After about ten minutes of silence, Hawkeye finally spoke again. "I've never felt that angry before. Even as a kid, I can't ever remember being that angry at anyone or anything. The anger just, took over. I even scared myself. Wow, I better lay down."
Hawkeye walked over to his bed and laid back. Radar and B.J. sat and watched Hawkeye for about a minute until they finally got up. They walked over to where Frank was laying. He was covered in dirt and had a little blood dripping down the side of his mouth. Radar bent over and wiped the blood off with a handkerchief he had in his pocket. B.J. looked down at him and then over at Radar. "I think that we should put him back in his bed. Maybe we can make him think that everything was just a dream." B.J. said, though hesitant that his plan would actually work.
"It's worth a shot." Radar said back to him, he to a little hesitant.
They bent down and grabbed his arms and legs and put him back in his bed. They took off his jacket and boots and put them back where they had been before Frank had put them on. Then, after finishing everything, Radar walked over to the door and opened it. "Well, this has been a very interesting morning. But, if you guys will excuse me, I am going back to bed for now. I'll see you guys in the morning."
Radar walked out the door, and then stopped and came back in. "What if Frank remembers what happened? Don't you think that he'll tell someone?"
"Not to worry. No one is ever going to believe him, and all we have to do is convince him he had a bad dream and accidentally hit himself in the face." B.J. replied.
"Oh, alright. Ok, goodnight again."
Hawkeye rolled over and loudly said, "Goodnight, Radar dearest!" with a smirk on his face.
B.J. too said goodnight as Radar left the Swamp. Then B.J. spoke up, "I think that I'm going with Radar's idea. I'm going back to bed. I'll see you in the morning. I'm still in utter shock about what you did earlier. I mean that was incredible. But, whatever. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Beej. See you in the morning." Hawkeye replied wearily.
Hawkeye laid in his bed for about five minutes until he finally went back to bed. Even in his sleep, all he could think about was how happy he was that Trapper was indeed coming back to see him. When Hawkeye finally woke up, it was late morning. He could tell by how much sun was coming into the Swamp. He turned over and looked at his watch on his desk next to the bed. It read eleven forty-eight. Then Hawkeye sat up and looked around the Swamp. B.J. and Frank were both gone and he could hear all the personnel were kicking back and having fun.
He forced himself out of bed and put on a shirt, his army pants, and his shoes and walked out of the Swamp. He stood out side the door and took a deep breath of air and smiled. He loved the fresh air in the mornings, it reminded him of his home back in the United States. Hawkeye stretched out his arms and then started walking again. He started walking towards the Mess tent to see if B.J. was there. He started walking through the compound and saw all the personnel were having some good deserved R&R. He saw them playing football, others playing basketball, a couple playing a game of baseball, and a select few who were out hitting golf balls into the mine field behind the 4077th.
Hawkeye and B.J. had created that game. Oh how much they loved it. Every chance they got they were out there hitting away. They even got Henry to go and play with them once. Oh, how Hawkeye missed Henry, too. It too, had been two years since he had seen him, and it would be much longer as long as Hawkeye lived to a ripe old age. Henry had gotten to go home but his helicopter got shot down by the North Koreans. He never even got to say goodbye to his wife or kids. When Hawkeye thought about it, there was a sinking feeling in his stomach. Hawkeye quickly got off that subject and then remembered what he was doing.
As he finally reached the Mess tent, he heard a voice calling him from behind. "Hawk! Hey, Hawk!" the voice yelled from behind.
Hawkeye turned around and there was B.J. Hawkeye ran over to where B.J. was standing and stopped to a dead halt when he got there. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you." Hawkeye said.
"Oh sorry, I was over playing basketball with a couple of the guys." B.J. replied.
He was sweating profusely so you could see that he had really put up an effort. "So, Hawk, I had an idea about what we could do for Trapper when he arrives." B.J. said.
"Alright, I'm all ears." Hawkeye said.
"I say that we throw him a huge 'Welcome Back to the 4077th!' party. It would be great. We could have cake and games and just hang out for a while."
"That's a great idea, Beej! Only one thing, we have to clear it with Colonel Potter, and I'm sure he already heard about last night so he most likely won't clear it."
"Don't worry about that. Sherman already heard everything from Frank and he thought Frank was nuts and sent him a way for a week to go talk to a therapist. But he knew that Frank was telling the truth, but he is happy that you did it. He said it's about time that someone did it to him and was laughing when he heard it."
"Well that just helped us. You know what, yeah lets go ask Sherman if we can have this party. I actually think he may enjoy himself. Let's go!" Hawkeye yelled as loud as he could.
Hawkeye and B.J. turned and started walking towards Sherman Potter's office. Then Hawkeye realized something, "What if Hot Lips believes Frank and tries to stop us?"
"It won't happen." Trapper replied. "She is on our side this time because she wants to actually see Trapper, so we don't have to worry about her getting in the way."
"Alright, so were all good then." Hawkeye said.
They had been walking for about five minutes and were in front of his office when they were stopped by a familiar face. Maxwell Klinger stepped in front of them and saluted. He was wearing a bright yellow dress, a flower hat, a pair of black high heels, and had a purse with him. "Good afternoon, sirs!" He said smiling, and then continuing, "Is it true that Trapper is coming back to visit us Captain Pierce?"
"First off yes, Trapper is coming back. Second, how many times have we told you to call us by our first names?" Hawkeye said laughing.
"Yeah, Kling. We aren't Frank you know. You can call us by our first names." B.J. said smiling.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot you guys don't care, but anyways, so Trapper is really coming! This is so exciting! Its been two whole years since we've seen him. You guys planning anything special for him?" Klinger asked, one eyebrow raised and with a smirk on his face.
"Yeah, we are actually planning on throwing him a 'Welcome Back to the 4077th' party." Trapper replied.
"Really! Ok, come on you guys, you have to let me help! I'm good at doing parties!" Klinger yelled.
"Sure, why not?" Hawkeye said. "The only thing to do now is convince Sherman to let us. If you want, Klinger, you can come with us."
"Alright." Klinger replied walking and opening the door for Hawkeye and B.J.
"Thanks, Klinger. Oh, by the way, nice dress. Its so you." Hawkeye said laughing walking inside.
B.J. followed, and he too was laughing at Hawkeye's joke. "Well thanks, my mom sent it to me last week." Klinger replied walking in and shutting the door behind him.
The three walked in and stopped behind Radar. Radar heard them come in and turned around and looked at them. Before Hawkeye could speak, Radar stood up and said, "Sure, I'll go see if Colonel Potter has time to talk to you." and then walked in to Colonel Potter's office.
Radar walked in and there, sitting behind his desk hunched over working on some papers was Colonel Sherman T. Potter. Radar stepped in front of the desk, cleared his throat, and then spoke. "Sir, Captains Pierce and Hunnicutt and Officer Klinger are here to see you."
Sherman looked up from his work and said, "Send them in Radar."
As he said that, Radar said, "Yes Sir, I'll send them in." and walked out of the room.
He walked out and said, "Alright, you guys can go see him. He's in a good mood today so don't worry about that."
"Thanks, Radar. And people say you aren't smart." Hawkeye said smiling and patting Radar on the head and then walking into Sherman's office followed by B.J. and Klinger.
The three walked in and Sherman looked at them, smiled, and then said, "Sit down. So what do you boys have on your minds?"
"Well, Colonel, with Trapper coming and all, we were wondering if it was ok to throw him a welcome back party?" Hawkeye said.
"Well I'll be damned. That's an excellent idea. Where do you figure you want to hold it?" Sherman replied.
"Well, we can just have it over in the Mess tent." B.J. said.
"Alright, then its settled! We will have a party for Trapper. When is he coming?"
"Tomorrow night, which gives us all day tomorrow to set it up." Hawkeye replied.
"Outstanding! I will get all the personnel to help set up and get our cook to bake a cake and you guys can get the games and such ready."
"Thank you, Colonel! You have no idea how much this means to us." Hawkeye said to him.
"Oh I think I might." He said smiling back. "Now if that's all, you're all dismissed. Oh, except you Hawkeye. I need to talk to you really quick.
"Uh, sure." Hawkeye said sitting back down in his chair.
As Klinger and B.J. walked out of the room, Sherman spoke again. "Hawkeye, I heard about what happened earlier this morning. Now don't get me wrong, I'm damn proud that someone finally did it, and I'm even prouder that it was you, but I need to know why you did it."
Hawkeye took a deep breath, and then started to talk. "Well, Frank was threatening to come see you and make sure that Trapper couldn't come and visit us. He's like my brother and when Frank said that, I just lost all control and my anger took over. The next thing I remember was punching Frank in the face and then going back to bed. It was so weird because I can't remember ever being that angry before."
"Well, for the next couple days, just try to control your anger and have fun. Now, go on and plan that party. You only have twenty-four more hours so get going."
"Yes Sir." Hawkeye said, as he stood up and walked out of Sherman's office. He walked towards the Swamp. All he could think about was how much fun they were going to have when Trapper arrived.
Continued in Trapper's Return, part III