AN: I had to make Peg the villain, even though I didn't want to. I mean, who actually wants their husband stolen? Enjoy~

Peg Hunnicutt. A simple perfect looking housewife. She and BJ perfectly fit together in the perfect American family model.

I came to see the beautiful Hunnicutt family after my father died of sudden cardiac arrest. Our small town practice slowly dwindled, the patients trusted my father, not the stranger I had become over the few years away. Besides, he was a pediatrician, a job I could never do, I still can't work with kids.

After the funeral, Beej called to cheer me up and invited me to the sunny coast, so I packed a suitcase and left Crabapple Cove. The trip took a few days by bus, I had already been to the west coast on airplane, but that had been before I shipped out to Korea, not my fondest memory.

BJ opened the door to the airy light blue house, flashing the bright smile I had grown so accustomed to over long months. It was like nothing had ever happened, no time had passed since the prankster in front of me and I were serving in our own corner of Hell we affectionately called Korea. But it was hard to tell that BJ had seen any hardship at all, the smile lines were so deep in his face, hardly a worry line seen anywhere. It seemed that his family had been able to erase the tension lines that long OR sessions and lack of sleep had engraved so deeply in our faces. He was the piece of my sanity that I had lost these past few months.

I walked into their home, smelling the light smell of pot roast and potatoes. Just as I walked in, a little girl grabbed me around the knees before I could even see her. Erin the angel, everything described and more. It was hard to see kids without remembering a small Korean infant from so long ago on that dreadful night, but this small child was too extraordinary to not be completely engrossed in, intelligent, innocent, and perfectly happy. To me, she was a smaller version of BJ, making everything more bright with her sparkling baby blue eyes.

I picked her up as we talked, walking towards the kitchen, BJ in tow. Then there she was. The woman I had heard about so many times everyday, the person behind the worn photograph that had sat in the Swamp for years. Light, perfectly arranged hair crowned the sweet face. Her cheeks were rosy, and she hummed as she worked, but when I was introduced, the perfect hostess smile never reached the clear blue eyes.

A cool pit of something that felt like death and hate came from the eyes of Peg as soon as she knew who I was. Me, the man who stole BJ during our many months in Korea. Me, the man that BJ wrote about in all of his letters. Me, the man who slept with her husband behind her back. She had every right to hate me.

So I smiled at her, and played along for BJ and Erin. I was the model of the perfect houseguest that fit into this perfect American home. I came here to meet the loving family I imagined, but all I can do is count down till I leave. Erin and BJ brighten all the dark corners I have had in my heart since Korea, making me feel happy and as normal as I can get, but all the while, I feel her eyes.

She watches me, suspicious of everything. I don't blame her, I took her husband when she wasn't looking, and she intends to never let him go again. When the visit was over, and the goodbyes were said, I turned to leave, patting Erin on the head, and shaking BJ's hand and stealing a last hug. I looked at Peg, who had her arm wrapped around Erin, and stood possessively close to her family.

I nodded and smiled the expected polite smile, she returned the same empty smile. As I walked away from the sky blue house of happiness, picture perfect with the beautiful family at the front, I knew I would never darken the door again.