Maggie came to stand next to Ellen's side. "Are you sure?" She asked looking down at Murdock who appeared to still be unconscious to Face.

"Yes," Ellen said gently squeezing her husband's hand again. "Let's see if he does it again."

Face and Maggie both watched intently as Murdock's hand slowly tightened around Ellen's. "See," she said smiling broadly. "Does it mean he's trying to wake up!"

"Possibly," Maggie replied thoughtful. "Or, it might just be a subconscious reaction to your squeezing his hand. I'll have Doctor O'Fallon come have a look at him and see what he thinks."

Ellen smiled at Face as Maggie left the room to seek out Murdock's Doctor. "I knew, he'd be okay," Ellen said smiling as Face nodded.

Although, Face wasn't completely convinced Murdock would recover, that is until his friend finally started to come around. The first indication was a fluttering of his eye lids before they both opened. Ellen and Face watched expectantly as his eyes tried to focus on one or both of them before Ellen drew his attention to her.

"Hello, sweetie," she said gently as Murdock cracked the slightest grin around the endotracheal tube protruding from his mouth. "I've missed you so much."

Hannibal rolled his cigar around in his mouth a bit later as he watched Ellen nervously twisting her hands and Face running a hand though his hair for the umpteenth time. "Maggie said, he was breathing on his own," Hannibal said calmly. "I think that means, he's out of danger so you two can calm down now."

Face smirked as he and Ellen exchanged smiles. "Hannibal's right," he said as Ellen nodded.

"Alright," Maggie said with a smile as she walked into the waiting room as Face and Ellen jumped to their feet. "Murdock's off the ventilator and although, he can't talk very well right now, he's eager to see you both."

"No," Face said softly from behind Ellen. "She should go to him, I can see him later."

"No, Face," Ellen said turning around to take his hand. "He wants to see both of us, so we're both going."

"Okay," Face said with a slight nod as Maggie walked with them to the pilot's room.

"Don't let him try to talk to much," Maggie said concerned. "It'll make his throat worse and he shouldn't get agitated, it'll increase his breathing and right now his one remaining lung is doing the work for two so it needs time to adjust."

"Don't worry, Doc," Face said calmly. "We'll keep him quiet."

"Good," Maggie said stopping in front of Murdock's door. "He was asleep when I left earlier, removing the vent was a little exhausting," she said before stepping into the room.

Face noticed immediately as he watched his friend sleep that Murdock looked more restful and his color seemed better as well.

Ellen moved beside him toward the bed and took a seat on the side before taking Murdock's hand in hers. "Hey, love," she said with a broad smile as he stirred slowly at her touch. Opening his eyes, he slowly smiled back at her before trying to speak. "No," Ellen said softly before leaning over to brush his lips with hers. "Maggie said, you shouldn't talk to much."

Murdock grinned as he looked beyond her to Face. Touching his chest with his hand, he seemed to mouth, I'm okay as Face nodded. It was just like him, Face thought. Here he was worried about how Murdock was feeling about the situation and Murdock was worried about what Face was feeling. "It's okay, Murdock," Face said soothingly. "We'll talk about it later, okay Buddy?"

Murdock nodded wearily before closing his eyes. "That's enough for now," Maggie said quietly as she and Face left Ellen alone to continue to sit with her husband.

"Well?" Maggie said as the two of them stepped into the elevator together.

"Well, what?" Face asked with a smirk.

"Do you feel better now that you seen him?"

"Yeah," Face replied with a slight grin. "I do, Doc. Thank you."

"Your welcome," Maggie said stepping out of the elevator first as a large man suddenly pushed past her knocking her down.

"Hey!" Face said starting forward to help Maggie but the man grabbed him from behind. Hearing the struggle behind her, Maggie drew her revolver from the holster on her side as she pushed herself to her knees. When she got to her feet and turned around, she saw the burly man had Face in a chokehold.

"I may not be the best shot in the world, mister," Maggie said pointing the gun at the assailant's head before cocking it. "But, I don't think, I'll miss at this range! Do you?"

The man tightened his grip around Face's neck after he tried several techniques to free himself. He soon realized his assailant was a professional and there was no way he was letting up let alone letting go.

A security guard making his rounds just happened by at the end of the hall about that time and saw the standoff taking place. "What's going on here!" The guard yelled before running toward them.

The burly man looked around wildly for an escape route after he realized there was no way he was going to be able to accomplish what he'd set out to do with so many witnesses around. He roughly pushing Face toward Maggie and took off in the opposite direction as the guard gave chase, Maggie holstered her gun before offering her support to Face who was sucking in several deep breaths of air.

"MO," Hannibal said meeting them in the hallway as BA followed. "What the hell happened?"

"Face was just attacked," Maggie said as Hannibal offered to help support his former Lieutenant. "The guy took off down the hall. Security was following!"

"BA," Hannibal said with a nod. "Go see if you can help!"

"Sure thing, Hannibal," BA said before heading down the same hall as the security guard.

Face waved off their attempts to help as he slowly caught his breath. "I'm okay," he said when Maggie looked less than convinced. "Since when did you carry a gun, Doc?"

"I don't like you carrying, MO!" Hannibal said in shock. Not sure if he heard the question right, he looked directly at Maggie for confirmation. "Are you carrying?"

"Yes, John," Maggie replied unabashedly. "And, it's a good thing I am, it was probably the only reason that guy didn't snap Face's neck!"

"She's right?" Face said grimacing as he gingerly rubbed his neck. "That guy was a pro, Hannibal. I tried everything and couldn't break his grip on me."

"I don't care who he was, from now on, you don't go anywhere without me, BA or one of Stockwell's security guards," Hannibal said helping Face to his feet.

Face didn't have the energy to argue with Hannibal about it so he just nodded as Maggie looked at him in renewed concern. "You sure, you're alright?"

"Yeah," Face said straightening his jacket. "Just a little sore, that's all."