The end of the A-Team…or is it?

This is the closing story to After Bad Rock and After Ecuador. It may help understanding if you have read these stories before.

Warning: This following story contains talk of rape and torture. As you know by now, or at least you had the chance by reading our previous stories ;) we love Face, but we tend not to be too nice to him Anyway, compared to before we went easy on him. Consider yourself warned...read at your own risk...and hopefully enjoyment!

Disclaimer: Unfortunately the guys are not ours, on second thought, that maybe better for them ;.

Chapter 1

More than three years after the Bad Rock disaster and one and a half years since the Ecuador fiasco the team was on its way back from a really tiring case in the North West. It had taken them some time to come to terms with what they had learned and it had taken Face time to trust again, or at least to hide the fact that he still didn't, but eventually things had returned to normal, or as normal as they had ever been.

They had been sitting in the van for over five hours and still had one to go. The ride was quiet, even Murdock was too tired to be insane. Face too was uncharacteristically quiet and drifting off ever so often. Hannibal had been chewing on a cigar ever since he swapped places with BA. He removed the cigar from his mouth and turned so that he could see all his team members.

"Guys, we're all tired after this long mission. I just decided that we take three weeks off, free time for everybody to do whatever he likes."

"Good, was 'bout time too. I need to do some repair works in the day care center and I want to see my mama too."

"Three weeks, hmm, that should be enough to complete the smash art course. I started it about five times but was called away on a mission before the practical part started. I hope they start one now."

"Murdock, I know I will regret to ask but what is a smash art course?"

"Oh it's great colonel. It's a fifteen day course, three sessions of five days each and one day off in between. The first two sessions are theory about smash art, you know, you have to really know the background else you use up too much material, and the third is practical work."

"What is smash art fool?"

"You take the required amount of breakfast cereals, soak it, soft but not too soft, then you take it on a spoon, and smash…you throw it at wherever you are doing your arts. The guy three rooms down from me can smash soaked cornflakes in the form of an elephant, complete with trunk and all."

"No wonder it's a nut house."

"Ehm guys, actually I wanted to surprise you but now that Hannibal has already ordered us to have a holiday, I know this guy who has a really nice beach house and…."

"Faceman can it, I've been to enough beach holidays with you. I'm going to do some repairs and then go see my mama."

"Would you hear me out BA? As I said he has this nice beach house I got for him and in return he gave me the contact to some exclusive holiday houses close to Omaha. It's at the outskirts and quiet and peaceful but also close enough to the city to get some action if we want to and…"

"Actually Face, I had planned to go see Maggie, maybe another time."

"Ah, that's too bad because there's this football stadium close and I got VIP tickets, and Omaha is also close to Chicago and I'm sure Maggie would like to have a holiday too…"

"But my smash art course, I can't miss it again, I'm never going to catch up with Chuck."

"Okay, I don't want to know who Chuck is, they have cereals too and you said you went through the theory, why not practice in privacy and surprise all the others when you come back?"

"VIP tickets, right? And Omaha?"

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"Can't we push it to another time Face?"

"Come on colonel, it will be fun. It's always fun when we have a holiday together."

"I'm voting yes."

"Who said that we're voting fool?"

"It has a whirlpool and a bedroom for each of us."

"What do you say BA?"

"Sounds okay to me."

"Okay Face, but I'll call Maggie first and see if she has time, when do you want to leave?"

"Tomorrow."

"No chance, we're all tired and had enough time in the van and I suspect BA wants to drive there, Murdock too needs to stay at the VA for some days to not get suspicious. Three days minimum."

"Sure we drive, what else?"

Hannibal picked up the phone and dialed Maggie's number.

"She has a case she can't leave alone but thinks she could join us in a week, not sure though but 90 percent. Okay, I'll join you guys, three days. Murdock get ready, we're almost at the VA."

They dropped Murdock and Face was next. He had a lot of work to do. He had never helped any guy with a beach house and had no clue if there was anything close to New York that remotely fit his description. And he had only three days to get everything arranged.

Face didn't know why he didn't want to be alone, he just didn't. There was a time he would have relished the idea of having a few weeks to himself, but now the idea sent him into a panic. Actually he did know why, he just didn't want to think about it. It had been a few years and he still couldn't completely get past what had happened.

And maybe he never would…but that didn't mean he wouldn't do his best to fake it.

Most of the time he felt fine. But then there would be a certain sound or smell that would take him right back and send him reeling. The fear…the anger…the pain…it would take control of him and even make him physically sick.

And then there were the nightmares. He would wake up drenched in a cold sweat, shaking like a leaf, his heart pounding like a drum inside his chest.

He supposed he should be used to the fear and anxiety by now, especially after Nam. But this was a different breed of terror. Vietnam was a war and he was a soldier…at least he could wrap his brain around that. But what he suffered here on their own soil of late was incomprehensible.

So while it would be hard, Face wouldn't stop until he found a suitable holiday house. Anything to not be alone with his thoughts and memories for three whole weeks. Luckily he found just the spot and made the arrangements with little time to spare.

Three days later, or for Face more important, three long alone nights and countless nightmares and pots of coffee later, he went to the prearranged place to meet up with the team. To say he was exhausted was an understatement, he had been exhausted three days ago and without getting any proper rest he was now running on empty.

BA and Hannibal were already waiting. "Just in time Lieutenant, let's move."

Face looked around and in the van but couldn't spot Murdock anywhere. He wracked his brain if he was supposed to spring him and didn't remember but came up empty.

"Shouldn't we wait for Murdock?"

"He won't come. Called me yesterday after he couldn't reach you, said your phone was busy all the time. There's a craft workshop at the VA he doesn't want to miss, he'll fly to Omaha and meet up with us in three days."

'Just great, more alone nights, at least the others are there.' Face had arranged it so that BA and Hannibal had their own rooms and he would bunk in with Murdock. He hoped having BA and Hannibal close by in the other rooms would be enough to keep the nightmares away.

BA took the wheel and would drive for four hours before Hannibal would take over. Feeling the safety of the van and his team Face fell asleep the minute the van took off.

BA looked in the rear view mirror and grunted his disapproval. "He looks worse than when we dropped him, instead of resting he uses the time to go out with chicks and when Decker comes around the corner he'll be too tired to notice."

"Yeah, I've seen it too. Lately he seems to be drop dead tired when we go on a mission rather than being fresh and rested. I have to talk to him about his partying around, maybe I'll use this vacation."

When Face was woken full eight hours later to begin his shift he was still tired and needed coffee to get started. He was glad when his shift was over and BA released him for the last shift of the day. He had arranged for motel rooms close to Denver to stop for the night before continuing on the next day. He had done some thinking whiles driving. Up until now he had been able to hide his sleepless nights from his team, afraid Hannibal would find out that he was a liability and not fit for duty ever since the incidents a few years back. If he would have a nightmare in the hotel and they heard it he would have a hard time to explain it, while he was having nightmares from his childhood and Nam and the team knew it, they were less intensive and not as regular. He was afraid to say something that gave him away in his sleep or that they would finally put one and one together and notice that he was more tired than usual.

"Hannibal, I was thinking maybe we should sleep in the van tonight."

"Thought you arranged for motel rooms."

"I did but if we are spotted close to Denver it could destroy our holiday planes."

"No, it would rather help them. If Decker looks for us in Denver, we're safe in Omaha."

"But…"

"No but's Faceman, we've been sleeping in the van often enough, you especially look like you could use a night in a real bed." 'and alone' BA mentally added.

"He's right Face, we'll sleep in the motel."

Usually he would have argued more but he was afraid to have to answer questions about how tired he was so he kept quiet. He had gotten some sleep in the van so he would just spend the night drinking coffee in his room and not take any chances. Now that he had three weeks of quiet and peace coming up he didn't need to risk being found out. After the vacation he would sure be rested enough to keep up his façade.

The next morning the team sat together in a dinner for breakfast and Face was barely able to hold his eyes open.

"Man, what's it? Even here you found a girl for the night?"

It was a good excuse so Face just smiled and shrugged his shoulders before continuing on with his coffee. He didn't notice Hannibal frown at him before continuing with his own breakfast.

They arrived at Omaha in the late afternoon. The house was secluded and spacious, yet close to town. They took a look around but since they were all tired they went to bed early that night. Face vowed to stay awake but fell asleep somewhere past midnight. It didn't take long for the dreams to start and he woke up shouting 'no' and being drenched in sweat about an hour later. The dream had started out with uncle, changed to Nam and finally to Sue. Those were the ones he hated the most. His heart was hammering in his chest and he frantically got up to change in case he had woken the others with his shout. After sneaking through the house a while later he was convinced they had been too tired to hear him. He calmed and settled down in his room again, but sleep was over for that night.

The next day they decided to explore town but returned in the afternoon. They settled on two couches to watch a game on TV and Face, being surrounded by his team and feeling safe, soon fell asleep. When the game was over BA and Hannibal couldn't find another interesting program.

"There's a live game in the stadium this evening, I've seen the adverts in town."

"Think we'll still get tickets BA?"

"Didn't sound like any big teams, I guess it won't sell out."

"I'm game."

"What about the Faceman?"

"Let him sleep, we'll leave him a note."

Hannibal penned a quick note, reading it aloud as he wrote. "Face, we went to a game. Be back late. Stay put and get some rest."

Hannibal put the piece of paper on the small table next to the front door and followed B.A. out to the van. They never knew that a draft from the closing door blew the note behind the table and out of sight.

When Face woke next it was quiet...too quiet. Face sat up too quickly, and had to hold onto the couch too keep from keeling over. Once the spots cleared from his eyes and the world stood still, he got up and made his way to the kitchen hoping to find the guys there having a midnight snack.

Five minutes, and one house search later, Face began to panic. And when he looked out the window and saw the van gone, he felt downright sick. 'They left,' he thought. 'They finally had enough of me and took off. And Murdock didn't even come in the first place. You're all alone now.'

Face began to pace in the living room unsure what he was going to do now. He had just woken from his first nightmare-free sleep in what felt like ages, only to encounter a real life nightmare. Face's chest began to tighten up and it was becoming increasingly harder to breathe. 'Get a hold of yourself, Peck. You're a grown man...stop acting like a scared child.'

But the truth was that while he may not be a child, he was scared. He was scared of being alone...bad things happened to him when he was alone. People hurt him and dreams haunted him when he was alone.

Images flashed before his eyes; images that he tried to keep buried. Face sank to his knees and closed his eyes willing the memories to go away. Instead they kept coming, fast and furiously. His stomach rolled and he half-crawled, half-ran to the bathroom. He made it just in time for the eruption to begin.

Hannibal and B.A. walked through the door still talking about the game. It had been an exciting finish and both men were still keyed up with adrenaline.

Suddenly B.A. stopped in his tracks. "You hear that, man?"

"Hear what? It's impossible to hear anything above the racket of your gold."

B.A. was about to threaten Hannibal with choking him with said gold, when he heard it again. "Did you hear that?"

Hannibal nodded. "Yeah...sounds like somebody's throwing up." And there was only one person it could be. They headed toward the sound in a hurry but it still took them about half a minute to get to the bathroom. By the time they rounded the last corner Face was leaning against the wall shaking. The bathroom door still stood open since he had been too much in a hurry to close it with the result that even with his eyes closed he could hear BA's gold rattling and two sets of feet coming closer.

"Face?"

'Get a grip Peck, look at you, you're a mess. They probably went out for a late night snack or to get something from the all night shops. Try to be a man for a change.'

"Face, are you alright?" He sure didn't look like but he had yet to respond to Hannibal's question.

"Yeah, …yeah, just uhm…just…. maybe I ate something wrong. This shaking around in the van for days never sits well with my stomach."

Seeing that Face was alright BA got defensive at once. "You think being drugged anytime you wanna fly feels better?"

"No…no I don't."

"You sure you're alright now?"

"Yeah…just tired, I'll go back to bed." Escaping the situation seemed a good idea and his bedroom was the closest to the bathroom. He got up and using the wall for support made his way to his sleeping room on shaking legs.

"He sure looked shaken." Hannibal said after the door behind his lieutenant closed. He found it odd but then again Face vomited rather often compared to the others and long rides had had that effect on him in the past. They both went back to the front of the house, Hannibal to lock the door for the night and BA to get a snack from the kitchen that was located at the front of the house.

"Maybe he isn't used to sleeping alone."

"Hm? How do you mean that BA?"

"With his going out and partying I don't think he spent a night alone in the past months, except on missions. And you ordered him to stay put and rest."

Hannibal was at the door now and chuckled. "Could be, by all means he's thrown my note away. Anyway, it's a good way to ease him into my lecture about partying all the time."

The next day was spent similar to the previous one and in the late afternoon the three team members returned to the house. BA and Hannibal had been talking about the football game ever so often but Face didn't pay much attention. He thought they were talking about the one on TV he hadn't watched since he was sleeping on the couch. The later it got the more exited BA became.

"Man, I can't wait to head to the stadium today, if it's only half as good as the other one we'll have a blast."

"Yeah, when do we have to leave?"

"Leave where?"

"Leave to the stadium, BA and I got ourselves tickets for today's game. It's just some local teams but yesterdays one was great."

'So that's where they went, oh I could kick myself. I told them I'll get VIP tickets and forgot all about it, damn.'

"So, when do we have to leave?"

"We, as in BA and I, have to leave getting to eight. You have any plans for the evening?"

"No, actually not."

"Good, then you can get some more rest, you sure look like you could use some."

'Yeah, how nice of you to ask me to join you.'