Jean hung up the phone and told Murdock as he entered the kitchen, "If you're up for a sudden change in plans, I've got a little detour for us to take before we head out to the hotel."
"Sure, what is it?" he asked.
"Oh you'll see," she replied with a small mischievous smirk on her face.
Murdock grinned in anticipation and asked, "Do I still get to drive us there?"
"Sure, I'll tell you where," Jean said as they headed out the door.
They had been fortunate enough to have most of the house to themselves that morning; Hannibal left to resurrect his film career as the Aquamaniac and B.A. had said something about having important business to take care of, leaving only Face at the house and he was consulting an dog-eared mark in his little black book. They stepped over the side of Jean's convertible and Murdock got them out of there and followed the streets according to Jean's directions.
"So what do you think B.A. was talking about when he said important business?" Jean asked during the drive.
"Probably the daycare center he works at," Murdock answered nonchalantly as he skidded the car into a sharp left turn.
Jean looked at him and asked, "B.A. works at a daycare center?"
"Yeah well…" Murdock caught the weird look on her face and said, "Not like what you're thinking probably."
"Oh," she looked relieved.
"He works with the older kids, he's like a big brother to them, fixes things for them and teaches them how to do stuff," Murdock explained.
"Funny," Jean replied, "I'd think any kid would take one look at him and take off running."
Murdock laughed and said, "I think he usually only has that effect on grown people, kids aren't fooled by that long face of his, they know he's harmless."
"Murdock," Jean pointed at her eye and said, "That mudsucker is anything but, you know he's got a killer instinct in him, just like all of us do."
Murdock nodded and agreed, "I know he does, but for the most part he's good to only bust up things instead of people's faces."
They didn't say anything after that for the next few minutes, then when Murdock realized where they were heading he told Jean, "That's an airport up ahead."
"I know it is," she said, and pointed as she explained, "These aren't commercial jetliners, they're planes people rent for an afternoon of just cruising around for a couple of hours of fun."
"So what're we doing out here?" Murdock asked her.
She turned to him with a Cheshire cat smile on her face as she answered, "I rented a plane for you."
"What?!" Murdock couldn't believe what he'd heard and stomped on the brakes to avoid driving into anything as a result of his shock.
Jean nodded and said, "A couple days ago I came out here and made an arrangement with the owner of one of the planes, I gave him the money to rent it for an afternoon, no questions asked, so long as it's back before dark and in the same shape it's in now."
Murdock couldn't hold still and he couldn't focus his eyes on one thing either; he kept looking from his wife to the airport ahead and back to her again and finally asked, "Why'd you do that?"
Jean looked down and said, "Well I know that you were a Thunderbird before anything else, and I know when you have to fly on missions it's pretty much business only, no room to do with those planes what you do best, I figured this way you'd have a chance to try all the tricks that you learned back then. These planes aren't anywhere near up to par with the ones you flew in the Air Force, but they're good for some of the work, aren't they?"
Murdock smiled at her and was at a loss of words for a minute. Then he reached over to the other side of the car, grabbed her and kissed her and said, "It'll be perfect, you are coming with me, aren't you?"
"Sure," she replied, "Why not?"
Murdock laughed in anticipation and squeezed Jean against him in a tight hug and said, "I can't believe you pulled this off without my knowing."
"Yeah well," Jean said less than enthusiastically, "That's me, just full of surprises."
They got out of the car and got in past the gate; Jean showed Murdock the small two-seat plane and he walking alongside the aircraft with his hands feeling the side of it and made a bunch of noises under his throat like he was in love.
"Come on, Murdock," Jean told him, "We've only got it for the afternoon."
Murdock went around the plane and conducted a quick exam of it and then checked out the cockpit and determined that everything was satisfactory. Jean got in on the other side and Murdock reached over and made sure she was strapped in as he called it, "Right and tight, darling, you're gonna need it when the whole plane goes upside down." He noticed that Jean didn't seem to be paying attention to him and he asked her, "Everything alright, hon?"
She turned and looked at him and said, "Yeah, fine."
He smiled at her and squeezed her hand assuredly and told her, "You got nothing to worry about flying Murdock Airlines, you know that don't you?" She nodded but he could see her throat bobbing as she swallowed heavily. Jean had never had any intention of going on this flight with him, but she was going with him now and that meant more to him than she would probably ever realize. He leaned over to her and told her confidentially, "If things start looking nasty, just close your eyes, it ain't as bad when you can't see what's going on…that's what I do when the view starts to lose its appeal."
That managed to crack a smile out of her and that was good enough for him. "Just sit tight, Saint, I'll have us airborne in no time and then it'll be smooth sailing," he told her.
"Yeah I hope so, Murdock," she replied.
After three hours in the air, Murdock decided it was time to take the plane back down for a landing; he doubled back around the way they originally came and found the airport and brought the plane down steadily. They felt the wheels touch down against the landing strip and the plane jerked and dragged along a few yards before coming to a final stop.
"Well, here we are!" he announced.
Jean brought her hands down from the sides of her head, opened her eyes and asked, "Are we dead yet?" and looked around.
Murdock laughed and said, "I told you we'd be alright, you didn't listen to me."
"Murdock," Jean said as she undid her straps, "I have the fullest of confidences in you, it's the plane I have my doubts about."
He howled in laughter as he reached over and grabbed her, "I had a great time today, and I'm glad that you came with me."
She smiled and said, "I figured it was something you wouldn't be able to talk any of the others into."
Murdock laughed and replied, "Yeah, probably not."
Jean pulled the watch out of Murdock's jacket pocket and said, "The rest of the afternoon is shot."
"Yeah," he agreed, "We should probably head on back to the house." He noted the minor look of disappointment on her face as she realized their previous plans for the day had just been canceled. He leaned over and kissed her and said with a knowing grin on his face, "Don't worry, hon, where there's a crazy mind there is always a second door to look behind, I have a good idea we can get out of the house tonight without anybody bothering us, then we're really going to have some fun."
Jean smiled in anticipation and asked him, "What time should we leave?"
"Well it's getting dark a lot earlier now than it was before," he said, "So I say we leave around 8 and if anybody asks," he shrugged, "We just tell them that we're going to a movie."
"Think they'll buy that?" she asked.
"Sure, I saw at this one theater they're having some kind of 'England comes to Los Angeles' marathon, a whole night of old movies with some old woman, uh…old something Riley, supposed to be a real kick."
"Well if we have time when we get back, we might have to check it out," Jean agreed, "It's been a long time since I saw a good movie."
Murdock had been in and out of the V.A. so many times over the years that he could still find the way to his room from the grounds like the back of his hand. Working under the cover of darkness, they managed to remove the screen from the window and lift it up; surprisingly there wasn't any alarm even though the power was still on in the building. However no alarm needed to sound because Crane was awake and alert and already reaching for his gun before he realized who was entering the room. Decker was in the bed, looking far better now than the last time they saw him, and both people noted he also looked annoyed at this sudden company.
"What the hell are you two doing here?" he asked.
"He must be feeling better," Murdock commented to Jean, "He's back to his old self already."
"So noted," Jean replied, and addressing Decker as they approached the bed she added, "We just came to see how the patient was feeling."
"None of your damn business," Decker answered as he batted her hand away when she tried to touch him.
"I see he still hasn't gotten the hang of acting like a civilized member of society," Jean commented to Crane, then back to Decker she added, "We just came to drop off a little get-well present for you."
"Oh really?" Decker asked suspiciously, "And what would that be?"
Murdock reached into the pocket on his jacket and took something out and dropped it into Decker's hand. Decker looked at the item dropped in his palm and felt a piece of material that the Army's jackets were made of and he recognized the pentagon of stars and brass eagle on the green material as being that of a General's insignia.
"What is this?" he asked.
"A token of our regards," Murdock answered, "It is also the only thing remaining of General Bullen's uniform."
"What?" Decker looked up at the pilot in disbelief.
Murdock nodded with a big grin and explained, "He had an unfortunate mishap, his General's uniform was horribly burnt up accidentally when we purposely set it on fire. We thought you'd like a little memento to remember your superior's brass by."
"That's right," Jean added, "He can chew you out all he wants for letting the A-Team get away, but he ain't gonna have anything to wear when he shows up for the occasion, and the best part is he was out when we paid his home a visit so he doesn't know it yet. Just wait till he tries coming down to your office in person without a uniform."
Decker looked down at the patch of stars and slapped himself in the forehead as he tried to take in what he'd just been told. "This is ridiculous," he grumbled under his breath.
"Of course it's ridiculous," Murdock said, "It was the work of an A-1 crazy person!" he pointed to himself, "They don't come any better than that."
"I could have you both shot for this," Decker told them.
"Yeah but you can't," Jean said.
"But he could," Decker pointed at Crane.
"But he won't," Murdock replied.
"How do you know?" Decker asked.
"Because you're enjoying this too much," Jean answered, "Admit it, Roddy."
Of course he wouldn't admit it, but they could tell all the same.
"Sorry we can't stay but I gotta take Billy for a walk," Murdock said as he opened the window up and stepped out, "Come on, Saint."
"See ya round, Decker," Jean waved as she followed her husband out the window, "Enjoy it while it lasts!"
She slammed the window down behind her and they took off running for her car, laughing the entire way. They got in and Murdock drove them out of there and back into town and to the local theater to get in on the next movie before it started. On the way they realized that it was starting to rain, but it was just a light drizzle and aside from putting the top up on the car they didn't pay it any mind. They reached the theater, got their tickets, popcorn, soda and half a dozen boxes of candy at Murdock's insistence, and found their way to the right movie room, and sat through three movies introducing them to the comic genius of the actor Arthur Lucan as a spindly old Irish woman, Old Mother Riley, though Murdock was sold as a fan before the end of the first movie they saw.
When the last movie ran out, they left the theater and ran to get in the car before they got soaked from the rain and Murdock drove them back to the house.
"Man that was great," he said, "You know, Hannibal should've been there to see that, I'll just bet you he could do something like that in the next movie he's in."
"Oh Hannibal has entirely the wrong build to play a little old Irish woman like that," Jean told him.
"Yes, but he's got he Irish accent down pat, it would be a cinch for him," Murdock replied.
"How do you know?" Jean asked.
"From experience, me dear," Murdock replied in an equally Irish accent, giving it a slightly high pitch in an attempt to feminize it.
Jean threw her head back laughing at his response.
They returned to the house and saw that the lights were already out; they went up the stairs leading to the storage room and quietly let themselves in.
"Hey Saint," Murdock said, "How come you never do anything with this room? I mean it's nice and big, you ought to use it for something."
"I'm working on it," she replied, "What time is it?"
"Uh…" Murdock found the light switch and threw it so he could see his watch and answered, "Going on 1 o' clock."
"Come on, let's go to bed," she said.
Murdock grinned and replied, "Right behind you, dear."
Hannibal shot up in bed and tried to figure out where the machine gunfire was coming from so he could get out of the way, but after a few seconds he realized that what he was hearing was rolling thunder from the storm outside. Upon realizing this, he fell back against the pillows and let out a sigh of relief as he waited for his heart to stop doing jumping jacks. He listened to the thunder outside and realized that for as old as he was, it didn't sound like any thunder he'd ever heard in any storm. No, the more he thought about it, instead it sounded like having stereo speakers next to his head as they amplified the noise of a hundred galvanized trashcans being thrown down the stairs. He sat up in bed and pushed back the covers, what the hell was going on?
He went over to the window and pulled back the venetian blind and looked out as lightning flashed and lit up the outside. As far as he could tell, nothing looked out of place, so he took that as meaning it had to just be thunder, but something had to be wrong if for the first time in over 45 years, mere thunder had the ability to scare him again like it did when he was a kid. He'd been woken up in the middle of the night by crashing booms before, but this wasn't anything like that. Then he realized that if he was about to have a fit from the noise, then the others had to be up as well and he could only imagine what was going through their minds, and he decided to check on the others and make sure everyone was alright.
So far so good he noted as he stepped out into the hall and didn't hear anything from the other rooms. First he opened the door to Face's room and peered in, and he couldn't believe it, the lieutenant was actually asleep! Just how Face was able to sleep through that racket was beyond Hannibal, he pulled the door shut and felt his heart still pounding against his chest.
"Hannibal, what's going on?" he turned on his heel and saw Murdock and Jean standing in the doorway to their room. Apparently the noise had gotten both of them out of bed, they stood alongside each other, Murdock dressed in a set of Jetsons pajamas, and Jean in a long blue nightshirt; and even though it was dark he could see Jean breathing heavily, apparently he wasn't the only one who had been so rudely awakened by the thunder.
"Nothing," he answered as he went over to them, "Just a thunderstorm."
"Didn't sound like thunder to us," Jean said.
Murdock shook his head in agreement, "I said it sounded more like somebody knocking on the door with a cannon ball."
"I know," he said, "Are you guys alright?"
Jean was still doing some light huffing and puffing but she nodded and said, "We're fine."
"Good…did either of you happen to see what time it is?" Hannibal asked.
"About three o' clock," Murdock answered.
"Oh brother," he replied, "We might as well go back to bed."
"Sure, but who's gonna sleep?" Jean asked.
All the same, Hannibal returned to his room, and they returned to theirs and closed the door behind them, and made a mad dash back to the bed and jumped in and pulled the covers up. Jean slid her hands under the sheets and felt the goose pimples on her legs and said with a shiver, "Didn't sound like no thunder to me."
"I know," Murdock replied, "Tomorrow we'll check and see if anything's damaged, but for now I say we go back to bed."
"Easy for you to say," she told him, "Murdock…"
"Yah?"
"It's almost Halloween."
"…True?" Murdock asked, not knowing what that was supposed to mean.
"Alright, so do you think there's any truth to what they say about that being the day that the dead come back to walk the earth?" she asked him.
Murdock turned over to see her and asked, "Something on your mind?"
"An honest question," she said, "Do you think the dead return?"
Murdock tried to figure out where she was coming from on this question and he thought he hit on the answer, it was a subject that hadn't been brought up for well over a year, "The other Jean Rhodes? All of those guys that were buried at the base?"
She didn't answer, only looked at him through one eye, and that was all the answer he needed. He sat up in the bed and looked at her as he said, "One fact is indisputable, energy can't die, it can't just disappear, so when people die their life energy leaves their bodies, but it remains somewhere, now where it does and what becomes of it, nobody knows…do ghosts exist? Yes, definitely, but they don't need a special occasion to come back to the realm of their deaths. Now, most of them are perfectly harmless, then there are other stories altogether, poltergeists for example, they love to make noise and they love to make trouble for the living."
"Murdock," Jean tried to get a word in.
"Hold on, there's a reason I'm taking the long way around on this," he told her, "It's a little known fact that most ghosts exist due to that little gray area of unfinished business, most of them either aren't aware that they are dead because their deaths were so sudden and unforeseen, or they remain because they want their deaths solved, when they're murdered they want the person responsible caught and punished for what they've done. That said, all those men that you saw killed that night, they know that their murderers were brought to justice; the justice of finality and fatality, their murderers are dead now as well, so if there was any reason for them to remain in the realm of the living, it went away when their killers were killed. Believe me, you've got nothing to worry about on that one."
"How can you be so sure?" Jean asked him, "For that matter, how do you know all that?"
He smiled at her and said, "Remember you gave me that Bible to keep the Ouija board quiet? Well you'd be surprised the conversations you can have with a board when it's free to speak."
"Yeah? Well I still think I'll pass on that one," she told him as she laid down beside him and pulled the covers up tighter, "Goodnight, Murdock."
He let out a loud yawn and replied as he closed his eyes, "Goodnight, Jean."
The next few days passed quickly and were spent by Murdock and his wife as though they were a couple of teenagers out for spring break. One day when a heat wave hit the city, they loaded up her car and went to the beach where true to his word, Murdock tried to get some sun in his skin, and he also decided to take up a new hobby: surfing, which quickly turned into a big disaster and was forgotten as quickly as it was picked up, and instead they spent the day swimming, laying on the sand, and on occasion, yelling 'shark' to some poor sap out in the water to see the response they could get.
Another day, Face had a date cancel on him and on his way back he spotted Jean's car and followed them to an amusement park, and the three decided since they were already together, they might as well make the most of it. By the time they got home Face was dizzy, nauseous, and couldn't stand up, and explained to Hannibal and B.A. that the three of them had been on the Zipper ride for half an hour solid. That hadn't been so bad but then they had decided to try a roller coaster and Face told B.A., "If you think flying with Murdock is bad, just try going on one of those."
By the fourth night, Hannibal found himself laying awake in bed, restless, a lot of things running through his mind and he knew that if he didn't do something about them soon, he'd never get any sleep. He looked at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was 12:30, he figured it was still early enough that Murdock and Jean would still be awake. He went down the hallway to their room and knocked on the door, but there was no response. He opened the door, went in and threw on the lights and saw that the bed hadn't even been slept in. He went over to the window that overlooked the driveway and saw that Jean's car was gone.
Logically Hannibal knew that Murdock and Jean were two adults who could do whatever they wanted at any time of the day that they wanted, and that was probably what they were doing right now, but something didn't set well with him. He went over to Face's room and got the lieutenant up and told him to get dressed and meet him downstairs. Then he went downstairs, got B.A. up and told him the same thing. Within a few minutes the sergeant and the lieutenant were in the living room with him and demanding to know what was going on.
"Murdock and Jean are gone, her car's gone so we can probably figure that wherever they are they went together, but the question is where? Did anybody know they were going out tonight?"
"Nah man," B.A. answered, "They never said anything to me."
"Me either," Face shook his head, "Where do you think they would go?"
"I don't know, I…" Hannibal stopped in mid-pace and got a different look on his face, "I think I know where they went."
"Where?" Face asked.
Hannibal went over to him and said, "Face, you've mentioned that you noticed Murdock seemingly reverting back to his same behavior tactics from when he was staying at the V.A., right?"
"Right, so what?"
"Stuff that he really hasn't done since he got out, right?" Hannibal asked, "Getting up at 3 in the morning to watch the Range Rider and pretending to be a dog, stuff like that?"
Face nodded, "Yeah."
"Alright, I want you to think, Face, what is something that Murdock had when he was in the V.A. that he might be missing now that he's been released?" Hannibal asked.
Face wracked his brain trying to come up with that answer. Something he had at the V.A.? That could've been anything, he still couldn't figure out how Murdock got half the stuff he had in his room.
That was when it hit him, and Hannibal saw the look on his face when it did, but instead of letting the lieutenant explain, he took it upon himself and continued talking, "When Murdock left the V.A., he packed up everything he could carry and left behind everything that was too big for him to bring."
"Those arcade games!" Face realized, "He wasn't able to take them out when he left."
"That's right," Hannibal said, "Now, you know as well as I do that for as well as we know Murdock, 3 months without his games has to be driving him crazy, if you'll excuse the bad joke."
"Right but Hannibal, at this time of night?" Face asked.
Hannibal went over to the table in the dining room and told Face, "I saw something in the newspaper about a new hotel that's just gone into business," he dug through the papers on the table and found the one he was looking for and unfolded it, "It had its grand opening a few days ago, and one of the big things they're advertising as a selling point is the hotel's game room, which they promise is filled to the brim with all the latest arcade games."
"And a hotel's open 24/7," Face realized as he looked over the newspaper article, "You think that's where Murdock went?"
"It's as good of a place to start as any," Hannibal answered, "We'll take the van and check it out, B.A., you coming with us?"
"Nah, if the fool comes back while you' out, then I'll get in touch with you on the phone," B.A. told him.
"Alright then," Hannibal turned to Face, "It's just you and me, come on."
"Oh joy," Face dryly murmured as he followed behind Hannibal.
The minute they entered the hotel they were blinded by all the bright lights compared to the vast darkness of the world outside. Hannibal went to the front desk and asked if two people had checked in who matched the descriptions he gave of Murdock and Jean. The clerk took out the sign-in book and Hannibal looked over the names of people who had checked in that night and didn't find any matching Murdock's writing. Unfortunately he didn't know Jean's well enough to compare it to the signatures, so Hannibal asked where the game room was, and when they got an answer they took off to see if their crazy pilot was there.
For the hotel only being open a few days the place had to already be booked up because they had to push their way past a couple dozen people just to enter the room and after that they saw the room was filled with so many people at the large electronic games as well as spread out at all the tables, that they might as well have been looking for a needle in a haystack. In between all the lights from the screens and all the noises from the games, on top of all the people talking and screaming, the distractions were a dime a dozen and only made their task even more difficult.
Finally Face hit upon a piece of luck when he pressed down on the shoulders of the man in front of him and jumped up for a better look, and he spotted a familiar blue cap in front of the screen of a Tron console.
"Hannibal, over there!" he pointed.
With a little work, the two men made their way past the crowd and saw the trademark tiger on the back of the brown leather jacket and knew they had their man. Hannibal went up behind the unsuspecting pilot who was supplying his own sound effects on top of the ones built into the game, when Hannibal called out suddenly, "Captain, attention!"
Murdock's hands left the controls and he saluted and turned on his heel, "Colonel! What're you doing here?"
"Looking for you," Hannibal answered with a smirk, "Where's Jean?"
"Right here," Jean answered as she came up behind them and asked, "How'd you know where we were?"
"Just a lucky guess," Hannibal replied, "Have you guys been here long?"
"Couple of hours," she said, "Is something wrong?"
"No, but I'd like to have a word with both of you," Hannibal said, "So would you mind coming with us?"
"Do we have a choice?" she replied.
"No," Hannibal answered, "Come on."
Jean and Murdock looked at each other and then followed the lieutenant and colonel out of the room, and out the front revolving door of the hotel. They walked out to the crowded parking lot, and Murdock and Jean sat down at the curb where it was dark and semi private; Hannibal noted this and stopped a few feet ahead of them and pulled on Face's sleeve to jerk him back towards them.
"So what'd you come out here to talk to us about?" Jean asked.
"Well, I went to your room tonight to talk to you two and that's when I found out you were gone," Hannibal told them, "I wanted to talk to you two about your plans to annul your marriage."
They looked at each other again and without saying a word, both Face and Hannibal picked up that something was wrong.
"What is it?" he asked.
They looked to the front to face the others and Murdock said awkwardly, "You're too late on that one, Colonel."
"As of 3 o' clock this afternoon, our annulment was finalized," Jean explained, "As far as the state of California, and the rest of the world is concerned, we were never married."
"What?" Hannibal asked.
"Aw geez, you guys did it again?" Face asked, "First you get married without telling anybody and now you got it ended without telling us anything either?"
Jean stood up and got in his face and answered, "That's right."
Face took a step back and said, "That's all I wanted to know."
Hannibal looked embarrassed by this sudden revelation, and for the first time in a long time he couldn't think of anything to say, let alone whatever the right thing might be, finally he settled for an, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Jean said, "It's the best thing that could've happened for us."
"That's right," Murdock said, and he turned to Face and explained, "See I remembered what you said before, Facey, about we could get it annulled now and then get remarried later on, and we decided that's just what we're going to do."
"When?" Face asked.
"Well that's the one thing we haven't decided on yet," Murdock answered.
"Roughly in about three years," Jean said, "Unless something comes up before then that makes the matter a pressing one."
"Why three years?" Hannibal asked.
"Because," Jean answered, "We figured by that time we should both be ready to try marriage again, and by that time we both ought to have our lives in order enough that…should your dream become a nightmare reality for us," Hannibal innocently rolled his eyes at that thought and Jean continued, "That we'll be ready for the fallout of having kids. At least now I'll be able to look my mother in the eye when I see her again, I won't have to tell her she missed her only daughter's wedding."
"That's right," Murdock stepped in, "But in the meantime we're both bachelors again, free and easy."
"Speak for yourself," Jean commented.
"Well free anyway," Murdock said.
Face leaned over towards Hannibal and asked him, "Is this the craziest thing you've ever heard, Hannibal?"
"Yes," he answered.
Which Face knew was never enough to deter Hannibal from anything. "But you think it could work?" Face asked.
"Yes," Hannibal answered.
"Should've known," he replied.
"So when were you planning to tell us?" Hannibal asked.
"We weren't," Murdock said with a laugh, "We were going to see how long it took you guys to bring the subject up and then we'd tell you."
Hannibal laughed, then he turned to head to the van and told the others, "Come on."
"Where're we going?" Jean asked.
Hannibal turned back to them and answered, "Well we missed out on the wedding, so we might as well go out with a bang on the annulment, we're going to do this right like we should've been able to do for the wedding."
"You get that?" Jean asked.
"No but let's see what he's got in mind," Murdock answered.
Hannibal was the first one up the next morning. It was still early, but it was light enough in the house that he could see the mess the living room was in, he figured it would probably take half an hour to get everything cleaned up and thrown away. He'd decided last night that since Murdock and Jean's marriage had ended on a good note, that they ought to celebrate it as they would've celebrated the wedding, so on the way back to the house they'd taken a detour and picked up a bottle of champagne, and from an all-night grocery store a frozen cake, and at Murdock's insistence, two boxes of ice cream and potato chips.
When they returned to the house, Hannibal and Face both took a turn at explaining to B.A. what was going on and what they'd found out, but Hannibal couldn't remember now if the sergeant had finally got what they spent a better part of last night telling him. In fact, he couldn't remember much of anything from last night; it was all a blur of champagne, dancing, and everybody having a turn kissing the ex-bride.
After three months he was still having trouble taking in the fact now that the marriage was over; he kept reminding himself of this little fact as the morning drudged on. He had figured that Murdock was just holding off as long as possible for the sake of staying married, now he guessed that the pilot had finally reached the end of that particular line. As he started the cleanup of collecting the dirty plates and spilt champagne glasses and empty beer cans from around the living room he thought back to when he was in the hospital. He could still see Jean fuming over him and his big mouth, telling the whole staff that she was pregnant, he laughed at the memory. But what he really remembered was his discussion with Murdock; when he'd approached the topic with the pilot, Murdock had denied everything and said only, "Aw, Hannibal, you ought to know me better than that. She's too young."
He hadn't really paid attention to that statement before, but he thought about it now, and it made sense. Oh, Jean wasn't too young in the biological sense to have children, but he looked at the bigger picture. Jean was employed as a stuntman in Hollywood, and possibly would soon be making her breakthrough into actual starring roles. Hannibal already knew how hard it was to build a career like that, and he was considering it from the perspective of a man in his 50s, he couldn't imagine being a woman in her 20s with a new baby trying the same odds. Murdock had been right in that regard, Jean was too young to have any kids now, but at the same time Hannibal realized, so was Murdock. The pilot had spent 10 years living in a psychiatric hospital, and he'd only had three months of freedom back in the outside world, Murdock wasn't anymore ready to start a family than Jean was. Today, in this light, their plan made sense; they wait a few years before deciding if they wanted to get married again. By that time, Murdock would have a few years of experience back in the real world before having to deal with raising children.
It wasn't that he questioned Murdock's ability to cope with life on the outside, or his ability to balance fatherhood with everything else they were going through; he knew that the pilot could, but this wasn't about that. All too often young people went straight out into the world, fresh out of school, settled down and started families; and sure, a lot of them were able to make it work, but as a result they had to sacrifice everything else. That was never an idea that set well with Hannibal, he firmly believed every person needed a few years lived for themselves before they made that lifetime commitment to another person that they would spend 18 years raising, and the rest of their lives worrying about. And now was Murdock's chance to have those years to and for himself; as far as Hannibal knew, Murdock went right from school to the Air Force, and then to Vietnam, and then this. So, difficult though Hannibal was finding it to accept what had happened yesterday, because he had really believed that they would stay married despite their ongoing talk about an annulment, at the bottom of it all, he knew that they'd made the right decision, he just wondered how different things would be now that they'd done it.
Face must've woken up with a similar thought in his head, because he came into the living room and said, quietly though, "Hannibal…hey Hannibal, come here!"
He turned and asked, "What is it?", wondering why Face was whispering.
"Come here and look at this," Face told him, and disappeared over to the downstairs guest room.
Hannibal followed him into the room and both men stopped in the doorway. With the morning light starting to poke in through the window they were able to see Murdock and Jean in bed together, still in the clothes they'd worn last night, each wrapped in the other's arms; Hannibal flashed on a similar scene the morning after Murdock announced their plans to end their marriage, only this time they both looked happy as they slept, as if they'd each finally found peace in their lives.
Hannibal couldn't help smiling at the sight before him. Maybe things weren't going to change much after all.
