I don't own the anything A-Team related or any other known characters that may be referred to during my story. O/C are mine.
It was a busy morning for Murdock who had 'borrowed' Hannibal's jeep to get some groceries and a few items for his new quarters. He was back at the barracks by 1120 hours and just as he was about to pull open the door he had just unlocked with his one quasi-free finger when a cold but familiar voice spoke out "Here Captain, let me get that for you."
Murdock turned to see Lieutenant Carter's icy eyes and cold smile as he propped open the door for the Captain whom he had verbally slammed the night before. Hesitantly Murdock thanked the Lieutenant, and started to walk on to his unit when he heard footsteps follow him around the corner.
"Sir?" called Carter as Murdock stopped and slowly turned.
The young officer jogged a few steps to catch up and after taking a deep breath blurted out "I just wanted to apologize for last night, I was out of line. Blaming it on the beer would be easy but wrong, and I hope we can put that outburst behind us and start again on the right foot."
Murdock looked the kid in the eyes. They were expressionless, and so was Carter's body language. Something in Murdock's gut screamed 'this kid is bad news – run!'. However knowing that over the years he, himself had made awesome first impressions, much against his instincts, Murdock opted for the high road. He forced a smile for the kid, and said as positively as he could muster "Okay kid, I'll give ya another shot, we'll start with a clean slate – but don't make me regret it."
"Thank you Sir!" and as fast as he had come around the corner he was gone. Chills went up Murdock's spine.
He started up the stairs to his quarters. As he rounded the corner to his door there was Face curled up in a ball, sitting on the floor leaning against his door. The pilot smiled to himself as he looked down at Face over his aviator sunglasses.
"How are you feeling today?" asked Murdock with a grin.
"Hungry, and please tell me you bought Aspirin." Face winced at the sound of his own voice.
Murdock smiled unlocking the door. After setting down the bags of groceries he fished out the Aspirin for Face and gave him a glass of water. "Keep those down and I'll make you some breakfast."
"What the hell happened last night?" Face wondered aloud, "I don't remember coming home and I found some awesome bruises on my ribs and my arm this morning."
"I brought you home and I guess the bruises are either from me getting you in from the jeep or from when I stopped you from getting into that fight at the bar."
"Fight! What fight?" exclaimed Face, causing his pounding head to throb.
"A young Lieutenant had some not so nice things to say about my career history. You were going to defend my honour, but I couldn't let you get into trouble for me. So I prevented it by restraining you." commented Murdock as he put a jug of anti-freeze in to the fridge.
Normally, Face would have found that odd but he had learned that Murdock had some odd culinary techniques and was still one hell of a cook. He figured the odd ingredients were mostly for show, he didn't think the pilot would really put anti-freeze in someone's food.
Just then there was a knock at the door. Murdock was busy putting shotgun shells and aftershave in the cupboard so Face went to answer the door. Just as he had suspected, Hannibal and BA were looking for a 'Murdock breakfast' to cure their hangovers too.
"Good morning Slugger, how are you feeling?" Hannibal laughed with a set of play punches to Face's abs that were unsuccessfully blocked by the younger man.
"Rotten." Face replied with a bit of a laugh.
"Hey Boss-Man! Guess who lives here and was nosin' around for a chance to apologize to me this morning?" Murdock called from the kitchen over the sound of bacon frying in the pan.
"Let me guess. It wasn't our new 'friend' Lieutenant Douglas Carter, was it?" Hannibal played along.
"The one and only!" proclaimed Murdock.
"I really didn't like him – was it him you stopped me from hitting? 'Cause if it was, I wish you hadn't!" remarked Face.
"The Captain made the right call Face, that's not a good way to start at a new base. Finding yourself in the MP's shack on the first night is something you should avoid." Hannibal advised.
"So what's the plan Hannibal?" BA asked changing the subject as he watched Murdock crack eggs into a large skillet. The sergeant was looking forward to his breakfast.
"Well, you boys get two whole weeks to settle into life here at Fort Bragg. I'm here for this week, and I'm in meetings all next week. Colonel Stuff. However, General Matheson, the base commander, is quite fond of the idea of you boys finding something to do that's 'useful to the Fort' when I don't have you out on missions." Hannibal said with a smile as he chewed on an unlit cigar. "Matheson said the motor pool always needs help to keep rolling and you are more then welcome over there BA, if that's something you want to do. Face, there are currently no openings as a towel boy at the women's locker room at the sports complex – I already checked. So I put in a good word for you with Captain Henderson who runs the marksman courses and she is looking forward to a little help."
"She?" Face verified.
"Yes, she - and you're welcome." Hannibal smiled with a hint of jealously.
"What about me Boss-Man? Any death-defying, white knuckle, aerial missions for yours truly?" Murdock crowed.
Taking a sip of the coffee that Murdock had just put down, the Colonel continued with the mission for the Captain "Yes, actually, I do." At that the pilot spun an about-turn so fast the scrambled eggs on his wooden spoon almost hit BA in the face. After his quick dodge they landed perfectly on his plate instead.
"Hey watch it, fool! Those eggs are hot!" BA scolded.
"Oh, calm down Bosco. Them flyin' that far they'd be cooled enough to not burn ya." Picking up in a flawless French accent he continued, "and bezides, you said you were 'ungry. Think of zem as your appetizer. Voilà." adding a small bow for effect. At that BA picked up his fork and dug in.
Murdock returned his attention to the Colonel who was biting his lip so hard to keep from laughing it looked like it was starting to hurt.
"So what's the mission, Boss?" Murdock pressed.
"Well, General Matheson wondered if you would be willing to help with flight school, teaching the new guys some of your 'magic'. It could be a different kind of rush then you would be looking for but it gets you into the air." Hannibal replied.
"Hey they gotta learn somewhere – yeah I'll do it! Sounds like fun, moulding the minds of tomorrow's pilots." Murdock replied rubbing his hands together like an evil super genius and adding a diabolical "Bwaa-ha-ha".
"Hell no Hannibal!" BA objected, "That means any pilot down the road could have been trained by this crazy ass fool! That's a whole other kind of scary!"
Murdock leaned into BA's eating space and put another scoop of eggs on his plate to act as a pacifier and whispered "That's the idea. An Army of crazy – we'd be unstoppable." And with another manic laugh he returned to the stove to check on the bacon.
No one spoke but BA returned to his eggs just as the Captain had planned. Face and Hannibal were doing everything they could to not erupt into laughter, which included avoiding eye contact with each other. Just as everyone regained control a can opener cut the silence and BA looked over to see what Murdock was doing now. After recognizing what the Captain was opening he exclaimed "Fool, what the hell are you doin' with that dog food? I ain't eatin' that!"
"Good, 'cause it's not for you, it's for Billy. And don't you go getting' him all riled up and barkin' because they don't know that Face and I snuck him in here last night." warned Murdock. He dumped the can of food into a brand new blue dog bowl inscribed with big letters that said "Billy" and filled the red one beside it with water. He set them both down on the floor next to the fridge. "We're not allowed to have pets and I would appreciate you keeping it quiet that I have him in here." He added.
"I saw nothing." Hannibal said with a smirk around his cigar. Face barely contained his smile with his hand.
"Of course you didn't Hannibal, because there is no dog!" exclaimed BA shaking his head and wishing the rest of his breakfast was ready.