Author's note: Here we are at the end of the road. Many thanks to all the people who have followed this story and to the ones who have reviewed it. Hope this final chapter proves satisfactory to everyone.
"Hannibal? Hannibal!"
The colonel felt his head swimming as he started to regain consciousness. He managed to get his eyes open and saw that he was on the floor of Murdock's motel room, he rolled over to look up and saw Face hovering over him.
"Hannibal, are you alright?"
"W-wh—what happened?" Hannibal slowly asked as he waited for the stars to stop spinning in front of his eyes.
"I don't know," Face told him.
From the other side of the room, B.A. was trying to wake up Murdock, with even less results.
"Come on you crazy fool, get up," B.A. said as he lightly smacked the pilot's cheek to rouse him.
"Hu-huh, what?" Murdock opened his eyes, yawned and said, "Hey B.A., when'd you get here?"
"Get up, fool!" B.A. told him as he kicked Murdock off the bed, the sudden commotion proved enough to also bring M.D. around as well.
"Hannibal, what's going on here?" Face asked as the colonel got to his feet and seemed to regain some of his balance.
Hannibal tried to think back and remember what had happened, and then it came to him.
"Frankie…she did this, she knocked me out…but where is she?"
"She wasn't here when we got here," Face told him, "You don't think that she…" he caught the look on Hannibal's face and nodded, "Of course you do, and of course she did."
"Did what?" Mad Dog asked.
Hannibal explained, "She went to deal with Masterson herself, and she made sure she got us out of the way before she left."
"How much of a head start do you think she got on us?" Face asked.
"I don't now, but we need to catch her before she gets there," Hannibal said.
They rushed out of the motel room but before they could reach the van, bright lights were thrown on them and they were blinded.
"Freeze, United States Army!"
The lights dimmed and they saw several MP cars crowded around the exit from the motel back onto the main road, and a group of MPs standing in front of them.
"Of course," Hannibal dryly noted as they put their hands up.
The clock struck the hour, the clangs of the bell in the clock rang throughout the house and echoed, making an almost maddening sound. Richard Masterson looked around the room, as if expecting something or someone to jump out and yell 'boo!', whoever had been calling him over the past two days had stopped calling a few hours ago. Now he was trying to anticipate if this meant another visit from whatever that thing was in his window the night before.
And then, his eyes widened and he felt his heart move up to his throat, he heard footsteps outside the house. They came up to the front door and stopped, and the door slowly creaked open. He went to the dining room threshold and saw the door slowly swing all the way open and stepping into the house was Frankie, wearing a white wedding dress clumsily pulled on over her jeans and T-shirt. It was the same wedding dress Murdock had worn the other night for his own performance, but he didn't need to know that.
"Hello, Richard," she said as she stepped further in and kicked the door shut behind her, "Do you remember me? I'm sure you do, I'm sure you've been thinking of me quite often."
"F-Frankie," he said, taken aback, "What's this all about? What're you doing here?"
"You're surprised to see me?" she asked as she watched every move he made, "Oh and I was so hoping that when you mentioned that 'nice ripe 20-year-old waiting for you back home', that it was me you had in mind. I know I've been thinking a lot about you lately. Waiting for this moment," she pulled the sharpened cutter out from behind her back and held it like she was going to slash him, the way Hannibal had taught her. "Three years, Richard, did you really think that I wouldn't get to the truth given enough time?"
He started to back up as he realized how serious the situation was becoming and he told her, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I do," Frankie replied as she inched along with him, "You killed Alice Arden, you did it solely to set Mad Dog up, you followed us, you knew we were alone that night, you drugged us, you murdered that woman and dumped her body in his living room, then you called in your friends at the police station. You knew I was in that house, you gave that cop the direct order not to take me along. And I don't know how but you knew I was going to the prosecutor handling the case and you had him killed too so nobody would find out the truth of what happened that night. You know, Richard, I've gotten a little experience in cutting people open, and I'll be honest I just don't see what the big appeal of it is…I'm sure you do though, and now you're going to get a dose of your own medicine."
"Frankie…" Masterson was cut off when he unexpectedly backed into something jabbing him and he moved to the side.
"I never could figure out why you took the cake server since it would've only further incriminated Mad Dog…but Hannibal was right, you like a trophy from your kill…that's why you swapped the knives. How many other trophies do you have? When the police turn your utensil drawer inside out, are they going to find blood traces on all the blades in it?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said.
"It doesn't matter how many people you butchered yourself, you've got plenty of blood on your hands, all those other girls you cornered in their homes when they were alone. I followed the papers, I read every one of their suicide notices…nobody else could ever figure out why all those young girls would hang themselves or drive their car at 80 miles an hour into a wall, but I did…and I always swore if you ever got your hands on me, if I killed myself I was going to take you down with me."
"Frankie…"
"Don't!" Frankie pointed at him with the cutter, and he froze in his tracks, "Don't even think of trying to get one of your own knives from the kitchen, that ain't gonna help you now. You're such a man, you always wanted to prove your manhood to any girl who had the misfortune of crossing your path, so stand your ground and take what happens to you like a man for once in your damn life. The authorities are going to be here soon enough to deal with you, they know everything."
Masterson's eyes widened, "You told the police?"
"No, not the police, a higher authority, a more powerful one, an unstoppable force the A-Team," she told him, "Green Berets, the Special Forces, United States Army-made killers, they'll be here very soon to finish this matter, but by the time they do get here there isn't going to be much left to settle. They said just leave it to them, they would deal with you…" she shook her head, "They don't get that privilege, they don't have that right, they didn't spend 3 years with life as they knew it falling apart because of you, they haven't had the benefit of being driven stark raving mad out of their minds by you, that's all on me, and Mad Dog. He never had the stomach to do anything with you, so I have to do that for him as well, and I'll do it gladly; you thought you could just have him sent to prison and I'd never see him again and I'd forget about him and then you would be there to take his place, well it didn't work. You've ruined both our lives, I got nothing left to lose by killing you now. I could've dealt with just standing aside and letting the police haul you away, but I'm owed my pound of flesh before they do."
"Frankie, you're making too much of this, you don't know what you're talking about," he tried to reason with her.
"I know plenty, I've known since the day I first met you that I didn't like you and I always knew there was a reason…you fooled my parents but you could never fool me…you fooled a lot of people, but none of that matters now, they can't help you now…you can try calling for help but I think you'll find that your telephone isn't working right now, the storm and all," she sneered at him, "And in any case by the time anybody got here, it'd be too late to help you anyway. You wanted me for all those years, Richard, well I'm here now, so come and get me, or I'm gonna come and get you. I know your kind well enough to know you never stop, so I'm performing a public service for all those new young girls that you're never going to get a chance to get your grimy hands on. They can put me in the electric chair for what happens here tonight but it'll be well worth it to rid the world of you. You're the worst kind of killer because you're a coward, you won't even stand your ground to fight when somebody actually retaliates against you."
At that moment, the lights went out, and Masterson took that opportunity to make a break for it. He had been only inches from his kitchen and when the house went dark, he scrambled to the back door and ran outside. When he did, he felt the ground beneath him vibrating as a particularly loud crash of thunder exploded and it felt like an earthquake underneath him. The rain had come and it was pouring down in sheets that nearly blinded him. Only half able to see where he was going, Masterson ran around to the front yard to try and reach his car parked down at the curb, but he never made it.
When Masterson ran out the back door, Frankie ran back out the front and slipped in the mud and fell on her knees. Even without the heels she could see very well why Murdock had had so much trouble moving in this thing. She was trying to get up again when she saw Masterson running towards her and she knew that she only had one shot at this. She gripped the handle of the pie server in both hands in an underhanded move, and when he blindly ran by her she lunged up and with full force, rammed the blade into his stomach. The noise he made was great, though it was hardly loud enough to hear at all. He didn't scream as she thought he would, he only let out a choked gasp and moan and collapsed in the yard beside her.
"Home again," Hannibal said as they were marched into the front lobby of the Federal Building.
"Well well," Decker commented amusedly as he took in the sight before him, "Look what the cat dragged in."
"Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you," Hannibal said with a small grin.
Decker came over to see the prisoners and Hannibal mimicked his posture and facial expression and said in a gruff voice mocking Decker's, "This is the end of the line, Smith." Then he resumed his normal disposition and asked the other colonel, "Isn't that about what you'd say?"
"Except you're not getting away this time," Decker told him, and marched along examining each one of them. Smith, Baracus, Peck... "Well, Captain Murdock, nice to see you could join the party."
"Oh yeah? Can I be the Indian guy who throws the tea overboard?" Murdock asked.
"Leave him alone, Decker," Hannibal said, "The man's insane, he hardly even knows who he is."
"You expect me to believe that, Smith? How stupid do you think I am?" Decker asked.
"I don't know," Hannibal replied humorously, "I didn't know there was a gauge for it."
Decker moved along the line and looked at the fifth man. "And who is this?" he looked back to Hannibal and mocked, "One of your hostages?"
"Yeah, that's it," Hannibal said.
"We're going to run his fingerprints and find out just who he is," Decker told them.
"Fingerprints?" Mad Dog asked, "You want fingerprints? I'll give you fingerprints, a whole lot of them!" And without warning, he lunged at Decker and wrapped his hands around the colonel's throat.
It was an action that took everybody by surprise, including the A-Team, but it bought them enough time to ambush the MPs so they could make their getaway. B.A. slammed two men's heads together and knocked them out, Face and Murdock helped a couple more reach the same goal, Hannibal KO'd a couple more and it seemed their window of opportunity was open. There was only one problem.
Mad Dog hadn't let go of Decker when the others had finished with the MPs and right now he seemed to be mopping the floor with the colonel; there wasn't a single part of Decker's body that wasn't being stomped, kicked, punched or thrashed into a wall.
"He's really lost it!" Face noted.
Hannibal and B.A. went over and grabbed Mad Dog by the back of his shirt, as he had grabbed Decker by the top seams of his jacket and knocked him against the wall repeatedly, and pulled the young man off of Decker. Decker's eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped down the wall unconscious, the A-Team made their exit through the front door but it was now with Mad Dog struggling and trying to fight them instead. Hannibal grabbed the young man harder to get his attention and shook him, "Mad Dog, calm down!"
But he didn't hear Hannibal, he was half rambling something to himself, as though he was still attacking Decker. B.A. drew a hand back and slapped Mad Dog at half force trying to snap him out of it, and it must've done something because he stopped resisting them and started talking coherently.
"I should've done that to Masterson when I first met him, then none of this would've happened, we wouldn't be going through this now…if only I'd had the brains to kill him back then..."
"Mad Dog, calm down," Hannibal tried to approach the volatile young man.
But it was like he didn't acknowledge any of their presences, the fight was leaving him and he started to sink down onto the ground himself as he continued babbling, "I should've killed him when I had the chance, I should've done something…I…" his voice was starting to break, "I was supposed to protect Frankie…and I didn't! …I didn't!" He sank down on the ground completely and clamped a hand over his mouth as he broke out sobbing.
Murdock was the first to reach him, he crouched down beside M.D. and hugged him tight, Hannibal knelt down and placed a hand on M.D.'s back, he didn't respond to the touch, Hannibal soothingly patted his back and helped Murdock lift the man to his feet. Right now there wasn't a member of the A-Team who didn't feel sick seeing this, watching Mad Dog fall apart. He still blamed himself for all that had happened and it was a feeling they could understand very well, they also knew the futility of it, and the fact that knowing this never seemed to help the person going through this. What had just happened here was three years' worth of hate and rage and self-blame and guilt finally manifesting themselves into something real and forcing their way out.
Since they'd been forced to leave B.A.'s van back at the motel, which apparently was how the MPs had caught them, by following it from one motel to the next, they decided to liberate one of the MP cars for the night. They got Mad Dog settled in the back with Murdock, who continued to try consoling the distraught younger man, and Hannibal told Face, "Get on the phone, call for an ambulance, and give them the address to Masterson's house, I have a feeling by the time we get there, somebody's going to need it."
It only took them a few minutes to reach the house, but they already knew they'd missed all the action. They could see the front door standing wide open to the house, the lights were out though, but with the headlights from the car they were able to see a body laying in the yard. Everybody got out of the car and ran over to find that it was Masterson, who had been stabbed in the stomach, and despite the rain pouring down, had a nice patch of blood staining his shirt.
"Is he dead?" Mad Dog asked.
Hannibal felt the man's neck, "I got a pulse…"
"Too bad we already called for the ambulance," Face noted, right now even he had a little devil in him that'd be only too happy to see this man croak where he lay.
"But where's Frankie?" Mad Dog asked as he looked around frantically.
Hannibal signaled for the others to be quiet so he could listen. It was hard to hear much of anything over the rain but everybody listened, and they were able to hear a quiet choking sound. Hannibal turned and traced the sound to coming from around the side yard of the house. They went in that direction and stopped when they saw a pair of shoes sticking out from under a large tree. Frankie was laying under the tree, half shielded from the rain, her body horribly contorted on the ground, she was lightly rocking from side to side as she cried hysterically, her arms were wrapped around her body, and her hands were still coated in blood.
"Frankie," Hannibal whispered as he crouched down beside her to see if she was injured.
She didn't hear him, and she didn't respond. She never opened her eyes, just continued to cry inconsolably. Mad Dog knelt down on the other side of her and carefully put his arms around her, lifting her a few inches up from the ground, and holding her against him as she continued to sob, completely unaware of anybody's presence. He smoothed back a few wet strands of hair that had plastered to her forehead, and he brought his head down until his forehead touched with hers, and though she couldn't hear him, the others heard him as he spoke to her, "Frankie…it's over, Frankie…"
Frankie jerked her head from side to side as if she finally heard him, but still there were no words, only animalistic cries and wails. Mad Dog kissed her on her forehead and said quietly, "Don't cry, Frankie…I still love you."
Emotional turmoil at its finest, and still Murdock found himself moved, so much so that he lowered his head and brought a hand up to wipe a lone tear away from his own eye with the middle finger of his right hand.
Frankie made a sudden choking noise and fell back against the ground, her breathing rapid now and it seemed the problems were caused by a sudden pain in her chest. Hannibal felt her neck for a pulse and said, "She's going into shock."
"It was too much for her," Murdock said as he took off his jacket and gave it to Mad Dog to cover her with.
"What was?" Mad Dog asked as he took the jacket.
"Knowing what she'd done…and knowing why she had to do it," Murdock told him.
"Had to?" Face repeated.
"A necessary evil it was," Murdock said, as though he knew what he was talking about, "She had the stomach for it but lost the nerve...she didn't get any pleasure out of doing this to him, she thought she could take what she had to do, but she couldn't." He pointed to the woman convulsing on the ground and told the others, "There's the proof, she's not evil, she's damaged but she's still human, unlike that thing over there in the front yard."
Off in the distance they could hear sirens of the approaching ambulance and they all let out a sigh of relief.
"Hannibal!" B.A. called and pointed to what else he'd found under the tree.
Hannibal pulled out the wedding dress that had once been white but was now a mess of mud, grass stains and blood.
"Take this and hide it, we'll burn it later," Hannibal told B.A.
"Burn it?" Face repeated, "What for?"
"The justice system didn't do these two any favors the first go around, and it won't now either, so we're going to do it for them," Hannibal told his men.
They heard a sharp hiss and groan coming from Masterson, he was starting to come around. Hannibal marched over to him and when the man opened his eyes, Hannibal told him, "If you can hear me then know this…I've seen enough war injuries to bank it's a safe bet you're going to live. And if you do make it out of that hospital alive, you are going to give a full confession to the police about what you did, and you are going to offer up that cake server you used to butcher Alice Arden with. If you do not, we will find out and we're going to come back for you, and if you think that pinprick you got in your gut is bad, just wait till we have a turn with you."
The ambulance pulled up and Hannibal went over and told the paramedics, "We have two injured people here, and they can not ride together, believe me."
A second ambulance was called in and until it arrived, the paramedics busied themselves with both patients but first and foremost with making sure Masterson didn't croak on them. When the second ambulance came they got Frankie loaded up onto a gurney, covered with heavy blankets and strapped down so she couldn't move. She was still half out of her mind with shock and hysteria and couldn't talk, Hannibal wasn't even sure she knew where she was.
"I've got to go with her," Mad Dog told the paramedics.
Hannibal nodded and told them, "Let him, he's the only family she's got right now."
They let him ride along, they got the doors shut up on both ambulances and drove out into the storm, leaving the A-Team behind in the dust with the rain pouring down on them.
"So now what, Hannibal?" Face asked.
"Now we wait," Hannibal answered.
The sun was shining bright, the sky was blue and clear, the weather was warm and dry, nothing like the storm that had long since passed. The birds were out singing, the flowers were in full bloom, and everybody seemed to be out taking in the sun and fresh air, well as fresh as California air got.
Hannibal, Face, B.A. and Murdock followed the path of the limestone sidewalk that led through to the small park. They were just in time to see Mad Dog and Frankie coming up their way; in a way they looked like the ideal silent film couple, two young people madly in love, walking through the park hand in hand, and ooh didn't they look cute together?
"Hey!" Frankie said in surprise when she spotted them. They went up to the A-Team and she asked, "What're you guys doing here?"
"We came by to offer our congratulations," Hannibal told them.
"On what?" Frankie asked.
Hannibal puffed on his cigar and blew out a slow trail of smoke and answered, "Well we've been following the newspapers, we know that the jury came back with its verdict."
Frankie smiled sadly and nodded. After the night when she stabbed Masterson, as soon as the chaos had all died down, the police had come to the hospital and arrested her. She had gone without protest, but somebody had been looking after them, a lawyer was called for her and assigned to her case, and he had made it clear that he intended to convince the Grand Jury to not seek charges against her. At the same time, Mad Dog had been taken into custody of a mental hospital that was evaluating him for diagnosis and any necessary treatments until further notice; Murdock's psychiatrist, Dr. Richter, examined both of them for a time before recommending other specialists to take over for him while he resumed his work at the V.A. It had been a long, drawn out process that involved round the clock tests, exams and interviews by psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologists, and every other mental professional in the state who all wanted to get Frankie's own story from her mouth and body language and judge it against past cases and studies, and what they knew.
Ultimately it had been concluded that Frankie had been suffering both a nervous and mental breakdown at the time of the attack, brought about by years of trauma, extreme emotional distress, and post traumatic stress that were left undiagnosed and untreated. She had spent several weeks receiving psychiatric care at a facility and now had been deemed fit to leave the hospital and reenter society only a couple of days ago. The pie cutter had been retrieved as evidence, and the psychiatrists testifying on her behalf pointed to this as further proof that she was not in her right mind when she attacked Masterson because a person dead set on a premeditated murder would never use a pie cutter of all things, and they certainly wouldn't do such a shoddy job of sharpening it. They looked at how jagged and uneven the finished product had been left as, a blind determination, but no intentional forethought behind it, just a blind reaction that set her to make it like that.
And in other news, once Frankie's whole story was told in front of the Grand Jury, the state had decided to prosecute Richard Masterson on one charge of premeditated murder, and other lesser charges of statutory rape, stalking, and criminal harassment. He'd made a deal with the District Attorney and pled guilty for a reduced sentence, though it still amounted to more or less a life sentence, and spared all still living victims the ordeal of having to testify against him; and since he pled guilty to the murder Mad Dog had originally been charged with, M.D. had been cleared and given a clean bill of mental health to boot by the doctors who examined him.
Also, since it was obvious he had had help in his escapades, as part of the plea agreement Masterson had given them the names of the police officer who had called in the raid and arrest at Murdoch's home, as well as the staff member at the V.A. who had filled out the forms to schedule Murdoch for a lobotomy, and the staff at the Freemont hospital who helped shoehorn a clearly sane man in as a patient, and then bussed him out to another hospital when things started looking suspicious. Also, a formal investigation was pending with the Freemont hospital after complaints had been filed against the staff there for inhumane treatment of its other patients, and it looked promising that the hospital may close before too long. All in all it had been a very busy week for the local justice system.
"They let me go because I had some very professional psychiatric people speaking on my behalf," Frankie said as she looked to Murdock, "Tell your doctor Richter I said thanks for calling in the pros."
Murdock smiled sheepishly and replied, "Anytime, cous, anytime."
"I also see by the newspapers," Hannibal said to them with a knowing smirk, "That you two have announced your engagement."
"And we wanted to be the first ones to come by and congratulate you on the matter," Face added, "Uh…in fact we decided to give you guys our wedding present to you now." He picked up a briefcase he'd carried out with him and gave it to Mad Dog.
"What is it?" he asked as he slowly opened it.
"We just got done doing a job for a Turkish diplomat whose son got into some hot water giving new meaning to the term 'diplomatic relations'," Hannibal explained, "A job he was willing to pay handsomely for, and he did."
Mad Dog opened the briefcase and he and Frankie both about dropped dead from shock at seeing thousands of dollars bundled up in the case.
"How much is this?" Frankie asked.
"Ten thousand dollars," Hannibal answered, "Ten percent of our fee for the job."
"For once we actually got paid the full amount," Face added cynically.
"Oh my God, I don't know what to say," Frankie said as she moved over towards them, "Thank you."
"That's good enough," Hannibal said as he pulled her into a hug, "Congratulations, kid."
"You don't know how much this means to us," she said.
"I do," Face replied as he came next in line, "Ten thousand dollars' worth. We figured that way you two could skip the starter house and find something more permanent to settle in now and avoid the rush."
Murdock came up behind Face and was waiting with his arms outstretched wide and a big grin on his face. As Frankie hugged him she pulled up his ball cap and noted, "Hey, you've got brown hair again!"
"Yeah well," he replied as he pulled his cap down, "I decided to go natural again, besides we decided we only really need one blonde on the Team."
"Who's that?" Frankie asked.
Face cleared his throat loudly. Frankie turned back to him and asked, "You got hay fever?"
"Everybody's a comedian," he said.
"Hannibal, thank you so much, I can't believe that you would do this for us," Frankie said as she went back to him and hugged him again, "Oh, I'm just so sorry about the things I did to you guys before."
Hannibal waved it off, "No harm no foul, we knew you weren't quite yourself when it happened. Speaking of which, how'd they treat you at that hospital?"
"Well it was better than I thought it was going to be," she answered, "Everybody there seemed really nice."
"Of course they did, they're insane, like me!" Murdock said, "You ever see a grouchy crazy person?"
"You about to see a crazy fool go into orbit," B.A. told him, "You keep acting crazy and I'm gonna see how far I can throw you."
"Hannibal!" Murdock called as he ducked behind the colonel where it was safe.
"You know," Frankie said, "At the hospital they're very big on the idea that you're never cured, it's just coming to terms with what's wrong and working through it…I don't know, I think…I think I'm going to be alright now."
"That's good," Murdock said as he came out from behind Hannibal and went over to her to hug her again, "I'm very proud of you, cous."
"It's weird," she said as she pulled away from it, "Anymore it just seems like it was all a nightmare."
Murdock reached over and touched her cheek with his thumb and replied, "Or like Dracula…you look better now, you were really pale a couple months ago, you look alive now, like you turned off the tap for the bloodsucker."
"I suppose in a way he was," she said, "Now that I don't ever have to worry about seeing him anymore, it's like everything's different now, like…"
"Like a new beginning," Hannibal noted.
Frankie nodded.
"It's been great seeing you guys again," Mad Dog told them, "Murdock, I don't know how to tell you this, but we're giving you back your airplane ring."
"How come?" Murdock asked.
Frankie held up her left hand and showed them the plain, if dull, gold band on her finger. "We got a replacement."
"Didn't cost much," Face noted.
Murdock cleared his throat and stepped on Face's foot.
"He's right," Frankie said, "It came from a second hand shop…it's good enough for us, it's a hell of an improvement over no ring."
"And how about you, Mad Dog?" Murdock asked, "How's your therapy coming along?"
"Well the doctor says that it's going fine and he thinks in a few more weeks, I won't have to see him anymore," he answered, "Thanks."
"I knew that Dr. Richter would be able to find somebody to handle you two," Murdock said, "The man is a miracle worker."
B.A. scoffed and snorted and remarked, "Then how come he ain't fixed you yet, crazy man?"
"We really appreciate everything you guys went through to help us," Mad Dog told them.
"I imagine now you two are going to be famous," Murdock said.
"Notorious is more like it," Frankie replied, "Now that the story's out, everybody wants to interview us, they want us to do TV appearances, they want to make a movie out of it, it's ridiculous."
"Not a bad way to make a living though," Hannibal replied cheerfully.
"You guys will have to come and look us up sometime after we find a new house," Mad Dog said.
"Yeah, we don't have a television set yet," Frankie told Murdock, "But we got a lot of games, I got really good at dominoes and Jenga in the hospital playing with all the other crazies, everything between the junkies drying out and the schizophrenics who use their dogs to cheat."
"They let dogs in the hospital?" Face asked.
"No," Frankie answered.
Hannibal and B.A. glanced at each other at that comment.
"Frankie," Hannibal spoke up, "Have you spoken to your parents yet?"
She shook her head sadly, "Not yet I haven't, I'm not ready to speak to them yet."
"You know someday you're going to have to forgive them," Hannibal told her.
She nodded, "I know…" she paused before shaking her head and telling him, "But today isn't it." She pointed to herself and Mad Dog and said, "We got three years of stuff to work through…but I alone have 13 with them, I'm going to need some more time to think about what I need to say to them."
"Well, if you need some support when the day comes, you know how to reach us," Hannibal told her.
"Thanks but…" she squeezed Mad Dog's hand and said, "I think we'll do fine by ourselves."
"Yeah, why not?" Mad Dog replied, "It'll be about time I meet my future in-laws, ooh what a reception I can just imagine that being."
Hannibal smiled his trademark toothy grin that always put Face on edge, but this time it was for a good reason; it seemed to him that roles had finally reversed themselves back into their intended positions. Ever since that fateful night, Mad Dog seemed to have slipped back into the role of the older, more protective spouse, and it showed now that they were back together. No more did he seem like he'd jump at a leaf blowing and grab hold of the closest thing to him, now he looked as confident and self assured as any con Face could put on to secure whatever they needed for a mission. Now, he finally looked as though, should the situation call for it, he would be the one to step in and protect his fiancée, instead of Frankie having to do so for the both of them.
A necessary evil, that's what Murdock had said that night had been; had it been left to any of them, they would've preferred for events to have occurred differently than they had. But, looking back now, Hannibal realized that what happened had to be done for justice to finally be served. As soldiers of war, they all knew too well how 'necessary evils' worked and how much they hated doing them at the time, even if it couldn't be avoided. In retrospect, he understood why Frankie had taken it upon herself to confront Masterson; she'd said it in the beginning, his killing Alice Arden was personal, and it showed in how he had murdered her, and this would be personal too, it was the only way justice could be done. It would mean nothing if four random strangers busted into his house and cleaned his clock, for the attack to come from somebody he knew, especially as well as he knew Frankie, that was the clencher, his own words with the man were just the icing on the cake, and both served a purpose.
"Congratulations you two," he said again, "You'll have to let us know when the big day is."
"We will," Mad Dog told him, "Thanks again."
Murdock went over to Frankie, grabbed her hands in his and half hugged her, half jumped up and down with her and said, "Congratulations, cous."
Frankie laughed and wrapped her arms around him and replied, "Thanks, cous."
Murdock pulled back and looked like a gear busted in his head when he heard her response. It went unnoticed until after Frankie and Mad Dog had left the park, and then the look on the pilot's face was quite noticeable.
"Uh oh Hannibal," B.A. said, "Looks like whatever was left of Murdock's bird brain finally flew the coop."
"No, B.A.," Hannibal responded, "He's just happy."
Face did a double take, "That's happy?"
"Sure, happy to have an actual relative again," Hannibal answered, "Something that would be nice to have."
"Huh," Face snorted, "I'm already dreading the family reunions."
Hannibal went up to Murdock and clapped a hand on the pilot's shoulder to get his attention and asked him, "You alright, Captain?"
Murdock nodded, "I'm just happy for both of them…" he turned back and saw them disappearing in the sunlight and told the colonel, "They're finally free."
Hannibal patted him on the back and agreed, "They sure are."
"And I'd like to stay the same way as much as possible," Face told them, "So can we please get out of here before Decker finds us?"
"Give the man a break, Face," Hannibal told him, "He just got out of the hospital for that concussion Mad Dog gave him, you think he's going to come storming after us first thing after his release?"
"Yes!" the other three men answered.
Hannibal shrugged with a facsimile innocent look on his face and responded, "Just checking."