As intended, the group left the next day. Mrs. Baracus and Angel thanked Stella for her hospitality and her care. Even as Hannibal tightened his lips in disagreement, they promised to keep in touch.

Face was last out the door, and locked eyes with Hannibal as it shut behind him. Even without words, the older man understood the direct stare.

The three men argued about how long to stay away; eventually they gave it longer than B.A. said it should be—"if it ain't finished by now, another day ain't gonna help!"—and shorter than Murdock thought—"hurt feelings and stabbing words can't be just glossed over!"

Face refused to give his opinion either way.

When they finally made it back to Stella's place, they weren't sure if they were walking into a warzone or a love nest.

It seemed to be somewhere in-between.

Stella was happy that B.A. continued to get better, and repeatedly reminded him that he needed to finish all his meds and not engage in too much physical exertion. She told Face the same; both men agreed.

Hannibal's concern that they'd stayed too long with her was finally acknowledged, and they decided to head out. The van was packed up, and B.A. insisted he was fine to drive. He didn't say anything about his seat position being changed, but was happy there was a full tank of gas.

B.A. and Face thanked Stella profusely. She accepted their hugs and kisses and told them not to be strangers.

Murdock took her aside privately to thank her. It was a lengthy, whispered conversation on the front porch that he never relayed to any of the others. None of them commented on her stroking his hair for a long time while they spoke. When the talk was finally finished, he looked at ease and happy.

Hannibal also took some time, and the other three deliberately made themselves scarce by waiting in the van in the garage.

The two of them came out to the garage together. Stella moved to operate the door.

She held Hannibal's hand until he walked to the passenger's side. As she'd done previously, she opened the garage door, waved as B.A. pulled his van out, and shut it behind them. They only saw her a second through the window before she walked away and the vehicle turned into the street.

The men rode in silence for a bit. Hannibal chewed the tip of an unlit cigar as he watched the landscape go by.

Face and B.A. exchanged glances through the rearview mirror.

"Everything . . . cool, bossman?" Face finally dared to ask.

". . . yeah," he answered slowly. "Everything's . . . all right. We decided . . . "

No one else knew if they wanted to hear the rest, and didn't push for him to continue. The silence hung over them.

Hannibal finally gave himself a shake. His voice was stronger when he resumed his thought.

"We decided that it would be best for Stella to stop seeing Dr. Tucker. And!" he hurried to add, over the sharp intake of breaths ready to verbally jump him. "And I'm done with other women too."

The breaths were let out gratefully. Face clamped his hand on Hannibal's shoulder.

"That's good, boss."

"Yeah," B.A. agreed. "I ain't gonna lie—it's tough havin' someone waitin' for you and you wantin' to be with them. But it sure is sweet, too."

Murdock remained oddly quiet during the exchange. The vehicle sped up as they hit the highway, and the countryside sped by.

Eventually, staring up at the clouds through the side window, Murdock said,

"We talked a lot while we were at Angel's place, Hannibal. She thinks she can rig up some cell phones that we can use regularly. Long term things—no more of this buying disposable ones every other week to keep people from tracking us through them."

Hannibal looked back at the pilot in surprise. Murdock didn't meet his gaze; he continued watching the sky as he shrugged.

"Just thought it might be nice to be able to call people and not have so much worry."

"Murdock was the one who asked her if that was possible," Face supplied.

Murdock shrugged again. "Mostly I get tired of the biweekly memorization sessions for four new telephone numbers. I got enough extra going on in my head. Not having that too will clear out some storage space."

Hannibal nodded thoughtfully. It would be nice to be able to call . . .

"If Angel can do it, that would be appreciated," he said, and Face squeezed his shoulder again.

fin.

Thanks to all who've stuck through another installment of "she can't NOT add OCs". It's greatly appreciated and I (heart) each and every one of you!