Title: "Feeling Peckish Pt. 3"
Author: Rebecca Bradstreet
Rated: PG-13
Archive: Sure
Summary: Lori helps Face remember.
Warning: Some bruising physical and mental.
Disclaimer/Notes: This is an A-Team/Forever Knight X-Over. Well it's an A-Team alternate universe with some FK vampires in it. I don't own Templeton "Faceman" Peck or any other members of the A-Team. I also don't own Javier Vachon, Janette or any other Forever Knight characters. I do own Lorelei "Lori" Remillard, and some of her contacts. I am using // as thoughts, and ** as emphasis. It's not beta'd so all mistakes are my own. ;)
"Feeling Peckish Pt. 3"
by Rebecca Bradstreet (c) 2000Lori slipped out of Face's lap. She stood in front of him feeling his eyes on her. Lori wondered what was happening between them, what was going to happen between them. She took off her cutoffs, held them in her hands looking at them before saying, "I was hiding in these."
"Hiding? I could see quite a lot of you in those." Face spoke of more than her form, and Lori caught it in his words.
"I know. That's what scares me." Lori set the cutoffs down on her desk.
"Scares you, and makes you happy?" A mix of caution and hope showed in Face's eyes.
"Yes, scares me, *and* makes me happy." Lori agreed sitting once more in Face's lap.
He wrapped his arms around her, comforting her and drawing strength from her. He knew there was something they still needed to get done. He fought distraction for both of them.
"Lori, you have to try to get my memories of Murdock's kidnapping back." Despite her promises of what she could do, he only hoped she was telling the truth.
"Face, I can do this. If you want them you will have them." She slid from his lap, to once more kneel on the floor at his feet.
Face wasn't afraid of Lori, but he was afraid of what he might remember. He took a deep breath and asked, "Lori, if this works will I remember *everything*?"
Lori rubbed his knees and smiled up at him gently, "If you want Face, *only* if you want. I can walk you through the memories, let you choose what to remember and what to forget. They are your memories, and it is your mind. Lead me where you want to go Face and I will follow."
Face leaned forward and kissed Lori on the forehead. He took another deep breath and nodded, "Okay Lori. Let's do this."
Lori looked into Face's blue blue eyes, and spoke to him with the vampiric voice that touched and held human minds, "Face, you went to get Murdock out of the hospital and someone stopped you. Someone made you forget them. Remember now Face. Remember them, remember what happened."
He began slowly, his voice thick under her vampiric control. "I went into get Murdock out of the hospital. We needed his help looking for this musician we were hired to rescue. I scammed him out of his room. We were on our way out of the hospital when she appeared. She just appeared out of no where. One minute there was no one in the hall, and then she was there. She stood in front of us for a moment studying us, then a flicker and she was behind us."
"Face, what did she look like?" Lori asked cautious careful. She didn't want to push Face, but she needed to know who had wiped his memory away.
"She was tall and thin, and moved like she had joints people don't. She was taller than me, taller than Murdock, she might have been 6'4" or 6'5" even. Her long platinum blonde hair covered her arms, emphasized how she swayed when she walked. Her pale blue eyes were the eyes of a snake. She was beautiful, but cold, so cold. Her voice hissed in my ear, 'Well, well, I wass only hunting you, but you sseem to have acquired ssomeone more interesting.'" Face's words stalled, and Lori guessed that Face was struggling with what more Snowflake had said and done.
"Face, you don't have to remember. We can stop. You can leave it forgotten," she told him, afraid to push him any farther.
Face struggled on. "I said, 'Murdock? Wait a minute…you were hunting me?' She coiled around me, smiled down at me, and she had fangs -- pit viper fangs. 'Yess, hunting you. I hunt those who would hunt me. Did you think I'd let you take away my young musician?' She clamped her hands on my shoulders, and she was so strong."
"Oh Face," Lori whispered. She knew he was remembering on his own now. She sat waiting for him to pour out the memories and return to the present.
"'Tell me madman will you come with me to sspare thiss one?' She asked Murdock, holding me in her vise like grip. Murdock looked at me, and I couldn't hide how her grip hurt, how her eyes scared me." Face shook his head, and Lori wondered if he was warning Murdock off in memory, or mad at himself for having failed to.
"Murdock said, 'Let him go,' and she dug her fingers into my shoulders. She asked him, 'Let him go? If you don't want to come with me I can make him ssuffer.' Murdock shook his head, 'No, no I'll come with you, just let him go.' He stepped behind her. She swiveled her head around like a snake's. Her voice drifted over her shoulder saying, 'Better.' Then her attention focused on me again, focused in on me. She grabbed my chin with one hand, yanked my head toward hers with her cold fingers, and told me Murdock wasn't there. I should forget everything from the moment I entered the hospital until the moment I left. She told me, 'You are leaving now,' and *I* went." Face's voice was a tangle of pain, anger and confusion.
Lori was torn. She was sorry she'd helped him remember, it had hurt him. She was glad she'd helped him remember, he'd remembered enough to help them find the kidnapper. She got up off the floor and kissed him lightly on the forehead, before she told him in her human voice, "You can remember it all now, what happened at the hospital, everything Snowflake said, and everything Snowflake did."
Face slid forward in the seat, leaned his head against Lori's stomach, and said, "Lori, I don't think I want to talk about the kidnapping anymore tonight."
"You don't have to talk about it anymore tonight. We don't have to talk about it anymore tonight." She gently ruffled his hair.
Face blew at his bangs before asking, "We can do other things?"
"Other things?" Lori repeated tentatively, as she picked her cutoffs up off her desk.
"Other things." Face got up out of the chair and wrapped his arms around her.
Lori turned in his arms, and gave him a kiss. "We can do other things, but first may I ask one question?"
"Mmh…I suppose," Face said nibbling her ear.
"As I understand it, the A-Team is a four man team: Face, Murdock, B.A. and Hannibal. I know where Face is, and we'll get Murdock back, but where are Hannibal and B.A.?" Lori asked leaning away from Face's nibbling.
"Hannibal didn't tell me what he was going to do tonight. He didn't tell me what he has planned for tomorrow. He said he'd meet me tomorrow night at The Fog. I can call him before then with an absolute emergency, nothing less." Face answered, giving up his efforts to nibble her.
"So, there will be no gate crashing by Hannibal and B.A.? Vachon watched me leave with you, so he won't be dropping by unannounced. We can safely move to my bedroom without fear of any distractions?" Lori searched Face's eyes for the answer to her question.
"No distractions." Face answered her, and gave her a long deep kiss. She took Face's hand and lead him out of her study. He followed where she lead.
Lori opened the door to her bedroom, and Face couldn't help thinking of it as…ordinary, no coffin, no gargoyles, no bats. She lay her cutoffs in a wicker hamper, then guided Face to the side of her bed.
"You're wearing a lot more clothes then I am." Lori observed lightly.
"Then we should do something about that shouldn't we?" Face asked as he took his jacket off.
"Yes, yes we should," Lori agreed slipping his tie off, and draping it across her shoulders.
"That's your idea of undressing me?" Face asked playfully.
"No, but this is." Lori pulled his shirt out of his pants, and began to unbutton his shirt from the bottom up.
"Now *that* is undressing me," Face smiled approvingly, as he began unbuttoning his shirt from the top down.
Lori froze as Face's fingers opened his shirt, exposing a little silver cross around his neck. He froze not sure what to say to her, or do with the cross. He'd worn the cross just in case it worked, and he needed it. She cupped the cross in her hands, no smoke. She kissed the cross, no rumble of thunder.
"A cross has no power over me. It will work on most vampires, but not me. I'm not sure if it's a matter of age, or faith, probably a bit of both. The faith of my childhood was dead before Christianity was born. And…well…it was well before Christianity was born." Face heard her age as a weight in her voice. He whistled soft and low, brushed her hair back from her face looking into her eyes. He'd wondered how old she was, and now he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"Lori I…" He started but she covered his mouth with a hand.
She leaned her head against his chest, and stood there silently for a long time. Eventually she said, "I'm so old I'm alien to my own kind. I've a few friends, both vampire and human, but it's been a very long time since…"
Face lifted her green eyes to meet his blue ones, and told her firmly, "We're here now."
She nodded smiling thoughtfully. "Yes. We're here now."
Face put his arms around her, and sat them both down on the bed.
"I don't know how old you are, and I don't care. I came here *just* wanting your help to get Murdock back, but now I want *you*. I didn't know if the cross would work, and I don't know if you can break my bones. But I know *whatever* I want you, and I trust you. Lori, say something to me?" Face squeezed her shoulders.