AUTHOR'S NOTE: LeahASAP owns M*A*S*H? Horse hockey! [In other words, I don't own M*A*S*H or any of the characters within the show.]
Chapter 2
It was the next day, and Peg was just coming in from work. Her day had mostly involved serving coffee at a local coffee shop, which is where she had been working ever since B.J. had come home from Korea. She had just picked up Erin from the babysitter's and arrived home, clearly exhausted from the long day.
"Maybe B.J. will help me get everything done tonight. But I better not get my hopes up." Peg thought to herself as she opened the door. As she came in, she was surprised to see B.J. out in the living room pacing.
"Oh, hello honey." she said with a smile as she gave him a hug. Erin interjected in with a cheerful exclamation of "Daddy!"
"Hi" B.J. replied briefly as he gave Peg and Erin a half-hearted hug. "Can we talk?"
"Sure." Peg replied sweetly. "Let me put Erin in her room to play first." As she took Erin into her room, she could not help but smile. After all, maybe this was the conversation she had been waiting for, where he would explain why he had been acting so strange these past few months. Maybe now they could finally start working towards normal life again.
However, as soon as she walked back into the living room, her hopes shattered. She could feel B.J.'s anger from the moment she looked at him.
"B.J., is everything ok?" Peg asked hesitantly.
"What it this?" B.J. asked angrily as he pointed to the box of things Peg had been looking through the previous night.
"The box?" Peg asked, unsure about why B.J. was so upset. "It's just a box of some of your old stuff from when you were over in Korea. I was –"
"I know what it is." B.J. interrupted, his voice getting louder. "What I want to know is why the heck it's out here."
"Well, if you would have let me finish, I was going to say that it's out here because I was looking through it last night. I woke up a bit late this morning, and I didn't have time to put it away. What's the problem?"
B.J. turned around and started pacing again. For a minute, he didn't speak. All he did was breathe heavily while Peg stood and watched, afraid of what was about to happen. Finally, he spoke.
"Peg…" he said bitterly. "You shouldn't have been looking through my stuff. Those things are personal, you know that."
"What?" Peg said, clearly confused. "I don't get what the problem is. We've never had secrets before. Why won't you share this with me?"
"Because I don't want to, ok!" By this point, he was yelling at her in her face. "This…this junk is from a previous part of my life. I don't even want to think about it, let alone share it with anyone. So you just need to leave it alone!"
"B.J., this doesn't make any sense." Peg said in a hurt tone of voice. "So you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. But I don't see why I can't look at it."
"Clearly you don't get it!" he screamed. "I don't want anyone reliving this part of my life! You just need to back off and leave me alone."
"No, clearly you don't get it." Peg said as she started to raise her voice. "This is unfair. I come home from a hard day of work supporting our family only to get verbally assaulted because I looked through a box of your old stuff. Do you want to know why I was looking through it?"
"No, not really." B.J. answered, clearly annoyed by the turn of the conversation. "The point is –"
"You listen to me! The point is that I was looking through that box because I was trying to find you again? Look, ever since you've come home, you haven't been yourself. You've been reclusive and angry no matter what I do. The B.J. I sent to Korea isn't the same one that came home to me, and I have no idea why. Because you won't even talk to me!"
"Well, I'm sorry you can't understand, and I'm sorry my homecoming wasn't happily ever after like you expected. Do you think that being over in Korea was just like I wanted? Sometimes life doesn't turn out like you want. You just have to accept that."
"Well I do want to understand. But the problem is that you won't let me." Peg continued to get louder, as she released the heartache that she had been hiding for the past few months. "I try to talk to you about what happened in Korea, but you won't tell me anything! Heck, I can get more from reading your old letters than I can from actually talking to you. You can't blame my lack of understanding on me." B.J. turned away as she continued to yell. "I mean, if you can't talk to me about it, at least have the decency to tell me why. Is it another woman?" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted what she had said.
"HOW DARE YOU?!" B.J. screamed as he turned around in her face. He raised his hand as if to slap her across the face, but stopped halfway. They both stared at each other for a second, completely still. Suddenly they heard Erin's calling out from the other room.
"Peg…" B.J. said slowly, realizing what a huge mistake he'd made.
"No…no…" Peg said, her voice trembling. "I need…to check on Erin." She ran in the other room, while B.J. stood in the living room ashamedly. A few minute later, she came out with Erin, who was dressed in her coat.
"Peg, what are you doing?" B.J. asked.
"I need some time to think." She said through pursed lips as she grabbed her own coat.
"You're not…leaving?"
"Yes, I am." Peg said stoically as she faced him. "And I'm taking Erin with me. I don't know what's going on with you. But if you would dare reach out to hit me, then you are not the man I married. And I can't trust you around my daughter." With that, she started heading towards the door.
"Peg, wait!" B.J. cried out as he followed her, clearly remorseful for what he had done. But it was too late. Peg slammed the door, got in the car with Erin and started driving
"Mommy?" Erin asked as Peg drove.
"Yes sweetie?" Peg said, holding back tears.
"Why yelling?" Erin responded, trying to understand what had happened between Peg and B.J.
"Oh Erin." Peg said, unsure of how to explain their fight on a level that Erin would be able to process. "Your daddy is very sad right now, and there isn't anything we can do about it." Erin listened and was quiet for a moment. While Erin thought, Peg looked for a nearby payphone. Once she found it and pulled up to it, Erin spoke again.
"You love daddy?" Erin asked with a sad tone in her voice.
Peg felt her heart skip a beat. How had things between her and B.J. become so bad that Erin questioned their love for each other? "Sweetie, I love you daddy very much. It's just hard sometimes." Unsure of what else to say to comfort her daughter, she lifted Erin out of the car and carried her while walking to the payphone. She then called the only person she could trust with a problem like this: her best friend Sally Farber.
"Sally? It's me, Peggy." she said into the phone, as she started to cry. "Can I…come stay with you for a while?" As she talked, she broke down into tears. She had no idea what had happened to the man she loved. All she knew was that she had to leave, before the problems between her and B.J. became even worse.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello again! Thank you so much for sticking around to read chapter 2. I was so happy to see that I had 4 reviews to the story (and all of them positive, too). Sorry it took me a while to respond to them, but the website had a glitch and would not let me respond for the first couple of days. For those of you who have guest accounts, I cannot respond directly to your reviews, but I want you to know that I appreciate your kind words.
Anyway, I know this must have been a hard chapter to read because B.J. is so out of character. Believe me, it was just as hard to write it. Please know that his uncharacteristic behavior will all make more sense in future chapters! I also wanted to share with you a couple of episodes that served as inspiration for components of the last two chapters:
"Wheelers and Dealers" (S10, E6): This is where I got the idea for Peg's job at the coffee shop. It was a job she had to pick up in order to help pay the mortgage while B.J. was overseas. I figure she started there again when he was unable to find a job after he came back.
"Hanky Panky" (S5, E19): Even though it isn't a direct reference, it fits with the point where Peg asks if B.J. is involved with another woman. In this episode he is briefly involved with one of the nurses, and based on what the episode says, Peg doesn't find out about it.
"Dear Peggy" (S4, E11): This reference is actually located in the previous chapter. The letter that Peg finds in the box is the same one that B.J. is writing in this episode. The line, "I've looked back on this letter and discovered that it's been two pages since I told you how much I love you. It's two pages later, and I love you even more.", is quoted directly from the episode. I figure that for some reason, the letter never got sent, which is why Peg finds it in his box of old things.
Are you curious about who Sally Farber is (besides a character I obviously created)? Do you want to find out more about Peg and B.J.'s backstory? Then be on the lookout for the next chapter. And as always, compliments, constructive criticism, and questions are always welcome. Thanks for reading!
