Title: The Fifth Wheel
Author: Therm
Rating: PG
Summary: Frankie's feeling unwanted.
Warnings: Contains Frankie. Sorry. Slight spoiler for Curtain Call.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters and I certainly don't make money from this.
"You have to make the decision, Lieutenant."
Face frowned, thinking hard on what was being asked of him. Sighing, he replied, "Okay, I go for pizza too."
"Sorry B.A, you're out voted three to one."
"Yeah, but Frankie didn't get to vote." B.A complained.
"He only gets to vote once, so you still lose." Hannibal replied. "Besides, you don't mind do you Frank?" The colonel looked round to where the youngest man present currently sat on one of the couchs.
Frankie looked to Hannibal, smiling meekly at him. "Nah, whatever you guys want is fine with me Johnny."
"See." Hannibal said, turning back to B.A
"I don't even care any more, let's just eat." B.A grumbled back.
"I'm gonna go out for a walk around. I'll be back in time for food." Frankie said, getting up and leaving the room.
Face called out an absent 'okay' at the man's back, before getting back to the subject of food. "What kinda pizza do you want, Murdock. Usual?"
Murdock looked thoughtful for a moment. "Surprise me. I think I'll go see what Frankie's up to."
Murdock stood up, but Hannibal interrupted before he managed to move anywhere.
"He may have wanted a little time alone, Murdock."
Murdock smiled back at Hannibal. "Maybe not."
Then Murdock followed Frankie's retreat from the room.
It didn't take him long to see where the other man had gone. He was strolling along at a snails pace, head down, hands stuffed in pockets.
"Hey." Murdock called out as he jogged a little to catch up with the man. "Mind if I come for a walk?"
"Thought you'd wanna stay in there with the guys." Frankie answered.
"I like time away from the guys too." As Frankie hadn't objected and had continued walking, Murdock picked up the pace, at first letting them walk along in silence together.
After they were a good distance from the house, Murdock decided to speak to Frankie. "So what's wrong?"
"Huh?"
"Why'd you come out here? You're not one for going for a stroll."
"I like change."
"Change is good." Murdock agreed. More silence before Murdock tried again. "Tell me then."
"Tell you what?"
"What's wrong." Murdock stated.
"Nothing."
"Aww, don't make me guess." When Frankie still said nothing, Murdock shrugged, sighed loudly. "Okay, alphabet then. Have anything to do with Aardvarks? No? Okay, the how about er, I think I need to go get the dictionary so I can do this right..."
"Alright, stop. Geez. But you're not allowed to say anything to the guys. I'm telling you because well, I don't wanna be out here forever with you going through the alphabet, but it's still just me to you. Right?"
Murdock nodded. "Promise."
"And you can't laugh."
"I wouldn't." Murdock said in all seriousness.
Frankie swallowed hard. Didn't like the way Murdock just started at him with those eyes. Almost like Murdock knew what he was thinking he turned away, concentrated on each step he took instead. It made it easier to begin. "Sometimes I just feel like extra baggage when I'm with you guys."
Murdock said nothing and Frankie looked, waiting for a response.
Murdock stayed quiet, then looked at Frankie. "What could be funny about that?" he asked.
Frankie shrugged. "Except I sound like a dumb kid, nothing."
"It's not dumb or childish." Murdock said.
"Yeah, but it's not like you guys can help the way I feel, right?"
"That's true." Murdock stated. "It's hard being with them, but never really being with them."
"Yeah. I'm just a special effects guy, I'm no soldier."
"I know you think it's stupid, but you should speak to Hannibal."
"I don't want him to know this." Frankie looked down at his shoes.
"I mean it. He'll help you. Train you. When I talked to him, he started doing all these training sessions..."
"You talked to him?"
"Yeah, years ago."
"Why?"
Murdock shrugged. "Same reason as you, didn't feel like part of the team, I guess." Murdock frowned at the way that sounded now.
"You didn't?"
"I'm just a pilot. Their special forces, their like ten times better than me. Still are."
"Yeah but you can do something that none of them can." Frankie replied.
"So can you." Murdock smiled. "I know something else about you, Frankie, cause in some ways your just like me. And I know that you'd put it all on the line to help the team. You already have. You're proved more loyalty to three guys you hardly know than most people would to someone they'd call their friend."
"You really think all that?"
"Sure do."
"Even about yourself?"
"Sometimes. But I've had mental health issues." Murdock grinned at Frankie letting him know he was only half serious.
"So how do you live with it? How do you get through a day of constant worry about messing up? Wondering if you're doing what Hannibal's asked, or if you've got it wrong? Hoping that you don't make a mistake that gets someone killed?"
"Just follow them, it's real easy."
"Yeah, you've been doing it for like fifty years, it's easy for you to say."
Murdock rolled his eyes at the exaggerated time. "It's never easy, not even for them. You know, years ago we were working on a case when Hannibal turned his back on the guy we'd just taken down. We all thought it was over, but he had a gun. Aimed it right at Hannibal's head. I was lucky I saw it and I managed to stop anything bad from happening. It's not something that you think of, you just do it. Out of instinct. You protect them and they protect you."
"Okay, so I need to watch their backs." Frankie said
"Quite literally at times."
"Thanks Murdock. So, er, what did Hannibal say after he realised you saved his life."
Murdock recalled vaguely what followed as his team mates had to fight to save his life. Murdock smiled a little. "He didn't say anything Frankie. He didn't need to. It's all in a days work for guardians of The A Team."
-End-