Disclaimer: I do not own the A-Team, or the characters.

Summary: When there's a murder at the VA hospital Murdock becomes the main suspect. Now the A-Team must help their friend clear his name, but there's one problem, even Murdock himself isn't completely sure of his innocence.

Warnings: This fanfic contains flashbacks, but they are all very relevant to the story.

Chapter 1

It was noon and Face was walking beside a beautiful brunette, his arm around her.

'Oh this was a wonderful idea' she smiled at him.

'Yes, well, you can never quite beat a nice long walk in the morning' Face sighed, then added, almost poetically, 'Ahh yes, the fresh morning air, the eloquent sound of the birds serenading each other, the lovely view, and' he looked down at her, 'the company'

'Oh Doctor Peck' she giggled, 'that was beautiful, are you sure you can't stay a while once we get back?'

'I'd love to Candice, but I'm afraid I've got a one o'clock at the surgery, and I really mustn't be late' Face lied, he was supposed to be meeting Hannibal and BA whilst they got ready to meet their new client, 'I can't leave my patients waiting' he added.

'Aww, not even for a little while' Candice asked.

'Ahhh, well' Face looked down as she started to make circular patterns with her finger on his chest, 'what harms being a few minutes late gonna do' he shrugged.

'Great' she smiled, 'I'm going to make you a delicious breakfast when we get back to my place.'

'Sounds marvellous, I' Face began, taking a quick glance at a newspaper stand as they walked by, he stopped and walked back over to it, reading one of the front pages, 'Ohhhhh, No!' he groaned.

'What's wrong Temp, are you alright?' Candice gave him a worried look.

'Huh?' Face asked in confusion, 'Oh right, um, yeah, I'm fine, just remembered I hadn't picked up my morning paper, mustn't forget this' he grabbed the one that had caught his eye and passed it over to an elderly looking man along with some money. 'Keep the change' Face smiled.

'We're almost there now, I'm so glad you decided to stay for a while'

'Yes well, about that' Face fiddled with his tie awkwardly as they got up to an expensive looking house. His vette was parked in front of it, 'I really can't leave my patients waiting, I mean, my job is very important, and I just couldn't'

'But, you said' Candice was cut off by Face.

'I know, I know, but I thought about it and I just can't' Face said apologetically, starting to get into his vette, 'I will phone you as soon as I can though' He started up the car.

'Templeton!' She called out. Face just waved at her as he drove away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'You're late Lieutenant' Hannibal said, as he opened the garage doors to let Face in.

'I know, I'm sorry, I got a little sidetracked'

'You mean you was with a woman' BA joined in, sliding out from under his van, 'that should've fixed it Hannibal'

'Great BA'

'I presume neither of you have read today's paper' Face started to get the paper out from his suit jacket.

'No I've not' Hannibal answered, 'listen Face, I've told you before, you've really gotta be careful with the ladies, especially with Decker snooping around so much lately'

'I know Hannibal, and I was very cautious, but listen you guys, this is very important' Face started to unfold the newspaper, 'you'll really wanna hear this'

'What does it say?' Asked Hannibal, BA walked over to them both.

'It say's, this is breaking new by the way' Face pointed out before starting to read the front page, 'Last night at the Veterans Hospital, Psychiatric Doctor Brandon Webster was murdered. Doc'

'Webster, Webster, hey, isn't that the guy who Murdock didn't get on with, the new Doctor?'

'Yeah Hannibal, said he didn't trust the guy' BA confirmed.

'Right anyway, as I was saying' Face continued, 'Doctor Webster, who had been working there for the past three months was killed by a blunt object to the head. Veteran hero, Captain H.M Murdock, who was declared mentally unstable after his time in Vietnam, was found laying next to the body, holding the murder weapon, a desk lamp in his blood soaked hands. Murdock, who is known to have intermitted memory loss, along with a number of other mental conditions, claims to have no recollection of the incidence. The nurses at the hospital are extremely shocked by this seemingly open and shut case. They refer to Murdock has being a quite unstable, but usually very kind and gentle patient. Some of them not wanting to believe what he as done'

'You mean Murdocks being framed for murder?' Hannibal grabbed the newspaper from Face's hands and started to read the article.

'Yep' Face nodded, ' and then it goes on to say that he's suspected of being a part of the A-Team, and questions the extent of his mental instability, and also the competence of the level of psychiatric evaluation at the hospital'

'Who'd wanna frame Murdock?' Hannibal pondered, out loud.

Face shrugged, 'The military?'

'Yeah man, I mean, you said yourself Hannibal, that Decker had been snoopin around so much lately, maybe he's done it to get to us?' BA agreed.

'Maybe, I guess that's one possibility, but do you guys really think Decker would stoop that low, I mean, this isn't really his style' Hannibal replied.

'Yeah, you're probably right Hannibal, but if not the military then who?' Face questioned.

'It could have been an inside job' Hannibal answered.

'Yeah' Face agreed, 'maybe they did it to try and mess Murdock's head up more than it already is?'

'Aww man, the poor fools crazy enough without all this' BA frowned, 'when I find the sucka whose framin Murdock, he's gonna wish he could trade places with the Doc' He punched the palm of his hand angrily.

'Aww BA, that's sweet' Face smirked, 'and here's us thinking you don't care'

All Face got in reply from BA was a snarl.

'It says here that he's been moved to a more secluded part of the hospital, which'll probably be very heavily guarded.' Hannibal spoke up, 'I've gotta meet our client at two, and straight after I was going to ask you Face to bust Murdock out of the VA, but obviously, that's gonna be considerably more difficult now'

'Well yeah Hannibal, there's probably gonna be security around everywhere, not to mention the military' Face grimaced at the thought.

'Exactly, which is why I've come up with a change of plan, we go and meet our client at two as planned, but, I think I'll take this with me' Hannibal showed them the newspaper, 'see how they react to this, and whether or not they still want the help, when one of us is the main suspect for a murder investigation'

'Right. So what about Murdock?'

'Well Face, you're not gonna be able to go in there in character, and just take him out as usual, so we're gonna have to figure out a way to get him out, which'll most probably involve all three of us' Hannibal took out a cigar from his pocket, 'first though, we'll have to find out exactly where about Murdock is now'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was night time and Hannibal, Face and BA were sat in the van, which had all its lights switched off, so they couldn't be seen. They were looking over at the VA hospital.

'Are you positive that's where Murdock is Face?' Hannibal asked.

'Well that's where the nurse told me he was, when I went in as a Doctor before and asked them' Face answered, 'which, might I add, was taking a big risk Colonel, what, with all the guards, and military around, it's a wonder how I didn't get caught'

'You were lucky, but I bet the risk was exciting' Hannibal grinned.

'Yes, I was lucky, but that really isn't my idea of an exciting afternoon' Face huffed, then changed the subject, 'I must say, I'm surprised that the client still wanted to hire us, after the newspaper article and all'

'Yeah, I know Face, I kinda had my doubts too, but they seem legit'

'Yeah man, they seem like real nice folk' BA added, 'So what now Hannibal, when we getting Murdock?'

Hannibal looked outside, scanning the area, then looked back at BA, 'Ok, I think its dark enough now; you both know what to do, be careful guys'

Face and BA nodded as they quietly got out of the van, and made their way stealthily over to the VA.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Murdock was sat on the floor next to his bed, in an unfamiliar and unwelcoming looking dark room. He was wearing a straight jacket, and was mumbling incoherently to himself.

'Murdock over here' came the strained whispering of Faces voice from the window, which was shut with metal bars across it, 'Murdock' Face tried again, a little louder when his friend didn't answer. Murdock still didn't respond. BA pulled opened the bars, and lifted up the window, allowing Face and himself to climb through.

'Hey fool, why didn't you answer us' BA growled quietly, and then frowned when Murdock still didn't seem to notice they were in the room.

'Hey, are you ok Murdock?' Face asked gently, kneeling down in front of Murdock, who was still mumbling, 'Murdock, hey, Murdock' Face shook his friend slightly. Murdock's eyes looked straight into his.

'Face?' Murdock sounded surprised, as though wondering how he'd suddenly appeared from out of nowhere, Face nodded, 'there was blood everywhere, all over my hands, blood, all over my hands.'

'It's alright man, we'll get you out, we're gonna help you' BA said softly.

'Has the old Colonel got a plan?' Asked Murdock.

'Probably, you know Hannibal, either that or he's got a plan brewing up in his mind right now' Face answered, Murdock smiled slightly at the thought.

'I'm in real big trouble ain't I?' Murdock sighed, wiping his hand down his face, 'you guys shouldn't have come in here, if anyone finds out, your gonna be in big trouble, you should go'

'Hey, you've been doing it for us all this time, it's about time we repaid the favour' Face winked at him.

'Yeah man, and we gotta go now, I turned the power supply off again, so if we don't hurry up, they'll get suspicious, come on, lets go' BA helped Murdock up, and Face started to try and undo his straight jacket.

'Hey man, we ain't got time for that' BA told him, Face shrugged in agreement and all three of them walked over to the window.

'My jacket' Murdock blurted out suddenly, 'It's in my room, I gotta get my jacket' He walked frantically over to the door. BA grabbed hold of him, putting his hand to his mouth.

'Fool, you tryin to get us all caught?' BA hissed into his ear, 'Quiet' He removed his hand from Murdocks mouth.

'But I gotta get my jacket, I need my jacket' Murdock whispered, 'and, and maybe my hat too, do you think I need my hat, maybe I could get a new one?'

'Shut up fool and come on' BA said, dragging him back towards the window, 'You don't need your jacket or hat, and even if you did, we couldn't get it from that way anyway, there's guards outside your room'

'BA's right Murdock'

BA climbed through the window first, helping Murdock, who didn't have the use of his arms, down quietly. Face was the last to climb out; he pushed the window back down. BA had his arm around Murdocks back, and all three of them run stealthily away. Face stopped suddenly, and started to jog in a different direction.

'Where you goin?' Asked BA.

'To get his jacket' Face told him, matter-of-factly

'Man, we ain't got time for this; I'll have to switch the power back on soon'

'I know BA, this won't take long though, you just take him back to the van, then come back and switch it on like Hannibal planned, I'll be done by then'

'You better be right' BA warned, Face raised his hand in acknowledgment, and ran off to Murdocks room.

He looked through the window, to check that no one was in the room, satisfied, he quietly opened the window, and climbed in, grabbing Murdocks jacket and scanning the room quickly, he grabbed Murdocks hat and climbed back out of the window, shutting it again just in time. The lights of the hospital coming back on as soon as he started to walk away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

All four men where sitting on their usually seats in the van, but the atmosphere wasn't the same as usual. A sense of worry, nervousness and awkwardness was in the air, as they drove away from the VA.

'So Murdock, tell us what you remember' Hannibal said, his seat facing his Captain who was now wearing his own jacket instead of the straight jacket, and his baseball cap.

'Um, well, my minds a little fuzzy Colonel, I can't remember a whole lot of what happened'

'That's ok Captain, just tell us what you do remember' Hannibal smiled reassuringly at him.

'Ok, well, I remember that me and Doctor Webster were having an argument, don't know why though, I think our voices must have been quite loud though, because someone asked if everything was ok in there, and the Doc said yeah' Murdock shut his eyes in concentration, trying to remember anything else about what had happened, he opened them again in disappointment, 'then all I remember is everywhere being black, and hearing a scream…'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A blinding light forced Murdock to close his eyes again, after the ear piercing scream had brought him back to consciousness. He opened them again fully, when he thought it was safe to. He had no idea what was going on, he could hear voices, but none of the words made sense to him, and his vision was blurred, which meant he couldn't see what was happening either. He gasped at the sight before him when his eyes finally focused on the body of his Doctor.

'Wh – what hap-pend?' Murdock stuttered, his voice came out hoarse.

'He doesn't remember?' He heard a voice saying.

'He has intermitted memory loss' a more familiar voice of one of the nurses answered.

Murdock left go of an object that was in his hand and tried to stand up, but was knocked back down again when a foot connected with his back. He tried to look around, feeling confused, a hint of fear inside himself.

A familiar looking nurse bent down beside Murdock, and placed her hand on his head, as if sensing what he was feeling, 'It's ok H.M' she soothed.

'Sally, wh-' Murdock began, but stopped talking as he was hauled to his feet. He could feel himself being dragged away by two men. Murdock held his arm out towards the nurse.

'It's ok, I know you didn't do it' Sally called out to him.

With that, Murdock looked down at his hands, which where covered in blood and gasped in horror….

'…And that's when I realised they thought I'd killed him, that's all I remember, apart from being put in a straight jacket, and getting shoved in my new room' Murdock told them, 'I know it's not much to go on Colonel'

'It's a start' Hannibal put a hand on Murdock's shoulder, 'I'm sure you'll remember more as we go along'

'Yeah' Murdock let out a strained smile, and Hannibal twisted his seat back round again to face the road. The whole van was in silence.

'Hey, this is too quiet' Murdock spoke up, 'BA, you wanna play twenty questions, I'll think of something, and you ask me questions, you wanna play?'

'Ok' BA replied.

'Huh? You do?' Murdock asked, a hint of shock in his voice.

'Yeah man, sure'

'Ok then, I got one'

'Is it human?' Asked BA.

'Hmmm, guess it depends on what your own definition of human is'

'Ok, what colour is it?'

'More than one'

'What size is it?'

'No, you big ugly mudsucker, you're asking me all wrong' Murdock moaned.

'How do you want me to ask you?'

'How do I want you to ask me?' Murdock repeated the question, 'BA, are you humouring me?'

'No'

'Yeah you are, you're humouring me, this is so weird, this whole thing, is, is, crazy' Murdock looked around at his three friends, 'BA's being nice to me, what's going on here?' Murdock asked, putting his hand to his face thoughtfully.

'Nothing Murdock' Face answered.

Hannibal was about to answer when Murdock suddenly spoke up.

'Wait a minute, Oh my god, I know why, you, you guys, you think I did it don't you, you think I killed him'

'What? Nooooooo!' Face shrieked in shock over what his friend thought.

'Well ok, maybe not you and the Colonel, but BA definitely does, yeah, it all makes sense now, why BA's being so nice, why he did what I wanted him to do, it's cus he thinks I'm a mentally unstable murderer, and he's scared of me'

'Scared of you!' BA blurted out in disbelief.

'Yeah, scared of me'

'Murdock, don't be ridiculous, nobody's scared of you, and none of us think you killed your Doctor' Hannibal told him, twisting his chair around once again to face him. He placed both hands on Murdocks shoulder, 'Listen to me, we all know you didn't do it, Murdock, come on, you know BA's just worried about you, hey, don't you Captain'

Murdock looked away from Hannibal as he thought carefully about what his CO had just said, then realisation hit him, and he hung his head down in shame, 'Fellers, I'm sorry, BA I'm so sorry' Murdock lifted his head up.

'It's ok' Hannibal smiled.

'I guess I'm just a little paranoid and touchy and stuff, with everything that's happened, I know that isn't an excuse though'

'Ah, no harm done, besides Murdock, I'm pretty sure you've always been touched' Face smiled mischievously.

'Yeah' Murdock laughed, 'but seriously though, this trip so far as been kinda awkward don't you think guys, and plus, I really am kinda missing the Big Guys bad attitude, I mean, you ain't called BA for nothing, you big ugly mudsucker'

'Shut up fool, before I put my fist straight through your face' BA growled, his threat didn't have quite the touch of menace that it usually did.

'Yeah, but if you do that, then it might get stuck, and you'll loose control of driving the van, putting all our lives at stake, do you really wanna do that BA?' Murdock asked, 'Maybe you'd consider singing a few songs instead?'

'I ain't singin no song with you fool'

'Awww, come on BA, lets sing a song'

'Shut up fool'

'Come on, sing BA'

'Hannibal, you better tell him to shut up!' BA warned

Hannibal just shot BA an amused look, 'I think a duet from you two would be very interesting to hear'

BA snarled at him, 'I ain't singin a duet with no crazy fool'

'Stop being so mean BA' Murdock whined, 'Colonel'

'Just when I thought this was going to be a nice quiet relaxing trip' Face sighed, smiling to himself. He didn't really mean what he said, this was one of the few moments when Face was glad to have them both bickering, even if their arguing did seem forced.

'It wasn't nice Faceman, it was boring' Murdock replied.

'Face, you're gonna have to scam us someplace to hideout' Hannibal changed the subject, to one of more importance, 'It needs to be close enough to where our new client is, but not too close, and hidden well enough that it's too hard for Decker to find'

'Right, and just where do you propose I find a place like that from?' Face asked.

'Face, if you look hard enough, you'll find one' Hannibal grinned.

TBC