A-Team – Remember Me?
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Characters: The A-Team with Maggie Sullivan and Tawnia Baker
Genre: Pre-romance, hurt/comfort, angst
Spoilers: Black Day at Bad Rock, Deadly Maneuvers
Time: Season two, missing scene from Deadly Maneuvers
A/N: Okay here goes nothing. I am a new fan of the A-Team so I hope I have got the characters right.
I felt the need to add this to Deadly Maneuvers and I am doing it purely for fun, there's no harm intended.
Scene is to be inserted when Hannibal calls Tawnia and some of the dialogue has been taken from the
episode, now you have been warned. Italic style means flashback.
Beta reading by John "Hannibal" Smith thank you very much, I would be lost without a beta.
oooooooooo
Chapter One
The phone rang at her place; she was working from home on this particular day and nothing had happened until now. There was a commotion downtown and she had jumped at the opportunity to be the first reporter to find out what it was all about. She had phoned the office and talked to a colleague that she knew well and trusted. Now, if she could only find her car keys...
Tawnia jumped as the phone rang while she was standing at her desk, maybe it was an update, if the guy could just hold on a second she would be out there with him. However when she picked up the phone there was no one at the other end, or at least no one said anything. That could only mean one of two things, either some punk was trying to scare her, or it was the A-Team phoning her from some strange location. She decided to go with the latter.
"Hello?"
"Tawnia?" a hoarse voice whispered faintly from the other end of the line.
It didn't take long to figure out who it belonged to and she began to worry. "Hannibal?" she could hear labored breathing and really didn't like it, something was wrong. "Are you okay?"
"There is a doctor…in Bad Rock…name's Maggie Sullivan…get her here." he let out a cry of pain. "Hurry."
"Hannibal, are you there?"
When she got no response it made her want to bolt from the apartment and stand beside him. The news down town forgotten, all she could think about were her friends while she smiled triumphantly as she found her keys under a magazine and rushed through the door. She forced herself to remain somewhat calm. What happened? Where were Face, Murdock and B.A, they always looked after one another. Something terrible must have happened but what was more pressing was that she didn't know how she was going to find them.
Think Tawnia think, she told herself as she speed away toward the little town called Bad Rock. Okay… Face had complained about some training camp Hannibal had set up because they needed to shape up. Two recent missions had ended well but it could have gone either way and Hannibal wanted to be sure they were ready for the next one; Hannibal always wanted to be prepared.
Tawnia pulled over and reached for her roadmap, she was just double checking the fastest route to Bad Rock.
oooooooooo
The little boy sat bravely on the gurney in the examination room, his arm obviously broken. Although he said it didn't hurt and that he hadn't been crying Maggie didn't believe him. She could see that his eyes were reddened and his cheeks wet but she didn't let on. The boy's mother sat next to him, looking worried, not knowing exactly what to do.
"Now…" she smiled at him. "…that cast needs to stay on for at least six weeks…" she was interrupted by a forceful knock on the front door.
"Dr. Sullivan?" The knocker was shouting in a panicked voice.
Maggie frowned, she didn't recognize the voice. It was probably another tourist who had managed to twist an ankle or sprain something; they were probably from the city, because city people never liked to wait.
"Sorry, excuse me." Maggie said looking at the boy's mother, who had put her arms around him.
"Dr. Sullivan please you have got to let me in!"
Maggie threw the door open. "What? What is so important that you can't wait a minute? I'm with a patient!"
She glared at the younger woman who was dressed in jeans and an expensive shirt, she definitely looked like tourist. However the woman wasn't intimidated by the doctor's stare and instead of calming her down it only caused her to be more persistent.
"Doctor Sullivan, my name is Tawnia Baker and I don't have time to explain but you need to come with me, quickly."
"I am not going anywhere until I'm finished with my patient." Maggie replied forcefully.
Who did she think she was, just barging in here and demanding that she would follow her to some unknown destination? Maggie turned around to head back to her patient but a hand on her arm temporarily stopped her.
"Please, Hannibal really needs your help." the woman said softly, concern written all over her face.
Dr. Sullivan turned to look at her. "Colonel Smith?"
She remembered the charming man bursting through the door with his friends, demanding her help. "What happened?" she asked, her voice softer and concerned.
"I don't know yet but I have a feeling it's not good."
"Okay give me a minute and we can go."
oooooooooo
Tawnia ran to the car and started it, a moment later Maggie threw in her medical bag in the back seat and jumped in.
"Hannibal called me…" Tawnia began as she drove.
"What did he say?"
"To get you and to hurry." she glanced at Maggie and headed up on a larger road. "I don't know where Face, Murdock and B.A. are or the exact location but Hannibal didn't sound too well on the phone."
oooooooooo
Face jumped as the door flew open and two of the thugs came dragging B.A.. Murdock looked up from the ground with interest. "Hey muchachos what have you done with the big guy?"
"Not your concern." One of them replied gruffly as they eased the heavy B.A. down on the bunk making sure his hands were tied.
Face swallowed. It worried him to see B.A. out like a light and totally oblivious to the world, well except when they tried to get him into a plane.
"Is he alive?" He asked the scary looking guys.
The man who had secured B.A's hands turned around and walked up to stand just centimeters from Face and bent down to look him in the eyes. "For now, but that'll change real soon."
He gave Face a shove on the shoulder, almost causing him to fall backwards.
"That's not very nice!" Murdock shouted as the door closed behind them.
Once again they were alone with their thoughts.
"Faceman are you okay?"
"Yeah but B.A. doesn't look so good."
They both turned their heads to look at their friend who lay unconscious on the bed next to Murdock.
"I just hope Hannibal is okay." Face added worriedly.
oooooooooo
Tawnia looked to her right and saw another motel. They had lost precious time at a different motel earlier down the road. "It better be this one." she muttered to herself.
Maggie suddenly straightened in her seat. "Tawnia stop!"
"Do you see something?"
"Yeah pull in there."
They drove around to a short building, white painted, and stopped beside a black, grey and red GMC which could only belong to a certain group of people.
Jumping out of the car, they looked around to see if they had raised any suspicion but couldn't see a single person on the street or in the parking lot. Tawnia went over to the first motel door, and cursed it for being locked. She quickly moved on to the next door and felt the knob, it was unlocked. She opening it and froze in the doorway. Maggie stopped behind her but she couldn't see a thing.
"Tawnia what…" she trailed off looking over her shoulder and a feeling of dread came creeping up her spine. "Hannibal!" she couldn't help screaming.
Maggie rushed to his side as Tawnia carefully took the phone out of his hand and put it back in its place on the night-stand. She watched Maggie check his pulse, his breathing, she also listened to his heart and Tawnia felt a knot forming in her stomach. What had happened to the A-Team?
"Tawnia help me get him on the bed." Maggie commanded.
They grabbed his upper body and feet.
"He is heavy." Tawnia said, careful not to lose her grip on him.
Maggie nodded. "Unconscious people usually are."
The doctor sat down on the bed next to him, a hand on his warm forehead. "I don't like it, he's burning up. Tawnia hand me the bag."
The reporter wasn't slow to follow.
"Thanks, now roll up his sleeve." Maggie said as she rummaged through her bag.
"What do you think is wrong with him?" Tawnia asked softly.
Tawnia could see Maggie was worried, even more worried than she was and for a moment Tawnia wondered how they had met and what had happened between them.
"I don't know, but I think it's some kind of poison." She responded as she slid the needle under his skin and watched the vial fill with blood.
Tawnia looked away, needles made her shudder.
Maggie took the sample in her hand and gave it to Tawnia. "I need you to bring this to the nearest lab and fast."
Tawnia nodded.
"The nearest lab would be about 50 km east of here. It's a clinic called Rocky Port, tell them Maggie Sullivan sent you."
Taking the sample she turned around to leave but hesitated at the door, watching as Maggie gently stroked away the silver hair plastered to Hannibal's forehead.
"On the way here we only talked about how I met the team…" Tawnia didn't finish the sentence.
"I'd love to tell you about it…when you get back."
She got the message and ran towards to the car. Maggie heard the wheels shrieking on the road and concentrated on Hannibal again. She grabbed his wrist, silently counting, checking his pulse.
"Hannibal you've got to fight this, you hear me? Remember I told you I would love to see you again someday a year ago? This was not exactly how I imagined it."
oooooooooo
She was sitting in her gown, reading the newspaper. It was supposed to be a regular Sunday, nice and quiet. Well as nice and quiet as it could be, knowing the sheriff's office housed the leader of a criminal motorcycle gang.
Anyway she was interrupted in the middle of an article by a bang on the door and a voice calling out for a doctor. Not quite prepared for who was on the other side of the door she opened it and stood face to face with a big black muscular guy with a Mohawk hair-cut who was being supported by a younger handsome man and a very good looking older man.
The way they talked to each other told her they had been through a lot together but their relation seemed somewhat strained at the moment, at least between the big guy and the blonde young guy. At the time she had been afraid they were friends of the gang leader in the sheriff's office.
Maggie smiled at the memory shaking her head, not believing how she could have thought such a thing. She looked down at the unconscious man in front of her.
"Hannibal can you hear me?" Not that she was actually expecting an answer because he was out cold, but then again he wasn't just anyone, and she had learned that the hard way.
It took her hours to sort out the mess someone had caused to the man on her exam table and by the looks of it, it wasn't an accident. Well perhaps in a sense, but someone had definitely fired at him on purpose. She strode out to his friends, her temper barely in check, she had almost lost the guy and that hadn't happened since the war.
"What were you hunting? Elephants?"
The older man crossed his arms and puffed on his cigar with a confident look on his face. "Flairs."
The younger man made an attempt to smooth it over but he didn't succeed. And the next statement almost made her grab the cigar and tell him where to stuff it. Then she considered throwing them out, both of them.
"How soon can we get him out of here?"
"He needs blood…" she began coldly.
Was this some kind of joke to them? That their friend was lying in pain in her house?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a car stopping just outside the motel. Maggie quickly but carefully headed over to the window, there was no way it could be Tawnia already but maybe it was Face, B.A. or Murdock. She watched as a man carrying a gun kick the door to the next room open. She was grateful that Tawnia had taken off in the GMC otherwise she didn't even dare guess what would have happened.
"Hannibal I really wish you'd wake up." she whispered.
oooooooooo
Face winced as the zip ties cut into his wrists. "This is useless, I can't get my hands out or expand these things." he whined.
"Come on Faceman don't give up, we got to make a run for it. They're probably looking for Hannibal as we speak."
"I'm not giving up Murdock; I am just saying there's got to be another way."
oooooooooo
The cowboy didn't seem to be a professional, he grabbed the door-handle and Maggie took a deep breath, standing behind the door with Hannibal's gun in her hand.
Just as the man was about to walk in she heard a voice outside. "Hey Joe! Leave it, he's not here."
The doctor closed her eyes, giving a silent prayer as the man let go of the door and began walking away. She felt the cold steel in her hand and remembered when she first found it.
She had mentioned Vietnam briefly and something about him changed.
"You must have been a captain, forgive me if I don't salute." he said smiling.
The younger man, whom she had heard him call Face, smiled as well. "He's a colonel."
So he was in Vietnam, interesting. She would have asked him about it, if Hank hadn't chosen that moment to burst through her door. The sheriff asked her to search him, not that she minded, she loved feeling his muscles beneath the fabric of his clothes but that was not the only thing she felt.
She opened her eyes to look at the nine millimeter once again in her hands.
oooooooooo
Tawnia drove up to the main entrance of the lab, carefully holding the sample while rushing through the doors.
An older man, in a doctor's coat, with a slightly out of shape body walked up to her and looked at her calmly. "Excuse me ma'am but you'll have to wait for your turn."
"I am sorry doctor but this can't wait. I just drove here from Bad Rock…" One small lie couldn't hurt; after all, Maggie lived there. "…Dr. Sullivan said it was urgent and that I had to get this sample to you. There's a man up there, the sheriff's found him unconscious in the woods, and he was beaten really bad. We don't know how long he had been lying there, but anyway the sheriff wants to ask him some questions but Dr. Sullivan believes he's been poisoned and can't say if he's going to live and be able to tell his story."
The doctor looked her with big eyes. "Say no more. I'll see to it immediately." he took the sample and disappeared.
Tawnia smiled. Sometimes a good lie could be everything.
oooooooooo
Kyle had been back for almost half an hour after his last outing and was still fuming over the fact that Colonel Smith had eluded him again, even in the state he was in. It satisfied him, at least partly, that Smith was ill but unfortunately it didn't help him if the man was nowhere to be found.
He turned his hand into a fist. Smith had to be somewhere close and if they couldn't find him they just had to wait until he made his next move. The A-Team left no one behind and Hannibal really liked a challenge. Kyle smiled, evilly. However this time he would outsmart Smith.
oooooooooo
She hadn't heard anything from Sheriff Thompson and she had to admit that she was curious about who they were, but, she decided to let it be for the moment and concentrated on her patient.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm pretty weak ma'am." he replied honestly.
A part of her was surprised that the big guy actually told her how he felt. Most tough guys don't.
Seconds later the, so called colonel, came walking through the door and for a moment she feared what had happened to the sheriff.
"What are you doing here? You are supposed to be in jail." she said accusingly.
"Sorry doctor we'll have to do this my way but don't worry, we won't hurt you." He said looking at her with the bluest eyes she had ever seen. If she wasn't too careful she could drown in them.
The way he talked and handled himself made it clear to her that, in a way, he was still the colonel he used to be, even if the war had ended over a decade ago.
He called the big guy B.A. and talked about someone named Murdock. They had a minor disagreement but in the end B.A. gave in because he said Hannibal, as he called the colonel, always came through. And she believed it. Something about that name rang a bell in her mind but she couldn't place it.
oooooooooo
Face craned his neck. "Hey, B.A."
The man lay on the cot, out like a light. Whatever they had given to him worked miracles; perhaps they should try that on their next plane trip.
"Hey muchacho, this ain't the time to take a nap." Murdock tried to no avail.
Face closed his eyes and sighed, frustrated at being tied to a chair, unable to escape and even more frustrated at being joined by his team-mates one by one. If Hannibal didn't show up to bail them out soon, or ended up being dragged into the room in the same state as B.A., he swore Murdock would actually drive him crazy.
"Hey B.A. my little teddy bear, we need you to wake up and help us." H.M. said with glee in his eyes. "Ah come on now, buddy."
"Murdock don't…ah…don't tease him when he isn't feeling well."
The pilot turned around in his chair, tilting his head a little to the side. "If that's what it takes." he replied innocently.
I'm never gonna live through this. Face thought unhappily as Murdock moved his chair as close as he could to B.A., hovering over him with sparkling eyes.
"Come on B.A. it's time to wake up now." his urging was met by a silent snore. "Okay". He clasped his hands together as best as he could, considering he was bound tight to the chair.
"This calls for drastic measures." Murdock leaned in over the big guy. "Mayday mayday we are going down! Anyone hear me? Mayday I am having engine trouble the plane is going to crash!" he shouted. "Need some help in here, Face!"
"Okay now we're never gonna get out of this one alive."
oooooooooo
Maggie gently stroke Hannibal's forehead, he was still so warm. His body was reacting really badly to something. If only Tawnia would come back with the result soon. She traced the outline of his jaw and further down, checking his pulse. Maybe it was her imagination but it seemed to be a bit better.
The next thing she knew two more people came rushing through the door. Face she already knew, well at least she knew his name. No questions asked as the man they called Murdock was quickly connected to B.A.
She still had trouble puzzling their earlier conversation together. Why would this woman, Amy, spring Murdock out of a hospital? Then it was B.A.'s conversation with Hannibal about the sanity of the guy. The conversation going on around her now made her wonder if any of them was sane.
"Man I am warning you, for the last time, I don't want this suckers blood in me it's gonna make me crazy just like he is!"
"It's not gonna make you crazy B.A…."
Then some more banter, she tried to keep her mind busy overlooking the transfusion.
"You and I can even be roomies at the VA, I can have them bring in an extra bunk…"
Okay so their friend was an escaped mental patient from the VA hospital? This was getting better and better. It was kind of hard focusing on the transfusion as B.A. suddenly began shouting at Face who stood right behind her.
"I am gonna get you for this Face!"
The woman, Amy, wondered why and she wasn't the only one.
"Faceman messed up, that's why I got shot…"
So that's how it happened. They were on the run but why and from whom? It only caused even more questions to whirl around in her head. As soon as she was finished with this she was going to get answers, one way or another.
oooooooooo
B.A. came to with a start, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling. "Where am I? Have we been flying'?" he demanded suspiciously, looking at his two tied up friends, both with an innocent expression on their faces.
Face smiled nervously. "What? Where did you get that idea from? We're stuck in a shed."
B.A. shrugged, he still felt like crap. "Don't know, thought I heard this crazy fool before."
Murdock frowned. "Don't know what you're talking about amigo."
"Listen, they have been picking us one at a time…"
"Yeah, they said you took a ride with a girl." B.A. growled.
"Who?"
"What does it matter? Anyway what are you doing here Murdock?"
"Me? What are you doing here?" he replied.
"I got dumped here, Hannibal took me to a doctor…hey where is Hannibal?" B.A. glanced around the room, somewhat relieved at not seeing the colonel.
"Some guy called Kyle…" Murdock mused. "…seems to be behind all this."
"That's not what I asked fool."
"I don't know, the name seems familiar somehow, and we don't know where Hannibal is. We actually thought you could tell us. By the way what happened to you?" Face glared at B.A.
"I think I was poisoned." he grimaced. "Must have been the milk, man."
"Oh cheer up B.A., don't be such a baby."
"Shut up Murdock you're lucky I am tied up or I'll give you a stomach ache that rivals mine."
"Oh no." H.M said worriedly.
Face turned to look at him "What?"
"Hannibal drank it too."
"That's right." B.A. grimaced.
"Well at least he's not here with us." he rose with the chair on his back.
"What are you doing Faceman?"
"I am getting out of here." he said whacking his chair against the construction column.
Murdock clamped his eyes shut. "Ow, that's going to hurt."
oooooooooo
"Now…" she walked up to the colonel as the rest of them brought a recuperating B.A. outside. "…I want to know what's going on here." She folded her arms "And don't make something up, I am not stupid."
His lips curled in a slight smile and it angered her even more. "I know you aren't doctor but it's kind of complicated."
"Well why don't you try me?"
He lit a new cigar.
"Those aren't good for you."
He shrugged. "Well, a lot of things aren't." The expression on his face suddenly turned serious. "The sheriff is going to tell you anyway. I am Colonel John 'Hannibal' Smith and the guy who got blamed for all this is First Lieutenant Templeton 'Face' Peck. The big guy you just saved is Sergeant Bosco 'B.A.' Baracus. We were a special assignments team during the war and Captain H.M 'Howling Mad' Murdock was our pilot and the unofficial member of the A-Team."
She gave him a wry smile. Of course she knew his name; her unit hadn't been too far away from the special assignments teams. Not safe but safer.
"As for Amy…" he continued. "…she's a great kid for a reporter. Now I think I have said more than I should."
For all she knew he could be pulling her leg, but somehow the description of Hannibal and his men fit the description she got years ago by patients reporting from the front, well they were a bit glorified, but still.
"That means you're wanted by the military police."
"Look I really have to go." he said trying to excuse himself.
She turned her back at him, starting to walk away. "You know, you really shouldn't move him."
"We have no choice."
Maggie put her hand in his hair, ruffling it. "You kissed me and then had the guts to lock me in the closet. That wasn't very nice Hannibal, but not at least it wasn't your first choice."
The door suddenly swung open, causing her to jump.
"I'm sorry if I startled you Maggie but I thought you heard me coming. I just wish it hadn't taken so long."
Tawnia handed her the paper with the test result. "A strong sedative." Maggie said as she walked closer to Hannibal.
"How's he doing?" Tawnia asked, gesturing to Hannibal.
Maggie got out her penlight. "Better; his pupils are starting to respond normally." She put the light down.
"Hannibal?" She gently placed her hands on his cheeks, shaking him slightly.
"Can you hear me? It's Maggie Sullivan, I am here with Tawnia."
Slowly he cracked his eyes open, not much but at least he was able to look at her, he also gave her a tired smile.
Maggie let out a sigh of relief, she had been really worried there for a while, not that she was going to admit that.
"Maggie I am glad you made it."
"Well I remember saying I'd be glad to see again you but this isn't exactly what I had in mind." She smiled at him teasingly.
"I'm full of surprises, huh?"
oooooooooo
The end.
I am sorry if I have offended anyone with the small war references; in that case I am sorry, that was not my intention. And I really wish we could all live in peace.
Please feel free to review and tell me what you think; constructive criticism is also welcome if you feel for it.
