-A-

R&R

Lining up the target in his cross hairs, Peck took a breath and slowly released it, pulling back gently on the trigger as he did so. The shot whispered from the barrel of his sniper rifle and slid home into its target, the tender flesh and life fluids spraying outwards in a spectacular shower of destruction as the hapless victim tumbled to the ground.

Quickly reloading, the dense woodlands around him giving him good cover, he repositioned the rifle against his shoulder and quickly ran complex mental calculations for distance, weight, wind sheer, currents...

"Did that poor, defenseless watermelon do something to upset you?"

Face almost jumped out of his skin before looking up at the tall, grinning man who had managed to sneak up on him and hid his surprise behind a cheeky grin of his own, "I'm allergic, melons offend me."

Murdock barked a laugh and plopped down into a cross-legged position beside him, quirking a curious eyebrow and nodding at the rifle cradled in Peck's arms, "We're supposed to be on vacation, don't you ever take a break?"

Face grimaced good naturedly, he practised with his rifle for two hours every day without fail and he wasn't about to break the habit for a week, regardless of wether they were on holiday, and especially as he still wasn't sure about the potential risk factor conjured by his visitor. He answered the question with a question of his own, "How did you sneak up so quietly? You got paws for feet?"

The pilot smiled enigmatically, "I was always good at hide and seek."

Face, sensing a challenge in the other man's voice, narrowed his eyes, "Hide and seek is great if you're a kid but we're soldiers." The smile slid from his face and he narrowed his eyes in shrewd observation, "How did you creep up on me like that?"

Murdock hopped up into a crouch and flashed an unhinged grin, "Count to fifty!" He sprang upright and sprinted off into the woods, his crashing footfalls quickly falling silent as whatever technique he'd used on Peck hid his direction of travel.

Face stood and frowned. Was this more of that ninja stuff he'd cracked out in the gym? Curious as to whether whatever stealth techniques he clearly knew about could compare to special forces training, Peck hunkered down into a crouch and crept into the the trees.

Twenty minutes later and Howling Mad Murdock sat perched like a monkey high in a rubber tree, his face smeared with camouflaging dirt. Eyes shining with the thrill of the chase, he fought to keep a grin from splitting his face, knowing that the white of his teeth would instantly give him away to the man who was stalking him if he cared to glance up.

A murmur from below threatened to bust the suppressed mirth clear onto his face,

"Come out, come out, wherever you are..."

As Peck crept silently through the brush below the tree, Murdock took a long, slow breath, held it, then let it out and dropped from the tree onto the unsuspecting target.

At the last possible nanosecond, Face's instincts twanged and he dodged, turning as Murdock hurtled toward him from the tree, and deflected the stunning blow that had been aimed at his neck. Face dropped to the ground and flipped the taller man through the air by way of a well placed boot to the belly and grasp of his wrist; Murdock landed flat on his back, his eyebrows disappearing into his hairline at the gun muzzle shoved in his face.

There was a pause, a beat in which Murdock held his breath as Peck scrutinised him, hoping that his slightly unhinged charm would save him one last time. Green Berets were notoriously focused: if Peck had genuinely decided that he was a threat, then he was dead.

"Well. Is that any way to greet a friend?"

Peck's eyes narrowed at the other end of the rifle, "Friends don't generally jump each other from rubber trees."

Murdock grinned, "You can't tell me you wouldn't have tried it if our positions were reversed."

The sound of a safety being clicked back into a place prompted Murdock's lungs to start working again and he thanked whichever flying deity that was watching over him today. Peck held out a hand to help him to his feet and he smiled again, "Thanks, Muchacho."

Shaking his head in exasperation, Face fought a smile of his own. This pilot was crazy, but at least he knew how to take care of himself.

"Hey, you wanna get some bánh cuõn?"

This time, Face did laugh, the man was a walking garbage disposal unit, "Seriously? Do you ever stop eating?"

Murdock pulled a candy bar from his pocket, grinned and unwrapped it, "Nope." His eyes flashed suddenly and his head snapped round, "GET DOWN!" He shoved Peck to the ground, instinctively covering him with his own body as a stream of rounds split the air where their heads had just been.

Rolling into action, the two men scattered into the undergrowth, both glad that Peck had chosen his practice area surrounded by plenty of cover for them. Slipping easily into stealth mode, the soldiers circled the area silently.

Murdock was the first to find an antagonist, fear leaping solidly into his throat and threatening to blow his cover as he realised that the VC had Peck squarely in his sights.

Lining up his pistol, he took aim as quickly as he dared.

Four shots rang out simultaneously and Murdock heard the thump of a human body hitting the dirt alarmingly close to his back at the same moment that his own target fell. Whipping around, he saw the fallen form of a VC less than ten feet behind him. Looking quickly at his saviour, he saw the man in question clock his own adversary with the same stunned expression Murdock figured was on his own face.

The two men blinked blankly at one another, stumbled through the clearing until they were within arms reach of each other. Each man took a grip of the other's upper arms, both squeezing tightly and looking deeply into the other's eyes, as if to make sure he was still alive.

Then burst out laughing.

Sagging to the ground together, the helpless laughter sapping all the strength from their legs, they laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed until they ran out of breath.

Peck was the first to catch his breath, "Shit... that... was too close..."

Murdock clutched at his chest, willing his lungs to fill faster, "You're not kiddin'." Something colourful caught his eye and he quirked a smirk, reaching for the discarded chocolate.

Returning to the motel much, much later in the day, Peck and Murdock staggered into the motel together, the boisterous racket they were making waking up their team mates.

BA stuck a rumpled, grumpy head out of his bedroom door and scowled at the two men. Peck was wearing Murdock's jacket and one of his Chucks, and the damn fool pilot had the other Chuck and Face's tie draped debonairly across his head.

Then BA made a huge error in judgment.

He met Murdock's eye.

Having made definite eye contact with his favourite mud sucker, the lanky, drunken, excitable flyboy bounded in an almost straight bee-line for BA and all but launched himself into the Sergeant's arms, "BA! BA! Guess who's my bestestest bud in the whooooole jungle?"

BA dropped his armload of pilot with a thump and grumped, "I don't care, Fool! Go to bed!"

Rubbing his bottom from where he'd landed on it, Murdock pointed at Peck who was leaning heavily on a nearby wall and trying his damnedest not to fall off the floor, "Faceman! He saved me! He's my hero!"

Resisting the urge to kick the excitedly shrieking man, BA returned to his room and slammed the door.

"Muuuurdock..."

Murdock had clambered to his feet and was banging on all the other guys' doors, insistent that he share the news with them all.

Face slumped lower against the wall, "Muurrrrrdock..."

The other men, including the colonel, had emerged from their rooms and stood grumbling at Murdock as he sang, quite literally sang, his new bestestest friend's praises, oblivious to said bestestest friend who knelt on the floor behind him on the verge of blowing chunks all over the hallway carpet.

Eddie noticed Peck's green countenance just in time and grabbed the Lieutenant, hauling him toward a bathroom before he could drive up their bill considerably by ruining the carpeting.

Helping Peck to position himself in worship of the porcelain god, Eddie leaned against the door frame and watched as the shorter man barfed musically into the toilet bowl.

"Damn, Faceman, you really did a number on yourself tonight, huh?"

Face mumbled into the toilet and Eddie strained to hear, just managing to make out, "I like that name."

Eddie smirked, "You didn't this afternoon; what changed your mind?"

This mumble was a little bit stronger but still wavered with the promise of further regurgitation, "My bestestest friend likes it."

Grinning, Eddie helped him to clean himself up once he'd finished and supported him back to his own room. Murdock was banging around in the room next door; from the sounds of it he was engaged in a deep philosophical debate with the bedside cabinet. Eddie loaded the Lieutenant into bed fully clothed - the other man was way too floppy to be undressed without the help of at least four men. Nipping out to grab him a glass of water and a bucket, Eddie brought the things in and retreated, the figure on the bed now thoroughly unconscious and snoring like a train.

-A-