Characters: Murdock and Face
Rating: K+
Warnings/Spoilers: none
Author's Note: This was written as a warm-up for my big bang challenge fic that I'm working on. I have the movie in mind, but like with most of my fics relating to the A-Team, it's not specifically for the show or the movie. Spoilers for the movie and show are non-existent. I also own nothing of either.
Summary: Something is wrong with Face, but can Murdock overcome his own personal hurt to help a friend in need?

Alone and feeling at a complete loss for thought, Murdock continued to sit on the couch and gaze forlornly at the blank tv screen. So much he wanted to feel better, but the coldness within would not leave him. Everything was wrong, so desperately wrong. Normally, being at Face's penthouse-of-the-month meant a lot of good times to be had. Everything had to be explored! No light-switch was left turned off; no remote untested, and definitely no door was left shut.

Things were different today though. Part of Murdock was glad that Hannibal and B.A. had left on an errand for their mission; they didn't need to be part of this. The cruelty of Face's words had plunged Murdock's world into an icy pool that drowned his joy and locked him in a cold state of confusion. The suddenness of it all, the anger, the hurt… it just wasn't like him.

Murdock reached for the remote on the coffee table and found that his hands were still trembling. Who had hurt his friend? What anomaly had hurled itself upon Face that it would destroy him like so, to burn him with such mean and pitiless insults?

Indeed he did live in a mental hospital and true, he wasn't normal. But there was one thing he surely wasn't, and that was stupid. Perhaps there had been some truth to being called a coward, that he was afraid to face the world after having lived in the shelter of medical officers for the greater part of ten years. This didn't make him stupid though. Didn't Face know him better than that?

Murdock wrapped his fingers around the remote, his thumb sliding up to the power button. One simple action, and he could easily cast himself in someone else's' life, another person's problems, and be lost to this world for an hour. It would be easy, less dangerous. There wasn't any risk of being hurt or let down. Certainly the folks on this sitcom needed his viewer rating more than Face needed someone to lash out at.

If only Murdock could truly believe that.

The remote was relinquished to the table and Murdock rose from his spot on the couch. He looked towards the balcony where he had seen Face depart to. The aching in Murdock's heart was relentless. His friend had cruelly wronged him and hurt him deeply. It was foolishness! Going to talk to someone so clearly agitated was no different than trying to hug a rattlesnake! It was much safer to just rest in his own feelings and to lose himself in television.

Yet, despite the doubts running through Murdock's mind, he took a few steps forward. He inhaled deeply, then pursued the door. His heart was in his throat as he made his way around the balcony that wrapped around this beach front house. The footsteps faded in his mind, as did everything around him, when he saw Face sitting on a bench overlooking the water.

Slumped on the bench, Face held his head in his hands. His hair lay in a mess, as though fingers had been run through it many times in an attempt to find comfort. As Murdock neared his friend, he thought he saw his shoulders shake a little.

Murdock sat down next to Face and put his hand gently upon Face's shoulder and gave it the most gentle of squeezes. When Face suddenly lifted his head from his hands and looked at him, it all made sense to Murdock. From the tears that still fell and the choked sob; it was all very clear now. Murdock slid his hand around to Face's opposite shoulder to offer a hug. Without even hesitating, Face put his head against Murdock's shoulder.

It was then that the resentment and hurt left Murdock completely. All the pain that Face had inflicted upon him seemed quite trivial in light of this discovery. His broken brother needed mercy, and Murdock was only too happy to give it to him. Whatever was hurting Face, Murdock wanted to help him see it through, just as Face had helped him over the rough patches of life. They were family, and as a family, they would conquer adversity, in all its forms.