Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, or the show, or any of that good stuff. I just like to have fun with them J Besides, if I did own them, I wouldn't be writing stuff here, I would be writing it into the script!
Note: This takes place right after Margaret's father leaves the unit after his visit. HM friendship/romance.
Hawkeye Pierce woke up with a start, blinking and waiting until his eyes adjusted to the total darkness of the Swamp. He could have sworn he'd heard something.
"Hawkeye." someone whispered from right beside his bunk. He turned toward the sound and tried to place the familiar voice through the fog in his brain.
"Margaret?" he whispered back, finally.
"Yes, it's me. Can we talk?" she asked.
"Now?" he asked in disbelief. Why did she have to interrupt his well-deserved sleep? It's not like she wouldn't yell at him in public.
"Yes, now. I can't sleep until I tell you this." she whispered.
"Fine. Not here, though. I don't want to wake up BJ or Charles." he whispered back. No reason for everyone in camp to be awake. His eyes had adjusted well enough for him to see Margaret nod. He got off his cot and pulled his pants on, following her out the door. They walked through the camp in silence, heading down the long road that led into the town. They stopped halfway there and sat on a branch of a fallen tree. "Now, Major Houlihan, what can I do for you?"
"Hawk, there's something that I have to say to you." she said.
"There better be, after you dragged me out of a peaceful slumber." he said, fully awake now.
"I'm sorry. Hmm. That's what I had to say, too. I wanted to...to apologize for what I said yesterday morning."
"Oh, that. Don't worry about that. I'd forgotten all about that." he lied. It had actually hurt him that she had thought he'd do something like that to hurt her.
"No, you hadn't forgotten about it. You avoided me all day yesterday, or I would have said it then. Really, Hawk, I am sorry. I've known you long enough now to know that, when it counts, you're always there for me. I should have known that you'd never do anything to hurt me. I, I guess I just wasn't thinking straight. I was upset, and ...oh listen to me. Trying to make excuses. There isn't an excuse. I'm sorry. I know that my father can be a rude, overbearing man sometimes, but it's hard for me to accept that." she said, not meeting his eyes. He gently lifted her chin so that she was looking right into his eyes.
"Really, Margaret. It's ok. I know that the visit with your Dad didn't go the way you wanted it to, and I'm sorry for that." he said.
"It was ok, really. I'm glad I got to see him." she said, not admitting her disappointment. "I'm just sorry that I couldn't be the daughter he wanted."
"Margaret! Is that really what you think?" he asked, surprised.
"It's not what I think...it's what I know. Never mind, you wouldn't understand." she said.
"Try me." he said, in a combination of confusion at her words, and anger at her father for letting her think that.
"It's nothing."
"Come on Margaret. If it upsets you like this, it must be more than nothing."
"I'm not upset. I just wish that I could have been the daughter that he wanted."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, when I was little, I tried so hard to be just the daughter that he wanted me to be, but I was never good enough. If I had just been a little better, more military, maybe he would have had time for me."
"Ah. So that's it. He never had time for you. That I understand."
"YOU UNDERSTAND! How could YOU understand ME?" she said, almost in tears.
"The same thing happened to me, you know." he said. "My father is a doctor. And especially after my mother died, I was at home alone all the time. He had full days, and even when he came home, he was either too busy with paperwork, or too tired to even talk to me about my day. He'd come home, cook dinner, we'd eat in silence, and then he'd go to his study and work. I didn't even have a Mother or any siblings to talk to. You think you felt alone?" he said.
"Oh, Hawk, I'm sorry." she said. "I guess I just wanted to be Daddy's little girl. You know he's never once told me he loves me? And yesterday was the first time he ever said he was proud of me? I think it made my day. No, it probably made my life." she said. "He's even worse now than he was when he was married to my Mom. And then I had to go make it even worse with the divorce. I just know he's disappointed in me."
"Margaret, if he told you he was proud of you, he means it. He doesn't seem like the kind of person who wastes time with words he doesn't mean." he said.
"True. Hawk, do you remember when we first got here, how I was?"
"100% Army, through and through." he said, not mentioning her other faults.
"Exactly. And now I'm not. I've changed so much. If he'd come then, he would have been proud of me. But..." she started, but she was interrupted with a loud crack of thunder, and lightening flashed across the sky. When she heard the thunder, she cried out and grabbed Hawkeye's shirt, getting as close to him as she could. He instinctively grabbed her tight in his arms, and just then the clouds broke open and the rain came pouring down. They started running back to the camp, but stopped after a minute because there was no longer any point to it, they couldn't get any wetter than they already were. They walked down the road, close together and holding hands, laughing in the rain. When the next clap of thunder resounded all around them, Hawkeye wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and Margaret put her arms around his waist, and they tried to walk like that. They tripped over an unseen obstacle, and fell face first into they dirt road, which had become mud in the past few minutes. When the next bolt of lightening flashed through the sky, they saw each other, coated completely in mud, and they both just started laughing. Margaret's fear of loud noises drove her into his arms again as the thunder roared around them again, ten times louder than the shellfire that had put them in a similar position, although slightly dryer, in the cave. They sat together in the mud, laughing in between claps of thunder, and clinging to each during them. They watched the beautiful light show as the lightening lit up the sky in brilliant blues, greens and purples. They made no effort to get up, they just sat there together in the mud, enjoying each other's company and the reckless abandon that they so rarely had the privilege of feeling these days. The storm didn't last long, maybe 45 minutes, and when the rain finally stopped, they were left still holding each other, watching the beautiful sunrise.
"After a rain like that, everything looks so fresh and clean. It's like the whole world is ready for a fresh start." Margaret said, almost in reverence. Hawkeye had nothing to say to that, he just nodded and rested his chin on her shoulder. She was sitting with her back to him, and his arms were around her still, as she leaned back against him, both of them facing the sunrise. "Oh! Hawkeye!" exclaimed Margaret in pure joy, "Look! It's a rainbow!"
"It's beautiful." he said, and this time it was her who just nodded. "Do you know what they mean, Margaret?"
"What?"
"New Beginnings. Sounds appropriate, huh?"
"Yes. Here's to New Beginnings and Fresh Starts." she said, as though making a toast.
"To New Beginnings."
Note from the Author: Ok, guys, this is my first fanfic ever. I like it, but I'd really like to know what ya'll think. Please Review!! (Somewhat nicely, please!)