That night, Jean was alone in her house alternating between vacuuming the carpets in the dining room and living room, and getting choked by the cord she'd wrapped around her neck to avoid running over it with the machine. She hummed something to herself as she worked even though it was impossible to hear over the vacuum running. In fact, it covered all noises, including the noise of the knob in the front door turning and then the door opening up slowly. Face slowly peered in and saw Jean in the dining room with her back to him and he smirked as he tiptoed in and crept up on her. He giggled to himself in anticipation of what her response was going to be as he came up behind her and leaning forward to yell into her ear a loud "BOO!" that could actually be heard over the whirring of the vacuum cleaner.

Jean's response however hadn't been what he'd expected, instead of yelping or jumping, she'd merely lifted one leg back and tried to kick him below the belt, thankfully she missed, but not by much. She stepped on the vacuum's lever and shut it off and turned to him.

"Cheater!" he said.

Jean shook her head, "Not my fault, I saw the headlights poking in through the slats in the blinds over there."

Face grunted and went back to the front door and called out, "Alright guys, it's clear!"

Murdock was the first one that came running in, he made a beeline right over to Jean and lifted her off her feet and spun around with her a couple times before putting her down.

"So how'd it go?" she asked.

"Terrific," Face said as he adjusted his tie, "By the time that plane lands, nobody's going to have any idea what hit them."

B.A. and Hannibal brought up the rear and closed the door behind them; they both made a beeline to the living room and promptly collapsed on the furniture.

"So what happened?" Jean asked as she and the Captain and Lieutenant followed them in.

"Aw man, this was one of the craziest runarounds Hannibal ever decided to give Decker," B.A. grumbled.

Hannibal decided to explain, "We had Face scam us a big jet and he, Murdock and I got on it and took it out of state, landed it somewhere off radar where nobody would look for it."

"We got off it and decided to find out where we were," Face added, "And if there was anybody around who would either help us or plug a few holes in us."

"So we walked around in circles for about an hour and didn't find anybody," Murdock continued, "So then we headed back to the plane, just in time to find some people loading it up."

"With what?" Jean asked.

"Drugs probably," Hannibal explained, "Apparently that abandoned area is a pickup/drop-off area, planes come in to pick up shipments, and then head to…wherever their final destinations are, deliver the drugs, collect the money, come back, and start again."

"And they go through pilots like Kleenex," Murdock added, "One pilot drops off the plane, leaves, a new pilot takes over, takes it to…wherever, and after that, who knows?"

"So, instead of looking at it as a loss, since we were going to abandon the plane anyway," Hannibal said, "Once B.A. came with the van, we were able to contact the nearest control tower in the vicinity, inform them that a plane would be coming up soon that had been stolen from a Los Angeles airport, by the infamous A-Team, and told them how to get into contact with Colonel Decker who would oversee their capture upon landing, wherever that is. The last we heard, they'd managed to pick something up from the radio that mentioned Miami."

Jean fell on the couch beside Hannibal laughing, "You're really too much, Hannibal, you know that?"

"Don't tell him that," B.A. growled, "It encourages him."

"But what about this client of yours?" Jean asked.

"Oh that," Hannibal slapped his thigh, "That's the beauty of it, they're right here in Los Angeles. But this way, Decker's chasing his tail for 3,000 miles just to catch a bunch of drug smugglers, so it's a win/win situation and everybody's happy."

"I doubt Decker will be," Face reminded him, "Catching drug dealers may be good for his public image, but it ain't gonna further his rank like he wants."

"Ah well," Hannibal shrugged, "Who cares?"

"I wish you would've told me that before," Jean said, "I saw your plane taking off so once I got done working at the studio I called Decker and told him that you all were sighted over in Palm Springs so he wouldn't get the idea you'd left jurisdiction and go looking for you."

"What time was that?" Hannibal asked.

"At 6 when we all quit for the day," she answered.

"Oh well that's no problem," Hannibal said, "Because we got in touch with the control tower around 8, surely that would have to be enough time for Decker to come back empty handed, get the call, and take off."

"Sure, but there's no way he can beat that jet to Florida," Face said.

"Maybe not but I'm sure a military jet will still make damn good time for him to apprehend them," Jean replied, "And it'll leave him scratching his head where you all went."

Hannibal turned his head to her and said, suddenly realizing, "Now why would Decker not recognize your voice on the phone? Surely he's heard you enough times and I happen to know you do poorly at imitations."

Jean looked like the cat caught in the process of swallowing the canary, "Okay so I didn't speak to him directly, I had somebody call for me."

"Who?" Face asked.

"Tommy Trang," Jean said, "Hey, we stuntmen gotta stick together."

"No doubt," Hannibal replied, "And did the rest of the Trang family have anything to say on the matter?"

"Oh yes," Jean nodded, "In fact, as soon as Decker got Crane and left his office, V.C. went in and dismantled the alarm on the window so the rest of us could get in for a look around."

"Uh…" Face was lost, "How did V.C. get in there without being recognized? Decker interrogated her for three hours last time before letting she and her brothers go. What was her cover?"

"Japanese cleaning woman," Jean answered, "She pushed Jimmy in in the cleaning cart and the rest of us came in through the office window."

"And did you happen to find anything?" Hannibal asked.

"Yes," Jean nodded, "Decker is a poorly organized man, and he especially will be when he gets back."

"You ransacked his office?" B.A. asked.

"No, we made it look like a tornado went through it," Jean said, "He's going to spend days trying to figure out if anything's missing and what you guys were looking for."

"And what were you looking for?" Hannibal asked.

"Just making sure he hasn't gotten too smart and caught onto something," she answered, "From what I could gather by the notes he's keeping, he's just going around in circles as usual, and I'm all for keeping it that way."

"So are we," Murdock said.

"So what about this new client of yours?" Jean asked Hannibal.

"Well," Hannibal let out a huff, "It's one of the most unusual jobs we've had."

"Weirder than house sitting for Hector?" Jean asked.

"I think it'll tie," Face told her, "We've been hired to be some rock star's bodyguard because she claims her boyfriend's stalking her."

Jean turned to him and asked inquisitively, "And…?"

"Well common sense says when it's somebody famous and not just a run-of-the-mill lower-to-working class blue collar individual, that the police force would bend over backwards to help, but…" he cocked his head to the side uncertainly and said, "Apparently they don't approve of her image and think she deserves what she gets."

"And she doesn't have bodyguards or a whole entourage?" Jean asked.

"Paranoia's set in, she thinks everyone she knows is out to get her, all except her mother in Kentucky, and her manager, he's the one that sought us out," Hannibal answered.

"So how'd Amy meet her?" Jean asked.

"She's got a concert coming up soon, Amy drew the straw to interview her to boost the local publicity, which in turn ought to further boost ticket sales," Hannibal told her.

"Ah," Jean snapped her fingers, "Of course. So…who is it? Anyone I know?"

"If preference of music reflects on personality, that could be a safe bet," Face said.

Once again Jean turned towards him and flashed her teeth and growled.

"Well at least we'll have a few days before we have to go to work," Murdock told Jean as he climbed into bed with her that night and they both looked up at the ceiling, "That manager's going to have to take a car down to Kentucky to pick her up from her mother's house, let's see, if he follows the posted speed limits, that ought to take…"

"That's in the country though," Jean reminded him, "He could easily speed on through all the back roads and be there in half the time. You really think her boyfriend's going to try and kill her?"

"I don't know," Murdock said, "I haven't met him yet."

"So…" Jean sat up on the bed, "What do you think she's really like?"

"Who?" Murdock asked.

"Who?" Jean elbowed him, "This rock star, who else?"

"Oh," Murdock replied, "Well…I think…" he noted Jean's glare aimed at him and he said, "I think she's a person."

"Well we knew that," Jean said, "What kind?"

Murdock shrugged, "I don't know, I don't think any rock stars are ever really like their public images."

"Which would mean what…that she's some quiet, soft spoken mousy person who's never even kissed a guy?" Jean asked cynically, "I don't buy that either."

Murdock turned his head to the side to see her and asked, "You want to meet her when she comes?"

"No thanks," she replied.

Murdock nodded slowly though he wasn't sure why he was.

"Listen," he said, "We got probably 3 days until her manager gets back with her and we have to babysit her…"

"So?" Jean asked.

He leaned over and asked her, "Between that, and Decker being gone for a couple days, I think we ought to take advantage of it and go out on another date, don't you?"

"And what number would this one be?" Jean asked, "Four or five?"

Murdock had to stop and think. "…Five, I think…"

Jean nodded and said with no conviction, "Yeah, sure."

Of course she couldn't fool Murdock. He got excited like a small child and clapped as he said humorously, "Oh goodie-goodie-goodie." He moved over to her and said, "I say we aim for tomorrow night, as soon as possible, to make sure nothing gets in the way."

Jean turned on her side away from him and just nodded.

"It's not that I have a problem with them dating," Face told Hannibal the next morning, "I just don't like thinking about it."

"Why's that?" Hannibal asked as he forewent making any eye contact with his Lieutenant to read the morning paper.

"I just don't! Do I need a reason?" Face asked.

"You may," Hannibal replied over his cigar, "If you don't want people to think you're jealous."

"Jealous?" Face practically choked on the word, "Jealous of Murdock?"

"Or…of Jean," Hannibal said as he flipped a page.

"Of Je-," Face choked on a strangled laugh and said, "You can't be serious."

"There's always a third possibility," Hannibal insisted, "That perhaps you're jealous of both of them."

"Now that's the craziest thing I ever heard, even from you, Hannibal," Face said.

Hannibal finally put the newspaper aside and said, "Well let's try looking at this from a psychological point of view."

"Oh please don't," Face said, "You're even worse at that than Murdock is."

"Still," Hannibal ignored his protests, "The fact remains that there must be a reason that thinking about this makes you uncomfortable. I'm sure that if I were to ask Murdock the same thing, his response would be that he doesn't have any problem thinking about what you do on your dates. So I would go on a limb and guess that there is some deep seated issue rooted in here somewhere."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Face asked in a borderline sickened tone.

"A bit," Hannibal gleefully replied.

Jean came down the stairs and paused in the dining room threshold to ask them, "What're you guys talking about?"

"Oh nothing," Hannibal said, "Oh incidentally, Jean, I wanted to ask you something. When you think of Face and his," Hannibal cleared his throat, "Dates being out for the night, what generally comes to your mind?"

Jean squinted one eye as she seemed to consider that question, she turned and looked at Face and looked him over once and responded with a sudden, jerking, singular laugh, "HA!" Followed by a few smaller, equally short laughs, and she laughed all the way into the kitchen.

"Okay," Hannibal said with a straight face, "So now we have Jean's opinion on the subject."

"Don't ask me to explain it, Hannibal, I just don't like thinking about it," Face said, "Even though I know that all they do is weird stuff…"

"What kind of weird stuff?" Hannibal asked, curious to know and curious to know how his Lieutenant knew about their activities.

Face really hadn't wanted to explain that one, but he did, "Okay, the last time they went out, you remember B.A. was working on Jean's car so they just decided to walk around for the night? Well it started raining about halfway through so they spent the rest of the night in a drugstore seeing how many pieces of chewing gum they could stick in their mouths and still talk."

Hannibal was oddly silent to that for a few seconds, before asking, "Who won?"

Face shook his head, "It's just the little things like that, Hannibal, it's weird."

"To you," Hannibal said, "Don't forget this is Murdock we're talking about."

"No," Face said, "This is Murdock and Jean."

A slight smirk found its way to Hannibal's face as he said, "Sounds like jealousy to me."

"Oh please, what reason would I have to be jealous about either of them?" Face asked.

Hannibal made a small sound in his throat before responding, "Just seems that now it's Murdock always going out enjoying himself and a lot of times you're the one sitting home at night."

"Yeah well living with you and B.A. makes it a little hard to bring a date back to entertain," Face pointed out.

"Is there a problem with her place?" Hannibal inquired, "Besides, you seem to forget, for 10 years you were the one having all the fun while Murdock stayed at the V.A."

"Not all the time," Face said.

"No, not all the time," Hannibal shook his head, "But all the times we managed to keep him out, they weren't enough either. It's one thing for you to throw your casual relationships aside after a couple of dates and the fun wears out, Murdock didn't have that option because any chance at one he had was always cut short because he had to return to the hospital, any women he got involved with always moved on before we could break him out again."

Face didn't say anything in response but it was obvious from the look on his face that he hadn't really thought about that, and now he looked like somebody had knocked him in the gut with a sharp rock.

"I think, Face," he continued, "That you're getting nervous."

"Me? About what?"

Hannibal shrugged and said, "The fact that Murdock's time and attention and loyalty is already divided between all of us individually but now also between you and his girlfriend. And when the time comes that those two get married, he won't have as much time for you anymore."

"I'm not," Face insisted.

Hannibal half shrugged dismissively, "If you're sure…"

"I am," Face replied, "I'm glad he's finally met someone, that he has a stable relationship, even if it's with that psychotic loon."

Jean came out of the kitchen at the last part and replied in passing to Face, "Yeah, same to you and more of it."

Hannibal choked on a snicker as she headed back up the stairs and left them to talk amongst themselves.

"So has Murdock mentioned what he's got planned for tonight?" he asked.

"He wouldn't tell me," Face said, "He said he doesn't want to risk it getting back to Jean, he really thinks that we'd tell her?"

"No," Hannibal answered, "He thinks she's got the house bugged."

The afternoon was hot and Murdock decided to make good use of the swimming pool, as did Jean. Though to most the heat outside could be considered unbearable, it wasn't anything that the A-Team hadn't deal with a thousand times over, be it living in L.A. during the summer or taking a trip to a warmer climate for a job. Face went out and set up a lounge chair to sun himself on but he refused to go anywhere near the pool and get wet. Hannibal had also joined them out in the side yard to get a little color himself and got a few laughs when he came out in a T-shirt and the swimming shorts he usually wore under his Aquamaniac suit. When B.A. had come out as well, Murdock had felt a need to point out that at least his color was fine as it was, which got him a low growl of response from the angry mudsucker.

The other three listened to Murdock's screeches and yelps as he splashed around in the pool for as long as they could before it started to wear on their nerves. Hannibal went over to the ladder and climbed up to get a better look at the two of them, and he noticed two things: one was today Murdock was dressed in a slightly more conservative pair of swim trunks and a T-shirt, likely to preserve some of the whiter skin he still maintained on top instead of trading it in for a nice lobster red shade, and the other thing he noticed was the way Jean was swimming.

"Hey Jean," he called to her, "That how you plan to swim for the stunt scene in that movie?"

"Is there something wrong with it?" she asked.

"Yeah," he answered, "You're hardly using your legs."

"What're you talking about?" Jean asked as she stood up in the water.

Hannibal stepped over to the other side and dropped down into the pool, making a surprisingly restrained splash that barely sent any water out of the pool, and went over to her.

"I noticed when you swim you're only using your arms, you're supposed to kick too."

"I am," Jean insisted.

"Yes, but not enough though," Hannibal replied, "Go back and forth a couple times so I can see it better."

Jean didn't get it, but she swam back and forth from end to end again so he could watch her and he went over to her, grabbed her by her feet and about knocked her under the water and told her, "See, you're not kicking enough, you need to kick more, and harder, you're not a fish, you need to be more forceful in the water."

"Okay," Jean said, and getting loose from his grip she kicked her feet hard enough to send the water flying everywhere, mainly on Hannibal, and once she got across to the other end she looked back and asked, "How's that?"

Hannibal spat out a mouthful of water, ran a hand through his hair and wiped the drops from his eyes and replied nonchalantly, "Pretty good," and moved to get out of the pool.

Murdock pressed himself against the pool's wall across from Jean and planted his feet firmly on the pool floor and slowly crouched down into the water. As soon as Hannibal was out of the pool and Jean had her back to him, he sprinted forth in the water like a shark and ducked down underneath Jean and lifted her up out of the water onto his back and dove under with her hanging onto him before she even really realized what had happened.

Face took off his sunglasses and looked over to the pool and asked Hannibal, "What's going on over there?"

"Oh nothing," Hannibal replied with a satisfied look on his face, "Just Murdock playing creature-from-the-ocean-floor with Jean."

"Oh brother," Face groaned as he threw his head back against the lounge.

And apparently B.A. was inclined to agree. He went over to the pool and stood alongside Hannibal watching Murdock zipping around under the water, on occasion coming up for a breath of air and then diving under again, all the while Jean managed to maintain a grip on him like a barfly riding a mechanical bull. Of course Hannibal had a different mental image in mind watching the two of them. He flashed on one of those old movies with Tarzan and Jane in the jungle, except Hannibal noted, these two still had their clothes on…well, for now anyway.

Murdock doubled around again and shot up again for another breath of air and when he did, B.A. grabbed him hard enough to stop him cold and in the process threw Jean off his back and she fell back in the water. She resurfaced rubbing the water from her eyes and spitting out what she'd about swallowed when she went in. Murdock coughed and choked as he tried to pry B.A.'s fat fingers off from his neck, and when he finally did he jumped and back in the water and asked, "What was that for, B.A.?"

"I told you before, fool," B.A. said as he curled his fingers into a fist and stuck it right in front of Murdock's nose, "You ain't no fish, so stop acting like one."

"You also said I couldn't swim either," Murdock replied defiantly, "Now am I or am I not swimming?"

B.A. growled at him and Murdock took the hint and jumped back even further, knocking into Jean and both of them fell under the surface of the water again.

Murdock was finishing up his shower and pulled the curtain back slightly to see Jean standing by the sink looking at her reflection as she stuffed a Q-tip soaked in rubbing alcohol into her ear to dry it out and open it up.

"I hope Faceman don't mind, I used up the rest of his conditioner," he called out from the shower.

Jean cringed as the alcohol started to burn and she replied, "He don't even swim, what does he use conditioner for?"

Murdock just shrugged and drew the curtain back. He shut the water off and waited, listening, to see if Jean was going to leave the room so he could get out and dry off, but he didn't hear anyone leave. He pulled the curtain open an inch again and called out, "Can you hear again yet?"

Jean turned to him and half yelled, "What?"

"Very funny."

"Not yet," Jean answered, "But I guess it's no matter, I can hear you just as well with one ear for the night." She went over to the shower and asked him, "So where are we going for our date tonight?"

"Uh-uh-uh," he shook his finger at her, "You know better than that."

Jean stuck her thumbnail in her ear and twisted it, and even Murdock could hear the small 'pop' as it opened up.

"What'd you say?" she asked.

Murdock struggled to maintain a straight face and he asked her, "Will you get out of here?"

Jean gave a mocking scowl but finally turned and left the bathroom. Murdock waited a minute just to make sure she didn't come popping in on him, then he grabbed a towel and stepped out. He looked at the clock on the wall and did the mental mathematics on how long it was until they went out on their date.

"Well, how do I look?" Murdock asked as he entered the living room dressed in dark dress pants, a gray jacket and a white dress shirt. His hair had also been tamed and smoothed back for the evening.

"You look very nice, Captain," Hannibal said as he stood up from the sofa and couldn't resist reaching over and straightening out the collar though, "So what do you have planned for tonight? You still haven't told us."

"Oh well, no offense Colonel, but that's kind of the idea," Murdock told him, "The less anybody else knows, the lesser chance Jean could know."

Face grumbled something from behind the magazine he was pretending to read.

"Would you care to speak up, Lieutenant?" Hannibal asked.

"Oh I was just wondering," Face said as he lowered his magazine and got up, "And exactly how is Jean dressed for the night? I mean," he said to Murdock as he went over to the pilot and walked around him, taking note of how much work had gone into his appearance for the night, "Why go to all the trouble of getting dressed up for that woman who you know is going to be…she's right behind me, isn't she?"

Hannibal and Murdock both nodded at the same time he heard Jean say, "Yes I am, would you care turning this way for your mudslinging campaign?"

Slowly, Face turned to face the music, but saw that he wasn't far off. Jean was dressed in a dark red T-shirt, a denim vest the same color as her jeans, and black and white sneakers. Face did a double take looking to her, and then to Hannibal, and then back at her.

"Now she's raiding Hannibal's closet," he murmured under his breath.

Jean walked into the room and asked Murdock, "Are we ready to go?"

"Yeah uh, I'm going to need your keys," Murdock told her.

Now Jean did a double take, "My keys?"

"Well darling, you can't drive us where we're going, you don't know where we're going," Murdock pointed out.

Jean huffed and replied, "Alright."

"Good, now…will you go wait in the car for a minute? I have to discuss something with the Colonel," he said.

She shrugged and said, "Alright," and headed out of the room.

Murdock turned to Hannibal and leaned into him to say confidentially, "Colonel, you know I would never dream of kicking you out…"

"But you'd rather we not be here when you two get back tonight," Hannibal said.

"Yeah," Murdock answered.

Hannibal nodded and patted Murdock's shoulder and said, "You got it, Captain, we'll let you two have some privacy for a change," he turned to his Lieutenant and added, "Come on, Face, let's find B.A. and head back to the house."

Jean felt the warm evening breeze blow on her face and through her hair as they sped along through the largely unoccupied streets around the more suburban part of Los Angeles and she looked at Murdock's reflection in the rear view mirror and asked him, "Why do you think Face hates me?"

Murdock looked over at her, then back at the road and replied, "What're you talking about? Faceman doesn't hate you."

"Well he doesn't like me," Jean said, "And you can tell he doesn't approve of us dating."

"Oh don't pay any attention to that," Murdock said, "He just likes being obnoxious, you know how Face is, if he can't find something to complain about, he's lost."

"Always with me though, never anyone else," Jean told him.

"That's cuz he knows you can take it, just like all the times you pick on him," Murdock replied.

Jean smiled and let out a small laugh as she remarked, "Oh yeah, good stuff."

The air was certainly having an effect on her. So far it had been a very nice date due to the fact that nothing had happened that required calling in the police, an ambulance, or the whole United States Army. First they'd gone to Burger Haven for dinner, not necessarily a place Jean would've picked but she knew it was one of Murdock's favorites so she went along with it. And then after that, actually a while after that so their dinner had time to settle, they'd gone to a roller rink and spent about an hour skating around the place in very large circles and trying not to fall down but a few spills were inevitable. More than once in the evening so far she'd been tempted to ask why he'd insisted on overdressing for these sorts of occasions, but she knew that there was always a method to his madness, and she figured that whatever the reason was would be revealed before too much longer. But the air, there was just something about being out in the hot night air, it was about to put her to sleep, more than once during the drive she leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes for a few seconds before snapping to attention again.

Murdock stopped the car on an empty street just around from some of the downtown businesses and started to get out of the car.

"Why're we stopping here?" Jean asked him.

"I have to go around the corner and pick something up," he said, "Do me a favor and stay here till I get back, alright? I should be back in," he consulted his watch, "Five minutes."

She didn't get it, but she agreed, and stayed put while Murdock disappeared around the corner. Jean sat in the car and waited…and she waited…and waited…and waited. She didn't wear a watch but she knew that more than just five minutes had gone by, maybe 10, maybe 15, she didn't know. More than once she'd been tempted to go find him but instead, she fell asleep in the car waiting for him.

And she woke up when she heard a noise and it was a few seconds before she realized the sound was a bunch of stuff being dropped on her lap. She opened her eyes and saw a mess of stuff dumped in the car on her side and it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to see what it all was: a couple bouquets of flowers, a couple bottles of wine and sherry, a box of candy, a few boxes of Red Vines, a few comic books, maybe half a dozen packs of chewing gum, an assortment of full size candy bars, bottles of perfume and bubble bath, and a couple of large teddy bears.

"Murdock!" she exclaimed at the man standing by the curb with an amused look on his face, "What…what…"

Instead of answering her right away, Murdock went back around to the driver side door and got in and started to help her get everything picked up.

"What's going on?" Jean asked.

Murdock just gave a small laugh as he explained, "Just a little idea I had to surprise you."

"Well it worked," Jean tiredly replied as she grabbed at things and tossed them in the backseat. She managed to grab hold of one teddy bear, a large bottle of perfume and a carton of bubble gum cigarettes.

The gears were turning a little slower in Jean's head than usual but the answer finally came to her and she looked at Murdock and said, "You had this planned."

"Guilty as charged," he replied with a big grin as he started up the car and got them out of there, "And everything's for you…except the yellow roses of course."

Jean found that bouquet and asked him, feeling that this was a familiar game that had been played once before and she already knew the answer, "Who're they for?"

Simultaneously they answered, "Your crazy mother."

"You want my opinion," Jean said as she tossed the rest of the haul into the back, "Robert Redford's the last guy to be taking cues from."

"Maybe, but it worked," Murdock pointed out, "You certainly weren't expecting that."

Jean tried to keep her eyes open but she knew it was a losing battle since she could only feel the stuffed animal she was holding against her and didn't know what it looked like, "Mm-hmm…so where to now?"

Murdock hadn't heard her question, a few minutes later he turned to Jean to ask her something and was surprised to see that she was leaning back against her seat and was asleep. He reached over and shook her shoulder, but it got no response out of her. Murdock considered his options, he could turn the car around and take them home for the night, or…he passed by the answer and did turn the car around anyway and headed back to the motel they'd just passed by.

He parked the car and headed in to the front desk first, once he'd gotten a room and the key, he went back to the car, opened Jean's door, picked her up in his arms and carried her over and into the room he'd gotten them for the night. He made a beeline over to the bed and laid Jean out on it before he dropped her; the fact that she hadn't even acknowledged anything happening spoke volumes to him of how tired she had to be. He looked at her lying on the bed completely unresponsive to anything happening around he and thought about what was going to happen during the rest of the night. He went out to the car and brought in some of the stuff from the backseat, and put the top up and locked the car up so nothing happened to the rest of it. After that, he took off his shoes and socks, then slowly undid his tie, and removed his jacket, all the while glancing over at Jean, watching for any small movement, anything that would've indicated she was only playing possum with him, but there was nothing.

He went over to the bed and slipped one arm under Jean's legs and lifted them up so he could pull the covers out from under her and get her tucked in on her side after removing her own shoes and the vest that she'd worn. He also took the liberty of un-tucking her T-shirt from her jeans and undoing the button on the jeans so she could be semi-comfortable during the night. Then when that was done, he went around to the other side of the bed and proceeded to undo the buttons on his dress shirt and slipped it over a chair in the room and then crawled into bed alongside Jean. He shut off the lights and got himself settled under the covers, but found it increasingly difficult to stay there, over on his own side of the bed.

Eventually he gave up, pushed back the covers and moved over to Jean's side of the bed. Even though she wasn't awake and had no idea of what was going on, he wanted to be with her; he ran his hands lightly up and down her shoulders and her arms and then up to her face and felt her cheeks and traced a thumb over her closed lips. With his other hand he stroked through her hair that still felt damp from her shower that afternoon. He buried his knees against the mattress to rise up over her so he had leverage to lean down and kiss her on her forehead, then moved down and kissed her on the cheek, and then down and across slightly and kissed her on the mouth, though there was no response to be gained by the woman laying underneath him. Murdock wrapped his arms around Jean under her back and pressed his body against hers and took the comfort he could in her mere presence. Not how he'd planned for their date to end, least of all not this early into the night, not before they got home to their vacant, private home, but for now it would do.