Author comments: Chapter 6, ladies and gents.
In the morning, Margaret and Peg were woken up at the same time, by Danny and Katy.
"Hey big guy. Did you sleep well?" asked Margaret
Danny nodded.
"How about you, Katy? Did you have a good sleep?" asked Peg.
Katy nodded as well, then she said, "Mommy, when home?"
"Not today, but tomorrow. After one more sleep."
Katy nodded again, then Margaret said, "Danny, Katy, why don't you go find your Daddies?"
Peg grinned, knowing most likely how the two men were going to be woken up, and nodded.
Danny and Katy walked downstairs, Peg and Margaret close behind. BJ was closer to the stairs, and when Katy saw him she pointed and told Danny, "Daddy!" Danny nodded and pointed to Hawkeye a short ways away and said, "My Daddy!" Peg and Margaret chuckled as their children interacted. Then, Danny took off running toward Hawkeye, jumped a little ways before he got there, and landed right on Hawkeye's stomach.
Hawkeye's eyes flew open as Danny landed and the wind went out of him simultaneously.
As Hawkeye caught his breath, he noticed Peg and Margaret were standing by the stairs, and that Margaret was laughing softly to herself.
"Funny, Margaret. Very funny."
Margaret grinned and said, "Danny just wanted to wake up his daddy."
"Riiight." Then Hawkeye looked at Danny and smiled. "Morning, Bud."
Danny smiled. " 'ood morning!"
Katy, decided that what Danny had done looked fun, walked over to her father, but instead of running and jumping, she simply got close and then flopped down on his stomach.
BJ's eyes came open. "Hi sweetie."
" 'ood 'orning."
Hawkeye sat up. "Consider yourself lucky, Beej. I was the recipient of a 'run and jump'"
BJ laughed.
"I suppose we should think about breakfast." Stated Peg.
They all nodded, then Hawkeye asked, "Where's Anna?"
"Still asleep." Answered Margaret.
Peg and Margaret moved toward the kitchen to start breakfast. Hawkeye looked at BJ. "Quick game of Gin or Poker, Beej?"
"Sound good." Just then, however, they heard Anna wake up and start crying.
"Scratch that." Said Hawkeye as he stood up to go get her.
"You woke up, did you? Good morning." Said Hawkeye as he walked into her room.
Anna stopped crying, smiled, and bounced in her crib at the site of her father. Hawkeye picked her up and kissed her forehead as they walked out.
Soon, everyone was awake and eating breakfast.
"So, what are the plans for today?" asked Charles
"Say, Pierce, didn't you say something about a beach nearby?" asked Potter
"That's a great idea! A day at the beach!" said Klinger.
"We can pack a picnic lunch and everything!" said Radar.
Everybody chimed in their agreement until Hawkeye held up his hands and said, laughing, "Alright, alright! We'll go to the beach!"
So, as soon as the breakfast dishes were done, they piled into the vans and took off to the beach. Once they got here, they spread out the large picnic tablecloths they had brought with them.
"This is the life!" announced Hawkeye as he spread out on his towel.
"Don't even think about it, Pierce!" said Margaret, "We have a son and a daughter who would like to go swimming but are too little to go alone."
Hawkeye groaned, causing a laugh from BJ.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Said Hawkeye.
Margaret placed Anna between her legs in the sand and started to rub sun block all over her, so the baby wouldn't burn. Hawkeye did the same with Danny, and the Hunnicuts and Klingers did the same with their kids.
For Katy, Ben, Danny, Anna, and Max, the adults tied a rope from them to the kids. They didn't want the little ones to get caught in the tide or something.
Hawkeye took Danny out relatively deep, since he was tied to him and had a lifejacket on. Klinger and BJ joined him with Max and Ben, while Margaret and Peg stayed in the shallow with Katy and Anna.
"On your marks, get set, go!" called Hawkeye. He, BJ, and Klinger all took off. They were having a race with the children still tied to them. The children just clapped and laughed as they were pulled along by their fathers. Frank went off a little ways by himself on another part of the beach near the parking area to frolic in the water.
Eventually, everybody came in for lunch. They spread the food out, then realized that they had forgotten the paper plates in the van.
"I'll go get them. Be right back!" said Margaret.
"On your way, tell Frank that food's on." Said Hawkeye, motioning to Frank who was still in the water.
Margaret nodded and started toward the vans. As she passed him, Frank was walking toward the beach. Just as she opened her mouth to tell him that food was ready, she noticed he was choking, having a hard time breathing for some reason.
"Frank, are you okay?" she asked
Frank, now on the beach, collapsed.
"Hawk!" she hollered, "Frank's collapsed, maybe he swallowed water or something!"
Hawkeye, BJ, Potter, and Charles all headed over. Margaret realized that she was by far the closest and, much as she didn't want to, had to perform mouth-to-mouth. So she knelt by him.
Just as her lips touched his, she suddenly found herself on her back in the sand, with Frank on top of her kissing her, and it was obvious he had every intention to go farther than that pretty quickly.
But before everything could process in her mind, Frank had been pulled, hard, off of her and flung to the ground, just to be pulled back up by his shirt to face a very angry Hawkeye. Potter, BJ, and Charles all bent down to help her to her feet. She opened her mouth to snap something at Frank, looking ready to breath fire, then noticed that Hawkeye already had a hold of him so slowly shut it, though she continued to glare.
"Just what in the hell did you think you were doing?!?!?" Hawkeye demanded of Frank
Frank was scared by the look in Hawkeye's eyes, so when he tried to say he hadn't meant it to go any farther than a simple stolen kiss he sputtered but couldn't make anything make sense. Frank didn't know why he had tried to go farther, but sensed it didn't matter why, he had and therefore wasn't going to be able to talk his way out of this one.
Margaret said low to BJ and Potter, "As much as I would love for Hawkeye to pound his face in, maybe you better stop him before he does something stupid."
Potter and BJ nodded. Hawkeye snapped at Frank, "I didn't think even you were low enough to try to do that with her husband and children right over there! What did you think I was going to do, sit there and do nothing?"
Frank continued to sputter out nonsense. BJ and Potter stepped up, one on either side of the two.
BJ gave Frank a look of disgust. "As much as he doesn't deserve the kindness, let him go, Hawk. He's an immoral prick and isn't worth the time or energy it takes to be mad at him."
"That's right, son." Said Potter, giving Frank his own look of anger, "He's not worth it. And it won't solve anything."
Hawkeye, no matter how much he wanted to do something, knew that they were right. So, he slowly let go of Franks shirt, still glaring. "They're right. But do it again, Frank, and you'll wish you really had choked!"
With that, he spun on his heel and headed over to the other side of the beach, where the rest of the adults had stayed with the children and also where Margaret had gone after deciding that if she started on Frank she would likely let anger take over, and she didn't want that to happen.
Frank chuckled nervously as he looked at the looks of contempt he was getting from Charles, Potter, BJ, and even still from Margaret from across the beach.
"Just what did you think you were doing?" seethed Potter once Hawkeye was out of ear shot.
"You are a disgusting, perverted excuse of a human being!" said Charles
"That's a compliment compared to what I had in mind, Frank." Warned BJ, "Besides what you did being inexcusable, that could have actually killed or severally hurt you. What if Margaret had performed full CPR or the Heimlich? You're a doctor, you should know how dangerous those are to someone who doesn't need them! You're just lucky we stopped Hawkeye from beating you senseless. You deserve every punch he would throw at you! Next time, we won't be so kind."
"That's right." Added Potter, "We won't stop him." He stepped up so he was looking Frank right in the eye. "We'll help him."
Frank gulped, and then BJ and Charles headed back to the others while Potter went to get the paper plates Margaret had originally gone after. As they walked up, Margaret put a comforting hand on Hawkeye's shoulder and, though she herself couldn't help shooting fire from her eyes in Frank's direction, said "It's alright, Hawk, he didn't hurt me."
"I know, otherwise he wouldn't be standing." Said Hawkeye simply.
Margaret couldn't help but let a small smile come to her face as Hawkeye, despite his words, soon forced himself to calm down.
Meanwhile, Frank stood where he was, contemplating his options. He definitely didn't want to stay at the beach, but they had come together in the vans so he couldn't drive away. Then he thought of something. He could take one of the vans back to Hawkeye's, which would leave them a van to come and get the van he took. So he did. Luckily for him, they had left the keys in the vans because not only did people in Crabapple Cove not steal, but the beach they were at was kind of secluded. So he took one of the vans and sped off to the house.
"Good riddance" Hawkeye muttered under his breath as the sound of the van driving away filled the air. Then he turned to BJ. "In a couple minutes, Beej, will you come with me to get the van back? I need another driver for the second van."
BJ nodded, "Sure."
Charles spoke up, "Sherman went to get the plates. Luckily, Frank chose the van that didn't have the plates in them."
They all nodded, and then they heard from behind them a little shriek. They turned, and then all burst out laughing at the sight of little Katy with a head full of Mrs. Potter's potatoe salad because she had fallen head-first into the bowl. It broke the tension, and everyone settled down to eat.
About 1, after the kids had been put down for naps on their towels, Hawkeye and BJ went to get the other van. Surprisingly, Frank had stayed. He was sitting in the porch swing when they drove up, and noticeable tensed to run.
Hawkeye, who had completely calmed down not long after Frank had driven away, said "You staying up here the rest of the afternoon, Frank?"
Frank nodded, surprised that Hawkeye didn't seem mad anymore.
"Well then, there's bread and I think some lunch meat left in the fridge, so make yourself a sandwich sense you didn't get lunch."
Frank nodded again, then said hesitantly "When will you guys be back?"
"I think around 4 or so." Answered Hawkeye
Frank nodded again, surprised that Hawkeye seemed willing to let him stay after what had happened at the beach, but didn't say anything. Hawkeye had decided that, for the good of the reunion, he might as well be somewhat nice. BJ and Hawk drove off with both vans back to the beach.
While the kids napped, the adults took shifts in sitting on the beach by them in case they woke up, and the rest had fun in the water. Hawkeye succeeded in completely dunking Margaret in the deep water, simply because she had said before they came that she wasn't going to get her hair wet. That caused Margaret to chase him. Because Hawkeye had longer legs than Margaret, she had a hard time keeping up. They ran around the beach, in the shallow water, and swam in the deep water. Everyone else pretty much stopped what they were doing to watch and laugh. Since she was the underdog, they were all cheering for Margaret.
"Almost! Just a little faster, Margaret!" hollered BJ.
"You're a big help!" shouted Hawkeye.
"Aren't I though?" grinned BJ.
Finally, Hawkeye was running in the shallow water toward the deep, obviously going to dive under because he knew he had the big advantage in the water. Just as he went under, Margaret lunged and landed on him, holding him under. The rest cheered and laughed as Hawkeye struggled to get out from under her.
Then, Margaret suddenly found herself flying through the air and hitting the water. Hawkeye had planted his feet against the ground and pushed, sending her flying. Soon after she hit the water, she was above it again, this time on Hawkeye's shoulders.
Everyone on the beach laughed at her expression as she tried to figure out had she had gone from holding him under to being on his shoulders.
"If that look had words, they'd be 'what the hell just happened?'" laughed Potter
Margaret joined in the laughter, then bent enough to look into Hawkeye's face and asked, "How did you do that?"
Hawkeye grinned up at her and shrugged the best he could with her on his shoulders. "Call it a gift."
Margaret tried to climb off, only to find Hawkeye's grip tighten, trapping her on his shoulders.
"Put me down!" she shrieked, then realized what she had just said. "No, wait a minute, don't……"
Hawkeye grinned up at her once again. "You asked for it!"
With that, he lunged backwards, sending them both splashing in the deeper water on their backs. Margaret gave a little shriek of, "WAIT!" as they flew back, then they went under.
They both surfaced at about the same time, Hawkeye laughing at Margaret's sputtering as she popped up. She, too, started to laugh as she walked back toward the beach, knowing full well that Hawkeye would stay where he was, laughing. So she put a finger to her lips, motioning for the others not to give her away as she slowly started back toward Hawkeye. Hawkeye was now where the water came up to his chest, so it wasn't too deep, and he was still facing the other direction. Big mistake.
Margaret crept up right behind him, then suddenly jumped, wrapped her hands around his forehead, and yanked him backwards to drag him under with her.
She popped back up quickly, Hawkeye took a little longer because it had caught him by surprise. It was Margaret's turn to laugh uproariously at Hawkeye came up half-choking because he had been laughing when she pulled him under, therefore his mouth had been open.
Hawkeye stood there stock-still, coughing with water running off his hair and face, with a shocked expression. It was too funny to everyone else.
BJ had tears running down his face. "I don't believe it! She sure got you a good one, Hawk!"
Potter managed between laughs, "I wish you could see your own face, son! You've die laughing!"
"It would indeed seem that Margaret had gotten the last laugh!" said Charles.
"Nice one, Margaret!" called Klinger.
Soon Hawkeye started laughing, laughing harder than anyone as he put his hands up and said, "Alright, I surrender! Just don't make me choke to death!"
Grinning, Margaret returned to the beach and laid down on her towel, victorious for the moment.
Once everyone had stopped laughing, BJ and Hawkeye got a volleyball game going. Klinger, Potter, Hawk, and Charles against BJ, Trapper, Sidney and Father Mulcahy. After much shouting and cursing between Hawkeye and BJ, it was finally decided that BJ's team had won. By then, the kids had woken up from their naps. After one last dip in with the children, the moms banded together to declare that the kids had been out in the sun for too long already, and that they had to get them home.
Despite much complaining from the men, the women prevailed and soon everyone was in the vans headed back to Hawkeye and Margaret's. To everyone's surprise, Frank was still there, watching TV in the living room.
He looked up when they entered, and gave a small smile as he said hesitantly, "Hi, guys. Have a good time?"
Now it was Frank's turn to be surprised, since everyone had had a good enough time that they were in good moods and were nice enough to him, considering.
I had a hard time finding the right reactions for the various people in this chapter... I hope it's at least acceptable! R&R!