This is dedicated to ImaLateBloomer, whose excellent stories have provided some very unlikely inspiration.

When Daniel Pierce, MD saw the trooper arriving with the telegram, he knew immediately what it meant. His son was dead. His son, his only, beloved, wonderful son, was dead, and now Daniel was all alone in the world.

As he reluctantly accepted the telegram, his hands shook with fear and an overwhelming sense of sadness overtook him. He had known this day would come, but could not, would not, ever accept it. But now it was real- he had the official word from the US Army in his own hands. Daniel left his lemonade on the front porch, then went into his room for solace.

But none was to be had. His only son, Hawkeye, with so much to offer the world, was gone, and there was not a damn thing Daniel could do about it. He knew his son wasn't much of a spiritual man; but somehow Daniel managed to say a prayer that his son had made peace of some sorts with The Big Guy.

Dead. This couldn't be real. In his line of work, he'd lost several patients, but somehow had managed to keep it together in order to tell the survivors. But now, there was no one left to protect, no one to make him laugh, no more letters to look forward to. There was nothing left. No one even left to carry on the Pierce name.

Daniel looked on the wall; everywhere he looked he saw Hawkeye, whether it was a photo (and there were many of them) or a particularly funny letter that Daniel had seen fit to frame. Constant reminders of his son were spread throughout the house, and it would be the longest night of his life, to be sure.

It was horrible when his wife died, but somehow, Hawkeye had managed to keep his own father's spirits well by his infectious laughter and timely sense of humor. Throughout all the years, some painful, some awkward (when Hawkeye first discovered girls and Daniel had walked in on his son with his first girlfriend at the tender age of 15), it was truly Hawkeye who kept him going. Together they shared the good times, the bad, the unbearable, and the humorous. In everything Hawkeye did he managed to infuse it with a special brand of humor and laughter that the world was now worse off for losing.

Boy, did Hawkeye make him laugh. It started off early, when Hawkeye was just an infant. Daniel was a bit uncomfortable around babies, especially his own, but to see the look of love on his son's face whenever Daniel returned home from a hard day's work, well, that was just priceless. How could anyone put a price on love, pure and simple? Daniel wasn't a rich man, but he would give his last dime just to have one more day with his beloved son.

What would he tell him? For starters, he'd tell him how much he loved his son. No matter what mischief Hawkeye got himself into, Daniel had found that he couldn't stay mad at his son for very long. It was that great wit of Hawkeye's that managed to help him land on his feet, no matter what the situation was. But apparently humor made no nevermind in the US Army.

He heard a noise and then walked outside to see what the commotion was. It was just the mailman, delivering his daily round of mail. Daniel, more out of force of habit than desire, walked to the mailbox, and to his great shock found himself the reciepient of a letter from a ghost. His son's last words to him were "Take care Dad. I'll be coming home soon. And in case I haven't told you, I love you. More than you can possibly imagine."

Now Daniel raced to get inside before the tears came flooding down his face. His son loved him! He had thought he was coming home soon- of course, he'd said that in every letter written. But Daniel knew what he had to do. He found in the hallway closet an empty picture frame and hung up the letter, next to the last picture of Hawkeye that he had. This would be a night he would never forget, as hard as he might want to.

Before he retired for the night, he read the letter one last time in order to ingrain it in his memory.

BJ. There were plenty of mentions of BJ Hunnicutt in that letter. So right then and there Daniel, feeling inspired, decided to place a call to the man that Hawkeye had described as the brother he never had. Yes, that BJ would know how to make things okay, Daniel was sure of that.

The end