Alright boys and girls, we've managed to make it about halfway through this adventure! Now that is something to celebrate. Thanks for coming on the ride with us. All of your comments and reviews are greatly appreciated. And as always, everyone is welcome to join us in an aim chatroom to discuss the weather and other boring things... or referee while we fight over plot details. Whichever you'd like. You can send us a PM if you need more info or are having any problems.

Happy reading -

Monkeeshines

Chapter Eleven

Bright, clear, sunlight filtered through the tropical print curtains and got stuck in the haze of smoke that was leftover from the night before.

Smoke - something every pilot feared.

It had Murdock bolt up right - panic and logic crashing into each other and fighting for the upper hand. Fuck. Smoke - danger - but the soft naked woman beside him countered that? Heart trying to run its way out of his chest, Murdock was reaching for weapons he didn't have. He was a blink away from fighting his way out of dodge when he saw Face. Sound asleep, with a naked brunette wrapped around him, her dark hair fanned out around Face like a blanket.

Hawaii.

Leave, rest, relaxation, fun.

Fuck, he'd forgot. Sagging back against the couch, Murdock took deep, calming breaths, making himself feel where he was at. He concentrated on the fabric itching along his back, the silky, warm, soft, feminine body under his hand, the smell of tropical flowers and the cloying scent of stale pot smoke and sex.

It was the last two that had him silently slipping away from June. There wasn't really a need to be quiet. She was all but passed out from whatever they had been smoking and several rounds of sweat inducing, name screaming, oh my God yes sex. It should have had Murdock just as boneless and relaxed. It didn't. Pulling on his boxers, Murdock grabbed his smokes and a bottle of gin and slipped out onto the patio. Or was it a lania? Face would know the difference. Right now Murdock didn't care. Right now all Murdock wanted was fresh air and ocean breezes.

Things that didn't have one Goddamned thing to do with Vietnam or Texas.

It wasn't long before Face joined Murdock on the balcony, he had always been a light sleeper. And this morning was no different, Face was a mess, hair strewn everywhere, bite marks and soft red streaks from the girls' nails. Murdock couldn't say much, he looked just as bad if not worse. Reaching over to the pack of smokes on the railing, Face didn't say anything, it wasn't time for words yet. He pulled a cigarette out and lit it up, finally leaning back against the railing. It was good to see him relaxed.

Murdock took a drag of his own smoke and looked at Face, letting the silence do the talking. It was better that way. Things with them were clearer when the nothing did the talking. Like now, one look let Face know Murdock was here and together and last night's slip up was an unexpected aberration And damn yes, Murdock was glad as hell that Face was there to keep the monsters from winning this time.

One look from Face let Murdock know that Face got it and it was all good. Nothing more than a favor Murdock would repay one day. And there was no doubting that.

Knowing that part of the talk was done, Murdock took a swig from the bottle and was once again reminded of how close gin was to tasting like floor cleaner. Oh well, he'd had worse. Taking his time with his bottle and smoke, Murdock found himself looking up at the incredible blue Hawaiian sky and wondering what the seagulls thought when the air currents off the ocean sent them higher and faster, almost out of sight of land and people.

Murdock, for once didn't have to run off with the conversation. Face would start when he was ready. Until then Murdock was fine with doing barrel rolls and death dives with the seagulls.

"I miss the beaches." If Murdock hadn't been listening, he would have missed it getting lost to the breeze.

"You're in the right place to make up for some lost sand time." Murdock grew up in Northwest Texas, beaches were new territory for him to explore. If they made Face relax then why the hell not. Murdock was in, and hey and maybe it could be like an offering for Face. "You wanna get the girls and go explore?"

"Yeah." Face threw a glance back towards the room where the two naked women were still laying. It had been a fun night. "I heard there was a pier that goes pretty far out into the ocean not too far from here."

"Sounds good." Murdock took another swig and lit another smoke. "Hey Face, how come you didn't offer me a toke last night?"

When Murdock had finished splashing his face with cold water and staring at himself in the bathroom mirror last night, he'd come out to a scene that was all too familiar. Except this time he didn't have to turn anyone down, and the women who had joined them were there because they wanted to be.

Still leaning his weight on the railing, Face watched him with a sideways glance. "You knew where to get it if you wanted it." Shrugging Face just smiled at him with a lazy grin. "Besides, you can't fly if you're high."

"My sister used to smoke it all the time. Don't think I can remember a time when Lanie didn't smell like pot. I kinda think it helped her forget Mom was long dead and the man she'd left us with was all fist, kicks, and wrong looks."

Overhead the bird he'd been watching stalled out, dropping altitude and tumbling over and over in a free fall and then righted himself and soared up towards the clouds. Damn that looked like fun. Wonder if you could do that in a chopper? "When she took off I went with her. Kinda figured anywhere we went to was better than where we came from, you know?" Cocking his head away from the sky Murdock looked at Face.

Face nodded. Not offering any of his own commentary, but Murdock could see his eyes drifting back. It was a statement that hit close to home for him.

"Thing was, she wasn't runnin' to anything, she was runnin' away from shit we couldn't control. Ended up in alleys and flophouses doing whatever, just so she could get high and not feel anymore. Till she was all gone and it was just drugs and pain left,"

"Away is full of possibilities, Murdock." He didn't hide the wonder and allure Away seemed to hold. Turning back towards the ocean, smoke being forced from his nostrils, Face was lost to his own wandering thoughts. Murdock just watched as Face's eyes slipped closed and he took a deep breath. Face and Lanie, they were the same that way. Always wanting to feel good and always running to where the real couldn't touch them anymore. Lanie had let it destroy her though. And Murdock had been too young to stop it that time around. And this time? He didn't know. Hell half the time he didn't know why he told Face things. Other than Face understood and sometimes he needed to hear it. Maybe he could listen and not learn the hard way this time.

Murdock nodded and dropped his cigarette butt to the ground, already lighting another one. It was nice and automatic, nothing he needed to think about. "I wanna forget things, Face. I wanna be safe and numb to it. But it can't be like that. It's got to be real. We've gotta be real. One hit, Face, one night without dreams and we ain't coming back. And if we ain't around, what keeps people safe from me and everything I have hiding inside?" Once again he was looking, really fucking looking at Face - into the perfect liars eyes and to the kid who was so hurt and scared he spent all his time trying to feel good and be on top so he didn't have to see or deal.

Last night, Murdock could have hurt someone just like that. He could have stayed lost and trapped and fighting monsters that he'd already slit open and gutted. The thought of how close he'd come and what could have happened if Face hadn't been there, or had been too high? No shit had to be said. "Can't let the guard down, Face. There's too much to lose." It wasn't just Murdock's life or Face's life anymore, and they both knew it. If one of them went down, the other was going too.

"I know. Sometimes I just want a time out. Forget it all and just feel good and relaxed for once."

That was all Lanie wanted too. All it got her was used and old and sadder. He couldn't let it happen again, but damned if Murdock knew how to stop it. There had to be something though. He couldn't just give up, not on Face.

"Yeah. Maybe some time with them." Murdock nodded to the two beautiful girls in the little apartment. "At the beach, listen to the waves. Or maybe some con game. Hell Face, anything you want, anything you need to get a little quiet that ain't the end game of pills, needles, or smoking, we will get. No regrets."

"No regrets, Murdock." Face was looking at him now, the way he did when he was serious, and more importantly, when he wasn't bullshitting him. "I'm good. I'm not gonna turn into some used up junkie. It's R and R. I'll get back to the straight and narrow when the pajama party starts shooting at us again."

The door opened and there was June standing in the sunlight, wearing nothing but Murdock's shirt. The talk was over, it was time to start living and find some other way to turn off the pain and amp up the fun. Find the place where Face and he could just be real and be able to handle it. There had to be a way. Murdock was older and wiser now and Face was every bit of a brother as Lanie was his sister. Maybe more so. Face had walked through the shadow of the valley of death with Murdock and he'd made sure they both found their way out. It was something you didn't just forget. It was too important.

It was time to start having that fun again. Sliding over to June and dropping his arm over her shoulders, Murdock took the reigns. "Hey Darlin'. Face here says there's a pier close by that got all kinds of ocean magic. Can't wait to see it with you and Alana. Maybe hear some Dolphin song and see some birds, or even vice versa." June looked up at him and smiled, blinking, clearly still half asleep and working to catch up. Best way for that? Murdock kissed her, not with hot passion, but a 'Hello, Time to Have Fun' kiss. A little loose and reckless. Kind of setting the pace. "But first I gotta ask Face something." Tipping the bottle in his hand, Murdock grinned at Face, letting the wild need for fun to peak out at the edges. "Is this a patio or a laini?"

XXXXX

"You know, BA, I'm surprised. Almost two weeks and no one has wound up in a holding cell." Hannibal almost didn't know what to do with himself. Wrapped in a thick terry cloth robe, he was lounging on the chaise. The glass French door of the hotel open and a nice sea breeze blowing through the room. Just enough to keep everything fresh.

"You ain't surprised man, you got both me and Ray's money off that."

Hannibal just smiled at BA. That earned him a growl.

"How you know they was gonna keep their stupid contained?"

The door to the bedroom opened just then. Cruiser and the woman he'd come back with last night headed towards the front door. The fun of their night was over. The boredom was written all over Cruiser's face. He was ready to be done with her. "There's plenty of distractions to keep them out of trouble."

"It's the distractions that get 'em in trouble."

Cruiser opened the door for the woman, a disinterested kiss goodbye and he was shutting the door before she had a chance to even figure out which way the elevator was. It was a good thing Cruiser could take a punch and it was amazing that he didn't get hit more often. But his sergeant's lack of social graces was not something Hannibal needed to worry himself about.

"Well, there's trouble and then there's trouble."

BA shook his head. "They ain't right man."

That Hannibal wouldn't argue with. They weren't right. And none of them would be while a Viet Cong bullet lurked around every corner with their name on it. What was a lecture or a jail cell when Death was knocking on your doorstep as it was?

"It take two of 'em to make one person."

"They just a need a few less things to crash against." War was a great equalizer. It didn't care about who you were or what your story was. It took whatever weakness you had and it broke you with it. Murdock was already broken. He was compensating right now with Face. Face though? Face still had a chance to make it out. But that chance was dwindling and the show at the airport had made that perfectly clear.

"Something happen to one of 'em and you gonna lose the other." It was the lack of anger or growling in BA's voice that got Hannibal's attention.

"No BA, Face needs to grow up and Murdock needs to realize Face isn't the only answer." It was almost as simple as it sounded. Hannibal had watched those two go from hating each other to stuck at the hip. At least when they hated each other it was only the team that got dragged into their bullshit. Now it was whoever happened to wind up on the wrong side of too much energy.

Beer fresh out of the fridge, Cruiser dropped onto the couch. "Nah," Cruiser said flipping the top off the bottle, "Murdock's gonna lose his shit no matter what. Just a matter of time."

That got a growl from BA to which Cruiser just raised his brow. A silent challenge for some facts to point out he was wrong.

"Face keep him grounded and he keep Face from goin' too far." BA's arms were folded tight, but Hannibal noted, BA wasn't denying anything Cruiser said.

It was interesting that BA thought Murdock kept Face from escalating and going too far. Hannibal had seen too many times how that wasn't the case. Murdock would interfere and they both wound up in an escalated situation. It was just one that Face couldn't claim or deny on his own.

"How long you think that's gonna last, BA?" Cruiser asked as he kicked back. "Murdock was batshit crazy the day I met him and he still is. Face is just a distraction for the crazy."

"Face an anchor for Murdock and Murdock keep Face too busy to try big scheme, fool jive like before. They like two gears, as long as they workin' together it's alright."

Cruiser didn't argue it. Letting the conversation go with a shrug. He had never been one to argue a well known point. BA was right though. Face and Murdock were more co dependent than a set of Siamese twins. "Those days are numbered, BA."

"All of our days numbered."

"True," Hannibal agreed, "but Face is short and the last thing I want is for him to wind up back in jail inside of two weeks back in the World."

"If he ain't got Murdock or us, he gonna end up dead."

Hannibal didn't say anything to that, letting it echo in the room. It may be true, but Face had never wanted to be in Vietnam in the first place. His time with Hannibal's team had been extended beyond the first mission only because Hannibal had seen his potential. Mifflin had pushed for a dishonorable discharge and Hannibal had fought to at least give the kid a chance to prove himself. After what Ivan - that Russian fuck - had put him through, Face deserved at least that.

It wasn't Hannibal's place to talk him into going indefinite into a death sentence. No one would ask a friend to do that.

XXXXX

Face let himself lay there on the sandy beach. They'd found that pier and it was just as gorgeous as he'd heard. They'd ended up there every day. Old growth lumber that had been beaten by years of storms and Hawaiian surf, faded by the sun until parts were almost white, others colored green by algae and seaweed. It held it's own beauty that was far away from the refined upper class Edridge Knots, champagne, and Rolex watches he'd only managed to view from the outside. But that was America for you - land of the free, home of the poor, run by rich, and balance maintained by the powerful.

Face let out a deep breath that echoed the crashing of the waves not a hundred feet away. No matter where he turned, there he was. Right back to where he didn't want to be. He pushed himself up, careful not to disturb Alana as he reached over the curves of her warm body, chest slowly rising and falling with her deep, slumbering breaths, and grabbed his boxers. What little time they had left here, Face wanted to enjoy. Not dwell on the past, a nonexistent future, and everything in between that wouldn't leave him alone.

Fingers slipping inside of Alana's open purse, he pulled out her cigarette case, grabbing a joint before snapping it closed and putting it back. Face glanced around, making sure Murdock was there before lighting the blunt. Murdock wouldn't breath a word about it to Hannibal, but in truth, if Face were really honest, a small part of him felt guilty about putting Murdock in that spot. They could just add it to the list of things Hannibal didn't need to ever know about.

Postcard images of crimson blood mixing with mud and slicking pale skin and Face was inhaling as deep and as fast as he could. Keeping the unwanted memories at the bay of a haze. Face sat back, away from the rest of the group looking out at the waves and letting himself sink into that drug induced sedate. Not being able to relax was fine when everyone in your corner of the world was trying to kill you. Now though? It was downright fucked that he couldn't leave Vietnam in Vietnam the moment his feet had left foreign soil. He only had a short time left here and he was damn well going to enjoy it.

Out in the water, Face finally spotted Murdock, dancing with the waves until he was finally deep enough to swim out towards some rocks the water had been lapping at. Up and out of the water and back in in screwball dives that had Face wincing at the idea of unseen rocks. Murdock may be an ocean virgin, but he wasn't dumb. He just seemed to swim like he flew; right on sanitie's edge. Snuffing the last of the join out in the sand, Face headed out to join Murdock. The water was just was just as warm as he remembered the California surf to be, maybe warmer and definitely bluer. Swimming out, it took him longer than it should have to reach the rocks, but he was out of practice. Pulling himself up, water draining off of him and pooling in the rock crevices, Face found a perch, and took a seat.

It wasn't long before Murdock was pulling himself out of the water and flopping down next to Face. "Gotta hand it to you Face, you were right about the Ocean." From the grin to the long legs pulled up and tan arms dropped over the his knees, everything about Murdock projected an area of laid back calm. It was bullshit.

"Nothing beats it." Face didn't fight with the silence that settled in around them. Letting his mind wander to the sandy beaches of his childhood. "I used to spend all day on the water. Nothing gets women like a surfboard."

"Who you kidding? You don't need any help getting women." Murdock's grin widened, but like Face his eyes were on the water.

Chuckling at that deep in the back of his throat, Face shook his head. "Wrong clothes, wrong hair, wrong everything… the board didn't hurt."

"Is that why you really went to the beach? The women? Or was that just an added bonus?"

"They were a bonus. I would sneak out before mass and get to the beach before anyone else was really out there." Looking out over the horizon line, Face let his mind wander, feeling the California sand between his toes and sun on his skin. It had been an escape. Probably the first time he'd given a girl a fake name and made up a life better than his. It had him smiling. "I did not say no to the women though."

"You were raised by nuns? That explains.." He hesitated. Face saw the flicker, of pain and sadness, new and old, just for a second before Murdock ducked his head and looked back out at the water again. "That explains why you're so good at cards, you got an in with God. And here I was thinking you were cheatin' and all..."

"If you could explain that the next time I get unjustly accused of cheating that would be great."

"Sure thing Face." Everything was just half a frame off. Murdock was better at covering then people thought, but Face knew.

"What?" Face couldn't help it. Murdock was off, covering something and Face wanted to know what.

"I've always got your six." That was one hundred percent true, Face didn't need to read the tells to know that.

"I know. So what's up?"

"This is a first for me. Never been in the ocean before. Did all my swimming in creeks and pools." Murdock, as usual, was looking up at the sky. "Gotta say, the ocean has 'em all beat."

"It has a way of doing that." Face had always been able to lose himself to the vastness of the ocean. The horizon line that held endless possibilities. There, looking out at the nothing was always the key to everything.

"Sounds like somethin' nice to go back to."

An unbelieving laugh that the pot let out escaped him. Face hadn't been on that California beach in years. "Nah, there's nothing there for me." And if he really thought about, he knew there never had been. Lies and stupid teenage games. All of which had wound up sending him with a one way ticket to Vietnam.

"Yeah I get that." Murdock sigh was almost lost under the sound of the surf. "I ain't coming back. There's nothing here for me." He was matter of fact in that way he was so good at. No one ever expected the direct truth, not really.

"Just 'cause you get discharged doesn't mean you have to go back to the states."

"There ain't many places for mostly crazy pilots and combat trained con men." Murdock's grin was still there, but he got that look in his eyes. "I figure the world's a safer place if I just stay where I am." He turned his head away, and looked at Face. "Besides, for once, I got a home. Sure, it's a hot, muddy, snake infested, slice of hell where these tiny little bastards with guns keep trying to kill you. But other than that, it's real nice."

"That's not anyone's home." Face shook his head, the jungle, gunfire, misery, and sheer human waste wasn't a place for anyone. "I don't know where else to go though, you know?" He could barely hear his own words over the surf crashing against the rocks. His eyes slid closed, he'd picked up the paperwork for indefinite status a couple weeks ago. His numbers were getting short but commitment one way or the other had escaped him so far.

"The team's there, Face. Not much else matters anymore, you know?"

"Yeah." He let those those words resonate around them, hitting the core of what magnified his complete loss back in the World. Without the team there was no him. And in that regard the World was more empty than Vietnam. He'd known for a long time that things had been different since he'd met Hannibal. They'd finally started to make sense, the chaos he'd been living, calming. But signing those papers... it opened things up somehow. The commitment was coming from him and for some reason, that made a chill run down his spine. "I know it, Murdock."

"I joined up thinking I would learn to fly everything and after I got my time in I'd become an experimental pilot. Be in charge of millions of dollars of R and D, scream off, breaking records. Further, faster, higher. Taming the sky. Being in charge of the air." The laugh didn't reach his eyes. His gaze went back to the shore and the two women sleeping there, arms thrown over each other. "Now I don't even trust myself alone in a room with a woman, let alone breaking speed records." The muscles in his cheek twitched. A tell Face had picked up on a long time ago. Murdock's next words would be a lie or half truth.

"You should get out Face, pack it in, ditch the military and move to here, or Fiji, or anyplace with a steady supply of beaches and women. There's a lot of living you could do with that."

"I don't know where I'm going, Murdock. I joined up to stay out of jail." He shook his head at how well that had worked. "But what to do… I've never had a real goal except to get out of where I was. That's probably not the best."

"Runnin' with no destination don't work for any of us." Murdock shrugged. "There's not much of a future, not for us. It's just today, and even that's iffy."

"Oh it's all fucked, Murdock." Face let out a deep sigh, head falling backwards as he looked up at a sky so blue that it hurt his bloodshot eyes. "It's just the type of fucked you wanna be. Come on, let's get outta here."

Murdock's hand grabbed his arm, keeping him from getting to his feet. "Stay."

"What? Why?" Was there something Murdock wanted to do? Aside from some diving off this berg there wasn't much else going on here.

"With the team, Face. Stay."

Face sat back down, looking at Murdock, reading those deep brown eyes even through the haze in his head, it was clear that Murdock was asking for a life line. What that meant though… Their friendship had been born of blood and death and in this moment was a lifeline that ensured their peril. It was an invitation to go down in flames for the only thing that had ever meant anything in his short life. "I have the paperwork."

"I know, it ain't right to ask. But coming back to the states is just more headin' to nowhere. Only place we belong is with the team."

"You're not asking. This whole thing..." He jerked his chin towards the shoreline with the girls. "It's all a facade, an escape from Vietnam sure, but going back to the states, it's not this. Never has been."

"What is?"

"These past couple weeks - if I was back in the states, discharged all of it, it wouldn't be anything like this. I think back to how it was and it was all … I don't know." Complicated thoughts that were just beyond his reach as he tried to put them together. "But it wasn't what this whole thing pretends to be."

"What was it?"

"Stupid and …. desperate. This whole thing is not a care in the world. Feel good have fun and feel good doing it. And it's all a bunch of bullshit. I get back to the states and then what? I've got nowhere to go and no one who gives a damn. So its get a job and pay some bills…" Even the thought of that alone left a sour taste in his mouth.

"Stay. You belong with the team."

"Yeah." Face looked back at Murdock, letting him see the truth that was there, that Face knew it. "I know." There was no denying any of it- the life he'd had, what he was looking at going back, even the fact that when he had hopped a chopper ride out of Vietnam before he'd met Hannibal it had never been to the states. "I'll talk to Hannibal. Get the paperwork lined up."

Murdock looked at him, another one of those looks that went further and deeper than Face looked, and then he nodded. "No regrets?"

"No regrets."

XXXXX

Duffel bag thrown over his shoulder, Ray joined the rest of his team in the airport terminal. It was a feeling of sombre that rested over him. He'd spent their two weeks of R and R living a normal life. With his wife talking about all the things that they would do when he got back. The house they wanted to buy - not white, it was too impractical a color - but offset and in the country where they could work the land and raise their kids. They wanted five kids but Trish was worried that she'd have problems conceiving. She'd been a miracle child for her mother to have and those problems were genetic after all.

Ray could take a job at the local mill. It wasn't what he wanted, but it would be enough to support them until he could get their farm working. It was something to work towards. A future filled with smiles and love and tranquility.

It was a future that had flown back to Barlow Creek three hours ago.

His future may be with his wife and unborn children, but his right now was with the five men in front of him. This time they were all in their uniforms. Even Face and Cruiser.

Cruiser looked hung over, mostly because knowing him, he was. What was interesting was his lack of cuts and bruises. Usually time off for the medic ended with him practicing first aid on himself. For some reason Cruiser was under the impression he was seven feet tall and a one man army - just add tequila and watch grow. An army of one that loved to fight and against greater odds at that.

"Hey Cruiser, congratulations on a knock out free R and R."

Cruiser raised a brow in return, leaning back in his chair and letting his head rest against the wall. He looked like shit. Murdock, on the other hand, was grinning like usual. Both Murdock and Face looked like they had spent two weeks drinking, having sex and repeating until they were unconscious. They also looked like maybe, just maybe they had actually managed to sleep. Ray had no doubt about the former, and he hopped like hell the latter was true.

Murdock bounded over to Hannibal and dropped a hand on his shoulder. "Why Hannibal, our babies are growing up."

"I can end that knockout free streak anytime, Flyboy." Cruiser growled. But he didn't make a move to get up and his eyes were half closed. Maybe Face and Murdock had gotten some sleep and Cruiser hadn't.

"Junior is cranky. He gets that from your side of the family." Cruiser must have been exhausted, he knew better than to try and stop Murdock. You couldn't. Hell, even half beat to death Murdock would keep at something - just like a dog with a bone, Murdock never gave up. He either got bored or by some miracle you managed to redirect him.

Face let his bag fall to the floor, plopping on the chair and pulling the cherry down his cigarette. It was the first time in a long time - maybe ever that Face didn't look like he was running game, or planning to run game, or setting his sights on some unsuspecting woman.

Hannibal smiled at Murdock, hand clapping the pilot's back. "He's got all my best traits."

"And my worst. Poor child." Murdock would have kept at it, but BA chose that moment to stalk up and drop his duffel. Ignoring all logic and reason, Murdock launched himself at BA, making a jump, he wrapped both his arms and legs a round a growling, stunned BA. "Hiya big guy!" Murdock was grinning at BA like a skinny white guy hugging a large black man, in public was normal, everyday, ho hum. "Did ya miss me? Did you get me anything? Huh? Huh? Did ya?"

"Get off me sucker Or you'll get my knuckles upside your fool head!" It took him a moment but BA managed to get his oversized paws between him and Murdock and tried to shove the lanky pilot off of him.

Ray just smiled at the whole thing. "Hey, Cruiser you got some Valium you can give Murdock, calm him down a bit?"

"The whole US Army doesn't have enough benzos to calm his crazy down."

Murdock cocked his head towards Hannibal and pouted. "Bad news Hannibal, I think little BA here is hitting his rebellious phase. I blame rock and roll, it's the devil's music."

"I'm gonna rock and roll your head off your shoulders you don't get your fool self off me."

"Murdock," Face finally spoke up, "I think the man wants to be left alone."

"Why?" The way Murdock was looking at Face, so sincere and true with big wide brown eyes. Ray almost bought into it for a second, but no, this was Murdock. There was nothing he enjoyed more then setting people's world on its side. And judging by the open stares and frowns, he'd had some big fun here today.

"Alright guys, cool it." Hannibal cut in. He was smiling but there was only so much attention Hannibal would want to gain before they even made it onto the plane.

Ray looked down at his watch. Three minutes. They were slipping. There was no reason to inform them of that though. They had enough incentive as it was to up their game with pure young and dumb by itself.

"Yeah" Hopping off BA, Murdock agreed with Hannibal. That was suspicious. "We all wanna be on our best behavior for the special good bye treat."

All at one once, dubiously they all asked. "What surprise?"

"That one!" Almost dancing in place Murdock pointed to not one, but half a dozen women dressed in hula skirts and tops, swaying their way towards the team. Look at that, they even had a drummer to help them keep time. Grass skirts twitching and shaking even Ray had a hard time looking away as the girls surrounded them all. Dancing and telling a story without words.

He wasn't sure how long he had been watching when one of the women broke the ranks and dropped a lei of Kukui nuts around his neck, and then kiss his cheek. "This is for luck. Thank you and be safe." It was a calm and quiet voice. It was genuine and warm and suddenly Ray felt an urge to study his shoes while she repeated her good bye to each and everyone of them.

A few soft words from Murdock and the dancers were gone, retreating with the same sway and drumming that had announced their arrival. Ray had no idea how long he had been watching them, semi stunned when Murdock's oddly calm voice broke through the silence.

"I figured the least we should have was a decent goodbye."

Quiet looks that spoke of the heavy weight and responsibility that waited on the other side of the plane ride settled in on them. With a pat on Murdock's shoulder and a silent thanks, Ray made his way to the plane. It would be the last time he fly back in country and it would be with the best friends he would ever have.