Disclaimer: MASH ain't mine – though if it were, I'd look after it better than the real owners. Mr Alda, sir, wouldn't have to take me to court (other than for the injunction – but 100m is close enough, isn't it????)
A/N: OK, in response to a review, I thought I would explain my thinking behind this story – although there is not much to explain. I've had a plot bunny bouncing about for a while involving Mulcahy falling in love, which comes from how he reacts to the pressures of war. The odd time he is confronted with a conflict of interests he gets out of by drawing on his faith. But what if it were this that was being tested, or rather what if he were forced to question his calling to the priesthood? Most other characters have sought solace in the arms of another at one time or another, why not him? Who that person is doesn't matter, it's what they represent that's important.
I have copious pages of notes regarding this scenario, and I do intend to do something with them (ie try and bash them into some semblance of a story) but in the meantime, I though I might knock out a wee drabble to try and capture the essence of the man. I hope it works. And so (ahem, ahem) ladies and gentlemen, we humbly present for your reading pleasure…
What God Has Joined Together
He watched her as she moved around the room amongst them. Within the month he would stand with her at the altar. She would pledge her troth before him. To have and to hold, from this day forth. For richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health. Till death us do part.
He stood lost in thought and she came to him, her dark eyes overwhelmingly full of love. He looked into those liquid pools of immeasurable emotion, knowing that this was the woman he wanted to be with for eternity. In the midst of the hell that this war had thrown up around them, he had discovered how immense was the capacity of his heart to love her – this beautiful, precious woman whose heart he held. He took her hand in his, and smiled warmly at her.
"God bless you, my child. He will make you very happy."
She smiled sadly in reply, and rejoined her fiancé and the festivities, leaving the priest alone by the door. As he watched his life being embraced by another man, he turned to the only solace he had ever known. His faith.
What God has joined together let no man put asunder.