A/N: I'm not guaranteeing that my distances between cities is right. I had
to convert from kilometres to miles.
Christmas1957
I turned around in the seat to see Lydia, she was yelling, demanding her bottle.
"Shh Little One, your bottle is coming," We were going to stop in half an hour for lunch and to let the kids stretch. I rummaged around in my bag and came out with a pacifier. Lydia was happy to suck it for five minutes before she let out another yell and all the coaxing in the world couldn't quiet her.
"Anne, can't you please get her to be quiet?" Hawkeye begged. The constant noise of the two girls had been grating on his nerves ever since 8 when we'd left Portland 5 hours before.
"Hawkeye, settle down, we're almost there." I said, trying to soothe my youngest daughter. But even Lydia's crying and April's constant chatter was beginning to get to me too.
Daniel and Mrs O got out of the car, looking shell-shocked. The twins having tired of reading peacefully after two hours, had asked 'are we there yet?' repeatedly for the next three hours. Hawkeye dashed into the diner for a coffee, and I let April out of the car. She, Jess and the twins headed straight for the playground. Lydia began sucking on her bottle hungrily.
"Here we are, four coffees, all strong black." Now all of us liked our coffees white and with varying degrees of sweetness, but we were so desperate for a pick me up.
"I am so tired." I muttered, in the last three minutes of travel, Lydia's crying had upped several decibels to a truly deafening volume and my head was ringing.
"Well if you hadn't been up until 2am at it like rabbits, you might have had more sleep."
"Dad! It couldn't have been 2am, only . . . 1.30!" I protested. Hawkeye and I had agreed we weren't going to do anything more than cuddle at the Potters, so we had spent several hours the previous night rather vigorously making up for the weeks we'd miss.
"Definitely 2am, and what do you do to him? It sounds like you half-kill him." Daniel said. "I could hear him very clearly and the conclusion I've drawn is you know something pretty good."
"Well," I pretended to fake modesty. "It's just a very simple case of. . ." Hawkeye put a hand over my mouth.
"Little pitchers have big ears." He said, motioning to Lydia who had fallen asleep quite happily and the other kids were racing around in the playground. I'd stop them soon for lunch but the more energy they burnt the better.
"Hawkeye, you just don't want Dad to know that you're ticklish behind your knees." I laughed as Hawkeye tried to deny the fact to his laughing father, who knew anyway.
"Well I'm sure you don't want him to know that kissing your belly button makes you. . ."
"Hawkeye!" I didn't even get to cut him off. Daniel jumped on top of me. "There are just some things I don't need to know, and Annie's erogenous zones are one of them!" Hawkeye shut up then.
We had lunch after that and we soothed all the kids off to sleep and continued the very long drive. They slept for three hours, which was great, and even better they were happy with a snack in the backseat until 7 and by then we were stopping as I needed a latrine visit, and everyone was starting to think about food.
"I'll drive, you sleep." I ordered. Hawkeye didn't argue, he was beat. Since leaving 12 hours ago, we'd covered about 200 miles, to Utica with two noisy girls in the back. I started the engine while Hawkeye promptly fell asleep.
My eyes were raw, and I was tired as the sun rose behind us. It was 10am and I'd driven for fourteen hours non-stop except for a coffee break. I'd covered nearly 250 miles and we were just near Pittsburgh. Our planned route with other stops mid-way was Portland, Utica, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Indianapolis, Decatur, and finally Hannibal.
My first response when we stopped was a dash to the toilet and then to fall asleep in the backseat of Daniel and Mrs O's car while they got the kids' breakfast. When I woke up some hours later, it was twilight, I'd slept through the whole day and we were stopping in Columbus for supper. We'd made good time and had covered another 250 miles, and had almost 400 to go.
To accommodate me they'd moved Felicity and Ben into the car with Hawkeye, putting Lyss in the back with the other girls and Ben in his booster seat in the front. Jess had gone in the front seat in the front of Dad's car between him and Mrs O who was asleep after driving all night as well.
"Did you know April will only be quiet if you say please, and Jess cries if you raise your voice, and Felicity can eat a whole packet of saltines in under ten minutes and that Ben learnt a new phrase?" Hawkeye, looking very stunned asked. He'd spent the better part of the day in company of most of his children and 7 or 8 hours in such a small space was tough, no matter how much you loved them.
"Yes, April has impeccable manners, Jess is sensitive to noise and Felicity is a big eater if you don't watch her. What did Ben learn?" I asked, while the kids enjoyed their scrambled eggs from a short-order diner.
"I love you." My heart melted as Hawkeye continued. "Which he repeated at the top of his lungs every minute for most of the day." I laughed at that.
"Well, I got the easy shift, they slept most of last night."
"Don't count on it, Lyddie slept from 2 until just now." Hawkeye warned with a smile. I ducked into the washroom after that and freshened up. A little while later we were back on the road, Hawkeye, Jess and Daniel asleep while Mrs O drove one car, and all the kids asleep while I drove the other.
I drove from 8 till 4, into Indianapolis, but Mrs O and I were both too tired to keep driving so we pulled over and had a sleep ourselves. It was our third day of driving but with everyone beat it looked like we'd be driving for four.
We woke serval hours later, with the kids' demands for breakfast. We got breakfast and made it to Decatur in time for lunch. After that we decided to take a brief detour south to Bloomington. There was a pretty special lady there, whom Hawkeye and I wanted to meet very much.
After asking for directions a few dozen times, we managed to find the right house. It saddened me to se a young boy, maybe five playing in the front yard, making snowmen.
"Andy?" I called, he looked up, his little face alight with the joy of his private game in the snow.
"That's me ma'am Andrew Blake."
"Well hi Andrew, is your Mummy around?" He nodded, light brown hair shining in the sun.
"Sure, I'll go get her." He was off at once, running into the house and calling.
"Yes, may I help you?"
"Lorraine Blake?" She nodded, wrapping her arms around herself.
"That's me, listen you must be freezing, come on in, and bring your kids and whoever else is with you." We made our way into the house, April falling for Lorraine in the process.
"I'm Annabelle Pierce, this is my husband Benjamin, my father-in-law Daniel and his wife Edna. These are my kids Ben, Felicity, April, Jessica and Lydia. I knew your husband when he was in Korea he was the CO of my unit, he may have written you of me. I was Annabelle Dawson back then though." I explained.
"Annabelle." Lorraine said thoughtfully. "Dawson, you were Belle, his girl Belle!"
"Yeah, that was me, he had that weird pet name." I hoped Lorraine wasn't going to get upset by that.
"Never mind, you were like a daughter to him he wrote about you all the time, and you must be Hawkeye."
"The one and only!"
"Thank goodness for that!" I laughed. "Anyhow Lorraine, we were passing through, we're on our way to visit some friends in Missouri and we thought we'd drop by, we really wanted to meet you. Henry was very important to us." I explained.
"I understand, you look like you haven't had a proper meal or shower in days, make yourselves at home." I gave the obligatory mild protest, but gave in, we wee staying for dinner and a hot shower, and then we'd drive on, arriving in Hannibal early next morning.
"Thanks so much Lorraine." We'd had a great evening, remembering the man who'd been so important to us. His children were beautiful too, and I was very sad to see how much Andy looked like his Dad.
"Take car!" We drove off, we'd gone back to the original seating plan, and the kids, with full bellies and well relaxed from a long hot bath slept.
I turned down the long drive driveway, the sun was just rising, and we were finally in Hannibal. As we drove up to the house, I started tooting the horn loudly, and Mildred appeared on the front steps in her robe.
"Come on in! It's so good to see you all again!" Mildred practically dragged us into the house, however we were too tired to even have a drink and we all fell into our respective beds, and didn't stir until lunchtime, 5 hours later.
"Papa!" I shrieked, throwing myself at him. He hugged me tightly, even lifting me off the ground as he did so.
"Well, isn't it just the high point of my day to see how well you're doing!" He kissed my cheek as he set me down.
"Lunch is ready!" Mildred called, and we sat down to a delicious meal.
"Oh Radar, they're just beautiful!" Hawkeye said as the tiny dark-haired baby was placed in his arms.
"Oh my goodness, you are just perfect! Congratulations Monica, Radar, both of you!" I had the other baby.
"Well now, Lydia's pretty sweet." Monica said, bouncing my infant daughter on her knees.
"She is isn't she?" I agreed..
"But she don't look much like you." Radar observed, and we filled them in on the story of Adam and Lydia. After lunch we were taken on a tour of the farm, and before long, we found we were settling in as though we'd been there all our lives.
I woke with a groan as Colonel Potter shook me gently. Beside me Hawkeye shifted a little and kept on sleeping.
"Papa, what? In your words, it's gotta be 0200 in the blessed am!"
"No Annie, 5am, I'm going riding today, don't expect to be back until suppertime, do you want to come?" I yawned. A whole day in the saddle. . . or another few hours in bed? I sat up agreeing tiredly to come.
"Well be dressed and in the kitchen soon, Mildred's cooking us one mighty big breakfast."
"Shut up before I'm forced to remove your eyeballs through your nostrils." Hawkeye complained. Colonel Potter left hurriedly while I made my way to the bathroom.
A short while later, Mildred saw us off with as much food as we could carry. Colonel Potter on his mare Belle, and myself on a grey mare named Dolly. He took me around the fields first, checking on the few horses and other livestock and letting me get used to Dolly's gait.
""Come and have a look at this." Colonel Potter called. I put my heels into Dolly and she broke into a trot. I gave a gasp, we were on a small hill, and in the valley below the sun was beginning to rise over the frosty fields, causing the ice to sparkle. We sat for a while soaking it in, until the horses got restless and we kept going.
"Anne, can I tell you something in confidence?" He asked after lunch, we were just beginning to head back.
"Sure Papa, anything." I brought Dolly forward so the two horses rode abreast.
"Well, I'm not so young as I used to be. It's not so easy to get into the saddle on cold mornings anymore, hurts like when the laundry ladies used too much blessed starch. My knuckles are stiff, and my breathing ain't what it used to be, I cough so easily now. Anne, I think I'm getting old."
"Papa, don't think that way, you're only as old as you feel." I said gently.
"That's easy for a little bitty girl of 31 like you to say. But I'm not 31 anymore, come April, I'll be 65, I'll have been a surgeon for 45 years, and a part of the army for 55. That ain't so young now is it?"
"No, it isn't Papa."
"Talk like the locals, I love to hear your beautiful manners and grammar, but it would do an old man good to hear the way his kids talk again, the kids who couldn't even come to see him on what may be his last Christmas." Now he was getting melancholy and I let go of Dolly's reins so I wouldn't pull unreasonably hard in my almost-fury.
"Papa! Don't you dare think that way! This ain't gonna be your last Christmas, sure maybe you ain't so young as you used to be, but that don't mean nothing Papa! The only thing that's making you feel so darn old right now is your mind Papa, don't let that get the better of you. I can see it Papa, at heart you're still a young man just don't you dare think that you're gonna curl up your toes and die on us!" I lapsed into a mid-west accent, and was surprised how easy I found it.
He was silent for a good half hour after that, musing on what I'd just said, and occasionally he'd mutter a few words under his breath, and start to say something before cutting himself off and falling silent. Once or twice I'd hear a choked sob, and glance back quickly, but he'd look away, not meeting my gaze.
"Annie?" He said at last. I turned my head, he'd stopped Belle, and was dismounting. I followed suit with Dolly.
"Yes Papa?" I said, once I was on the ground. He took a deep breath.
"I knew you had fire in you, and I'm glad for it, you told me exactly what I needed to hear. Thankyou." I replied in my normal voice.
"Papa, you're like a father to me, you needed to be told, so I told you. I love you Papa, and I'm not going to just let you lay down and die, I'm not going to let you give up!" He surprised me then my giving me the biggest, tightest hug he'd ever given me.
"You're like a daughter to me, the concern I developed for you, the first time I saw you was definitely paternal. It was great to watch you grow, and now I'm glad I had you and Margaret as my daughters. You were the little touch of home, the way she babied me, and the way you were you. You kept me going there, and you're keeping me going here. I'm not giving up, so what if arthritis is giving the old knuckles a bit of grief? So what if I can't get into the saddle as easily, I'm lucky I can still get in the saddle!"
"Exactly Papa! It's so good to hear you talking this way!" I laughed.
"Come on, we've got us a few more miles to cover before we get home." He and I remounted, letting the horses find their own slow way back. Once we were in the field closest to the house, we kicked them up, enjoying the brief wild ride through the snow and racing each other home.
"Have a good day?" Hawkeye queried with a smile as I dismounted, I wrapped my arms around him and kissed my reply. "That's a yes! I should make you have more fun days like whatever happened out there if it puts you in this good a mood! What say we take this elsewhere?" He started to press kisses on my neck and face.
"Hawkeye! Potters!" I hissed in his ear. He cooled down at once. If I was Colonel Potter's daughter, then Hawkeye was his son, and like most parents, Colonel Potter didn't want to know about his "children's" sex lives.
"Come on in, we've had a big day, the kids helped make cookies!" Mildred smiled. "And did you know Felicity can eat 3 ounces of cookie dough?" I laughed. When our eldest daughter got bored, she ate; packs of saltines were her favourite. However she seemed to be like me, I ate whatever I wanted and rarely put on an ounce for it.
"Do we have one sick daughter?" I smiled as I entered the kitchen.
"No, she threw up behind the barn when I took her for a walk, but she's been fine ever since." Monica said. I laughed at that. We sat down to a big meal, with heaps of cookies.
"Mummy, Daddy, wake up, see what Nanna and Grandpa give me!" Felicity ran into our room at about 6am, on Christmas morning. All our kids called Mildred and the Colonel Nanna and Grandpa.
"What Princess, let me see, oh, isn't that pretty!" I sat up, she was displaying a light pink sundress. "Did you say thankyou?"
"Course! Mummy, come see what Ben got, Daddy wake up!" Hawkeye and I dragged ourselves out of bed and joined the present giving. The kids were suitably spoiled with the adults receiving simpler, meaningful gifts.
"You were very lucky today Angel-face, did you say thankyou to Nanna and Grandpa?" Hawkeye asked sitting the 30mo on his lap.
"T-th-thankyou!" April squeaked.
"Anytime Angel-eyes! I still can't believe how much of a Winchester she is." Colonel Potter said.
"I know, she's nothing like me!" I agreed. April was a beautiful girl, had perfect manners, sweet, pretty, demure, maternal, and seemed very well suited to the Winchester heritage that she was destined to.
"What about Felicity hmm?" Hawkeye asked, I glanced at my daughter. In a thoughtful and deliberate imitation of me, she was rubbing the top of her cup with her chubby fingers, exactly the same way I caressed my coffee cup.
"He's right Annie-ma'am, Felicity sure is the exact duplicate of you." Radar said.
"And what about Eddie?" Radar's elder daughter was very shy, but very sweet, and was able to tell that Monica or Marcia were going to start crying before they did.
"Walter, Edwina sure reminds me of you!" Mrs O put in, bouncing the girl in question.
"Who does Jess take after?" Mildred asked, as my daughter fawned over Daniel.
"All of Anne's best features, combined with my Mum's best features, she looks just like I remember her." Hawkeye said. "She loves music like Mum did and Annie does, what was it you said Annie, it was music or nursing and you couldn't afford music?"
"More specifically I couldn't afford Julliard." I laughed, rocking a sleepy Lydia. "And this Little One, well, she's not really like anyone, there's nothing about her that resembles Lily."
"Don't think I'm just saying this cause she's dark or nothing, but she sure looks like those real sweet kids that were all around in Korea." Radar told us.
"Tom was Korean, his family fled the country back in 1950. He and Lily hooked up almost immediately, dunno how or why." I shrugged. "So you're right. She's Amerasian."
"I still remember how mad you were when that baby was left on the Swamp's doorstep. We got to see everyone else's parental side, but the only thing we saw with you was your killer side. The first thing you wanted to do was get your hands on her mother, then on the people that wouldn't accept her half Yankee blood, you were insane!"
"What did you do sir? I don't remember this." Radar asked.
"It was after you went back home son. But once we'd subdued her enough to stop screaming I put her in a jeep and sent her to work at the orphanage for a week. Let her get in touch with reality, and there's nothing like good solid work to settle her." He reached across the table and squeezed my hand briefly.
We spent the rest of the night comparing our children's similarities to their parents and other family members, and when they went to sleep, we stayed up and toasted everything we could think of, each other, our kids, our friendship, the fact we were in America again, our absent friends, everything. Not surprisingly, we also wound up a good bit tipsy.
"Here's to sobriety!" Hawkeye held up his glass and hiccuped.
"To sobriety? That's the funniest toast I ever heard!" I trailed of in a little giggle.
"To sobriety and may the lord have mercy on our souls!" Colonel Potter added. We had another toast, laughed and sang some more, until it got quite late in the night, or early in the morning, and we decided it was about time to go to sleep.
"Well this is one of the nicest Christmases I've had in a long time!" Mildred said.
"Right back at you!" I smiled.
"One last drink, and here's something very special to do it with." Colonel Potter produced 12-year-old scotch. He poured us all a drink and handed them out.
"Merry Christmas to some of the most important people I'll ever know." He said. We smiled at each other, feeling safe, warm, loved, and damn lucky for what we had.
"Merry Christmas!" We echoed touching our glasses together.
Christmas1957
I turned around in the seat to see Lydia, she was yelling, demanding her bottle.
"Shh Little One, your bottle is coming," We were going to stop in half an hour for lunch and to let the kids stretch. I rummaged around in my bag and came out with a pacifier. Lydia was happy to suck it for five minutes before she let out another yell and all the coaxing in the world couldn't quiet her.
"Anne, can't you please get her to be quiet?" Hawkeye begged. The constant noise of the two girls had been grating on his nerves ever since 8 when we'd left Portland 5 hours before.
"Hawkeye, settle down, we're almost there." I said, trying to soothe my youngest daughter. But even Lydia's crying and April's constant chatter was beginning to get to me too.
Daniel and Mrs O got out of the car, looking shell-shocked. The twins having tired of reading peacefully after two hours, had asked 'are we there yet?' repeatedly for the next three hours. Hawkeye dashed into the diner for a coffee, and I let April out of the car. She, Jess and the twins headed straight for the playground. Lydia began sucking on her bottle hungrily.
"Here we are, four coffees, all strong black." Now all of us liked our coffees white and with varying degrees of sweetness, but we were so desperate for a pick me up.
"I am so tired." I muttered, in the last three minutes of travel, Lydia's crying had upped several decibels to a truly deafening volume and my head was ringing.
"Well if you hadn't been up until 2am at it like rabbits, you might have had more sleep."
"Dad! It couldn't have been 2am, only . . . 1.30!" I protested. Hawkeye and I had agreed we weren't going to do anything more than cuddle at the Potters, so we had spent several hours the previous night rather vigorously making up for the weeks we'd miss.
"Definitely 2am, and what do you do to him? It sounds like you half-kill him." Daniel said. "I could hear him very clearly and the conclusion I've drawn is you know something pretty good."
"Well," I pretended to fake modesty. "It's just a very simple case of. . ." Hawkeye put a hand over my mouth.
"Little pitchers have big ears." He said, motioning to Lydia who had fallen asleep quite happily and the other kids were racing around in the playground. I'd stop them soon for lunch but the more energy they burnt the better.
"Hawkeye, you just don't want Dad to know that you're ticklish behind your knees." I laughed as Hawkeye tried to deny the fact to his laughing father, who knew anyway.
"Well I'm sure you don't want him to know that kissing your belly button makes you. . ."
"Hawkeye!" I didn't even get to cut him off. Daniel jumped on top of me. "There are just some things I don't need to know, and Annie's erogenous zones are one of them!" Hawkeye shut up then.
We had lunch after that and we soothed all the kids off to sleep and continued the very long drive. They slept for three hours, which was great, and even better they were happy with a snack in the backseat until 7 and by then we were stopping as I needed a latrine visit, and everyone was starting to think about food.
"I'll drive, you sleep." I ordered. Hawkeye didn't argue, he was beat. Since leaving 12 hours ago, we'd covered about 200 miles, to Utica with two noisy girls in the back. I started the engine while Hawkeye promptly fell asleep.
My eyes were raw, and I was tired as the sun rose behind us. It was 10am and I'd driven for fourteen hours non-stop except for a coffee break. I'd covered nearly 250 miles and we were just near Pittsburgh. Our planned route with other stops mid-way was Portland, Utica, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Indianapolis, Decatur, and finally Hannibal.
My first response when we stopped was a dash to the toilet and then to fall asleep in the backseat of Daniel and Mrs O's car while they got the kids' breakfast. When I woke up some hours later, it was twilight, I'd slept through the whole day and we were stopping in Columbus for supper. We'd made good time and had covered another 250 miles, and had almost 400 to go.
To accommodate me they'd moved Felicity and Ben into the car with Hawkeye, putting Lyss in the back with the other girls and Ben in his booster seat in the front. Jess had gone in the front seat in the front of Dad's car between him and Mrs O who was asleep after driving all night as well.
"Did you know April will only be quiet if you say please, and Jess cries if you raise your voice, and Felicity can eat a whole packet of saltines in under ten minutes and that Ben learnt a new phrase?" Hawkeye, looking very stunned asked. He'd spent the better part of the day in company of most of his children and 7 or 8 hours in such a small space was tough, no matter how much you loved them.
"Yes, April has impeccable manners, Jess is sensitive to noise and Felicity is a big eater if you don't watch her. What did Ben learn?" I asked, while the kids enjoyed their scrambled eggs from a short-order diner.
"I love you." My heart melted as Hawkeye continued. "Which he repeated at the top of his lungs every minute for most of the day." I laughed at that.
"Well, I got the easy shift, they slept most of last night."
"Don't count on it, Lyddie slept from 2 until just now." Hawkeye warned with a smile. I ducked into the washroom after that and freshened up. A little while later we were back on the road, Hawkeye, Jess and Daniel asleep while Mrs O drove one car, and all the kids asleep while I drove the other.
I drove from 8 till 4, into Indianapolis, but Mrs O and I were both too tired to keep driving so we pulled over and had a sleep ourselves. It was our third day of driving but with everyone beat it looked like we'd be driving for four.
We woke serval hours later, with the kids' demands for breakfast. We got breakfast and made it to Decatur in time for lunch. After that we decided to take a brief detour south to Bloomington. There was a pretty special lady there, whom Hawkeye and I wanted to meet very much.
After asking for directions a few dozen times, we managed to find the right house. It saddened me to se a young boy, maybe five playing in the front yard, making snowmen.
"Andy?" I called, he looked up, his little face alight with the joy of his private game in the snow.
"That's me ma'am Andrew Blake."
"Well hi Andrew, is your Mummy around?" He nodded, light brown hair shining in the sun.
"Sure, I'll go get her." He was off at once, running into the house and calling.
"Yes, may I help you?"
"Lorraine Blake?" She nodded, wrapping her arms around herself.
"That's me, listen you must be freezing, come on in, and bring your kids and whoever else is with you." We made our way into the house, April falling for Lorraine in the process.
"I'm Annabelle Pierce, this is my husband Benjamin, my father-in-law Daniel and his wife Edna. These are my kids Ben, Felicity, April, Jessica and Lydia. I knew your husband when he was in Korea he was the CO of my unit, he may have written you of me. I was Annabelle Dawson back then though." I explained.
"Annabelle." Lorraine said thoughtfully. "Dawson, you were Belle, his girl Belle!"
"Yeah, that was me, he had that weird pet name." I hoped Lorraine wasn't going to get upset by that.
"Never mind, you were like a daughter to him he wrote about you all the time, and you must be Hawkeye."
"The one and only!"
"Thank goodness for that!" I laughed. "Anyhow Lorraine, we were passing through, we're on our way to visit some friends in Missouri and we thought we'd drop by, we really wanted to meet you. Henry was very important to us." I explained.
"I understand, you look like you haven't had a proper meal or shower in days, make yourselves at home." I gave the obligatory mild protest, but gave in, we wee staying for dinner and a hot shower, and then we'd drive on, arriving in Hannibal early next morning.
"Thanks so much Lorraine." We'd had a great evening, remembering the man who'd been so important to us. His children were beautiful too, and I was very sad to see how much Andy looked like his Dad.
"Take car!" We drove off, we'd gone back to the original seating plan, and the kids, with full bellies and well relaxed from a long hot bath slept.
I turned down the long drive driveway, the sun was just rising, and we were finally in Hannibal. As we drove up to the house, I started tooting the horn loudly, and Mildred appeared on the front steps in her robe.
"Come on in! It's so good to see you all again!" Mildred practically dragged us into the house, however we were too tired to even have a drink and we all fell into our respective beds, and didn't stir until lunchtime, 5 hours later.
"Papa!" I shrieked, throwing myself at him. He hugged me tightly, even lifting me off the ground as he did so.
"Well, isn't it just the high point of my day to see how well you're doing!" He kissed my cheek as he set me down.
"Lunch is ready!" Mildred called, and we sat down to a delicious meal.
"Oh Radar, they're just beautiful!" Hawkeye said as the tiny dark-haired baby was placed in his arms.
"Oh my goodness, you are just perfect! Congratulations Monica, Radar, both of you!" I had the other baby.
"Well now, Lydia's pretty sweet." Monica said, bouncing my infant daughter on her knees.
"She is isn't she?" I agreed..
"But she don't look much like you." Radar observed, and we filled them in on the story of Adam and Lydia. After lunch we were taken on a tour of the farm, and before long, we found we were settling in as though we'd been there all our lives.
I woke with a groan as Colonel Potter shook me gently. Beside me Hawkeye shifted a little and kept on sleeping.
"Papa, what? In your words, it's gotta be 0200 in the blessed am!"
"No Annie, 5am, I'm going riding today, don't expect to be back until suppertime, do you want to come?" I yawned. A whole day in the saddle. . . or another few hours in bed? I sat up agreeing tiredly to come.
"Well be dressed and in the kitchen soon, Mildred's cooking us one mighty big breakfast."
"Shut up before I'm forced to remove your eyeballs through your nostrils." Hawkeye complained. Colonel Potter left hurriedly while I made my way to the bathroom.
A short while later, Mildred saw us off with as much food as we could carry. Colonel Potter on his mare Belle, and myself on a grey mare named Dolly. He took me around the fields first, checking on the few horses and other livestock and letting me get used to Dolly's gait.
""Come and have a look at this." Colonel Potter called. I put my heels into Dolly and she broke into a trot. I gave a gasp, we were on a small hill, and in the valley below the sun was beginning to rise over the frosty fields, causing the ice to sparkle. We sat for a while soaking it in, until the horses got restless and we kept going.
"Anne, can I tell you something in confidence?" He asked after lunch, we were just beginning to head back.
"Sure Papa, anything." I brought Dolly forward so the two horses rode abreast.
"Well, I'm not so young as I used to be. It's not so easy to get into the saddle on cold mornings anymore, hurts like when the laundry ladies used too much blessed starch. My knuckles are stiff, and my breathing ain't what it used to be, I cough so easily now. Anne, I think I'm getting old."
"Papa, don't think that way, you're only as old as you feel." I said gently.
"That's easy for a little bitty girl of 31 like you to say. But I'm not 31 anymore, come April, I'll be 65, I'll have been a surgeon for 45 years, and a part of the army for 55. That ain't so young now is it?"
"No, it isn't Papa."
"Talk like the locals, I love to hear your beautiful manners and grammar, but it would do an old man good to hear the way his kids talk again, the kids who couldn't even come to see him on what may be his last Christmas." Now he was getting melancholy and I let go of Dolly's reins so I wouldn't pull unreasonably hard in my almost-fury.
"Papa! Don't you dare think that way! This ain't gonna be your last Christmas, sure maybe you ain't so young as you used to be, but that don't mean nothing Papa! The only thing that's making you feel so darn old right now is your mind Papa, don't let that get the better of you. I can see it Papa, at heart you're still a young man just don't you dare think that you're gonna curl up your toes and die on us!" I lapsed into a mid-west accent, and was surprised how easy I found it.
He was silent for a good half hour after that, musing on what I'd just said, and occasionally he'd mutter a few words under his breath, and start to say something before cutting himself off and falling silent. Once or twice I'd hear a choked sob, and glance back quickly, but he'd look away, not meeting my gaze.
"Annie?" He said at last. I turned my head, he'd stopped Belle, and was dismounting. I followed suit with Dolly.
"Yes Papa?" I said, once I was on the ground. He took a deep breath.
"I knew you had fire in you, and I'm glad for it, you told me exactly what I needed to hear. Thankyou." I replied in my normal voice.
"Papa, you're like a father to me, you needed to be told, so I told you. I love you Papa, and I'm not going to just let you lay down and die, I'm not going to let you give up!" He surprised me then my giving me the biggest, tightest hug he'd ever given me.
"You're like a daughter to me, the concern I developed for you, the first time I saw you was definitely paternal. It was great to watch you grow, and now I'm glad I had you and Margaret as my daughters. You were the little touch of home, the way she babied me, and the way you were you. You kept me going there, and you're keeping me going here. I'm not giving up, so what if arthritis is giving the old knuckles a bit of grief? So what if I can't get into the saddle as easily, I'm lucky I can still get in the saddle!"
"Exactly Papa! It's so good to hear you talking this way!" I laughed.
"Come on, we've got us a few more miles to cover before we get home." He and I remounted, letting the horses find their own slow way back. Once we were in the field closest to the house, we kicked them up, enjoying the brief wild ride through the snow and racing each other home.
"Have a good day?" Hawkeye queried with a smile as I dismounted, I wrapped my arms around him and kissed my reply. "That's a yes! I should make you have more fun days like whatever happened out there if it puts you in this good a mood! What say we take this elsewhere?" He started to press kisses on my neck and face.
"Hawkeye! Potters!" I hissed in his ear. He cooled down at once. If I was Colonel Potter's daughter, then Hawkeye was his son, and like most parents, Colonel Potter didn't want to know about his "children's" sex lives.
"Come on in, we've had a big day, the kids helped make cookies!" Mildred smiled. "And did you know Felicity can eat 3 ounces of cookie dough?" I laughed. When our eldest daughter got bored, she ate; packs of saltines were her favourite. However she seemed to be like me, I ate whatever I wanted and rarely put on an ounce for it.
"Do we have one sick daughter?" I smiled as I entered the kitchen.
"No, she threw up behind the barn when I took her for a walk, but she's been fine ever since." Monica said. I laughed at that. We sat down to a big meal, with heaps of cookies.
"Mummy, Daddy, wake up, see what Nanna and Grandpa give me!" Felicity ran into our room at about 6am, on Christmas morning. All our kids called Mildred and the Colonel Nanna and Grandpa.
"What Princess, let me see, oh, isn't that pretty!" I sat up, she was displaying a light pink sundress. "Did you say thankyou?"
"Course! Mummy, come see what Ben got, Daddy wake up!" Hawkeye and I dragged ourselves out of bed and joined the present giving. The kids were suitably spoiled with the adults receiving simpler, meaningful gifts.
"You were very lucky today Angel-face, did you say thankyou to Nanna and Grandpa?" Hawkeye asked sitting the 30mo on his lap.
"T-th-thankyou!" April squeaked.
"Anytime Angel-eyes! I still can't believe how much of a Winchester she is." Colonel Potter said.
"I know, she's nothing like me!" I agreed. April was a beautiful girl, had perfect manners, sweet, pretty, demure, maternal, and seemed very well suited to the Winchester heritage that she was destined to.
"What about Felicity hmm?" Hawkeye asked, I glanced at my daughter. In a thoughtful and deliberate imitation of me, she was rubbing the top of her cup with her chubby fingers, exactly the same way I caressed my coffee cup.
"He's right Annie-ma'am, Felicity sure is the exact duplicate of you." Radar said.
"And what about Eddie?" Radar's elder daughter was very shy, but very sweet, and was able to tell that Monica or Marcia were going to start crying before they did.
"Walter, Edwina sure reminds me of you!" Mrs O put in, bouncing the girl in question.
"Who does Jess take after?" Mildred asked, as my daughter fawned over Daniel.
"All of Anne's best features, combined with my Mum's best features, she looks just like I remember her." Hawkeye said. "She loves music like Mum did and Annie does, what was it you said Annie, it was music or nursing and you couldn't afford music?"
"More specifically I couldn't afford Julliard." I laughed, rocking a sleepy Lydia. "And this Little One, well, she's not really like anyone, there's nothing about her that resembles Lily."
"Don't think I'm just saying this cause she's dark or nothing, but she sure looks like those real sweet kids that were all around in Korea." Radar told us.
"Tom was Korean, his family fled the country back in 1950. He and Lily hooked up almost immediately, dunno how or why." I shrugged. "So you're right. She's Amerasian."
"I still remember how mad you were when that baby was left on the Swamp's doorstep. We got to see everyone else's parental side, but the only thing we saw with you was your killer side. The first thing you wanted to do was get your hands on her mother, then on the people that wouldn't accept her half Yankee blood, you were insane!"
"What did you do sir? I don't remember this." Radar asked.
"It was after you went back home son. But once we'd subdued her enough to stop screaming I put her in a jeep and sent her to work at the orphanage for a week. Let her get in touch with reality, and there's nothing like good solid work to settle her." He reached across the table and squeezed my hand briefly.
We spent the rest of the night comparing our children's similarities to their parents and other family members, and when they went to sleep, we stayed up and toasted everything we could think of, each other, our kids, our friendship, the fact we were in America again, our absent friends, everything. Not surprisingly, we also wound up a good bit tipsy.
"Here's to sobriety!" Hawkeye held up his glass and hiccuped.
"To sobriety? That's the funniest toast I ever heard!" I trailed of in a little giggle.
"To sobriety and may the lord have mercy on our souls!" Colonel Potter added. We had another toast, laughed and sang some more, until it got quite late in the night, or early in the morning, and we decided it was about time to go to sleep.
"Well this is one of the nicest Christmases I've had in a long time!" Mildred said.
"Right back at you!" I smiled.
"One last drink, and here's something very special to do it with." Colonel Potter produced 12-year-old scotch. He poured us all a drink and handed them out.
"Merry Christmas to some of the most important people I'll ever know." He said. We smiled at each other, feeling safe, warm, loved, and damn lucky for what we had.
"Merry Christmas!" We echoed touching our glasses together.