A/N: Hello, muchachos! Trips in and Out is still going on, don't worry, but in the meantime I really had to dump this plot bunny, it was getting too huge to ignore. Little character study of two our heroes. Episode cites are at the bottom with explained canon ties. As for the beginning, a crossover shoutout to everything that was too juicy to ignore ;) I don't own any of these shows. Enjoy!

It was common in an average group of friends for two of them to get on each other's nerves. It was so common it was even depicted on TV. Face saw it in Spock and McCoy on Star Trek, saw it between Hawkeye and Frank on M.A.S.H. and even saw it on that Ninja Turtles cartoon Murdock liked to watch between, between, the blue one and the red one, Face could never remember their names.

Within their group, it was undoubtedly Murdock and B.A. The two would always find ways to exasperate the other, mused Face. It never came to danger or serious risk, but there were close occasions. It was what two siblings at odds looked like as adults.

"They're a bit like Tom and Jerry," Face commented late one night.

Hannibal lifted his eyes from the newspaper he was reading and looked at where Face was watching the others through the window of their motel room. Murdock was standing beside B.A. as he worked on the van, chatting animatedly about something that would cause B.A. to snap at him every so often. Murdock would just grin widely in reply and make a cheap remark, or pretend to pout before starting it all over again. Judging by the set of his shoulders, B.A. had passed eye-rolling point and was sliding rapidly into throat-choking stage.

"So long as you don't tell them that," Hannibal replied, a light smile reaching his lips. "We don't need to give Murdock ideas about anvils or B.A. ideas about giant mousetraps."

Face chuckled at the image. "Agreed."

Hannibal finally grinned and returned back to his paper, letting out a sigh. It had been a risky mission. Too many close calls. The scam had backfired and they nearly lost Face before B.A. broke position and crashed the van through the office. Then one of the thugs they were busting set the whole building on fire in a last-ditch effort to cover up the Ponzi operation. Hannibal had been forced to blow the roof to provide a way out- and it had. Murdock swooped down in their procured Fire and Rescue chopper spouting lines from Emergency! in a Smoky the Bear accent. They didn't even knock B.A. out for the flight- everyone hopped on without a second thought and escaped as the rest of the building collapsed.

But now, though, now they were far away, returning home. Their clients had paid, and the profit turned out to be quite considerable, which was very nice. The bad guys were in jail facing a long list of extortion charges. Decker wasn't on their tail. The motel was cheap enough to rent two rooms, the first of which Face and Hannibal relaxed in now. B.A. and Murdock bickering was the perfect finish to the job, signaling that everything was going back to normal.

They didn't know how long it had been going on, but he and Face both realized at the same time that the argument outside had, at some point, taken a darker turn.

Face snapped his head up "what the…" Hannibal put down his paper, brow creasing as he moved off the bed.

Through the window, B.A. and Murdock were both on their feet, inches from each other and shouting. Face and Hannibal both raced for the door, keenly aware that after shoulder-shoving came physical blows that should be prevented.

They were outside in seconds, and the volume finally reached their ears. Hannibal started shouting. To Face the entire scene was surreal- B.A. was physically shaking Murdock and he stepped out just in time to see the pilot slap him hard across the face.

It was hard to tell if Hannibal's shout or Murdock's slap was what stopped everyone. The night fell dead quiet, and they only heard their blood rushing in their ears with each rapid heartbeat.

Hannibal broke the stillness. "Sergeant. Go to the second room. Captain. Go to the first."

Both men stiffened at their ranks and gave curt 'yes sir's. Hannibal watched them march to the separate motel rooms and close the doors. He crossed his arms and let a frown spread over his features as Face stepped closer.

"What was all that about?" the conman asked, still disbelieving his own eyes.

"I'm not sure."

"I haven't seen Murdock that mad since B.A. crashed the jeep through our plane."

Hannibal grunted in response. Murdock had hit the roof after that little stunt- literally. He got the feeling this instance outdid that one.

"Give them a few hours to cool off. We won't get any answers like this now."

Face nodded, then frowned. "Uh, Hannibal," he started. "What about us? They're in both rooms."

"If they're not any better after two hours then we'll settle in for the night anyway," he replied. "I'll bunk with B.A. and you with Murdock. Until then," here he pulled open the door to the van, carefully stepping around B.A.'s tools. "We've got plenty of things to keep us occupied out here."

Face glanced around uneasily, and then thanked the higher powers as he joined Hannibal that at least it was a warm night.

Prior to the intervention.

B.A. cursed and sweated as he banged his head on the underbelly of the van again. Maybe it was getting too dark to continue, but he couldn't just leave the project for tomorrow. His van was far too special for that.

He couldn't fix everything tonight, of course. He'd have to replace most of the upholstery completely because of the fire damage, not mention a few sidings here and there where their ammo had heated up and fired. Mostly he was hammering out the dents the debris from the building had caused and making repairs to the steering alignment.

Didn't help that he couldn't see a thing.

Especially didn't help that the crazy fool was jibber-jabbering overhead.

"Shut up, fool, I'm working!"

Whatever crazy thing Murdock had been saying was dropped and B.A. heard gravel crunch and shift as the pilot bent and peered down underneath. "More like trying to work. Why didn't you tell me when you got night vision, Big Guy?"

B.A. rolled his eyes and backed out from his position, glaring up at Murdock. "I don't," he snapped.

"Then things must be pretty hard to see down there," Murdock replied amiably. "Say, why doesn't Sparky join you under the van? He glows in the dark, you know. He's been tryin' to teach Billy how to do that, but he hasn't quite got it yet-"

"Ain't no glow-in-the-dark invisible dog joinin' me in fixin' my van!" B.A. retorted, and then immediately closed his eyes and said a prayer that he did not just say that ridiculous sentence out loud.

Murdock just shrugged. "Fine, suit yourself. C'mon Sparky, Billy, we'll grab a hammer and straighten out the grille."

B.A. surged to his feet. "Don't touch my van, man!"

Murdock froze, one leg up in the air and arms bent in a freeze-frame of an exaggerated march. "Why, B.A., you don't think the three of us came out here to just watch you work, did you? The front grille's all mangled."

B.A. growled. "It's just the two of us out here. Got that, fool? Just you and me."

Murdock straightened and nodded so deeply it was a semi-bow. "Gotcha. Just you and me."

"Right."

"And Billy and Sparky."

"Ain't no dogs, fool!"

Murdock huffed.

"Besides, it's not the grille I'm worried about," B.A. said after a moment, returning his attention back to his car. "I wanna get this steering fixed before we leave tomorrow."

"I can appreciate that," Murdock nodded. "And while you're doing that I can straighten out the front- I saw how smashed it got when you barreled through that building."

"How do you know? You weren't there," B.A. frowned.

Murdock grinned. "I was comin' up over the city limit and had a pretty bird's eye view of everything and whoo-boy! did you ever drive that baby straight 'n' true! One moment you were silent and still, and then the next you were all VROOOOOM! and then you ERRRR! swung her around and in that instant you thundered BADABABABADABADA and smashed right through the front wall!" Murdock proceeded to make grand crashing sound effects and car noises before stopping suddenly with a grin.

"And I saw the whole thing."

Inwardly B.A. cringed. Murdock may have had a "bird's eye view" but he sure hadn't had a front row seat. Across the street through the window, B.A. had watched as Face did his magic. And then he watched as one of the guys wised up to it. He watched as guns were drawn, heard Hannibal curse over the radio, and watched the expressions on their faces and knew there would be no holding back.

He made a snap decision.

There was only room for focus, focus on the situation. He had to aim the van right so that he wouldn't hit Face. He had to make sure that those guys wouldn't panic and fire anyway. There was no room for error, and he couldn't make a mistake.

He saved Face, but it all still hit the fan anyway.

"Don't ever know what you saw," he muttered. "Seein' things that ain't there, and then not seein' things that are."

"Have I ever done that?" Murdock wondered aloud. "Not see something that was actually there? Nope, I don't think I've ever done that before."

"Fool, I watched you walk straight into a wall just yesterday."

"So? You drove into one."

"That was different and you know it!" B.A. yelled.

"I know, I know, Big Guy, take it easy," Murdock put his hands up in a placating gesture. "C'mon, Sparky, let's go fix that grille."

"There ain't no dog!"

Murdock stuck out his lower lip. "You need to do something about that bad attitude. Sparky never did anything to you. In fact, you oughta be thankin' Sparky for helpin' pull you out of that building."

"You tryin' to tell me that dog was on the helicopter?"

"Well of course, B.A., where else do you think I got a firefightin' dog? Good ol' Sparky was up front an' center with me when we came down."

B.A. remembered that, too. The flames were licking up the walls and they had to huddle inside the van for some cover when Hannibal threw a grenade at the ceiling to blow some kind of opening that wouldn't bring the house down around them. It was too hot, and smoke stung their eyes, and then there was the whup whup of a chopper's rotors and Murdock lowering the bird into the middle of it all, completely off his rocker.

Murdock was still chatting. "…and Sparky gave me the radio number for the nearest fire station 'cause we had to call in the chief and request backup, and then we had to call Rampart for smoke inhalation treatment which, luckily, you guys didn't need, though Billy wasn't lookin' too good and-"

"None of that happened, fool! You pulled us out and that was it! There weren't no dogs, you weren't no paramedic callin' things in- get the facts right!"

"I am! That's what happened!"

"No, Murdock! One: there were no dogs! None! There never were any dogs! There aren't any dogs now! Two: you're not a paramedic! Never were! You didn't call in any hospital or use any radio or telephone when you flew us out! So stop pretending!"

"Who said anything about pretending? I was flying a Fire and Rescue chopper, wasn't I?"

"But you ain't a fireman!"

"I was yesterday!"

"No!" B.A. shoved him backwards. Murdock's eyes widened. "You ain't a fireman! You ain't Smoky the Bear! You ain't a painter, a movie-maker, a fisherman, or any other crazy thing you come up with! There ain't invisible dogs or horses or dragons either!"

"And how do you know, huh?" Murdock spat back, his voice rising. "Who made you expert?"

"Fool, it's called the real world!" B.A. shouted, shoving him again. "You know what pretendin' does? It gets you hurt. It gets others hurt and killed."

"No!"

"And while you're off in la-la-land real people are doing real things, and you're just doing nothing!"

"No!"

"So you've got to sit up and pay attention to the real world!"

Murdock shoved back. Hard. "Don't you think I know that?" he snapped in an intense hissed whisper. "Don't you think I've had my share of reality?" B.A.'s eyes widened at the rumble in his voice and the eyes- startling clear. "I saw the real world. I saw it every fucking day in the back of my chopper." He shoved B.A. again. "I saw it in the mangled corpses," his voice rose in volume. "I saw it in the mutilated pieces of people who were still alive." He shoved hard enough that B.A. stumbled back into the van as he shouted. "Do you think I want to keep seeing that?!"

B.A.'s first reaction to someone shoving him about was to shove back. He didn't hear the door jerk open as he yelled. "Get your head outta the clouds, Murdock!" He grabbed him and started shaking. "Stop daydreaming and face reality-!"

SLAP!

It stung. B.A. blinked and froze, staring at Murdock. The man flexed his hand, which was probably stinging just like B.A.'s cheek was starting to. Murdock was visibly shaking, with what to B.A. looked to be pent-up anger. But then Hannibal and Face were there, and B.A. realized that their argument had garnered their attention.

"Sergeant. Go to the second room. Captain. Go to the first."

A time-out? B.A. thought sarcastically. Really?

He saw Hannibal's look, and promptly marched to his time-out.

Face checked his watch and stretched. "Do you think they're ready yet?"

Hannibal also glanced at the time and shrugged. "Might as well check in on them."

They exited the van and split off to each room. Face rapped on Murdock's door. Hearing a quiet answer, he entered.

Murdock was sitting on the far bed facing the wall. "You okay?" he asked.

Murdock shrugged. "That's debatable. But yeah, I'm me."

"Good," Face let out a nervous laugh. "We certainly don't need two B.A.'s."

"He just doesn't know," Murdock said quietly.

Face figured this had to do with whatever the argument was about. "You could tell him," he suggested. "In a more… diplomatic way?"

"I got no problems with that," Murdock murmured. "It's Bad Attitude you'll have to talk to."

...

As it was, Hannibal was doing just that. "Your head a bit clearer, B.A.? he asked.

"My head's always been clear and it'll always be clear," he replied. "I just don't know about that crazy fool."

"Would you be willing to find out?"

B.A. looked at him. His gaze softened. "Aw, Hannibal," he sighed. "It's so frustrating…"

"Nobody said it would be easy." Hannibal sat down next to him. "What was the argument about?"

B.A. hesitated. "It…" he trailed off, unsure of what to say. "He just doesn't know, man."

"Why don't you tell him?"

The sergeant looked at him. "Now?"

"Why not?"

"Hannibal, I've never been much to talk about things…"

"First time for everything."

Seeing that Hannibal wasn't backing down, B.A. relented. "Okay. Might do some good. Besides," he rubbed his hands together. "Crazy man did say some things that… left me thinking."

Hannibal nodded. "Find out each other's stories."

They rose, and exited the room.

Face and Murdock both looked up as the others entered. Hannibal gestured for Face to step out with him, and closed the door behind them. Murdock and B.A. faced each other.

There was a long silence, before Murdock finally broke the ice. "Sorry I hit you."

"It's okay, man," B.A. shrugged. "It didn't hurt."

Seeing his head come up sharply, B.A. quickly amended. "I mean it didn't hurt too bad."

Murdock relaxed and nodded. "That's good."

The silence continued again.

"Have I ever," Murdock began suddenly. "Have I ever gotten others hurt while I was off in… daydreaming?"

It sounded like an honest question. B.A. winced, for once regretting his own words. "Nah, man," he said huskily. "Never. And I wasn't talkin' about you in la-la-land I was talkin' about…" he stopped, not quite ready to continue.

Murdock looked at him questioningly.

B.A. sighed and sat down in a chair. Murdock sank onto the bed across from him.

"It's, when I was in maybe fourth or fifth grade, some real nasty hit men stormed the house and gave my dad a work over."

Murdock nodded- he'd heard something to that effect on their diamond mine mission.

"Mama was holdin' me by the door of the room where they were beatin' him. It was real bad. Some guys were watchin' us to make sure we didn't get involved." B.A. took a deep breath. "I started thinking how I could get out and end this. I imagined how I would take out the dude watchin' us and what I could grab to beat off the other guys who were attackin' my father. An' once I was through with them they wouldn't ever dare show their faces around us again, and my mama and dad would be proud of how I saved 'em and how every bad cat in the neighborhood would know not to mess with B.A. Baracus."

He stopped.

"An' while I was dreamin' all that a guy took out his gun and shot my dad straight through the stomach."

Murdock's eyes widened and he folded his hands in front of his mouth.

"He lived," B.A. reassured gruffly. "But that still didn't do him much good. He was out of the hospital for a day before he got run down in the street. Hit and run- killed instantly."

"That's awful," Murdock murmured.

B.A. nodded. "Yeah…" He sighed. "But I learned a very important lesson that day. That you can dream all you want but in the end it's just that: dreams. Dreams that don't do nobody any good. If you want to do something, you actually do it. The world ain't got room for fantasy."

He looked right at Murdock. "It's dangerous."

The other man crossed his arms. "The fantasizing? Or the world?" He stood up and started to pace. "Because in my experience, the world is normally a whole lot more dangerous."

"But we have to deal with it."

"I'm sick of 'dealing with it'," Murdock interrupted vehemently. "I've had doctors and psychologists and counselors my whole life telling me to 'deal with it'."

B.A. furrowed his eyebrows. "Your whole life?"

"My ma died when I was five," he said curtly. "I won't get into the grisly details. People said it was awful, and horrendous, and tragic, but hey, we have to deal with it because that's the way the world works." His voice took on a bitter tone. "And then the medevacs in 'Nam… hell, just 'Nam in general- the things that were done to others. Done to-" his voice cracked.

"I couldn't 'deal with it' anymore, B.A. I still can't 'deal with it'. Horrible things happen in the world, and too many times there's literally nothing you could do to change it so…" he sighed. "It's too much." He gave a halfhearted glare towards B.A. "So I'm sorry if I need Billy and others to help get me through it."

"Don't apologize," B.A. said, surprisingly candid. "It's your happy place."

Both were rather shocked at the insight that had just come out of B.A.'s mouth. Murdock's mouth quirked up into a grin. "Yeah, and it's a lot nicer than the outside world."

B.A. snorted, but even a smile was creeping on his mouth. "Just keep it to yourself. And your dogs outta my van."

"B.A., Billy's the best dog we could ever have," Murdock chatted. "Think about it: what if Billy was actually a visible, tangible, in all sense of the word real dog?"

B.A. stopped laughing immediately, and a look of horror spread across his face. What if Murdock did insist on bringing a real dog everywhere? He'd have to vacuum fur out of the van. They'd have to spend extra money for kibble. It would get in the way on their missions. It would slobber and bark and the best thing about Billy was that he was quiet…

Murdock sat back down and started laughing as he watched B.A. struggle to think of that scenario. B.A. snapped out of it and glared at him. "You don't have a real dog, fool. So don't make me think that you do."

"You should've seen the look on your face," Murdock chuckled.

"Yeah? Well I just told you I don't like daydreaming. So don't make me do it again."

Murdock sobered some. "And are you going to force me to face this 'real' world again?"

B.A. pressed his lips together. His shoulders dropped.

"Whatever lets you function, Crazy Man."

Murdock grinned and bounced off the bed. "Well, I consider this little spat reconciled, wouldn't you say, Big Guy? How about a hug?"

B.A. scowled at him as he stood up.

"Handshake? Fist bump."

"Crazy fool," B.A. muttered as he opened up the door.

Murdock dogged after him as they walked over to the next motel room. "What about an elbow tap, that's not a lot of physical contact. No? An air-hug then?"

B.A. rapped on the door and Face opened it. "Well, worked things out have we?"

"Yeah," B.A. replied, back in his surly character. Murdock snapped into a salute. "Alles in Ordnung, nothing else to report!"

"Good," Hannibal joined them at the door. "And we won't have to worry about something like this in the future?"

They looked at each other. "No, sir," B.A. answered.

Hannibal grinned. "In that case, we'll leave you two your room and I can finally go back to that paper."

"Good night," Face bade as everyone switched places.

"Night."

"Nighty-night!"

Everyone relaxed as they returned to the areas where they had left their respective items. Seeing as it was now ridiculously late, they went straight to bed to rest for another long road trip tomorrow.

"B.A.?" Murdock called after the lights went out.

"What, fool?"

"Thanks… and I'm sorry."

B.A.'s voice softened. "Me too." He debated internally for a moment. "And hey, tomorrow you can fix that grille."

"With Billy and Sparky?" came Murdock's hopeful voice.

In the dark, B.A. smiled to himself where no one could see. "Yeah. With Billy and Sparky."

B.A. mentioned his dad got roughed up in 'Diamonds 'n' Dust'; it's revealed Murdock's mom died when he was 5 in 'Mexican Slayride, Part 1'. Also, where B.A. crashed a jeep through a plane was 'Judgment Day Part 2'- and yes, Murdock literally hits the roof. The German: All is in order. Reviews appreciated!