Hello Everybody. This is the first story I've posted in a long time and is also my first MASH fic. This story mostly takes place in Daniel's head and I think it might be a bit rambling, but hopefully you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own MASH

Through a Father's Eyes

Daniel Pierce had been observing his son for a long time. Since the day he was born to be precise. Benjamin, or Hawkeye as he affectionately called him, had been a bright boy from the very beginning, with dark raven hair and those blue eyes that sparkled with mischief. He had a knack for getting into trouble, and was the cause for many sleepless nights for him and his wife.

The cancer that had taken Daniel's wife had plagued the Pierce household and especially took its toll on Hawkeye. However, he found his humor again eventually. They had worked through the pain together as father and son. They became inseparable, able to tell each other anything. That's probably why the three years Hawkeye was deployed in Korea were the hardest years of Daniel Pierce's life.

He was only able to council his son through pen and paper and even though most of his letters remained comical and jovial in his son's usual manner, he knew him well enough to read between the lines. He had changed. He just didn't realize how much he had changed until the day he met him at the airport. He barely recognized the young man he'd said goodbye to three years prior. His raven hair was now peppered with gray. Deep hollows had set under his eyes, no doubt evidence of the many sleepless nights he'd endured. And there were creases in his face that hadn't been there before. When he had embraced him, he felt his spine protruding from his back. His son had always been lanky, but now he was downright thin, almost unhealthy. By God, in the course of three years his son had seemed to age ten… make it eleven years.

But it wasn't just his appearance that left a rock in the bottom of Daniels stomach. He was Quieter. Much quieter, and he had a melancholy that hung over him like a dark cloud. His blue eyes, which had been bright and full of life once, were now steeled over with frustration, sorrow, and something even more frightening that Daniel couldn't place. And that was even without the nightmares that his son had at three o'clock in the morning. Daniel would often wake with a terrifying start to the ungodly screaming and yelling coming from down the hall. The first time it happened he was so startled he didn't know what was happening. As soon as he realized the terrified screeching was coming from his son he leapt out of bed and bounded down the hall in surprising speed for a man his age.

"Ben, Ben!?" He shouted as he opened the door approaching the flailing body. "It's just a dream son, it's just a dream!" Hawkeyes body had finally settled aside from his heaving chest.

"I'm ok dad…" He had said after a moment, his face as white as a sterile gown. Daniel hadn't believed him then, and he didn't believe him every other night he woke up to dreams that terrorized his sleep. The worst ones were the nights where he woke crying, saying in his comatose state over and over "it was her baby, it was her baby…"

Of course his son still met with Dr. Sydney Freedman every other week for the first few months stateside and then once a month later on, but Daniel doubted it was enough. He talked to the psychiatrist himself on occasion and he had given him several tips.

"Let Hawkeye adjust to his new setting. It will get better in time." He wished it was as easy to believe that as he made it sound. It was even harder running a practice with someone he didn't fully trust anymore. His son was perfectly capable. He knew that, but when it came to traumatic cases or especially when children came in he preferred to take them himself. Once within the first month of coming home there had been a patient with appendicitis. Hawkeye had started to take out the little organ, and began to rush the operation unnecessarily fast.

"Son, slow down." Daniel had said suddenly. "There's no hurry." He looked up at him with those steeled blue eyes and nodded slowly.

"Sorry… I just…"

"It's alright son."

They say time heals all wounds, but as far as Daniel was concerned, the scars left behind were sometimes almost as ugly.

After a few months Hawkeye had finally started to settle down. A little bit of his old self shined through at times, especially if there was company, but even when he was smiling and laughing with that boisterous cackle of his, there was no hiding his general gloominess. That's probably why Daniel Pierce was so overjoyed when he opened the door one day to find a drop-dead gorgeous blond. He didn't need an introduction to know who it was. Even if he hadn't caught sight of the snap shots his son had hidden in his desk he was sure he would know who this woman was.

"Hello" She said softly. "Is Dr. Pierce here?"

"You're looking at him" Daniel said with a smirk.

"Oh, of course… I, uh, I mean Hawkeye. We uh, we were… well, we knew each other in Korea." Daniel chuckled.

"I know, I know. Don't pay any attention to this old man. I'll go get him." He had her wait momentarily on the porch as he went into the living room. "There's an old friend to see you Hawkeye."

"Not right now dad. Can't you tell them I'm taking a nap or something?"

"I think you'll want to see this one." It must have been his tone or the expression on his face, because moments later Hawkeye shot out of his chair for the front door. By the time Daniel had caught up to him he found the two in a fervent embrace.

That night they stayed up late into the evening talking. For the most part Daniel listened in silence as the two swapped stories and laughed. He hadn't seen his son that happy since he had picked him up. He excused himself for bed.

At four o clock when the nightmare came, Daniel startled awake. He ran down the hall in his usual manner, but stopped short of the room realizing that the screaming had already stopped. He listened at the door, hearing quiet sobs.

"Shh, 's okay." He heard the soft voice of Margaret comforting his son in a way he never could. "I get them too you know… nightmares."

"Will they ever stop?" He heard his son choke out.

"I don't know… I hope so." That was the first night he hadn't stepped foot in the room, and the last time he got up to check on him.

The weeks passed and Daniel witnessed his son morphing into someone new. Not the old Hawkeye. No, Daniel was sure that he would never see that boy again, but this was pretty close and he would gladly take it. He realized as he watched him and Margaret together why he had wasted his time earlier in the year trying to get his son on dates with his old flames. They would never fit him now. Now he needed someone that understood what had happened, and he wouldn't be able to find that in anyone else.

He was witnessing what happened when two very broken people came together, and somehow they made something whole. Maybe not something pretty, or even very understandable. But whole none the less. That's what made them completely unique. That's why everyone in Crabapple cove noticed them. Why they stared at the couple that was so completely odd it didn't make any sense. Why they were envied by everyone and why no one questioned it.

That wasn't to say the couple didn't have their bad moments. On the occasion when they fought Daniel found it best to take a walk. And a long walk at that. Sometimes he was sure that the house would explode with the amount of yelling that took place. Daniel supposed that when you have two people so spirited together that it was only natural.

Margaret made long term plans to stay and started teaching at the closest nursing school. She was made for teaching, as Hawkeye so often said. One night at the clinic as they were closing his son asked him a question. "So what do you think of her dad. I'm not sure if I've ever asked you."

"I think you'd be crazy not to spend the rest of your life with that beautiful girl." He smiled.

"Good, because I'm going to ask her to marry me."

Daniel had met most of the MASH residents individually over the years, but Hawkeye and Margaret's wedding was the first time he had witnessed them all in the same place at the same time. The chaotic group of eccentric characters that Daniel had read so much about in his son's letters had come to life before his eyes.

The ceremony had been beautiful of course, although the bride and groom had to repeat their "I do's" loud enough for father Mulcahy to hear them. The entrée was served by none other than Igor who served surprisingly delicious pulled pork, curtesy of his hog farm. Klinger arrived with a very pregnant Soon Lee, but he still managed to party with the group and somehow ended up in a dress by the end of the evening. Daniel wasn't sure who spiked the punch, but he had his money on Trapper.

Even with everyone wasted, BJ still managed to give one heck of a best man speech and didn't leave a dry eye in the house, even Charles. A stunned Radar caught the garter and Kelleye caught the bouquet. There was dancing and even though Daniel had taken a liking to Mrs. Potter when they had their own stateside reunion in New York, he thought it'd be best to let Colonel Potter take the lead on this occasion.

Hawkeye and Margaret left late in the evening and were sent away by the people that meant most to his son. He couldn't help but feel the tiniest ache in his chest at the thought that he would never come close to understanding his son the way that the doctors, nurses, and staff of the 4077 did. Daniel smiled in spite of his thoughts. The people there that night, were all responsible in some way or another of keeping his son sane through it all and he was glad to be in their company.

As the years passed Daniel grew accustomed to the idea of never having grandchildren. Yes, he wanted some, as every father does, but he knew Hawkeye still thought of the baby on the bus every time he saw a little boy or girl under five. So he eventually accepted the fact that it wouldn't happen. That's probably why he was so shocked one evening when His son and daughter in law were over for dinner and they made the announcement. Daniel still remembers feeling like he got blindsided by a train moving a hundred miles per hour. He was completely taken by surprise. He was ecstatic of course, but still surprised.

He never actually asked his son, but he always secretly suspected that Maggie Pierce had been an accident. Never the less, he thanked God that she was born. His son had needed that baby even more than he had needed Margaret. His son had been nervous as hell the nine months Margaret was pregnant, and during the eleven hours of labor, he'd never seen his son more anxious. Daniel was allowed the honor of delivering the baby, the proudest moment of his life. At first, when Hawkeye finally got to hold his little girl he was unsure, but once he did there was no getting her out of his arms. Daniel had never seen his son so protective of anything.

They had two boys after Maggie and Daniel loved seeing his grandchildren's eyes light up when he came to visit. Maggie was close to 10 now and her bright eyes sparkled with the same mischief of her father. Of course she had one more advantage than even Hawkeye had: The Houlihan temper. She was a fiery girl and would no doubt give his son and daughter in law many gray hairs. Daniel often chuckled at the thought.

Daniel considered these days the best days of his life. He still watched his son. His eyes weren't as steeled over now. Margret and their children had brought a different type of sparkle to his eye. He occasionally still had moments when the trauma of war would surface in unexpected ways, but those days were far and few in between and in later years Daniel would try to tell Margaret how grateful he was for bringing his son back to him, but he didn't think she ever truly comprehended how lost he'd been without her. Only a father could see that.

The End

Well I hope you all enjoyed it. I'm planning on writing a longer MASH fic eventually, but want to do a couple shorter ones first to get the feel for the characters. Thanks for reading!