I'm not a medical Doctor and have literally no idea if anything I'm saying is right so please don't judge if the medical information isn't correct.
Also, thank for the reviews it helps me make my stories better.
"Here you go, Colonel." A young nurse named Annie handed Hannibal a cup of coffee in a Styrofoam cup. She'd already handed Murdock and BA one and they were currently drinking them in stony silence. Well, BA was frowning at his in stony silence while Murdock was staring at the brown swill that was supposed to be coffee as if it held all the answers he wanted.
"How is he?" Hannibal asked, taking a wig of the coffee and immediately spitting it back into the cup. I was worse than gas station coffee.
"Still in surgery." Annie hastily continued when she was the look of misery that crossed Murdock's face. "They're trying their best and I'm sure Face will make it. But the Doc doesn't want to rush the surgery. You guys helped us and got hurt for it so we're going to help you and your friend."
BA nodded slightly, still frowning. Murdock looked more hopeful than he did before but there was still the glint of misery buried deep within the crazy pilot's eyes. Hannibal spoke for them all. "Thank you. We just need to know what's going on."
"I understand. As soon as he's out of surgery we'll come and find you but you really would benefit with some sleep."
They had been sat there for 2 hours now, waiting for news on the wayward Lieutenant. Murdock had managed to fall asleep for half an hour but had ended up waking from a particular bad nightmare. He'd said it had been about Face dying. Hannibal had told him that wasn't going to happen. Face was in good hands. The problem was that Hannibal wasn't sure Face would live. He knew the kid was strong but he'd lost his pulse twice after he'd been shot. BA hadn't slept. Hadn't even talked. He'd just sat there watching the door they'd taken Face through, then the wall, then the floor and now the coffee. Hannibal knew BA hated feeling helpless to help his friends and that was how he was feeling now. But there was no way to get through the other man so he left him be. Hannibal hadn't been able to sleep wither. If he hadn't been on the damned jazz maybe Face wouldn't have been shot. The guilt was what was keeping him awake.
It took another 3 hours before the Doctor finally came out of the room. Hannibal had been nursing his second cup of coffee, while BA had continued to stare at his first and Murdock had started to pace the floor.
"How is he, Doc?" Murdock practically jumped the man.
Taking off a pair of rubber gloves, the Doctor told them to sit down. They complied, somewhat reluctantly, and Hannibal motioned for the Doctor to begin. "The bullet hit lodged itself in one of Face's lung, which led to internal bleeding. We managed to patch it up but I'm afraid your friend still hasn't started to breathe on his own quite yet. He's on a ventilator right now."
"Wait a minute, what about his other lung." Hannibal asked frowning.
"Blood loss caused Face to go into shock." Hannibal cursed himself for not seeing that. They'd all been given first aid training back in Nam. "This caused Face's other lung to fail, which caused his pulse to fail as he wasn't getting enough air."
"Can we see him?" Murdock pleaded with the Doctor, desperate to see his best friend.
"Well…" The Doctor started but was cut off by BA.
"We gonna see 'im sucka." The Doctor took one look at the gold wearing man and quickly nodded his head in agreement.
"He's in room 5, but please be careful." The Doctor stated before leaving the three men to make their way to the room.
Hannibal was the first to enter the room. Face was lying on the bed with a tube down his throat and tubes sticking out of his arms. A heart monitor was beeping in a corner of the room, while an IV drip was pumping medicine through the IV line into Face. The kid was pale. There were black circles covering his eyes and Hannibal didn't even want to know what was under the mound of bandages around the kids' waist. He couldn't move from where he stood. Couldn't stop blaming himself. This was his fault. His and the damned jazz.
Murdock went into the room straight after Hannibal, making a bee line to chair sat next to Face. He grabbed one of Face's pale, limp hands and watched his friends face. The beeping machines were driving the captain insane. Face was too still and the movement of his chest wasn't even his own. Murdock couldn't bear to see his friend like this, wishing that it could have been him in this situation instead. Face didn't deserve this.
BA silently placed a comforting hand on Hannibal's shoulder as he entered the room. He took the chair on the other side of Face, growling deep in his throat. The tubes, wires and machines were out of place. They shouldn't be sticking out of his Face. He shouldn't be here. Anger wanted to come forward in BA's mind but he knew his friend needed him. This fact was the only thing keeping him from losing his temper and going to the police station and killing those sucka's that hurt his friend.
The team sat in silence for a long time; Murdock holding onto Face's arm, BA sitting vigil next to Face and Hannibal stood at the foot of Face's bed watching the kid's chest fall up and down. Face lay in absolute silence. Not moving.
"Please wake up, Face." Murdock squeezed the younger man hand as he said this.
"He's gonna be fine fool." BA's told the crazy fool in a matter of fact tone. "He's been through tougher than this."
Hannibal stayed silent as he watched his Sergeant and Captain talk. The kid had gotten through worse than this. Hell the POW camps in Nam had been hell, compared to those this was nothing. But Face had never been so close to death as he had been when he'd been shot. They'd been through some rough times but Face's heart had never actually stopped. Not until now. Knowing he had to stay strong for the rest of the team, Hannibal smiled at the crazy pilot in silent agreement to BA's statement before turning back to watch Face.
Murdock and BA had finally fallen asleep and a nurse had brought in a chair for Hannibal when Face started to stir. Hannibal, who had been dozing his chair, started awake at the sudden groan emitting from his second in command. He quickly yelled out the door for the doctor before shaking BA and Murdock awake. The three then watched and waited for Face to open his eyes.
Pain. That was the first thing Face felt when he started to regain his feelings. Groaning, Face tried to move his body. He couldn't. His whole arm felt like lead and his legs weren't much better. Slightly turning his head to the side he started to panic. There was something down his throat and it was stopping him from being able to breather properly. Groaning again, Face started to blink sluggishly, all the time moving his head from side to side as if that would help move the tube from his mouth.
"Hey, clam down, kid." Hannibal was there. He looked relieved to see Face. The whole side of Face's chest was starting to burn, causing the young conman to groan again. Hannibal's face disappeared for a moment. Maybe he'd lost consciousness.
When he opened his eyes again a face of pretty red head was in front of him. Annie. Face remembered she was the girl who had come to the A-team for help. Groaning again, Face remembered the tube was still down his throat.
"I need you to stay still for me, okay Face?" Face blinked too show that he had heard. It was difficult to stay still; his whole body felt like it was on fire. All he wanted to do was curl up and go back to painless blackness.
"We're going to get this tube out now, okay? This is Doctor Evans." Annie's face was replaced by a black haired man. Apparently Doctor Evans.
Doctor Evans started to lift the tube from Face's throat. Face closed his eyes as a fresh wave of pain made itself known from his side. "Well done, Face." Doctor Evans said, placing the tube somewhere where Face couldn't see it. "Are you in pain?" Face groaned in response. "I'll give you some pain killers."
Annie placed a needle in the IV drip by Face's arm and soon blackness was pooling at the edges of Face's vision. The pain as starting to receded and finally Face was in the blissful darkness once more.
2 DAYS LATER
Hannibal was sleeping on the chair by Face's bed. The kid had developed a fever and had been moving restlessly in his sleep for the last 2 days. Hannibal had finally managed to persuade BA and Murdock to go back to the house and get some sleep. They'd tried to get him to go to but Hannibal couldn't leave Face on his own. Not when it was his fault. They would be back in an hour. Maybe less if Murdock behaved himself. Hannibal laughed at that thought before turning his gaze back to Face.
The fever was still high but Doctor Evans had seemed positive that it would go soon enough. Now all the kid had to do was wake up. He was still very pale but he looked a lot better for having that tube out of his throat. His breathing was still a bit ragged but Face was breathing on his own now. That was the main point.
Hannibal would have to put the kid through a few of his obstacle courses when Face was feeling better. Couldn't have his lieutenant getting lazy could he. But the kid needed to wake up first. Wake up and start healing.
As if on cue Face started to groan. Hannibal knelt his knees on his legs, watching as Face tossed and turned. Soon Faces eyes started to open. Hannibal gazed into the glassy, pain filled blue eyes as Face studied his surroundings. When Face moved to speak Hannibal moved a hand in front of the kid. As if only just noticing Hannibal's' presence, Face turned to look at the Colonel. This cause him to grown in pain, having jostled his injured side.
"Don't talk, kid." Hannibal placed a few ice chips into Faces mouth. The kid frowned in annoyance but took them anyway. There was a confused look in the kid's eyes as he stared up at the ceiling.
After a while Face spoke, well more croaked. "Thanks, Hannibal."
"You sound like a frog, kid." Hannibal smiled as Face started to laugh. It turned out to be a mistake as the kid started to cough. Face placed a hand on his sore side, hissing in pain as the sudden movements cause his lungs to burn. "I'm sorry, Face."
"No." Face started. The confused blue eyes seemed to whirring as if to find something to say. Some excuse to make that would show Hannibal it wasn't his fault. "Wasn't your fault…Was…Was theirs…guy who…who shot me." Face felt breathless as he spoke. It hurt. It hurt a lot. "Please…don't…don't blame yourself." Face closed his eyes as he said this.
Face was silent so long, Hannibal thought that he'd gone back to sleep. He hadn't though. "Hurts." Face whispered.
"Do you want some pain meds?" Face shook his head, too exhausted to speak.
"Wait." Face managed to get out before another coughing fit came along. Hannibal nodded, squeezing the conman's hand in a comforting way.
Murdock and BA came in the room at that moment. "How are you feelin', Faceman?" Murdock asked, sitting on Face's other side. Face only smiled in response. He was starting to feel light headed again. Pain was filling up in his side. Everything was getting fuzzy.
"You want some pain meds now, Face?" Hannibal asked. The kid only nodded in response. His last look before he slipped into sleep was Murdock smiling happily down at him, BA standing at the door smiling a rare but happy smile and Hannibal looking at him with a concerned smile on his own face.
2 DAYS LATER
"You really should stay." Doctor Evans said as BA lifted Face into the wheelchair. Face groaned in pain as his injured side was jostled.
"Sorry, Doc. But we can't stay too long in one place." Hannibal said as he watched Murdock take the wheelchair out of BA's hands.
"I can walk you know." Face still sounded breathless but he was starting to sound more like his usual self. His fever had broken the night before and it was obvious that had made a change in the younger man. He was still in a lot of pain but he was less pale now. Still breathless and unable to do any form of exercise but the Doctor said that would clear up soon enough.
"At least take the pain killers and make sure he doesn't do anything too strenuous for the next couple of weeks. If there's any problems…"
"Bring 'im back here. We got that sucka." BA growled as he watched Murdock start to move the wheelchair around the room at a faster pace than necessary. "Careful there, fool." BA growled at the captain. Murdock only grinned as he started to push Face out of the room and down the hall.
Hannibal watched in slight amusement as Murdock started to head down to the van with Face and BA following close behind.
"Thank you." Hannibal began but Doctor Evans cut off.
"It was the least we could do. So thank you for helping us. And I'm sorry your friend got hurt helping us." The two men shook hands as Hannibal laughed.
"Don't think Face minded all that much. Meant he got a few date options for when he's better. Annie took a real interest in him. We'll take care of him but I better get going. Can't have BA killing our pilot." Hannibal smiled as he left the Doctor stood in the hospital.
Face was laughing, breathlessly, as BA growled at whatever Murdock had just said. Yeah. Face was gonna be just fine.