Author's Notes: Hello again! I had so much fun writing Burning Bridges that I couldn't help wanting to write something for Face. Also, more Murdock and Karina. Not as much as this is Face's story, but they will have their moments. (They have a moment in this first chapter, as a matter of fact.)
Disclaimers: Do not own nor am I affiliated in any way with the characters or the creators of the characters of the actors who portrayed them. I make no money in writing this. I only write this out of boredom and for my own entertainment.
Face sighed as he watched his best friend chase his giggling two and a half year old daughter through the yard of the small one story home he himself had managed to get brought down to half its asking price for himself and BA to live in. It was a quaint house with a breakfast nook and everything, even an outdoor heated pool that Face had determinedly made sure was guarded by a gate. He didn't want his precious god-niece getting into any accidents. She had become the heart of the team the second they had all seen her and every one of them was as protective of her as if she were their own.
But still there was an ache in Face's chest as he watched Murdock scoop Faith into his arms and then wrap his free arm around Karina's waist to pull her in for a long, possessing kiss that was more than a little show-stopping. He was happy for Murdock, he truly was, but until Murdock had wound up with a loving family of his own, Face had been purposely ignorant of his own desire to have a family. To meet a woman who was interested in more than just his skills in bed. Someone who enjoyed spending time with him as himself and even at his worst. He didn't always wake up looking like a million bucks, but most women were never around long enough to see that and those that had been... Well, that wasn't a path he wanted to traverse right now.
Pulling himself out of his rather depressing thoughts, Face lifted himself out of the deeper end of the pool and walked to the lounge chair where his large white beach towel lay. He grinned as Faith wiggled in Murdock's arms in a demand to be put down on her feet, actually getting pouty when Murdock tried to hold on to her.
"She's certainly perfected that pout of yours, Murdock," Face shouted at him, laughing as Murdock bit his bottom lip to keep from cursing in pain when Faith accidentally head-butted him in the nose. "She is going to get everything she wants out of you and then some."
Murdock rubbed at his sore nose as Faith resumed her butterfly chasing through the backyard. "Yeah. I coulda told ya that from the instant I saw her, Faceman." He wiggled his nose to make sure it wasn't broken. "You comin' in for lunch?"
"Going in for a shower. Hannibal and I have a client to meet with for lunch."
"A for-sure client? One that has passed Hannibal's tests?"
Face couldn't help the deep chuckle that vibrated out of the back of his throat. Even after being pardoned by the military and offered their full-time careers back, the four members of the A-Team had decided in one voice to continue doing their off-the-record jobs. But even though they weren't wanted criminals anymore, Hannibal continued to dress up in disguises to make sure the potential clients were serious about hiring the team and truly had a case-worthy cause. He refused to help the ones who obviously just wanted to pay to spend some time with 'almost celebrities.'
"Yep. He was willing to help the kid as soon he saw what a sorry state he was in, but you know Hannibal. He's not going to admit to capitulating that easily, so he put him through the other tests anyway."
"Do you know his story yet?"
"Nope, but I'll make sure to tell you as soon as we get back."
Face frowned as he scratched his nails along the cheap wood surface of the table where he, Hannibal, and their client sat in a local hole-in-the-wall barbecue joint. So many thoughts were tumbling through Face's mind right now that it was hard to focus on just one. This kid - this teenage boy who should be skipping school right now and jerking off staring at a Playboy magazine - was, instead, asking for their protection while he schemed up a plan to gain empirical evidence of his father's violent criminal past. He had enough money to pay them for six months worth of protection thanks to the trust fund left him by his maternal grandmother who had passed away less than a year ago. He had no fear of losing it as it had clearly stated in her will that his father was not to be trusted as handler of the fund or in any other way associated with that money.
The kid - Sam, Face reminded himself - was too skinny for a boy who'd been raised in such a life of privilege, which made him doubt the kid's sincerity somewhat in that he had grown up in an affluent lifestyle. His clothes, also, were raggedy and rundown, well-worn through several years of mistreatment. Not something Face could see a richie-rich kid needing.
On the other hand, his manicured nails, clear, smooth skin, and designer backpack confirmed his claims to be true. Not to mention the big fat stack of cash he'd just handed Hannibal not five minutes ago.
So what was bothering him so much? Something seemed off here. Nothing that alerted him to any kind of danger, but something...just something unusual.
The sound of Hannibal's voice jerked Face back to the present and he sat up straighter in his seat, gaze darting between Hannibal and Sam.
"Now, you said you want protection. I'm assuming this means you want to stay with us?"
"I don't have to," Sam clarified, eyes darting all around the room in paranoia. Or nervousness. Either would be understandable in this particular situation. "I can always stay in a hotel. But a hotel doesn't provide the type of security I would need. My father could easily find me there, trace my credit cards, and deal with me the way he deals with anyone who betrays him." He flinched at the thought and seemed to curl up into himself in a moot attempt at blocking out the world.
Hannibal glanced at Face, who shrugged and shuffled the pile of money Hannibal had slid to him.
Returning his gaze to Sam, Hannibal cleared his throat. "All right. Well, let me have a chat with the rest of my boys and we'll see where we can get you set up. You may be able to stay with one of us or we may have to set you up in a hotel with one of us with you at all times."
Sam seemed to grow pale at that idea, but shook his head in agreement anyway.
"Either way, we will get back to you before ten o'clock tonight. The cell phone number you provided us is untraceable, correct?"
"Yeah. I bought it as soon as I left. I still have the phone my dad gave me, but I removed the tracker. I only use it to keep names of contacts and other personal information stored."
"Very good." Hannibal stood to his feet and Face followed suit. "Do you need a lift anywhere?"
"No thanks. I have my own car."
Face frowned. "Can't your dad have the cops put a BOLO out on that or something?"
"No. I sold the car he was familiar with and bought a new one. Different plates, different make, different model. I may be new at this whole 'fugitive' thing, but I'm not stupid."
Face nodded, begrudgingly impressed. "Good to know." He patted the kid on the back and then followed Hannibal out of the restaurant.
"What's his father's deal?" Murdock asked bluntly as the four of them sat around the kitchen table. A little less than an hour ago, Karina had taken Faith home so she could put her down for a much-needed nap. "Like, what criminal activities is he supposedly into?"
"The kid didn't get into too many details," Hannibal replied, folding his hands up underneath his chin. "But I did some research on my own and, well, it's not pretty. Several years ago he was indicted in Spain for selling underage women to the highest dealers in the black market. He managed to buy his way out of that one easily with the amount of money he has invested all over the world. Rumor has it that he's also been secretly exchanging information with Iran over nuclear weapons and giving them the funds they need to terrorize countries the world over. There hasn't been any solid enough proof of this for the government to step forward and investigate the man."
"But Sam has proof of this?" BA asked.
"He has something. Something that's enough to make him hide away in fear for his life and pay for protection. Also, Giovanni's first wife, Annalise, years ago, 'vanished without a trace'. There was one brave maid who came forward with the claim that she had witnessed Giovanni Gustav beating his wife on more than one occasion and had even heard a bloodcurdling scream on the night that she disappeared. The maid, too, seemed to vanish after giving her statement to the police."
"Jesus," Face murmured.
"About a year ago, Giovanni's oldest child, a daughter, also seemed to go missing. Some speculate that she is still alive out there. That he sold her on the black market as he did with hundreds of other women."
"Maybe if we get Giovanni locked up at last, we can track down Sam's sister for him," Face suggested, hating the thought of an innocent woman, thousands of innocent women, out there being sold and branded like cattle.
"I was thinking the same thing." Hannibal nodded in agreement.
Silence fell around the table as they all gave thought to what taking on this job would entail, the risks they would be taking. After several minutes, Murdock was the first to break the quiet.
"I'll help out as much as I can, bossman, but if we have to go out of country into a war zone or something, I don't think I should..."
"Of course not, Murdock," Hannibal interrupted. "You have a family now. Your priorities lay with them. That's something we can all understand and respect."
"Maybe I should go out and start a family then," Face joked. "Have an excuse to keep from going out and getting killed."
Hannibal groaned. "Face..."
"I'm just saying." Face shrugged, forcing a smile onto his face.
Truth was, he wanted a family. Badly. And the longer he went without one, the less hope he had of it ever becoming a reality.
"She's finally asleep." Karina crawled onto the bed she shared with Murdock and collapsed on top of his bare chest, smoothing her fingers over his shirtless, hairy pecs. "I can't believe how much energy she had today. I'm exhausted."
Murdock set aside his comic book and hauled her up until they were nose-to-nose. "Just how exhausted are you? Because I was hopin' to get some me time in with you tonight."
Karina giggled, the sound, as always, striking Murdock right in the heart. "Well, I don't know. I didn't see you penciled in on my calendar."
"What?! I woke up at the crack of dawn to make sure I had a spot open for me and you're telling me someone has gone and erased it? Why, I oughta..."
Laughing outright, Karina tugged on the loose ends of Murdock's hair and positioned his head at the perfect angle for her lips. She kissed him thoroughly, tasting and teasing and nipping until he growled and flipped their positions, widening the width of her legs so he could grind his pelvis into hers. She moaned happily and brought her legs up around his waist, bracing her feet on the back of his thighs and teasing them up and down beneath his boxer shorts.
Not wasting a second, Murdock yanked down her panties and thrust two fingers into her tightening channel. She jerked with a cry that was muffled by his mouth, nails clutching on to his arms for support. She met every thrust of his fingers with a buck of her hips and a clenching of her inner muscles, drawing him in deeper.
Karina whined when he finally withdrew his fingers to pull himself out of his own clothing. "I wasn't finished yet," she told him as she leaned up to punishingly bite into his earlobe.
"You still ain't finished, baby." Murdock groaned as her teeth moved from his ear down to the throbbing pulse in his neck, sinking in and marking him. "But we're gonna finish together tonight."
Karina chuckled knowingly. "A bit impatient tonight, are we?"
"You're damn right I am." Murdock promptly flipped her over and instructed her to get to her knees. She did so with eagerness, reaching out to wrap her hands around the wooden post of the headboard. She lowered herself downwards so that her chest brushed against the pillows, her ass dangling up in the air expectantly.
Murdock smoothed his hand over the round firmness of her bottom as he stared, still amazed that this beautiful woman loved him, wanted him. There would not come a day in this lifetime or the next that he would ever stop loving her.
Leaning down, Murdock bit into the meaty portion of Karina's left buttock, making her squeal and swat at him in embarrassment. Almost four years together and she still got shy when he looked at her. It was just the cutest thing.
"Well?" Karina demanded impatiently. "Are you gonna finish up on your own or are we gonna do this together? I have a schedule to keep, you know," she teased. "Many others are signed up after you."
As she knew it would, that pulled a jealous growl out of Murdock and he grabbed her hips forcefully and then slammed home, making the bed squeak and the headboard rattle as it was shoved against the wall.
"Yes," Karina moaned, hands tightening around the headboard. "That's what I want."
"You want this, baby?" Murdock pulled out to the tip and then pushed all the way back in again. "All of this?"
"Yes," she gasped in response, her eyes crossing as the build started to climb high once more. "But harder."
Murdock's grip around her hips became a bruising force as he obeyed her wishes, using almost all his strength to racket her back and forth like a pendulum, her cries ever increasing as he expertly stroked her G-spot.
"So close," she sobbed, her nipples tightening even further as the rest of her body did. "Oh god, James, so close."
"Me too, baby, me too."
One last thrust was all it took for the two of them to climax in unison, their moans of pleasure mingling together as they slowly and exhaustively fell to the mattress in one big pile of boneless limbs.
As they settled in together and turned out the bedside light, Murdock sighed.
"What's wrong?" Karina asked.
"Face. I just...I'm so sad for him."
Understanding flashed through Karina as she gently yanked at a strand of chest hair. "Because he's lonely?"
"Yeah. How'd you know?"
"Because, while he's excellent at donning happy personas for the rest of the world, he tends to let down his guard around his close friends. He doesn't really mean to show things like that, but it's clear that he wants what you and I have. It's not something he'll ever admit out loud though. He doesn't want us to think that he wants to need anybody that way. He wants us to go on believing that he wants to be alone, that he doesn't want to depend on anybody."
Murdock ran his hand up and down her back soothingly. "He's too wary, though. Any woman he meets he seduces into bed right away and then gets rid of her. He's afraid of them turning into El Diablo."
Eyebrows furrowing, Karina glanced up at him, but all she could really see was the faint outline of the bottom of his jaw. "Who?"
"I didn't tell you about El Diablo?"
"No."
"Well, settle back, baby, and be ready to wanna go kick some ass."