The next morning, Hannibal kept his eyes closed as he felt a wet towel buff over his face like he was a shoe being shined. In lieu of a nurse coming in to give him a sponge bath, Murdock had offered to get the colonel cleaned up, insisting that he didn't want to use the shower in the bathroom either; Murdock's official reasoning was that it was haunted by six ghosts who had been dropped down the hospital's dumbwaiter to the laundry room many many years ago. In spite of this warning however, it hadn't stopped Face or Jean from using the shower to freshen up; it was obvious that until Hannibal was able to get out of the hospital and go home that nobody was going home. And though things had been smoothed over between Hannibal and Murdock, the captain was still hesitant to leave the colonel alone for very long, and Hannibal suspected they would stay that way until he could go home. For the time being, he was the only person in the room with Hannibal; B.A. had gone to make sure nothing happened to his van during the night, Jean had gone to make a phone call to the movie studio, and he had personally sent Face out to run an errand for him.

"Keep yer eyes closed, Colonel," Murdock told him, "I'm gonna rinse now."

Hannibal held his breath as a cup of cold water was poured over his face, immediately followed by a fluffy dry towel wiping him off. He opened his eyes and said, "Thanks, Murdock."

"You're welcome, Hannibal," Murdock replied as he put away the towels, the soap and the disposable razor he'd used to shave him, "You need me to wash your hair too?"

"No thanks," Hannibal said as he reached for his shirt, "I'm going to get dressed now."

"You decent, Hannibal?" Jean asked as she entered the room.

Hannibal glanced under the blanket and said, "Decent enough," as he sat up and slipped his shirt on, "What's up?"

"I was just thinking," she said, "If you feel up to moving around today, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to put you in another room."

"Oh, you have something in mind?" Hannibal inquired.

"The isolation ward for tuberculosis patients," Jean said, "Believe it or not it's just down the hall on this floor. I've timed the run, we could move you down there in three minutes, five tops, that way if Decker did come here, he'd never find you because even he isn't stupid enough to go in a place like that and risk having people cough on him."

Hannibal smiled cockily and said, "You really think Decker's going to come out here?"

"Who knows?" she replied, "We got that nurse off the phone before she could be transferred to him, but come on, Hannibal, somebody calls for Decker in the middle of the night, it can only mean one thing."

"It's trash day?" Murdock asked.

"Well, if they hadn't gotten here already, I don't think they will," Hannibal said, "Once the call was disconnected they didn't have any way to find out where it was coming from, no matter what the movies tell you."

"On a side note," Jean said as she went over to the bed and poked him in the arm, "I hear you've been giving the nurses a hard time and won't eat."

He flashed his usual smile at her and said, "What can I say? You were right about the lime Jell-o." He cringed at the very mention of it, and explained, "So I sent Face out to pick up some sandwiches for lunch, he ought to be getting back soon."

"Lunch at 9 o' clock in the morning?" Jean asked.

"Why not?" Murdock asked, "Back at the V.A. they'd wake us up for breakfast at 6 A.M. every day, now who do you know that eats breakfast that early?"

"Somebody that hasn't been to bed yet," she answered.

Hannibal looked around the room as if he was trying to find something, or somebody, and he turned to Murdock and asked him, "Incidentally, Murdock, is Amy back in town yet?"

"I don't know, Colonel," Murdock shrugged, "We tried calling her last night when you were in surgery but there's no answer at her apartment."

"I don't think I've ever met this woman, Amy, have I?" Jean asked.

"No, I think you'd remember," Hannibal told her, "Maybe I'm just getting sentimental in my old age." He caught the smirk on Murdock's face at his joke, and he continued, "But I'm actually looking forward to seeing her again." He turned back to Jean and told her, "No offense, kid, but I could use the change of pace and there's a big difference in you and Amy Allen."

"Oh I could guess," Jean said, "And I can also guess what the difference is, and what it is is probably the same it that Clara Bow had that made her the It girl of the 1920s."

"What is it?" Murdock asked.

Jean leaned over and said the word directly into his ear. He grinned like a kid that discovered a naughty word and he said, "Yeah, I'd say that's a safe bet." He looked at her and said good naturedly, "Sorry, Jean, but I do have to side with the Colonel on that one, I've seen how both of you look in a swimsuit and Amy is the easier one on the eyes."

"Story of my life," she cynically replied.

Murdock chuckled at first, and then crooned as he reached over and cupped Jean's chin in his hand and kissed her, "Don't worry, darling, you know you don't have anything to worry about."

"I wish," Jean replied as she grabbed the collar of his jacket and pulled it a little too tight to get his attention, "I'd be thrilled to have somebody to dump you on once we get done in court."

"Oh are you two still going through with that?" Hannibal asked teasingly, "I would've thought by now that you would've changed your minds."

"No, it's only fair," Jean shook her head, "He's not chained by the V.A. anymore and I won't have him chained to me either, marriage can be just as bad as prison."

"Except both have the benefit of conjugal visits," Hannibal said with a smirk.

"And then you have the matters of getting out of it," Jean said, "Murder is messy and divorce is messier, so it's better to get out when you can still have it declared as never existing in the first place."

"Well that's too bad," Hannibal told her, and with a big grin of remembrance on his face he told her, "I had a dream last night that you and Murdock were still married and you'd had three kids, two boys and a little girl who was always beating up her brothers."

Jean smiled for a second and replied, "That sounds like the kind of kid I'd have." Then her smile disappeared and she told him, "But if you keep having thoughts like that, I'm going to extend your stay in this hospital by a week."

Hannibal just lay in the bed and chuckled in response. "Incidentally, young lady," he said to her, "Aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"Ain't no work to get to," Jean shrugged her shoulders, "For one thing I'm currently on the unemployment line until something new comes along, and for another there is nothing coming along because of a writer's strike."

"Well that sucks," Murdock commented.

"There was one role coming up that I thought about auditioning for but I don't know about it," Jean said, "The storyline is pretty vague, all I know is if I got the part I'd be running around like a damn loon, grabbing everybody I come across and ripping women's dresses open."

"Sounds like somebody I knew back at the V.A.," Murdock told her, "Of course after they put him in electroshock treatment a few times, he didn't do that anymore…didn't do much of anything anymore."

"Funny you say that," Jean said, and she alternated looking from him to Hannibal as she explained, "From what I understand of the role, this character is somebody that was put in the booby hatch because she was acting this way and then after the treatments she only got worse. But they're trying to do it as a comedy."

"Weird kind of comedy," Hannibal noted, then he looked at Murdock and said, "I think it's time for my morning walk, Murdock."

"Right, Colonel." Murdock helped Hannibal to his feet and had the Colonel lean on him again as they made the rounds circling the bed again.

"So how're you feeling today, Hannibal?" Jean asked.

"Oh I'd say I'm doing better," he answered, "Though I had a horrible dream last night."

"Let me guess," she said, "The one where you're being chased by a giant banana."

"No, but you're close," Hannibal shook his head as they went around the bed again.

"Being chased by a giant ham sandwich?" Face suggested as he came into the room, his arm strategically placed against the side of his jacket to conceal the food he'd sneaked in past the nurses.

"I was wondering when you were going to get back," Hannibal told him, "Alright Murdock, I think that's enough for now."

"Is B.A. back yet?" Face asked as he put two brown paper bags full of sandwiches on the tray by the bed.

"Negative," Murdock answered, "We are sans angry mudsucker."

"I'll go look for him," Jean offered and left the room.

She got halfway down the stairs to the first floor when she saw B.A. hotfooting it towards her; he jumped up the stairs two at a time and hooked his arm through hers and dragged her back up the stairs with him.

"What's going on?" she asked.

B.A. didn't say anything until he got in the doorway to Hannibal's room and he told everybody at the same time, "Decker just pulled up out front."

"Showtime!" Murdock said as he grabbed Hannibal by the arm and started for the door.

"Couldn't trace the calls, eh?" Jean asked the colonel as they set to work removing everything from the room that could give them away.


Decker spent 20 minutes at the front desk talking to one nurse, and then spent an hour and a half arguing with three more nurses, two doctors, and an orderly whose build suggested he was a direct descendent to King Kong. It had started with a matter of finding the woman who had called for him last night, and progressed into a heated argument in which the other side firmly stated that nobody made any calls to anybody last night asking for him, and finally ended with the orderly threatening either he leave willingly or he be thrown out, and based on the way he was built, Decker knew to back off since he figured this guy could probably get him clear past the dumpsters before he hit the ground.

Retreating with his tail between his legs so to speak, Decker went back out to the car and slammed the door on his side. Crane glanced at him and asked, "Find anything, sir?"

"Everybody says that nobody made any calls last night," Decker told him, "But somebody called…" he looked back to the building, "The only way we're getting in that place now though is if one of us gets shot."

"You think the A-Team is in there, sir?" Crane asked.

He looked at the building as if he was trying to see through the walls. "Usually when the A-Team makes a sudden stop anywhere for medical treatment, it's in and out…for them to still be there today…one of them would have to be on the verge of death."

Crane looked over at the colonel as if he was trying to see if this revelation had any effect on the man, and if so, whether it was rapturous or dismal. It was impossible to tell what was going through Decker's mind. A minute passed before Roderick exhaled sharply and said, "Hell with it, they already know we're looking for the A-Team, they wouldn't be stupid enough to play dumb with us now. If they did stop in here last night, they'd have to be long gone by now. Let's get out of here."


Face watched as Decker's sedan pulled away and he let out a sigh of relief and gave the all clear to the others.

"Overall it's not a bad room," Hannibal commented about the isolation ward, "Though I'm glad it's not seeing any use today."

They got Hannibal moved back into his own hospital room and settled back in bed. They decided they would stay for one more day and then take him home, they figured that would be time enough for anything that planned to go wrong to actually do it, while they were still within the vicinity of a doctor and an operating room.

"Think he'll come back?" Jean asked Hannibal as she replaced the pillow on his stomach.

"I don't think so," he said, "He knows us well enough to know we don't linger anywhere, especially hospitals. And with good reason." He smiled up at them and said in his Mr. Lee philosophy but without the Chinese accent, "Doctors say a lot of things, but a wise patient learns to only pay attention to half of them and knows which half that is."

"You better be careful, Hannibal," she told him, "You're starting to sound like me."

The door opened and Lorraine, the same nurse that they'd kidnapped the night before, came in and said, "He's a real piece of work, isn't he?"

"He give you much trouble?" Face asked.

"Only about as much as everyone else," Lorraine said, "Needless to say if he ever gets shot and comes in here for treatment, he will be taking a number."

"How about 55559?" Murdock asked, "I had that number on a lottery ticket once."

"Win anything?" Jean asked.

"No," he shook his head, "Figure we'd give Decker the same kind of luck."

Lorraine was putting her coat on and she said, "My shift's over so I'm going home to get some sleep…Mr. Smith, I hope you feel better soon."

"Thank you, miss," Hannibal replied.

"Oh by the way, Templeton," the nurse said as she stopped in front of the lieutenant and handed him a small piece of paper, "Here's my phone number."

"I'll give you a call as soon as my schedule lightens up," Face grinned as he pocketed the number.

"Everywhere he goes, he finds a woman," Murdock commented.

"So do johns," Jean told him.

Face turned and glared at her through one eye, but shrugged it off.


That afternoon Hannibal lay in bed watching a ballgame on TV and B.A. also watched from where he sat next to the bed; Face, Murdock and Jean were all seated on the other bed and in desperate need of something else to do. Murdock complained that the game wasn't too bad but he was having one hell of a time flagging down a vendor to get a hot dog and a beer. Face wasn't in the mood for another baseball game and Jean's only comment was that the game would be more interesting if instead of a ball, the batters swung to beat out the pitchers' brains. Everybody had been determined to stay with Hannibal until he was ready to go home but now the enclosed atmosphere and the constant company of the others was starting to get on everybody's nerves, and the idea of being bored to death was about to claim them all.

Shortly after lunch, Murdock disappeared from the room and promised he would be back in a little while. A few minutes later he returned with some sheets of paper and a couple bottles of ink that he'd stolen from the front desk when nobody was looking.

"What's that for, Murdock?" Face inquired.

Hannibal's attention was drawn to the other side of the room and he turned his head to see what was going on. With a knowing smirk on his face he only replied, "Uh-oh," and returned his attention to the game on TV.

"What is it?" Jean asked.

"I know something that we can do to keep ourselves amused," Murdock said excitedly as he set his supplies down on the tray by the bed.

Face was putting two and two together and looking up at the pilot with a very confused look on his face, he asked, "Ink blots, Murdock?"

"Yes."

"Wait a minute," Jean stood up from the bed, "I thought you didn't believe in all that ink blot junk, you said you always failed those tests because all you see is the ink."

"That is correct," Murdock told her, and elaborated, "The doctors would always show me the ink blots and expect me to see…I don't know, a butterfly, a squirrel, a centipede with 700 children all taking tap dancing lessons or something…" he shook his head, "But I never saw any of it. But I finally figured out what the problem was."

"Which is?" Jean asked.

"Those ink blots were created by somebody else who already had a mindset of what they were supposed to look like, I never knew who made them so I couldn't tune into his brainwave frequency and see what he saw. You can only see what's in the ink blots that you make yourself."

"So we're all going to make our own and see what we get, is that it?" Jean asked. Then she turned to Hannibal and asked, "But why were you laughing about that?"

Hannibal opened his mouth but Murdock cut him off, saying, "Aw, Colonel, don't tell her about that."

Hannibal smiled and shrugged helplessly and said, "I'm sorry, Murdock, but in any marriage there aren't supposed to be any secrets between spouses." He nodded his head to the side and said, "Come over here, Jean."

She did, and he had her lean down so he could whisper into her ear. When he had, Jean looked back to Murdock, who had pulled his cap down so low it about swallowed his whole face; she went over to him and poked him in the shoulder to get his attention and Murdock slowly pulled his cap up and said in a stuffy English accent, "Ye-e-e-es?"

Jean managed to keep a straight face as she asked him, "How do you make porno ink blots?"

Murdock managed to keep from laughing though his face cracked and he said, "It takes a little work. In my defense, it was a boring time at the V.A. that week, I got the idea one time when I was experimenting and I wound up with a naked woman ink blot."

Face was the first who thought to ask, "Exactly how do you see a naked woman in a blob of ink, Murdock?"

"Well you don't at first," he explained, "That's why you get the Q-tips from the doctor's office to use in lieu of a paintbrush."

Jean was laughing by now and said, "Alright, we'll try it, who knows? It might be fun."

Murdock handed them each a sheet of paper and he showed them, "Pour the ink on the middle of the sheet, fold it over once, unfold it and you have an instant snapshot of what's on your mind at this moment." He went first and showed them how it was done, and when he opened the paper his eyes popped out and he exclaimed, "Whoo!" Then he closed it again hurriedly and said with a goofy grin, "If that's what on my mind, then I'm a baaaaad boy."

Jean stole his paper from him and unfolded the ink blot but clearly she didn't see what he was seeing. She turned it upside down, on its side, even turned it over and looked at the blank side, and she said, "You're right, it's every man for himself to see what's in these damn things."


Face had stepped out of Hannibal's room for a minute to get some air and as he walked down the hall he heard two people murmuring around the corner; he poked his head around and saw it was Murdock and Jean. They stood close to the wall and seemed to be having a disagreement about something but they were mumbling too quietly for him to make it out. So he walked over to them and said, "You want to keep the noise down? This is a hospital zone."

"We're discussing what to do when we take Hannibal back to the house," Jean said.

"What's there to discuss?" Face asked.

"Look," Jean told him, "It's obvious he's not getting any rest in this hospital."

"Well that's bound to happen when you've got four people in the room with you at all times," Face pointed out.

"Exactly," Murdock said, "So we want to get the colonel home, and leave him alone so he can rest, now…" he pointed to Jean, "She says we should put Hannibal in our room."

"Why?" Face asked.

"It's the master bedroom, it's the biggest room with the most conveniences because it's the only one used fulltime," Jean explained, "We can clear our stuff out and put it in one of the guest rooms and stay there instead, we won't be put out much, and Hannibal's on the other side of the hall where he can't hear us as much when he's trying to sleep."

Face shrugged as he thought about it that way, "It sounds like a reasonable plan," he turned to Murdock, "What's the problem?"

"No problem, just what if he doesn't go for it?"

"More specifically," Jean replied, "What if he tries to sidestep his recovery altogether? What're we going to do then?"

"Uh…" Face thought about it and suggested, "Tie him back on the stretcher and put some of B.A.'s night-night pills in his dinner?"

The husband and wife duo looked at each other and considered the possibility and shrugged simultaneously as a mutual 'we'll see'. Jean pulled some change out of her pocket and went to get them some cokes from the machine, and after she had gone, Face inched over beside Murdock and said, "Murdock, can I ask you a question?"

"You may," he answered, "But I reserve the right to refuse an answer to you depending on what it is."

Face tried to think how to ask this without ruffling Murdock's feathers, and finally he settled for the blunt approach, "Why did you ever marry that woman?"

"You know why I did, Face."

"Yeah I know…I'm just wondering, if you had it to do all over again…would you?"

Murdock thought about it for a minute and nodded, "Yes."

"Why?" Face asked, "Why would you knowingly put yourself through all of that again? I've watched you the last couple of months, Murdock, ever since you decided to get it annulled. And you haven't yet, you're still married and it's still making you miserable. What could possibly make it worth all the trouble, and the pain, and the misery, why would you do that? What could possibly justify all that you've been through that it would be worth doing again?"

Murdock looked at him with his contemplative puppy dog eyes and, after pausing for a second to think about the question, he gave the simple, honest answer, "Love."

Face fell back against the wall. This little fact had been up in the air for the last couple months but never explicitly spelled out, but Murdock's answer hit him like a ton of bricks. Sweet heaven, he thought to himself, he's still in love with the crazy woman.

Murdock knew that Face had a big problem with the idea of commitment and therefore he didn't always see the plain facts right in front of him. But that was the simple truth of the matter; if Face had been looking for a more difficult answer, he could've told the other side of the truth, which was that his situation with Jean was similar to their situation with the military. They had been betrayed by their own comrades, and as a result had their homeland turn its very back on them through the people in its government; and yes as Amy had pointed out when she first met them, they could've gone to another country where nobody would hunt for them, in the short run it made a lot of sense and seemed like an answer to the problem, it would make their lives a lot easier, but the good thing they had going on here in their own country was worth the trouble they were currently having with the army, and he trusted in the long run would prove to be the right way for them to go all along.

Face about jumped out of his skin when a sudden voice behind him added, "Play the man, Master Ridley." He spun around on his heel and saw Jean standing behind him with three cans of Coke in her hands. He looked back at Murdock, and then at Jean, and at Murdock again and he realized that her comment seemed to have been directed at Murdock, not at him; and now it was as if they were conversing on the matter, telepathically.


"I just don't get it," Face told Hannibal the next evening as he got all of the colonel's belongings packed up, "It seems that Murdock is deliberately holding off the annulment."

"Now why would he do that?" Hannibal asked in a lighthearted manner, as if he already knew the answer.

Face didn't catch the tone of his voice and proceeded to explain, "It's like he's stalling so the time limit will run out and then he and Jean will have to stay married, either that or they actually go through with a divorce. I don't get it, why would he do it?"

Hannibal watched Face pace around the room like a chicken with its head cut off and just smiled pleasantly. Then he said, "Face, let me ask you a question."

"Yeah?"

"When you were a teenager, did you ever take a girl out on a date and keep her out past her curfew?"

"Yeah, so what?" Face asked.

"Well…did you take her home as soon as you realized your lapse in time, or did you keep her out for all the date was worth since it was already late and you were already going to get in trouble anyway, so it might as well be worth the hell you caught for it?"

"Hannibal, I think you've been playing Mr. Lee for too long, I don't get what you're saying," Face told him.

Hannibal just grinned at him and said, "I remember being 17 and I kept my fair share of girls out past their deadlines…and sure enough every time we'd get home there her father would be on the porch with his shotgun waiting for us…I imagine the homecoming would've been the same whether it was ten minutes or two hours…but we had more fun with the two hours. Now…let me ask you another question, in more recent years," Face was already rolling his eyes, Hannibal smirked and continued, "You have your share of dates that end before the sun comes up and before going back to your place, you ever keep a woman out late even though she always has the excuse she has to get to work early in the morning?"

"Yeah."

"And you also have the excuse you have to get to work early in the morning as well."

"Yeah, so what?"

Hannibal flashed his less than pearly whites and said, "Still more fun breaking curfew, isn't it?"

"You think that's what Murdock's doing now?"

"Well Face, let's be fair, the last time you or I had a date, and the last time Murdock had a date, are not comparable by any stretch of time."

That was true. While it was also true that Murdock did have his fair share of having fun with the women on his leaves from the V.A., Face knew that there was no comparison; Murdock had spent 10 years in that hospital while the rest of them were out free to go wherever they wanted and do whatever they wanted with whomever they wanted. With that in mind he really felt bad for the pilot, but it also made all the less sense why he would want to hang on to this marriage.

"It still doesn't make sense," Face told Hannibal, "Why would he stay in this marriage when it's causing him so much trouble, when he could be cut loose and free?"

"Like you?" Hannibal returned, "I seem to recall that when you were involved with a woman and Murdock managed to get between the two of you, it was you he was trying to get alone. He hasn't had too many chances over the years to be with a lot of women, so he's settled for our company, which is alright but it was reaching a point where it wasn't enough anymore, and it shouldn't be. Murdock's interests may be similar at times to yours but they are not yours, Face…he was the first of any of us to get married, my guess is because that is what he wants, who knows?" He enjoyed watching Face try not to squirm as he took in that smirk on Hannibal's face and what it meant, "Maybe if you tried getting married once, you'd actually enjoy it."

"Then why did he say he wants to end it?" Face asked, "Does that make any sense to you?"

"I think you're forgetting who we're talking about," Hannibal replied, "In any case though, I think it does."

"How?"

Hannibal explained, "Jean never told her parents that she got married. Now, we know what Mrs. Rhodes has already been put through, imagine finding out that your only child got married two months ago and never bothered to tell you. If they get it annulled, it saves Jean having to break the news to her instead of if they'd get divorced."

"Right, but then why are they holding off on it?" Face asked, "For what possible reason?"

Hannibal shrugged and said, "It hasn't been an easy marriage, but I think it has been a good one for both of them. And we all know how hard it is letting go of a good thing."

"Well their time's running out," Face told Hannibal, "If they don't get to court soon, they are going to be stuck together."

"All the more reason for us to get out of this chop shop as soon as possible," Hannibal said, "I understand I'm getting the master bedroom for the remainder of my recovery."

"How long do you think that'll be?" Face asked.

"Oh I'd say," Hannibal glanced at his watch, "Two days should probably do it. I never spent this much time in bed when I was a kid and got chickenpox. You know, the scary part is if it weren't for the current surroundings, I might actually start to like it."

"Alright, Colonel, it's checkout time," Murdock said as he and Jean entered the room.

"That's fine with me," Hannibal said as he finished tying his boots, "I'm getting fed up with this hotel service, there's no mint on the pillow, no room service, and the TV only gets basic channels, no late night movie."

"Speaking of which," Jean said, "I called the studio again and asked about that part I was telling you about, it's still open so I'm considering trying out for it."

"Oh that's good, tell Face about the role," Hannibal said as he walked out of the room.

"What role?" Face asked as he turned to her.

"A psychotically induced raging nymphomaniac," Jean said, "They're holding auditions tomorrow so I guess that means I better start rehearsing."

"Oh really," Face laughed nervously, "How nice." And then, less than subtly, he grabbed Murdock's shoulder and pushed the pilot in between the two of them.


"Are you sure you're comfortable like this, Hannibal?" Jean asked as she got the pillows propped up behind his head once they got him back to her house and in bed.

"Yes, yes, it's fine," he insisted, "I'm fine."

"Not yet," Face said, "The doctors said that you won't be able to do everything that you did before for another two weeks, so you're going to have to take it easy until then."

"I can take it easy," Hannibal tiredly replied with his eyes closed, "If certain people would shut up I would be asleep already."

He had a point, it was long after midnight and everybody was tired and ready to drop dead from exhaustion. Everybody said their goodnights and left Hannibal in peace, and from there it was everybody to their own rooms. B.A. was settled in the guest room downstairs and Face was going to take one of the upstairs guest rooms and Jean and Murdock would take the other. They'd all gone downstairs, and once B.A. was in his room, that just left the three of them in the living room.

Face glanced at the clock on the wall and saw it was 12:30, he'd been up for 18 hours and was just looking forward to falling on his bed and sleeping clear through till tomorrow. His eyes half open, he turned to Jean and told her, "See ya in the morning, Jean."

She grabbed him by the back of his jacket and yanked him back and told him, "Before you go off to croak for the night, can you help me with something?"

"What?" Face asked.

Jean pointed over to Murdock, who had fallen asleep sitting up in a chair. She told Face, "He hasn't bathed since you guys got here, he hasn't changed his clothes once, that's five days."

"Try a week," Face told her, "He didn't do any of that before we got here either."

"He was too busy watching Hannibal like a hawk all week," Jean said, "You know if we weren't around him all the time he never would've left Hannibal's side long enough to eat or sleep."

"I know," Face nodded, "That's just the kind of person he is."

"Yeah well he's in no position to make himself a martyr," Jean replied, "Let's take him up to the bathroom and get him cleaned up before he goes to bed."

Face's eyes were wide open now as he look at her and asked, "Are you serious?"

"Come on, Face," she said, "How would you feel if you didn't shower for a week?"

Well, she had a good point on that one. The last time that had happened…well the last time that had happened was a couple years back on a mission that had them making an emergency landing in the jungle in the dead of summer and they had to stay on for a few days more than planned in order to obtain the necessary parts to fix the plane and get in the air again. Among the supplies they'd brought had been a bottle of rubbing alcohol incase any of them sustained any injuries they needed to clean out, but by the end of that week the bottle was empty for use as a substitute deodorant. Alcohol didn't keep you fresh as a daisy but it did keep you from smelling like a stinkweed, but once they'd gotten back to civilization he had never been so happy to see an indoor shower with hot running water.

"Alright," he gave in, "Let's do it." He went over to the chair and tapped Murdock's cheek to wake him up.

"W-Wha-what is it, Faceman?" Murdock asked, barely even getting his eyes to open.

"Come on, Murdock," Face said as he pulled him to his feet, "We're going to go upstairs and play a little game."

Jean got on the other side of Murdock and helped Face escort him up the stairs.

"Oh that's fine…wha' game we playing, Face?" Murdock asked.

Face looked over to Jean and saw she was staring back at him, waiting to see what his answer was.

"We're going to play oceanfront resort," Face told him.

"Okay…" Murdock's eyes stayed closed and his head drooped on Jean's shoulder as he asked, "How d'we play?"


Murdock never became fully awake though once he got in the tub of borderline cold water his eyes were wide open and he was able to pay attention to what was going on. Face had already taken the courtesy to pour half a bottle of bubble bath into the water before shoving the pilot in it up to his armpits, insisting it was a substitute for the sea foam.

"Alright, Jean, you can come in now!" he called through the closed door.

Jean entered the bathroom and climbed on the edge of the tub so she was seated between the wall and the tub's faucet, and directly behind Murdock's head. She'd already taken her shoes off and rolled her jeans up to her knees so she didn't get completely soaked as she helped Face wash Murdock. It was one of the more unusual ways he'd spent the night in this house but, Face noted, not very awkward; after everything they'd been through together in Vietnam, and everything since, there wasn't too much that could surprise him when it came to personal matters. In fact, he'd never admit this to anybody, lest Murdock get any new ideas, but right now this didn't strike him as being too different from washing a dog.

Jean picked up a washcloth, dipped it in the water and foamed it up with a white bar of soap and had Murdock tilt his head back and close his eyes as she washed his face first.

"You might not look better when we're done here," she told him, "But you'll definitely smell a hell of a lot better."

Murdock chuckled through a closed mouth when she said that. Then she dipped a plastic glass into the water and poured it over him, and he sputtered like a motorboat engine about to die. Face watched with mild amusement from where he was knelt down at the other end of the tub. He'd noticed that this tub tended to slant so the water was higher by the taps so that was the way he'd gotten Murdock in the tub, with the higher water level halfway up his back, and the lower level just enough to cover his legs and feet, not that it mattered much right now because nothing could be seen through the millions of bubbles covering the surface. Then he caught sight of Murdock's toes sticking up, so he grabbed a nail brush in one hand, and with the other grabbed one of Murdock's ankles so he could clean the pilot's foot. He couldn't resist tickling the sole of Murdock's foot and watching him jump in the water and laugh.

Jean had Murdock lean forward and she proceeded to soap up his shoulders and his back before rinsing them off as well. Then she grabbed him by one arm and raised it up and scrubbed under it and he started jerking in the water again and shrieked laughing.

"Quit squirming," she told him as she moved over to the other arm and repeated the act.

However Murdock only became more rambunctious when he felt the brush tickling his feet and he started kicking as well. Then he raised up both arms and shrieked, "I surrender, I give up! Whatever I did, I did it!" he laughed and struggled with both of them holding onto him, "Let me go!"

"Oh we can't do that," Jean playfully told him, "We're not done with you yet."

"No, no, uncle!" Murdock laughed, "I surrender!"

Jean wrapped her hand around the front of his neck and had him lean back and she ran her finger around the crook of his neck and saw a ring of black gunk had formed since the last time he'd gotten cleaned up. She found the washcloth and scrubbed it off and commented, "Only guy I ever saw that could get ring around the collar without a collar!" And from there it was a short detour down to his chest and once again Murdock started thrashing around in the water laughing like a banshee shrieks.

"How come you don't do this when you shower?" Jean asked him.

"It's a known fact you can't tickle yourself," Face told her, "That's why."

She looked over to him and asked, "How do you know, have you ever tried it?" She returned her attention to Murdock and commented, "I'm guessing when you were in the hospital you never tried asking one of the nurses for a sponge bath."

Face grabbed one of Murdock's hands and noted that the man could stand to have his nails clipped, but that would wait until tomorrow and for the time being he just settled on scrubbing the black crud out from under them with the brush. Then he did the other hand and got it clean enough to match the other. Lastly, Jean had Murdock tilt his head back and she turned on the taps with the late warning, "Waterfall!" and ran her nails over his scalp. He groaned and twitched when her nails came in contact with the scabs on his head and she told him, "You shouldn't have scratched your head so hard, Murdock."

"I couldn't help it," he told her, "I itch when I'm nervous."

Jean held her hand in front of his face and let him see her nails had been cut down, almost too short in fact, and she told him, "You're just lucky I already clipped them." She quickly washed his hair and rinsed it out, and then found the lever that pulled up the drain. She grabbed Murdock under his armpits and helped lift him up and Face wrapped one large towel around him that covered him from under his arms clear down to his knees, then as he stepped out of the tub Face tossed another towel around him, this one over his shoulders and arms.

"One more," Jean said as she took a third towel off the hook on the door and draped it over his head. They got on either side of Murdock and walked him out of the bathroom and back over to the bedroom and once inside, Jean grabbed the third towel and ran it back and forth over the top of Murdock's head as he sputtered and yelped and shook. When Jean removed the towel, his hair was sticking up and out in all directions; he caught a glimpse himself in the mirror and grinned, and he told them, "Hey, I like this look."

"He looks like he got electrocuted," Face told Jean.

"That's very easy to fix," she picked a comb up from the dresser and combed through his hair and made it all lay down flat on the back of his head, and when Murdock saw that he pulled his top lip in and pouted. He closed his eyes and laid his head on Face's shoulder.

"I think it looks nice on you, Murdock," he said. The man might've been declared sane but he still had his moments when he was very temperamental.

"You think so?" he asked as he lifted his head and looked at his reflection again.

"Perfect," Jean answered, she leaned over to the lieutenant and told him, "Hey, thanks, Face, I really appreciate it."

"Yeah well…it's definitely one of the weirder ways I've spent an evening," he said.

"Ain't evening," Jean told him and pointed to the clock, "It's almost one in the morning."

"So it is," Face realized, "I'm going to bed." He leaned over and kissed Murdock on the forehead and told him, "Goodnight, Murdock."

"Goodnight, Face," Murdock replied as he pulled the towel tighter around his shoulders.

Face then stepped over to Jean and paused for a second, then extended his hand and said smartly, "Goodnight, pal."

Jean shook his hand in like and said, "Goodnight."

Once Face had left and closed the door behind him, Jean turned to Murdock and said, "I guess we ought to go to bed as well."

"Sounds good to me, I'm tired," Murdock told her, "Where're my clothes?"

"In the laundry," she told him, "You can get them back tomorrow."

"Okay."

Jean lightly shoved Murdock over to the bed and pulled the covers back and playfully pushed him down since he was still cocooned in both towels and couldn't get his arms out at the moment. She pulled the covers up over him and then went around to the other side of the bed, climbed in and lay on top of the covers on her side.

"Saint?" Murdock said, lifting his head off the pillow but unable to turn around to see her.

"Yeah, Murdock?" she asked.

"I love you," he told her.

She smiled weakly and replied, "I love you too, Murdock."

"I love you," he said again as he hit his head against the pillows, "I don't care if we are married or not, I still love you."

"I still love you too, Murdock," she told him, "Now go to bed."

"Okay," he said as he settled down and closed his eyes.

Jean waited until she was sure he was asleep, then she inched over to the middle of the bed and wrapped her arm around where she knew his waist was, and she laid her head down on the lump that she knew was his shoulder under the covers, and after a minute she squeezed her eyes shut and turned to bury her face in his shoulder. Time was running out and she knew it, she'd tried not to think about it and she knew Murdock had tried not to think about it either. It had been easier not to think about it when they thought Hannibal was dying and everybody was worried about him, but he was out of the hospital now and was going to be alright, and now reality was kicking in again, much as they'd both tried to fight it. They both knew that when the time came, no matter what they did, which decision they made, they were going to lose one way or another, it was just a matter of how bad it was going to be.

Murdock felt something hot pressing on his shoulder and he realized it was Jean. After a couple of tries, he wrestled his arm loose from the confines of the towels and the blankets and got it out from under the covers and reached behind him and felt Jean's ribs and decided it was as good a place as any and planted his hand there so she could feel him, could feel the contact.

"Jean, you awake?" he asked, though he knew she was.

"Yeah," she glumly answered as she picked her head up off his shoulder.

Murdock wriggled around in his cocoon of towels and sheets so he could turn his head and look back at her and he said, "You know something, Jean?"

"What?" she asked.

He gave a little smile and told her, "I've got a plan."

Dangerous words to come out of anybody's mouth, but one of the A-Team especially, and Murdock all the more so; dangerous because everybody always underestimated him, nobody ever knew just how sane of a plan could come from an insane person. Even Hannibal, their fearless leader, the man who had nothing but the fullest confidence in all of his men, had had his share of times he shook his head and insisted, 'No it wasn't!' when he found out about a plan that was Murdock's.

Jean leaned over towards him and asked, "What is it?"

Author's note: If anybody's curious, I can't take credit for the 'porno ink blot' line, it was in the novelization of the A-Team written by Charles Heath. I just decided it was too funny of a line not to expand upon.