Title: Not Himself

By: Junkfoodmonkey

Rated: PG

Summary. BA is acting rather strangely, like really, really… nice.

Disclaimer: I don’t own the A-Team, I'm not making any money from this.

Not Himself

Oh man, thought Face, as he checked his watch, it’s been twenty minutes since BA arrived and I said I’d be out in five. He’s gonna rip me a new one. I’ll have learn to be quicker getting ready, the guys say I’m worse than a woman.

He hurried out of the condo building and got into the waiting van.

“Sorry, BA,” he said, in a conciliatory tone, gave BA a sheepish smile.

“No problem, Face.” BA said. “I was just enjoying the view. It’s real pretty here.” Slightly startled at not being growled at Face looked at the sea view through the windscreen, the sun was coming up and the sky and water were glowing pink

“Oh? I… yes I suppose it is.” B.A. started the van and drove off. For a few moments they drove in silence, the radio playing quietly.

“You had any breakfast, Face?”

“Huh? Oh, no, just coffee.”

“I thought not. No wonder you so skinny. I brought some doughnuts, they’re on the seat back there.”

“I only eat Krispy Kremes,” Face said, and found that’s what was on the seat.

“Got ‘em for you special, I know they the only sort you like.”

Face looked at BA slightly oddly. Well the big guy was certainly in a good mood today, it was rather unnerving.

“Thanks, BA, that’s great.”

“No problem, man.” They drove on towards the rendezvous with Hannibal and Murdock, once more lapsing into comfortable silence as Face breakfasted on the doughnuts.

“You get a haircut, Face?”

“Huh?” Face felt like he was saying that a lot today, BA never normally noticed stuff like that. “Yeah, yesterday.”

“Looks good.”

“Er, thanks.”

“Course you always look good.” O…kay, thought Face, this is… odd.

“Are you feeling alright, BA?” He asked, hesitantly.

“Sure. Never better.”

“You just seem very…” what could he say? You seem to be acting really nice and I find that very out of character for you. The niceness would come to a pretty abrupt halt then for sure. “…relaxed. You seem very relaxed today.”

“Yeah, I feel pretty relaxed. I think it’s 'cause I’m sleeping so good.”

“Those tapes Hannibal got you working out then?” BA had been having trouble sleeping lately and Hannibal had bought him a set of relaxation tapes. They had natural soothing sounds to help the listener drop off to sleep.

“Yeah, the ocean sound, and the rain, and the one with the cicadas, they make me fall asleep great.”

“Especially the rain, I’ll bet. Remind you of home?”

BA laughed and Face was a little startled again, he didn’t often make BA laugh.

“Right, man, like I’m a little boy again.”

“Little Scooter Baracus.” Face said grinning, then wished he hadn’t said it. Last time Murdock called BA “Scooter” it had taken both Face and Hannibal to stop BA turning him inside out. But BA just giggled.

“Man, I wish my Mama had never told you guys that she called me Scooter.” He shook his head wryly. Face laughed with him, partly out of relief.

They drove on and met Hannibal and Murdock. Face had sprung Murdock from the VA yesterday and he had stayed at Hannibal's overnight. Face had decided it was someone else's turn to put Murdock up; he was a little tired of cartoon wake-up calls.

"Hey, BA," Murdock said as he climbed aboard. "You look 'specially mean I must say. We gonna kick some bad guy ass today, big guy?"

"Yeah." BA answered. "Those creeps need to learn they can't go forcing folk out of their businesses."

"Not when those folks are our clients, anyway." Hannibal said. "Let's go, BA."

"What the hell just happened?" Hannibal asked, manoeuvring a cushion under BA's head.

"What happened?" Face said, "We just got our butts handed to us, that's what happened!"

Murdock was driving; he glanced back over his shoulder. Face was nursing a bloody nose; BA was flat on his back, the colonel checking him over.

"We were outnumbered." Murdock said. "I mean like two to one." He sounded upset. "It wasn't anybody's fault."

Face frowned at him. "No one said it was anyone's fault, Murdock," he said. Murdock still looked unhappy. Worried about BA, Face supposed. He turned to see Hannibal helping BA sit up. He was awake now but still dizzy. Face studied him carefully. It had been strange. The fight should have been a piece of cake for them. Two to one odds were usually no problem, not with BA around. But somehow BA had been off his game; his heart didn't seem to be in it. Face had seen him hesitate before hitting one man who was attacking him. This gave another man, almost as big as BA himself, the chance to land a right cross that had left BA staggering. The assailant followed it up with a left hook and BA was on his back in the dirt out for the count. Seeing the big man taken down had given their opponents new heart and they had laid into the rest of the A-Team with a vengeance. In the end it had taken Hannibal grabbing a rifle from the van to end the fight. Face and Murdock had heaved BA into the van and they'd taken off fast. It had most definitely not been their finest hour.

They found a motel to hole up in to rest and lick their wounds. Murdock still seemed jumpy and upset. He offered to take first watch as night fell, so Hannibal sent him out to keep watch outside the door. Meanwhile the rest of them tried to get some sleep. Hannibal and BA were soon asleep, but Face couldn't drop off. Bruises made it hard to get comfortable. Eventually he had an idea. He quietly rummaged in one of the holdalls and got out his Walkman and one of BA's relaxation tapes. Perhaps this would help him doze off. He lay back and let the sound of the ocean wash over him.

"You are calm and relaxed… you are gentle and kind… you never want to hurt anyone… you will be nice to all your friends… you will think of nice things to do for them whenever you can… you will never call me 'fool' again…"

"Whrrzztt." Face muttered, waking up. "Murdock?" He looked around. Murdock wasn't there, but his voice still sounded in Face's head. He realised he was still wearing the Walkman headphones and that was where Murdock's voice was coming from. He stared down at the player. It was still running BA's relaxation tape, but Murdock's voice had replaced the sound of the ocean. "You love your fellow man… you are never aggressive… you like to do nice things for your friends…"

Sabotage! No wonder BA hadn't been in the frame of mind for pounding bad guys if he'd had Murdock soothingly whispering "you never want to hurt anyone" into his relaxed and receptive sleeping brain for the last few nights. Good grief, Face thought, he's practically been hypnotised.

He sat up for a few minutes thinking. Then he grinned and went into the bathroom. He emerged about twenty minutes later, keeping very quiet. He moved silently to BA's side and very, very carefully placed the headphones on him, then pressed the play button on the Walkman. He moved away. BA stirred a little but didn't wake up. In the darkness Face could just see his expression change to a frown. Face could hear a slight whisper from the headphones, not loud enough to make out any words, but he smiled anyway, he knew exactly what BA was hearing.

"You are short tempered and mean… you like to kick ass… people from Texas really annoy you… people who wear baseball caps really annoy you… people who wear brown leather jackets really annoy you… grown men who watch cartoons early in the morning really annoy you… you like to kick the butts of people who annoy you…"

Face lay back, grinning. It meant no more Krispy Kremes and compliments about his haircut, but revenge was so much sweeter than any of that.