PARTS PRO-3 ARE ARCHIVED AT ATEAMFANFIC.COM
Title: Deception 9/9
Author: Murdock's Crazylady
Rated: G for now
Summary: Alex tries to cope with nightmares, sneaks out of the house at 3am and trains on the hardest
course, alone, an unsuspected surprise comes from Hannibal archive: Yes, please! with one of
those comment card thingies
Disclaimer: I don't own the team. Not that I wouldn't mind having Dwight for a big brother though
Warnings: none right now, but maybe later on, a few swear words here and there
© 2000 Murdock's Crazylady
Author's notes: Expect a lot more from this, especially a twist, this is my first FanFic, so please don't be too
hard on me!
WATCH FOR THE SEQUEL: DECEPTION: FUTURE CROSSROADS
(Words in these are Alex's thoughts)
Deception
part 9
"No!" Alex yelled. She woke up with her breathing labored, her body covered in a cold sheet of sweat. She saw herself fighting, and then the man grabbing her...A needle going into her neck..the blackness...Then her waking up in a cage in so much pain... Her nightmare had scared her so bad, it caused her to wet her bed. The dream was so real..she reached around and felt the cuts on her back. She ran her fingers over them and pulled her hand away painfully, relieved to see they weren't bleeding.
Alex started to silently sob as she climbed out of bed and took her wet clothes off. She got her dry clothes out of her dresser, and as she put her grey sweat suit on, she looked tearfully over at her alarm clock. It was 3am, two hours before Hannibal would have her and Murdock up and on the course.
She knew she could get 2 good hours of training in before anyone was up, and she laced up her boots. She stood up and grabbed her orange vest from her closet, and then she quietly left the upstairs. Alex went right into a jog as son as she got out the back door. She jogged in place while she checked her watch and zippered her orange vest up. When she was done putting on her fingerless gloves, she set her watch for her latest goal time break and ran towards the course.
"Up and at em, captain." Hannibal said as he flipped Alex's light on. She had put her pillow under her comforter to make it look like she was still there. Hannibal saw no movement from the figure and figured Alex was being stubborn as he walked over to her bed.
"C'mon captain. Get up." Hannibal said swatting what he thought was Alex's behind. He still didn't see any movement and yanked the covers back. He saw the pillow fly with the comforter and then he saw the huge yellowed spot where Alex should have been. Hannibal put the blanket down and ran from Alex's room to Murdock's. Murdock was lacing up his boots when Hannibal came in.
"Murdock, Alex's gone. Have you seen her?" Hannibal asked. Murdock tied his last boot and looked worried up at Hannibal. "No, do ya think.." Murdock's first thoughts were of the bounty hunters. Hannibal shook his head no. "No, from the looks of her bed, she had a pretty bad nightmare." The Colonel said. Murdock suddenlt knew where she was and stood up. "Training. I knew that's where she is." Murdock replied and he and Hannibal ran through the house, and out the back door.
Alex had run 10 miles in a record 5 minutes, and had went through the hard course in 45 seconds. She was going through it for the 15th time and she was very fast. Through netting, crawling underneath the low crawl, scaling the first wall, the 100 monkey bars. The second wall came fast and Alex was concentrating so hard she scaled the wall and didn't even realize it.
She flew over the wall, nearly hitting the ground. Alex screamed and grabbed the edge of the wall with one hand. Her hand was slippery from crawling around on the dewy grass, and it was slipping from the wooden wall's edge...then her hand began to cramp up at holding up and of her weight and she started to slip...
Hannibal heard Alex's scream and got to the course just in time to see her dangling from the other side of the second 10 foot wall. Murdock saw too, and followed Hannibal as he ran as fast as his legs would take him to the wall. Hannibal jumped the fence and got to the wall just in time. Alex lost her grip and fell -10 feet- into Hannibal's arms.
Alex was breathing hard and she shook a few seconds until she knew she was safe in Colonel Smith's arms. Hannibal was very angry, Alex knew better than this. Murdock had been angry too, but now that he saw Alex was okay, it faded a little. Hannibal put Alex down hard on her feet and bent down.
Alex saw the look on his face and knew she was in deep, deep trouble. She figured he'd give her another lecture, and another month added on the course, and maybe more kitchen duty. She didn't know that Hannibal was beyond that.
"Alex, you know not to leave the house alone. You also know that you ARE NOT to be on this course in the dark, alone! You know better than to pull a stunt like this!!" Hannibal yelled, shaking her. Alex was quiet.
"You could have fallen and been hurt or killed! Captain, you are being insubordinant again, I can't believe you'd pull a stunt like this!!" Hannibal yelled. Murdock stood quietly, with his eyes wide. Alex was his daughter, but even she knew when you disobeyed the Colonel's rules, no matter who your father is, he's the one you have to deal with.
Hannibal then did something that Alex had never thought of him doing. He just wasn't the type. His idea of punishment was chores and stuff like training. Hannibal turned Alex around and swatted her behind three times. Alex was so shocked, she couldn't cry. Murdock was as shocked as she was. He wasn't angry, he was shocked. Alex, he thought, deserved that, even though he wouldn't have done it himself. Hannibal then whirled Alex back around.
"Now you get back to the house and go to your room. GO! Move!" Hannibal said standing back up. Alex turned and ran as fast as she could towards the house. Alex was mad at Hannibal, and it wasn't until she almost hit the back door that she started crying. She opened the back door and slammed it behind her.
Face saw her run past crying, and wondered why. B.A. was in the family room eating a bowl of cereal when she ran by and ran up the stairs. He got up from the TV and walked out to the kitchen with his cereal in his hand. He looked at Face. Face shrugged.
Murdock did the course twice, and landed both times. He didn't argue when Hannibal do extra running. Hannibal was not to be argued with when on the jazz, or worse yet, when he was angry. After a 2 mile run to and from the stable, Murdock and Hannibal went quietly, back to the house.
Alex grabbed Bogey and went underneath her bed. She was sweaty, dirty and tired. She cried and thought how Hannibal had called her something called 'insubordinate'. Alex wondered what it meant and crawled back out from under her bed.
She crawled over to her book case and took her orange vest off, throwing it into the middle of the floor. She tearfully found her dictionary and crawled back under her bed. Alex took a guess and started with the letter I in the dictionary. She wiped her nose on the back of her gloved hand and ran her finger down the pages until she found the word and read it's meaning to herself aloud.
"In-sub-bor-din-ate: not submitting to authority, mutinous." Alex read, then she pushed the book away. "I didn't follow orders." Alex said to Bogey as she held him and curled into a ball underneath her bed. She cried into her faithful grey teddy-bear and squeezed him.
Hannibal and Murdock walked into the door and were greeted by 2 questioningly looks from Face and B.A. Murdock didn't want in it, and he went around them to go and take a shower. He wasn't about to question Hannibal and get made to run more, he was tired enough, and he had breakfast detail soon.
Hannibal took his gloves off and put them in his jacket pocket. "Hannibal, what happened? Alex came through here like she got struck by lightning." Face asked. Hannibal walked over to the counter, pulled a mug out of the drainer and poured some coffee. He put the pot back on it's burner and turned to Face.
"No, she wasn't struck by lightning. She was struck by something else." Hannibal said carefully sipping his black coffee. Face caught on but didn't understand why. B.A. growled and slammed his bowl of cereal down on the table. Then he went out the back door, slamming it. He stomped out to the barn.
He'd taken over taking care of the horses since Murdock was on kitchen and course duty. He was angry because he knew what Alex had been so upset about, and he had to leave the house before he got himself in trouble. He didn't like it because of what Alex had been through, Hannibal had finally told him that day when they brought the bounty hunters home.
He was sick by it, and he vowed that no one would ever hurt Alex again, in anyway, unless they wanted to go through him first, and he told himself, *They better make sure I don't get up.* Face watched B.A. go and he was angry as well.
"Hannibal, after what happened to Alex, you go and do this? I can't believe you would go and do this to her. Alex doesn't really trust anyone but you and you do that? WHY? Tell me Colonel!" Face yelled. Then he heard a noise behind him and turned around.
Alex stood in the doorway, crying, holding Bogey and her dictionary, pages open and waving around. "Why? Because I was insubordinate, not respecting authority, that's why!" Alex yelled as she closed the book and threw it at Hannibal. She ran off back to her room and slammed her door. The book hit Hannibal, but not enough to hurt.
He was just glad he'd set his coffee down seconds before. He put the book on the counter and looked at Face. Minutes later, Alex ran back downstairs from her room, wearing her vest and a backpack filled with survival gear, and Bogey. She ran out the front door and slammed it.
Hannibal heard it and got up from his seat at the table. He ran to the door and opened it. Alex was already almost the whole way to the course when he caught a glimpde of her and saw how fast she'd gotten. Alex ran, not bothering to get Lil'T. She was going to train by herself, away from anyone who could stop her. Hannibal cursed himself and went back inside. He went upstairs and found Murdock putting his shoes on in his room.
Hannibal came in. "Murdock, Alex ran off. I think she's headed for that tree-house. She had her survival gear, so I'm sure she's not planning on coming back soon." Hannibal said and Murdock shook his head. He didn't know what to, and not to say.
"Colonel, I'll go out on Waco. If I find her, you can't be the one who lays down the law. I want you to promise that you will let me handle it first, and then if you want to talk to her, okay." Murdock said and Hannibal nodded. Murdock got up and grabbed his jacket, and pulling his blue hat on tighter, he walked out of his room. He went downstairs and went out the back door. Face saw him go by quietly and knew where he was going. He didn't have to ask.
Hannibal felt guilty, and he promised his bickering consience that he would apologize to Alex when Murdock brought her home. Murdock went out to the stable and turned up the collar os his jacket. It was cold for September, and the cold wind was nipping at the back of his freshly washed neck.
Inside that stable, Murdock met up with B.A. Murdock went into the tack room and got Waco's saddle and bridle, then he went into Waco's stall and put Waco's saddle on. B.A. watched, and came over to the closed stall door. "Goin after Alex?" B.A. asked. Murdock put Waco's bit into his mouth and pulled the leather bridle over his ears. He pulled Waco's bangs out from under the brow band and strapped the throat latch. Then he looked at B.A.
"Yep. Lil muchacha got swift judgement from the colonel and ran off. I know where she is. Thanks for feedin Waco, big guy." Murdock said as he climbed up into the western saddle. B.A. grabbed Waco's bridle and led him out of the stall. Murdock ducked underneath the low bridge and sat back up once they were clear of the stall's doorway.
"Just go an find Alex, fool." B.A. said and Murdock smiled. B.A. saw his smile and rolled his eyes as he smacked Waco's rump and Murdock rode out of the stable. Once he was outside, Murdock kicked Waco into a gallop. He was headed for Alex's home away from home. Her tree house. She wouldn't go anywhere else, and Murdock knew that as he rode gracefully on Waco's back.
He had to make Alex understand that she was not sopossed to run off every time someone punished her. He rode the 6 mile run to the tree house and saw Alex's boot prints in the mud. He knew she was up in the tree house. He stopped Waco and jumped down from his back, tying his rein to the fence that sourrounded the tree house in a circle. He took a deep breath and climbed the ladder.
Alex had heard the horses hooves coming when Murdock was still 5 minutes away. Alex sat against the far wall and opened her pack. She took out a thermos and opened it. She swallowed a drink of water as Murdock popped through the trap door and climbed into the tree house. He slid off the edge and closed the trap door.
Alex just sat there holding Bogey and drinking her water like nothing was wrong and he had just come for a visit. "Why'd you let him, daddy? You said you wouldn't let anyone hurt me. But you didn't stop him. I ain't goin back, Hannibal won't let me train, and i know why too. It's cos I like doing the course now an it ain't punishment no more." Alex said and he crawled over to her.
"I didn't stop the Colonel, because, you know better than to be on that course alone, especially in the dark. You are training too hard, and you are going to hurt yourself if you don't slow down. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I think the Colonel had a right to do what he did." Murdock said and Alex wouldn't admit it, but she agreed with him now.
She shouldn't have been out there alone, but she couldn't help it. She needed the extra training if she wanted to get stronger. Alex put Bogey and her thremos back into her bag and strapped it on. Murdock saw her and knew she would come home without a fight, and the only reason is this: because he hadn't told her she was going to. He had just talked to her.
"Good girl. I rode in on Waco, so we won't have to walk. Zipper your vest. It's getting cold." Murdock said and Alex did, she could feel the cold now and they weren't even out of the tre house yet. Murdock went down the ladder and Alex followed. Once they were both on the ground, Murdock climbed up into the saddle and helped Alex up. She sat behind him and held onto his waist with both of her arms. Murdock steadied Waco and nudged his ribs, and the horse obeyed, cantering off.
"And Alex, I don't want you running off every time someone punishes you. You don't run from a fight, and you don't run from punishment. I didn't run when I knew I was in trouble for giving you that gun, did I?" Murdock said as they rode. "No." Alex replied.
"If you run off to the tree house again, I'm sorry but it'll have to be torn down. I can't have you running away all of the time. If the wrong people find out, they can try and take you from me." Murdock said and Alex's eyes grew. She could hear it in his voice that he not only meant it, but that losing her scared him. It scared her too.
"Okay, I won't. I promise I won't be insubordinate like I was today to the Colonel." Alex promised. "Do you think he's still mad at me? Mad like he was this morning? I don't like it when he yells at me for real. When we're on the course and he yells that's different." Alex asked, suddenly wishing she hadn't ran at all. Murdock slowed Waco as they reached the stable.
"I don't think so, muchacha. But if he is, Just don't try and argue him. Let him say his peace. It'll be easier that way, take it from me. I learned from experiance, the hard way." HM said as he walked Waco into the stable. He helped Alex down and put Waco into his stall. Then he and Alex left, hand in hand. B.A. waited for them to leave until he came out from the tack room and took Waco's saddle and bridle off. He didn't want to be inside when Alex met back up with Hannibal.
Alex and Murdock went inside, using the front door, hoping to avoid Hannibal as lone as they could. Alex kept a hold of Murdock's hand as she kept her eye out for Hannibal. Murdock saw someone in the kitchen and thought it was Face.
Murdock walked into the kitchen, he wanted a drink and he wanted to see who it was, anyhow. Murdock had been right. Face was sitting at the kitchen table reading The Wall Street Journal. He heard them come in and looked away from the paper to see Alex take her pack off and sit down at the table. He folded his paper neatly and put it on the table while Murdock got Alex some cereal.
"Alex, Hannibal want to talk to you. I think you should find him when you are done." Face said as Murdock sat a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios in front of her. They were her favorite, but today they didn't look too good to her. Alex nodded sadly at Face and picked up her spoon. She knew she had to eat it, or Face would never let her get up from the table.
A few minutes later, Alex was done and she got down from the chair. She looked at Murdock and he nodded. She turned and swallowed as she left the kitchen. She went through the family room and up the stairs. Down the hall past the bathroom, her room, Murdock's room, B.A.'s room, and stopped at the closed door of Hannibal's room. She took a deep breath and knocked.
Hannibal was reading when he heard the knock. "C'min." He said looking up from the novel he was reading. Alex turned the door knob and opened the door. Hannibal saw Alex standing there, holding onto the knob and he sat up on his bed. He put the book down and Alex swallowed.
"Face uh, said you wanned to talk to me, grampa." Alex said trying not to throw up. She was nervous, and Hanninal could tell. Hannibal nodded. "Yeah, we need to talk. Come on and sit down." Hannibal said and Alex let the door open as she walked over and climbed up onto the bed beside him.
"Alex, what you did today was the most stupid thing you have ever done. You could have been killed if I hadn't of been there when you fell from that wall. I am sorry I paddled you, but I was so scared, and angry, that I didn't think before I acted." Hannibal said and Alex gazed into his blue eyes as he spoke. He meant every word he said, and the look in his eyes told her so.
"I didn't mean to be insubordinate Colonel. I just...I wanna get stronger, so I won't get hurt anymore. I don't care what duty you make me do, or how long you say I gotta do it, but please don't take away my extra training. I promise I won't go out at night anymore, cos daddy said if I run cos somebody punishes me an I go to my tree house, he's gonna tear it down, I promised him I wouldn't run away anymore and I won't. I promise I won't, please?" Alex begged and Hannibal looked her in the eye. She looked right back at him and he could tell she really meant it.
"Okay captain, you may continue your off duty training, but, not after 8pm and no earlier than 7am. You will continue your daily run and kitchen duty with Murdock, and I want you downstairs at the sink, pronto." Hannibal said and Alex quickly hugged him before she got off of the bed. She was going to run out the door, but she stopped where she stood.
She turned and faced Hannibal. She saluted him and he figured out what she was waiting on. "At ease Captain. Dismissed." Hannibal said in a lower version of his commanding and drilling voice. He saluted her back and she turned around and ran out of the room. After she was gone, Hannibal laughed.
Alex ran downstairs and pushed a chair over to the sink. Murdock watched her and realized he was sopossed to be on kitchen duty too. He got up from the table and went to help her. He put the plug into the sink and ran warm water and soap for Alex, and then he ran warm rinse water for himself.
Alex washed every dish until it was spotless, and even got the pots and pans clean and free of grease. "So the Colonel didn't murder ya, huh?" Murdock asked as he rinsed and dried the second to last kettle. Alex was bust scrubbing the inside of a tall silver pot B.A. had made his special chilli in.
"Nope. He's lettin me train still, an I still gotta keep doin my kitchen duty an the course with you. He told me he wanted me to get down here an do this, that's why I came in an was gonna do it alone. I did because I promised I wouldn't be insubordinate ever again." Alex answered as she finally got through with the chilli pot and passed it over to him.
When he leaned over to get it, she put her wet soapy hand on his shoulder and whispered, "An so he wouldn't paddle me too." and Murdock smiled. He rinsed and dried the pot, putting their last dish from today's lunch and small breakfast behind them. Face had heard Alex's 'paddling' comment and smiled and shook his head behind his newspaper.
Hannibal came into the kitchen as Alex and Murdock finished. "Colonel, kitchen duty has been taken care of, sir." Alex said saluting him. Murdock followed her and did the same. Hannibal smiled at the little wet hand print on Murdock's shoulder as he saluted them back. "At ease Captains, dismissed!" Hannibal said and they both stood normally again.
"Alex, go get B.A. he needs to see that I didn't murder you." Hannibal said and Alex ran over and hugged him around the legs. Hannibal messed up her hair as Murdock took his jacket off of the back of his chair and slid it on her. Alex smiled and ran out the back door after he zipped it up.
Alex ran across the yard and into the stables. B.A. was brushing Starbuck when he saw her come running in, and he thought she was running again at first, but then he was relieved to see she was coming to him. "Uncle B.A.!" She yelled as he ran over to Starbuck's stall. He came out and picked her up. Alex giggled and hugged him.
"I'm okie-dokie, the Colonel wasn't too mad at me an he din't even yell!" Alex said and he smiled. Alex was always excited. "Guess what else?" Alex asked. "What?" B.A. asked. "Daddy said if I run away to my tree house anymore cos I get in trouble, he's gonna tell you to tear it down! But I promised I won't ever run away again, and he said okay. An grampa said he was sorry he paddled me too." Alex said and B.A. was happy. he carried her back into the house.
Later that night, Alex had the nightmare again. She screamed and sat up, sweating and scared, with her heart racing. She hadn't wet the bed and she felt to make sure when she threw the covers back and ran out of the bed. She ran down the hall and into Murdock's room. He felt her climb up beside him and was worried when he heard her crying. He rolled over and looked at her.
"What's wrong muchacha?" He slepily asked. Alex rolled over facing him. "He hurt me again...an again..I fought him but I lost b'cos I'm not string enough..an he hurt me.." Alex said remembering her nightly journey into her own little hell.
She started shaking and Murdock pulled her over to him. She curled next to him and her held her. "It's okay, daddy Murdock is here, muchacha, and I won't let him or anybody else hurt you. Here, calm down, it'll be okay." Murdock said getting up a second and grabbing his jacket.
"Here, let's put this on. It'll protect you from bad dreams." Murdock said as he put the jacket on her and zippered it up. Murdock covered her up as they both lay back down. She calmed a little and put her head on his chest, over his heart and laid as close to him as possible. He held her with the arm she was laying on, and kept his other hand on her head where he'd been playing with her short bowl cut hair. Thinking of how much Face hated it when she wanted him to cut her hair that way, Murdock smiled as he drifted off into sleep.
He fell asleep, and she did too, listening to his heart beating. She slept peaceful the rest of the night, and Hannibal got to see them in the embrace when he came to get them up for the training. He hated to wake them, but he knew now that Alex would get mad if he didn't, and he did anyways, after snapping a few pictures of them first. They both woke up happy, and Alex got ready without any lag or argument. She was ready. Her mission to get stronger was finally commencing.
End of Deception part 9!
Part 1 is being typed!
It is an A-Team/Dragonball Z crossover
if you don't know what the heck DBZ is, go here. It might help.
I will be happy to answer any questions about DBZ.
in other words, to be continued!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!