There are references to past stories/canon episodes in the prologue below. The references are listed at the bottom of the chapter for the benefit of those curious.


Careless Whispers

Part I - Prologue

Part of Murdock was telling him that he should be the happiest he'd been in a long time. He had a mother again for the first time since he was five and a brother (even though there wasn't much in the way of family resemblance between them). He still had his best buddy, Face. He had his father figure in Hannibal. He had an adorable niece in Dawn. He'd also found a very pretty lady that seemed to like him as much as he liked her.

The other part of his brain was whispering again though. The kind of whispers that kept him awake at night. Trouble. Everyone was mentioning it and him in the same sentence. It was finding him. He'd tried to deny it and just consider it all to be a coincidence, but even Mom had noticed.

That night when everyone else was asleep, Murdock was wide awake and thinking. Everyone was agreeing. The guys – Bethany – Mom. He didn't mind trouble finding him really - that wouldn't have been a problem. What was a problem was that when trouble was finding him, it wasn't being very discriminating about leaving out the people he cared most about.

He started going over events in his mind. He and the guys had been here in Mom's building before when some guys planted a bomb in the basement (1). He'd been the one with B.A. when Decker's men had set off explosives and totaled the van they were in. B.A. even lost his hearing for awhile (2). He was the one that was in the cell with Face with that guy tried to drive Face insane – the guy even said he wanted to make the whole team as crazy as Murdock (3). He was the one that had been with Dawn when they came across the boy being kidnapped (4). He could tell that Dawn's mother had been mad at him for exposing her daughter to danger. She forgave him, but she was right. Dawn wouldn't have been in danger in the first place if it hadn't been for him.

As if that all weren't enough, Hannibal had been kidnapped just because he'd been with Murdock when he'd gone to pick up some bread and milk (5). If the guys hadn't thought that Hannibal was related to him, they wouldn't have bothered him at all. They were right. He'd gone from being an asset to a jinx and other folks were being hurt because they were around him. Heck, B.A. didn't even really consider him an asset. B.A. would be thrilled if he never had to fly again.

Concern over what his presence might be doing to his friends and family made him overlook the fact that things happened to the team even when he wasn't with them. He also didn't take into account that he hadn't exactly escaped unscathed from any of those incidents himself and that some of the others could equally be thought of as trouble magnets. Especially Face.

There was a cold, sinking feeling inside of him as he came to the conclusion that the others were in danger just from being around him. The people dearest to him in the world were at risk and he wasn't going to let that continue. None of them were ever going to be collateral damage again. Not now that he'd figured it out.

Getting up quietly, it took him a few minutes to locate a pen and enough paper, but when he did, he sat down and began to write it all down. How he'd been missing the obvious. How sorry he was that he'd caused so much pain and worry by not figuring this out sooner. How much he loved them all. How much he was really, really going to miss them all. The facts couldn't be denied though. He really was too much trouble – more than he was worth. Once he finished writing, he put it all into an envelope and carefully put it to the side. He couldn't leave yet.

The next morning, B.A. drove Hannibal out to meet with the producers of 'Ghost of the Aquamaniac', the film that he'd been supposed to start back when they'd all made the trip to Disney World. Funding had fallen through at the time, but now the project was set to restart in the near future. Face headed off to check on some gear that Hannibal was wanting to add to their stock and Mom headed upstairs to give Karen a hand with a dress she was wanting to alter. Everyone was gone and Murdock knew the time had come.

He'd already packed the few things he considered to be his. All the weapons belonged to the team, so he wouldn't take any of them. One thing about living on the run for so long, everything fit into one duffel. A little tight, but it all fit.

Opening up the refrigerator, he propped the envelope up against the gallon jug of milk. For some reason, that struck him as being the perfect place to leave a note. Closing the door back, he sighed and took a long look around the apartment that he'd come to think of as home. Murdock really wished he could wait long enough to give Mom one final hug, but he knew that was just him being selfish. Besides, B.A. would never forgive him if something bad happened to Mom just because he hadn't left before trouble struck again. He'd never forgive himself either.

Giving a rough swipe to his eyes, Murdock picked up his bag, and left. He didn't know where he was going to go. He couldn't return to the VA any more. Decker had altered his records to show he was still MIA. But that didn't matter. This wasn't about him. This was about keeping his family safe. After everything they'd gone through for him, he wasn't going to let them down.

Taking a deep breath as he exited the building, Murdock picked a direction and started walking.


(1) TV Episode - Lease with an Option to Die

(2) See No Evil, Hear No Evil

(3) I Fall to Pieces

(4) Magic & Mayhem

(5) A Song Played on a Solo Saxophone