Opera Buffa, Opera Seria
AN: This is another duet I strongly encourage you to find and listen to. "Prendi: l'anel ti dono" from Bellini's La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker) can be found on YouTube by various artists but I recommend the version with Juan Diego Florez as Elvino.
Disclaimer: I do not own The A Team movie or television series or any of the delightful characters found on The A Team.
Part 4. Opera Seria
"I need help here! My boyfriend's been stabbed!"
Dani staggered through the emergency room doors. Her arm gripped Murdock's waist with more strength than she thought she had. His left arm stretched across her shoulders. She clutched his left wrist tightly to keep him propped against her. His feet did little more than shuffle along beside her. His eyes were squeezed shut as he let her guide him toward the desk.
Every few steps, she anxiously glanced up into his face. From his pallor and pinched expression, she knew he was close to collapse.
I wish the guys were here. Even as thin as he is, I'm still having a hard time keeping him on his feet.
She knew the reason they hadn't come in with them. A knife wound was bound to involve police reports and the team members could not risk being identified, especially not as good Samaritans. They didn't need the press scurrying around trying to find out the identities of the mysterious do-gooders who helped a stabbing victim to get medical help.
"Angel . . . gotta sit . . . down," he managed in a hoarse whisper.
"Just a few more steps, hon. Stay with me, H. M." She shot a piercing look at the receptionist, already giving the injured man a cursory visual assessment before calling back to the nurse's station. "Get somebody out here, stat!"
The woman behind the desk got the phone to her ear and punched in a number, keeping her eyes on the couple. Dani felt Murdock sag against her. He gasped out a "Sorry, darlin'" before his body slumped to the floor and nearly took her down with him.
"No! H. M.!" She knelt beside him, trying to scoop him into her arms. With all of her training, with all of her prior experience as a trauma nurse, it was different when the person with the life-threatening injuries was someone you loved.
Even though she knew it was senseless to panic because the call had already been made to inform the doctor and nurses of the emergency, she yelled anyway. "Someone help him! Please!"
A blur of activity surrounded them. The pilot was lifted onto a gurney and shuttled off to the inner sanctum of the emergency department. She stumbled to her feet and tried to follow but was stopped at the swinging doors.
"You'll have to stay out here, miss." A young dark-skinned nurse with oversized glasses put one hand out to hold her back from pushing her way through.
She looked beyond the nurse's shoulder at the sight of the gurney with Murdock on it being wheeled into a screened-off area to the left. A sob escaped her throat and she raised the back of her clenched fist to her mouth.
Seconds later the nurse had one hand on her forearm and an arm around her waist, leading her toward a chair within feet of the door. "Here, miss. You look like you're about ready to faint. Why don't you sit here and I'll get you some coffee while you wait."
That was two hours ago. She had filled out the necessary paperwork. She had drunk at least five cups of hospital coffee.
She sat in a chair that had worn maroon upholstery and picked absently at the small bits of nubby fabric. Placing her hand in her pocket, she rubbed her fingers across the card Face had given her with his phone number on it. Hannibal had instructed her to call as soon as she knew anything about Murdock's condition . All three men would be anxiously waiting at that location.
But there had been nothing.
I can't abandon him now. I have to know he came out of this alright. But after he recovers . . .
She propped an elbow on the arm of the chair and covered her face with her hand. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks.
It's safer for him if he forgets I ever existed.
oooooo
Murdock wished at least one of the guys could have come in the emergency room doors with Dani to help her with him. She was close to panic. He felt it through her touch, through her pleas to whoever was there when they arrived.
She's gonna be worryin' 'bout me with no one there t' talk to.
Panic wasn't the only thing he was sensing as she half-dragged him along beside her. What the other emotion was alarmed him. Her emotions were setting off every red flag that remained in his conscious mind. He didn't know why he felt that way but he did. Pain clouded his ability to think clearly. He had to know what she was thinking.
Guilt? She ain' got anythin' t' feel guilty 'bout. Fear? I'm with 'er on that. She's th' only thin' kept me hangin' on.
His mind was disconnecting from the rest of his body and he could do nothing to stop it. When the darkness overtook him, as he knew it would, Dani would be alone with her anguish.
He tried to warn her, to tell her to quicken her pace and find him somewhere to sit or lie down. The white noise was returning. The dark rabbit hole was one step away.
"Angel . . . gotta sit . . . down." He couldn't manage any more than that.
Her muffled voice contained enough encouragement for him to force his feet to move a few more steps. No more than that.
Even as his body plummeted into the darkness and he fell to the floor, he whispered an apology to her for not being stronger for her.
oooooo
She gazed vacantly into space, memories of the knife wounds, the blood and, above all, his whispered words to her in the van, occupying her thoughts. What had he said? "Ein sel'ger Engel dort zu werden! Angel, darlin'."
She wished she knew German to know what the sentence meant. The last two words required no translation. They were the words that in the past made her heart beat faster with love. They were the words that were breaking her heart now.
She would miss the tender warm brown eyes that captured her attention every time he murmured those words to her. She would miss the way he drawled them in protest when she pulled away from an embrace. She would miss his boyish grin when she said she was afraid of one of the staff seeing and confirming what most of them suspected to be true. She would miss the passion of the kiss that would follow those words.
She didn't want to give up her dream of someday being H. M.'s wife even though the possibilities of that never seemed so remote as they did right now. But she would give up her dream and her life to protect him.
oooooo
He drifted on the edges of consciousness as they administered the needle that would tranfuse AB negative blood into him. Using his remote viewing ability, he allowed his spirit body to detach and watch the nurses prepping him for surgery to determine if any organs or vessels had been damaged. From there, he willed his spirit to move to the emergency waiting room where he knew he would find Dani.
He located her, alone and in emotional distress, her tear-stained pale face partially hidden by her fisted hand. She sat in the chair nearest to the swinging doors. Every time someone came to the door, he noted how she startled out of her reverie and scanned them for any indication of news.
His heart sank as she cried. Her shaking hands barely allowed her to take sips from the styrofoam coffee cup the nurse offered her.
For a while his spirit body hovered by Dani, wanting to reach out and reassure her but unable to make her aware of his presence. The anesthesia they gave his physical body drew his spirit body back. He slept and dreamed.
oooooo
She looked up as an overweight wrinkled woman in an old-fashioned blue flowered dress hobbled toward her. Leaning heavily on a cane, she rasped, "Is that seat taken?" and pointed to the chair beside Dani.
The pensive nurse shook her head and straightened in her seat. Averting her eyes from the elderly lady's prying gaze, Dani coughed slightly and shifted her attention to the waiting room doors.
As the old woman settled herself in the worn chair, she sighed contentedly. "I don't know about you, dearie, but I hate this waiting, don't you?"
Something about the voice was familiar and the nurse peered at the woman more closely. A sob caught in her throat and she whispered, "Hannibal? Oh God, I'm so glad you're here."
Hannibal reached over and took her hand in his. Serious icy blue eyes solemnly scrutinized her. "We need to talk, Miss Scalatini, before he wakes up."
oooooo
He sat with Dani on the bench in the small dense grove of trees outside the V. A. hospital. It had become one of the places they used most often to talk about things they could not allow anyone else to hear. It was there they could share some intimate moments without being detected so easily.
She was so beautiful right now. He sensed this was the perfect moment to ask her. A light breeze stirred the wisps of blonde hair at her throat. The dappled sunlight played across the light skin of her face.
Her curious eyes searched his as he reached inside the pocket of his bomber jacket and pulled out a small velvet box. Dani's hands rested in her lap and she nervously bit her bottom lip as she gazed at the gift he offered her. He reached out to take her hand. Placing the box in the palm of her hand, he gently curled her fingers around it. She looked down at the box and hesitated.
"Take it. Open it." He smiled at her and commanded the fluttering butterflies in his stomach to stop making him queasy. Why he was thinking of Bellini's La Sonnambula at this moment, he did not know. It seemed the most romantic way to propose, he guessed.
"Prendi: l'anel ti dono. (Here: receive this ring.)"
She gasped as she opened the box. "H. M.! It's beautiful! But it must have been expensive."
He looked at her with loving eyes and caressed her cheek with his fingertips. "It was my mother's. When she divorced my father, she told me she wanted me to use it someday to marry the girl of my dreams and make that girl happy. She wanted me to be the husband my father never was. I didn't understand back then but I do now."
He continued with the song. After all, in a dream you could sing your proposal, couldn't you?
"Che un dì recava all'ara . . . (that the beloved spirit . . .)
. . . L'alma beata e cara (. . . who smiled upon our love . . .)
Che arride al nostro amor. (. . . wore at the altar.)"
His mother was dead, had been dead since he was five years old, but he knew she would have approved of Dani. He hoped she approved of the man he had become. Gramma and Grampa had done a fine job of instilling good character in him. God, he missed them. For a moment, his voice faltered.
"W-would you like me t' do that?" He swallowed as she nodded and held her hand out to him. Fumbling the ring out of the soft white lining, he carefully slipped the engagement ring on her finger. He looked up into her eyes and sang the next lines.
"Sacro ti sia tal dono . . . (Let this gift be sacred . . .)
. . . Come fu sacro a lei; (. . . as it was to her;)
Sia de' tuoi voti e miei (let it always be)
Fido custode ognor. (witness of our trust.)"
He could almost hear a chorus of angels as they watched the action. The ring fit perfectly and sparkled as he held her hand to his lips and kissed her fingertips.
The angelic chorus sang, "Scritti nel ciel già sono, (Your vows are sealed in Heaven)
Come nel vostro cor. (As they are in your hearts.)
He drew her close to himself, nuzzling her neck, affirming his intention to marry her.
"Sposi or noi siamo. (Now we are betrothed.)"
She didn't sing the response Amina was supposed to sing at this point but her arms around his waist told him what the words meant to her.
As she held up her hand to admire the ring, Murdock spied a clump of violets under one of the trees. Standing and quickly moving to it, he plucked a single blossom. He presented it to her with a flourish and a lingering kiss on her lips.
"Cara! nel sen ti posi . . . (Beloved! Upon your heart . . . )
Questa gentil viola. (Let this violet stay.)"
She touched the delicate petals with one finger and wove it into the top open buttonhole of her white uniform sweater.
"Ei mi rammenti a te. (May it remind you of me.)"
She rose to her feet and slipped her arms around his waist. "I'll love you forever, H. M."
Looking down into her blue eyes, he knew she was the woman his mother had told him about all those years ago.
He tightened his hold around her and finished his song.
"Cara! (Beloved!)
Dal dì che univa . . . (Ever since the day . . . )
. . . I nostri cori un Dio, (. . . that God joined our hearts)
. . . Con te rimase il mio, (. . . mine has stayed with you)
. . . Il tuo con me restò. (. . . and yours has not left me.)"
oooooo
"He loves you, Miss Scalatini. He's loyal to us. Like he always says, you have to stay with your unit. But he loves you." Hannibal waited, letting his words sink in, hoping the young woman beside him would listen to reason.
"As long as he's with me, he is in as much danger as I am. Mob allegiances are just as tight as your team loyalties, Hannibal. Vengeance is visited upon not only the person who went against them but also against the ones they love. You saw that today." She ran her finger along the arm of the chair, not trusting herself to look into the Colonel's eyes.
"Danger? Has he told you about most of our missions?" Hannibal chuckled. He desperately wanted a cigar so he could think of how to convince Dani not to run away. Somehow he knew an elderly woman lighting up in the middle of the emergency room would attract more attention than it was worth.
"It's different, Hannibal. To get at me, they'll use him. It won't stop. They won't ever give up." She dared a glance at him.
He seemed to be deep in thought. He startled her when he spoke. "You weren't on duty when the bounty hunter sent his sons to kidnap Murdock from the hospital?"
"I heard about it but I wasn't there."
"Why do you think they did that?"
Her eyes widened a little but she said nothing. No, she hadn't heard the rest of the story.
"You see, Miss Scalatini, our line of work puts us in danger all the time. At any time, one of us could be used as a lure to capture and either arrest or kill the rest of us. And we have run up against the Mob before. Do the names Gianni Christian, Crazy Tommy T, or a Mob boss that goes by the last name of Carlin mean anything to you?" He watched for her reaction and was satisfied when she flinched at the names.
"So you see, Miss Scalatini, we're already targets of the Mob and every low life that we've helped to put away over the years. Living in the V. A. hospital doesn't protect him if any of them want him or us bad enough. Your situation adds very little to what we're already facing every day."
She fully turned to him as the double doors opened. A nurse looked around as if looking for someone.
"I know Murdock. He loves you. If you run away from him, he'll be hurting worse than if you stabbed him yourself. He'll take more risks and maybe even endanger the rest of his team because he won't care anymore." Dani's eyes were filling with tears but Hannibal wanted to know for certain she wouldn't bolt as soon as Murdock was on his feet again.
"Are you here for Mark McKillian?" The dark-skinned nurse stood in front of them.
"Yes," Dani and Hannibal both said.
The emergency room nurse pursed her lips as she scanned Hannibal. "And you are?"
"This is his grandmother. I called her to let her know." Dani got to her feet. "Can we see him?" She bent down and put out her arm to "help" Hannibal up from the chair.
"He isn't completely awake from surgery. He's been making sounds like he's singing in his sleep. He isn't forming any words clearly but it sounds a little like opera." The nurse said the last words as if she wasn't sure they would believe her.
Hannibal smirked."That's my sonny boy. Now can we see him?"
oooooo
Murdock was in the hospital for a full week following the surgery to repair the two knife wounds and a nick made to his liver. Dani remained by his side. She could tell from his meditative mood and the thoughtful looks he gave her when he thought she wasn't looking that he was deciding something in his mind.
The day he was released into his "grandmother's" care, Dani disappeared. He noticed the worried glances Hannibal and Face directed his way just outside the hospital entrance and knew something was wrong. When B. A. opened the side door to the van, he was kinder than usual and that was all wrong, too.
Murdock glanced inside and sighed when he noted that Dani had not accompanied them to the hospital. "Let's get outta this dump," he mumbled to B. A. as the Sergeant helped him negotiate the step up into the vehicle.
Easing himself into the van seat, he winced from the slight pull in the stitches. Staring at the back of the van seat in glassy-eyed silence, he fell into a quiet mood none of them wanted to interrupt. They all knew he wasn't really seeing anything around him. None of them spoke much on the drive to the beach house Face was currently occupying.
As Face ran ahead to open the door to the bungalow, Hannibal squinted back at the stricken pilot. "I tried my best, Captain. Until today I thought I had convinced her."
Murdock nodded bitterly and moved over in the seat to lower himself out of the van. "Hannibal, 'ts alright. Ya couldn't change her thinkin'." He gave the Colonel a wistful smile. "Not even I know how t' do that."
B. A. and Hannibal watched as he slowly and painfully made his way up the steps to the door of the bungalow, a tragic figure in a faded bomber jacket and khaki pants, disappointment and despair evident in every movement.
"We go lookin' for her, Hannibal?"
"We go looking for her, B. A." The Colonel stared out the window of the van as the Sergeant backed the van up and started the return trip to the V. A. hospital to track down the whereabouts of the nurse.