~~~~~ Hi again, mashnut here. Like I would hurt Hawkeye! I love him as much as any of you. ~~~~~ Thanks for reviews. ~~~~~ Thanks to Annabelle and Sweet Preserves. You guys are so great. Sorry if the names are wrong. I have the net at uni and the story is typed at home. I haven't found a way of correcting HTML once saved at home. And I only know pen names. ~~~~~ See you at the end of the chapter. ~~~~~
"What the heck do you mean love? What about your wife?" I could not believe this.
"Loved. Past tense."
"I don't want a grammar check. I want an explanation."
"Maybe I got confused but I thought I loved you. I pushed Hawk into saying something when I found out he loves you. I wouldn't leave Peg. I had to find out if Hawkeye would be faithful. You gave me that chance. It was the biggest ammunition I had. Carlye hurt him so much. It was a big thing for him to tell you. But he didn't. I got angry. How dare he hurt you. How dare he hurt the woman I had grown so close too. Not since Peg have I loved someone so." Before I caught my breath BJ got up and stormed out. I got the feeling that I had just stamped on a raw nerve. Did Ben know what was going on? Had BJ told any of this to Peg?
When my brain came back to earth, I found I was walking towards the "Swamp" having left the mess tent. At least BJ wasn't there and Ben was on his own, asleep.
"Ben, wake up. Wake UP!" I wasn't getting through to him. I tried a new tactic.
"Yo, Doc! WOUNDED!" That got to him.
"Wounded?" Ben was a little bewildered.
"Nope. But I had to get you up. BJ told me why he did it."
"Did what?"
"Told me about Carlye." He sat straight up.
"You mean why he told you?"
"Yes. He said he loved me."
"HE SAID WHAT?" Ben scared me with the look on his face.
"He did try to break us up, because he thought you would hurt me. He used Carlye to show me you wouldn't be faithful. It worked. Not for long. But it worked."
"HOW COULD HE?" I had to restrain Ben. I had to finish what I was saying.
"He told you to tell me you love me. He pushed us together because he would never leave Peg. He only wanted me to be happy. Even if it wasn't with him."
I couldn't hold Ben back any longer. He was more than angry and liable to do something stupid. I ran after him as he stormed towards the showers and dragged BJ away from the shower door.
"WHY DID YOU THAT?" Ben had all his anger aimed at BJ.
"I told the truth." BJ gave me a look that read "why did you tell him?". The shouting was drawing a crowd.
"YOU TRIED TO BREAK US UP!"
"Yes. I did. I had to show Jennifer what you are truly like." Colonel Potter and Margaret came running out of Post-Op. Ben swung at BJ and caught him in the eye. BJ recoiled, pulling back his fist to retaliate.
"STOP THIS BOTH OF YOU!" I jumped in between them. Everything slowed down as BJ's fist flew towards me not Ben. I heard Potter shout, Margaret scream and Ben cry as BJ's punch connected with my jaw. I felt heat, the blood as it flowed from my lip, the ground as I landed and the Korean sun as my head started to swim.
"Jennifer, Jennifer, are you O.K.?" Margaret's voice filtered through the fog in my head.
"Honey, don't move. I think your jaw is broken." Ben kneeled at my side. Potter and Margaret crouched at the other side as Radar and Klinger brought a stretcher. The only person I couldn't see was BJ.
"Where's BJ?" Only with my busted jaw it came out "Fwhare'ss Feej?"
"The M.P.'s got him. Hunnicutt's being held under house arrest at the "Swamp"." Colonel Potter replied. Ben and Potter lifted me on to the stretcher and carried me off to O.R.
As I woke from the anaesthetic, pain shot through my mouth. Ben was still awake this time.
"Don't try to talk. Your lower jaw is broken and you lost 2 teeth. Potter and I pinned it back together. BJ will be taken to Tokyo for court marshalling tomorrow."
"Fon't fet them foo fat. Fell them fo fet fim fo." What I meant was, " Don't let them do that. Tell them to let him go." Ben handed me paper and I wrote down what I had tried to say, along with "How long would it take me to get better?". I may be a doctor too, but I hadn't seen my own busted jaw.
"Why do you want BJ to get off after what he did to you?"
"It was an accident. I'm not pressing charges," I wrote, "and you did hit him first."
"O.K. I'll go tell the M.P.'s to let him go."
"That punch was aimed at you. I stepped in between you." I scribbled down, I really wish I could speak.
"I still don't like it." Margaret walked over from one of the other patients in the Post-Op. I could only wave to say hello.
"How are you doing? That was some hit you took."
"She wants BJ set free." Ben answered for me. I showed Margaret what I had written to explain it to Ben.
"You have a point, I suppose. Are you sure?" I nodded my head.
"You can't push her into doing anything she doesn't want to do. Even though I have tried long and hard to get both you and BJ court marshalled several times." Margaret, at least, agreed with me.
"I have to go to the M.P.'s." Ben got up and left me in Post-Op.
Ben returned with BJ quite quickly. BJ had developed one heck of a shiner on his left eye thanks to Ben's right hook.
"Thank you." BJ sounded like he was a bad actor reading lines of a script.
"As I said it was an accident." I wrote down for him, "You should make up with Hawkeye."
"How?" I think he was ad-libbing now.
"I don't know. Say sorry?" This not speaking was driving me up the wall.
"I'll try." Ben led BJ away.
I have no idea what BJ and Ben talked about but it worked, slightly. They made up enough to agree that Ben and I should get a tent of our own. Except that the only other tent left was the V.I.P. tent. Saying that it was the only tent with an actual bed. Potter said we could stay in the V.I.P. tent whenever there wasn't a visiting member of the "Decorated Army Nutcase Society" or those above colonel.
Two months passed before I had another reason to worry. I might be pregnant again. There was no way I was telling a soul. After the last time I couldn't risk a repeat. Three or four more months before I tell anyone, even Benjamin.
~~~~~ I need your help. Should the baby's name be Henry (as in Lt. Colonel Blake), Daniel (as in Hawkeye's father) or John (as in Trapper)? Answer by review or e-mail, please. Thank you in advance. ~~~~~ That Will Be All For Now ~~~~~ Next Chapter Soon (as soon as I get a name) ~~~~~ mashnut ~~~~~
