CHAPTER 10

Margaret looked at him for a moment. She searched his face and tried to think of what he might have been rambling about. After a few seconds it suddenly occurred to her. "Oh Hawkeye," she exclaimed when she realized what he was speaking of. No wonder he was giving her the brush off.

"How could you forget?"

She felt horrible now. "I'm sorry. I had meetings all day and I was so busy even I forgot to eat."

"What does that have to do with forgetting about me?"

She paused for a moment trying to think of something, but she couldn't come up with a reason. "Nothing."

"You're right. You just forgot about me. It's as simple as that."

"Hawkeye, I would never forget about you. It was a lunch date. You make it seem like I forgot our wedding."

"I'm not so sure you wouldn't." He had had all day to sit and stew over being stood up by his fiancé.

"That's not fair!" She stomped.

He knew he was exaggerating some, okay maybe a lot. "Okay, but why did you do that? Why couldn't you call me and let me know? I went all the way down there and then I felt like an ass."

"I'm sorry about that. I really am. I didn't do it to you purposely. You know you I wouldn't do that."

"And yet you did." He was sitting with his arms folded.

"What do you want me to do? I can't turn back time, and even if I could it wouldn't change the fact that I still wouldn't have been able to go." She turned back and flipped the burgers.

Maybe he was making a bigger deal out of this than it really was. He was going to let her go this time. There wasn't any use in fighting with her He didn't have much time to spend with her as it was, he didn't want to waste the time he had fighting. "Okay. We'll forget about this."

She turned around and looked at him. "I'm really sorry."

He wanted to be mad, he really did, but he couldn't be. Frustrated, yes, but not mad. "I know." He stood up and wrapped his arms around her pulling her into a hug. "I miss you when you're gone. I'm alone all day long without a thing to do."

"I know you are. I wish it was different." He didn't say anything. She wanted to lighten the moment since he wasn't. Usually that was his department, but he wasn't doing it. "I know what you can do tomorrow." She pulled back and looked up at him.

"What's that?"

"You can press some of my clothes." She grinned.

His eyes narrowed. "Not funny."

She laughed. "I'm sorry."

He pulled away from her. "I don't like playing the house wife role. I don't like having dinner on the table every night, do all of the laundry, the cleaning, ironing your damn clothes. That should be what you're doing."

She was taken aback a little at first. That didn't sound like the man she knew. That sounded like most other men, but not him. "That's a double standard. You think I should do that and not you?"

"In our situation, yes."

Margaret couldn't believe what he was saying; he had never felt that way before. "How can you say that? That's not like you."

Hawkeye sighed, she was reading too much into it. "No, I didn't mean it like that."

"Then how did you mean it?" She asked rather defensively.

She was jumping to conclusions and he didn't like it. "What I meant was that I want to be the one to take care you. You said that you can't wait until you're out of the Army so we could switch roles, that's all I want."

Margaret had said that, but he made it seem like it was her right as the woman. "I did, but you make it seem like acting like a house wife is going to be good enough for me too."

Hawkeye sighed, "Margaret, you know I didn't mean it like that."

She wasn't so sure if she did know or not. When he first moved in he had dinner on the table each night when she got home and everything was always done and clean so that when she got home she didn't need to do anything except be with him. Now she walked in and he was eating chips, drinking beer, and watching TV. "You better not have."

He smiled. "I didn't."

"Good, because just because I'm out of the army in a few weeks doesn't mean I won't go back to work somewhere else."

"I know."

"So we'll both be working."

"That's right." He nodded. "So you can't expect to walk into the house every night and have everything be perfect. Things don't work that way." She had the thought in her head that by the time she went to bed each night everything had to be cleaned and put away. She couldn't just leave a few dishes in the sink or an out of place blanket on the couch before going to bed.

"You're right." She began to think about how it was going to be when they were both working. He wouldn't be home to take care of certain things and neither would she. She was wondering if they could handle that. As it was, with only her working it was stressful. Maybe she shouldn't work. She didn't know anymore.

Hawkeye noticed her far off look. "What's the matter?"

She looked at him. "Nothing," she shook her head. She turned back to the food. "What do you want with these burgers?"

"Nothing, I'm fine," he told her.

Margaret wasn't expecting him to be very hungry; he had already stuffed his face with chips. "Fine." She took the burgers off and put them on a plate.

Hawkeye got out the buns and two glasses and set them on the table. "What's the matter?" He asked her again.

"I told you, nothing."

"Are you mad at me?" He asked.

"No, I'm not." She sat down at the table. Hawkeye took a seat beside her.

"Then tell me what it is. You're acting like the walking dead."

"I am not," she retorted.

"Yes you are, talk to me." Hawkeye moved his seat closer to hers.

"I was just thinking about how things will be when we get married."

Hawkeye grew a little worried; maybe she was having second thoughts seeing how they were having problems now. "Are you changing your mind?"

"About what?"

"Getting married?"

"No!"

"Just making sure. Then what's the matter?"

"Well, are we going to be able to work? I mean both of us working full time and everything. What's going to happen when we have children?"

"You're getting a little ahead of yourself, aren't you? We're not even having kids for a little while. We need time to worry about us before we have any."

"Okay" He was right about the kids. There was no sense in making a big deal out of it when they didn't have any yet. "What about working? Can we handle that? I mean if we're having problems with just the two of us, what are we going to do when we both work?"

"Hold on a second. You're unhappy with you're job right now, aren't you?"

"Yes. I hate it. I hate being in administration."

"And I'm unhappy staying at home. Somehow we're both unhappy, but we're happy when we're together."

She smiled. She was starting to see where he was going. "Yes."

"Just imagine how happy we'll be when we're both happy with our jobs. Sure we'll have some bad days at work and things won't be perfect. But it'll all work out. You know how much I love you. There isn't another person in the world that I would give up medicine for, and I've done that for you. And I'd do it again."

It was true. She never asked him to do that. He wanted to do it and it was his idea. "I'd do it for you, for us, if I had to."

"I know you would," he smiled.

Margaret looked at him, he was willing to do anything for her and she was repeatedly putting him at arms length. "I'm sorry," she told him lowly.

Hawkeye smiled, "So I am I." He closed the distance between them and pulled her into a comforting embrace.

Margaret sighed and let her chin rest on his shoulder. "I can't wait until we're rid of the Army."

Hawkeye chuckled, she had no idea how much he wanted that as well. "Me too baby."

"It's the Army that's causing all these problems," she stated with more vigor.

Hawkeye stroked her hair as he held her. "I know."

Margaret pulled back and looked at him. "I love you, you know that right?"

"Do you even have to ask?" He asked her softly.

Margaret smiled, she knew it was a stupid question. "Will you say it to me, just so I can hear it?"

Hawkeye grinned and kissed her softly. "I love you."

Margaret breathed a sigh of content, she loved hearing from him. "I love you too."

Hawkeye hugged her one more time and then let her go. "Come on, the burgers are getting cold."

She smiled. "Is that all you think about, food?"

"No, I think about a few more things," his hand traveled down her back and rested on her behind.

She moved away. "Food sounds good for now."

He chuckled. "Maybe later then."

"Maybe," she winked as she took her seat.

He sat down and looked at her across the small table as she prepared her burger. Sometimes he could be so angry at her, but there was something about her that always made him feel bad for being mad. He guessed it was a good thing for their relationship. At least they wouldn't be able to stay angry at one another. "Can I have the ketchup please?"

"Here," she passed it to him. She took a bite of her burger and sighed. "Mmm. I'm so hungry."

"You should have made something else to go along with this."

"You said you didn't want anything." She took another bite.

"That didn't mean you couldn't have anything. I'll make you something."

"No," she said, her mouth full of food. He waited for her to chew the rest. "I'm fine."

He stood up and grabbed the bag of chips off the counter. "Here you go." He grinned.

She chuckled. "You're too good to me."

"I know." He sat back down. She was devouring her food and eyeing his too. He started to eat before she asked for his.

"You know," Margaret said after a moment. "You know what would go really good with these burgers?"

"No, what?"

A devilish smile spread across her face. "Ice cream."

"Ooooh," Hawkeye smiled. "I like the way you think."

"I don't know what it is, I just have this tremendous sweet tooth for chocolate," she told. Margaret took another bite of her burger. "That and..." She looked up at him with a suggestive look.

Hawkeye grinned hopefully and set his burger down, it had been a long time since they had last been together. "Yes..." He encouraged on.

"I think we should..." She liked toying with him.

"Yes..."

Margaret could see the anticipation in his eyes. She hated to crush his spirits, but on the other hand it was so much fun. "Let's go bowling," she said eagerly.

Hawkeye's face fell, "Bowling?" That's not what he wanted to spend his evening doing. "I thought you were tired, I thought you wanted to spend a quiet night a home."

"Well, I wanted do something fun."

"I have a better idea," he smiled suggestively.

"I know what you're idea is, but I said I wanted to do something fun."

He narrowed his eyes playfully. "My idea is very, very fun."

"Yeah, but we've done it a million times before."

She was toying with him and he wasn't so sure he liked being on the receiving end. "I'll stay home then."

"And make me go alone?"

"You're the one that wants to go."

"Okay. What are you going to do? Stay home alone again?"

"If I have to. I have big plans for tomorrow."

"Oh?" He nodded. "Care to share those plans with your fiancé?"

"Not really."

She tried to give up and go back to eating, but she couldn't last more then two minutes. "You know, maybe we could compromise."

"How so?"

"Well," she touched his hand. "We could go out for a walk and get some ice cream and then come home and have some fun."

He grinned. "Compromising sounds fun. We should do it more often."

She smiled. "Is that a yes?"

"Yes, but under one condition."

"What's that?"

"You have to hold my hand on our walk."

"Did you even have to ask?" She looked at their already touching hands.

"I don't know, we haven't held hands in a while," he told her as he stood up to clear the table. "In fact, we haven't done much of anything in a while."

Margaret frowned slightly, "I know, I haven't been in the mood to do much cuddling lately."

Hawkeye shook his head, "It's hard to be in a good mood when you're tired. I can't ask anything from you when you need to sleep, you know I'd never do that to you." He picked up her plate and walked back to the kitchen. Margaret stood up and followed him, she had a feeling something else was bothering him.

As soon as he set the plates down Margaret picked up his hand again and pulled him over to her. "And you know I'd never refuse you," she told him sincerely. "It's true that things are a little hectic right now, but I don't want to let that get in the way of you and me."

"I know, I don't want that either."

Margaret let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around him. She laid her head on his bare chest and closed her eyes. "You know that I wouldn't let anything come between us, including the Army."

Hawkeye hugged her back, "I know."

"And I know you think I've been acting cold..."

"I don't think that."

"Of course you do, you try to kiss me when I walk through the door and I nearly snap your head off." Hawkeye laughed slightly, that wasn't entirely a lie.

"Well, we all have our off days."

He was being so understanding at the moment. She hoped it would last for a few more weeks until she got out of the army. "Yeah." She looked up at him. "Are you ready to go get that ice cream?"

"Sure," he chuckled. "Let me get some clothes on."

"I wish you didn't have to," she grinned and then reached up and kissed him.

He felt his body get warm all of a sudden. "Well, after we get back I'll let you undress me."

She smiled and moved out of his arms. She walked into the bedroom with him following. He was hoping that meant that she was going to skip the ice cream and go right for the dessert that he had in mind. "Have you seen my tennis shoes?"

"What?" That caught him off guard.

"Never mind. I see them." She reached under the bed and pulled them out and then sat down to put them on. He stood there and looked at her for a moment. "Aren't you going to get a shirt and some shoes on?"

"Yeah," he smiled and turned around to the dresser to get a t-shirt.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing." He pulled the shirt over his head. "You just make me smile."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You should. Now, where are my shoes?" He looked around the room.

"I believe I tripped over them when I walked in the door." He nodded. She stood up, checked her hair in the mirror and then walked out of the room. "There they are," she pointed.

He picked them up and slipped them on. He always kept them tied loosely so he could do that. "We need to get a big house." He opened the door.

"I need my purse."

"No you don't. I got the keys and some money."

******

Margaret waited patiently as Hawkeye unlocked the door and opened it for her. She had already finished her ice cream cone and was now eying his. "I haven't had pistachio in forever, can I have a bite?"

Hawkeye looked at her suspiciously; he knew what she was after. "Fine, here you go," he handed it over to her with an exaggerated sigh. "I wasn't all that hungry anyway."

"What are you talking about? There's only a tiny bit left, stop being such a baby."

"Me? You're the one who has to finish everything I eat."

Margaret shrugged her shoulders. She kicked off her shoes and began to finish off his ice cream cone. "I can't help it if it tastes better after you've eaten part of it."

"You know," Hawkeye said as he set his keys and wallet down. "You could just skip the calories and go strait to licking the inside of my mouth."

She almost choked on the food in her mouth. His comment hadn't so much shocked her as it did take her by surprise. She just didn't see it coming. "You are..."

"Sexy and funny," he finished for her.

She smiled. "That's what I was going to say." She held out the last bite of the ice cream cone to him and he finished it. "I think I'll take you up on that offer." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him sending her tongue into his mouth. When she pulled away she smiled. "Tastes good, but it's not the same."

A smile spread across his face. "You are so cute." He placed his hands on her hips and pulled her close. "And I love you very much."

"So, what do you want to do for the rest of the night?"

"Definitely not bowling."

She laughed. "No. How about...some...gin rummy?"

"That's not exactly what I was thinking." His hands moved from her hips to the button on the front of her pants. "I had another idea."

"Oh? What was that?"

He unzipped her pants and let them fall to the floor. "Something that takes a little more energy."

Margaret wasn't one to object, especially when it came to him. They hadn't been together in what seemed like and eternity, she needed him now. The time it took to get him undressed seemed like it was going to take an eternity, Margaret wasn't sure she could wait that long. "Take this off now." She tugged at his T-shirt urgently. Hawkeye didn't have to be told twice.

"It feels like it's been forever," he whispered before he drew her mouth up to meet his. Margaret's hands moved up his back and then gripped his shoulders and she tried to move closer to him.

"It's almost been a week," she said urgently as she moved to unbutton his jeans. As soon as she had the zipper lowered, Hawkeye hoisted her up and walked across the room where he sat her down on the table. His hands moved up her body as he pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it across the room.

Their mouths found each other again and they kissed feverishly. Hawkeye moved closer and pushed her onto her back. Within a matter of moments he joined her on top of the table and resumed their kiss.

At on point his mouth moved away from hers and to her neck. "Ah..Hawk."

"Hmm?"

"We're....ah...on the table."

"Yes." He moved back to her mouth.

"Should we..."

"No," he answered before she could finish her question.

She couldn't have argued with him even if she wanted to. "Okay." Her hands moved to the waist of his boxers and tugged at them. She wanted them off. He got off of her and dropped them to the floor and then took her panties off of her. He smiled and climbed back on the table. "Oh," she sighed when she felt his body against hers.

"Mmm," he kissed her neck.

******

The two of them made love on the dining room table for the first time ever. It was fun, but it wasn't the best place to cuddle or sleep. They rested for a few minutes while they caught their breath, but then they got up. Hawkeye picked her up and carried her to the bedroom where he laid her on the bed. He laid next to her and then pulled her close to him. He had an overwhelming urge to keep her as close to him as he could. Margaret drifted off to sleep in no time at all. Hawkeye, having had more than enough sleep that day, stayed awake for a while longer thinking about their relationship.

They had been living together for four months now in that small apartment. Things had started to get more complicated in the past month or two between the two of them. They weren't exactly drifting, but they weren't as close as they had been. Hawkeye had hoped that their vacation would have fixed some of those problems. She had been clingy to him while they were away from home, but when they got home things had gone back to the way they were before they left.

He was unhappy unless they were together, she was unhappy with her job. They were both unhappy with the army and their apartment. Margaret's mind had been elsewhere most of the time. Her whole life was about to change and although she was ready for it, it still scared her. She was leaving the army, moving to a small town in New England, getting married, and starting her life all over again. Hawkeye was the only secure thing she had and she wasn't about to let him go, but for some reason she kept him at arms length most of the time. She didn't know why she did that over and over.

It was sometime around two or so when Margaret realized that she was alone. She had grown so accustomed to sleeping in his arms the entire night through that it was useless to even try. Usually after they made love they slept in rather intimate positions. Hawkeye would either chose to fall asleep on her stomach or have them sleep face to face. Margaret never objected, she loved to feel the whole of her body pressed against his.

She got out of bed and picked up a t-shirt off the floor. Walking from the bedroom to the kitchen she saw him sitting at the table with a glass of water in his hand. Margaret walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hey, I wondered where you went."

Hawkeye reached up and gently caressed her arm. "I'm sorry, I needed something to drink."

Margaret kissed his cheek, "Well why are you sitting out here?"

"I didn't want to wake you," he told her.

Margaret snuggled up to him a little more and let her chin rest on his shoulder. "Well you did, you know I can't sleep without you."

Hawkeye smiled, he loved how much she depended on him, even when it came down to the littlest things. "I know."

"Come back to bed with me," she stood up and grabbed hold of his hand, urging him to follow her.

He stood up and let her lead him out of the room. On his way out he hit the light switch making her find the bedroom in the darkness. Much to both of their surprise they found the bed without running into anything. She crawled in and once he was settled she pressed herself against him resting her head on his chest. She yawned and was back to sleep in under a minute. Hawkeye soon joined her.

When morning came Margaret almost cried. She didn't want to get out of bed and go to work. She felt like she did when she was in junior high. Each morning she would wake up hoping that she had come down with some sort of ailment so she didn't have to go to school, but it never worked. At least now she didn't have her mother waking her up. She had to face the fact that she had to leave the comfort of Hawkeye's arms and go to work. She rolled out of bed reluctantly and went to the shower. She had another boring day to face alone.

Hawkeye woke up while Margaret was in the shower, he couldn't sleep much now that she was out of bed. So, for the first time since they had moved in together, Hawkeye got up and made her breakfast before she went to work. When Margaret walked out of the bathroom she didn't even notice he was gone, the room was too dark. She put on a clean uniform and then walked over to the bed to kiss him goodbye. Much to her surprise, when she leaned over and moved to kiss him, she ended up with a mouth full of pillow.

Margaret felt around, thinking that he had rolled over to the other side of the bed, but it turned out the he wasn't there. Wondering where he had disappeared to, she walked back out into the kitchen. There sitting before was a sight she had yet to see, a plate of freshly cooked eggs was sitting on the table along with a hot cup of coffee.

He spotted her and smiled. "Good morning. I hope you're hungry."

"Good morning," she smiled. "You're up."

"Looks that way."

"Have a seat." He pulled out her chair for her. He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Bacon is almost done. I had some bad timing."

"Ah."

"It's been a while since I cooked breakfast. I almost forgot how to."

"I didn't think you even knew how to."

He walked over and put some bacon on her plate and then his. "I like to keep some things a mystery for a little while."

She chuckled. "You're crazy." She picked up her fork and started to eat. "Mmm. Honey, this is good."

"Thank you." He took a seat next to her and joined her.

"Why did you get up?"

"I don't like sleeping without you. So I thought I'd make you breakfast."

"Well, thank you."

"You're welcome." He also thought it would be good to be together for a little while. They didn't get to spend enough time together anymore. Their vacation had only served to make that more obvious to each of them. It had also showed them that a vacation was only a break from their problems at home. The weekend was coming up soon and Hawkeye couldn't wait. At least Margaret could sleep in with him and even if they didn't do anything all weekend, they would be together.

Margaret took a bite of her bacon and sighed. "I'm so glad today is Friday."

Hawkeye watched her, she really was exhausted. "I know," he touched her hand. "I can't wait to have you all to myself."

Margaret squeezed his hand and gave him a loving smile. "We're going to spend the entire weekend in bed, sleeping."

"I don't have a problem with that," he agreed. "Just as long as I don't have to let you go."

"I'm counting on it."

"I'm serious, anywhere you go, I'm going with you. I'm not going to let you out of my grasp."

Margaret smiled; she loved how much he wanted to be with her. "Even when I go to the bathroom?" She teased.

"It's nothing I haven't seen before."

"That's true."

He smiled at her. What could he do to make the weekend special? He decided that was going to be his mission for the day. He wanted her to enjoy her time off. "What time do you leave?"

She looked at the clock on the wall. "I have ten minutes." She continued eating.

"Okay."

"Are you going to got back to bed?"

"No, I don't think so. I'm sick of being wide awake when you're tired and want to go to bed. Maybe getting on the same schedule will be good for us,"

She smiled. "I think it would." She liked it much better when she went to bed with him instead of him joining her later. "I can't wait until we get to Maine and are really able to have a fresh start."

"Soon."

"Not soon enough."

"We'll be there before you know it. Before long, you'll be the one complaining because you're bored."

"Trust me, I will not complain about being bored," she assured him. Margaret had every intention of staying active and making the most out of their new life.

"Okay, you've got me there. You're a lot better about making the most out of a situation then I am."

Margaret smiled and stood up. "Yes, but I still love you." She leaned down and kissed him.

"I know, you made that evident last night," he grinned. Hawkeye ran a hand over the table.

"You were lucky, that's all. I might not be in such a charitable mood tonight."

"Ah, but it's the weekend. And you did say you wanted to spend the entire time in bed."

"Sleeping," she corrected him.

"Oh, I'm sure we can fit some other activities in there as well."

Margaret smiled, he was incorrigible. "I have to get going sweetheart," she told him.

"What about lunch?" He asked as he stood to his feet.

"I don't know, I'll have to call you."

"Okay." He took her plate from her and placed it in the sink. "I wish you could stay home with me."

"Maybe you could start packing some things. We don't need all of those books and knick knacks out anymore."

He grinned. "I'll think about it."

She gave him a kiss. "Wanna walk me to the door?"

He smiled and put his arm around her shoulders as they walked to the door. He really hated to see her go. He had never been so clingy to someone in his entire life. At this point, she was all he had. She held his life in her hands. He had to trust her with it, and there wasn't another person he would trust. When they made it to the door she let go of him and grabbed her jacket and her purse. "Don't forget to call me."

She smiled. "I will when I get a chance."

He leaned over and gave her a kiss. "Be safe. I love you."

"I love you."

He opened the door for her and she stepped out. He watched her walk down the hall and wave as she turned the corner to the stairwell. When she was out of his sight he went back inside. Now what was he going to do? Clean, yes, but that didn't take all day, and he hated packing so that was out of the question.

Hawkeye decided to start planning out their weekend, that was more fun then feeling sorry for himself. Truth be told, he didn't care what they did, just as long as they did it together. Hawkeye was going to try and make a point to stick by her for the duration, even if that meant staying the entire time in bed. Not that he minded if they did.

He took a shower and shaved and brushed his teeth. After he was dressed he quickly did the breakfast dishes and then grabbed his keys and wallet. He knew how tired and stressed out she'd be when she came home, he wanted to make it more bearable for her. Hawkeye didn't mind shopping, in fact he quite liked it when it wasn't with Margaret. Not that he minded going with her, it was just the standing around for hours on end that bothered him.

He went into town and parked the car in a parking lot and then walked up the street. The first store he saw was a lingerie store and he was tempted to go in, but he passed. He had bought her enough of that on their vacation. Then he walked passed a furniture store and decided against that. They didn't need anymore things to move.

The grocery store was his best bet to make something special for her. A dinner was safe enough. It didn't imply anything about sex. He had a hard time thinking of things like that. After that talk while they had in South Carolina, he was working on being able to do things without making it seemed like he wanted sex. He got the food that he wanted and then left the store. What else could he do? He wanted to get something for her, but what?

He placed the bag of food in the car and then went back to the stores. He had an idea. It couldn't be something big because that would mean packing it up. It couldn't be too small because that was too easy to lose in the moving process. Finding something that he wanted he turned and went back to the car and headed home. When he walked into the house it was the first time he really saw how cluttered and crowded the place was. Maybe he could do some organizing. That way they wouldn't be tripping over themselves all the time.

Hawkeye started out by constructing a suitable pathway from the front door to all points necessary. He knew how much Margaret hated having to juggle everything in her arms and manage an obstacle course at the same time. Countless times she had rammed into the edge of a table or chair and was now slowly losing her patience. Hawkeye moved the boxes that were obstructing the walk way and widened the path. The living room filled in a little more as he did this, but at least they would have more room to walk.

As time went on and space became limited, Hawkeye began stacking the boxes higher. Soon the room was filled to the brink and the only way he could get out was by the path he had constructed as he had gone along. It was almost like a game to him, it reminded him of when he'd build play forts when he was a boy.

He packed a few more things as she had suggested and joined the boxes with the others. When he thought he had opened up enough room, Hawkeye turned his attention to a bit of cleaning. He got out the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed the new walkway and the kitchen. When he was done with that, he washed the bedding and remade the bed before cleaning the bathroom and picking up his dirty laundry. Least to say, Hawkeye was very surprised he'd done all of that, despite his gripes about being made a housewife.

When the clock struck five, Hawkeye started preparing the food. He knew since it was Friday Margaret would be home later than normal. They always tried to get as much work done before the weekend, she wouldn't make it home until well after six thirty.

This isn't the greatest ending, but there's still more to come.  Please review.