CHAPTER TWO
Murdock landed the plane and helped carry BA out.
'Sleeping like a baby.' Face said helping Katie step down from the plane. 'He's almost peaceful.'
'Yeah.' Murdock grunted. 'The Big Guy looks almost cute when he's sleeping.'
Katie smiled wanly. Her hand was really starting to hurt now and she was still worried. 'Look you guys should just give me the address and take off.'
'Sorry kid.' Hannibal said laying his end of BA down on the tarmac. He looked over at Face. 'You've got ten minutes to find us some transport Face.'
Face sighed. 'I hate working to time limits.'
'Your best work comes when you're under pressure Lieutenant. Now hurry.'
Face still hesitated. Murdock grinned and took the bait that had been dangled in front of his nose. 'I think he's losing his touch Hannibal, better let me do it. Poor Faceman, he's not as young as he used to be.'
Face glared darkly. 'I'll be back in 5 minutes Hannibal with transport. I'll show you who's losing his touch.' He hurried off and Hannibal grinned.
'Nice Murdock'
'Thank you; he just needed a little push in the right direction.' He demonstrated the movement with his hand.
Hannibal turned back to Katie. 'We're taking you to the hospital and we're staying with you. You said yourself that Jerome has contacts everywhere.'
'Yes but the cops will be all over you.'
'I love a challenge.' Hannibal told her pulling out a cigar and biting the end off.
'We've been in situations like this before Katie, we'll be fine.' Murdock added putting an arm around her shoulders. 'Jerome and his goons aren't getting anywhere near you. Right Colonel?'
'Right.' But Hannibal privately thought that Jerome wouldn't be so much of a problem; Katie, however, was a different matter.
*** Murdock paced the waiting room in pent-up agitation. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and his baseball cap was on backwards.
'Sit down fool.' BA, now awake, growled. 'You're making me dizzy!' He was still angry about being drugged and put on a plane, twice. He should have known better than to let Hannibal talk him into thinking an ambush at an airfield was a good idea. Murdock finally sat down and exhaled deeply.
'Relax Murdock, she's fine. At the worst she has a broken hand, hardly life threatening.' Face tried to reassure him, though he himself was as impatient to be out of here as his friend.
'Then why's it taking so long?'
Hannibal was about to answer when his attention was drawn to the main door. A police officer had just entered. 'Easy guys.' He said in a low voice. 'Could be nothing.'
The police officer went over to the desk and spoke to the receptionist. The receptionist nodded and pointed in the direction of the team. Clearly, it was something after all.
'Be ready.' Hannibal told them, he was already tensed and prepared for a fight.
The man approached them with what seemed like unbearable slowness. 'One of you guy's called Murdock?' He asked in harsh, nasal tones.
Murdock swallowed and looked at Hannibal, when Hannibal nodded Murdock spoke up. 'That's me.'
The man, Murdock saw that his last name was Wilkes, surveyed him casually. 'Could you step this way please? I have some questions.'
'Anything you want to say to me you can say in front of these guys.' Behind him, BA tensed and stared at Wilkes with narrowed eyes.
One look at BA and Wilkes, who really wanted to be back at his nice desk, drinking his nice hot coffee, decided not to pursue the matter further. 'Uh.sure.' He opened his notepad and studied it for a moment. 'You're the guy that brought in Katie Anderson?'
Murdock licked his lips trying to remain calm and appear as if nothing in the slightest was the matter. 'That's right.'
'You're what? A friend? A relative?'
'A friend.just a friend.'
'She was admitted with an injured hand? That right?'
'Yeah.' A slow knot of tension was tightening in Murdock's lower back. He didn't like where this was going one bit. 'What's this all about?'
'That's a nasty bruise on your jaw there Mr Murdock.' Wilkes raised his eyes from his notepad now and looked fully at Murdock. His grey eyes held no respite; it was clear what he was implying and where his line of questioning was leading.
'Now Officer...' Face began but Murdock shook his head. He wanted to handle this himself.
'What're you trying to say?'
Wilkes cleared his throat, still very aware of the menacing presence of BA out of the corner of his eye. He really wanted to be back at the office shuffling paperwork and drinking coffee now. This had the potential to get nasty. 'The X-Ray shows that Miss Anderson's hand is not broken, merely sprained but it's likely that it happened by her hitting something or.' Here Wilkes hesitated.it wasn't too late to back out but he pressed on, he had a job to do no matter how much he wanted coffee and a sit down. 'Someone. Now the nurse noticed some contusions on her lower back. Mind explaining what happened?'
Murdock leapt up from his seat now, infuriated. 'You think I put those there!' He yelled.
BA and Hannibal grabbed hold of him. 'Calm down Murdock.' Hannibal's tone was frustratingly unruffled; his expression remained perfectly pleasant. Only the colonel's eyes showed what he was really feeling. He hoped that the officer didn't figure out why three of these guys looked so familiar. 'I'm sure the officer didn't mean it like that.'
'I didn't hit her!' Murdock exclaimed angrily not caring that he was making a scene, not caring that at any moment the officer could realise who they were. BA's grip tightened on his shoulder almost painfully.
'Officer what evidence do you have apart from the X-Ray that suggests that this gentleman hit Miss Anderson?' Face was there in an instant at his most charming.
'Well.' The man began hesitantly.
'I thought so.' Face put in before the man could think up a reason or suggest taking Murdock in for further questioning. 'When you have evidence you can make any allegations you like. In the meantime you will be hearing from Mr Murdock's lawyers. I suggest you leave now Officer.'
BA growled in such a way that implied Wilkes' earlier suspicion that if he didn't leave now he was very shortly going to regret it. Wilkes all but backed away, tipping his hat to the receptionist as he left.
Murdock shrugged out of BA and Hannibal's grip. 'I can't believe they think I hit her.' He said mournfully sitting down.
'Well.we know that you didn't Murdock.' Hannibal told him sitting next to him. 'But they don't.see it from their point of view.'
*** 'Murdock!' Katie was standing behind him. Murdock turned and she wrapped her arms around his waist in a tight hug burying her head into his chest. His hand automatically went to her hair. 'You have to get out of here.'
Unthinkingly he put a hand on her back and felt her wince. 'Sorry.' He moved his hand. 'Already had a visit from the local cops.'
The doctor approached them. 'Miss Anderson?'
Katie pulled back and looked at Murdock. 'I told them what really happened.'
'Good then maybe someone around here will believe me.'
The doctor eyed him unblinkingly. 'Mr Murdock, could you tell me exactly what happened. I just want to make sure that Katherine isn't getting confused.'
Murdock was very well aware that the doctor wanted to make sure that his story matched Katie's. They'd already covered this before they'd admitted her. 'Of course.'
Murdock still had an arm around Katie. 'I went round to her house and found her boyfriend attacking her. He was beating on her. 'His hand clenched on Katie's shoulder as he saw in his head what had probably happened. 'I pulled him off her and he hit me. Then he ran off. Katie hurt her hand when she tried to fend him off. Leastways, that's what she told me. That right Katie?'
'That's right.' She smiled at the doctor and wondered just how much of this he was buying.
Murdock held the doctor's gaze keeping himself calm. The doctor nodded apparently satisfied. 'Ok well she can go home now. I've given her some pills to take if the pain gets too bad. There.uh, there is one other thing.' Here he looked directly at Katie. 'Miss, are you sure you don't want to press charges?'
'I'm sure.'
Murdock pretended to look surprised. 'Katie.I thought we discussed this.'
Katie nodded. 'We did and I've decided not to.' The doctor looked at Katie again. 'Well if you're sure, then I have other patients to see to. Good day Miss Anderson, Mr Murdock, Gentlemen.' With a nod he walked away.
The team and Katie walked out the door as quickly as they could.
*** Katie fidgeted in the back of the van. 'You guys can drop me off. I'll find my own way home.'
'Sorry kid.' Hannibal told her.
'But.'
'No buts.' Murdock put in. 'Whilst you're living under my roof, you'll do as you're told.'
'Ok I'm 22 years old and this is not your roof. Besides, I can handle Jerome.'
'You haven't done such a wonderful job of handling him so far Katie.' Hannibal added.
'And it's my roof.' BA said. 'You're staying with my Momma, got a problem with that?'
Katie made a face. 'No, no! Now you come to mention it.I think that keeping out of the way would be a great idea. And I'd love to meet your mom.'
Murdock sat back in quiet satisfaction.
'Good, when we get there you can tell us everything you know about Jerome.' Hannibal lit a cigar; Katie got the distinct feeling that he was forming a plan.
'Well.there's really not that much to tell.' Katie said hurriedly, earning her a close look from Murdock.
'Interesting.' Face raised a curious eyebrow. 'Considering you were going to marry the guy.'
Katie flushed but didn't say anything. Hannibal was sure that they were going to have to watch her carefully.
*** Katie liked Mrs Baracus immediately. She was warm, friendly and took Katie under her wing, fussing over her and exclaiming how nice it was to have a girl to look after for a change instead of all these boys. No one bothered to say that they were hardly ever here, in fact they barely even eluded to the fact that BA and the others were on the run. It was if this were a place where for a little while they could forget about that and just concentrate on being a family.
Katie had been forewarned that Mrs B thought that BA was the leader of the A-Team and not Hannibal. But seeing the lady's face Katie got the feeling that she already knew but went along with it for BA's sake.
Murdock too seemed happier here, clearly he thought of Mrs B as a surrogate mother, his own mother having died when he was only a child. BA's mom seemed to have no objection to treating Murdock as if he were her second son. She would tell 'Scooter' as she called BA not to pick on him and affectionately she would tell Murdock to stop jibing at BA.
All in all Katie felt more relaxed around Mrs B than she could remember feeling in a long time. No one had mentioned Jerome or why they were there since they'd arrived and for this she was grateful. She couldn't take endless questions at this moment in time; she wanted to just forget about everything.
Murdock finally gave BA a break. 'Can I use the phone Mrs B?'
Mrs Baracus smiled fondly. 'Of course you can Murdock.'
With a smile of thanks he got to his feet and headed for the kitchen to make his call. Katie felt somehow nervous now that he was not there. She didn't know what it was but she'd felt almost safe when he was sitting next to her.the silence that followed now that he was no longer in the room with them made her fear that they would start asking questions. In fact, she could see a look coming into Hannibal's eye.
'I.I'm tired.' She said before he could open his mouth to ask her whatever question was on the tip of his tongue. She looked over at BA's mother who had a look of sympathy in her eyes. 'I don't suppose I could lie down could I?'
'Let's get you to bed honey. Scooter get Katie's things into the spare bedroom.'
Katie smiled wearily, she really was feeling tired now but for some reason she didn't want to go to sleep, she had too much to worry about. Jerome, the police, the drugs in Jerome's suitcase and her engagement ring lying on the floor of the plane where Murdock had oh-so-carefully placed it.
BA picked up Katie's suitcase and rucksack and made for the spare room. Katie wondered where the rest of them were going to sleep tonight; she had a sneaking suspicion that Murdock would be camped out on the floor of her bedroom. No doubt someone would be on guard outside the apartments; that just left the sofa and the floor.
She had a feeling that Face would opt for the sofa rather than a cold, hard floor. Getting to her feet she made to follow BA. As she went past Murdock he put a hand on her arm stopping her.
'Yeah.one minute.' He handed the receiver to Katie. 'Your mom wants a word.' Before she could say anything he'd followed BA into the spare bedroom leaving her standing there holding the phone.
Katie didn't know what to do, the last thing she wanted right now was to explain things to her mother but then Murdock had probably done plenty of explaining already.
'H.hello?'
'Oh Katie.' Her mother sounded very much like she was going to cry. Katie bit her lip and stared hard at the faded wallpaper willing herself not to lose control. 'Sweetie.I am so.'
'Don't say it Mom, please don't say it.' She didn't want her mother's pity; she didn't want her to say sorry; she just wanted her to accept everything that had happened without question. 'I'm fine, hand hurts a bit but other than that, I'm doing good.'
'Murdock said.he said Jerome was.' Karen couldn't even finish her sentence; she couldn't bring herself to say those words, to admit to herself that her daughter had been beaten by her fiancée. 'I knew something was wrong but I didn't realise just how wrong. It's going to be ok honey.they'll look after you, he won't come near you now.'
'I know that Mom.' She didn't get much further, Karen was continuing, talking to her. Asking her almost pleadingly why she hadn't called her, written, anything to let her know that she needed help. Didn't she know that her mother would do anything for her whatever it was? Katie took it as well as she could.the long flight, the pains in her hand and in her back, not to mention a few other places as well were all starting to wear her down.
Katie felt ridiculously as if she was the parent comforting the child rather than the other way around. 'Katie.I know how hard it hit you when you thought Murdock was.dead and I know things have been difficult for you since then.the dreams and everything.'
Katie finally snapped, she was tired and she'd had enough. 'Mother.I am fine. And for your information, no I haven't gone crazy like last time.' She slammed the phone down feeling a headache growing behind her temples. She instantly regretted how harsh she had been but she had too much to deal with and her mother giving one of her lectures had not helped.
She was dimly aware that BA and his mom were getting up, leaving the apartment and Face and Hannibal with them. She headed for the bedroom feeling wrung out and needing desperately to find a way of getting rid of her anger.
Murdock was unpacking some of her things for her when she went in; razor- sharp anger swallowed her and her eyes flashed. 'What in the hell did you do that for?' She was shaking with a rage she didn't know she had. She wasn't even sure why she was so angry with him.
'What?' He looked genuinely confused as if he had no idea what she was talking about, this only served to infuriate her further.
'You had no right to tell my mother what was going on.you had no right to ring her without.'
Now Murdock was angry too.her anger caught like fire and immediately his eyes were ablaze with it too. 'Your permission? Come on Katie, we both know that you were never going to tell her, not unless you had to. And besides, you're her daughter, she wanted to know how you were, I said I'd tell her as soon as I could.'
'Yes but you didn't have to tell her everything. That was for me to do, in my own time and in my own way.'
'And we both know what way that is!' He hated himself for biting back at her but he couldn't seem to help it. 'You'd have just hidden your head in the sand and hoped it would all go away.just like always. You're not stupid Katie, you must have known what Jerome was into and yet you still stuck around. Why was that exactly? Because he was good in bed, because he wouldn't let you leave or because you just chose to ignore it and take the beatings.'
He knew he wasn't as angry with her as he seemed. He was mostly angry with Jerome but the fact that she hadn't been able to trust even him with how bad things had been hurt him deeply. Their relationship had deepened since he'd come back a year ago.
'How dare you!' She was more than furious now; she was enraged beyond the point of reason.
'No don't give me that. Don't get mad at me for getting involved; don't get mad at me for caring. Just remember Katie; I won't always be here to get you out of the bad things. I'm not always going to be here to rescue you.'
'I do not need rescuing.I don't need you bursting in on me and dragging me away as if I am a child. It's time you realised that I'm an adult now and I make my own decisions.' She had stepped closer to him, shaking violently.
'Well if you didn't act like child then I wouldn't. When are you going to grow up? You're playing in a big world here little girl, bigger than you know and I am not going to be there all the time.I can't be cleaning up your mess anymore.'
They were so close now that he could feel the heat coming off of her in waves. She was angry and she was hurt. He'd gone too far.said too much but that was always the way it was with her.
'I don't need someone from a mental institution to be my knight in shining armour! If I want help I'll go to someone who is mentally capable of dealing with the real world!'
He grabbed her by her upper arms and stared hard into her eyes. 'Now you wait a minute.'
'No you wait a minute.I didn't ask you to come charging in and drag me all the way here. I didn't want your help; I didn't want you to know that he beat me and hurt me. I didn't want you to know that my fiancée was a drug- dealer.that was why I didn't call on you for help. I didn't want you hanging over my shoulder watching my every move and telling me how to run my life!'
He didn't know how it happened; afterwards he could never tell who made the first move all he knew was that he was angry with her. Far angrier than he had ever been in his life, it blinded him and he could hardly think straight.
One minute he was staring into her furious blue eyes and the next minute he was kissing her passionately. The thing that always surprised him afterwards was not the kiss itself but the fact that she responded with equal feeling.
His head finally caught up with the rest of him and he thrust her away from him. 'Jesus Christ!' Normally he didn't swear but he didn't know what else to say. Tony's daughter, Tony's daughter; that thought reverberated around his brain. She was 15 years younger than he was if not more and he had thought that he was a surrogate father to her; that he thought of her as his.
With a shock he realised that he hadn't felt that way towards her in a long time, somehow, somewhere along the line his feelings for her had changed beyond the point of return. As he looked at her, he saw that she was a woman now and that his feelings for her had long since changed. Every time he'd touched her, every word he'd spoken to her since that day nearly two years ago flashed through his mind. She'd sought the team out for help back then and even then he'd somehow known without knowing that he didn't really think of her as a daughter.a friend yes but daughter, no, not now. She was too different now and he was changed too.
She was breathing hard and looking like a deer caught in the headlights. 'Katie.' He made to reach out to her but his hand dropped back to his side uselessly. 'I'm so sorry.I should have had more control than that.'
Slowly she raised her hand to her lips.their fingertips touching them thoughtfully. She looked at him; all her anger was gone now, she looked confused but not disgusted. He saw something in her eyes and remembered the way she'd responded to him. He had to get away from her before he lost control completely. Things were too confused now.what he'd thought he felt was not what he was really feeling.
'I'm sorry.' He said again. This time she was the one that made the first move and even as he tried to pull away she was drawing him closer. Something that should feel so wrong was starting to feel so right.
Without even knowing it he'd pushed her back against the door still kissing her, holding her. He undid the buttons of her shirt without thinking and her legs were around his waist before he could even acknowledge what was happening.
He felt her hand fumbling for his khakis and he wanted to pull away, to ask her if this was what she wanted or if it was because of the way Jerome had treated her that she was doing this.
He did none of these things, instead he undid her jeans, pulling them down and blocking out every thought of what he was doing and whom he was doing it with.
He opened his eyes and looked at her.she was looking at him with something very close to shock in her eyes. They'd gone too far and now the realization was hitting them. 'Katie.' He spoke her name in a whisper and she came back down to earth.
'Yes.' It was an answer to his unspoken question, the question he had asked only with his eyes. 'It's ok.'
He removed her legs from around his waist and redid his khakis. 'No.no it's not. I won't do that.not with you, not now, not like this.'
He thought he saw tears in her eyes. 'Get some sleep.' He walked out of the room leaving Katie to stand there lost in a whirl of confused emotions.
Murdock landed the plane and helped carry BA out.
'Sleeping like a baby.' Face said helping Katie step down from the plane. 'He's almost peaceful.'
'Yeah.' Murdock grunted. 'The Big Guy looks almost cute when he's sleeping.'
Katie smiled wanly. Her hand was really starting to hurt now and she was still worried. 'Look you guys should just give me the address and take off.'
'Sorry kid.' Hannibal said laying his end of BA down on the tarmac. He looked over at Face. 'You've got ten minutes to find us some transport Face.'
Face sighed. 'I hate working to time limits.'
'Your best work comes when you're under pressure Lieutenant. Now hurry.'
Face still hesitated. Murdock grinned and took the bait that had been dangled in front of his nose. 'I think he's losing his touch Hannibal, better let me do it. Poor Faceman, he's not as young as he used to be.'
Face glared darkly. 'I'll be back in 5 minutes Hannibal with transport. I'll show you who's losing his touch.' He hurried off and Hannibal grinned.
'Nice Murdock'
'Thank you; he just needed a little push in the right direction.' He demonstrated the movement with his hand.
Hannibal turned back to Katie. 'We're taking you to the hospital and we're staying with you. You said yourself that Jerome has contacts everywhere.'
'Yes but the cops will be all over you.'
'I love a challenge.' Hannibal told her pulling out a cigar and biting the end off.
'We've been in situations like this before Katie, we'll be fine.' Murdock added putting an arm around her shoulders. 'Jerome and his goons aren't getting anywhere near you. Right Colonel?'
'Right.' But Hannibal privately thought that Jerome wouldn't be so much of a problem; Katie, however, was a different matter.
*** Murdock paced the waiting room in pent-up agitation. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and his baseball cap was on backwards.
'Sit down fool.' BA, now awake, growled. 'You're making me dizzy!' He was still angry about being drugged and put on a plane, twice. He should have known better than to let Hannibal talk him into thinking an ambush at an airfield was a good idea. Murdock finally sat down and exhaled deeply.
'Relax Murdock, she's fine. At the worst she has a broken hand, hardly life threatening.' Face tried to reassure him, though he himself was as impatient to be out of here as his friend.
'Then why's it taking so long?'
Hannibal was about to answer when his attention was drawn to the main door. A police officer had just entered. 'Easy guys.' He said in a low voice. 'Could be nothing.'
The police officer went over to the desk and spoke to the receptionist. The receptionist nodded and pointed in the direction of the team. Clearly, it was something after all.
'Be ready.' Hannibal told them, he was already tensed and prepared for a fight.
The man approached them with what seemed like unbearable slowness. 'One of you guy's called Murdock?' He asked in harsh, nasal tones.
Murdock swallowed and looked at Hannibal, when Hannibal nodded Murdock spoke up. 'That's me.'
The man, Murdock saw that his last name was Wilkes, surveyed him casually. 'Could you step this way please? I have some questions.'
'Anything you want to say to me you can say in front of these guys.' Behind him, BA tensed and stared at Wilkes with narrowed eyes.
One look at BA and Wilkes, who really wanted to be back at his nice desk, drinking his nice hot coffee, decided not to pursue the matter further. 'Uh.sure.' He opened his notepad and studied it for a moment. 'You're the guy that brought in Katie Anderson?'
Murdock licked his lips trying to remain calm and appear as if nothing in the slightest was the matter. 'That's right.'
'You're what? A friend? A relative?'
'A friend.just a friend.'
'She was admitted with an injured hand? That right?'
'Yeah.' A slow knot of tension was tightening in Murdock's lower back. He didn't like where this was going one bit. 'What's this all about?'
'That's a nasty bruise on your jaw there Mr Murdock.' Wilkes raised his eyes from his notepad now and looked fully at Murdock. His grey eyes held no respite; it was clear what he was implying and where his line of questioning was leading.
'Now Officer...' Face began but Murdock shook his head. He wanted to handle this himself.
'What're you trying to say?'
Wilkes cleared his throat, still very aware of the menacing presence of BA out of the corner of his eye. He really wanted to be back at the office shuffling paperwork and drinking coffee now. This had the potential to get nasty. 'The X-Ray shows that Miss Anderson's hand is not broken, merely sprained but it's likely that it happened by her hitting something or.' Here Wilkes hesitated.it wasn't too late to back out but he pressed on, he had a job to do no matter how much he wanted coffee and a sit down. 'Someone. Now the nurse noticed some contusions on her lower back. Mind explaining what happened?'
Murdock leapt up from his seat now, infuriated. 'You think I put those there!' He yelled.
BA and Hannibal grabbed hold of him. 'Calm down Murdock.' Hannibal's tone was frustratingly unruffled; his expression remained perfectly pleasant. Only the colonel's eyes showed what he was really feeling. He hoped that the officer didn't figure out why three of these guys looked so familiar. 'I'm sure the officer didn't mean it like that.'
'I didn't hit her!' Murdock exclaimed angrily not caring that he was making a scene, not caring that at any moment the officer could realise who they were. BA's grip tightened on his shoulder almost painfully.
'Officer what evidence do you have apart from the X-Ray that suggests that this gentleman hit Miss Anderson?' Face was there in an instant at his most charming.
'Well.' The man began hesitantly.
'I thought so.' Face put in before the man could think up a reason or suggest taking Murdock in for further questioning. 'When you have evidence you can make any allegations you like. In the meantime you will be hearing from Mr Murdock's lawyers. I suggest you leave now Officer.'
BA growled in such a way that implied Wilkes' earlier suspicion that if he didn't leave now he was very shortly going to regret it. Wilkes all but backed away, tipping his hat to the receptionist as he left.
Murdock shrugged out of BA and Hannibal's grip. 'I can't believe they think I hit her.' He said mournfully sitting down.
'Well.we know that you didn't Murdock.' Hannibal told him sitting next to him. 'But they don't.see it from their point of view.'
*** 'Murdock!' Katie was standing behind him. Murdock turned and she wrapped her arms around his waist in a tight hug burying her head into his chest. His hand automatically went to her hair. 'You have to get out of here.'
Unthinkingly he put a hand on her back and felt her wince. 'Sorry.' He moved his hand. 'Already had a visit from the local cops.'
The doctor approached them. 'Miss Anderson?'
Katie pulled back and looked at Murdock. 'I told them what really happened.'
'Good then maybe someone around here will believe me.'
The doctor eyed him unblinkingly. 'Mr Murdock, could you tell me exactly what happened. I just want to make sure that Katherine isn't getting confused.'
Murdock was very well aware that the doctor wanted to make sure that his story matched Katie's. They'd already covered this before they'd admitted her. 'Of course.'
Murdock still had an arm around Katie. 'I went round to her house and found her boyfriend attacking her. He was beating on her. 'His hand clenched on Katie's shoulder as he saw in his head what had probably happened. 'I pulled him off her and he hit me. Then he ran off. Katie hurt her hand when she tried to fend him off. Leastways, that's what she told me. That right Katie?'
'That's right.' She smiled at the doctor and wondered just how much of this he was buying.
Murdock held the doctor's gaze keeping himself calm. The doctor nodded apparently satisfied. 'Ok well she can go home now. I've given her some pills to take if the pain gets too bad. There.uh, there is one other thing.' Here he looked directly at Katie. 'Miss, are you sure you don't want to press charges?'
'I'm sure.'
Murdock pretended to look surprised. 'Katie.I thought we discussed this.'
Katie nodded. 'We did and I've decided not to.' The doctor looked at Katie again. 'Well if you're sure, then I have other patients to see to. Good day Miss Anderson, Mr Murdock, Gentlemen.' With a nod he walked away.
The team and Katie walked out the door as quickly as they could.
*** Katie fidgeted in the back of the van. 'You guys can drop me off. I'll find my own way home.'
'Sorry kid.' Hannibal told her.
'But.'
'No buts.' Murdock put in. 'Whilst you're living under my roof, you'll do as you're told.'
'Ok I'm 22 years old and this is not your roof. Besides, I can handle Jerome.'
'You haven't done such a wonderful job of handling him so far Katie.' Hannibal added.
'And it's my roof.' BA said. 'You're staying with my Momma, got a problem with that?'
Katie made a face. 'No, no! Now you come to mention it.I think that keeping out of the way would be a great idea. And I'd love to meet your mom.'
Murdock sat back in quiet satisfaction.
'Good, when we get there you can tell us everything you know about Jerome.' Hannibal lit a cigar; Katie got the distinct feeling that he was forming a plan.
'Well.there's really not that much to tell.' Katie said hurriedly, earning her a close look from Murdock.
'Interesting.' Face raised a curious eyebrow. 'Considering you were going to marry the guy.'
Katie flushed but didn't say anything. Hannibal was sure that they were going to have to watch her carefully.
*** Katie liked Mrs Baracus immediately. She was warm, friendly and took Katie under her wing, fussing over her and exclaiming how nice it was to have a girl to look after for a change instead of all these boys. No one bothered to say that they were hardly ever here, in fact they barely even eluded to the fact that BA and the others were on the run. It was if this were a place where for a little while they could forget about that and just concentrate on being a family.
Katie had been forewarned that Mrs B thought that BA was the leader of the A-Team and not Hannibal. But seeing the lady's face Katie got the feeling that she already knew but went along with it for BA's sake.
Murdock too seemed happier here, clearly he thought of Mrs B as a surrogate mother, his own mother having died when he was only a child. BA's mom seemed to have no objection to treating Murdock as if he were her second son. She would tell 'Scooter' as she called BA not to pick on him and affectionately she would tell Murdock to stop jibing at BA.
All in all Katie felt more relaxed around Mrs B than she could remember feeling in a long time. No one had mentioned Jerome or why they were there since they'd arrived and for this she was grateful. She couldn't take endless questions at this moment in time; she wanted to just forget about everything.
Murdock finally gave BA a break. 'Can I use the phone Mrs B?'
Mrs Baracus smiled fondly. 'Of course you can Murdock.'
With a smile of thanks he got to his feet and headed for the kitchen to make his call. Katie felt somehow nervous now that he was not there. She didn't know what it was but she'd felt almost safe when he was sitting next to her.the silence that followed now that he was no longer in the room with them made her fear that they would start asking questions. In fact, she could see a look coming into Hannibal's eye.
'I.I'm tired.' She said before he could open his mouth to ask her whatever question was on the tip of his tongue. She looked over at BA's mother who had a look of sympathy in her eyes. 'I don't suppose I could lie down could I?'
'Let's get you to bed honey. Scooter get Katie's things into the spare bedroom.'
Katie smiled wearily, she really was feeling tired now but for some reason she didn't want to go to sleep, she had too much to worry about. Jerome, the police, the drugs in Jerome's suitcase and her engagement ring lying on the floor of the plane where Murdock had oh-so-carefully placed it.
BA picked up Katie's suitcase and rucksack and made for the spare room. Katie wondered where the rest of them were going to sleep tonight; she had a sneaking suspicion that Murdock would be camped out on the floor of her bedroom. No doubt someone would be on guard outside the apartments; that just left the sofa and the floor.
She had a feeling that Face would opt for the sofa rather than a cold, hard floor. Getting to her feet she made to follow BA. As she went past Murdock he put a hand on her arm stopping her.
'Yeah.one minute.' He handed the receiver to Katie. 'Your mom wants a word.' Before she could say anything he'd followed BA into the spare bedroom leaving her standing there holding the phone.
Katie didn't know what to do, the last thing she wanted right now was to explain things to her mother but then Murdock had probably done plenty of explaining already.
'H.hello?'
'Oh Katie.' Her mother sounded very much like she was going to cry. Katie bit her lip and stared hard at the faded wallpaper willing herself not to lose control. 'Sweetie.I am so.'
'Don't say it Mom, please don't say it.' She didn't want her mother's pity; she didn't want her to say sorry; she just wanted her to accept everything that had happened without question. 'I'm fine, hand hurts a bit but other than that, I'm doing good.'
'Murdock said.he said Jerome was.' Karen couldn't even finish her sentence; she couldn't bring herself to say those words, to admit to herself that her daughter had been beaten by her fiancée. 'I knew something was wrong but I didn't realise just how wrong. It's going to be ok honey.they'll look after you, he won't come near you now.'
'I know that Mom.' She didn't get much further, Karen was continuing, talking to her. Asking her almost pleadingly why she hadn't called her, written, anything to let her know that she needed help. Didn't she know that her mother would do anything for her whatever it was? Katie took it as well as she could.the long flight, the pains in her hand and in her back, not to mention a few other places as well were all starting to wear her down.
Katie felt ridiculously as if she was the parent comforting the child rather than the other way around. 'Katie.I know how hard it hit you when you thought Murdock was.dead and I know things have been difficult for you since then.the dreams and everything.'
Katie finally snapped, she was tired and she'd had enough. 'Mother.I am fine. And for your information, no I haven't gone crazy like last time.' She slammed the phone down feeling a headache growing behind her temples. She instantly regretted how harsh she had been but she had too much to deal with and her mother giving one of her lectures had not helped.
She was dimly aware that BA and his mom were getting up, leaving the apartment and Face and Hannibal with them. She headed for the bedroom feeling wrung out and needing desperately to find a way of getting rid of her anger.
Murdock was unpacking some of her things for her when she went in; razor- sharp anger swallowed her and her eyes flashed. 'What in the hell did you do that for?' She was shaking with a rage she didn't know she had. She wasn't even sure why she was so angry with him.
'What?' He looked genuinely confused as if he had no idea what she was talking about, this only served to infuriate her further.
'You had no right to tell my mother what was going on.you had no right to ring her without.'
Now Murdock was angry too.her anger caught like fire and immediately his eyes were ablaze with it too. 'Your permission? Come on Katie, we both know that you were never going to tell her, not unless you had to. And besides, you're her daughter, she wanted to know how you were, I said I'd tell her as soon as I could.'
'Yes but you didn't have to tell her everything. That was for me to do, in my own time and in my own way.'
'And we both know what way that is!' He hated himself for biting back at her but he couldn't seem to help it. 'You'd have just hidden your head in the sand and hoped it would all go away.just like always. You're not stupid Katie, you must have known what Jerome was into and yet you still stuck around. Why was that exactly? Because he was good in bed, because he wouldn't let you leave or because you just chose to ignore it and take the beatings.'
He knew he wasn't as angry with her as he seemed. He was mostly angry with Jerome but the fact that she hadn't been able to trust even him with how bad things had been hurt him deeply. Their relationship had deepened since he'd come back a year ago.
'How dare you!' She was more than furious now; she was enraged beyond the point of reason.
'No don't give me that. Don't get mad at me for getting involved; don't get mad at me for caring. Just remember Katie; I won't always be here to get you out of the bad things. I'm not always going to be here to rescue you.'
'I do not need rescuing.I don't need you bursting in on me and dragging me away as if I am a child. It's time you realised that I'm an adult now and I make my own decisions.' She had stepped closer to him, shaking violently.
'Well if you didn't act like child then I wouldn't. When are you going to grow up? You're playing in a big world here little girl, bigger than you know and I am not going to be there all the time.I can't be cleaning up your mess anymore.'
They were so close now that he could feel the heat coming off of her in waves. She was angry and she was hurt. He'd gone too far.said too much but that was always the way it was with her.
'I don't need someone from a mental institution to be my knight in shining armour! If I want help I'll go to someone who is mentally capable of dealing with the real world!'
He grabbed her by her upper arms and stared hard into her eyes. 'Now you wait a minute.'
'No you wait a minute.I didn't ask you to come charging in and drag me all the way here. I didn't want your help; I didn't want you to know that he beat me and hurt me. I didn't want you to know that my fiancée was a drug- dealer.that was why I didn't call on you for help. I didn't want you hanging over my shoulder watching my every move and telling me how to run my life!'
He didn't know how it happened; afterwards he could never tell who made the first move all he knew was that he was angry with her. Far angrier than he had ever been in his life, it blinded him and he could hardly think straight.
One minute he was staring into her furious blue eyes and the next minute he was kissing her passionately. The thing that always surprised him afterwards was not the kiss itself but the fact that she responded with equal feeling.
His head finally caught up with the rest of him and he thrust her away from him. 'Jesus Christ!' Normally he didn't swear but he didn't know what else to say. Tony's daughter, Tony's daughter; that thought reverberated around his brain. She was 15 years younger than he was if not more and he had thought that he was a surrogate father to her; that he thought of her as his.
With a shock he realised that he hadn't felt that way towards her in a long time, somehow, somewhere along the line his feelings for her had changed beyond the point of return. As he looked at her, he saw that she was a woman now and that his feelings for her had long since changed. Every time he'd touched her, every word he'd spoken to her since that day nearly two years ago flashed through his mind. She'd sought the team out for help back then and even then he'd somehow known without knowing that he didn't really think of her as a daughter.a friend yes but daughter, no, not now. She was too different now and he was changed too.
She was breathing hard and looking like a deer caught in the headlights. 'Katie.' He made to reach out to her but his hand dropped back to his side uselessly. 'I'm so sorry.I should have had more control than that.'
Slowly she raised her hand to her lips.their fingertips touching them thoughtfully. She looked at him; all her anger was gone now, she looked confused but not disgusted. He saw something in her eyes and remembered the way she'd responded to him. He had to get away from her before he lost control completely. Things were too confused now.what he'd thought he felt was not what he was really feeling.
'I'm sorry.' He said again. This time she was the one that made the first move and even as he tried to pull away she was drawing him closer. Something that should feel so wrong was starting to feel so right.
Without even knowing it he'd pushed her back against the door still kissing her, holding her. He undid the buttons of her shirt without thinking and her legs were around his waist before he could even acknowledge what was happening.
He felt her hand fumbling for his khakis and he wanted to pull away, to ask her if this was what she wanted or if it was because of the way Jerome had treated her that she was doing this.
He did none of these things, instead he undid her jeans, pulling them down and blocking out every thought of what he was doing and whom he was doing it with.
He opened his eyes and looked at her.she was looking at him with something very close to shock in her eyes. They'd gone too far and now the realization was hitting them. 'Katie.' He spoke her name in a whisper and she came back down to earth.
'Yes.' It was an answer to his unspoken question, the question he had asked only with his eyes. 'It's ok.'
He removed her legs from around his waist and redid his khakis. 'No.no it's not. I won't do that.not with you, not now, not like this.'
He thought he saw tears in her eyes. 'Get some sleep.' He walked out of the room leaving Katie to stand there lost in a whirl of confused emotions.
