"Pierce!" Potter hastily dropped the salute, staring in disbelief at the dirty, ragged figure before him.

"Hawkeye!" Potter and BJ ran over to the man, everyone else following suit and crowding around him, people hugging him and planting kisses on his face. One of the nurses fainted and her friends worked to revive her.

"You're alive Captain!" Klinger cheered, Hawkeye laughed, looking a little bemused.

"Of course I am! Why all the long faces, why al the tears, and why is my song playing?"

"You see Pierce, you've been missing for a week now. They found your jacket and dog tags. We thought you were, well, dead son." Potter said, choking back more tears.

"I flipped the damned jeep, I told you I was a lousy driver!" He said, almost laughing, but waxing serious as he saw real fear in the Colonel's eyes.

"You had us awfully worried there." Father Mulcahy smiled, shaking Hawkeye's hand.

"Come on, you weren't that worried about me were you?" Hawkeye scoffed, "Were you?" He took in the tearstained, sombre faces. "Oh my god, you really thought they could knock off the infamous Benjamin Franklin Pierce?" He faked shock, and a tight laugh rippled through the group. He didn't know how scared they'd been.

"What's with Major Houlihan?" Klinger said suddenly, drawing the attention away from Hawkeye. She sat on the dirt, clasping her knees and trembling.

"Margaret, he's alive, it's okay." BJ had left Hawkeye's side and was kneeling down beside her. He took her hand, and squeezed it, she squeezed it back tightly, letting him know that underneath her shock she was okay. A couple of nurses knelt by her side, checking her pulse and temperature simultaneously. Margaret too stunned to move, forced herself out of shock.

"Hawkeye! Oh my god, don't you ever scare me like that again!" She brushed the anxious people aside and ran to him, threw her arms around him, pressing kisses on his face, leaving reddish-pink stains wherever her lips touched.

Surprised at the warm welcome, Hawkeye, every muscle aching, wrapped his arms around Margaret. He hadn't responded to any of the hugs any other nurse had given him, and many surprised glances were shared.

"I was so scared, if you ever frighten me like that again Captain!" Margaret was yelling now.

"I won't Margaret." Hawkeye said. They drew back, studying each other's eyes, Hawkeye's tired and confused, and Margaret's teary and loving.

She kissed him, and he didn't fight, they just stood there, lips pressed tightly to each other. They came up for air, and Margaret noticed that Hawkeye was leaning on her heavily. She looked into his eyes, and saw the fear and pain there, he pulled her close in another tight hug, so tight she almost heard her ribs crack.

"Help me," He whispered, passing out. Margaret suddenly had to support all his weight; a shocked murmur went through the group as he collapsed. BJ helped Margaret lay him on the ground.

"What's wrong?"

"What happened?" The scared whispers stopped as everyone saw the blood on Margaret's uniform. Their eyes travelled to the figure on the ground, and saw much to their dismay, a red, sticky stain on the front of Hawkeye's shirt.