Chapter 11

"You better get lost before he comes back or I can't guarantee you won't wear a black eye for your promotion."

"As if I would care." Face muttered while picking himself up.

"What was that lieutenant?"

"Nothing. I'll be in town."

"I'll get you a day pass."

"Not necessary, got one already."

"How?"

" 'Arrange everything that's needed', don't you remember your own command?"

There was something bitter in Face's voice that irritated Hannibal but he couldn't place it.

Face would have wanted to shower before leaving but that wasn't such a hot idea now. Instead he dressed and left to get some coffee before BA got to the same idea. His pass and transportation wouldn't be ready until six and he had to kill some time.

At least he got his coffee and was able to collect some of the money he had arranged for the day prior before he left to town. He booked four rooms at a beautiful hotel at the beach, each one with a view of the ocean, for three nights. The hotel was close to the restaurant he had chosen for the party, just 5 minutes walk, about 30 minutes away from the base if one used a jeep and didn't meet any traffic. They wouldn't need too long to get there after the promotion but it was far enough to try and forget the war for a few hours. He also checked out the restaurant and made sure all his arrangements had come through and much to his dismay found out that some of the items on BA's list were missing. Face used his contacts and roamed town and by 1:30 had everything set to perfection. Now he was left with two and a half hours to get back to base, collect the rest of the money and get ready, piece of cake as Hannibal would say.

Said Hannibal rather looked annoyed when he spotted his Lieutenant slowly drudging towards the rest of the team at almost exactly 3:45.

"Where the hell have you been? You're late Lieutenant."

Face looked up at the tone of voice and for the first time saw his complete team standing outside their tent. All polished and fully dressed.

Face was irritated, tired, sweaty and in pain and really not in the mood for any nonsense. "I was just fulfilling your orders colonel, and for the record, I'm not late, got 15 minutes left if my watch is correct."

Hannibal stepped forward at the brisk tone but Murdock put a hand on his shoulder before he could say anything. Unfortunately he wasn't fast enough to stop BA too.

"How you going to shower and dress in less than 15 minutes, you always spend ages to get ready. Where's your clothes anyway?"

"Leave me the hell alone already. I did all you want, got all the things you asked for, what do you want again now?"

"What I want? You better watch your mouth Pretty Boy. You been grating at my nerves ever since…"

"BA, I'm sure Face would be getting ready faster if you stopped arguing."

"Shut up fool, I ain't done."

"Not now BA. Get ready Lieutenant, and move it." Hannibal delivered his words with a tone of voice and a look in Face's direction that clearly said 'this will be talked about later'.

Face stepped around BA and into the tent, closing the flap behind him and dropping on the bunk. He was so tired. All he wanted was to sleep through the next two days and never hear a word of this promotion again. His knee throbbed along with his head and he was just feeling miserable.

"You going to get into them showers some time today or I got to throw the water at you?" BA shouted from outside after what seemed like seconds and had probably been some minutes.

"Oh, get off of me already. I did bathe last night, just what do you want from me?" Face pushed himself up and begun to dress up. He would have loved to take a shower minutes ago but knew the time was too short. Right now he didn't care whether he smelled or itched, all he wanted was to get this over with.

"You kidding me? You won't go to no promotion all sweaty."

"BA, leave it." Hannibal really didn't want his two promotion candidates to go some rounds before the big event.

"There's no way to prevent that. Even if I bathed now, which I won't, I would be sweaty again by the time we reached the office." The comment had made Ray chuckle, BA grumble and Hannibal and Murdock grin, but the situation changed as the flap of the tent moved again and Face stepped out.

"I thought I told you to get ready Lieutenant."

"I know."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Move it and get ready." Hannibal was getting more and more irritated, and what irritated him most at the moment was that Face too looked truly irritated.

"I am."

"What do you mean you are?"

"I'm combed, I'm dressed, I put on deodorant, what do you want from me?"

"Where's your new uniform and shoes?"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"What's wrong with the old one?"

Hannibal didn't know what to say again, he was speechless which didn't happen often and made Ray smirk. "You meaning to tell us that you, the one wearing silk shirts for dates, didn't get anything new for yourself but got us all dressed up?"

"None of my things needed replacement. My uniform has no holes, no spots, the buttons are polished and the shoes too, where's the problem?"

"Oh man, let's go, we're running out of time here." Hannibal really didn't know what to do again.

They all turned to walk towards the camp commander's office leaving Face to limp behind them. There were three scheduled promotions today. The other guy and his commander were already there when the team arrived right on time.

"Gentlemen, I thought we would have to wait for you. Let's get started. We have three promotions today. Let me start with the one that arrived first. Corporal Barnes," that one was easy to guess. There was only one Corporal in the room and he was grinning from ear to ear. The guy quickly schooled his features, took a step forward and stood at attention.

"Sergeant Baracus," That one too was simple. There were very few people on the bases of Vietnam that the A-Team had frequented before that didn't know of BA Baracus and the Camp Commander wasn't one of them. Besides he was the only Sergeant among the group. BA too straightened up even more and took a step forward.

"and Lieutenant Peck." At first the camp commander thought this would be more tricky since there were two Lieutenants around and his eyes were not good enough to make out the names on the uniforms from the distance, but then he took a closer look and everything was clear. One of the Lieutenants was all polished out while the other one looked tired and worn out. At first he had wanted to call the Colonel on bringing this man to the ceremony but then decided to let it rest. He probably got tired serving his country and that was more important than to polish up for a colleagues promotion. He looked right at Ray when he spoke the name and was surprised he didn't move. Instead there was movement from the other end of the line. The Captain shoved the other Lieutenant forward who in turn glared at the Captain before turning back to the camp commander. He made no move to stand at attention though. The camp commander put on his spectacles now to check the guy in front of him. The name read Peck alright. He contemplated calling him on insubordination but thought again. He had not called anyone at attention, there was no rule to not look tired at ones promotion and his uniform, while worn, was clean and spotless, the buttons were polished as were the shoes. He just stood out because all the others were dressed in new clothes, which was hardly the guy's fault. He still looked at Peck when he called the group to attention and sure enough the soldier took in the required stand so he went on with the ceremony.

Face didn't even listen. Murdock shoving him had come unexpected and he had put his weight on his bad knee resulting in even more pain when he had to stand at attention now. The camp commander was going through the ceremony complete with the part where he points out that they are rewarded for their good deeds and therefore their name will now be connected to their new rank to show everybody how dutifully Mr. so and so had served for his country and bla bla so on. Face listened in only enough to know when he was supposed to do something and zoned out the rest. He watched the corporal and envied the guy. Only his commander had come with him and he wasn't all polished out like his team. He would probably go back on duty, maybe have a few drinks and that was it. Instead he was here with his entire team and would have to suffer through BA's party instead of getting some rest. Anyway, the team was not here because of him, they were here because of BA. He decided to just do the same, be here for BA and forget about the rest, as soon as the camp commander was done with him that is.