Restless Days and Restless Nights Pt 7

"What Becomes _ _ _?"

By SPNHemelLassie

This is set post BAD DAY TO BE A HERO And is a Rick centric hurt/comfort story, because I think Rick's pain needed a little more compassion and caring from his friends…

Rick sat at the bar of his friend's 'Bar and Grill'. He loved everything about this place. That it was a corny, schmaltzy, low-class dive bar – a place that Higgins would never set foot in. He loved the corny theme and he loved the Viet Nam vet, also named Rick, who ran the place. Hell, he even loved the name, taken from an old Bogart movie he'd loved as a kid - Rick's Café Americana. Yeah, this was his kind of dive, alright. Plus, it was a place where ordinarily Thomas and TC would never set foot in, so he was free to feel all his feelings and just be depressed and low without them trying to cheer him up right away. Sometimes a guy had a right to be blue and feel the whole pageant of feelings that go with that, RIGHT? The former Marine gunner nodded to himself, vigorously. And he had taken the bus here, so he was definitely taking an UBER home because he had had a few drinks already and he was nowhere near done!

He was enjoying his misery just fine, all by himself, when someone came in, sat at the dusty piano behind him. Sam, the piano player, had disappeared during the last financial downtown; and, now a Jukebox filled his role. But the piano remained, though mainly as a dust catcher these days. It fit in with the décor though so, why quibble? After facetiously clearing off the keys with a rather large size man's handkerchief, this mystery individual tested a couple of keys, and then he began to play. The song wasn't from the right time frame, but, definitely, the very right mood for the occasion. How did this guy know?

It was seconds into the intro when Rick realized something was rotten in Honolulu. He knew that playing style; and, he would bet any money he knew the player, too. Still, two could play this game, so he resolutely kept his back to the piano. He had excellent peripheral vision and he could make out enough of the back of the guy's head to KNOW he was right about who the mystery piano player was. Brat! Couldn't let a guy wallow in his misery in peace for even one bloody night, could he? Still, he liked the song, so he relaxed, determined to enjoy his solitude as long as T would let him.

Now two, no, three more guys filed in and joined his friend at the piano. Wait – how did Katsumoto get involved again? Oh, boy! This should be interesting.

Thomas played the intro to a song, and then TC began the bass line doo-wop with Shammy interweaving a harmonizing line. Magnum began singing the words. His voice had a sweet, plaintive sound to it, but Rick knew all too well that the pain in that voice was born from plenty of real-life experience with pain and sorrow and when Katsumoto's voice blended with TM's, TC's and Shammy's on the chorus the music was so achingly poignant, it almost hurt, and Rick knew that TM knew exactly the pain he was singing about. The song started out….

"As I walk this land of broken dreams…I have visions of many things, but happiness is just an illusion, filled with sadness and confusion.

"What becomes of the broken-hearted, who had love that's now departed?..."

"The roots of love grow all around,…but for me they come a-tumblin' down…Every day, heartaches grow a little stronger, I can't stand this pain much longer…"

Magnum's sorrows had been many and diverse. His father lost when he was 6, his Father's parents just a few years later – one after another. His mother when she remarried a man who didn't want kids who immediately on return from the 'happy couple's' honeymoon had sent Thomas away to one boarding school after another and made sure he and his wife were never home at Christmas and for other school breaks, so Magnum would have to stay at school. Then, each summer, Thomas was sent away to enrichment programs and summer camps but never allowed back to his family home. By the 2nd year, the birthday and Christmas cards TM received weren't even in his mom's handwriting anymore. Rick knew Thomas had felt abandoned by his mother and wondered what HE had done wrong to get sent away. That was part of the reason he would refer to the elite schools he was sent to as 'reform schools' Even then life trained him, it was somehow all HIS fault. His girlfriend from high school age had died of a brain tumor the third year they had been dating – died in the teenage Magnum's arms. It had been a slow, painful decline, but he had stayed by her side through it all.

Friends he had lost in the military including one of his roommates at the Naval Academy who had slit his own throat and Thomas had walked in on him while he was still bleeding out. Rick vividly remembered the awful night Magnum had related that story after drinking a couple too many beers – something that had never been repeated. Thomas did not like to lose control in such a way and had apologized repeatedly to all of them for having shared that story. Nuzo, TC, and Rick had just wished there could be some way to take that awful memory out of the poor guy's mind.

His mom came back into his life after her 2nd husband Frank had died just before TM went to Bud/s training. She had expected to resume the same relationship with her son she had enjoyed before Frank came along, but Rick knew they had always had a strained and awkward relationship after Frank; right up until TM found out she was terminally ill. Then he had lost her while they were in captivity, so no resolution to the strain on the relationship. And, of course, the pain dealt by Hannah followed by the pain he took on by blaming himself for all of their situations- being captured he felt BECAUSE of him. So Thomas sang this song from far too much experience.

Rick sighed, thinking, and he thought he had a right to the miseries? Sure, his parents had divorced when he was a kid, so he had experience with the bitter dregs of life, as well, but at least he had Ice Pick. He spun around on his bar stool to watch and caught sight of the look on TC's face as he gently patted Thomas on the shoulder as the man played. The ache in TM's voice made Rick's own throat hurt in sympathy.

As the foursome finished up the song, Rick couldn't resist. He hollered, "Play it again, Sam!" Magnum shook his head but called out. "Anyone else mind if we do?" When silence was the response, they started it over. This time Rick got up from his barstool after finishing his beer and ambled over to drape his arms around Thomas' shoulders and give him a supportive hug. As the 2nd time around wound to a close, Rick found he was thinking of the words to a completely different song.

"I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style…"

Rick impishly leaned forward and whispered those words in Thomas' ear. TM's lips quirked into an amused grin, but he immediately launched into the intro to that song on the piano and began to sing the words at the appropriate place, starting with the lines Rick had whispered to him…

"I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him, to listen for a while
And there he was, this young boy, a stranger to my eyes

Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song

I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd
I felt he'd found my letters and read each one out loud
I prayed that he would finish, but he just kept right on

Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly…."

Thomas chuckled looking up at Rick and, fluttering his eyelashes at him, he went into a new song, "Don't wish it away, Don't look at it like it's forever, Between you and me I could honestly say
That things can only get better

And while I'm away, Dust out the demons inside, And it won't be long before you and me run, To the place in our hearts where we hide

And I guess that's why they call it the blues
Time on my hands could be time spent with you
Laughing like children, living like lovers
Rolling like thunder under the covers
And I guess that's why they call it the blues…"

As Magnum finished the song, Rick, the business owner, called out, "One more time, kid…."

Magnum looked at his Rick and mouthed… "Kid?" but he obliged and sang the song one last time. The bar had been pretty much empty when Magnum and the guys had come in, but now it was almost full and Magnum blushed a bright red when catcalls, whistles, and applause filled the air as the impromptu group finished up. However, good-naturedly, he stood beside the piano stool and bowed in three directions than quietly headed for the door. The owner, Rick, caught him just inside the door and shoved a wad of cash into his pocket while trying to hire him for a regular gig. Thomas just laughed it off and gently took his Rick's elbow and guided him out the door, replying to the other Rick, thank you, but he was a private investigator and that was his career path. To which the other Rick had cried out. "Not another freaking PI!"

Once they were out the door, Thomas anxiously asked Rick Wright. "Are you okay, Rick? We didn't make it worse, did we?"

"What was it you told me a long time ago, Thomas? You said you can't really stay sad when you sing the blues? I sang along on those last couple of songs…and I really do feel much better." Rick looked around at the gathering of his friends and said, "…Thanks, you guys. I appreciate you all taking the time, especially you, Shammy, Detective." He shook the wheelchair-bound man and the detective's hands, and Magnum followed right behind him, quietly adding his thanks as he split the cash he'd been handed so that each of them got an equal share. Thomas reached over and grabbed Wright by the neck as the man was pulling out the phone to call UBER, saying, "Forget that, Rick! TC and I are taking you back to your place. We're having a sleepover tonight, buddy, and I'll make my famous pancakes in the morning with blueberries for TC and strawberries for you. The fruit is in the cooler on ice. So, are you ready to go?"

Rick chuckled, "Serenaded, a sleepover AND your pancakes – Score!" Rick nodded his acceptance, grateful for his friends who hadn't left him to wallow alone. They always seemed to know what each other needed.

Just before he left, Katsumoto stepped up to Rick and said, "I think you can call me Gordon at this point, Rick. Sorry about your girl…"

"Yeah, me, too, but I'll get over it, eventually. Thanks again, Gordon."

The detective waved as he walked to his car to head home.

The three remaining friends followed Shammy as he got into his car and Thomas promised to send pancakes to Shammy with TC in the morning. Shammy thanked him and said. "Don't do this too often, Thomas, I'll get too fat for my wheels! Though I do appreciate your cooking, brother!"

"Uh-uh, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Shammy, so my mom always said those calories don't count!" Magnum replied with a smile. "Have a good evening, brother."

"I'll be dreaming of those pancakes!" Shammy replied with a smile.

A/N: I can't resist whumping Thomas even when the story centers on Rick, can I? Sorry guys, the next Wright one I'll try to do better.