"He what?" Hannibal asked sure that he hadn't heard right.

Murdock adjusted the blue baseball cap on his head. "The doc said he could be confused from the anesthesia, but he seemed to really believe it."

"Oh…God." Hannibal instinctively reached for a cigar, but stopped as he realized where he was standing.

"He must of really been outta his head, man. Even more than the fool."

Hannibal nodded. "Fevers can do that to a person."

"What's the plan, colonel?"

Hannibal smiled. "I guess I'm going to have to make a miraculous recovery."

Hannibal sat by Face's side, his foot nervously tapping on the floor while he tried to figure out what to say when the younger man next woke. Somehow 'surprise' just didn't seem appropriate, though that was surely what it would be.

Murdock and B.A. graciously stepped out of the room allowing Hannibal time alone with his second in command. But now that he was alone, he almost wished they had stayed.

The colonel took hold of his lieutenant's hand that was attached to his good arm.

"Face…I'm here, kid." Hannibal took a deep, calming breath. "You're going to be just fine. The doc fixed up your arm good as new. You'll be back to picking pockets of the bad guys in no time."

He kept talking; letting the words in his heart flow out of his mouth.

"You need to know how important you are to me and that I would never, ever intentionally hurt you. And those awful things I said…that wasn't me, kid. I could never feel those things about you. I know I don't always show it…and I never say it…but I love you, son."

Hannibal stopped as he felt a small squeeze from Face's hand. "Face?"

"Han…bal?"

"I'm here…open your eyes, kid."

Face did as told, his eyes blinking as they adjusted to the light and the man next to him. "But…but…you died."

"Then that would make me an angel," Hannibal smiled. "And we both know I'm no angel."

"Are…are you really here?"

Hannibal squeezed Face's hand reassuringly. "In the flesh."

Face still wasn't ready to believe it. "I…I saw you…have a heart attack."

"No…you saw me have an anxiety attack when I found you and everything came flooding back to me. After that you were delirious with a fever."

Face's eyes began to fill and his lip quivered. "I thought…I thought I killed you."

"Oh…no, kid. But when I remembered what I said to you, I almost wanted to die." It was a dramatic statement coming from the colonel, but at the time it was how he felt.

"I…I had a dream…about Fort Bragg."

Hannibal sighed with relief. "Then you know that's where I got the words from."

Face nodded. "I know…and I'm so sorry I doubted you."

"Don't be…you had every reason to." Hannibal leaned forward. "So are we okay, kid?"

Face didn't answer right away, and when he did it was in the form of another question. "Did you mean it?"

Hannibal furrowed his brow; didn't they just go through that? Maybe Face was still groggy from the medications.

Seeing the colonel's puzzlement, Face continued. "I heard you say…say that you loved me." He blushed at having said the words out loud. "Did you mean it?"

"Completely…every word of it."

Face smiled tiredly. "Then we're okay."

Murdock and B.A. stood outside Face's door listening to their teammates work things out.

"Aw, I just love happy endings…don't ya, big guy?" When B.A. didn't answer, Murdock looked over to see the muscle bound man swiping at his eyes. "B.A.?"

"Yeah?" B.A. coughed to clear his throat.

"You okay?"

"Just got somethin' in my eye, man."

"They're called tears," Murdock teased.

"And this is called a fist," B.A. threatened holding up the bejeweled hand in front of the pilot's face. "And if you mention that I was cryin' to anybody, I'm gonna knock you into next Thursday with it."

"Oh good…that's movie night at the V.A."

B.A. threw up his hands. "Why do I put up with you fool?"

Batting his eyelashes, Murdock answered, "Because you love me?"

B.A. snorted, but didn't deny it and to Murdock that was victory enough.

Hannibal felt as if a giant weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Seeing Face yawn and fighting to keep his eyes open he said gently. "Why don't you get some sleep, kid?"

"Okay," Face answered mid yawn and allowed his eyes to remain shut. "Stay?"

"I'm not going anywhere." Hannibal still had a hold on his lieutenant's hand and minutes later he once more felt a squeeze.

"I love you, too," Face mumbled before his head lolled to the side and he was sound asleep.

Hannibal had been able to keep the tears at bay until this point, but now his eyes welled up. He swallowed past the lump in his throat and whispered, "I love it when a plan comes together."

The End