Firebirdgirl: I'm glad I was able to convey some real emotion in this chapter. Good guesses on who the character might be. I did think about it making that girl who was engaged to him in the states, but decided against it. Read on to find out who it is!
Lt. Father Mulcahy: I'm glad you really like the story! Father Mulcahy is one of my favorite characters in the series, and I knew from the beginning that I wanted to give him an important part in my story. We should be seeing more of him in the next chapter!
4077hawk: Yay! I new reviewer with good taste! (If I do say so myself.) I'll try not to keep you in suspense too much, but I make no promises. (I'm evil like that.) I'm really glad you like the story. Good guesses on who I was talking about! You will soon find out who it really is.
Cyberchick2007: Thanks for being such a loyal reviewer. I'm glad that I was able to convey some real emotion in this chapter. Here's your update! Enjoy!
Okay, the moment you've all been waiting for. Who is the mystery person in Hawkeye's life who Melinda reminds him of? In the early episodes of MASH, Hawkeye rights a letter home to his father. He mentions a sister in this letter, but then later says that he's never had one to the others in the camp. What if Hawkeye didn't want the others to know about his sister's tragic death? Her death is tied to the reason Hawkeye feels so protective of Melinda. I hope this will answer all questions you might have. If you still have questions, please feel free to e-mail me or drop me a review. I will answer your question as soon as possible. Now, please, enjoy!
"Benny! Stop being such a slowpoke! Hurry and come play with me!" His little sister whined, tugging on his arm, excitedly. He shook her off, clearly annoyed. At ten years old, he would never before have been considered responsible enough to watch his sister while his father was out. The only reason that he was now alone in the house with his screaming sister was that his father had gotten an urgent call from the hospital, demanding that he get down there at once.
Caroline was thrilled to be in the house alone with her big brother. At five years old, she felt grown up at the prospect of her father leaving her and Ben home by themselves. He had promised her that he would be home by dark. She jogged into the kitchen, hoisting herself up onto the counter to peer out the window that was over the sink. When she was able to situate herself comfortably on the counter, she noticed that the sun was just now dipping below the calm surface of the Atlantic Ocean. A frown worked itself over her features. Her father had promised that he would be home by now!
Over the water she could see the large, red lighthouse, which was positioned on the edge of the town that jutted out into the water. She knew that this is where the hospital was. She had been there once when she was very little to visit her mother. Caroline never wanted to go back to that place because that's where the angel's had come to take away her mother. She knew she wasn't ready to be taken by the angel's just yet. Every time her father was needed at the hospital, she worried about him. She knew that there was a chance that he would not come home to them, too.
"Benny!" Her cries echoed throughout the kitchen. "I'm going to get Daddy!" She waited briefly for his response, and when he gave her none, she walked quickly over to the back door. She was slow in opening it. The lock had always given her trouble. Caroline struggled with the lock for another minute before it gave way freely under her grasp.
As soon as she stepped out of the house, the chilly night air overcame her. Putting on a sweater seemed to pale in comparison next to the thought of never being able to see her father again. She wrapped her small arms around her tight as she took great care in walking down to the shoreline. Occasionally, one would find crabs and sharp shells scattered along the path to the beach. She had to be careful about where she stepped. She didn't want anything to slow her down.
Caroline had worked her way down the path in less than five minutes. She was now pacing, slowly, up and down the beachfront, letting the cool surf hit her toes. She had not stopped to think about how she was going to get out to her Daddy when she reached the water. She had taken swimming lessons the year before. After their neighbor a few houses down had nearly drowned in the surf one afternoon, her father didn't want to take any chances. All the instructors at the Community Center said she was a better swimmer than her brother, Ben. She was sure he could swim out to Daddy if he wanted to. Why couldn't she?
It took Caroline several minutes to get used to the water. To her, it was certainly not as cold as the breeze that had met her when she had first stepped out of the house, but it still sent shivers through her small body. She tried to distract herself with thoughts of her brother. She wondered, briefly, if he had minded that she had gone to look for her Daddy. She knew that, given the chance, Ben would have set out to bring her father back as well. As fate would have it, he was stuck babysitting her for the evening and couldn't set foot outside of the house. In Caroline's mind, she was the only one who could possibly rescue her father.
Ben descended the stairs, slowly; his eyes scanning the room for the head of flaming red hair that belonged to his sister.
"Caroline!" He called, his voice echoing throughout the house. He waited, silently, for an answer. When none came, he began searching the rooms of the house, panic seeping into his actions. "Carrie, this isn't funny! Daddy's going to be upset with you when he comes home to find his favorite little girl hiding from him." When that did not lure her out of her hiding place, Ben knew that there was something very wrong. He thought back to minutes before when he had gone upstairs to look for a story that he could read her to calm her down. He had last seen her jogging into the kitchen as he made a quick trip to her room. He hadn't even been gone five minutes. Then again, Caroline seemed to find trouble rather quickly. He silently scolded himself for not watching her more carefully. His father would be furious if he found out that he had lost his baby sister.
Crossing the threshold into the kitchen, he noticed that the back door had somehow gotten open. Fear gripped him like a vice. How could she have managed to open the door? He rushed over to the sliding glass doors, peering out down at the beach below. He could see no one there. Just tiny footprints leading up to the part of the shore that was directly in back of the house. He sprinted over to the coat rack that was nailed to the wall in the entryway of the dining room. He grabbed his blue sweater and her green one off of the hooks and rushed outside toward the beach.
"Caroline!" He called again. The cry was lost in the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. "Caroline!" This time, his yell was a bit louder, and Caroline paused to respond before taking another step into the waves.
"Benny!" She called back, the noise drawing his eyes to her form. She was about 15 feet from the shore. The water was already up to her waist.
"Caroline! Don't go any further! Come back out, or I'm coming in to get you!" She contemplated his words for a moment before she spoke again.
"I can't, you can't! I'm going to get Daddy!" With that, she took another step. The waves lapped up against her more violently now. Ben could feel that the wind had picked up suddenly.
"Caroline, you can't get Daddy! You're going to get hurt if you stay out there. Caroline, I'm responsible for you. You have to do as I say!" Ben could see that his words had done nothing to coax her from the water. She had now taken several more steps in. The water was up around her chest.
"No, I don't! I need to see Daddy! I won't let him disappear like Mommy! I won't!" Ben stopped, listening intently to her words. It was only three years ago that his mother had gone into that hospital and never emerged. His dad had told Caroline that the angels had taken her to a better place. He knew the real truth of the matter, but it made it no easier for him. He understood Caroline's pain and fear. She wasn't the only one whose sleep was interrupted by nightmares on many occasions. He had spent many a restless night waiting for the day to break because he didn't want to fall asleep again. Somewhere in his mind, he had always known that Caroline had understood more about their mother's death than she had ever let on. He couldn't imagine the pain that her five-year-old form held.
"Please, Caroline! Please, come out of the water!" He screamed, desperation creeping into his tone. This would be his last chance to lure her out. She was already up to her neck in the water.
"No, Ben. I've got to do this for you, Daddy, and me! We have to stay-" Her words were cut off, abruptly, as Caroline's head disappeared beneath the churning waves. Time seemed to pass unusually slow for Ben. It took him several moments to react. When he did finally regain his composure, he ran into the surf without any second thought. Diving under the waves, he could feel the salt water burning his eyes. He struggled to keep them open, trying to spot his sister's body.
Ben kicked his way through the violent waves until he knew that he could stay underwater no longer. His lungs were starved with air. He attempted to propel himself towards the surface, but a strong wave knocked him back further into the water. How was he going to help Caroline if he drowned himself? Suddenly, he felt a strong hand clasp around the material at the back of his shirt. He was pulled upward, out of the water. There, he took a gulp of fresh air. He was never more grateful to feel the moist sand of the beach beneath him.
Cocking his head slightly to the side, he saw that it was his father who had pulled him out of the water.
"Hawk, can you stay here why I look for your sister?" His words came out shaky and uncharacteristic of Daniel Pierce's usual demeanor. Hawkeye gave a brief nod of his head, before crawling further toward the path that led to the house. He watched his father dive beneath the waves and come up with no luck. He dove a second time. He brought up the still body of his sister; her flaming red hair dripping all over his father's already soaked work clothes.
They laid her out on the beach, trying all that they could to revive her. They performed CPR on her deathly still form, but she still did not move.
"Hawkeye, how could you have left her alone like that?" His father questioned, clearly enraged. "Hawkeye?" He felt someone shake him, almost violently, from behind. "Hawkeye! Hawkeye!"
"What, what?" He heard himself answer.
"C'mon, you gotta get to Post-op. Sydney wants to talk to you about that girl, Melinda. He said it was pretty urgent. You gotta go now!" He opened his gummy eyelids to see his bunkmate, B.J. Hunnicutt, standing over him. He let out a heavy sigh, sitting up. "You looked like you were having a pretty bad dream there. Anything I could help with?" He looked up at B.J. while tying the laces of his left boot.
"Nothing a day in our little corner of hell wouldn't drive out of your mind." Without another word, he put his other boot on and began the short walk to Post-op. He figured that while Sydney was there, he may just need his help, too.