"Well this is just going to be a lovely Christmas Eve, isn't it?" Face groused, scowling down at his oatmeal. "Doing laundry with Murdock. By this time tomorrow I'll be crazier than him."

"No way, Face," Murdock said. "No-one goes as crazy as me overnight. I've worked at it for years. My insanity is a work of art." He passed a scrap of toast under the table. "Here ya go, Billy."

Hannibal watched Decker glance around the table. He saw what Decker saw; a look of concern in Face's eyes, and a scowl on BA's face. Hannibal knew the scowl was worry not anger and wondered if Decker had figured out the difference yet.

I'm a cruel bastard, Hannibal thought. He was actually quite shocked with himself. He'd gone back to Murdock after he'd told Murdock to play up the crazy angle for Decker and asked if Murdock had told Face and BA about that request yet.

"No," Murdock replied. The two of them had been in the bathroom, shaving at the time.

"Then don't." Hannibal told him. He manoeuvred the blade around his top lip, rinsed off the razor and went on. "If Decker sees them worried about you, he'll buy your act much better."

Murdock bit his lip, and then pulled a face as he tasted shaving cream. "Hannibal, I dunno... that's pretty cold. I don't know if I can scare them like that." His razor hung loose in his fingers, dripping water onto the floor.

"They'll get over it, Murdock. They'll get over it a lot better if you're safely tucked up in your bed at the VA than they will if you're in the cell next door."

"Can't you just tell them to pretend to be worried?" Murdock asked with an appealing look in his eyes.

Hannibal finished shaving, splashed the last of the shaving cream off his face. He straightened up and shook his head. "Face can only act when he's running a scam and BA isn't likely to ever need to write himself an Oscar acceptance speech."

"But -"

"Remember 'Lake Charles' and his giant Redwood tendencies?" Hannibal reminded Murdock. "And Decker's an MP, which means he's trained in interrogation, including spotting when people are lying to him." He shook his head again. "It's not worth the risk. It will work better if Face and BA's reactions are genuine."

"And what about your reactions?"

"Well after all..." Hannibal said as he patted his face dry with a towel. "I am an actor." He smiled at Murdock.

Murdock hadn't returned the smile.

"That's not the only thing you are." He turned his attention back to the mirror and resumed shaving.

No argument there, Murdock, Hannibal thought, bringing his attention back to the present and to Face's complaints about doing chores on Christmas Eve.

"Work's gotta be done, Face," Hannibal said. "Santa's elves won't do it."

"And you have to be a good boy," Murdock said. "Or Santa won't fill your stocking."

"Forget my stocking," Face said. "If Santa does visit us then I'm hitching a ride out of here."

Hannibal chuckled at that, and then drank off his coffee. "Come on, Decker, you and me on the snow clearing."

Decker looked up from glowering into his own coffee. He'd done a lot of glowering lately. He'd smoked his last cigarette five days ago.

"It's still dark."

"And it's not gonna get light till nearly noon. You go switch on the floodlights. I'll get the baby bulldozer out."

Decker got up, shoving his chair back hard and strode off muttering.

"How long does nicotine withdrawal last?" Face asked.

"Oh he's going to be this way well into the New Year," Hannibal said grinning. BA, who had been quiet throughout the meal shook his head and got up

"Careful with my clothes," he told the two laundrymen of the day. "You shrink anything I'll stuff you in the dryer." He followed Decker out of the room to start his maintenance checks on the machinery

"Of course the big guy doesn't need a special reason to be grumpy." Murdock said. He looked at Hannibal. "Decker thinks you've got some cigarettes left. He said so last night."

Hannibal grinned. "I know he thinks that."

"And have you?"

"That would be telling."

Face stood up, gathering up bowls and plates. "Remind me to hide the key to the gun room."

~~~~

Face yawned hugely as he and Murdock sorted the laundry into piles.

"Up late again?" Murdock asked. "Talking to Shila by any chance?"

"I may have checked in for a little chat," Face said, not adding: till two a.m. He checked the pockets of a pair of pants before dropping them onto a pile of other dark coloured clothes.

"So have you managed to get her age yet?"

Face sighed and shook his head. It was starting to drive him nuts that he didn't know how old Shila was or what she looked like. You didn't ask a lady her age and you certainly didn't add a follow up question of: "and what are your measurements?'

"I'll figure it out." Face said.

"Did you ask how long she was married?"

"Yeah. Five years. Which doesn't help me much."

"Hmm, and two years since the hubby ran off to Toronto with the slut?"

Face nodded. Seemed Murdock had actually been listening to Face's reports of his conversations with Shila.

"Yeah, two years." Face shoved a pile of clothes off the table into a basket and took the basket to a washer, started to stuff the clothes into it. Outside they could hear the mini bulldozer as Hannibal and Decker cleared drifted snow away from the building. Decker's voice sounded faintly. "Watch where the hell you're going, you..." The washer kicked in drowning out the yell.

"Oh well," Face sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway, since even if I do manage to meet her the only place I can take her for a date is my jail cell."

"Glass half empty today, huh?" Murdock asked. Face sighed again.

"Thing is I just want to know that, well, that if I could take her on a date, she'd go."

"Ah, a matter of pride." Murdock nodded sagely as he gathered up an armful of thermal long johns. He tossed them into a washer and set it going.

"And I have to keep in practice. Otherwise come spring every time I meet a girl I'll get all tongue tied and dopey. You know..." Face gave a sly smile. "Like you."

Murdock tossed a dirty sock at him. Face batted it away, wrinkling his nose.

"Does she know what you look like yet?" Murdock asked. "Think the wanted posters have been sent on to the Mounties?" He grinned. "Maybe she smuggled it out of the office and has it pinned up over her bed. Or, or... she showed it to all her girlfriends and even now they're gathering together a team of huskies and a sled, to bring them all out here to you."

Face laughed. "Now that would be a nice Christmas present."

Murdock started to pull bed sheets out of a hamper. "I'll have to go get my sheets," he said. "Need me to get yours?"

"Yeah, please."

Murdock went off to the bedrooms. Face sat down with his feet up as he waited for Murdock's return. He yawned again. He really did have to stop staying up so late. But he enjoyed taking to Shila. It wasn't just about proving he could charm a woman he hadn't even met yet. It was because whatever she looked like, however old she was, she was alive and breathing and talking, unlike the girls in the Playboy. Also talking to a woman was a blessed change when he was stuck here with only four other guys to talk to.

She was bored too, he felt sure. Doing the night shift, listening to lonely folks on the radio in-between some filing and typing, who wouldn't be? He wondered what made her want to do the night shift. Was she lonely too? He got the feeling from things she'd said that her husband walking out had knocked her confidence down a bit. Maybe when he got out of here Face would look the guy up and teach him a short sharp lesson about what happened to creeps who didn't treat a lady properly. Face shook his head, smiling at himself. Listen to me, he thought. I've never even met this woman!

He yawned again. Where the heck was Murdock with those sheets? How long did it take to strip a bed?

Face gasped suddenly as a memory made a direct frontal assault on his mind and left him reeling and almost falling off his chair. Last night, snuggled under the bed clothes with a flashlight just like when he was a kid. Head nodding, falling asleep. Didn't want to reach an arm out of his warm little cave to open the night stand drawer, just slid it under the pillow instead...

Murdock walked back in as Face jumped to his feet. Murdock wasn't carrying any sheets. He was scowling. He held up the Playboy.

"Wanna explain this?"