Title: Saturday Morning
Author: LaDonnaErrante
Pairing: BJ/Hawkeye implied
Rating13+
Warnings: none
Disclaimer: I do not own M*A*S*H
Summary: Hawkeye and his oldest son look through a photo album
Author's Notes: This was impromptu, written quickly and unbeta'd. It was inspired by, of all things an "FML" post:
"Today, I was looking through some old family pictures for a scrapbook I'm making. I found images of my dad passed out in his underwear, my great-grandpa having a drunken bath, and an unidentified moustachioed man sitting on the toilet, giving the photographer the finger. FML"
Unidentified Mustachioed Man screamed BJ to me and this was the result.
Saturday mornings are rarely quiet in the Pierce Household. Cartoons blare from the TV in the living room as Hawkeye burns pancakes. Henry and Danny circle each other as their paper planes crash into one another and explode.
"Daaaaad," the high voice of a twelve year old boy rings out. "Can I look at your photo album."
Hawkeye pokes his head around the corner, somewhat confused by the sudden change of demeanor in his eldest son.
"Which one, Henry?"
"It says 1953-1954. Will you look with me?"
"yeah, okay." Hawkeye returns to the kitchen, turning off the flame on the already ruined pancakes. "what happened to your brother?"
"Tom and Jerry." A knowing twinkle appears in Hawkeye's eye. The only thing 8 year old Danny enjoys more than wreaking havoc was watching the animated cat and mouse wreak havoc.
Henry pulls out the heavy album and they open it onto the kitchen table to look together.
The first pages are final snapshots of Korea. Colonel Potter and Sophie. Klinger and Soon-Lee. Hawkeye points each one out to Henry by name, recalling the stories Henry has made him tell a thousand times over.
Their final swamp party is of course, recorded here for posterity. Charles red faced and conducting an air symphony. BJ's hat askance with a martini glass in hand. And from much later in the night, Hawkeye, slumped against the stove, passed out in nothing but boxers.
Henry wrinkles his nose, "why's that there?"
"I just lost a little bet with Charles. That's all" Something wicked flashes in his bright blue eyes. It isn't a story that Henry is quite ready for. And one Hawkeye isn't quite sure he'll ever be ready to share it.
A single photo, blurry yellow rocks on a blurry yellow ground.
"what's that?" asks Henry.
Hawkeye smiles. "that's the gift you're uncle BJ gave me when we left Korea."
Henry stares up at him, confused. "The rocks spell Goodbye."
"oh"
The next three pages are filled with pictures of food. A bagel with whitefish salad. Lobster, fresh. Steak and Fries.
Henry thinks, not for the first time, Dadiskindaweird.
"you would do the same thing if you hadn't had a decent meal in three years!"
The food is followed by familiar photos of Hawkeye's homecoming. Henry recognize the house and the scenery and skips over these pages stopping only when he gets to another one he finds quite odd.
Grandpa, in his pyjamas, in the bath with his one-of-a-kind grin. Hawkeye preempts the question. "That, I have no explanation for. My first Christmas back. We were both a little uhh tipsy."
Henry turns quickly to the next page.
On the next page "May 1954 written in fading pencil in the margin. Hawkeye and BJ stand together at the airport. Daniel Pierce stands at the stove, famous spaghetti and meat sauce in process. Sunset over the lake, brilliant oranges and purples in the background, straw hat covering most of BJ's hat and a mustache in the foreground.
"After the war, like all of us, BJ had some trouble adjusting to life back home." Hawkeye recounted as Henry turned pages examining each photo of Dad and Uncle BJ. "So he spent a few months out here until he got bored" Hawkeye pauses. Offme he adds to himself.
Henry turns the last page, to find the final photo. BJ, on the toilet, pants and suspenders at his ankles, newspaper on his lap, coffee in one hand and looking disgruntled but not wholly unamused and flipping the camera the bird.
Hawkeye chuckles and closes the album. "C'mon kiddo. I don't know about you but all those photos made me hungry. Go get your brother, I'll wake up mom and we can eat."