It was early morning; Hawkeye, BJ, and Charles were all sleeping soundly in the swamp. Most of the men had been up all night playing poker. It had been a slow week, hardly any casualties at all. The personnel were dying from boredom.

Charles woke first. Groaning as he pulled himself up, he looked around the room and let himself fall backwards into the blankets.

"Quiet, Charles," Moaned Hawkeye. "Some of us have a hangover!"

"Well that is your problem." Charles said, chuckling as he began getting dressed. "You wouldn't have a hangover if you behaved like a civilized man."

Hawkeye sat up just long enough to throw a pillow at Winchester, just missing him as he jogged out the door.

BJ sat up. "How can just a few drinks make me wish I was dead?" He complained.

Hawkeye laughed. "You call what we drank last night a few drinks!"

"Touché."

Hawkeye rolled himself out of bed and pulled on his pants. "Well come on, we might as well see how horrible breakfast is. I have to return this ring to Margaret anyway."

"What ring?" BJ questioned.

"It's her wedding ring from Penobscott. Apparently, she lost it in a bet with Charles and I liberated him of it last night at poker."

"And you're giving it back to her?" BJ asked incredulously.

"Well I'm certainly not going to wear it," Hawkeye said sarcastically. "Penobscott isn't my type."

Margaret sat up slowly and tried her hardest to keep her eyes open. Her head was pounding and the light was searing her eyes. She had several drinks the night before in her tent and she had a horrific hangover, though she would not have admitted it to anyone. Cautiously she stood up and walked over to her locker and began to slip a shirt on. Suddenly Hawkeye walked in.

"Get out of my tent you pervert!" She screamed.

"Oh, pardon me Margaret." Hawkeye said casually, showing no intent of going anywhere, but instead stood there letting his gaze rest on her scantily clothed body.

"Pierce! Get out of my tent NOW!" Margaret was turning red with furry.

"All right, all right fine, I'm leaving. But if you change your mind you know where to find me!"

"NOW!"

Hawkeye walked out of the tent and Margaret stood there for several moments staring at the place he had just been. Her head hurt from screaming, but that was not the reason that tears sprang to her eyes.

Hawkeye walked into the mess tent looking rather amused. He picked up a tray, received a brown glob of some unknown form of nourishment and took his usual seat next to BJ. Margaret burst into the mess tent, took one look at Hawkeye, turned and marched out of the tent.

Colonel Potter sighed and looked suspiciously at Hawkeye. "What did you do now Pierce?" He asked.

"Who me?" Hawkeye asked, looking innocently across the table at the colonel. "I didn't do anything. I just tried to return her wedding ring to her."

"What were you doing with that?"

BJ interrupted. "He won it in a poker game." BJ looked sideways at his friend. "What did you say to her when you gave it back?"

"Good grief Beej, what's with the interrogation?"

"Oh, come now Captain." Charles had just walked up and placed his tray of food next to Colonel Potter. As he was sitting down he looked at Pierce and sighed. "We all know Major Houlihan loathes you." Hawkeye rolled his eyes as Charles chuckled. "However, under normal circumstances she tolerates you, as I do. So, naturally, I come to the conclusion that you must have done something to irritate her, beyond your usual infuriating antics.

Looking rather troubled Hawkeye stood up and quickly left the tent. BJ looked at Colonel Potter questioningly.

"Strange," BJ said. "He usually gloats over what he does."

"Well maybe he has some character after all," Winchester commented, "if he is actually feeling remorse over his actions… though I doubt it."

As Hawkeye walked out of the mess tent he saw an angry Major headed toward him.

"Captain Pierce, I need to speak to you for a moment." Margaret Houlihan said curtly, as she guided Hawkeye behind the mess tent.

"Am I going to get a spanking Mommy?" He asked mockingly.

"Shut up Pierce." She sputtered angrily.

Hawkeye realized that he wasn't going to be able to avoid this confrontation with humor. He stopped smiling and sighed. "What is it Hot Lips?"

"That!" She said, looking him straight in the eyes. "I am sick and tired of all your snide comments, crude language and demeaning nick-names!" She was getting worked up now, and it was only making her angrier that she was getting absolutely no feedback from Pierce. "Are you even listening to me?" She demanded.

"Of course I am my lady." Hawkeye said bowing slightly.

"Damn it Pierce! Can't you ever be serious?"

In all honesty, Hawkeye did feel guilty over staring at her in her tent. He had hoped that she would fume about it for a while but then forget about it like she normally did. It appeared that this wouldn't be the case.

"I am sorry Margaret." This sudden apology caught her completely off guard and she wasn't sure what to say. It was so rare that Hawkeye apologized for anything she wasn't sure if she could take him seriously.

"What do you mean?" She asked warily.

"I mean just what I said." He answered earnestly.

Margaret looked up at him squarely in the eyes. She wasn't sure what she saw. There was a hint of amusement, as there always was. But there was also sincerity, and an understanding look in his gaze which she could not understand. She turned her eyes to the ground as he began talking again.

"I feel badly about walking into your tent like that this morning. I shouldn't have acted like I did, it was immature of me." Margaret began to say something but apparently decided against it. "Anyway," he continued. "The reason I came to your tent in the first place was to return this to you." Hawkeye had reached into his pocket to retrieve her ring. He held it out to her as she stared at it.

"Where did you find that?" She asked in bewilderment.

"I conned Charles out of it last night at a game of poker." Margaret smiled and took the ring out of his outstretched hand.

"Thank you." She mumbled indistinctly.

He responded with a "you're welcome" and walked away toward the swamp. As she watched him enter his tent she tried to sort out what had just happened. She had pulled him aside to rebuke him and had ended up thanking him.

"Margaret, you fool." She muttered bitterly to herself. "Charles isn't the only person he conned."