A/N: This is my very first attempt at writing The A-Team fanfiction … I have been a huge fan of the series and have been watching re-runs of the series lately. The story is situated somewhat in season 5 when the team gets involved with Stockwell (alternate version). I do hope you'll like the story.
I don't owe any of the characters to the show and this story is merely fictional.
Chapter 1
Dr. Maggie Sullivan was having a nice cup of coffee with her new assistant when her phone suddenly rang. It could be anything when the phone rang: a patient who had a question, an emergency or … It could be the phone call she had been anticipating all week long. Hannibal and his team had been on a new mission to South America and they should be returning home by now. Maggie always was a little worried about them ever since she had to patch up B.A. some time ago. That's how she had met the team and Hannibal in the first place and she had fallen head over heels for the blue eyed colonel.
The two of them had started a relationship afterwards and Hannibal had promised to come by every now and then or give her a call to reassure her after a new mission. They had to be really careful too, so the military police wouldn't have a clue about their relationship. After all, Hannibal and his team were still wanted criminals. Maggie however never believed that they had been capable of committing such a crime and she truly believed that they were being framed by the military. She had earned their trust and so the team saw her as their personal physician whenever they needed one.
Maggie desperately hoped nothing would have gone wrong this time or at least not something too bad. Surely there would be some patching up to do: fix a broken nose, tend to wounds, treat bruises or bruised and sometimes cracked ribs or the occasional black eye, but she hated for one of them to get seriously injured. She all but ran to pick up her phone. If it was the team, she knew they had to be careful as they had no idea whether or not the military were on to them. So they usually pretended to be someone else, until Maggie was able to secure her line and inform them.
"Hi, Mags, it's me," she heard the colonel's voice. "Can you talk?"
"Yes, John," she said relief washing over her. She was so glad to be able to hear his voice. "I'm so glad to hear your voice again. Everything okay?"
"Yes, we're alright," he reassured her. "We are on our way over now."
"Anybody got hurt besides the bad guys?" She asked.
"Just Face," Hannibal answered her smiling. "He has been whining about his bruises as usual."
Maggie couldn't help but smile. The young lieutenant always seemed to get hurt. Mostly he suffered from minor injuries, but he would always complain about them to his team mates and drive them crazy. Maggie knew he just loved the attention he got.
"What is it now?" Maggie jokingly said.
"Let's just say he forgot to duck every now and then to avoid being used as a punching ball," Hannibal replied. She heard the others chuckle on the background.
"It's not funny." She heard Face grumble.
They talked for a little while longer and Hannibal told her they would be at her place within half an hour. Maggie smiled happily and decided to inform her new assistant, Dr. Zowie Stockwell. Zowie had only recently started working at Maggie's. She was a very dedicated doctor and a sweet and caring young lady. She was eager to learn from Maggie and turned out to be a very independent young girl. She had told Maggie about her father who was a retired general of the US Army and a CIA member who was overprotective of his only daughter. He always wanted to keep an eye on her, but she craved her independence. She had started med school and went off to college to be away from her father's overprotectiveness. Now that she was about to graduate and needed and internship, she desperately wanted it to be as far away from L.A. as possible and ended up in the small town of Bad Rock. Maggie was pretty fond of her assistant and believed she could be trusted. She had discussed this with Hannibal previously and ended up telling Zowie that the A-Team regularly came by for check-ups. She told her assistant about the guys and what they were accused of doing. Zowie had read about them in the paper already and she knew from her father's stories that the military where after them. Maggie had told her that the team was accused of robbing the Bank of Hanoi and that she was almost positive that it had been some sort of set up. Ever since that moment Zowie had been dying to meet them, but she knew her father would never approve of her knowing the A-Team or hanging out with them for that matter. So she had lied to him! She said she took an internship overseas in Europe and left for Bad Rock knowing fully well that she would actually get to meet the team. She had begged Maggie not to inform the guys that her father had been in the military as to not scare them away. Now with the team being on its way over, Zowie was starting to get nervous.
"Hannibal said they're okay. Face got punched and seems to be complaining about his injuries, so we'll have to patch him up," Maggie said smiling.
"Oh no," Zowie answered her starting to get worried. "Is it bad?"
"Let me let you in on a little secret about Templeton Peck," Maggie started to explain. "As long as he whines or complains, it's usually nothing bad. You see! Lieutenant Peck likes the attention, especially from the ladies. He craves some attention every now and then. I guess he must have had a lack of attention while growing up as an orphan. When he says he's doing fine, that's when you need to start getting worried. He hates being sick and vulnerable and he tends to hide things and flat out lie about his condition when he's really seriously hurt. But right now he has been complaining a lot to his team mates."
Zowie chuckled. Maggie had showed her a few pictures of the team members, so she actually knew what to expect. "I don't think he needs to do much to get attention from the female population. I mean with his long blond hair, beautiful blue eyes and that cute smile of his. I bet girls are swooning over him all the time. He is so handsome!"
"You're swooning already and you haven't even met him yet," Maggie chuckled. "I think you should treat him."
"What?" Zowie asked shocked. "Me? Why?"
"Well, you're a doctor, aren't you?" Maggie teased. "You need the practice and this will give you some alone time with Lieutenant Peck." She smiled mischievously.
Zowie blushed fiercely.
Meanwhile, the infamous A-Team van had arrived and the team members jumped out of the car with the exception of Face. He was doing his very best to act as if he was seriously hurt. Maggie and Zowie both ran up to the van to meet them. Maggie immediately went over to Hannibal and he took her in his strong arms and they shared a sweet kiss.
"Looks like somebody's mist me," he said smiling.
Zowie kept her distance and watched Maggie interact with Hannibal, Murdoch and B.A.
"Lieutenant, care to join us today?" Hannibal yelled towards Face who was still sitting in the van.
"I can't do it by myself, Colonel," Face answered him trying to look convincingly ill enough. "It hurts way too much to move."
Hannibal shook his head and rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but smile. He so knew when Face was trying to con them, but he decided to play along to tease him.
"That bad, son?" He asked his second-in-command while walking up to the van.
Murdock and B.A. immediately knew Hannibal would play along now.
"Oh yeah. It's real bad. I can't explain. It hurts to breath. I mean I feel like my body is almost on fire from those punches. And somehow I think I'm gonna be sick …" Face started to babble.
"Not in my van you're not," B.A. grumbled. He made his way over to the van to roughly pull Face out of his seat and on to his feet.
He was still trying to look miserable as he was leaning heavily against the van.
"Maybe you can help him inside and get him settled on the table in my office," Maggie suggested. "That'll make it easier for Zowie to see what's wrong with him."
All eyes were on the young woman now.
"Dr. Zowie Stockwell is my new intern and a wonderful young doctor," Maggie started to introduce her. "Anyway, she needs all the experience she can get."
Face looked up at the beautiful young woman that had just been introduced and couldn't help but smile. He so wouldn't mind to be treated by her. Zowie blushed. Hannibal didn't miss Face's reaction. He looked at Maggie and she winked playfully at him.
"Sure," Hannibal answered her. "I don't think Face would mind, right kid?" He had to try to stop himself from bursting out laughing as it was. He could see right through his Lieutenant. "Hi Zowie. Nice to meet you. I'm Hannibal Smith," he said to the young woman as he shook her hand.
Murdock and B.A. also shook hands with Zowie while they introduced themselves.
"And leaning against the van we have our famous, charming, loveable, handsome, …. Lieutenant Templeton Peck," Murdock said. He sounded as if he was introducing a contestant to a gameshow. "Unfortunately Mr. Peck ran into some fists earlier on and hasn't been feeling well since."
"Murdock cut it out will you," Face told his best friend.
Zowie remembered Maggie's words about Templeton Peck and did her utmost best not to start laughing.
"Let's get you into the examination room and get you checked out shall we?" She said trying to be professional.
B.A. and Hannibal helped Face inside and got him settled on the examination table.
"Okay," she said in a serious tone of voice. "I'll start by checking your vitals first. Care to tell me what happened to you?"
She swiftly took Face's blood pressure and checked his pulse. Face elaborated on the entire story including all details, before actually revealing what had happened to him.
"So basically you got beaten up by those punks," Zowie stated at the end of his long story.
Face blushed. "Uh .. Yeah .. I guess you could look at it that way," he said feeling slightly less self-confident.
"So, where did you get punched?" Zowie asked in complete doctor mode by now. She tried to see Face as just any patient in need of help.
"Face and stomach," Face replied still sounding unsure.
"Let's have a look," she said. "Can you take of your jacket and lift up your shirt, please? And lie down on your back?"
Face did as he was told and Zowie had the hardest time ever keeping her focus. He had a slender yet muscular frame and she liked what she saw. She did notice the purple bruises to his side and abdomen. She gently pushed down to check exactly how bad the injuries were. Face hissed in pain and exaggerated as usual as he loved the attention this young, beautiful doctor was giving him.
"I'm going to push down to check your ribs," Zowie explained. "You might have some bruised or cracked ribs. Tell me when it hurts, okay?"
Off course Face once again exaggerated. Zowie frowned. She couldn't detect any cracked or bruised ribs, so the pain shouldn't be that bad. She suddenly remembered Maggie's stories about Face trying to gain some attention. So she decided to play along.
"You are severely bruised and that explains the pain you're in," she said trying hard not to laugh. "I think I'll have to tape those ribs of yours and you'll need to rest for a while. Let's have a look at your head. Have you been unconscious?"
"No," Face admitted, "but I do have a splitting headache."
"Mmm. I guess some aspirin and lots of rest will do wonders," Zowie stated trying her best to stay professional. "I'll tape your ribs first and then we can get you settled down on the couch in the living room. Could you try to sit up?"
Face did as he was told and thoroughly enjoyed the attention he got from Zowie. After she was finished taping his ribs, she helped him up and supported him as they walked towards Maggie's couch.
"Found out what's wrong with him, doc?" Hannibal asked Zowie as he winked at her.
"Yes," she said trying to remain serious. "Mr. Peck is severely bruised and I taped his ribs just to be safe. He also complained about a killer headache, so I'll give him some aspirin and advised him to rest a lot."
"Well, I guess we'll be staying over for a few days," Hannibal said wrapping his arm around Maggie.
Face couldn't be happier. He was so looking forward to spending some time with the lovely Zowie. Meanwhile Zowie was getting Face's medication and a glass of water.
"Here you go, Mr. Peck," she said politely as she handed him the tablet and a glass of water.
"Templeton," he replied softly.
"I'm sorry? What?" Zowie asked all confused.
"You can call me Templeton," he answered her flashing his million dollar smile. "Or Face if you like. That's what my friends call me. Is that okay with you, Zowie?"
Zowie felt her cheeks heat up immediately and merely nodded her head.
"Lieutenant, stop flirting and start swallowing that tablet." Hannibal's voice sounded serious causing Zowie to blush even harder.
