COMING HOME
A/N: Sequel to "Faceman Is Gone" "Running Away" "Failure of the Jazz" and "Protection". This is the last story in the series but not (hopefully) my last A-Team story.
Langley, Virginia
The house was silent. In one room a silver-haired man lay sound asleep, an unlit cigar between his two fingers. A big black man with a Mohawk slept in the room on the other side of him, growling underneath his breath as he pounded bad guys into the ground. In between those rooms there lay another man. But he was wide awake. His brown eyes had grown accustomed to the dark and lingered, not on his leather bomber jacket and baseball cap thrown haphazardly across the back of a chair, but on the closed closet door. He was like a child scared to open the door for fear of monsters. But Murdock was not scared of monsters lurking on the other side. He was more frightened of the neatly pressed suits that hung there waiting for their absent owner to return and claim them.
Shadows danced on the wall but instead of becoming bunnies or butterflies they turned into images; images that haunted Murdock until, at least, unable to sleep Murdock turned on the light and headed into the kitchen to find something to eat. It had been two months since Face had walked out and he missed him more than anything. Hannibal had always humored Murdock's craziness, B.A. flat out refused to accept it and Frankie played along. But Face. Face had always accepted the fact that Murdock was not nor ever would be normal and he didn't care. He made Murdock feel…grounded. Without him Murdock was lost. He felt himself slipping back into his old habits, he talked to Billy more and more and less to Hannibal and B.A..
He ate the last bite of cookie that had been in the cookie jar and prayed for Face to return.
Miami, Florida
Face was finding it hard to sleep as well. He could hear the waves pounding outside much like the tumultuous thoughts in his head. Surrendering to the inevitable he reluctantly got up and went to sit on the patio. He took a deep breath and felt himself starting to relax. For reasons that he could never explain even to himself he had always loved the ocean. It always calmed him down and enabled him to think about his problems rationally. Every time he had found himself getting on edge (before the Stockwell business) he had always spent a couple of days at the beach and returned with a clearer image of things. The team, for the most part, had understood and always let him have a couple of days to himself before coming and disturbing his peace unless it was unavoidable.
The problem lingering on his mind tonight had been plaguing him for two months, ever since he had walked out on the team. He had tried to justify it and for the most part he had been to but what it always came down to was this; he had walked out on them. He had walked out on the only people in his life who hadn't tried to use him or leave him. They had always been there when he needed them and he had just walked on them. He was no better than his father.
"Good morning, Murdock," Hannibal said cautiously as he entered the kitchen. Murdock had been on edge the past few days and would snap at the least little thing.
"What's so good about it?" Murdock grumbled.
"Couldn't sleep again?" Hannibal kept his voice deceptively casual as he sat down across from the slender pilot.
Murdock didn't reply. He wondered what Faceman was doing right then. Probably sitting on a beach somewhere with a girl in a bikini next to him. He wondered if Face even thought about them anymore then immediately felt remorse. Face was probably feeling guilty for leaving them. Very guilty.
"Captain," Hannibal's voice broke into his thoughts and Murdock looked up guiltily. "I was going to ask where your thoughts were but I can see there's no need to ask."
"I miss him," Murdock murmured.
Hannibal's gaze softened. "I know. We all do."
"I just wish I had asked him not to go. If I had then perhaps he would still be here."
"Speaking of being here, Stockwell says we have to be moved out by the end of the week."
"I'm going to find Face," Murdock announced abruptly as he rose from the table.
"Want some help?" Hannibal wasn't really surprised by Murdock's decision or the suddenness of it.
Murdock looked at him gratefully. "Yes, I would, sir."
Face lay on the bed and allowed his mind to wander. He was so lonely. All he really wanted to do at the moment was get in the 'Vette and drive back to Virginia and see the guys. Then suddenly an idea occurred to him. Why not? What was stopping him? It wasn't like he was a wanted man anymore. Their pardons had been announced on the news a few days earlier, even he had gotten one (he suspected that B.A. had "insisted" that Stockwell give him one).
For just a second he could hear them, could see them: Hannibal sitting in the front seat of the van wishing he could have been there to see what Decker and Lynch's faces had looked like when they had read the paper, Murdock would be saying to leave well enough alone, and B.A. would be telling both of them to shut up since there was no point in talking about something they would never be able to do which of course would lead to Murdock listing all of the impossible things that they had already accomplished and then B.A. would turn around in his seat and try to choke Murdock and Hannibal would give both of them reproachful looks and tell B.A. to be nice to Murdock, then lean back and light his cigar.
A wave of homesickness hit him so hard he had to clutch at the bedspread to keep from falling off. He was so lonely without them. He missed them more than anything else in the whole wide world. Suddenly his thoughts caught up with him and he had to choke back a sob. Did he, the great Templeton Peck, actually care for someone? Alarmed, he wondered just when they had gotten under those carefully constructed defenses that he presented to the world. When had they gotten this close to his heart?
He rolled over and buried his face in the soft lace pillow, his shoulders shaking but not a single sound emitted from his mouth. He had tried so hard all these years to convince himself that the only reason they kept him around was because they needed him to scam stuff, not because they cared or anything. In fact he had actually succeeded in making himself believe that, especially after that stupid fake pardon. What if he was right? What if they didn't miss him at all but had barely noticed he was gone?
Well there was only one way to find out. He would go see them (using a job as a guise of course) and if they didn't want to see him then he had lost nothing. With that thought in mind he rolled to his side, curled up, and was soon fast asleep.
"Now the first order of business is to figure out where Face would have gone," Hannibal glanced up from the map spread across his lap to see what the others thought.
"LA," Murdock said promptly.
"Why would he go there?" Hannibal asked puzzled. "It's too risky."
"To get the 'Vette," Murdock's words were slow, as if he was speaking to a child.
"Faceman loves that car," B.A. grumbled. "Don't see why. It can't drive fast."
"Because it's his," Murdock put an emphasis on his.
That made sense so B.A. nodded. They all knew that Face hadn't had much in the way of physical possessions while growing up and being on the run from the military didn't help matters any, so Face only had a few things that he actually took with him every time he moved; the 'Vette being one of them.
"What would he do after he picked it up?" Hannibal asked in a desperate attempt to get the conversation back on track.
"Probably go to Florida or somewhere and scam himself a beach house," Murdock replied, after several minutes of careful deliberation.
"Then Florida it is," Hannibal turned around in his seat and lit his cigar. They had a plan now; he could already feel a little of the jazz stirring in his blood again. He just hoped that if…no, when they found Face he would be willing to listen to an old man's apologies and come back. If he didn't, then Hannibal didn't know what they would do.
Despite the fact that it was only six a.m. the Florida sun was already shining but Face didn't mind. He liked the feel of the sun on his face as he drove down the highway with the wind rippling through his blond hair and the radio on.
He grinned when he saw the signs that said he was in Tennessee and decided to stop and get something to eat.
"Pull in here, B.A.," Hannibal indicated the Hamburger Heaven on B.A.'s left. "We'll stop and get something to eat then be on our way again."
B.A. nodded and cut across the street so sharply he took ten years off of Hannibal's life. He had just pulled into the parking lot when a red and white Corvette entered from the other side. Swerving to avoid the car B.A. found himself nose-to-nose with a telephone pole. He emitted a shaky breath and the three men climbed out of the van to check on the other driver. To their great relief he appeared to be unharmed as he was running his hands over the fender of his car to make sure it wasn't damaged.
"Are you all right?" B.A. asked worriedly.
The man turned around then and they all stared in shock. It was Face. He appeared to be as surprised as they were and opened his mouth as if to say something but quickly shut it again. Having shook off the initial shock he grinned and said, "Long time no see."
"Face!" Murdock squealed and launched himself at the con artist. Face grunted as long arms wrapped themselves around his throat and squeezed.
"Hey, Fool, let go o' Faceman 'fore you choke him to death."
Face looked at him gratefully and said, "Thanks, B.A."
"Now I can kill you," B.A. moved forward threateningly, causing Face to practically lean all the way backwards across the hood of his car.
"Now, now, B.A.," Hannibal chided. "Leave Face alone."
B.A. grumbled but backed up enough to let Faceman stand.
"Face," Hannibal said cautiously.
"Hannibal," Face nodded at him then the two men eyed each other warily like boxers sizing up their opponents.
Neither Murdock nor B.A. had missed out on the fact that the tension in the air had risen significantly.
"Hey," Murdock said brightly in a desperate attempt to avoid bloodshed, "what do you guys say we go eat? Faceman can scam us some food."
"If I was going to scam you some food, Murdock, I wouldn't scam it from Hamburger Heaven," only Face had the unique ability to make the name of a restaurant sound like he would prefer to eat out of a dumpster.
"Maybe he's getting too old," Hannibal suggested, puffing on his cigar.
Face's blue eyes flashed and his jaw set; informing Hannibal that he had gone too far. B.A. had had enough. They had worried about Faceman for six months, they had been in the process of driving all the way to Florida to find him and now that they had found him Hannibal tried to run him off again? No way, man. Not gonna happen on B.A. Baracus's watch.
"Enough!" B.A. bellowed. Everybody in the parking lot turned to look at him but he ignored them and concentrated on Face and Hannibal. "I don't know what y'all's problem is but you ha better get it straightened out."
Face opened his mouth to say something but one look from B.A. shut it again. "We come all this way to find Face and I ain't gonna let you run him off again, Hannibal. And Face we gone to all the trouble to find you so you just better shut up and listen. Now things was messed up even before Faceman left and they just got worse since then. Now I know we all could've behaved a lot better and that includes myself and the Fool."
Now Murdock looked he was about to object but one meaty finger waved threateningly in his direction so he followed Face's lead and stayed quiet.
"Now Murdock and I are gonna go get something to eat, when we get done I expect the two of you to have worked everything out by then; am I understood?"
Hannibal and Face looked at each and reluctantly nodded.
"Good. Come on, Fool," B.A. grabbed the lanky pilot by the arm and half pulled/half dragged him into the restaurant leaving Face and Hannibal behind.
The silence was awkward. Face looked at his car, at the ground, anywhere but at Hannibal.
Hannibal sighed and irritably wished for a fresh cigar. He really, really didn't want to have this conversation. He had been hoping that they would find Face and the younger man would take one look at them and jump in the van without Hannibal having to say a single word. He should have known that it wasn't going to be this easy; nothing was where Face was concerned. But the question of the day was: did Hannibal want Face back badly enough to beg? The answer was…yes. Hannibal's thoughts were interrupted when Face's hand appeared in front of him waving a fresh cigar. He grinned and took it, his grin growing wider when Face lit it for him too.
He took a deep breath and decided to jump right in. "I'm sorry, Face."
Face looked surprised. "What for?" he asked suspiciously.
"For everything," Hannibal said honestly. "For giving all the jobs to Murdock, to agreeing to Stockwell's demands…"
"Stockwell wasn't your fault," Face said matter of factly. "You were just doing what you thought was best at the time. You were trying to protect us and I understood that even if I didn't like it."
"I still should have asked your opinions first," Hannibal argued.
"Yes you should have," Face agreed without the slightest hint of rancor in his silky voice.
"We missed you, Face, and not just for the cons. We missed you grumbling at breakfast; playing with Murdock in the back of the van…we missed you, period."
Face looked thoughtful then gave a big grin. "I missed you guys too," he said and in that instant Hannibal knew. Knew that Face had already forgiven them and had just been waiting for somebody to say something.
"Let's go eat then," Hannibal threw an arm around Face's shoulders and the two men discussed nothing in particular as they headed for the restaurant doors.
From inside B.A. peered out the window and gave a satisfied grin when he saw Face and Hannibal heading towards them.
"What are you grinning about, Big Guy?" Murdock asked.
"Nothin', Fool," B.A. growled. "Nothin'."
A/N: I hope that you guys liked this story. I would like to apologize if it isn't up to par with my other stories, I finished this one in sort of a rush. Please let me know what you think.