Day One
(A response to the prompt "worry." Post-war story.)
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Hawkeye reaches into the back seat and Erin puts her little hand in his. He helps her out of the car and holds her at arm's length, then twirls her, giving a whistle. "You look so pretty for your first day of school!" he gushes. He glances over at B.J., who's watching them and grinning. "Doesn't she, Daddy?"
"She looks radiant," B.J. says and he kneels down so he can pull her into a hug. "You be good, all right, Erin? Hawkeye and I will be back after school is over to pick you up. We'll be right here… same place… got it?"
She nods. "OK, Daddy."
"OK, young miss. Give Hawkeye a kiss goodbye, then off you go."
She kisses both her dads on the cheek, then she dashes off with her schoolbag clutched tightly in her hand, and disappears into the building.
B.J. turns to face Hawkeye, and he can't help it, there's a lump in his throat. Hawkeye nods understanding. He takes B.J.'s hand and squeezes it. "She's going to be just fine, Beej."
They get back into the car and drive home. Their daughter's first day of kindergarten, so they'd both taken the day off work, and now the next four hours are bound to stretch out for all eternity as they worry and wait and wonder.
"Do you think she's having a good time?" B.J. asks at 9:00.
"I'm sure she is, Beej."
"Do you think she's making friends?" B.J. asks at 9:45.
"Beej, she's doing fine. She's a bubbly little thing. Everyone will love her."
"Do you think she's scared?" B.J. wonders at 10:10.
"She was nervous, but that's to be expected. After all, it's a big deal, the first day of school." Hawkeye slips an arm around B.J.'s waist and plants a kiss on his cheek. "But she's fine, I know it."
The phone rings at 10:30 and B.J. snatches it up. "Oh hi, Peg. Yes, she got off to school on time. Hawk and I dropped her off. Well, she seemed nervous but she was excited too. We told her she'd meet a lot of new people. I'm sure she's fine."
B.J.'s actually pacing the living room at 11:00. There's another hour and a half to go before school lets out. Hawkeye calmly walks up to him and takes his hand, tugging on it, leading him.
"Where we going?"
"You have an awful lot of nervous energy, Beej. You need to do something with it." He steers B.J. in the direction of the bedroom.
"You're taking me to bed at 11 in the morning?"
"B.J., you need something to take your mind off your daughter's first day of kindergarten. Allow me to prescribe a soothing remedy for this stressful moment in your life." He tilts his head, looking cute and, frankly, irresistible.
And so B.J. doesn't resist. "Well, OK," he says, smiling. "Twist my arm, why don't you."
They close the bedroom door behind them, and it's a little weird, making love at 11 in the morning, but B.J. has to admit: it does effectively take his mind off Erin. Mission accomplished.
They emerge from the bedroom much later… so much later, in fact, that it's just about time to go fetch Erin. B.J. realizes he's put on Hawkeye's shirt and vice versa. "Hawkeye?" he says, looking down at his own chest.
"Hmmm?"
"We have to swap shirts." He gestures between them. "Erin will notice if we don't."
Hawkeye smirks. "And what? She'll realize that must mean we had ourselves a little tumble while she was off at school? I doubt that, Beej."
B.J. gives him the evil eye. "Humor me, all right?" They pull off their shirts and trade, which pacifies B.J.
Hawkeye grabs the keys and they take off in the car, sharing a companionable silence on the way. Once at the school, they park at the curb and raptly watch the doors of the school, waiting for them to open and release the children.
At precisely 12:31, those doors do in fact open, and Erin is one of the first kids to amble on out. At her side is an apparently new friend, some cute little blonde girl in a bright yellow dress with a matching bow in her hair. Erin looks up and sees her dads waiting at the curb, and she waves goodbye to her new friend and runs up to them.
"Daddy! Hawkeye! School was so much fun!" She opens the back door and climbs into the car and thrusts a large piece of construction paper at B.J. "See what I drew? It's a cat!"
B.J. oohs and ahhs over the picture. "Well of course it's a cat. Anyone can see that. It's great, honey." He hands it to Hawkeye. "Isn't that a terrific picture, Hawk?"
Hawkeye studies it and then turns to Erin. "This is excellent, Erin! You're going to grow up to be an artist, I can tell." He hands it back to her, and she's beaming.
Hawkeye starts the car and pulls away from the curb, starting toward home. B.J. twists around in his seat to look at his daughter. "So what else did you do today? Tell us everything. We were hoping you were having a good time. And your mommy called. She'll want to talk to you, too, when we get home."
Erin's kicking the back of B.J.'s seat absent-mindedly, she's so wound up. "Oh we did a lot, Daddy! We sang some songs, and we went outside to play for a little while, and the teacher read us a story…"
B.J. listens to her, looking back and forth from her shining face to Hawkeye's, thinking, Damn, our little girl is growing up… her childhood's going by in a blink…
And in that instant, he's hit with a truly inspired idea. An addition to the family! Maybe a boy this time. A little brother for Erin. Somebody to play ball with. Somebody to fix up motorcycles with.
His smile grows as Erin rambles on, and he wonders if he knows anyone at the hospital who could help them cut through the red tape of adoption…