Author's Note: Sorry this took so long, but like always it's blamed on school! Haha. Also, this coming week is Homecoming and I've been working on hallway decorations for a LONG time! Oh well, Delta house (from Animal House) looks pretty good-I drew it! Okay so I traced...! But the coloring of it was HARD! And VERY time consuming. :-P The Sophomores better win this year… Okay, enough of my jabber. Here you go. Happy reading.

Chapter 11

January 3, 1953

New Years Eve had been quite the party, but what everyone was sad to see was the day that Margaret Pierce would leave for the states. They were happy that she would be going home, but they were sad to see her leave and knew they would miss her very much. No one, however, would miss her near as much as Hawkeye.

The newlyweds had spent every possible moment together, not wanting to waste a second of the time they had left with each other. Who knew when they'd see each other again…

All of the (as of yesterday) former head nurse's things were packed and by the door in her footlocker and the other two suitcases. Her desk had been emptied as well as her wall locker and the olive drab structures now stood hollow in their places in the small tent. The pictures that were tacked onto the wall were taken down and the orange curtains that hung on the windows were now waiting for Klinger to put them up in his tent. The sign on the door, reading Maj. M. Houlihan/Knock Before Entering was nestled safely in the bottom of her footlocker, ready to be hung in the basement or the garage at her new home in Crabapple Cove, to be seen only once in awhile. All in all, the tent was just a skeleton of what it used to be, the green canvas hanging onto it like skin, waiting for its new owner.

"Ben." Margaret gently shook her husband awake. It was early, around six o'clock, but she couldn't sleep anymore. She had been awake for about twenty minutes, her heart aching with the thought of having to leave the man who's arms she was in. She knew it was for the best though, having a baby in a war zone probably wouldn't be such a good idea. Still though, the thought of not waking up to her tall, dark haired, handsome husband every morning made her shiver. And not in the way that she usually did when she thought of him.

Hawkeye stirred, slowly opened his eyes, and looked at his wife with a soft smile. "Morning gorgeous."

"I guess that's the last time I'll hear you say that for awhile." And here were the tears. She was really trying to go until she said her goodbyes before the waterworks were turned on, but now it seemed pretty much impossible.

"If I could, I'd call you every morning to tell you that." Hawkeye's eyes lost their sparkle for a moment, having the same thoughts as his wife did earlier. He couldn't believe that he wouldn't be waking up next to his beautiful wife every morning. It made his heart twist and turn and tie into knots. He subconsciously tightened his grip around her waist and scooted down enough to give her a kiss on the forehead. "It's gonna be hell around here without you."

Margaret gently touched the man's cheek, "You'll still have BJ and the Colonel, and everyone else for company." She tried, very hard, to sound optimistic for him.

"They don't kiss like you do." The sly remark made the ex-Major tear up even more and made her breathing uneven as she tried not to cry. Hawkeye ran his fingers through her hair and talked in hushed tones, trying to lift her spirits back up. "Oh, don't worry honey. I won't really see if they do or not." This made her smile, but she was still trying, with little success, to hold back the heavy sobbing that she thought would surely come. Hawkeye scooted back up and Margaret laid her head on his chest and cried. Her husband slowly took in the aroma of the scent that lingered in her hair, wanting to remember the lilac smell for the rest of the time he would be over here. "I'll miss you so much." He sighed, "The little things too. Like the way your hair smells, that laugh that I used to hear all too infrequently, and the way your eyes could light up a room when you smile."

"I don't want leave you here…" Her voice was strained from the tears.

"I don't want you to have to leave me here either." His voice was also husky as he reached under the covers and snuck his hand under the expecting mother's pajama top, touching her cool, soft skin with his warm hand on the tiny baby bump, "But it's for the good of both of you."

Margaret reached down and covered the surgeon's skilled hand with her own. "I know," she replied, "but I just wish you could come with me. You have every right to go home as I do."

The dark haired man laughed sleepily and shook his head, "I can't tell you how much I agree with what you just said." He rubbed his wife's back up and down until she fell asleep, and he followed her.

At about eight o'clock, Margaret woke up again and knew she should get up. Hawkeye was still asleep, but in order to get out of bed, he'd have to move since he insisted on sleeping on the outside. "Hawkeye." She scooted up and ran her fingers through his soft, black hair. "Hawk."

His bright blue eyes opened quickly. "What time is it?" He asked, a hint of concerned in his expression.

The blonde brought her arm out from under the nice warm covers and looked at her watch, "7:58." She replied. Her voice became softer, "A Jeep is coming for me at noon…"

"What do you want to do for our last morning together?" Hawkeye's eyes took on their mischievous look.

Margaret chuckled, knowing what the look implied, but shook her head as he situated himself on top of her (trying not to put too much weight on her stomach) and kissing her gently. She returned his kisses, saying what she needed to do before the Jeep came to pick her up. "I have to take a shower…" kiss, "do my hair…" kiss, "make sure my Class A's are cleaned and pressed…" kiss, "and still fit of course," kiss, "make sure I have all of my stuff rounded up…"

"Come on, we can make it really quick." The man begged, making his best pouting face. "You won't see me for who knows how long, don't you wanna have a lasting, wonderful memory of your last day at the 4077th?" The nurse smiled at her husband, giving a slight nod.

Later

After having a morning that neither of them wouldn't soon forget, the newlyweds went over to the shower tent together and took their showers before getting dressed. Hawkeye wore his long johns, olive drab pants and shirt-jacket, grey-green t-shirt, and parka. He offered to dress in his class A's like Margaret had to (she didn't technically have to, but she wanted to look nice for the long flight home), but she said it was okay and Hawkeye was very grateful. She looked great however and, surprisingly the dress uniform still fit fine. It was a little large to begin with, but now it seemed to fit perfectly. The mother-to-be wasn't that far along, but since she was so thin to start with, it seemed to show up a little more.

Although the class A's were made from a thick material, they weren't very warm. Margaret ended up getting her long dress coat out and huddling up inside of it. Hawkeye was trying his hardest to keep her warm as well on this particularly frigid January day.

At 9:30, a very hungry ex-Army Major and a draftee doctor strode into the very crowded mess tent, Hawkeye's hand on the small of Margaret's back. Little did they know, however, that it wouldn't be just another trip to the mess tent. There was a banner that said We'll miss you Margaret! on the far side of the tent and one that said Congratulations Major! to the right of the door. In front of the two very surprised people, and at the center of the tent, stood the entire 4077th with BJ, Colonel Potter, Radar, Klinger, Charles, and Father Mulcahy at the head of the crowd, standing around a large white cake with Hotlips written on it in fancy red letters. There were four candles on the cake, one in each corner. "SURPRISE!" Everyone yelled.

The woman who's party it was laughed in a mixture of amusement and embarrassment. "You guys are something else, you know that?" A few tears started forming in her eyes again.

Charles shrugged after the laughter had died down. "We just wanted to give a very special nurse an appropriate send off."

"I couldn't have said it better myself Major." Colonel Potter carefully made his way around the cake and over to the woman with the blond hair fixed up into her uniform hat, still standing by her husband at the door. He led her and Hawkeye over to the cart that the cake was sitting on. "Go ahead Margaret, make a wish and blow out your candles." The nurse laughed, closed her eyes, and blew each candle out, making a separate wish for each one. There was applause when all of the candles were blown out and people asking what she wished for.

She just shook her head in mock irritation and told them that she couldn't tell, or the wishes wouldn't come true.

BJ took the knife and handed it to Margaret and smiled, "You two didn't get to cut a wedding cake."

"That we didn't." Margaret looked over towards Hawkeye, "Here you go Ben, you're the surgeon." She handed the knife to him and he grabbed the top of the handle. Margaret grabbed hold of the bottom half and together they cut the first piece of cake. Instead of making a mess out of his wife's class A's, Hawkeye carefully fed her a bite and took one for himself before everyone else dug in.

When the cake was pretty much gone, it was a little after ten o'clock. Time seemed to be going fast and both Hawkeye and Margaret were steadily declining in the morale department. They were sticking as close as possible, but occasionally got dragged to another part of the tent for one reason or another. Now however, they were both sitting at one of the wooden tables in front of a stack of presents. They were a mixture of wedding and baby shower gifts. "Open ours first!" Kellye excitedly handed a box to her former boss that was wrapped in soft pink paper.

"It's a one-of-a-kind from the nurses." Baker pointed out.

"Well I can't imagine what it is." Margaret carefully tore open the paper and then lifted the lid off the brown, cardboard box. She smiled when she saw the contents and lifted a small, baby-sized quilt out of the white tissue paper. "This is beautiful." The nurses all smiled, proud looks on their faces. The woman who had received the wonderful present looked astonished. "How did you get the materials for this…or the time?"

Nurse Able chuckled, slipping her hands into her pockets, "Well, we got the fabric from blouses that we brought over here but never wore and if you look closely, the thread is actually all olive drab. You know, from the sewing kits we're given to repair buttons and darn our darned socks." This got quite a few agreeing laughs.

"Then we all took turns doing a little bit when we weren't busy since about an hour after you two left the O club on your wedding night." Lieutenant Anderson answered the final question. "We just got it done bright and early this morning."

Margaret stood up and hugged each one of her nurses. "Thanks you guys. It's very sweet."

When the blonde sat back down, Colonel Potter handed her a small, newspaper-wrapped package. "I know it's not much, especially after that surprise from the nurses, but I thought you might appreciate these on that long flight you've got ahead of you."

Margaret smiled warmly and tore at that morning's issue of Stars and Stripes. When she saw what the Colonel had given her, she laughed a little and looked up at him, eyes sparkling. "That's very sweet Colonel. I'll always think of you when I read these." In her hands were two Zane Grey novels. Sunset Pass and Thunder Mountain.

"Look inside." The older man gently urged.

The woman opened the cover of Sunset Pass and read what her C.O. had written on the inside of the cover. To Margaret, the nurse who is by far the best around, and to an all around good egg that has been like a daughter to me. Travel safely and don't let that little one grow up too fast. His or her honorary grandfather still has to be introduced and I'm looking forward to that day very much. Best wishes and love from your firm (but lovable) commanding officer, Sherman T. Potter. Ouijambu, South Korea. January 3, 1953. The other book had just as nice of a message in it as the other one, but it was difficult to decipher since she was trying to read it through tears.

Sherman made his way over to the woman again and bent down to give her a hug so she wouldn't have to get up again and again. "Thank you Sir." The tears in Margaret's eyes had started to run down her cheek. The colonel wiped them away with his glove before reaching down again and giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"You're welcome Major." He spoke softly before straightening up, clearing his throat to try to get rid of the lump, and walked over to where he had been standing before the present from him had been opened.

There were a few other gifts including a teddy bear from Radar, a few little outfits for either a boy or a girl made by Klinger, and Margaret's favorite book: Elizabeth Barrett Browning's-Sonnets from the Portuguese, given to her by Charles. Father Mulcahy gave the mother-to-be his lucky St. Christopher medal for a safe ride home. BJ had already given Margaret the tiny baby sized uniform, but he also gave her a baby book that Peg had sent him awhile ago after he wrote home, telling her all about what was going on. She had seen it when she was in Oceanside, California and it made her think of her husband's friend (the description of him anyway). It had a teddy bear wearing Groucho glasses on the cover. The expecting parents, and everyone else, thought it was really cute. Margaret couldn't wait to be able to fill in the pages with photographs and written entries in the designated areas for 'baby's first smile', 'baby's first word', and so on and so forth.

Sadly, the time was getting closer and closer to noon. At about 11:30, Hawkeye ran to the Swamp quick to grab something before rejoining everyone for rest of the party. Margaret also ran to her tent to grab something from her footlocker and then went to the Swamp to drop the well chosen object off. She placed it under Hawkeye's pillow, knowing that he would find it that night, or whenever the next time would be when he'd come in to crash on his cot.

The last few minutes of the party were spent anticipating the arrival of the Jeep. Hawkeye, Margaret, BJ, and Radar were sitting at one of the tables, talking about their hometowns. Margaret paid close attention to her husband, wanting to know even more about where she would be in a couple of days. When Radar's face turned forlorn, everyone knew that the Jeep was close by. A few seconds later, the driver honked the horn and everyone walked out of the mess tent and into the frigid air.

Colonel Potter walked over to the Jeep. "She's still gotta say her goodbyes. It might take awhile, Sergeant."

"It's alright." The young man nodded in understanding. "But, in order to get to her flight on time, I'd say we have to leave in about fifteen minutes."

The Colonel nodded and went to tell the leaving nurse how much time she had. Margaret understood and went to tell all of her nurses goodbye. After a quick goodbye to each of them and another thanks for the baby blanket, she went on to Radar. "Goodbye Radar." She smiled.

"Uh…goodbye Sir." He replied nervously.

The Major laughed and gave him a hug and moved on to Klinger. He was wearing a pink, kimono like dress and his imitation fox stole. "That really might get you out of here Corporal." She smiled at the so called man and gave him a hug.

"Goodbye Margaret."

"Goodbye Max."

Next up was Charles. He gave her a soft smile and gently grabbed her hand, "Although we haven't always seen eye to eye…I'd like to still consider us friends."

She nodded and smiled, "I could do that."

He raised her hand up and kissed it. "So long."

"So long Charles."

Father Mulcahy stood, a little shyly, in front of the woman when she went to say goodbye to him. When he looked up however, he smiled widely, "Bless you Margaret, and the little one too."

"Thank you Father." She gave him a hug, "And thanks again for the medal."

"No problem." He adjusted his glasses, "Farewell my child."

Colonel Potter already had tears in his eyes when Margaret made her way over to him. "I'll never be able to forget you Sherman. You're a dear, sweet man. I hope to see you real soon when the war is over."

"You can count on that." He took a step towards her and gave her a warm hug. "Like I wrote in that note, I have to meet my honorary grandkid."

The blonde was finding it very hard to keep her emotions in check as the goodbyes went on, "You will. I hope you don't mind if he or she calls you Grandpa, but you've just been much more of a father to me than mine ever has."

He had to reach into his pocket for his handkerchief and wipe his eyes before he nodded, "I'd like that…very much." His voice was barely more than a whisper.

She squeezed his hand in daughterly affection. "So long." Not able to speak because of a rather large lump in his throat, the colonel could only nod again, but his eyes did the talking.

The second to last person that she would say goodbye to was BJ. "The next time I see you, Buster, that thing better be gone." She laughed and pointed toward the small start of a mustache.

BJ shrugged, "We'll see." He looked over at Hawkeye who was standing by the Jeep, a sad look on his face. "I'll keep him sane for you."

"That means a lot to me Beej." She looked around at her husband also and then back to the sandy haired man, "Just look out for him. He might be a little lonely."

"Take it from someone who has been in his future shoes…he will be. But don't worry about him, you'll have enough to worry about." He motioned down toward the woman's stomach, a smile on his face.

Margaret smiled softly, a hint of sadness in her eyes, "I'll try not to worry too much, but notice I put extra emphasis on 'try'."

The man nodded, "See ya later Margaret."

"See ya Beej." She gave him another hug and kissed he her on the cheek.

When she pulled away, she knew it was almost time to go. A couple of the corpsman had put all of the her belongings in the Jeep, causing it to sit a little closer to the ground.

Margaret walked over to Hawkeye and wrapped her arms around his middle, resting her head on his chest. He kissed the top of her head and again tried to put the scent of her hair into memory. "Write me…all the time." Hawkeye ran his fingers through her hair as she nodded, too choked up to say much. "And don't forget, you can call me too."

"I won't forget." She looked up at him and smiled, "How will I be able to live without you?"

"I don't know how I'll be able to live without you." Hawkeye kissed her cheek, "We'll just have to take it one day at a time." He looked down and laid a gentle hand on her stomach, "Try to wait for your dad to come home before you make your debut, alright?" Margaret covered his hand with hers. Hawkeye looked back up and when their eyes met, they leaned in closer and kissed...and kissed…and kissed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he slipped his arms in her coat. The sleeves on his coat were cold outside her class A shirt, but they felt comforting.

They reluctantly pulled apart, a little breathless. Margaret stood on tiptoes so she could lay her head on her husbands shoulder. "I love you," he whispered into her ear.

"I love you too," Margaret whispered back. She took a small step back and looked him in the eyes again. He bent down to give her a quick peck on the lips. "I'll call you as soon as I get home."

Hawkeye nodded, "I'll be waiting." He grabbed her hand and gave it an affectionate squeeze.

"Goodbye Ben." She tried, without much success, to be strong and not cry. Needless to say, it didn't work too well.

"Bye Margaret." Hawkeye quickly kissed her cheek one last time before she got up into the Jeep. They let go of each other slowly and the driver started the motor of the O.D. green Army vehicle.

After a couple more minutes, the Jeep pulled away. Margaret turned around in her seat and got a final glimpse (for now) of her husband and all of her friends along with the place that had been her home for the past couple of years. She dried the tears on her cheek before they could freeze, but her heart twisted as she was driven further and further away from her loved ones.

Later

The Jeep was about twenty minutes out of Seoul and Margaret had taken her arms out of her sleeves. They were now wrapped closely around her, inside the coat, trying to keep herself warmer. She moved her arm and found a lump in her inside pocket. Feeling for the zipper, she undid the pocket and reached inside. Just by feeling the object, she knew what it was. She didn't have to take them out to know that Hawkeye had slipped his Groucho glasses to her while they were kissing. A smile spread across her face, knowing deep down, that somehow…everything would be okay.

That Night

Hawkeye was already lonesome and depressed when he and BJ walked into the Swamp. It had only been about six hours since he held Margaret in his arms, and he already longed for her soft skin, her warm smile, her sweet voice, and…everything about her. He knew it would be a day or so before he heard her voice again and the waiting would not be good on him.

"Want a drink?" BJ asked, heading over to the still.

"I guess, thanks." The chief surgeon of the outfit went to his bunk and laid face down. "How do you do it Beej?"

"Do what?" BJ knew what his friend was talking about, but he had to be sure.

"How can you spend so much time away from Peg and not go insane?" He asked, slipping his arm under his pillow and feeling something.

BJ shook his head as he poured his friend's drink, "I don't know."

"Does it ever get easier?" Hawkeye asked, pulling out whatever it was that was under his pillow.

"I wish I could say yes…" the man replied. "What's that?" He had noticed that a very wide smile had spread on the surgeon's face.

Hawkeye looked down at his wife's old hat, complete with Major's cluster on the front. "Margaret's hat." He brought it up to his nose and smelled it, hoping that it would smell like her. Much to his delight, it did. "Smells like her hair." The Captain's smile grew wider.

BJ nodded handing the martini over to Hawkeye, "That'll come in handy some nights….trust me."

Hawkeye took a sip of his drink and sighed, "How am I ever going to get through this?"

"I have to ask myself that every day." With that, the two sipped on their martinis until the wee hours of the morning. Charles joined them at about midnight after finishing his shift in Post-Op. They all talked for awhile and played some checkers and chess. They all had a hard time getting to sleep that night, but Hawkeye had the worst. There was just something missing and he knew exactly what it was.

"BJ?" He called softly across the tent.

"Yeah?"

"Can I use your extra pillow?" He felt foolish asking, but he couldn't help it.

"Sure, here ya go." BJ took his extra pillow out from under his head and threw it to his best friend.

"Thanks." Hawkeye put the pillow under the sheets so his chin rested on the top and laid his arm across it. It sort of filled the void, but he knew that nothing would help entirely…unless of course he could go to wherever Margaret was and sleep with her curled up beside him. He grabbed her hat that was on his little makeshift bedside table and put it where his chin rested on the pillowed. It helped him get to sleep, but if he had to do this every night, it would be a long rest of the war. Especially if that lilac scent every escaped from the fabric of the hat.

Nope, that's not it! There's plenty more to come and you'll finally see why this story is called what this story is called! Haha. Also, I really hope you liked this chapter. It's a long one! Finally! And sorry to those of you who I told I would update last night. Needless to say, it didn't happen. Oh, and to April and her brother: I didn't know that January third was your guys' birthday until I had already started writing this so…happy birthday! Haha. REVIEW! Please…!