real quiet doc." Maggie opens her mouth to protest but Murdock stops her. "If she doesn't see me, she might think Decker found me. If she doesn't see me, she might panic. I'm staying."

Maggie smiles at the poor man. If only all men were that considerate, she thought. She nods and turns away to leave the room. Just before she exits, she stops for a moment. She turns around and looks at the man sitting next to the bed.

"Just how did you not get caught, Murdock? I mean, where did you go?"

Murdock smiles at her, and brings up a hand contorted like a claw. "I had help from my feline friend Felix. Miauw!" he says, rubbing his face just like a cat.

Maggie smiles and leaves the room. Just another mystery surrounding the team, she guessed. As she closes the door, she hears a soft purring behind her.