Alone For Christmas

Author: selphiealmasy8

Pairing: Amy/Hannibal

Synopsis: It's Christmas and Amy Allen is feeling lonely. However, she soon meets an odd department store Santa who gives her faith that a wish made at Christmas may really come true.

Disclaimer: I don't own the A-Team or any of the characters

It was Christmas and for the first time in 3 years Amy Allen realized just how truly lonely she was.

Around her she saw all the many people hurrying from here to there, parents shopping for the perfect gift to give their children, children shopping for gifts for their siblings and lovers shopping for each other. Occasionally her eyes would rest on someone like herself. She could tell from the look in the stranger's eyes that they, like her, had no one to share the holidays with. She could tell from the slow listless way they wandered around that they were immune to the frenzy and panic that others, who had someone to be with, bustled around in,in search for that ever elusive gift for their loved one. It wasn't only her talent as a journalist that made Amy able to tell this but from her own experiences with loneliness.

It was the same here as it had been in America. Except in LA she had been spared from the snow.

Or rather slush.

Running across the street Amy slightly lifted up her skirt to keep it from meeting the cold wet slop that messed up the streets and promised to do the same to her clothing. She entered the store, shaking the snow from her hair.

The store was as busy the others like it always were. Sighing, Amy began to casually wander around hoping that some of the Christmas cheer, so evident on those around her, would rub off.

Truth be told, Amy realized wistfully that she did have four people in her life. Four very important people to be exact. But it was for the sake of these four men that kept her alone at this time of year, so far away from America and all whom she cared about.

Years before Amy Allen had befriended the soldiers of Fortune known as the A-Team. The A-Team had been little more than a myth when she had enlisted them to rescue a friend of hers, a fellow journalist named Al Massey. A rag tag group of soldiers wanted for supposedly robbing a bank, the A-Team had been outlaws for a crime they had not committed, ruthlessly followed by numerous military men, yet still helping those who needed them. Amy had become very close to those men before she had had to leave America and her friends behind when her connection to them had almost been discovered.

She still thought about them often.

B.A, his attitude hiding the teddy bear that he was. A muscle bound tough teddy bear but one none the less. Face with his charm and egomania hiding a pretty decent guy. Howling Mad Murdock, the VA hospitalized pilot who kept things fun, lively and sweet.

And of course the man with a plan in charge of them all: Captain John "Hannibal" Smith.

Amy was still confused about how she felt about him.

Hannibal was a tough one. Sometimes he treated her like she was a nuisance to the team. Just another woman they had to look after and protect. Other times she knew just how much he appreciated her being there.

Amy Allen was slightly stunned to find herself missing Hannibal, cigar chomping, "I love it when a plan comes together!" Smith the most.

She was passing the middle of the large store now. There was a long line up of children all standing not so patiently around. Some were holding onto their parent's hands while others stood by themselves. Reading the sign that read "North Pole" Amy correctly guessed that they were waiting for Santa to come back from wherever he had strayed.

"Where has he gotten off to?" she heard an angry father whisper under his breath.

Fighting the urge to wait and see how long it took Santa to finally show, Amy strolled forward. She walked on till she came to a surprisingly quieter region of the store. A Salvation Army worker stood ready to receive donations and Amy dropped in a bit of change before continuing to walk farther.

"That was awfully kind of you," a nasally British voice said.

Amy turned around to find the absent Santa standing behind her.

"Not really. Everyone should," Amy shrugged. "Shouldn't you get back to the North Pole? I just passed it. Your public is getting kind of antsy."

"Aww let them wait. I needed a break. My kneecaps were starting to deteriorate."

Amy studied him. He looked the same as every Santa she had encountered since she had turned two years old. Large white beard, big red nose, large belly, wearing a bright red suit and black boots. Still there was something odd about him that seemed strange although she couldn't quite place it.

"Well you shouldn't leave them too long. They'll get old and won't believe in you any longer."

"I'll go back only if you walk with me," the Santa said.

The suggestion seemed somewhat dubious but after studying the man Amy agreed, seeing nothing too dangerous about the old man and wanting to return him to the children as soon as possible.

"You look sad. Do you mind me asking why?" the Santa asked.

Amy only shrugged.

"It's Christmas. Nobody's suppose to be sad at this time of year," Santa continued to pry.

"Just lonely I guess," Amy answered.

"What?!? A pretty girl like you?"

"I don't get too close to too many people recently."
Santa's eyes narrowed as he asked why.

Amy thought of the people relentlessly searching for her friends back home. "I have my reasons," was all that she replied.

They were nearing Santa's throne now and even from a distance Amy could see the relief on the parent's faces and the weariness on the children's be replaced by the flood of excitement at seeing the big man in red.

"Why don't you get in line? You could sit on Santa's lap and tell the old man what you want for Christmas."

Amy once again studied Santa with suspicion. "I don't think so," she said with a laugh.

"Your loss. You never know… It could have helped."

Amy looked around suddenly feeling quite foolish. Here she was talking with a department store Santa about wishes and there was a sudden hope coming over her.

"I wish I could see my friends again," Amy said. "I wish I could go home."

"I'll see about that," Santa said. "But I'm not a Miracle worker lady. If you could pick just one what would it be?"

She thought about it and then finally answered, "I wish I could see Hannibal again." She had unburdened the secret her heart had held for so long and it felt good. "I wish I could see him again and tell him… Oh, I don't know. I just want to tell him how I feel, I guess."

"And how do you feel?" the nosy Santa asked.

"I said I wanted to tell Hannibal not you," Amy replied wryly. "Oh forget it. It was stupid anyway."

She started to walk away.

"Merry Christmas," she heard the strange Santa call out to her as she left. Amy turned around. "Merry Christmas," she called out and waved before disappearing.

The department store Santa walked up to his throne and as he sat down he took out a cigar and lit it. The first child in the line approached Santa but stopped abruptly when he smelled the smoke.

"Hurry up kid I don't have all day," Santa said.

Santa watched as the small boy walked right past him.

It was Christmas Eve and Amy's wish hadn't yetcome true.

She felt her hope, once so bright, gradually dim until it was only a sad and pathetic thing worthy of pity. "What was I thinking anyway?" she scolded herself. She was a journalist, working in a profession that required only cold hard facts. In this case the cold hard fact was that telling your deepest desire to a man in a Santa suit would NOT insure that it would come true. Still Amy realized she had always been foolishly romantic. The guys had chided her for it once. Trying to make them into tragic and noble outlaws. They had stopped her from printing their tale. Yet all these years later she still saw themas heroes in need of praise that they would never receive.

A taxi stopped across the street as if it was waiting for her. And Amy started to make her way to it only to stop when some middle-aged man in a business suit beat her to it.

"Jerk," Amy said under her breath.

The taxi wasn't moving, however, and seconds later she saw the taxi stealer flee from the backseat of the taxi in a hurry. Deciding to test her luck, Amy started across the street once again braving the slush roads that now succeeded in mucking up the bottom of her pant legs.

"Where to?" the taxi driver said in a gruff voice.

Amy gave him her address and then settled against the back seat for the lengthy journey to her lonely apartment.

"What's the matter lady? You tired?" the driver asked.

"Yes," she answered realizing that the man did not speak in a British accent. "Excuse me for asking but are you American?"

"You bet," the man said proudly. "Would you mind if I smoke?"

She was going to reply that she did but he had already brought out a cigar, put it in his mouth and lit it. Seeing the cigar only reminded her of Hannibal again and Amy now felt twice as miserable.

"You have any plans for Christmas?" he asked.

"Not really. Tomorrow I'll go to church but nothing's planned for tonight."

"Don't believe in Santa Claus anymore, huh?"

"No," Amy answered remembering the department store Santa and her unfulfilled wish.

After driving in silence for a long time, Amy looked out the window. Snow was falling, thickly covering all that it touched and chose toremain still. She realized she had never seen this part of London before and that it was not anywhere close to where she lived.

"Where are you taking me?" she demanded, though she was now feeling quite frightened.

"Home," the driver replied.

"No your not. Not mine anyway! This isn't where I live. Just stop the car Mister and I'll find another cab. I should warn you I have a can of mase in my purse."

The cab pulled over. "Alright. But I thought you wanted to see me." The driver said.

Amy, who's hand was already opening the taxi door, stopped at hearing the familiar voice. She turned and looked into the cab driver's clear blue eyes.

She watched as he took off the mustache that had been covering his mouth and the large nose. Now sitting right before her, Amy was astonished to realize, was the leader of the A-Team.

"Hannibal!" Amy cried and threw her arms around the neck of her friend.

"I'm glad to see you too, kid."

"What are you doing here?"

"Well they're filming a big action movie here: 'The Aqua Man eats Big Ben.' It should be a big hit and yours truly is starring in it."

"Let me guess. You're the monster."

"What else?" Hannibal smiled warming Amy's heart. Only Hannibal could be so proud about appearing as a fake looking monster in an ultra cheap B movie. "Well I found out you were here and I wanted to see you."

"You did?" Amy shyly asked.

"Yes. You see a friend of mine told me that you wanted to see me too."

The pieces fit together now and with astonishment Amy realized who the department store Santa had truly been. "I should have known. You're the only one who could even get away with suggesting that I sit in your lap without me slugging you."

"Miss Allen! In front of all those children?" Hannibal mocked outrage. "What would they think of you if they saw you hitting a poor little old Santa?"

Amy smiled. "Well that's only because they don't know him half as well as I do."

There was silence now again as Amy stared into Hannibal's beautiful eyes and remembered all that she had told him when she had believed him to be nothing more than a stranger. She found a certain shyness and embarrassment coming over her. She had told him that she had wanted above anything else to see him again and to tell him how she felt. Now that he was in front of her all she could do was blush. It was crazy.

"So how are things for the Team? The last time I heard you'd avoided the firing squad by pretending to be dead. You should have contacted me. I was worried," she scolded.

"I know. I feel bad about it kid," Hannibal said kindly. "We were saved by Murdock, believe it or not. Him and this Stockwell guy has offered to clear us. That is if we do him a few super secret missions first."

"And you believe him?" Amy asked skeptically.

"Yes. I mean what choice do we have. I'm getting tired of running, Amy. Not of the Jazz you understand but of having no life."

Amy nodded and looked at the cab floor and the mood became awkward again.

It was up to Hannibal to break the silence. "Murdock's been declared sane. Did you know that?"

Amy raised her head. "You're joking!"

Hannibal shook his head.

"How's he feel about that?" Amy asked, remembering a time when Murdock had been afraid of the whole idea.

"He likes it. He can bug B.A. more often now," Hannibal said but there was a sad tone to his voice that Amy couldn't help but hear.

"What's wrong?' she asked.

"I haven't been completely honest with you, Amy," Hannibal said without meeting her eyes. "I intentionally signed onto that gig because I knew that you were here. It's Christmas. B.A. has his friends at the Center. And Murdock and Face have each other. They insult each other so much whenever there's mistletoe around that you just know that they're dying to get one another under it. Then there's me. The only one I was ever really close to other than my unit was you. I missed you, Amy. Especially at this time of the year."

"You missed me…" Amy whispered.

"Yes," Hannibal said boldly meeting her eyes. "No one should be alone for Christmas."

"So you needed me as much as I needed you," Amy summarized what they both felt.

Hannibal nodded.

"And then there's the question of age…" Hannibal quickly added. Amy had thought about this before. Hannibal was a fair bit older than her but she had long ago realized that it didn't matter.

"I don't care," Amy said.

"That's good," Hannibal said puffing on his cigar. "Because you're not getting any younger."

Amy shook her head. He was still the same old Hannibal. She looked around realizing that she still didn't know where they were. "There's still one thing I can't figure out," she said.

"What's that?" Hannibal's eyes narrowed.

"Where on Earth are we? My apartment's not anywhere around here!"

"I know," Hannibal replied with a smile. "Mine is."

"So you think I'm going to let you take me, an impressionable young woman, to your place? What about my stuff? Am I just suppose to just leave it?"

"All taken care of. This afternoon I broke into your apartment and moved your stuff into mine. You should really get better locks. You never know who can get in there."

"Tell me about it," Amy smiled wryly.

Hannibal started the cab and was going to pull back onto the road again when Amy leaned over and placed a hand on his armstopping him. "Wait," she said and then got out of the cab. Soon she had slid into the front seat beside him. Taking the cigar out of his mouth, Amy placed a quick sweet kiss on Hannibal's lips. She was going to return the cigar back to its previous position but on second thought rolled down the window and threw it out.

"I love it when a plan comes together," Hannibal said a huge grin on his face and no apparent worry for the lost cigar. Amy grabbed his arm and cuddled against him.

The snow fell silently as the cab pulled back onto the road; the two people within now content and happy for they both had received what they had truly wanted and no longer had to worry about being alone for Christmas.