Ok, here's another chapter.  Its been a while. 

Please review. 

CHAPTER 9

Hawkeye had all of the bags in his hands. Margaret just had a small carry on bag, but that was enough. She opened the door to their tiny apartment and let Hawkeye go in front of her with the luggage. That turned out to be a mistake because he left them by the door and walked away. Margaret didn't expect them to be there and slammed her shin into a large suitcase. She gritted her teeth and clenched his fists to keep from yelling at Hawkeye. Sometimes she had to tell herself that he didn't mean to do those things.

"You okay?" Hawkeye asked.

"Fine," she mumbled sternly.

"I'm sorry, baby. I didn't think you'd walk into them."

"Well I didn't think you'd just drop them there."

Hawkeye took her hand and got her away from the luggage. He lead her to the couch and sat her down. "Do you want me to move them?"

"Not right now." She pulled him down to sit next to her and put her bruised leg on his lap. He pushed up her pant leg and took a look. "Ouch...you're going to have a bruise there."

"Get me some ice please." She hated having bruises on her legs in the summer. It didn't look good when she wore shorts and made her self conscious.

Hawkeye came back with a little bag of ice and after sitting back down placed the ice on her shin. "I'm sorry."

"I know," she sighed. She leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes. It felt so good to be home after that long trip. The last few days had been nice, but she had been so tense from the first few days of the trip that she never completely relaxed. She always had a feeling that someone was watching her. Now that she was back home she could let that go. It was back to just her and Hawkeye.

Margaret had a headache. When she was like that all Hawkeye had to do was say the wrong thing and it was like World War III started. He was going to try his best not to do that. His hand moved away from her shin and down to her foot where he started to massage it gently. As long as she could stay calm then he would be in the clear for the rest of the day. "Feel good?" She nodded. "Should we unpack?" She nodded yes again. "Why don't you lie here for a few minutes and I'll go start."

He moved her foot off his lap and moved to his feet. When he was sure she was settled he walked silently back to the door and started to collect the suitcases once again. Margaret heard him swear softly as he struggled to move through the narrow space and caught his hip in the corner of the table. Within a few moments he had managed through and disappeared into the bedroom. Margaret fell asleep a few minutes later.

Back in the bedroom, Hawkeye was doing his best to be quiet. He wanted to have everything unpacked so Margaret wouldn't have to worry about it. The happier he kept her, the calmer she'd be. He pulled out all the dirty laundry and piled it on the floor. The clothes they hadn't worn he put away, along with their personal items in the bathroom. When that was done, he started to sort clothes. Perhaps if he started the laundry a little earlier, without being asked to do so, she'd start to settle down and they could have a quiet evening.

It was a little over an hour later when Margaret opened her eyes. She looked around relieved that she woke up in her own home. She could smell and hear something cooking in the small kitchen. At the moment she just didn't feel like getting off of the couch. Napping served to calm her nerves down, but always seemed to make her sleepy. Hawkeye must have covered her up because she didn't remember doing it herself. It wasn't until she heard Hawkeye's voice in the kitchen that she got up. She didn't want him to ruin the kitchen trying to cook a meal.

Hawkeye spotted her and smiled. "Hi. Did you have a nice nap?" She nodded sleepily. "Are you hungry?"

"A little."

She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him laying her head on his chest. The best thing about her taking naps was that she was very touchy afterwards. Hawkeye held her close. "What's this about?"

"Nothing," she smiled. "Can't I just hold on to you?"

"Any time." He rubbed her back. "Everything is put away and I started some laundry."

"You did?"

"Yes. Tonight our plans are to just lie around and do nothing. How does that sound to you?"

"Wonderful." She let go off him and moved to the stove to taste the sauce. "I have to work tomorrow morning."

"I wish you didn't have to."

"So do I. Mmmm, this is good."

"Well you're in luck. Its almost done."

Margaret tasted it once more and then put the lid back on. "I'm going to go change, I'll be right back." She kissed him quickly and then made for the bedroom.

"Okay."

Margaret put on her cotton pajamas and then walked back out to the living room. Hawkeye had set two plates of pasta on the coffee table. "I thought we'd eat out here tonight." He walked up behind her with a glass of water for them each.

"That's fine." Margaret walked over the couch and sat down. Hawkeye followed her lead and sat down beside her and handed her a glass of water.

"This looks good," she commented as she picked up her plate and sat back. Hawkeye turned on the television and followed suit.

"I'm glad; I'd like to eat tonight."

Margaret dismissed his comment and took a bite, "Mmm...and it tastes just as wonderful."

"You said mine was the best," he grinned.

"And I meant it," she gave him a genuine smile.

"Its nice to be home, isn't it?"

"You have no idea." She took another bite of food.

He smiled. "I think I do."

She smiled. "What's on TV?"

"News I guess." He didn't want to get up and change the channel again.

The two of them sat there watching TV and eating some dinner. It was nice to be together again without worrying about the phone ringing or a knock on the door. No one would bother them now that they were at home. They didn't have to worry about anything at the moment and they both loved that. It seemed like forever since Margaret was able to fully relax, and when she wouldn't relax, neither would Hawkeye. She kept him on his toes.

Margaret was not looking forward to going back to work in the morning. It wasn't that she didn't like working, because she loved nursing. It was the army that she was sick of. She was ready to get out. She wanted to get married and move away with her husband. He wasn't working at the moment because he was waiting for her to get out of the army so they could go back to Maine. Everything was in limbo right now and it was all because of the army. Margaret just wanted to get out now.

Hawkeye felt bad for looking forward to her going back to work tomorrow. He could sleep in and really relax again. Sometimes he thought he was getting too comfortable with his new role as the 'house wife', but at other times he hated it. Being able to take care of Margaret was nice, but there were times he wanted it to be the other way around. It wasn't that he expected her to stop working all together once he went back to work, but maybe on occasion she could take care of him like he was taking care of her at the moment.

They both cleaned up the kitchen that night and then watched some TV together. Margaret had fallen asleep on the couch and instead of waking her up he carried her to their bedroom. She didn't open her eyes, but she spoke once she realized she was in bed. "Can you set the alarm?"

"Sure." He leaned over and gave her a kiss. "Goodnight."

"Night," she said sleepily.

The next morning Hawkeye woke up alone for the first time in over a week. He felt a pang of loneliness when he realized she wasn't there beside him, but then again, it was almost eleven o'clock. Margaret had been gone for nearly four and a half hours. He sat up and hung his feet over the side of the bed, it was nice being in their bedroom again.

The phone rang and Hawkeye smiled sleepily. Finally he could answer the damn phone without being cautious of who was on the other end. "Hello?" He asked his voice was still clouded with sleep.

"Hi honey," it was Margaret. "Did I wake you?" She couldn't believe he had slept that late.

"No," Hawkeye shook his head. "I've been awake," he looked at the clock. "For a good three minutes."

He heard her laugh softly on the other end. "Good to know."

"So, what's up?" She usually didn't call so early unless something was on her mind.

"Nothing," he heard her sigh.

"Nothing?"

"I just missed you. I wanted to hear your voice."

Hawkeye smiled again, "Well I miss you too." He laid back in bed again. A grinned spread wider across his face. "What brought this on?"

"Is there something wrong with missing my fiancé?"

"No, not at all, it's just unusual. You hardly ever call me."

"I call you."

He grinned. "Yeah, you call me jack ass, bastard, son of a bitch, and much much more, but you hardly ever call me on the phone. What's wrong?"

She chuckled slightly. "Nothing's wrong. I just wanted to hear your voice. That's all."

"It's so cute how you miss me."

"Yeah, yeah."

"No, really. If it makes you feel any better, I'm lonely without you."

"What are you going to do today?" She didn't want to let him off the line yet. Small talk was better than none at all.

"Nothing much. Just relish being home."

She sighed. "Trade places with me, would you?"

He laughed. "One day. Right now we need you to work so we can at least eat."

"I know. Would you do me a favor?"

"Anything."

"After you finish the laundry, could you go grocery shopping? I could do it on my way home, but I'd rather just be at home with you."

"I can do it," he smiled. How could he resist that? "What are you doing for lunch?"

She sighed. "Ah, I have to meet with some of my nurses."

"Do you have to?"

"I'm afraid so." Hawkeye could hear the disappointment in her voice; she wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her.

"That's too bad."

"Yeah," she sighed again.

"So, any plans for dinner?" He decided to move the conversation.

"Something simple." Hawkeye heard her yawn.

"Quiet?" He guessed.

"Yes."

"Do you have any ideas what to eat?"

"Not really, you're pretty good about picking out something on your own, I trust you."

"Well gee, thanks," he pretended to be hurt.

Margaret giggled, "I didn't mean it like that."

"Sure," he mock exaggerated. "I can't do anything right."

"You know that's not true," she told him.

"Sure it is. Everything I do in the kitchen and the bedroom is always wrong."

She smiled on the other line and looked around to make sure she was still alone. "I wouldn't go that far. Everything you do in the kitchen is perfect."

"Well, thanks." He rolled his eyes.

She laughed. "I'm kidding. You know I don't have any complaints."

"Neither do I, except one."

"Oh?" She was very interested in that.

"You work too much."

She sighed and smiled. "We've only been home one day."

"Yes but in the past week we've been together day and night. I'm lonely all by myself."

"You just woke up. How can you be lonely?"

"You try waking up alone knowing that no one is home and won't be for hours."

"I'm sorry. Maybe we can do lunch tomorrow. How's that?"

He smiled. "Sounds good."

"Okay. I have to let you go now."

"Okay. Bye. I love you."

"Bye." She was going to hang up the phone but he hollered 'wait'. "What?"

"You didn't say you love me."

She laughed a little and then looked around. She didn't want anyone to see that the tough Major Houlihan was indeed a person in love and wasn't quite as hard as they all thought her to be. "I love you."

Hawkeye smiled and hung up the phone. Now what was he going to do? The laundry and cleaning up the house really wasn't his favorite thing to do. Maybe he would pass the time with a nice hot shower. He decided that sounded good and got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. His showers tended to kill a lot of time because after being in Korea, he never took hot water for granted.

**********

Margaret clamored and stumbled up the stairs, she was trying her hardest not to drop the box that she was so desperately trying to hang onto. As if eleven hours of work wasn't enough, she was now looking forward to another four filled with paperwork. Finally after struggling with the many items in her arms, she reached their floor. Margaret fumbled for a moment to find her keys in her purse and when she did, it took more of an effort to unlock the door. It was then that she realized how much harder it was going to be to maneuver through their cluttered apartment. There were boxes and piles of junk lying everywhere, there was barely a path for her to walk through, let alone with a mountain of papers in her arms.

"Damn it!" Margaret had walked directly into a stack of boxes where she nearly lost her balance. As she struggled to retain her composure, she had backed herself into the edge of the nearest table. With a fierce kick she toppled the stack and pushed her way over to the dinner table. Margaret set the box along with her briefcase down and then stood back to catch her breath.

"Are you okay?" She suddenly became aware that someone was standing behind her.

Margaret turned around to find Hawkeye starring at her. Still feeling a little breathless she said to him, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she told him with a little more stability.

Hawkeye leaned over and gave her a kiss. "Just wanted to make sure."

"Thank you," she smiled. She looked at him and wondered where he had been when she was trying to make her way across the room. "Where were you?"

"I was here. I was reading a book."

"Why didn't you help me?"

"I thought you had it all under control and you did."

She sighed. "What's for dinner?"

"Oh, I didn't make anything." He moved over to give her another kiss, but she backed away. "I thought we could go out tonight."

"You didn't make dinner?!"

"No." Wasn't that what he just told her?

"I can't go out tonight," she said with a bit of agitation in her voice.

"Why not?"

"I have work to do."

"Come on," he tried to persuade her. "We won't go anywhere fancy, just down the block to grab a quick bite to eat."

"I told you, I can't," she told him with a bit more sternness in her voice. Margaret moved out of his arms and took off her jacket.

"Why can't you take a break?" Hawkeye was fed up of acting like a house wife. He didn't want to cook another dinner.

"I haven't even started," she exclaimed. "There's at least four hours of work here." Margaret started leafing through the pile. "I was expecting you to have dinner ready so I could get right to work afterwards."

"I'm sorry," he told her. All though, he didn't sound very apologetic.

Margaret looked up at him and put a hand on her hip, "So now what are we going to do?"

"I'll run out and pick up something." To him it was no big deal.

Margaret sighed, "It's too late now." She picked up a file and started looking through it. "I'll have popcorn or cereal or something."

"No, I'll get Chinese or something. It won't take me long."

She rolled her eyes. "I'll find something."

"No, I'll go get something for us." He picked up his car keys that were lying on the table. "What do you want?"

She looked at the stack of papers not paying much attention to him. "Whatever you want."

He smiled. "Of course. You'll eat mine anyway." Normally she would have smiled at him or even gave him a kiss, but she didn't even acknowledge him. "I'll be back soon."

"Okay."

Hawkeye turned and left the apartment without saying another word. Margaret looked around the place. It was in shambles and she couldn't stand it, but she also couldn't do anything about it. Instead of trying she got up and went to the bedroom to change into something more comfortable. She changed into a pair of pajamas, washed her face cleaning off all of the makeup, and took her hair down. Now she could get to work. The only break she would take would be for dinner.

Hawkeye came back in twenty minutes after she sat down to do some work. It had taken longer than he planned to get the food. "Back," he said as he came in. She didn't even look up at him. "You still hungry?"

"What?"

"You ready to eat?" He sat the food on the table.

"Oh...ah...yeah." She gathered her stack of papers and placed them to the side. "What do you want to drink?"

"I'll get the drinks." He said. "What do you want?"

"Water."

Hawkeye came back with their drinks and she had set the food out for the two of them. "Here baby."

"Thank you. Hey," she said after a moment. "I'm sorry I was so testy about dinner earlier."

He smiled. "It's okay. I remember long ago when I used to work. It could be stressful."

Margaret smiled a little bit and looked at her food as she ate. The last time he had worked they had been in Korea. Truthfully that was probably the most stressful position to be in, but real world health care was something of the past to him now. "Yeah."

"Today was that bad, huh?" Hawkeye pretended that he hadn't seen her diversion.

Margaret rubbed her face, "It was long, let's just say that."

"Pressure from above?" He asked.

Margaret nodded, "Yeah, you could say that."

Hawkeye pushed his food around with his fork, "Anything I can do to help?"

"No," was her quick reply.

"Late night?"

"Yes," she answered just as quickly.

"I don't mind staying up," he told her. "After all, I have no reason not to."

"That's okay, you don't have to."

"No, I don't mind at all," he reassured her.

Margaret didn't want to hurt his feelings, but the truth be told, she would have preferred it if he went to bed. The last thing she needed was his presence and puppy like demeanor to drag the night on. She'd rather just get it over with and be done with it. "No, honey. You really don't have to." She thought if she used endearments it wouldn't hurt his feelings as much.

"I would really like to." All he did was wait for her to get home from work. After all, she was the only reason he was there.

"I'll be fine. You can't help me with it anyway."

He could take a hint. "Fine," he mumbled. He placed some food in his mouth. What was he supposed to do if she wasn't going to spend time with him? He didn't work, he was alone all day, and now she didn't want anything to do with him. "I guess I'll just watch some TV."

"Please don't. It's too much of a distraction and as it stands right now I'll be up past eleven and I have to get up early."

"Okay. I guess I'll find something else."

She didn't mean to make him feel unwanted or like he was in the way. She loved him and wanted him to be there. "Didn't you say you were reading a book?"

"Yes."

"Maybe that's what you could do."

"Maybe," he said.

Margaret took a few more bites and then pushed her food aside. She wasn't feeling all that hungry, especially since it was take out. Hawkeye took the hint and stood up, clearing the table and making room so she could spread out her work. "Anything I can get you?" He asked her from the kitchen.

"No." She started digging through her stacks of files.

"Is there anything I can do?" He walked up behind her and looked over her shoulder.

"Yeah," Margaret pushed him to the side. "You're standing in my light. Can you move to the side?"

Being sort of taken back, he had no choice but to get side swept. "Sure," he muttered lowly. It didn't matter, she wasn't listening anyway.

Margaret buried herself in her work and didn't give a second thought to her fiancé. All she was worried about was getting that work done by the morning. If she had it her way she would have come home and been with him all night, but that wasn't the case. She just hoped he would be a little understanding about.

A few minutes had gone by and she hadn't heard anything from him. She looked around and saw him walk to the door. "Where are you going?"

"For a walk." He said. He didn't bother to try to give her a kiss this time for fear of getting her in sacred light again. "I'll be back later."

"How late?"

"I don't know. I'm just going for a walk."

"Ok. Bye."

"Yep," he mumbled on his way out the door.

She shrugged off his coolness and went back to work not realizing that it was her own cool demeanor that had caused him to become like that. Once again she buried herself in her work not giving a second thought to another thing. As long as she didn't think about the problem, then it didn't exist.

Hawkeye knew that Margaret loved him; he had never thought for a moment that she didn't. It was just times like those that really tried their relationship. All he wanted to do was be there for her and support her, and all she did was continuously belittle him and cast him aside. He understood she was under tremendous pressure, but time after time she promised never to do it again and yet time after time she did it anyway. Margaret had given him her word when he threatened to leave, and now it looked like that was no longer any good either.

Hawkeye wasn't walking anywhere specific; he just wanted to get away. Had he stayed any longer, he didn't know what he would have done. All he knew was that he couldn't be around her at the moment, not when everything was untouchable and he was an elephant in a China shop.

He walked around in what seemed like circles, not really caring where he ended up. Eventually after walking around for a few hours he found himself standing in front of one of the local bars. It took almost every ounce of staying power not go inside and drown his problems in a couple drinks. He knew alcohol wasn't the answer, what he needed was her, and nothing could replace that.

Feeling even more frustrated, he finally managed to move on and continue walking. He was turning into a house wife and not a productive one either. All he did was sit there all day, waiting for a woman to come home who rarely had the time to acknowledge him. He couldn't drink, he found himself bored more times then not, he was sexually frustrated and intimidated, and now he couldn't even stand in their apartment without doing something wrong.

After walking for a while he looked at his watch and realized how late it had gotten. He didn't think he had someone at home worried and waiting up for him. If she was still up she was still working. He wasn't very tired because he had slept until eleven that morning, so the reason he decided it was time to head home was because of boredom.

It was hard to believe that they had only been home one day. She had been so touchy the day they arrived and that was what he loved. Even her phone call earlier that had told him how much she missed being with him and wanted him. It was that damn army! She had come home from work and that's when she changed. That's when she always changed. She was always too tired or too stressed or too busy. All he could think was thank god she's getting out soon. It would take a tremendous weight off of their relationship.

It was well after eleven that night when he reached the door to their small apartment. Still feeling inferior and unneeded he unlocked the door and let himself in. Margaret looked up at him and said 'hi' and then was right back to her work. Did she even care what time it was?

"Hi," he said. He walked right passed her and into the kitchen. He grabbed a container of food from dinner and brought it back into the living room. "You almost done?"

"Yes."

He turned on the TV and plopped himself down on the couch. "You don't mind, do you?"

Didn't she ask him earlier not to turn on the TV? She was almost finished anyway. "No." Margaret sat there watching TV from the table and half concentrating on her work. That was exactly the reason why she didn't want him to watch TV. She needed a place where it was quiet so she could concentrate. With Hawkeye watching TV only feet away from her, it was a little difficult, but she got the job done. She boxed up her files once again, cleaned off her mess, and went for a drink of water in the kitchen.

Hawkeye was still sitting up watching TV and she had thought about sitting down with him. They really hadn't done a thing all day. Dinner was quiet and her mind was elsewhere, but was that really an excuse? She was a little too tired to do anything except sleep. Walking up behind Hawkeye she bent down and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to bed."

"Goodnight."

"You're not coming?"

"I got up at eleven. I'm not even tired yet."

"Oh, well, goodnight." She didn't like the thought of being in that big bed all alone. His arms warm around her was what had kept her going all day. That was why she worked so hard. She wanted to get things done. If all she was going to do was sleep she supposed it was a little selfish to think he would be there when she was ready to go to bed.

Margaret flossed and brushed her teeth before she got into bed. She had hoped he would have changed his mind and followed her, but when she turned out the light she was still alone. Margaret tried to get comfortable, but she always found it difficult to fall asleep when he wasn't there. Eventually, after spending nearly half an hour tossing and turning, she finally drifted off.

Sometime during the night Margaret thought she felt someone move into bed beside her, but she couldn't be sure. At six o'clock when her alarm went off Margaret found herself pressed up against him in a surprising fashion. His arms were wrapped tightly around her and she was resting comfortably against his chest. They were lying as they sometimes did when they were both feeling clingy. Margaret's face was resting in the crook of his neck and her knee was positioned between his legs. It was probably the closest they had slept in a long time.

Margaret disentangled herself from him unwillingly and turned off the alarm. She sat up and took a few minutes to try and wake up. Behind her Hawkeye rolled onto his stomach and spread out so he was taking up the whole bed. With a small groan he finally rendered himself comfortable and settled down again. Margaret glanced at her sleeping fiancé and wished she could have joined him, but like always, the Army took that away from her also.

Hawkeye woke up around eleven and looked around. Last he remembered he had Margaret in his arms. Now she was gone and he was alone again. He didn't like being alone at all. It wasn't that he didn't want her to work at all, he was just...sometimes he wasn't sure what the problem really was. He had agreed not to work and live with her so they could be together while she was still in the army. He didn't fully regret that decision, but there were parts of it that he did. He was bored all the time. He didn't like the role of housewife anymore. At first it had been fun, but that wore off long ago. Being on vacation was nice because they didn't have to play any roles, but now they were back to real life and were thrown back into roles and titles.

He rolled out of bed remembering that they had a lunch date together. That was something to look forward to at least. It was better than yesterday when he didn't have anything to do. He got up and took a nice shower and got dressed. Normally he didn't wear nice clothing unless Margaret made him, but he felt like wearing something nice today. Nothing too fancy, just a nice pair of pants and a collared shirt would do. He felt so giddy like a kid going on a date.

Hawkeye didn't go to the hospital very often, Margaret was usually too busy to have lunch with him. In fact, she rarely found time to have lunch period. Neither of them could wait until she got out of the Army. Hawkeye was dying to go back to work and Margaret was itching to get out of an administration job and back into a real nursing position. It wasn't going to be too long now, Hawkeye could almost smell the salt in the air already.

He hummed softly to himself as he drove. They might not have gone to bed on the best terms, but the morning was turning out to be pretty good. When the alarm had gone off that morning Margaret had been in his arms. In fact, she had been clinging to him just as much as he was. Now they were going to have lunch together and that made Hawkeye was very excited. He hoped she'd be ready to go as soon as he got there. Hawkeye wanted them to have as much time as possible. Since he nothing else to do, this was going to be the highlight of his day.

Hawkeye walked to the nurses' station on the fifth floor and tried to located his fiancé. "Excuse me," he asked the nurse at the desk. "Could you possibly tell me where Major Houlihan might be?"

"She's busy at the moment," was the nurse's quick reply.

"Could you tell me where I can find her?"

"I told you, she's in a conference in her office," the nurse told him a little more sternly.

"Thanks," Hawkeye smiled. He was in too good of a mood to take offense to her sour mood. "I'll just wait until she's done."

"You're going to be waiting a long time, sir."

"Its noon. She should be on lunch soon, shouldn't she?"

"Normally, but she's in a meeting today. She won't be out for a while."

Hawkeye was beginning to think he was stood up. "How long is a while?"

"An hour at least."

"An hour? You have to be kidding me."

"No, I'm not. Now if you'll excuse me I have some things I have to get done before the major rips my head off."

"Fine." He mumbled. What was he supposed to do now? Maybe it was a mistake. She wouldn't do that without calling him first. He decided to wait a few minutes and see if anyone else knew anything.

Hawkeye stood around for a few minutes in hopes that she would still materialize. He had hoped that the nurse had been misinformed and she that she was wrong, but deep down inside he knew that Margaret was never going to turn up. It looked liked he was just going to have to face the facts, he had been stood up. "Doctor Pierce?" Hawkeye was suddenly aware that someone was speaking to him. Hawkeye turned around to find a woman standing behind him.

"Captain Guetary," he greeted her with a smile. "How are you doing?" Captian Guetary was one of Margaret's nurses and always seemed to be within the vicinity of wherever the Major was. He had seen her numerous times when he made trips to see Margaret at work.

"I can't complain," she beamed up at him. "I'm used to sleep deprivation and fourteen hour work days; it's nothing I can't handle." Hawkeye was surprised at how calm and collected she seemed despite of her rigorous work schedule. He wished Margaret had that quality. "I hear you had a nice time on your vacation."

Hawkeye wouldn't have actually said they had a 'nice' time, but he had to admit things got better once they lost her family. "Yes, we did."

The Captain nodded and smiled.  "The Major didn't mention that you were coming by today, did you stop by for anything specific?" She asked.

Hawkeye couldn't believe that Margaret hadn't said anything to her. "Well...uh..." He scratched his head. "Actually, I came by to take her to lunch."

"Lunch? Oh I'm sorry, she's going to be in conference all day."

"All day?" He asked.

"I'm afraid so, with the inspection coming up she's been calling meetings unexpectedly. The one she's in now was even unplanned."

"Oh. I guess I'll head home then. Could you do me a favor and not tell her that I was here?"

She looked at him oddly wondering why, but she wasn't going to question him. "I can do that."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

He looked at his watch and saw that he had been there for a half an hour. He wasn't going to waste anymore time and just left. He didn't like being stood up and wasn't used to it especially not from her. She wasn't supposed to do that to him. If he ever did that to her she'd be pissed.

Driving home he passed a bar and almost stopped in to have drink, but thought better of it. As he drove he started to think he should have stopped. What else did he have to do? The next bar he saw he pulled in and parked the car. Going home to a messy lonely apartment was not his idea of fun and even though drinking at a strange bar wasn't exactly fun it was all he had at the moment. He didn't really know anyone in town. He didn't have a way of really meeting people and he and Margaret had kept pretty much to themselves. For a while all they needed was each other, and she worked so much that she didn't have time for anything but him, and that was sometimes questionable. So, why not drink?

Deciding that he didn't have anything to lose, Hawkeye walked into the bar and took a seat on the nearest stool. "What can get ya?" The bartender asked as he approached.

"Vodka," Hawkeye told him. "And make it a double."

The bartender nodded and turned to pour his drink. Hawkeye closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands. He was starting to think that it might have been better if he just went back to Maine and waited for her there. She only had a few weeks left, it's not like they would have been apart for very long. Maybe that's what she needed, what she really wanted; time alone to do the things she needed to do. Maybe he was too much of a distraction and this was her why of telling him.

No, he was thinking foolishness. He was just upset, that's all. The bartender came back and set his drink on the bar. Hawkeye didn't hesitate to drink it down, he wanted to feel numb, he didn't want think about it anymore. He could see the love of his life slipping away. Not forever, but even to think about losing her or being away from her for just a few days was too much.

He ordered another drink and downed that rather quickly. Not thinking about anything except trying to lose his emotions he ordered another one. The bartender had tried to talk to him, but Hawkeye wasn't interested. He really wasn't sure what was going on either. Was it really all her? Was it the way he was feeling about not being at work? All he knew for sure was that they needed to get the army out of the picture and that would fix a lot of their problems. Not all of them, but at least they would be free to move on.

After the third drink he got up and left. The apartment was just around the corner and he was feeling pretty good by that time. He wasn't drunk, but he wasn't completely sober anymore either. When he got home he turned the TV on and laid on the couch. Before he knew it he was fast asleep. Again he didn't have anything else to do, so why not? It was so boring without Margaret around. Maybe tonight would be different.

When Margaret walked through the door that night she was happier then she had been for the past few nights running. Due to her persistence she had finally earned a night to herself. There was no more work to be done, and what there was, could wait until the next day. Tonight she just wanted to relax and unwind, and that's exactly what she was going to do.

"Hello," she called out when she opened the door and walked into the door way. Margaret set her purse down on the side table and removed her jacket.

"Hi," came his trepid response from across the room.

Margaret walked over to the couch and took a seat on the arm. "What are you doing?" She asked as put an arm around his shoulders.

Hawkeye didn't look up at her when she touched him. "Nothing."

Margaret looked him over, he was sitting there in his favorite jeans. Normally she would have said something, but she was in too good of a mood to argue. "Hot?" She asked as she ran a finger across his bare shoulder, he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"A little," he muttered and then took a sip of the beer he was holding in his hand.

Margaret kissed his cheek, she could tell he hadn't shaved. "I'm going to go change, I'll be right back," and with that she stood up and walked to the bedroom to find something more comfortable.

She kicked her shoes off in the corner of the bedroom and unzipped her skirt letting it fall to the floor. On top of not wanting to be working where she was, she had to wear an ugly uncomfortable uniform. She quickly got out of the old thing and grabbed something comfortable to wear. Hawkeye must have finished and put away the laundry already. He could have done it the day before and she wouldn't have even known.

She went back into the living room and took a seat next to him leaning against him. He didn't put his arm around her which she found odd. When she left that morning the two of them were a tangled mess. What had changed? She hadn't been there to make him upset, so what could it be. "What are you watching?"

"A game," came his reply.

"Oh. Who's winning?"

He looked over at her. "You hate sports."

It was true. "Yeah, but I..."

"Margaret, I know you don't care. Stop pretending."

All she wanted to do was be with him, but he was right. "Okay." She didn't want to start a fight. "Did you eat?"

"What does it look like?" He pointed to the chips with the neck of his beer bottle.

"What about dinner?"

"I didn't make anything."

"I can make it if you're hungry."

"Don't you have work to do?"

"Not tonight. Do you want something?" She was becoming increasingly worried about his mood. He seemed to be so angry at her for some reason. Maybe something happened today. She wouldn't have known about it anyway because she had been at work all day. Even if he had called her the odds were that she wouldn't have gotten the message.

Hawkeye shrugged his shoulders. "I don't care," he said passively as he went back to watching the game.

"Well, we can wait," Margaret told him. "I'm not too terribly hungry yet." Truth be told, she was starving, but she didn't want to leave him just yet.

"Fine." Margaret sat beside him in silence for a while. She thought it was odd that he was being so quiet. Normally when she came home he was all over her, but tonight it was like he didn't even know she was there.

At half time Margaret looked over at him and watched as he drank the last of his beer. "I'm going to get a beer for myself, do you want another one?" She asked as she stood up.

Hawkeye actually looked up at her then, "Sure."

Margaret went into the kitchen and pulled out two beers. She popped off the lids and then carried them back into the living room. "Here you go," she said as she handed him one.

"Thanks."

Margaret took her seat beside him again and took a sip of her own. "Do you mind?" She gestured to the chip bag. Hawkeye handed it to her and then went back to watching the cheerleaders on the screen.

He glanced over at her quickly so she wouldn't see him look at her. He really wanted to be mad at her, but he wasn't so sure he could keep it up much longer. Being mad at Margaret was something that he was never good at. During that quick glance he caught sipping his beer, but then looked back at the TV. "So, how was your day."

"Oh, it was terrible. Just like normal."

He nodded. "Ah."

"Yeah." She noticed how he kept watching the young cheerleaders on the screen. "Do you like watching them?"

"What?"

"Them," she pointed to the screen.

He rolled his eyes. Why did she always have to be so insecure? "It's just TV. What else am I going to do?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe talk to me."

He glared at her with narrowed eyes. "Like last night?"

She sat strait up and didn't lean on him. "I had work to do."

"So you just pretended I wasn't here?"

"You weren't, remember?"

"Gee, I can't imagine why I wouldn't have wanted to be here with you."

She knew she had been a little edgy yesterday. She had had a hard day at work and even had to bring work home. What did he expect from her? "I don't want to fight with you. I work hard. I worked and fixed things so we could have the night together. Do you want that or do you want to watch TV all damn night?"

Hawkeye was silent for a moment. He didn't want to talk to her if she was only going to ridicule him. Every time they tried to talk she always put all the blame on him. Finally collecting his thoughts he said, "Yes, you know I want that."

Margaret didn't think he would take so long to answer, but she guessed it really didn't matter as long as he didn't pick the television over her. "You know you're all I really care about; it's just that work it running me ragged."

Hawkeye nodded and looked at the bottle in his hand. "I know."

"I didn't mean to cast you aside last night, it was just really important that I got that work done." She picked up his hand and held it in hers.

"I know," he said again. Hawkeye pulled his hand away and stood up. He was still sore about her standing him up. She could have at least called him and told him she'd scheduled a meeting at that time.

Margaret watched as he picked up the chip bag and empty beer bottles. "So what did you do today?" She wanted him to talk to her. Hawkeye shrugged his shoulders and walked back to the kitchen. Margaret stood up and followed him. "Didn't you do anything?"

He was bent over in the refrigerator. "You said you're cooking? What do you want to make?"

She sighed. "I'll find something."

"Okay."

She walked over to him and closed the door. "Why don't we just talk for now?"

"Aren't you hungry?"

"Yes...but." She gave up. "Why don't you stay with me in the kitchen while I fix something for dinner?"

"Okay. Why don't we have cheeseburgers or something? We have the meat in there."

"Fine." She opened up the refrigerator and pulled it out. She started to move about the kitchen. Maybe that would take the subject off of dinner and she could actually talk to him. "Now," she said after a moment of silence. "What did you do today?"

"Not a damn thing."

"Must be nice." She said grabbed a pan from under the counter.

"It used to be," he said honestly. "The fun has worn off."

"I can tell."

She didn't say anything while she was trying to light the stove and that gave his mind time to think and fester more on being stood up at lunch. When the stove was lit and the burgers were on it he looked at her. "What did you do for lunch today?"

"I had a meeting. I haven't eaten all day."

"Oh."

"Why do you ask?" She looked at him curiously. He shrugged his shoulders. "What did you do?"

Hearing that she didn't even realize what she had done made him even angrier. "I didn't eat either," he told her truthfully. "I fell asleep." Margaret didn't need to know about his escapade to the bar.

"You fell asleep?" She looked at him again. "Didn't you sleep enough this morning?"

"I went to bed later then normal."

Margaret remembered how she had gone to bed alone, she had forgotten to ask what time he had finally joined her. "What time did you end up coming to bed?"

Hawkeye shrugged and took a seat on the counter top. "I don't know, around three I guess."

"Oh." Margaret turned her attention back to the burgers. "Well, why then didn't you just sleep in?"

Hawkeye sighed. "I had plans for lunch, but they fell through."

"You what?" Margaret suddenly looked at him. Immediately she thought of another woman, after being cheated on so many times she was a little paranoid. "Who did you have plans with?"

Hawkeye looked up at her and sighed. "You."