Chapter 2

After Hawkeye, Margaret, and BJ were done eating breakfast, Hawkeye stretched and yawned before getting up from the table. "Well, I hope you two lovely ladies don't mind, but there's a couple of things that I have to go do at the hospital quick. I'll be back in about half an hour." He got up and walked towards the door. "Make yourselves at home." Before opening the door, he smiled as he remembered to do something. He walked back over to where BJ was sitting and messed up her hair in fun. "Don't grow up too much while I'm gone."

"I'll try not to." BJ laughed as she looked over at her mom who was also laughing and back up to Hawkeye. "See ya Dad."

"Bye kiddo." He then walked over to Margaret and bent down to kiss her on the cheek. He whispered in her ear, "Don't go anywhere while I'm gone." He kissed her again. "I love you."

A bigger smile spread across her face as she looked in his eyes. "I love you too Ben."

"Well, I'll be right back." With that, Hawkeye stepped onto the front porch and over to his car. When he started it, he went to do those 'errands' when really, he only had one very important stop. It could take a little longer than just half an hour to pick out the perfect ring, but he headed over to the jewelry store on the edge of town. He knew exactly what he was going to do, and couldn't wait to see if it was the right choice to make.

Back at the Pierce home, Margaret looked at her daughter. "I just wanted to tell you again how sorry I am that I never told you him. I just hope you can forgive me."

BJ stood up to rinse her plate. Before she responded, she took her mom's plate as well and walked over to the sink. Facing away from her Margaret, she thought for a moment. "I think I can understand…" She hesitated for a moment. "So uh…why didn't you tell him?"

Margaret looked at her daughter's shiny black hair and wondered if she should really tell her. Slowly, she started. "Well, you have to understand, when we were in Korea together, your father was always chasing women and…I always thought he was afraid of commitment. He's such a sweet man though. Always has been really. I just didn't realize how sweet he was when I first met him. By the time the war ended, we were very good friends and I loved him very much. We got a little friendlier than just friends one night though and as they say, one thing lead to another and we-"

"MOM!" BJ turned around and had a mock disgusted look on her face.

"Sorry." Margaret chuckled softly. "Anyway when I found out I was going to have you, I was so excited, but I knew that your father would feel obligated to take us in, whether he wanted to or not. I didn't really think he would want to get married, like I knew he would also think he should do, so…to keep him happy I just never told him about it. About you." Margaret had a few tears in her eyes as she spilled her heart out to her daughter. BJ's heart sank, but she walked over and gave her mom a hug around the shoulders from behind after she rinsed the dishes in her hands and put them on the counter.

"So you were afraid that I would make him unhappy?" BJ's voice was husky with emotion.

"No, I knew you would make him happy, but I just thought that he would be pressured into something that he didn't want to do. It was nothing against you sweetheart." Margaret raised her hand to put it on her daughter's arm that was still around her. "When we were talking last night, I found out that he loved me as much as I loved him by the time the war was over. I could have told him. He said he had wanted to propose, but the time was just never right."

"I forgive you Mom. I think I understand now." BJ still wished her mom would have told her dad though.

"I'm sorry honey." Margaret pulled her daughter around and put her arms around BJ as she sat down on her lap; like she still did when they were joking around or when they just felt like talking. BJ was short and thin so she wasn't too big to sit on her mommy's yet. Neither of them really wanted her to not be able to do that anymore. They were very close and loved to be around each other.

BJ put her head on her mom's shoulder. "It's okay Mom. Really."

"No it's not. I wish I could have turned back the clock and told your father about you before you were born." Margaret's voice broke from emotion and BJ pulled away to look at her mom.

"Mom, really…it's okay." The girl raised her hand and played with a lock of her mom's hair like she used to when she was little. "I think on Monday at school, I'll give that stupid Honoria a hug though. Without her stupid little trick, I never would have met my father…would I?" She had a questioning look in her eyes.

"I don't know…I really don't. But I'm glad you get to know him now." Margaret smiled and touched her daughter's cheek. "I'm sorry though Honey."

"Mom, will you quit saying that?! I get it." BJ smiled yet she was starting to get a little impatient. She understood why her mother hadn't told either one of them about the other, but she didn't want to hear how sorry she was for it. She felt bad enough as it was, and her mom saying sorry all the time, for some reason made BJ feel guilty.

"Sorry." Margaret laughed, "Okay, that time I didn't mean sorry in the way that I was meaning sorry before." She laughed a little hardier as BJ started in too.

"I love you Mom." BJ gave her mom a hug before she stood up and stretched. She was still a little tired.

Margaret stood up and also stretched. She was still wearing her nurses uniform that she had come in the night before. "I think I'm going to go take a shower and put some different clothes on." Margaret headed for the guest room where her clothes and toiletries were. Popping her head back through the doorway, she smiled and in a joking tone asked her daughter, "Why don't you do those dishes for your father? I'm sure he would appreciate it." She knew how much her daughter hated doing dishes. Much to her surprise though, she didn't get the same response as she thought she would.

"Okay." BJ smiled and collected the glasses and silverware from the table.

"Really?" Margaret looked at her daughter with a questioning look in her eyes. "Are you okay?" She went over to BJ and jokingly put a hand on her daughter's forehead to check for an imaginary fever. BJ laughed and turned around to start doing the job that she usually hated. Margaret also laughed as she turned around and went to take a shower in the guest room's attached bathroom.

Hawkeye walked into the jewelry store on the edge of town and went up to the counter. "Hi Hawkeye. What can I do for you this morning?" The girl behind the counter asked. She was in her early 20's, thin, and had curly brown hair that had more frizz than curl.

"Hi Sally. I'm just looking for a ring." Hawkeye smiled warmly at the girl and looked down at the many rings in the glass counter.

"What kind of a ring?" Sally asked, helpfully.

"Oh, an engagement ring." He looked up to gage her reaction. He got what he was hoping for. She had a look of pure astonishment on her face.

"Hawkeye Pierce getting married?!" She thought for a moment. "You know when I was about 15, I used to have the biggest crush on you. Well, I didn't know it was you, I just knew you were 'that doctor'. You used to go out with so many women. I don't think I ever saw you with the same one more than three times at most…until you came back from Korea. Then I never saw you with a woman…Who's the lucky girl?" Sally had a way of talking and not being able to stop.

Hawkeye smiled in amusement at the thought of her having a big crush on him and how true the statement was about him always being with a different woman. To answer her question, he simply said "A woman that I worked with in Korea." Sally smiled and nodded. "Hey Sally, what about that one. Can I see that one right there?" He pointed at one that he thought Margaret would like.

"This one?" She pointed at it before bringing the box to the top of the counter.

"That's the one." When Sally put the box on the counter, Hawkeye smiled and knew that it was the perfect ring. It had three diamonds in it that were not too big, but not too small. "I'll take it." After he paid for it, he tucked the box with the ring safely into his coat pocket and headed back out to his car. Before he went back home though, he decided that he had a couple more stops to make since picking out the perfect ring only took about five minutes.

When Hawkeye got back home, he ran up the front steps, across the porch, and into the front door. "Margaret?…BJ?" He called, wondering where they were.

"In here Hawk." Margaret called from the guest room where she was packing her things. When Hawkeye reached the door, a sad look swept across his face as he realized what Margaret was doing. BJ sat on the bed, watching her and now had the same sad look in her eyes as she looked up at her father.

"Going so soon?" His voice relayed his sadness.

"BJ has school on Monday and I have work, plus I really don't want to be in the way." Margaret shut the suitcase as she put BJ's pants and T-shirt from the previous day in it.

Hawkeye's eyes grew softer. "How could you think you were in the way? I love having my two favorite girls with me. I was hoping you would at least stay tonight too?"

"Please Mom, can we?" BJ pleaded.

"I would like that…" Margaret smiled sheepishly at Hawkeye.

"I would like that too. I was hoping I could invite you two to supper tonight as well. You have to eat at the Lobster Shack at least once when you're visiting Crabapple Cove." He smiled.

"Well…" Margaret looked back at her daughter who was nodding her head, trying to get her mother to say yes. "I guess we could stay one more night and then drive home tomorrow."

"Good." Hawkeye's smile grew wider as he pulled two things from behind his back. "I'm sorry it's not much, but I had to get a belated Mother's Day and a birthday gift." In one hand he had a teddy bear that had a t-shirt on it that said World's Greatest Mom on it and in the other hand he held another teddy bear that also had a t-shirt on it. This one said World's Greatest Daughter. Both Margaret and BJ were very touched. They both had a few tears in their eyes as they walked towards him. When he handed BJ her teddy bear, Hawkeye joked, "You know what you have to do now, don't you?"

"What's that?" She responded in the same joking tone.

"You have to give your daddy a hug." Hawkeye's eyes sparkled in fun as BJ wrapped her arms around him, wishing that she could have hugged her daddy for the first time, a long time ago. But, this was good too. Hawkeye hugged her back and kissed her one the head.

"This is very sweet Hawkeye." Margaret looked at her bear and then back up at the man she fell in love with all those years ago.

"Well, I'm just a sweet kind of guy." He had an arm around BJ's shoulders and an arm around Margaret's. "I wish I could have been here earlier…in between the two young women that mean more to me than anything." They all laughed and wished they could have been all together long ago.