Finding L-O-V-E

Hawkeye looked round the swamp for something to do. He was incredibly bored.

It was bad enough when there was nothing to do, but when you couldn't even leave the tent it cut put the possibilities a lot more.

BJ had gone to return Hawkeye's tray to the mess tent and Hawkeye had insisted that BJ stay over there and eat his lunch. The last few days he'd always brought it over and as nice as it was that BJ cared so much, Hawkeye could feel the man grating on his last nerve right now.

There was a knock at the door and he called for them to enter. He was happy to see Margaret enter the room. She smiled nervously at him.

"Hey Margaret. I've heard that your dad's going to be okay and I'm really happy for you." He said.

She perched on the end of his cot. "Yes, I think he'll be okay once he gets some rest. I really was scared for him though."

"Well that's understandable. As long as he listens to the advice his given I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Well I have to admit, it's really made me think about things." Margaret said.

"I bet." Hawkeye said. He understood how frightened she felt. He'd feel the same if anything happened to his father.

"I don't think you understand. I don't just mean about my father, I mean about me as well. About how my life's going and what the future holds for me." Margaret explained. "I always thought that this, the Army, was my whole life. I've never considered anything else because this is what I've known. Well, maybe it's not for me. I look at my parents and their divorce and I wonder more and more whether the Army had a large part to play in that."

"Margaret, you're going to feel like that. You've just had a scare. It's not uncommon for people who have been in a stressful situation to start re-evaluating their lives." Hawkeye said.

"I know that. But, I think that maybe I could have more if I wasn't being quite so... picky."

"Picky?" Hawkeye repeated.

"Oh, you know it's true. I used to think that I needed to be with important officers to be satisfied. All those generals they were all out of desperation. Most of those men were old enough to be my father. I don't really know what I was thinking with Frank, well, I do. I was thinking how wonderful he was because he was strict in the sense I liked. You and Trapper were always right about him, he was a rotten surgeon, but to me, it didn't matter. He was a military man and that over-shadowed everything else about him that stunk. Including his wife. And kids."

"He wasn't always that bad." Hawkeye said. It was hard to try to defend Frank he wasn't the easiest person to write a pro's list about.

Margaret gave Hawkeye a look. "Okay, he was awful. But, you were young and impressionable."

"Well, I'm not sure about that. But look after Frank, Donald was a wretch of a man. Why do you think I liked him. Do you think I got to know him first or do you think he heard about my reputation? Hotlips sounds like a fun person, right?" Hawkeye chose not to answer, just let Margaret vent her frustrations about life. "Donald thought he could marry me and still have fun when I wasn't around. And Scully. Boy, he took the biscuit. He didn't even have a good rank last time I saw him."

"Margaret, you're not thinking rationally." Hawkeye said. He shifted down his cot so he was closer to her. "You've had a scare. Don't beat yourself about the fact that your fathers been ill."

"It's not all I'm feeling bad about." She said, looking at him and touching his arm where it was bandaged. "I never should have said those things to you and I never should have hit you." Margaret said. "I'm truly sorry."

"Well, you're forgiven already. I shouldn't have said what I did either." Hawkeye said.

"There's a little more I need to say." Margaret said. "I was insanely jealous when you and Gaby became close and the reason was because of the way I feel about you."

Hawkeye looked a little surprised by what she was saying.

"We've got close, sometimes too close for our own good. But I know that if I'd never meet you, I wouldn't be the person I am today and I wouldn't have the self awareness to realize that I need you in my life."

Hawkeye looked a little embarrassed. "You don't give yourself enough credit."

"No, I don't give you enough credit. You really have changed my life. I'm not as keen as I once was to stay in the Army and I think that after the war, I'd like to get back into the real world. I won't be a major and you won't be a captain and I thought we may get on a little better when ranks and Army discipline are not in the way any more. It's something to think about."

"Are you saying what you think you're saying?" Hawkeye asked.

"What I'm saying, Pierce is, once we've got out of Korea, look me up." Margaret smiled broadly. Hawkeye laughed out loud.

"Okay, it's a date." He said. He lent over to her and kissed her on the side of her face. "You won't forget will you?"

"I promise. I'll write it in my diary." Margaret said.

"I can't believe I've finally got a date with Margaret Houlihan." Hawkeye said.

"Just one thing," she said. "Promise me you won't go out with any other nurses while we're still here."

"I promise. You know some of them are dangerous." They both laughed and looked forward to the end of the war for another reason now.

The End

Author's note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed me. You all inspired me to write this story so quickly so it's dedicated to every one of you. To anyone who's reading this, please still leave reviews. It's never to late.

xx