Title: Deception's Beginning: Alex's Past/Prologue
Author: Murdock's Crazylady
Rated: PG-15, for violence to a child
Summary: Face remembers the past, how he met Alex's mom, here are the answers to a lot of questions I have been asked, like why Alex is so violent towards Trent, ETC.
Warning: Alex's past, there will be lots of violence
Disclaimer: I don't own the team. Not that I wouldn't mind having Dwight for a big brother though
Copyright: 2000 Murdock's CrazyLady (MCL)
Author's notes : In this chapter there will be violence. Consider yourself warned. I don't want to get flamed for not warning you. It's not like it's graphic, but it's violent. Expect a lot more from this, especially a twist, this is my first FanFic, so please don't be too hard on me!
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Deception's Beginning:
Alex's Past
Face remembered a lot of things that night when he told Murdock he had a daughter, including how he'd met Alex, Alex's mom. He smiled as he thought of it all over again. He remembered the way she would scowl if he was angry or if she wanted something to go her way. He also noted that was just one of the things Alex had inhareted from her mother. His favorite thing about the blonde-haired, blue-eyed lady was her sweet smile. Normally he looked for *Other* things on a woman, but with Alex, it was different. Her smile had him hooked, line, sinker and all the very day he saw her at the diner. Yorks was a small local diner where everyone knew everyone else, and Alex was a waitress. That day, Alex noticed far sooner then Face knew, that he'd been watching her instead of eating the food he'd ordered over an hour before. She finally smiled and went over to him after taking someone else's order.
"Are you ready for desert yet, Templeton?" Alex asked smiling, as she leaned over onto the counter with her chin sitting in her hand. Face snapped out of dream land and blushed a little, he'd only really come to ask her out, and now he had her full undivided attention, and he couldn't remember what he wanted to say. She smiled, she knew. "In case you remember, Templeton, here." Alex said writing her phone number down on one of her order sheets. She tore it off and handed it to Face. Face took it, looked at it in amazement, and then he stopped drooling and folded it in half and slipped it into his black leather jacket's inside pocket. Face looked down at the plate in front of him after Alex had gone back to work. She was right. The cheese burger and fries were cold. He didn't mind it though, and he ate it anyway. Then, before he left, he let a ten dollar tip for Alex and stood by the door until she picked it up. And when she got it from underneath his plate, she smiled at him. He waved goodbye and left.
Later that night he called her and they began dating. A month into the relationship, Alex secretly met Murdock and fell in love with him. Alex was still seeing both Face and Murdock a month later when she found out she was pregnate, and that the baby belonged to Murdock, not Face. Alex stopped seeing Murdock, and continued to see Face. Face couldn't believe she had slept with his best-friend, or that she didn't tell him about the baby being his. But, he forgave her, and stayed with her. Murdock was crushed, and he begged her not to stop seeing him. Alex told Murdock she was pregnate with Face's baby, and that was why she couldn't see him anymore. Murdock was shocked, he didn't know she had even dated Face. He was mad at Face for a long time for that, and he never really got over it until the day he finally found out the truth about baby Alex. Murdock cried and wished her and the baby well, and after that night, he never spoke to nor saw Alex again.
7 months later, Alex begged Face on her death bed not to tell Murdock the truth about the baby until he was out of the VA and the baby would be old enough to understand why she wouldn't be there. It was then she told Face another secret. She had just found ot she had cancer the week before, and that she would be lucky to make it through the delivery. She had been sick, but Face thought it was just from the pregnacy. He was even more shocked that she refused all drugs for the cancer as well. She didn't want anything to happen to the baby. It was healthy and she wanted it to live, at ANY cost. Even her own life. Face promised. Exactly 2 months and 10 hours of labor later, Alex got to say goodbye to the little girl as she was laid on her chest after birth before she died. It tore Face apart, and he had a very hard time coping with it. She and him hadn't even gotten the chance to be married. Murdock took it even harder.
Murdock had nightmares for months, following Alex's death. Screaming every-night that he was being chased by the Grimm Reaper. This might sound funny, but he was terrified. Murdock then refused to go to sleep, and locked himself in his closet. The orderlies had to take the door off of it's hinges to get him out. He fought them, and begged them not to make him go to sleep. He had to be pinned down and given a mild seditive almost every night. Murdock continued this routine every night for months. He would run and hide if he thought someone was going to make him go to sleep, the thought of sleep had become a punishment to him, and he hated sleep. Then things changed some, to where Murdock would go to sleep, but not without his little 19 inch tv on all night, with the volume up full blast. The nurses and orderlies put up with it, after all, it was a lot better than having to fight Murdock and stick him with a needle every-night. This slowly helped Murdock to sleep without anyone else's help. A nurse had taken a shine to HM the very day she had met him, the very day he was voluntaially comitted. Her name was Melinda Saint. She would check on him many times during the night, and she always acted like a mother figure towards him, since she knew he'd lost his own mother when he was 5-years-old.
She would come into his room after she was sure he was asleep, and she would smile at how he was almost always laying. He would stay on his right side all night, curled up like a baby in it's mother's womb, facing his TV. He almost always had his P.J's on, with his leather jacket over his top, and on his feet his trusty Converse all star high tops. Once when she'd asked him why he wore his shoes and jacket to bed, he'd replied, "So I can run away from the monster who takes your life away." He also sucked his thumb, but she never told him she knew. She would cover him up and make sure he was okay before leaving his room to make rounds. She would check on him many more times before her 12 hour shifts were over. Melinda loved Murdock like he was her own son.
She was in her late 40's, not old enough really, to be his mother, but she loved him anyway. Murdock loved her back too. He often looked at her as his mother, and she would be the one he would yell for if someone else tried to give him medication or shots, or if he had a nightmare, which he had often. He called her 'Mimi' and her name would often be heard being screamed through the halls. She always went to his side, to comfort him. It helped to make him better, and 8-years-later, he would be found sane, mostly credited to her work and love she gave him. Melinda would have a tearful good bye with the man she called her baby. Murdock never forgot his 'mom' and always sends her presents for the holidays and her birthday. He visited her often. Melinda always told him that he always had a home at her house, if he ever needed it. Murdock never forgot that either, and she was the first one he called when he found out he was a daddy.
Trent was another promise Face had made to Alex that day on her death bed. Alex had a little boy from her first and only marrage, and she asked him to take Trent and raise him. She explained that her family hated Trent's father and wouldn't have anything to do with him, and that they would rather see him put in some orpahanage. Alex didn't want that. She wanted to know Trent would be safe after she was gone. Face promised. Trent was 4-years-old when his mom died and Face became his legal father. Trent was a very sweet child as a little boy, but by the time he was 6 and baby Alex was 2, he changed, and He was angry towards the baby. Once, he'd been watching TV and he let the remote lay on the coffee table. Alex waddled in and picked it up, and began chewing on it. Trent preceeded to get up from the couch and tackle the baby, like she was some football player, knocking her to the hard wood floor. He bent her arm back almost the whole way in a direction the arm just doesn't naturally go. Alex screamed and Face and Murdock ran in, followed by B.A. and Hannibal. Face had yanked Trent off of Alex, while he still had a hold of her arm. He was like a rabid dog, and he refused to let go. Alex screamed and cried in pain and Face got his hand off of her red and already bruising arm. Murdock grabbed Alex and she clung to him, screaming at the top of her lungs.
Alex screamed until she almost lost her voice, and Murdock held her the whole time, rocking her and singing to her. He wouldn't let anyone else touch her. Later she calmed down and Murdock checked to make sure her arm was okay. "Can you do this?" He asked, bending his arm from the left to the right. Alex nodded and showed him. "Betcha you can't do this." Murdock said, making a little game out of it. He bent his arm from his chest out this time. Alex giggled and bent her arm that way too. Murdock had her move her wrist around too, and by pure luck, she was okay. Murdock had decided that day that Trent needed to be taught a lesson, but he kept it to himself. He was angry with Face because Trent had mearly gotten sent to his room for nearly breaking his baby sister's arm for no reason. Face never punished Trent, and it had killed him just to send him to his room that day. Hannibal sure didn't agree with it, he knew Face had been raised by an orphanage, and by a lot more stricter rules. He would never have gotten away with doing that to a girl when he was a kid. He wouldn't have been able to sit down if he had.
A few months later, Trent pushed Alex down the stairs, causing her to get a black eye. Face had done nothing to Trent, and B.A. had threatened Face with serious bodily harm, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, unless he did something about Trent. Face promised he would, and B.A. let him go. Face grounded Trent and Murdock again was the one to take care of baby Alex. That would be the second to last time Trent would inflict pain on Alex before Murdock began teaching her to fight back. The last accident could have taken Alex's life. Alex was playing outside, at the local playground with Trent. The guys had taken Alex and Trent out to play after they ate a quick lunch before checking a client out, about another mission. Alex ate quickly, she kept telling Murdock, "Side! Side!" and pointing to the kiddie sliding board. It was about as tall as Trent and about as long as him too. Murdock finally let her down to play and she waddled off into the fenced in area, he listened to Hannibal briefing them on the job, and watched Alex play at the same time.
Trent had been playing a lot longer before Alex even got down and had come in giggling. She went right for the slide. Murdock watched as Alex climbed up the 5 little plastic steps and crawled up onto the little platform. She sat down and stayed there, and Murdock worried she would fall and went inside the fence. She turned his back to close the gate when Hannibal yelled, and he turned back around towards the slide just in time to see, in slow motion, a small child being shoved off of the top of a slide by her bigger brother. Murdock ran and made it just in time to catch Alex before she hit the gound head first. Had she have hit, she would have broken her neck instantly. As Murdock held Alex, whom was crying and clinging to him, the other 3 guys ran into the fence and huddled around him. Then B.A. glared at Face and Face swallowed. He looked over at Trent, whom was sitting up on the platform, where seconds before, a happy Alex had been, smiling at him. Face again refused to do anything. He knew that Alex had never hit Trent, and he wasn't going to either. That was what he'd said when he was asked what he was going to do about Trent throwing the baby off of the slide.
Murdock got angry and took a crying and scared Alex to the van. Hannibal stepped up to Face and had a look on his Face that Face had rarely seen it was the look of shame. He was ashamed of Face, had he lost all of his marbles? Trent had just tried to kill his sister, and Face didn't even care! "You aren't going to do hit him Face? After he just tried to kill Alex?! If you won't take care of him then I will!" Hannibal said and Face made no move to stop him as he chased Trent around the playground. It wasn't that Face didn't think Trent needed punished, it was just that he wasn't about to be the one to do it. Hannibal finally caught Trent and carried him off, kicking and screaming, to the public bathroom. Face and B.A. went ahead back to the van and met Murdock. Five minutes later, Hannibal met up with them back at the van, carrying a crying but angry Trent over his shoulder. Trent hadn't cried when Hannibal had spanked him, but afterwards, in anger. He hated all of them from that day, but he's hated Alex since day one. He just didn't show it much before now. He didn't know or care why he hated the little girl that slept soundly in Murdock's lap, He just hated her.
That would be the first and not the last time Trent would end up on the bad side of Hannibal, in that way. Hannibal had told Face after that day that if he wasn't going to punish him when he called for it, then he would. Face hadn't argued, and was silently glad. Trent's real father had died in a car accident before he was born and he was raised alone without dicipline of any kind by his mother until her death. Then Face got him, and he never really punished Trent either, continuing the circle. Murdock began teaching Alex that same week. He was surprised at how even at 2-and-a-half, Alex would follow his moves almost exactly. She enjoyed it, because he made a little game out of it. And, since he would always give her an hour of training before her nap time, she didn't throw a fit about going to sleep. Most of the time he would go to sleep with her. She sucked her thumb along with Murdock, and none of the guys ever said anything to him about it.
He usually slept on the couch, and she would always sleep on his chest, covered up with Murdock's Da Nang 1970 jacket. B.A. usually found them and covered them up, he'd just gotten used to their everyday routine. He noticed Face hadn't really done much with Alex since Trent had tried to break her arm. Murdock had taken over. He fed Alex. He bathed Alex. He played house and dress-up with Alex. He taught Alex martial arts. He changed Alex's diapers without a whine and later potty trained her as well. He'd scold Alex if it was needed, although he never once hit her. Alex had become Murdock's baby.
B.A. helped out too, like when Murdock went out to feed and exersize his horse Waco. B.A. had become very good at handling a baby. Helping to take care of his nieces and nephews on occasion helped him learn how. B.A. always loved all kids, and he loved Trent too, he just had a hard time with how Face let him act, even towards Face himself. He remembered the time Trent screamed at Face, "I hate you! You aren't my real dad! I don't gotta do nuthin you say!" Trent had screamed this into the Face of the man whom had raised him for 2 years, and whom had loved him no matter what. Face just sat there and took it. He didn't yell, he didn't even look up from his tea. And B.A. remembered how fast he had to go outside because of how angry he was. He'd almost broken his own hand that day, because he'd put it through the tack room door. Trent had gottenaway from Hannibal on that day, and it has been the only time he's escaped from Hannibal since.
By the time Alex was 3-years-old, Face had finally taught her how to open any kind of a lock or door, and how to scam stuff. Alex was very smart, and he even taught Alex her letters by the age of 2-and-a-half, right before Trent shoved her off of the slide. Face loved teaching Alex. B.A. did as well, he taught Alex her colors, numbers and how to read at 3-years-old. She loved him to read to her. He would read to her every single night after Murdock had given her a bath and she was tucked into her crib. B.A. would let her choose the book she wanted to hear off of the library of books on her bedroom wall, and then he would read it to her until she fell asleep. Then he would cover her up, give her Bogey, her life long sleeping companion, a teddy bear Hannibal had gotten for her the day she was born, and give her a kiss before he clicked her carousel night light lamp on and left. He had been the one to buy it for her, and she even loved it as an infant, she would watch the horses as they floated across the walls of her room, giggling baby giggles until she fell asleep. He never forgot to turn it on before he left her room.
Hannibal had his share of love for the baby too. He always avenged her beatings from Trent, and he also showed her how to use a gun. He waited until Alex was five to teach her how to fire and use a gun, and he always told her that she was never to take a gun and use it unless he was the one giving it to her. And, if she ever did, she'd be in dire straits with him. Alex had never been punished by Hannibal, and she didn't want to be. She promised she would obey that order, and he'd carried her back inside after target practice.
Being one of the A-Team's children, it was a must for her to know. They were still working for Stockwell, and he was about as low as a person could get, not caring weather or not Face had Alex and Trent to look after, He was on a mission when he saw fit, and if he didn't do as Stockwell wanted, he would never get pardoned. Face took Trent with him a lot on missions, at first, but them Trent complained he hated missions and Face started sending him to Mimi's house. She took good care of Trent, and Face knew if she could keep someone like Murdock in line, she could keep his 10-year-old nightmare in line. Alex always went with them. Even as a baby. She never caused them trouble, and she rarely cried. B.A. built a bullet proof vest for her to wear at a month old, and also bullet proof walls where her car seat was strapped into his van. By age 4, Alex could beat Trent within an inch of his life, if she wanted to. Murdock had told her not to fight unless she had to, or unless the oponnent asked, literally, to fight with her. Alex was tempted every time Trent hit her, but she listened to Murdock and didn't hit back.
Murdock changed his mind when Trent beat Alex up so bad, she had 2 black eyes. That's when he told her not to hold back, and to fight him if he ever did it to her again. Alex said okay, and later, that very same day, at 4-years-old, Alex beat Trent up, returning the black eyes, and adding a bloody nose to boot. He'd tried to burn her this time, and she'd surprised him with her attack. She knocked him down with one kick to the gut and took the lighter he'd stolen from Hanibal's jacket pocket from his hand.
Face was going to punish Alex for fighting, when he didn't even know why Alex had fought in the first place. He knew it had never happened before, Trent had always been the one to get in trouble for hitting her, not the other way around. When B.A. grabbed a hold of him and threw him down into a chair, he changed his mind real quick. He wasn't afraid to admit it, he was angry and tired of Face taking Trent's side over his, or Murdock's, of Hannibal's, but worst, Alex's. He told Face Trent tried to burn her, and Face got wide eyed and almost stopped breathing. He also told Face how he'd attacked her earlier, beating her so bad he'd given her her the 2 black eyes to show for it. Face believed B.A. and ruled that Alex wasn't in trouble. Alex was happy and Murdock was proud of her. All those years of Trent beating her and getting away with it were over, because now even if no one else punished him for hitting her, she could. Her fear of him had subsided, and she could and would defend herself.
Hannibal was proud of Face, and was finally able to talk B.A. out of knocking him out for a week. Murdock was glad with Face for once. Finally he hadn't punished Alex, and Trent had his punishment dished out by his own sister whom is 2 times smaller than him! That thought made Murdock laugh.
Alex was a part of each one of them, and she loved each one of them more than anyone else in the world. She secretly was closer to Murdock though. Her feelings for him were more fatherly than big brother, and her feelings confused her, she couldn't understand them, and she wouldn't for 6 years.