Hi everyone! Here's another installment of this story. This is a little filler to understand the wonderful HM relationship. I hope you enjoy it :-)
Hawkeye sat at the beach near his house in Crabapple Cove watching the waves crash along the shore. He'd done a lot lately – think – and he just couldn't seem to stop doing it. He always thought of two people the most – BJ and Margaret. It had been almost a year since the Korean War had ended and Hawkeye was really no step closer to being himself. When it began to get dark, the younger Pierce decided to go back home and join his dad for dinner.
"Hey Dad! I'm back!"
Hawkeye walked around the kitchen and dining room area, but he couldn't find his dad anywhere.
"I'm in the bedroom! Come on up!"
Hawkeye ran up the stairs of the old Victorian home two at a time until he reached the top and knocked on his dad's bedroom door.
"Come in son. You know that you don't have to knock on the door … during the day anyway."
Hawkeye gave a look of mock disgust. "Dad, please … Can we not talk about that?"
The elder Pierce gave a warm heart-felt laugh, very similar to his son's laughter.
"It's ok son. I was thinking that maybe we should go out to dinner. You know, take a break from cooking. We haven't been out for a while."
Hawkeye looked away feeling a bit nervous. Since his return from Korea, he hadn't done very well with people. Especially his home-town people. Everyone seemed so cheerful and blasé about everything that he wondered how they could possibly still see the world in that way. All he saw was death.
"Dad … I dunno … I'm not exactly very good with people lately, you know that."
"Son, you have to get out! You have to stop thinking about that woman someday."
"She's not just 'that woman' Dad, her name's Margaret. And I know I have to, but it's hard. She's the only one who ever really understood me."
"That's ironic considering the fact that you hated her at the beginning of the war."
Hawkeye gave his father a look that simply said that he didn't really understand at all. "I didn't hate her Dad, I just didn't understand how a nurse of such wonderful skill could date a guy who was surgically incompetent. At least that changed."
"Well son, I guess I'll never really know what you went through over there and that's ok. Why don't you call her if you can't stop thinking about her?"
Before Hawkeye could get the next word in, the phone to his home rang.
"Hello, Pierce residence."
"Hi Hawkeye, it's Madge. Someone called Margaret Houlihan is looking for you. Do you want to accept the call?"
Hawkeye couldn't believe the coincidence. "Yeah Madge, patch it through. Thanks."
As soon as he finished the sentence he heard a small 'hello?' on the phone.
"Margaret? Is that really you?"
Margaret couldn't help but wonder how surprised Hawkeye sounded. She guessed that he never expected to hear from her again. None of the MASH gang really did.
"Yeah, Hawkeye. It's me. How have you been?"
"Well, you know … ummm … yeah … I've been ok I guess. How about you?"
"Are you ok, Hawkeye? You don't sound like yourself."
"I'm ok Margaret. Really. At least there's no Army food here!"
Margaret knew that Hawkeye was lying because he was covering his feelings up with jokes, but she didn't want to push him either. Maybe if she saw him, then she'd be able to really talk with him.
"True. I've been better Hawkeye. I don't wanna seem like I'm just calling to ask you a favour, but I really need a favour."
"Name it Margaret. You know I'm here to help."
"Well … I'm facing a court martial … please let me finish. A two-star General made advances towards me and I turned him down. I'm not a pushover anymore. Now he's accusing me of making sexual advances towards him! I'm facing the beginning of the court martial in a month and I was wondering … would you be a witness for me?"
Hawkeye was silent for a few seconds before he actually reacted.
"Of course! You knew that this would happen one day, didn't you?"
"I did. I knew the past would come back to make a grand entrance, but I never thought that I would be stuck in this mess."
Hawkeye contemplated a very important point in his head before voicing it out loud. "Margaret, you know that me and the Army don't have the best relationship. I may make things worse."
"That's a chance I need to take. I'm sure that when the Court sees your records as a doctor, they'll see that you're an exceptional surgeon. That should make things better."
"Well, I'm not a surgeon anymore, you know. I'm helping with Dad's practice."
"That doesn't mean that you're not a surgeon. You're just not practising anymore."
"Margaret, I'll be more than happy to be a witness if you think that'll help you."
"Thanks Hawkeye. It's on 1 September here at Fort Ord."
"Ok, who else are you getting for this?"
"I'm going to call Colonel Potter. I don't want to bother him now that he's retired, but he's a respected Colonel. They might listen to him."
"That's a great idea. He's Regular Army. What else do they want?"
"Well Hawk, I'll leave you to it. From the time, it must be dinner-time. I'll see you soon, ok?"
"Yeah. Look, don't spend the whole month worrying like crazy. There's no point. Just get the witnesses you need so that when your trial begins, you are ready."
"Bye Hawkeye … and thanks."
"You're welcome."
As soon as Hawkeye hung up, he really couldn't believe the conversation he had just had and especially with whom he had it.
Daniel Pierce decided to make an appearance in the living room after his son had hung up. He hadn't wanted to interrupt whatever was happening.
"Who was that Hawkeye?"
"You won't believe it. It was Margaret. She called me."
Daniel really couldn't believe it either. "So, is she ok?"
"No. She's facing a court martial because a moronic two-star has accused her of sexual assault! Really! She asked me if I would testify on her behalf. I agreed. I'm just worried about one thing."
"What's that?"
"Her past is gonna come up and it won't be good for her. Her dad'll probably disown her and side with the General who is probably his friend. This is gonna ruin her regardless of the outcome."
"She'll be fine son. As long as she's innocent, she'll beat this."
"This is the Army Dad, you never know what's gonna happen."
So, what's going to happen? Next, Hawkeye goes to Fort Ord, sees some old friends and confides in Margaret.
