A Miracle for Christmas

"Hannibal, I think you're nuts," Face said for the umpteenth time during their drive.

"Could be," the older man sitting in the front seat gleefully replied over his cigar.

"We could be spending a nice warm Christmas in Beverly Hills rubbing elbows with all the fine upper crusts around a swimming pool in 85 degree weather," Face whined.

Murdock quit munching noisily on a candy cane and remarked, "Well instead it looks like you're gonna freeze your little piggies off with us crumbs, Faceguy."

"Christmas in Los Angeles is overrated anyway," Hannibal said, "The best way to enjoy Christmas is in the snow in a colder climate."

"Says who?" Face wanted to know, "The first Christmas was in the desert!"

"The desert gets cold at night, Faceman, you know that," Murdock responded as he resumed crunching on the candy cane.

"Murdock," B.A. warned him, "If you don't stop chewing them candy canes, I'm gonna stuff one of them up your nose, sucker."

"Sorry," Murdock quietly replied, and started silently sucking on the tip of it instead.

"Besides, Face," Hannibal said, "One of the best parts of Christmas is getting away from it all, and the army is expecting us to stay in California, so that's where they're staying, so in a sense we are getting away from it all."

"Yeah but Hannibal," Face whined, "Why couldn't we have just reserved a hotel room in Colorado? Huh? We could check into a ski resort and hit the slopes…"

"You ain't gonna ski, fool," B.A. told him, "All you'd do is flirt with the women up there to ski. Disgusting."

"Anyway," Face was determined to stay on point, "We could've had a lovely Christmas in a nice, warm, vibrant, lively environment but ohhhhhh noooo! Instead we have to freeze our cans off at some abandoned shack you found the last time we drove back across the country."

"Face, you show a stunning lack of imagination," Hannibal responded nonchalantly from his spot up front in the van.

"It's too cold out here for me to have any imagination," Face told their colonel, "My imagination's frozen solid and my charming personality is about to be the next casualty to this arctic weather."

B.A. snorted, "Your personality was the first thing to go on this trip four hours ago, Face."

Face pulled his winter coat tighter against him and shivered. Murdock reached over and placed a glove clad hand on his shoulder and told him, "Look on the bright side, Face, soon we'll be arriving at our final destination. Then we can get out and stretch our legs a bit, and the fresh air will help clear your mind."

"The only air out here is frozen, Murdock," Face said, "And my mind's frostbitten enough already."

"Shut up!" B.A. told him, "We' been listening to your whining ever since we started out here, there's gonna be some peace and quiet for the holiday if I have to knock you out, sucker, got it?"

Suddenly Face got very quiet and sunk down in his seat.

"It'll be fun, Face, you'll see," Hannibal said.

"As long as it's not 'a piece of cake', they never are," Face remarked.

"Look at it this way, Lieutenant," Hannibal said, "Would you rather spend Christmas in an abandoned old house in the middle of a snowstorm…or at Fort Bragg?"

Face straightened up in his seat and started singing, "We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas…"

"Hey Hannibal, you sure this' a good idea?" B.A. asked.

"Is there a reason why it shouldn't be?" Hannibal turned to look at the Sergeant.

"Christmas Eve in the middle of nowhere at some condemned house in a blizzard, with these two fools in an enclosed space and a limited food supply, what do you think, sucker?" B.A. let loose with what had really been on his mind since Hannibal suggested this little trip.

"It's not condemned, B.A.," Hannibal said in return, "At least not that we know of."

B.A. growled under his breath.

"Besides, Face," Hannibal half turned in his seat, "Didn't you call the power company to get the electricity on? So if there's a thermostat in the place, we'll be fine."

"And if there's not?" Murdock asked, "What do we do, chop up the furniture to burn in lieu of a Yule log?"

"We've done worse," was Hannibal's only response.

All that did was gain a unanimous chorus of groans from his men. Hannibal just sat back in his seat and shrugged.

"And how'd you get the idea to come here, Colonel?" Murdock asked a while later as he adjusted his earmuffs.

"I saw it when we were driving back from that last job we pulled in Arkansas," Hannibal said, "Reminds me of the house my grandmother lived in. So I drove back a couple days later to get a better look at it and found out who to contact about the utilities."

B.A. drove ahead a few hundred more yards and then hit the brakes. It was the only house at the end of this road.

"This the place, Hannibal?" he asked uncertainly.

The others leaned forward to get a better look at the place as well. What might once have been a beautiful two-story house now looked like it could be featured in a Vincent Price movie. The paint was gone, half the shutters were gone, they could see tiles missing from the roof, the whole porch looked like it would collapse at a moment's notice.

"Your grandmother's house, eh?" Face asked, "Did she live on an Indian cemetery?"

Murdock shrugged and let out a hopeless sighing huff and said, "Oh well, let's get our stuff and haul out," and as he turned in his seat he started singing under his breath, "Over the river and thru' the woods to grandmother's house we go…"

"Come on, everybody," Hannibal told them, "You'll change your mind once you see the inside."

"Somehow I doubt that," B.A. said as he gave the front of the house another onceover before he opened his door and got out.

Everybody had something to carry inside. B.A. grabbed the sleeping bags and pillows they'd brought, Hannibal got the groceries, Face grabbed the candles and flashlights they'd brought so they could find their way to a light switch or the breaker box if need be, and Murdock grabbed the bags of Christmas decorations they'd brought.

"Of course it'd look better if we had a tree," Murdock said half to himself, "But I suppose beggars can't be choosers." As he trudged up to the house, he passed by a short, scrawny looking fir tree standing in the middle of the yard. "Hmmmmm…"

B.A. and Hannibal were the first ones to the door, it wasn't locked, so they headed right on in. Face took out a flashlight and looked for a light switch on the walls, he found three of them right inside the door and flipped them up. Nothing. Everybody turned their heads in the direction of that hollow sound of switches going up, and down, to no avail.

"Face," Hannibal said, "You did contact the power company, right?"

"Well of course I did, Hannibal," he replied, "You really think I wanted to spend a weekend in this dump with no electricity? Do you even know what that would mean? No lights, no heat, no stove, no hot water in the shower."

"If you didn't contact the water company either, Faceguy," Murdock said as he brought up the rear and kicked the door shut, "You can forget about the shower, period."

"Come on, B.A.," Hannibal fished into Face's bag and took out two more flashlights and turned them on, "Let's go find the fuse box and pray we can resolve this issue, or we will have to start chopping up the furniture to burn."

"No problem, Hannibal, we'll take care of things up here," Murdock said as he put his bag down and dug some candles and a lighter out of Face's bag.

Murdock set up a 3-piece candelabra on a table in the hall and lit the candles as he put them in.

"Well that's a little light on the subject," he said as he closed the lighter, then used the light of the candles to get a look at the place, and whistled, "Sure is spooky around here."

"What would ever possess Hannibal to pick this place to spend Christmas in?" Face wanted to know.

"Well, it is away from everything and everybody," Murdock answered, "The MPs included."

"Yeah but we could've flown to Maui for a Christmas away from everything and everybody," Face said.

"Yeah but do you want to be the one to put B.A. to bed upon boarding?" Murdock replied as the two stepped into the next room to get a better look at the place, "Come on, Face, we're already here, we might as well make the best of it."

"That's a pretty tall order, Murdock," Face told him.

"Face, tall orders is what we do best," the Captain replied, "And they don't come any easier than this, all we've got to do is have a good time."

"Yeah but Murdock…in these conditions…"

"Face, Christmas is gonna come whether we're ready or not, also whether we like it or not, and if we like our surroundings or not, so we might as well make do with what we got, it could be a lot worse ya know."

"Yeah, Fort Bragg."

"No, I mean we could be back in L.A., and Hannibal could be doing another Aquamaniac film right about now, then we'd never get time off for Christmas."

"Hmm, true," Face replied, "Those movie people sure are getting sadistic about working overtime."

"Well," Murdock put the candelabra on the dining room table, "We might as well get started."

They got some more lights out to work by and Murdock started taking all the decorations out of the bag he'd brought in: colorful tinsel garlands, strings of lights, paper snowflakes he'd been cutting up at the V.A. since Thanksgiving, and he was humming Christmas carols under his breath at double speed as he looked for places to start stringing the decorations up.

"It's too bad Amy couldn't come," Murdock said as he took out some mistletoe, "I guess this stuff ain't gonna get used this year. Oh well."

Face picked up the candelabra and took it into the living room to see what awaited them there. It was sparsely furnished, an old couch, a rickety card table and a couple of old chairs, otherwise the place was bare, but there did happen to be a fireplace incase they needed to heat the house manually. Another thought occurred to Face and he crouched down by the fireplace and stuck the candles up in it to try and get a look at it. He wondered when the last time was the chimney had been cleaned.

"Hey Face," Murdock said as he came into the living room, "You know Santa Claus don't come till you're asleep!"

"He wouldn't come here anyway," Face replied as he stood up, "And even if he did he'd get a hot foot."

Face looked up to the ceiling. "Did you hear that?"

"What?" Murdock asked.

He wasn't sure how to explain it without sounding weird. "I thought I heard something."

"What, reindeer on the roof?" Murdock asked.

"No," Face shook his head, "I thought I heard something up near the ceiling. Just be our luck we got a rat running around inside the walls or something."

"Even vermin needs shelter in cold weather," Murdock replied.

"Well," Face tried to shake off the mental image that was haunting him now, "Let's go put the food in the kitchen."

"Like it'll be any warmer out here than in there?" Murdock asked.

Face shrugged as he picked up the two sacks of groceries, "Not gonna be much of a Christmas dinner, sandwiches and hot dogs."

Murdock shrugged as he followed behind the lieutenant, "More than some people are having this season."

They went into the kitchen and could hear a noise coming from the basement. Face headed over to the basement door and hollered down, "Any luck, Hannibal?"

"Not yet," they heard him call up.

"If they don't get the electricity on," Face told Murdock, "We're going to be having a scout weenie roast in that fireplace."

"What's wrong with that?" Murdock asked.

Face rolled his eyes as he opened the fridge to put the groceries in. True it wasn't any colder in the box than it was out on the table, but if they did manage to get the heat on, he didn't want everything spoiling either.

"Murdock, what do you," Face turned around and stopped in midsentence when he realized he was talking to himself. Murdock was gone and Face was the only person in the kitchen.

"What the?" he asked as he looked around. He went over to the basement door and called down, "Hannibal, is Murdock down there?"

"No," Hannibal called up.

Face looked around again. If Murdock wasn't there, and he wasn't downstairs, then where was he?

He seemed to get his answer a minute later when he went back towards the front hall, and outside heard a voice hollering, "T-i-i-i-i-im-bbbbbbb-e-e-e-e-r!"

Face opened the door and stepped outside. With no lights he couldn't see much of anything, but the snow made things a little brighter and he was able to make out the outline of a person heading back towards the porch, hauling something beside him.

"Murdock?" Face tried to figure out what was going on.

Murdock came up to the porch and held up the scrawny fir tree, "Now it'll really be Christmas, we got a tree to decorate." He continued as he walked into the house, "It's such a small spindly little thing, poor guy will never come to much out there, so it's better if he gets one season to be ornamented and admired, and then laid to rest in the New Year."

Face tried to wrap his head around what just happened. "You cut down the tree?"

"Well we did have the axe in the van," Murdock said as if that was explanation enough.

Face smacked himself in the forehead. Some days it just didn't pay to try and figure Murdock out. This was definitely one of those days.

"Come on, Face, let's get this thing decorated," Murdock said as he stood the little tree up in the corner of the living room, "I got just the thing for it."

"What's that?" Face asked.

Murdock started digging in his pockets, "You know how B.A. wouldn't let me toss my gum wrappers on the floor of his van? But he also wouldn't stop for me to put them in a trash can? Well I can put them on the tree, make it nice and shiny."

Face rolled his eyes and asked, "Why not?"

Face helped Murdock get a string of lights around the tree incase they would be able to get the power on, and one of the garlands they'd brought, and Murdock wrapped the gum wrappers to some of the needles and stuck the paper snowflakes on a few branches.

"I hate to say it," Face said when they were through, "But it actually looks pretty good. It's just too bad there aren't any kids here, they'd probably really get a kick out of it."

Face felt pins and needles in his back as he heard the same small scuffling sound from before, and it sounded like it was right over his head. "Do you hear that this time?"

Murdock looked to the ceiling and listened.

"There's definitely something upstairs," he agreed.

"Come on," Face said as he grabbed a flashlight, "Let's go find out what it is."

"Whatever it is," Murdock told him, "I sure hope nobody gave 3 ghosts the wrong address."

They headed up the stairs and shone their lights every which way, keeping a close watch for any sign of movement, any implication of trouble. It was an old house, cobwebs and dust everywhere, but so far no sign of life, not even a spider in a web. At the top of the stairs they saw four doors, and decided to start at the end and work their way back. The first door opened to reveal an old bedroom, with an old bed still intact that looked like it was already old in the 50s. Murdock checked under the bed and Face looked in the closet, but neither of them could find anything.

And then, a sound. A quick sound. Footsteps.

The con artist and the pilot rushed to the door and shone their lights out towards the noise and they saw two figures rush down the stairs.

"Hey!" Face called as he and Murdock chased after them. They ran down the stairs and their lights hit the two figures just before they made it to the front door.

"Hold it right there!" Face warned them.

At that second, the lights came on, and they were able to get a better look at the two trespassers. It was a boy and a girl, she looked about 12 with dark hair in a loose and messy braid, and he looked just under 10 with short blonde hair. Both of them were dirty and dressed inadequately for this freezing cold weather in just jeans and T-shirts and canvas sneakers.

"Who are you?" Face asked.

"Who are you?" the girl responded.

"We asked you first," Murdock told them.

"We didn't know anybody lived here," the boy said, terrified.

"Face!" Hannibal called as he and B.A. came out of the kitchen, "What's all the racket up here?" he saw the two kids by the front door and asked, "Who're they?"

Face just shrugged in response.

"Do you live here?" the girl asked.

"No, we came for the weekend," Hannibal said, "Who're you?"

"I'm Tammy," the girl answered, and pointing to the boy, "This is my brother, Billy."

"What're you doing here?" Hannibal asked them.

"T-tu-trying to get out of the cold," she answered with a shiver.

"Where do you live?" B.A. asked them.

They shook their heads.

"Nowhere," she answered, "We're orphans."

The A-Team looked at each other in silent discussion. What were they going to do now?"

"Where do you come from?" Murdock asked.

"Los Angeles," Tammy said, "When our parents were alive."

Face brought his hands up to his face for a second as they took this in.

"You're quite a ways from home," Hannibal said.

"We know," Billy replied.

"How'd you get out here?" Face asked.

"We ran," Tammy answered, "We didn't want to go to an orphanage."

"Where were you going to go?" Hannibal asked.

They shrugged.

"We don't know," Billy said.

"Alright," Hannibal thought for a minute and said to the others, "Why don't you take our guests into the kitchen and get them something to eat?"

"Does that mean you're not kicking us out?" Tammy asked, both fearfully and hopefully.

"We don't have any legal standing to be here either," Hannibal said, "So we have nothing to gain by turning you in. So for the holiday anyway, you can consider yourselves our guests. We don't have much to offer but you're welcome to it."

"Thanks, Mister," Tammy said.

"Yeah, thanks," her brother agreed as they followed Murdock and B.A. into the kitchen.

Face turned to Hannibal and asked him, "How'd we get into this mess?"

Now it was Hannibal's turn to shrug. "Guess there was a reason I liked this old house." He sighed, "Orphans on Christmas Eve…this is a fine mess. Not going to be much of a Christmas to put them in an orphanage the day after tomorrow."

"Well what else can we do?" Face asked.

"I don't know," Hannibal scratched his head, "Maybe the powers that be will take pity on us and toss down a miracle our way."

"When was the last time you guys ate?" Murdock asked as he and B.A. watched the two kids tear into the sandwiches they made like a pack of starving wolves.

"Last night," Billy answered over a large bite.

"We found this house this morning and fell asleep in one of the bedrooms," Tammy told them, "We just woke up when we heard you guys down here."

"So you're the rodents we heard scurrying around," Murdock said.

"Huh?" Billy asked.

"Never mind that crazy fool," B.A. told them, "He' always saying something stupid."

"Oh yeah?" Murdock asked, "Well how's this for crazy?" he turned to the kids and asked them, "You guys want to roast marshmallows in the fireplace?"

"Sure!" they said.

Murdock took a bag of marshmallows out of the grocery sack and said, "Well follow me. We'll get Hannibal to start us a fire in the living room."

The two kids followed Murdock like a pied piper and the three of them marched out of the kitchen in single file and just about knocked down Face as he tried to enter the kitchen.

"Man," Face said as he went over to the table, "Can you believe this, B.A.? What're the odds of this?"

"I don't know," B.A. said, "But the odds are good them kids is gonna single handedly eat us out of house and home before the night's over."

"And just our luck all the stores are closed tomorrow," Face said and consulted his watch, "Most of them are closed already."

"This is a time when we really need one of Hannibal's brilliant plans to actually work," B.A. said as he took a carton of milk out of the fridge and started to drink it.

"Yeah," Face turned towards him, and suddenly exclaimed, "HEY!"

That caught B.A. off guard and he did a spit take, "What is it?"

Face pointed, "Look on the carton!"

"Huh?" B.A. asked, then he did, and his eyes bugged out, "What?"

On the side of the carton were a picture of Tammy and a picture of Billy, with 'MISSING' over the picture, and their complete descriptions under the photos. The date they went missing was over a month ago.

"Why did you say you were orphans?" Face asked the two kids when they confronted them in the living room.

Tammy looked at the picture on the milk carton and shook her head, "This has to be a mistake, our parents are dead."

"How did they die?" Hannibal asked.

"Well," she explained, "We were living with our mom…then one day our dad came to school and picked us up. He said that Mom had been in an accident and was dead, and we had to go live with him now. So he drove us out here…actually, further away from here. He locked us in the basement, he almost never let us out…then one day we were in the car and he was drunk…the car flipped, he was thrown through the windshield. We climbed out through the window…he was dead, and we just started running, that's all."

"We were trying to get back home to L.A.," Billy said, "We thought somebody back home could help us."

"When did that happen?" Hannibal asked.

"Four days ago," Tammy told them.

"How long had you been with your dad?" Face asked.

"I don't know," Tammy and her brother looked at each other and she told them, "It was right after Halloween."

"I see," Hannibal said.

"What does it mean?" Billy asked.

Hannibal inhaled loudly and started, "Uh…" but he came up short, he thought for a second and told them, "You guys are going to stay here for the night and then tomorrow we're going to see about getting you back to L.A., that's where we're heading too. We'll see what we can figure out."

"Thanks," Tammy said weakly, "We really appreciate it."

"You two talk amongst yourselves for a minute," Murdock told the kids, "We need to figure out the sleeping arrangements for the night."

The four men backtracked into the kitchen to talk in private.

"Well what do you think?" Face asked.

"Dead people don't put their kids on milk cartons," Hannibal commented, "That dirt bag lied to them and kidnapped them."

"And their mama's been worried to death about where they are for almost two months," B.A. said, "Fool's lucky he is dead or I'd kill him."

"Can the three of you keep an eye on the kids for a while?" Hannibal asked his men.

"Why?" Face asked, "What're you going to do?"

"I'm going to go find a phone and see if I can get some answers about this whole thing," Hannibal told them.

"Sure thing, Colonel," Murdock saluted, "We can keep their minds occupied all night."

"How you gonna do that, fool? You ain't got no brain yourself," B.A. replied.

"Such a peaceful time at Christmas," Hannibal cynically commented as he headed out the back door.

Murdock managed to keep the kids busy during the night by having them help him finish decorating the house, then he took a bunch of odds and ends out of his pocket and had them help him make new ornaments for the tree. They had a close call when out of nowhere Billy asked, "Where's Hannibal?"

Murdock, much like the Grinch, thought up a lie and thought it up quick. "He's on the roof checking out the chimney to see if Santa will be able to fit through it."

"A man that old still believes in Santa Claus?" Tammy asked uncertainly.

"Why sure he does," Murdock said, "Just because he ain't never seen him yet, don't mean he ain't never gonna, don't you know that?"

The two siblings shook their heads.

"Do you believe in Santa Claus?" Tammy asked him.

"Why sure I do," Murdock told them.

"Ever see him?" Billy asked.

"Don't have to see him to believe in him," Murdock answered, "Can't see air either, but you know it's there. Can't see an atom, and you know they're all around."

"But you know they're there," Tammy said, "That's different."

"That may be and it may not be but the fact remains I never had any reason not to believe he's real," Murdock told them.

"Have you ever had any reason to believe he is real?" Tammy responded.

"Sure," Murdock answered, "It makes life more fun that way."

"But what about everybody who never gets anything?" Tammy asked, "How do you justify Santa being real when there's so much pain and suffering in the world?"

"Well, the way I've always seen it," Murdock explained to them, "Just because he's named after a saint, don't make him Superman. Santa Claus is still human just like everyone else, and he can only do the best that he can, and he needs to rely on the help from a lot of other people to make sure everybody gets helped. So it's a chain reaction, everybody who does help somebody else becomes a Santa Claus. But with billions of people in the world, it takes a long time to connect all the links."

"What about all the people that don't help anybody?" Billy asked.

"They're worse than lumps of coal, they're dirt clods," Murdock answered.

The brother and sister looked at each other and Tammy said, "I guess we never thought about it like that."

"But even with all those people helping him, how does Santa Claus get all around the world in one night?" Billy asked, "Even if he starts at the closest point towards morning and works his way backwards across all the time zones, it's still impossible."

"Well which Santa Claus are you referring to?" Murdock asked them, "You are aware that every country in the world recognizes a different Santa Claus, right?"

"You mean Santa isn't even one person, there's a different one for each country?" Tammy asked.

"Makes sense, don't it?" Murdock asked, "And one guy could definitely go all the way around one country in one night, let's see, if there are 230 million people in America, and if there are…50 million kids, then factor in how many homes are typical American families with 2.3 children in it so he can kill two birds with one stone…"

"Forget it, fool," B.A. told him, "By the time you finally figure out that math, it'll be Groundhog's Day."

Billy looked at Murdock and asked him, "Does Santa Claus just bring toys to kids? Or does he help people in trouble?"

Murdock chewed on that for a second and said for an answer, "I think Santa Claus simultaneously gets too much credit and not enough. I think he does whatever is in his power to try and do to help anybody he thinks needs it."

"You think he'd help us?" Billy asked.

"That depends, help you do what?" Murdock asked.

"If he's actually real, could he make sure we didn't go to an orphanage?" Tammy asked.

Murdock and B.A. looked to each other. Nobody wanted to promise anything or say too much until Hannibal got back and could tell them what he found.

"I grew up in an orphanage," Face told the kids.

They looked at him, "You?"

Face nodded. "I never knew my parents, I don't know if they were nice, or rotten…nobody even knew my name…so I made up a bunch to try out and went through them like Kleenex."

"And you picked Face?" Tammy asked.

The lieutenant did something akin to a double take at her question, "No, I chose Templeton Peck…coming from an orphanage isn't very ideal, but there are some advantages. You can always decide who you are and who you want to be, and decide your own destiny."

"Then you think we will go," Tammy said.

"I can only speak from my own experience," Face told them, "But I'll tell you something, if life hadn't put me in exactly the position it did…" he turned and looked at Murdock and B.A., "I wouldn't have met my three best friends. Even in a bad situation, something good can always come out of it. We're all dealt the cards we are and it's up to us to make the best of them, even if we can't see at the time what that is."

The kids looked at each other again and considered this.

It was almost midnight by the time Hannibal returned to the house. By that time, Murdock had had the kids help him decorate almost everything in the house, they'd cooked hot dogs in the fireplace, he got them to join him in singing Christmas carols, and finally they had fallen asleep by the fireplace in two of the sleeping bags the guys had brought. The four men creeped into the kitchen to figure out what their next plan of action was.

"What'd you find out, Hannibal?" B.A. asked.

"I managed to get a hold of the mother, Myra Wilcox, she confirmed that her kids went missing when she went to pick them up from school back on November 2nd. She and her husband had been divorced for 3 years, he had a restraining order out against him that he wasn't allowed to come within 100 feet of their home or the kids' school."

Face snorted, "Fat lot of good that did."

"I told her we will be bringing her kids back tomorrow," Hannibal told his men, "It'll be a 7 hour drive. I would suggest we start tonight so they can reunite with their mother first thing in the morning, but none of us will be any good for the road trip since we haven't gotten any sleep yet, and to be perfectly honest I think staying right here is the first sense of security these kids have known for 2 months. We'll pack up and move out first thing in the morning."

"Should we tell them, Colonel?" Murdock asked.

Hannibal shook his head, "Kids never sleep Christmas Eve anyway, they especially wouldn't, and they need it. If what they say is true and we don't have any reason to believe it's not, they've been on the dead run for 4 days. I did some checking and found out that there was a reported vehicle accident where a man was thrown from the car and killed on impact, 50 miles east of here."

"Think they hitched any of the way?" Murdock inquired.

"I don't think they'd trust anyone enough to," Hannibal said, "I think they've been making this trek back home on foot the whole way."

"How's that for fate?" Face asked, "We all came out here to have a nice, quiet Christmas away from everything, and all we're doing is turning around and driving right back to L.A."

"Well," Hannibal replied, "Looks like once we get these two dropped off we will be spending Christmas in Beverly Hills, isn't that what you wanted, Face?"

The lieutenant shrugged, "I thought I did. To be honest I was starting to enjoy being out here."

"Well, I would suggest everybody turn in since we have a long drive ahead of us in a few short hours," Hannibal told them, "Goodnight, everybody," he checked his wristwatch, "And Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Colonel," Murdock replied.

"Why do we have to leave so early?" Billy asked over a yawn the next morning as everybody piled into the van.

"Christmas morning, most people don't hit the road bright and early," Face told them, "We can get a good head start on the traffic before everybody else gets up and around."

"Some Christmas," Tammy said as she yawned and stretched her arms over her head, "We're going to spend it as wards of the state."

"It'll be alright you two," Hannibal assured them, "I spoke extensively with the person we're going to meet, everything's going to be just fine, you'll see."

"Somehow I doubt that," she replied.

"Is everybody here?" Hannibal asked as he turned in his seat.

"Murdock's not here yet," Face said.

"Sucker better hurry up, we're ready to leave," B.A. said.

The front door slammed and the pilot came running up to the van and jumped in the back.

"What kept you?" Hannibal asked.

Murdock held up a paper bag and answered, "I was making some sandwiches for the trip, I didn't figure we'd be stopping long enough to get breakfast."

"Not a bad idea, Captain," Hannibal said as they pulled out.

"So who are you guys, really?" Tammy asked, "What were you doing at that house last night?"

Face and Murdock looked at each other and considered if it was in anybody's best interest for them to tell the truth.

"What's the matter?" Hannibal asked them, "Haven't you ever heard of Christmas angels?"

The sun was up long before they even got anywhere near back to California. By that time all the sandwiches were gone, as was the rest of Murdock's candy cane collection that he gave the kids to keep them occupied. After a couple of hours, the two kids fell asleep again huddled against the van wall. Murdock took his red plaid blanked from the backseat and draped it over them. The rest of the drive was spent in silence.

It was going on 1 o' clock in the afternoon by the time they arrived at their final destination. Hannibal had scribbled down Mrs. Wilcox's address to make sure they were at the right place, and it was a match to the number on the house. There was only one thing left to do now.

"Alright everybody, get up," he loudly announced.

The kids stirred and got untangled from Murdock's blanket.

"What is it?" Tammy asked.

"We're here," Hannibal told them.

"The orphanage?" Billy asked.

"Nope, better," Hannibal grinned.

The siblings got up and peered over the front seats and their eyes bulged.

"That's our house!" Tammy shrieked.

The two kids jumped out of the van and ran for the house, at the same time the front door opened and a tall, thin brunette woman in her 30s came running out and down the stairs.

"Time we put in a personal appearance, guys," Hannibal said as he reached for his door.

The A-Team got out of the van and went over to the mother and her kids, who were all overcome with joy at being together again.

"Ms. Wilcox, I'm Hannibal Smith, we talked on the phone," he told her, "These are my friends: Templeton Peck, H.M. Murdock, and this is B.A. Baracus."

The woman was hardly able to talk but she managed to get out, "I don't know how to thank you, Mr. Smith, I thought…" she hugged her children to her and cried, "I didn't think I'd see my babies again."

"It's all in a day's work, ma'am," Hannibal insisted, "Besides, it's Christmas, the season of miracles."

The frantic mother tried to compose herself and said, "Well you must come in, the least I can do is offer you something."

"We appreciate it, ma'am, but we really couldn't," he told her, "I'm afraid we have to be on our way."

"Well thank you very much," she said to him, "This is the greatest Christmas present I ever received."

The kids said a round of goodbyes to their newfound friends. B.A. handed a small card to Billy and told him, "Here you go, little man, this' our card, you ever need help again, just give us a call."

"Thanks, B.A.," the small boy said as he hugged him.

"Our card, B.A.?" Face asked as they headed back to the van.

"Why not?" he replied, "All that matters is they know if they need us they can find us."

"True that," Murdock agreed.

"Well," Hannibal said, "This Christmas may not have worked out the way we wanted it to…"

"All due respect, Colonel, when does it ever?" Murdock asked.

Hannibal continued, "But I think it's been a terrific one nonetheless."

"Amen," Face said.