Author's Note: This is my first M*A*S*H story, I plan on adding all the other characters eventually but as of right now it'll focus on Hawkeye for awhile. I don't think Hawkeye would have totally gotten over the war and the events of Goodbye, Farewell and Amen so this story is what I think would have happened. I warn you its not going to be a totally happy one. There wont be any character deaths, but Henry Blake will play a role posthumously. Oh and I'm going to try to stick to canon.
Hawkeye Pierce had been home from the war in Korea for six months. The house he shared with his dad was quiet as he came in from the back door. He chose the back door because it was quieter and closer to his room. He couldn't have his dad see him like this. Not again.
He was drunk and reeked of three different kinds of alcohol but he had made this walk in this so many nights that he was almost certain he could make it to bed without incident.
He thought wrong, as freezing cold water came from nowhere in the dark and soaked him. It was sobering.
Hawkeye shivered as the kitchen lights came on and his dad appeared standing in the doorway leading to the living room. Hawkeye squinted, his eyes had been used to the dark for over an hour.
"This is getting old, Benjamin." Daniel Pierce said with a tone that reminded Hawkeye of Colonel Potter. Daniel dropped the metal bucket he was holding, it made a loud banging sound as it crashed on the linoleum floor.
Hawkeye put his hand on his forehead and pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and sat down. "I'm a grown man, dad. I can drink if I want to. It's not against the law." Water dripped from his near shoulder length hair, covering the table.
Daniel sat down too. Hawkeye made an effort to adjust his position so that he wasn't looking directly at his dad, but his dad put his hand on his sons shoulder forcing him to look.
"You're acting like a child."
Hawkeye looked at the table bringing his hand back on his forehead. "I want to forget dad. So far alcohol is the only way to do that without leaving the car on in the garage with me in it."
Daniel dropped his stern demeanor and developed a caring one. One that was more his character than his stern one. "Hawkeye, I know you know that drinking only works for a little while. You drink some more and then that doesn't work you drink again. It's a cycle, a vicious one that's killing you, and possibly those patients that you're refusing to see."
Hawkeye sighed. He didn't want to hear it so he planned to stay quiet so his dad would get his anger and frustration out and let Hawkeye go to sleep. It had worked before.
Daniel knew that was his sons plan so he reached over the small table and grabbed his sons cheek and shoulder and forced him to look at him again, "Damn it listen to me! I AM not going to sit here for the rest of my life and let my son drink his life and career away. If you can't handle what happened over there with something other than booze or suicide, we have a problem."
There was a silence and Hawkeye knew his dad wanted his to say something. Finally he did. "Dad no patient wants a doctor who went looney and had to be put away in a war zone."
"That's your problem?" Daniels tone, expressed real disbelief.
"Yes. That's my problem." Hawkeyes tone mimicked his father like a teenager.
Daniel reached over the table again, only this time he smacked his son across the face with an open hand. Hawkeye jumped, absolutely shocked at what his father just did. It was more sobering than the water. In all his life that was the first time that his father had hit him hard enough to actually hurt. Anytime he was hit as a kid it was a soft wakeup call but this was the real thing.
Hawkeyes cheek stung. He looked at his dad. "Either you sober up and at least show up to work or I'm getting Sidney Freedman here with commitment papers in hand."
Daniel left the room and turned off the lights. Hawkeye sat in the dark, if he was still drunk, he didn't feel like it any more.
In the morning Hawkeye woke to an unbelievable hangover, however he had grown used to it by now. This is how he woke up every morning.
The house was dim. Daniel had purposely left the lights off, but kept the window blinds open. Any light in the house came from outside. Hawkeye went to the counter and poured a warm cup of coffee from a new coffee maker the likes of which Hawkeye had never even seen until he got home.
He sat at the table in the same spot he sat in the night before. Hawkeye took a drink from his cup and watched a boat go off in the distance. Hawkeye had been gone so long he had forgotten how beautiful the Atlantic ocean was.
His father was quiet, usually the old man would at least say good morning. Today he wasn't saying anything.
Hawkeye didn't like it, finally he spoke. "Did you mean what you said last night?"
Daniel kept his attention on the Crabapple Cove Courier and ignored Hawkeye. Hawkeye sighed, he really screwed up this time he thought to himself as he decided to finish his coffee and sneak away.
He gulped the last of the hot drink, and began to get up. Finally his dad spoke. "Do you actually plan on leaving the house today for something other than getting drunk?"
Hawkeye was half way up and the question caught him off guard. "Well no…."
Daniel picked a big bag off the floor. "Good. Put these on."
Inside the bag Hawkeye found a white lab coat and new clothes. Hawkeye looked up at his dad quizzically.
"You got a job with the county. Congratulations."
"A job with the county doing what?" Hawkeyes stomach dropped a little.
"Seeing people who live on welfare. The county keeps a doctor on staff to do stuff like physicals, vaccinations, checkups and the occasional necessary surgery. The patients don't pay you, the county will."
Hawkeye sat back down. "How can I get a job without applying or going to an interview?"
Daniel put his paper down. "Easy. A buddy of mine asked. He said he always gives vets jobs first, and you're the only available surgeon in the whole county."
"I thought you were retiring and giving your practice to me..."
Daniel crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "What do you care? You're happy staying home and drinking your life away."
"When do I start?"