Title: Colder Days
Author: Lisa M
Pairing: None - Hawkeye/BJ friendship
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own anything. Don't sue … no money.
Archive: Anywhere, just let me know.
Feedback: Would be appreciated - good or bad.

A/N: Answer to the 10-minute fic prompt 'Cold'. There is a tense shift … it's intentional.

Warning: This is not a happy fic. As a matter of fact, it's sad and depressing. Probably because lately I've been feeling a little down. So, I'm sorry that my mood seems to have sloshed over into my fic. I promise, my other answers will be happier )


It was a cold day. One of the coldest I'd ever experienced in my lifetime. January in Maine is never a picnic, but this was something different. Something much worse. The billowing drifts of snow. The biting, bone-chilling wind. The slick, shimmering ice.

I should have known … seen … that just beyond the horizon was a horrible tomorrow.

That day. On that cold, dreary morning, the phone rang. I knew it was him before I even heard the second jingle. When I leaned over to the night table and reached out for the receiver, the air began to crackle with electricity. As I touched the smooth plastic, a shock of static passed through my fingers and I jerked my hand back - stunned. For a moment, I simply laid there. Refusing to answer. Afraid to answer. Listening to the familiar ring.

But it was him. I had to pick up. I glanced at the clock. 5:00am - 2:00am his time. It was still so early there. His voice was strained, tight. He had been crying. I could hear the hiccups of breath between each tense word that came from him. As he spoke, my heart fell.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," I assured him and hung up the phone. I sat in bed and, with a sigh, ran my fingers through my hair. A glance out the window showed nothing but white. Endless, freezing white. With a shiver, I stood and walked into the kitchen. A quick flip through a phone book yielded the number I needed. I grabbed the phone off the wall and put it to my ear.

"Yes, hello. I need to know the departure time for your earliest flight to San Francisco."

Then I woke dad.

"I need a lift to the airport. Can you take me?"

"Do you have any idea what time it is, Hawkeye?"

"He called. There's been … I have to go, right now. My flight leaves in two hours."

"The snow …"

"Dad, he needs me."

He nodded. I rushed back to my room and threw some necessities into an overnight bag. We were out the door and on the way to the airport within fifteen minutes.


Two days later, I stand next to my best friend as he buries his wife and daughter. I feel him trembling next to me, and I wrap my arm tightly around his waist. Tremors shake my body as a chill passes through me.

I glance around the cemetery. Everything is green. The grass, the trees, the shrubs. There is no white here … except for the bleak grave markers. The weather is temperate. Warmer than the Maine January's that I'm used to. But, the warmth holds no comfort for me today.

BJ shivers against my side and pull him closer to me. I feel his loss almost as deeply as he does. His pain is my pain. My heart, my soul - have joined his. Somewhere dark. Somewhere cold.

The End