Hannibal was tired after finally getting back from Italy; he wanted nothing more than to have the apartment empty and a chance to decompress in quiet. But Murdock had been wandering from room to room for almost half an hour. Hannibal caught him glancing at the clock on the wall several times and figured he was just anxious about going back to the VA. Understandable - it had been, from all accounts, a rather spectacular exit. He could expect a rather dour welcome back. But there was something else about Murdock's pacing. He definitely had something else on his mind. So Hannibal waited, a bit impatiently, knowing Murdock wouldn't approach him until his 'script' was ready, no matter how long it took.
"Uh, Colonel..."
Okay - going formal on this one. Hannibal put on an appropriately serious expression. "Yes, Captain?"
"I've been thinking. About what you said."
Hannibal raised an eyebrow.
"To Face - that if we had plenty of money, we wouldn't need him."
"We definitely wouldn't need him scamming a boat ride."
"Well, yeah, but... I mean, we need him on the team."
"We need everyone on the team. As long as they do their job."
"And Face does. Right?"
Was Murdock seriously thinking Hannibal would get rid of Face? He bit back a smile.
"Usually, yeah."
"So, you didn't mean it."
"Well, since we don't have plenty of money, does it matter?"
"But even if we did have, you wouldn't get rid of him... would you?"
"What do you think, Murdock?"
Murdock frowned. "You wouldn't. No, you wouldn't dump anyone on the team." Murdock nodded, still serious as a Baptist minister. "Okay." He kept nodding his head as he left the room, barely acknowledging BA, who'd been standing in the doorway for some time.
BA stalked in, giving Hannibal his trademark scowl. "Fool oughta know we'd have plenty of money if you didn't keep taking on free clients."
Hannibal grinned. "Yeah. Funny how that works out, isn't it?"