Everybody was anxious to see Hannibal and to know that he was alright but that didn't mean they were willing to take any chances. They forewent the elevator on the chance that it would mysteriously stall long enough for Decker to get there and then open up to a 20-piece MP set and went up the stairs to find Hannibal's room. As they reached the door the doctor had led them to, Murdock took a step back and said, "I don't think I can look at this."

Jean grabbed his arm and told him supportively, "Come on, it'll be alright," though it was obvious by the tone of her voice that she was forcing herself to keep moving forward just as much as she was him.

Face had the same feeling but as he was leading them he knew he had to carry on, so, swallowing a deep breath, he opened the door and put one foot in front of the other until he'd crossed over the threshold and stood in the room, slowly the others came in behind him.

Hannibal had just recently been brought into the room; he'd been cleaned up and dressed in one of the hospital's gowns and was lying on the bed with a blanket drawn halfway up him, and he was still asleep. But something had changed, they couldn't tell what it was but he suddenly looked a lot better now than he had when they wheeled him off to surgery.

"Hannibal, you awake?" Murdock asked as he leaned over the sleeping Colonel.

"Murdock, get back," Face told him.

Jean grabbed Hannibal's wrist and wrapped both her hands around it and felt for his pulse, "Is it faster or slower while under anesthesia that's a good sign?"

"Which is it?" Face asked.

"…It's beating," she said for an answer, "I don't know what's normal for him."

Face looked at Murdock and B.A. as they all stood beside the bed hovering over Hannibal and he said, "I want to get a look at his scar, I have some idea of what it should look like."

"Me too," Murdock nodded in agreement.

Murdock turned and saw Jean was standing right beside him and he raised his hand and covered her eyes. Jean grabbed his hand and pulled it back down, so B.A. took the lead and pulled her away from the bed and over to the other side of the room where she couldn't see while they took a look at the job the doctors had done on Hannibal.

"As far as appendix scars go," Murdock told Face, "That one 'sho is a beauty."

Face nodded, "Yeah I think everything's in working order here," and pulled the gown down and the blanket back up.

"What about the other thing?" Jean asked, "Can you see where they took out the scar tissue?"

Face nodded, "Just barely though, they must be using more improved surgical methods these days than they used to."

"Well?" she asked, "When's he going to wake up?"

"I don't know," Face told her, "It'll depend on how much stuff it took to knock him out."

"That's right," Murdock agreed, "Maybe he also woke up during surgery and had to be put under all over again, it happens more than people think."

"Nice to know I'm nothing special," Jean remarked.

A noise escaped Hannibal's throat, and everybody loomed over him again as if they were expecting him to croak. Another noise rose out of him and they realized it was a small grunt, like Hannibal was trying to clear his throat. He moved his mouth like he was just waking up with the typical morning cotton feeling in his tongue. He tilted his head further back against the pillows and though his eyes never opened, his mouth slowly formed into a large grin. All that was missing was a cigar clamped between those two rows of teeth and he would look like his old self once again.

"What's he grinning at?" Jean asked the others, who just shrugged and were just as clueless about it as she was.

Murdock was the only one who took a guess and made the suggestion as he shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe it's gas."

Jean disregarded that thought and reached over and gently shook Hannibal's shoulder, "Hannibal, are you awake?" But he didn't open his eyes and he didn't respond to the question.

"I think it's going to be a while," Face said.

"Fine," Jean said, "In the meantime we'll take shifts, one will stay here and watch him, and the others will go back downstairs and keep an eye on Nurse Bedpan and make sure she doesn't make any outgoing calls."

"Right," Face and Murdock agreed.

"But who takes the first watch?" Murdock asked.

Jean raised her hand, "I will, as soon as he wakes up, I want to have a few words with ol' 'Grandpa' here."

"Yeah well just let us know when he does," Face told her.

"Don't worry, when he wakes up you'll be the second to know," she replied.


Hannibal heard somebody in the room with him groaning, he opened his eyes and turned his head to the side and saw Jean was lying on the hospital bed next to his. She was halfway into the fetal position and looked like she was ready to drop dead.

"Hey kid," he weakly said, maintaining his ever persistent smirk that would in any other circumstance have Face ready to climb the wall, even though Jean was curled on her side with her back to him and couldn't see it, "What're you in for?"

Jean never opened her eyes as she answered, "Exhaustion."

"Oh yeah? What's the sentence on that?" Hannibal asked.

"Too damn short," Jean answered as she reluctantly rolled over and opened her eyes to see him. "Are you alright, Hannibal?"

"Well," Hannibal was slowly realizing where he was and putting together the pieces to the answer of why; he pulled up his sheet and looked down and then told Jean, "I think I will, yes…what're you doing here?"

"Fulfilling my word to Face and Murdock and B.A.," she answered, "I told them as soon as you woke up, I'd let them know."

"Where are they?" he asked.

"Out in the hall somewhere," Jean answered as she turned back on her side and laid down with her back to him. In spite of this however, Hannibal heard her perfectly clear as she told him, "Hannibal, you've got to talk to that captain of yours."

"Murdock? Why?" Hannibal wanted to know.

Jean turned back to him and answered, "He thinks you're going to die."

Hannibal started to laugh but it hurt him to try, and he asked her, "What?"

"Ever since you guys showed up on my doorstep, Murdock hasn't left your side for more than a few minutes, he's worried that you're going to die, he hasn't slept in three days, Hannibal, and because of that he's not letting anybody else sleep either," Jean told him as she got up from the bed, "He's about to drive us all up the wall but the worst part of it is if he doesn't get some sleep soon, he's going to get sick and then he's going to be the one to die. I don't mind being an ex-wife but I'll be damned if I'm going to be a widow."

Hannibal nodded weakly and told her, "I understand. Would you mind finding that husband of yours and sending him in here, preferably alone?"

"That's just what I had in mind," Jean told him, "And by the way, I need you to clear something up with the others."

"What's that?" Hannibal asked.

"Before you were wheeled out to surgery, you told the doctors that I was about eight months pregnant," Jean told him, "And now I think Face and B.A. are starting to believe there's some truth to that."

"Oh, I see," he said with a slight nod, "No problem, I'll set them straight on the matter…uh, by the way, Jean…"

"No," she shook her head, "I'm not."

"Just checking," he grinned at her, "I don't mind admitting I'm wrong but first I want to make sure that I actually am."

You are going to be alright, aren't you, Hannibal?" Jean asked.

"Oh sure, it's going to take more than a…" Hannibal lifted the blanket again and looked under it again, "Incidentally what did they do to me?"

"They took your appendix out," she said as she headed to the door.

Hannibal started to nod in understanding then something occurred to him and he looked down again, "What, did they find two of them?"

"I'll explain it to you when I get back," Jean said as she left the room.

Hannibal lowered the blanket and looked around the hospital room. If you see one you've seen them all, they were all the same: cold, sterile, impersonal, uncomfortable, inconvenient, and run by a bunch of morons, and he couldn't wait to get out of here, he was dying for a cigar.

He could hear Murdock's sneakered feet tapping against the tiling as he came to the room, and then the captain appeared in the doorway, looking very anxious about something.

"Captain," Hannibal said as he tried sitting up, "Would you mind coming in here, and closing the door behind you?"

He could tell that Murdock was ready to burst out of his skin and, if Hannibal didn't just have his stomach sewn up, would've probably leapt onto the bed and climbed on him, he was that nervous about whatever was bothering him. The pilot shut the door and slowly, very nervously, walked halfway over to the bed and asked, "H-How're you feeling, Colonel?"

"Oh I'm doing alright," Hannibal said, "Come over here, Captain…no wait a minute," he took the pillow from behind his head and put it over his stomach, "Now come over here."

Murdock did, but Hannibal noticed how he dragged his feet, like somebody had put molasses on the soles of his shoes. Murdock came over to the bed and hiked one leg up and sat sideways on the railing, but Hannibal could tell the pilot didn't dare touch him for fear of hurting him.

"I understand," Hannibal told him, "That you've been worried about me…would you care to explain why?"

Murdock sighed and looked down at the tiled floor and scraped the sole of one shoe against it. Hannibal reached over and lightly grabbed the younger man's arm to get his attention and said, "Want to tell me what's got you so upset?"

Murdock looked at him and said, "I've never seen you so bad, Hannibal…I thought you were going to die."

"Not for the first time I'm sure," Hannibal replied, "What was different about this time?"

Murdock broke the eye contact and glanced towards the floor again, it took him a minute before he answered, "I never want you to die, but if you were going to, I was hoping before it happened, I'd have a chance to say how sorry I was that I let you down."

"What?" Hannibal thought his fever must've spread to Murdock because he wasn't making any sense, far less than B.A. would ever accuse him of making for sure, "What're you talking about, Murdock? What do you mean let me down? That…" he tried to sit up and fell back against the bed moaning, he grabbed Murdock's hand as he tried again, "That is a very serious accusation, Captain, don't you know that you boys could never let me down?"

"But I did," Murdock told him, "Or I would've if you did die. All I've been able to think about for the last four days is what you said when I got married."

Hannibal couldn't think that far back at that moment, so he relied on Murdock's memory instead to give him the answer, "What did I say?"

Murdock looked at him and said, "You said 'I'd like to have some grandchildren before I die and the only way I can do that is through you guys'. If you died now, I'd never be able to do that for you."

Hannibal didn't know what to say for a minute. He ran his hand up and down Murdock's arm comfortingly as he tried to think how to handle this. He grabbed the upper part of Murdock's arm and pulled him down towards him, his stomach be damned; he gritted his teeth against the pain of having Murdock lean on him as he hugged the captain and told him, "I get it now…you and Jean are having your marriage terminated and that way there wouldn't be any chance for you to have any children with her, even after I was gone, nothing left even for the legacy, is that it?"

Murdock hardly moved at all in response but Hannibal did note a slight nod of the head.

"Don't worry about it, Murdock," Hannibal said as he kept one arm wrapped tightly around the younger man and rubbed his back consolingly with his other hand, "For one thing I am not about to go anywhere. You didn't really think you were going to get rid of me that easily did you?" He smiled at the small laugh he managed to draw out of Murdock with that comment. "For another, there'll be plenty of time for you to worry about having a family later on…besides, in the meantime I think I'll have my hands plenty full with the five of you I've got now."

Murdock went stiff in his arms and then pulled away from him and asked curiously, "Five of us?"

"That's right," Hannibal counted off on his fingers, "You, Face, B.A, Amy, and of course Jean. She's already become a member of this family, that's not going to stop just because you two aren't married anymore."

Murdock gave a small, sad smile and he said, "I'm glad to hear you say that, Colonel, because I wasn't sure how we were going to get through that one otherwise."

Hannibal chuckled lowly as he patted Murdock on the back, "Incidentally, Murdock, there's something I'd like to ask you."

Murdock pulled away from him again and said, "Anything, Colonel, you just name it."

"Alright…I found out that when I was put under for the operation, I suddenly developed a big mouth and may have said something about Jean being pregnant. Now she seemed deathly certain that she was not, so I'm going to ask you, are you as positive about that as she is?"

Murdock didn't even need time to think about it. He nodded and said, "Oh yes, Colonel, as positive as your blood type."

"Just making sure," Hannibal told him, "I figured there had to be some reason you were so sure there wouldn't be any children."

Murdock looked somewhere between shocked, offended and embarrassed as he said, "Aw Hannibal, you ought to know me better than that," he shook his head, "She's too young."

Hannibal laughed and replied, "And you're still a good friend to her, I'm sorry that you two feel you can't make the marriage last, but if this is what you truly think is best, you have my blessing on it." He raised himself up enough to lean over and kiss Murdock on the forehead. "Regardless, Jean was and is lucky to have had you for as long as she has."

"You think so, Hannibal?" Murdock asked.

"Why not?" he responded, "You both could've done a lot worse." A sudden wave of fatigue hit Hannibal and he felt himself starting to slip under again, and he told Murdock, "Go get the others, I want to have a word with all of you."

"Right!" Murdock tore out of the room and returned a few seconds later with the other three.

Hannibal weakly gestured from where he lay in the bed and told them, "Come over here, all of you." They approached the bed but Hannibal continued, "Come on, closer than that, you can do better than that, I'm not contagious, at least I don't think I am." They all stood hovering over him and he shook his head, "No good, all of you get down here where I can actually see you."

Murdock and Jean hovered over one side of him and Face and B.A. stood on the other side of the bed, by now they had all knelt down so much they were practically in Hannibal's face. He reached up and managed to wrap his arms around them and he told them, his voice tired and weak, "I love you all very much," and pulling himself up he leaned over and kissed them each one by one. It was an act that took them all by surprise and even B.A. was too stunned to respond in any way resembling how he normally would with threats or grunts or growls. "I'm sorry I made you all worry about me so much," he continued. He lost his grip on them and fell back against the bed and closed his eyes.

"Are you okay, Hannibal?" Face asked as he grabbed the colonel's arm.

Hannibal slowly nodded and answered, "I'll be fine, I just need to rest for a while."

"Man already spent four days asleep and now he wants to go back to bed?" Jean whispered to Murdock.

"Makes sense," he replied, "This is the first time he can actually get some rest, the fever's gone, the foreign obtrusion has been removed, man wants to rest he has a right to rest, so let him rest."

"Why did that just make sense?" Face asked B.A.

Hannibal groaned as he succumbed to unconsciousness once again; Murdock, Face and Jean had all grabbed him at the last second as if in an attempt to bring him back but they knew that he wouldn't even be able to leave the hospital for a few days, so right now letting him get all the rest he could was definitely in his favor.

"Uh oh," Jean realized something.

"What is it?" Face asked.

Jean grabbed Murdock and said as she pulled him toward the door, "We'll be back in a minute!"

They took the stairs two at a time, Murdock didn't know what was going on but he had a pretty good idea.

Downstairs the incoming traffic had slowed down for the night and the waiting room was practically empty. The young nurse working at the front desk decided to take that opportunity to call the number that had been left with her a few weeks ago when some men from the army came in to inquire about four fugitives who may have come in for medical treatment. When a search of the hospital had turned up nothing and nobody that they were looking for, one of the men had left a number with her, and a name, Colonel Roderick Decker, incase they ever did come in.

She kept her voice down when the other end of the line was picked up and she said into the receiver, "Get me Colonel Decker…" she raised her voice a bit louder, "I said Colonel Decker, I'm calling in regards to…"

She never got to explain why she was calling because somebody snatched the receiver out of her hand and she turned around and saw Murdock yanking the curled cord out of the receiver. Behind him, Jean had a gun drawn on the nurse and raised a finger to her lips, making it very clear that if she tried screaming for help, she was a dead woman.


Meanwhile, Face and B.A. had their own hands full with a nurse, one of them had come in to see if Hannibal was asleep and regardless of if he was or not she came over to the bed to see how he was doing and to take the pillow off his stomach and replace it behind his head. Hannibal had woken up and seemed to still be out of it a bit, but Face and B.A. suspected the colonel was pretending for the most part to go along with his role of the crazy grandfather. Hannibal murmured long ramblings under his breath with his eyes closed, and then suddenly he opened his eyes and told the nurse, "I want you to meet my grandsons, come over here Dirk and Dwight…come over here," he curled his finger towards them, "Dwight, Dwight…"

Face went over to the bed and grabbed Hannibal's hand and looked at him as he said, "Grandpa."

"Hmm?"

Face pointed at himself and said, "I'm Dirk."

"Ohhh," Hannibal slowly nodded, "That's right…where's Dwight?"

"He…stepped out for a minute," Face told him.

"Oh," Hannibal said as he turned his head to the side and closed his eyes again.

"Are you in any pain, Mr. Tuttle?" the nurse asked.

"Noooo," Hannibal replied, "I just feel like my gut's been ripped open with a razor and I' been left open to rot is all."

"We can have a morphine drip brought in if you think you can't stand the pain," the nurse told him.

"Oh no," Hannibal shook his head, "I'll be fine…" he laughed and said, "I crashed my plane in Korea and crawled for two miles on a broken leg and didn't need morphine then."

The nurse looked at Face who just spun his finger by his temple by way of explanation that the drugs his grandpa was already on were making him cuckoo enough. The nurse nodded in understanding and said, "If he needs anything, just press the call button and somebody will come up."

"We'll remember that," Face said, "Thank you."

That nurse left, and a couple minutes later the door opened and coming in from the other direction were Murdock and Jean with another nurse between them. Hannibal opened his eyes and saw the young woman had her hands behind her back, most likely tied up, and noticed how Jean and Murdock had their arms interwoven with hers and they seemed to have put so much strength into it they were practically carrying her, her white shoes just barely touched the tiled floor anymore.

"Hmmm," Hannibal said with a weak grin, "I didn't know it was my birthday already."

"Ha ha ha, Grandpa," Jean dryly remarked as they put the nurse down, "Look who we found trying to place a call to our old friend Colonel Decker."

"Did you have any trouble with her?" Hannibal asked.

"Na, we disconnected the call before she got transferred," Murdock answered, "Faceman I think we may need your help with this one."

Face shrugged and went over to the nurse and said, "Well I'd like to apologize for any inconvenience that you…" she cut him off by slapping him across the face. He rubbed his stinging cheek and said, "Forget me, you need the Exorcist for this one."

"If you think you're getting out of this hospital without a military escort you better think again," the nurse told them, "Somebody is going to catch on, somebody else will call them in."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Hannibal said, "Of course you realize that we can't let you go."

She didn't seem worried by that idea. "You think I'll go quietly?" She turned towards the door and hollered, "HELP! HELP!"

"Shut her up and get her in the bathroom!" Hannibal told the others as they grabbed the woman and shut her up. Face, Murdock and Jean all took a side and carried her into the bathroom, and after gagging her they shut her in with Face, and just in time because a moment later a doctor came in.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Tuttle?"

The fact that the doctor was in his 60s and looked about 20 years older said something to them that he had to be halfway towards senility if he thought that screaming was Hannibal.

"No, nothing's wrong," Hannibal said, and pointed at Murdock, "My grandson just likes to act out to get attention. Come over here, Dirk."

Murdock shook his head and said, "No, Grandpa, I'm Dwight!"

"Oh right," Hannibal replied. He turned to Jean who cut him off and said, "Forget it, Grandpa, you haven't been able to get anybody's names right tonight, if you get mine wrong too, I'm going to hurt you."

Hannibal glared at her and remarked, "Bloodthirsty ingrate. Sorry for bothering you, Doctor."

While he was there, the doctor decided to look him over and ask him a few questions, Hannibal responded as expected, he answers were simple and he cut the exam short before the doctor pulled the sheet down.

"Oh Doctor," Hannibal called as the old man was getting ready to leave the room.

"Yes, Mr. Tuttle?"

"I have a nephew, his name is Roderick Decker, he's in the army and thinks he's a big deal now…if he comes to this hospital, please be a dear and don't let him know where I am. He would be only too happy to see me pushing up daisies so he can get his inheritance. He's a manipulative one though, he may try to trick you into revealing my room by using other names, so don't let yourself fall for it."

"I'll pass the word along, Mr. Tuttle, goodnight," the doctor said.

Hannibal had a big grin on his face that spread from ear to ear as he replied, "Goodnight, Doctor."

A minute after the door closed and they heard the doctor's footsteps descend down the hall, Hannibal raised his head and called to the bathroom door, "You can come out now, Face."

The door opened and Face stuck half of himself out, revealing in the light of the room the lipstick marks on his face and he said, "Uh…I'll be with you guys in just a minute, okay?"

As the door closed they saw the nurse pull him back and the door closed with a pronounced slam. Murdock smirked and said, "I guess the power of Face compelled her."

Hannibal chuckled weakly, then he looked up at B.A. and said to him, "B.A., get a change of my clothes out of the van and bring them up here, I'm getting out of here."

"Oh no you don't," Jean shook her head as she and Murdock went over to the bed, "We caught one lucky break already getting you here before your appendix blew like Mt. Vesuvius. And with the additional surgery they had to do, you're going to have to stay in bed for at least three days before we can get you out of here. You might be willing to gamble with your life, Hannibal, but we're not."

Hannibal looked up at the Captain, the Staff Sergeant, and the honorary corporal, and he said finally, "Alright, I'll stay on in this butcher shop for a couple of days to please you, but still get my clothes, I'm not going to wear this ridiculous gown the whole time I'm here."


Hannibal's mind was willing to get up and get dressed as soon as possible, but his body had other plans and he had to rely on help from Face and Murdock to stand up long enough to get his pants on.

"Alright Jean, you can come out now," he called to the bathroom door once he finally got dressed.

The door opened and Jean and the nurse stepped out each with a cigarette in their hand, both of them laughing and starting to walk like they were drunk.

"So then," Jean told the nurse, "Murdock comes out in a bathrobe and shower cap, and Face just about swallows his lip, cuz they've got to convince the cop that he's his wife. You should've seen it, you would've believed it, these two guys are exactly like an old married couple, they've certainly been together long enough. Over 10 years now don't you know? And still no children."

"And what about you?" the nurse asked.

"Hey," Jean sneered, "If one more person accuses me of being pregnant I'm going to…"

"I mean," she said, "How is your marriage with him going so far?"

"Oh that," Jean said, "Not so well…we're going to be ending it soon."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah well don't go getting used to the idea," Jean warned her, "There's a lady in Jakarta coming back soon who's going to be the next likely candidate."

"What about Face?"

"Oh Face can't marry Murdock," Jean said, "They already tried it once, it didn't work, I should know, I was there to perform the ceremony."

The nurse glanced at her watch and said, "Ah shoot, I've got to get back to the front desk." She stubbed her cigarette out in a potted plant on the small dresser by the window and headed for the door, "I'll see you guys round, goodnight Mr. Smith, I hope you feel better soon."

"Goodnight, Lorraine," Face called after her.

Once she was gone and the door had closed, Hannibal turned to Jean and said, "Now I can understand how Face got her to warm up to him…but how did you manage to do it?"

"Oh really, Hannibal, you disappoint me," Jean told him, "You ought to know that anybody can be thawed out with patience, the right attitude…" she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small bottle, "And a little whiskey. Get that down any woman's throat and she's putty in your hands."

"If I would've tried that, I'd get smacked for it," Face noted.

"Rightfully so," Jean replied as she balled her hand up into a fist, "And you still will if you try it."

Hannibal was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed and trying to push himself up, but his attempt only resulted in him falling back on it.

"Murdock, help me up," he said.

"What's the matter, Hannibal?" the pilot asked as he went over to the bed.

Hannibal groaned and clutched his stomach, "I need to get up…the sooner I can start walking around, the better off I'm going to be."

"It don't look like it's doing you much good as it is," Jean noted.

Nevertheless, Murdock helped Hannibal to his feet and had the Colonel lean on him as he slowly walked around the bed, groaning and cringing with every step he took. He managed to circle the bed three times before he looked like he was having his guts cut open with a rock.

"Alright Colonel, that's enough for tonight," Murdock said as he helped Hannibal ease down on the bed instead of dropping on it, "We'll start on the other 17 laps tomorrow."

"Thanks, Murdock," Hannibal groaned.


Hannibal had no recollection of falling asleep, but he woke up sometime during the night and saw the room was dark except for lights from the street pouring in through the window. It lit the room up enough that he could see he wasn't alone. The first thing he saw was the teddy bear that somebody had put in his bed with him, that sometime in the night he'd gotten his arm wrapped around. He had to laugh, Murdock's Bogey bear, that was just like the captain. He put the bear aside and sat up in the bed to look around the room. There was a second bed in his hospital room, and Jean and Murdock had occupied it for the night; one thing Hannibal had found out was that these hospital beds were not made for two people, so it was a very tight fit and they were practically lying on top of each other. Hannibal craned his head around and saw that his own bed was also crowded for the night, Face lay right beside him and was in a deep sleep that Hannibal's moving around on the mattress couldn't wake him up from. Hannibal forced his neck to turn a little further to see that B.A. had fallen asleep in two chairs placed by the door, so nobody could come in, and nobody could get out.

With some difficulty, Hannibal managed to sit up in the bed and get a better look at his surroundings, and the present company. This seemed oddly familiar, and he thought back two months ago when he had a chunk blown out of his shoulder, and he'd woken up to find all of these people asleep in a dogpile on the floor, practically at his feet. Well, this was marginally better than that, at least everybody was spread out somewhat this time. He looked over to the other bed and saw how close Jean and Murdock were to one another, like a couple of bookends. They fit together so well that they looked like they'd always belonged together. Then Hannibal looked to the lieutenant in his own bed; Face's age, or lack thereof, never showed more clearly than when he was asleep, peacefully, which given their lives was a rarity. Hannibal almost laughed, Face looked so young in his sleep that it wouldn't be hard to imagine one of the nurses burping him and tucking him in for the night. Even B.A. seemed to be somewhat at peace when he was asleep; it was the one time of the day that they knew the man festered no grudges against any of them for anything they might've done, or anybody else for that matter. It was the only time he couldn't keep his mean exterior up for everybody else's benefit of intimidating them.

Boy oh boy, Hannibal thought, he never felt more like a father to these people than in this very instance. Here lying around him were four people who he knew had and would give up everything, risk everything, sacrifice everything in the name of his well being. It wasn't anything that he wouldn't do for any of them, or that any of them wouldn't do for another one, but it never seemed to mean so much as in this very moment. He wasn't accustomed to having his men injured, but he was even less accustomed to being the one taken out of commission by any kind of medical problem. He'd served in two wars, he had learned early on how to be hit and keep moving, keep fighting, keep planning, it was what he'd always done, this was something he wasn't familiar with and he hoped he never did.

There had never been any question about it. If anything ever happened to any one of them, there would never again be the A-Team, it would die with whoever went first, and realistically speaking he knew it could be any one of them, but he was the oldest and it gave him a sinking feeling of just who the most likely member was for that. It was something that he never gave much thought to, he'd always managed to avoid the subject, but now that he was in the presence of these people who he knew had spent the last few days going out of their minds with worry for his sake, just how much deeper it actually went. Whether it had ever been intended or not, he was the father to these men, they were his kids, and the day something happened to him, they would be lost, just as he would be if he should ever lose any one of them.

Hannibal turned and looked down at Face who was sleeping like a baby. He ran his hand through the young man's hair, leaned down and kissed his lieutenant on the forehead. While he was already down, he whispered something into Face's ear, even though he knew the man couldn't hear him. Satisfied with saying his piece for the night, Hannibal pulled back over to his own side of the bed and laid down again and tried to fall back asleep.