Authors' Notes: Here's the next chapter! We'll be posting this one quickly because we wrote a small New Year's fic, which Drowsy will be posting. And then some time after the first of the year we will be starting on our next major story. And thanks to all those who have reviewed, nice to know we're picking up some new readers. :) Now on with the show.
Hannibal nodded. "We'll make sure everything is ready-to-go, right Murdock?" he glanced back at the pilot, who nodded with a grin, chains already in his hands. He gave them a small rattle.
"I wear the chain I forged in life," he moaned, "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will...I wore it. O! Captive bound and double-ironed!" he continued. "not to know, that ages of incessant labor, by immortal creatures, for this earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptiable is all developed. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's oppertunity missed! Yet such was I! O! Such was I..." he finished, dramatically rattling his chains. "Expect the first ghost when the bell tolls one!"
B.A. just shook his head and rolled his eyes, "Let's get to it Jacob Marley."
"You know what that was from?" Charissa blinked at B.A., the man could surprise the hell out of her at times he really could.
"Sure. A Christmas Carol." He gave a shrug of his large shoulders and worked his way out of his van after grabbing some of the chains from Murdock and got to work on the front driver's side tire.
Charissa sat back and glanced at Face, "Learn something new every day around you guys."
Luckily by now for them, Lynch was long gone, back to the sleepy town they had started out in.
Hannibal chuckled. "Face'll have to get you the DVD for Christmas this year, when we make it back." he slid into the driver's seat temporarily and adjusted the heating, allowing the engines to hum a little louder as they idled quietly in the darkened wooded area.
Murdock and B.A. made good use of their time and quickly put the chains on each of the tires, although the pilot had a hard time keeping up with the burlier man in the snow.
B.A. didn't hear Hannibal's amusing comment as he worked to get the chains on and also to keep Murdock from sinking up to his neck in the damn snow, "Hate this shit." He kept muttering over and over again.
"It'll be a belated Christmas at that." Charissa added, "It's the 24th today." Her eyes shifted down to Face again, a small smirk across her lips, "And it'll be even more so for you Mister." She was still amused and figured she'd probably have to pay for said amusement at some point.
After helping get the last tire taken care of, B.A. wandered up to the driver's side and tapped the window, "Murdock an' I'll give'er a push. You hit the gas Boss." He instructed.
"Merry fuckin' white Christmas." Face glared at the snow and sneezed. The fever had drained but had left behind what he could already tell was going to be a nasty head cold. "I am not shoveling this shit when we get back."
"No one's going to make you. In fact, I think you'll be too busy snuggled up in your pink bunny jammies with a cup of hot cocoa and - " Murdock was cut off by Face's wet towel in the eyes. "Yikes!"
B.A. caught Face's lament and laughed heartedly, "Poor Faceman." He said with a grin and went to the back of the van, "Ready Crazy Man?"
She bit her lip hard and tried so hard not to laugh, but failed, "I'm sorry Face but you're adorable when you're mad and sick." Charissa mused.
"On the count of three." B.A. said loud enough for Hannibal to hear, "One… two… three!" On the three, B.A. shifted all his weight against the back of his van, "Come on Baby, move for Daddy."
On "three", Hannibal floored it. For the first few seconds, it was a heart-wrenching empty squeal. And then, slowly, the van began to move.
Murdock gave a whoop of delight as he felt it move away, and nearly toppled over in teh sliding snow. "I'm going to be froze to my toes if we don't get back in there!"
B.A. nodded in agreement, "Move your skinny ass then." He suggested and high tailed it to the passenger side letting Hannibal drive for the moment at least until they got onto an actual road again. He trusted Hannibal to drive Face not so much and Murdock definitely not. He wasn't sure about letting Charissa drive either… it would be odd to let a girl drive his Baby.
"Good job guys." She had pondered helping out, but figured the best place for her to be was making sure Face behaved himself for the time being, "So where are we going to go?" She was looking at her cell phone for another reason, "A really bad storm is moving over the Midwest and east coast… which means we're in trouble."
"Damn snow. Half of the reason I was glad t'head south an' join up with the Forces." B.A. shook his head and then an idea hit him, "How far are we from Chicago? I know a place we can go."
"Hmm." She switched from the weather back to the GPS and looked it over, "Few hours give or take, why? Who do you know in Chicago?"
In that moment B.A. got a very odd smile across his face, "My Momma. That's who." He chuckled a bit, "She'll be glad to see me, been wantin' me to visit for a while." He looked to Hannibal, "If that works alright that is."
"Pink bunny pajamas on both of you..." Murdock murmured from the back, only to get whacked again by Face, though the con-man was amused by the thought of big B.A. in the nightmare suit.
Hannibal raised an eyebrow. "If she'll take us in, I have no issue with that." he squinted through the windshield as they drove along the service road. "Aha. I see the turnoff and there's the highway..."
"Smack'im again for me Faceman."
"Don't make me start in with the Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer jokes, Face." Charissa grinned and eyed his nose very pointedly which was rather red.
Sadly B.A. couldn't help it and started humming the tune for the very popular yuletide song as he watched the road, "Get us on the main road an' if you want I can take back over the drivin'." He offered before returning to hum the tune again with a snicker.
"I will kill you. All of you." Face glared his best, but it was interrupted by a massive chain of sneezes, ending in a pained moan.
"Mmm, momma's chicken soup would be good." Murdock glanced over at B.A. who was changing places with Hannibal for highway travel. "What about hot cocoa and marhsmallows?"
Luckily for her, Charissa had quick reflexes and managed to avoid being sneezed on and grabbed a box of Kleenex and handed them to Face, "Settle down before you make yourself worse, Dear." She chided him lightly, still highly amused however.
B.A. sighed as he got back into his rightful seat and drove, he knew how to get home with his eyes closed, "Just hang tight Faceman, my Momma will fix you right up." He promised.
"What is your Mom like, B.A.?" Charissa was highly curious.
"She's the greatest. Strict as hell, but a great woman." He said almost wistfully, "An' she bakes like a mad woman this time of year. Mmm homemade ginger bread cookies."
A hint of jealousy towards B.A. budded within Charissa a little in that moment, "Lucky you." She said almost flatly and sat back becoming silent.
Murock glanced at Charissa, curious for a moment, but said nothing. Instead he poked his head through the front seats and looked out the window at the snow, which had settled at this point for a gentle falling pace. "Much easier to see now." he observed.
Hannibal nodded, tapping the dashboard. "And better for the engine, too."
"Please. My Baby can handle this." He caressed the dashboard and gave the steering wheel a kiss, "Such a good girl, you'll get top of the line oil on your next change." He promised in a soothing voice one might use to talk to a pet or a child.
Charissa grumbled at herself and forced herself to swallow back her sudden mood change. She really needed to get over her issues, but something like that wasn't easy to get over, especially when no one else exactly understood or knew about it. But the latter was never going to happen really, she didn't like to flaunt her personal issues. She just blamed her slip up on the fact she was tired and it had been a long day.
"Do you think we could turn the heat up just a bit?" She asked leaning forward, her bout of moodiness gone.
B.A. nodded, "Sure thing." He turned the dial up a little and kept his focus on the road. A few hours later and not much traffic oddly enough to him, they made it into the Chicago city limits, "We'll be there inna bout twenty." He assured them.
Well the surprise is out of the bag, y'all are gonna meet Mrs. Baracus!
Don't forget to drop a review, we love hearing from you guys!