Going back to the madness
Chapter 1
1
A/N-I wrote before that "Broken Road" was my first fan fic, which really wasn't true. This was. It's been on my computer forever, and I had a mary sue in it, but decided against it. So I edited it, and here's the first chapter. Any ideas would be appreciated. I'll even give you credit!
John Francis Xaiver McIntyre sighed and looked around his small apartment. Not much left, he thought. Everything he needed was packed for his trip back...there. Hell, not only was everything he needed packed, damn near everything he owned was stuffed into the olive drab green bag that identified it as Army issue. All that was left was some tattered second hand furniture, some food that had past it's prime a week ago, and some dying houseplants.
The curly haired doctor stood at the kitchen counter, unsure of what to do next. "Ah, what the hell, I'll have one more drink before I have to leave. This open bottle of alcohol won't be any good by the time I get back, anyway."
He poured the drink and gulped it down fast, fully aware of the stinging in his throat. He poured another glass, but didn't slug it down like he did the first. Instead, he swirled the liquor round and round, thinking back to how he got himself sent back to Korea...again...
Man, was he ever glad to be getting home...Trapper John McIntyre was going home. He hadn't been home in over a year. I bet Becky and Cathy have gotten so big...it's been so long. Then there was Louise. While he hadn't been the most faithful husband in the world, he was going to change that. With all the hell, carnage, bodies, and other atrocities he had seen, the only woman he wanted to be with is the only one who really loved him. Boy, was he ever wrong.
Louise...
Trapper slammed his fist down on the counter top, and then, cursing that stupidity, downed the drink he was holding in one gulp. As he reeled from the stinging hand and the second stiff drink,Trapper smiled wryly. He knew that he didn't hurt his hand badly enough to justify that last drink. It was something else. Or, to be more precise, the memory of someone else.
She found out. Trapper didn't exactly know how; it was hard to get the specifics when you were dodging plates, plants, and anything else that wasn't nailed down that was being hurled at you the second you walked in the door. Actually, Trapper thought, some of the stuff thrown my direction probably was nailed down at one point.
"Hey, honey, I'm"-
"Don't you 'honey' me, you son-of-a"-
"What? Louise, honey, what's wrong?"
"What's wrong!" Louise ranted. "You lying, cheating, no-good excuse for a husband!"
"Louise, I don't understand!"
"Oh, you don't understand sleeping with every nurse in Korea while I'm here running our house and taking care of our children? Oh, you probably didn't think that any of this would get back to me, but it did. It turns out, Trapper,"-McIntyre had cringed when he heard that-Louise never called him that-that one of your little conquests moved in with her new husband down the street. She started taking one day about how she was at a MASH unit, and met the most wonderful man from Boston, and he went by Trapper John and she wondered if he was still in Korea or back in town. She also said that you were quite the ladies man over there, and she wasn't your only one. Needless to say, I was pretty mad. Still am, in fact. But not for long, John. I want a divorce."
"Louise-no-I'm sorry-I'll change-please don't leave me"-
"John-I have to. I can't love you anymore. I know there were others. I'm not stupid." She was quiet for a moment. "You know the girls will go with me," Louise said softly.
Trapper sighed. "I know." That's all he could say. "I know. Tell them I love them, okay?" Trapper was fighting back tears. Shakily he drew in his breath. "I'll be back tomorrow at 9 am to pick up my things and give you my number, okay?" Louise nodded. Trapper picked up the bags he had just set down and headed out to his car in the garage. He paused in the doorway.
"Goodbye, Louise."
"Goodbye, John."
And that was it.
True to his word, Trapper was back at his house at 9 am the next day, after a long night at a cheap hotel-alone. He didn't fight Louise. He only took what was rightfully his-clothes, medical books, a little bit of personal stuff he had bought. Not a whole lot. Most of the stuff he really needed was already packed, having been toted halfway across the world and back from his Army stint. There was about a car load when he had gotten done. Thank God she hadn't argued about the cars. What did she need with two cars, anyway? His income had bought most of the bigger stuff they had owned, so he'd better get at least a car out of this mess. Anyway, after that day, almost a year ago, they talked mostly through lawyers. Now that the divorce had been final for-jeez, had it been that long, already?-9 months, he really didn't talk to Louise at all. Sure, he had seen the girls about once a month in the beginning, but now he hadn't seen them in 3 months. Louise had found another man, one that wouldn't cheat on her, and be a good daddy to her girls. Not his girls or their girls. Her girls. That was what hurt the most. Trapper reached for the bottle for his third drink, and then thought better of it. He had to leave in about an hour, and the Army wouldn't appreciate it if he showed up obliterated. He drained the rest of the bottle into the sink and flopped down on the broken down couch. He'd spent many nights on this couch, since he had got this place. For all intensive purposes, it looked like he had moved on with his life. He found a job as a surgeon at Boston Mercy. That was easy, considering his experiences in Korea. He got a little apartment to hold his little bit of stuff, and settled back into bachelorhood.
But under the surface, all was not as it seemed. For one thing, Trapper didn't go back to dating right away. The truth be told, he hadn't felt like dating at all. The "ladies man" of Boston, Korea, and everywhere in between, "Trapper John" McIntyre, not dating. Most people who knew Trapper would laugh at that. But the people who knew John Francis Xavier McIntyre wouldn't laugh. Few people knew John McIntyre. Louise didn't even really know him. Not anymore. Before he got himself sent back to the rear end of Korea, Trapper's days and nights were almost always the same. Go to work, maybe go to the store, and come home. Most nights after a long day at work, he sat at home, watching TV and drinking martinis that tasted only a little better than the lighter fluid he used to drink in the Swamp. There was just nothing that he wanted to do, besides work. Work made him feel like he was back at the 4077th, with the only real friends that he had. He was so bored with his life that he called up one of his connections in the Senate and got himself sent back to Korea. And not just anywhere in Korea, back to the 4077th. This senator was a pretty important guy in Washington, and Trapper knew a few things about him that shouldn't have happened at all. So you could say that Mr. Important Senator was very accommodating when Trapper came calling about getting back to a certain MASH unit on the other side of the planet. He couldn't believe that he was going back to that upholstered men's room, as he once called it. He was crazier than Klinger, and he was sure the Lebanese scoundrel would tell him such when he got back to his stomping grounds. Trapper looked at his watch. Time to get going. He took one last look around, put his dogtags back around his neck, picked up his bags and walked out the door.