Title: Never Ending Story
Author: Mirandabelle
Summary: Margaret tells a story of love, heartbreak and uncertainty to her daughter as she tries to get the restless infant to sleep. Carrying on this tradition, she fills her other children in on how she found love and got married as her tale continues.
Prologue
"Do you suppose she'll ever sleep?" Margaret asked, looking at the tiny blue-eyed baby.
"In time," Charles smiled up at her. Bridget Jeanne Houlihan was only three days old, and her screams had kept the entire Winchester residence up at night, ever since. "I expect she's still not used to the outside world."
"Shh Bridget," Margaret crooned, rocking her daughter who responded slightly to the movement and the hushed tone. "I wonder if she knows her daddy isn't here."
"Are you going to call him?" Charles asked bluntly, Margaret winced, she had not exchanged words with Bridget's father since a breathless "See ya" in Korea when Bridget had been little more than a twinge of nausea to her mother.
"I guess... she does need a father," Margaret said. Charles winced this time, the proposal he had offered Margaret, which she had declined, although gently, had hurt him deeply.
"And he should be here," Charles added, "Does he even know you were pregnant?"
"Yes... well no. He suspected something, but... I lied... told him I was fairly sure I wasn't, and even if I was I would get rid of it. As far as he's concerned, Beej doesn't even exist." Somehow, the beautiful Celtic names Margaret had meticulously picked for her daughter, Bridget meaning strong and Jeanne from Jane, meaning merciful, had been shortened by her delighted namesake to "BJ" within hours of her birth.
"Would you like me to call him Margaret?" Charles offered, knowing that there were many long months to catch up on between them, starting from before the heated kiss as Margaret said her goodbyes to the 4077th. In fact, he suspected it even started before the night that Hawkeye and Margaret had spent together after that day on the beach, the night kept so well secret, almost forgotten, until Bridget had made her presence noticeable.
"Thank you Charles, but... but don't tell him about Bridget, just let him know that I'm alive and that I want to see him." This was sensitive news, and Margaret knew that she and she alone should tell him this.
"Of course Margaret." Charles nodded, and left the woman alone with her daughter, as she began to whisper a story, rocking her baby to sleep.