Hello! Sorry it's been so long. I've had this and the next chapter finished for awhile, just haven't gotten around to posting them. Busy life,busy life. As usual, none of the characters save for Sam belong to me and I make no money writing any of this. This is pure fluff.

It wasn't easy looking at Murdock the next day when they all went out for a bite to eat. Sam was acutely aware of his passing glances, but she could not for the life of her make herself meet his eyes. She tried to focus on the conversations going on around her, but she was so jumpy she was surprised no one made any comment on her behavior.

It wasn't until Face made a passing comment on a beautiful woman that Sam actually started paying attention. Her eyes narrowed on the woman to whom Face was referring and upon recognizing her, she nearly choked on her fry. "

No," she rasped out between fits of coughing, grabbing her soda and chugging at least a quarter of it to control herself. "Go out with anyone in the world you want to, Face, but not her. She's horrendous."

Face quirked his brow at her, as did Murdock. "You've gone out with her before?"

"No. But my father has."

Nose wrinkling in distaste, Face immediately returned his full attention to the table. "That's all I need to know."

"I think a change of subject is in order." Karina looked to Murdock, a question in her eyes. When he nodded and grinned in a goofy, happy way, she continued. "James and I are going to have another baby!"

While the rest of the table cheered and congratulated the happy couple, Face slunk further down in his seat unnoticeably. He was ecstatic for them, of course, and wished them felicitations of his own, but, again, he was reminded of how he was nowhere close to having what the two of them had together.

"Do you want it to be a boy?" Sam asked conversationally from the other side of the table. Face resisted the urge to throw a glass at his head. It wasn't Sam's fault Face felt this...this...desolate. Desolate and, most of all, alone.

"I don't actually care either way," Karina replied. "Though I'm totally not against having an adorable little boy. To be honest, when I was pregnant with Karina, I was rather hoping she'd be a boy. I always wanted to have a boy first so..."

"So he could protect his little sister?" Sam smiled at Karina in such a way that Face thought they were having some sort of silent communication. Seriously, how was Murdock okay with this friendship?

"Exactly." Karina's eyes softened with love as her gaze landed on Faith sitting next to her Uncle BA as she drew random squiggles on a kid's menu, completely unaware of the conversation around her. "But since she's got her father and three other strapping, strong Army Ranger men in her life, I don't think I really need to worry about her ever being bullied or taken advantage of by some boy."

"Damn right," BA agreed, instantly regretting his choice of words when Faith repeated him.

Face chortled in amusement, the pressure, the panic, in his chest easing up a fraction. "Nice going, BA. And you're the one always lecturing the rest of us on watching what we say around her."

Chagrined, BA turned to Faith and quickly got her singing her favorite song, instantly forgetting about the previous phrase she'd been repeating.

"So how far along are you?" Face asked, turning back to his best friend and his woman.

"A little over two months. I wanted to be absolutely certain before I told anyone, including James."

"You must be very excited," Hannibal addressed Murdock, who was about as exuberant as Face had ever seen him.

"You know I am!" Murdock agreed rapidly.

"He can't wait to see me get fat," Karina chimed in, an amused smile dancing across her pretty mouth.

"You won't be fat," Murdock argued. "You'll be expanding mankind's population."

Face couldn't hold back a laugh at that statement, which was such a Murdock thing to say. But as the conversation started shifting around to them buying a bigger place, maybe close by to where Face and BA lived so there would be readily accessible babysitters at hand, that envious loneliness settled in again and Face found himself ordering another drink. And then another. And then another.

"Morning, sleeping beauty."

Groaning, Face shifted beneath the sheets and, ignoring Murdock's soft attempts to rouse him out of bed, pressed his face as deep into the pillow as he could without suffocating himself. He mumbled "go away," but he wasn't sure Murdock could make it out through the pillow his face was buried in.

"You gotta get up, Facey."

Sighing, Face reluctantly turned to look at Murdock, his blue eyes blinking owlishly as he tried to avoid making direct eye contact with the sun. Murdock, of all people, usually knew better than to come barging into Face's room after a night of moderate to heavy drinking, so the fact that he was there currently meant there was a pressing matter to be dealt with.

"What's up, buddy?" he asked, for the first time noticing the deep frown pulling at Murdock's lips. "Something wrong?"

Lips pursed, Murdock nodded his head warily. "I tried to send her away, Face, I really did, but she was so damn insistent. And, really, it's difficult for an innocent such as I to fight one such as El Diablo and..."

Face was up and flying out of bed before Murdock could say anything more. He watched in dismay and astonishment the speed at which Face managed to slip a pair of gym shorts over his nakedness just before taking off into the rest of the house. Murdock's head hung and he shook it with a resigned sigh. "Will Face never learn?"

"Who's that?" Sam asked Karina as Face slid ungracefully into the tiled foyer, making an even less graceful stop against the wall. Her eyes, though, were more focused on the tall, lean, curvy brunette who stood just in front of the door, her chestnut hair - same shade as Sam's own, in fact - pulled back into a tight ponytail and her face pinched tightly.

"James called her El Diablo," Karina replied with a frown. "Her real name, as I've recently learned myself, is Charissa Sosa."

"Let me guess. She and Face used to date."

"Yeah, but apparently this was the first and only one Face has ever been serious about. James said he'd even bought an engagement ring, but as soon as she got promoted, she dumped him and took off. Didn't seem to regret it either. Definitely didn't take Face's feelings into consideration."

Sam frowned, her heart swelling with both empathy and jealousy. "That's terrible. Can I go over and hit her?"

Karina snorted in amusement. "I would pay anything to see that. Unfortunately, it would kind of blow your cover. What's more, this Sosa chick is an Army woman."

"Meaning I'd have my ass handed to me before I even laid a hand on her."

"Precisely." Sam bit down hard on her bottom lip as she watched the tense scene unfold before her.

"Charissa, what a surprise!" Face panted, mentally flinching at the pain in his side from having collided with the sharp edge of the wall. "What brings you here?"

"I'm tracking someone," she replied sternly, eyes hard, shielding any emotions she might be feeling. "I was hoping the A-Team might help me locate her." "

Her?" Face scrubbed at the back of his neck nervously. After everything this woman had put him through, he still got the jitters when she was nearby. He hated that. He hated her. And yet his body didn't seem to recall that bit, his cock hardening in his shorts just from the familiar scent of her perfume alone.

"Yes. A wanted fugitive who goes by the name Calleigh Swardson."

Face snorted in laughter. "The hell kind of name is that? I would definitely remember if I had come across a woman by the name of Calleigh. What's she wanted for?"

"Mostly embezzlement, but we have it on good authority that she may have also had an ex-partner of hers gunned down."

Licking suddenly dry lips, Face leaned against the wall, making sure to put his impressive torso on wide display. When Charissa's eyes automatically drifted down the length of his entire body, his chest puffed out in pride and he grinned knowingly. "Why don't we talk more about this over dinner?" he asked, ignoring the few groans he heard behind him. The logical part of his brain was rebelling against that idea as well. What the hell was he doing?! Did he want to feel his heart being ripped from his chest all over again? Had he not gotten enough the first time? Or the second?

Charissa sighed. "Face..."

"Not for anything like that!" Face hastily added even as a nervous laugh bubbled out of him. "Just might be easier to get facts about the case over dinner."

"If that's the case," Murdock piped up, "then you surely won't mind Hannibal tagging along."

Face turned to glare at his best friend, but Murdock didn't cower. "Yes," Face muttered through gritted teeth. "I think that's a great idea."

"Fine," Charissa reluctantly agreed, voice terse. "Then I will meet you and Hannibal tonight to discuss possibilities of hiring you. Good day, Face."

"Good..." The door was already shutting before Face could finish replying. "...day." He leaned against the door, right hand tracing down the wood in longing.

Dread pooled in Sam's gut and she felt as though she had just swallowed an entire gallon of concrete. "It doesn't sound like he's over her at all," she muttered to Karina, who was also frowning.

"He is," Karina insisted. "But the shock of seeing her...well, sometimes with certain exes, that same butterfly feeling comes up inside of us even though we've already moved on. It doesn't usually mean anything." Smiling encouragingly, she reached out and gave Sam's hand a squeeze. "Even if he was still having residual feelings for that she-devil, it's more than clear that those feelings are not returned."

"How could they not be?!" Sam exploded. "Face is a wonderful man. There isn't any part of him that I would change, even his grossness."

Karina laughed. "His grossness?"

"Yeah. Luckily for you, you weren't here the day he and Murdock had a farting contest. I could not re-enter the house for nearly three hours."

Karina's smile only widened. "And even witnessing that extremely unattractive activity, you still want him?"

Sam's cheeks warmed and she put her hands up in an attempt to hide it. "I guess I do."

"Well, his attractive looks can overlook pretty much any other nasty bodily function that..."

"It's not just his looks," Sam interrupted. "Although he is very yummy. He's so easy to talk to. And, whether he knows it or not, he really gets me. He's like me in some ways. He's lonely, proud, strong, stubborn..."

"Pigheaded," Karina corrected.

Sam chuckled fondly. "Yes. He's definitely pigheaded."

"Oh, girl, you are definitely in love."

"Oh god." Sam groaned and slammed her head against the table just as Face walked into the dining room and sat down across from her.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked as he uncapped the lid from a bottle of orange juice and then started gulping it down.

Sam lifted her head, relieved that Face had only just walked in at that moment and not five seconds before. "Guess I had too much to drink last night," she replied.

"Yeah. Me too."

Murdock bounded into the room and glared at Face. "What were you thinkin', Facey? You ain't thinkin' of gettin' back together with her, are you?"

Sighing, Face ran his hand down his face. "Of course not, HM. I don't know what the hell happened out there. It felt like I was a teenager all over again." His facial features darkened for half a second before resuming a neutral expression. "You know, minus the orphanages and...other things."

Sam's brows drew together in curiosity. Other things? What other things was he referring to? She knew of his being an orphan as it had been discussed at some length one night when they were both three sheets to the wind and swinging beneath the stars, but whatever he was talking about was evidently not something he was comfortable sharing with anyone. Not her, at least.

"Go in my place, Murdock," Face begged. "You won't succumb to any tricks she might pull. Please go."

Murdock's nose wrinkled in distaste. "Spend an evening with El Diablo? I don't know, Facey."

"Murdock, it's either spend one evening with her or risk me falling back into bad old habits and spending months of evenings with her."

That lit a spark under Murdock's feet. "Fine. I'll go. But you owe me one."

"Whatever you want, buddy, it's yours."