Part X

December 31, 2001 - January 1, 2002

Mother Baracus was more than a little relieved when the team arrived at her apartment around lunchtime on the 31st. Hannibal had known that she hadn't been particularly happy that they had a mission, but then, she never was so Hannibal hadn't thought too much about it. At least not until they went inside her apartment and found her having coffee and conversation with four other women.

Murdock broke from the pack first and caught his long-time lady friend Bethany up in a hug that turned into a twirl. Annie Wilkins turned around and went to greet B.A. as Hannibal just frankly stared. Maggie Sullivan was about the last person he would have expected to see in Chicago. The only one not particularly surprised by who was there to greet him was Face. He and Karen had long since developed a comfortable relationship.

In the end, the team decided to greet the New Year in the city. Even last minute, Face showed his scamming skills as he managed to get them VIP tickets at the Grand Ballroom. Since there were ten tickets, they had Mother Baracus talk of friend of hers - another lifelong baseball fan - into going with them - though both B.A. and Murdock gave the man a thorough looking over.

There was live music including Cheap Trick and Poi Dog Pondering. Murdock and Bethany ended up wandering over to the lounge where there was dancing, but they made sure they were all together in the balcony for the countdown to midnight. After they had all toasted the first seconds of 2002, Hannibal motioned for their little group to come a bit closer so that they could hear each other over the noises of celebration all around them.

"Some say that how a year begins is a sign of how that year will go. If that's the case and this year finds us surrounded by our family, friends and loved ones, 2002 should be a damn fine year."

Face grinned and raised his glass again.

"I'll drink to that."

"Even I'll drink to that."

Everyone stopped at that, then joined the usually tee-totaling B.A. in raising their own glasses once more.

Once the celebration was over, they all made their way back home to their house outside of the city with the exception of Mother Baracus' friend. Billy J was half-crazy with delight as he literally leaped into his favorite human's arms. He gave the frantically squirming and licking dog a hug and called out a greeting to the other Billy as he finally convinced Billy J to get back on his own feet.

The house was a little chilly, but one thing Murdock had done was clean out the fireplace and lay logs for a new fire before they left, so he quickly had a cheery blaze going. Most of them were too wound up to even think about going to bed yet, so they gathered around the fire and talked for awhile. Mother Baracus was the first to head off to her room. After that, pairs slowly started making their own way to the various rooms until Hannibal and Maggie were left as the only ones still in front of the fire.

"Penny for your thoughts, John."

"I had my boys mortality shoved in my face, Maggie. I can't say that I like it."

"No-one would like that."

"It's more than that. It was the fact that I never realized that they were willing to put their necks on the line just because they think that the jazz is something I need to be happy. I could have lost all of them because of that."

"They love you, John. You've always known that. Maybe you just lost sight of how deep it goes."

"You, Doctor Sullivan, are a very wise woman. So - it looks like the fire is dying down. Care to come to my room and see my etchings?"

"That is a very old come-on line, Hannibal."

"I'm not exactly a spring chicken myself, Maggie."

Getting up, he extended his hand to help her to her feet.

"Possibly not, but I think there's still life in the old bird yet."

Pulling her on into a kiss, Hannibal followed that by giving her a smirk as they headed toward his room.

"I most certainly hope so."

Watching later through his window as the morning sun cleared the horizon, Hannibal drew in a satisfied breath. Yes. 2002 was already shaping up to be a very good year.

Notes on the ladies with the boys:

Bethany is one of my own OC's and made her first appearance in Magic and Mayhem.

Annie Wilkins is also an OC, who made her first appearance in See No Evil, Hear No Evil.

Dr, Maggie Sullivan is canon and appeared in two A-Team episodes - Season 1's Bad Day at Black Rock and Season 2's Deadly Manuevers.

Karen is canon and appeared in Season 4's Lease With an Option to Die.