Part XVIII

When the story about four firefighters being kidnapped by a drug ring hit the news - as it was bound to do - the A-Team was left out of the story altogether after Sheriff Webb discretely reminded the men's attorney that if the A-team was mentioned, he'd have to have a chat with the DA to add blackmail charges, another charge of kidnapping and assorted other offenses to the already lengthy list. The attorney agreed that bringing up anything else wouldn't do anyone any good.

Murdock, as Hannibal expected, was fairly moody. A friend getting hurt for no other reason than being his friend bothered him - hell, bothered all of them a great deal. Seeing the rope burns and bruising didn't help the guilty feeling either. Unknown to Murdock though, Face and Johnny were keeping in touch. And making arrangements.

Johnny tended to set up a camping/fishing trip at last once a year for everyone and their families, so no-one really thought anything was unusual when Johnny started putting out word for the gathering. It wasn't until they arrived and found a couple of tents already up that anyone knew this was anything but the ordinary.

Murdock was already bouncing and pretty much tackled Roy the second he was out of his car, causing Kim to break out in the giggles. Joanna had, of course, already heard quite a lot about Murdock (though she confessed to Johnny in private that hearing about him was nothing compared to meeting him). It didn't even take an hour before B.A. grumbling.

"Darn Fool already has them poor kids playin' with that darn fool invisible dog."

And it was true - Kim, it seemed, was a natural at playing pretend fetch with Billy and even insisted on helping Murdock take Billy for his daily walks. All in all, it didn't take long for the two groups to become fairly well-acquainted. It also didn't take long for Cap to pull Hannibal to the side and enlist his help in keeping an eye on his daughters and Face. Times like this were among the occasions Hank wished his daughters were still Kim's age.

To no-one's surprise, Chet got along great with Murdock, but got on B.A.'s nerves. On the other hand, B.A. and Mike hit it off very well - not a shock after the others noted that both men's pride and joy had wheels. Johnny and Face continued getting along as they had started to - even more so when they found out that they could both list women as a hobby. And if Roy and Murdock happened to notice that the pair also had a good streak of vanity? Well, they chuckled about that to themselves, but didn't remark about it to the rest.

That evening at the campfire, Chet expressed his doubts as to the amount of Kipling that Roy and Murdock had actually memorized. Murdock's eyes sparkled as he flashed a grin over to Roy, who just shook his head.

"You might be the only one that cares to hear this, Chet."

The others prodded though - including his own two kids - so Roy looked over to Johnny.

"Toss over a couple of the canteens, Junior. We're going to need them."

Roy neatly caught both, passing one over to Murdock before closing his eyes briefly in a way that Johnny had seen before - when he was about to tell a story to Chris or Kimmy that he knew by heart. Chris and Kim recognized that look too and leaned forward slightly in anticipation as their father began to speak using his 'storyteller' voice.

"All that is told here happened some time before Mowgli was turned out of the Seeonee Wolf Pack, or revenged himself on Shere Khan the tiger."*

It soon became very evident that Roy was the narrator while Murdock supplied all of the characters - all with different voices. Since he'd been labeled Bagheera by Murdock, Johnny paid special attention to that part. A brief smiled formed the first time the line 'We be of one blood' came up - and he noticed it came up quite a bit in this particular story. He had a feeling which story was being told and it was confirmed about mid-way in the story when Bagheera spoke. How Murdock managed to keep a growl in his voice and still be able to make the words plain was a bit of a puzzle - though Hannibal and the rest of his team seemed to take the variety of voices and tones Murdock was able to make in stride.

"Full gorge and a deep sleep to you, Rann. I will remember thee in my next kill, and put aside the head for thee alone, O best of kites!"*

When the story concluded, Chet let out a low whistle.

"Wow. You guys really were that bored, weren't you?"

Roy and Murdock shrugged in near unison, then chuckled when they noticed they were mirroring one another. Roy answered Chet as he turned his gaze to the fire.

"We were on enforced bed rest - as in not even allowed up to go to the latrine. What else were we supposed to do? It's not like we were deliberately trying to memorize the stories, but it was sort of like if you hear the same song over and over. The lyrics just stick in your head eventually."

Johnny piped up.

"What about nurses? They didn't distract you?"

There was another moment of synchronized movement as the pair of friends shuddered.

"All male nurses."

"And they made ol' B.A. look like the Belle of the Ball."

Even B.A. winced at that description. Murdock changed the subject by producing bags of marshmallows and then he turned his storytelling talents towards the younger members of Marco's family as he launched into a story in fluent Spanish. Johnny just stared for a moment, then looked over to his partner.

"He speaks Spanish?"

"That he does. I'm not sure how many languages he speaks. Murdock's never been quite like the rest of us."

Snorting at that, B.A. looked over, giving Roy a wink.

"One of that Fool is plenty, Doc."

The trip seemed over faster than anyone wanted it to be. When the time was drawing close, Murdock pulled Johnny off to the side briefly.

"Don't forget what I told you, okay? I'm trusting you to take care of Roy for me."

"I will, but don't be a stranger. You know Roy doesn't want to lose touch with you again."

"I don't want to lose touch with him either, Muchacho, but as you've seen first hand, not everybody we deal with is a peaceful sort. I feel bad enough that those other losers targeted him to get to us."

"Hey, that's not your fault. Me and the guys? We all know who's on the right side. Sheriff Webb and Vince aren't popular with those guys either, but that doesn't mean we're going to stop seeing them either."

The quiet fell between them for a moment before Johnny remembered a question he wanted to ask.

I meant to ask. You said Roy would call you Rann sometimes. And apparently, I've been stuck with Bagheera."

"It's that gloss black hair of yours. Fits."

Johnny laughed at that.

"Yeah, maybe. But tell me, you ever saddle Roy with a nickname other than Doc?"

"Yep. I called him Father Wolf since he had a son waiting for him at home."

Both of their eyes moved over to where Roy was kneeling, showing something to his two children. Kim was hanging onto Roy's back and peering intently over his shoulder while Chris was kneeling next to him.

"Father Wolf does seem appropriate, doesn't it?"

"Yep. Heck, I thought so before I even got to see him with his kids. He's just sort of a paternal kinda guy. You could tell by the way he took care of the younger kids over there. The ones barely out of high school that should have been home mowing lawns for money to take a girl out to the movies."

"Murdock!"

The pilot's head jerked around to see Hannibal signaling him. It was time to go. Without warning, Johnny found himself wrapped up in another hug before Murdock bounded over to do the same to Roy.

Johnny made his own way over to Roy as the team finished loading into their van and left. Roy waved until they were out of sight, then turned a slightly mischievous look onto his partner.

"Murdock took Chet off yesterday for howling lessons, Junior. Thought I should warn you."

"Figures. That's about my luck. Whole thing was quite a ride, wasn't it, Roy?"

"Guess it all ended for the best. I'd hate to think how many calls we'd have gotten on kids no older than Chris if those guys had kept to their plans of selling in the elementary schools."

"Me too."

Roy's eyes went back to road and Johnny gave him a slight nudge.

"We'll see them again. If nothing else, maybe we can arrange a fishing trip again. So, Father Wolf?"

"Oh, he told you about that, did he?'

"Yep. Hey, why Bagheera for me?"

"You're too skinny to be Baloo. Come on, Junior. Let's finish packing up."

Well, we've reached the end of this crossover. Hopefully none of it proved to be too much of a stretch for fans of both shows. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

*Excerpts are from the Kipling story 'Kaa's Hunting'