Charles went to pull money from his pocket when the waiter came back with a bottle of wine, but Alex told him to put it away.
'I told you, I'm paying,' she said. 'I know it's not exactly how it's done, but this isn't a real date, as such.' She tipped some of the contents into two glasses, and took one. She sipped hers experimentally, and smiled. 'I have missed alcohol so much,' she said.
'At least let me pay for some,' Charles said. 'I could not call myself a gentleman otherwise.'
'Charlie, yours is a dying kind. The sort that offers to pay for a lady's meal or to hold the door open for them,' Alex said, leaning on her elbow. She smiled at him, and held her glass up. 'To the gentlemen Winchesters,' she said. Charles wasn't sure if she was mocking him or not, but held his glass up as well anyway.
'To those who make life… interesting,' he said. Alex grinned, realising it was a sort of joke at her expense.
'Thanks,' she said, taking a drink from her glass. There was an awkward silence between them for a few minutes. Alex drained her drink in that time, and had moved onto her second glass. She topped Charles' glass up as well. 'Don't let me drink too much,' she warned him, taking a mouthful of the wine. 'I don't need to destroy my liver on its first night drinking in a month.'
'So… what does your father do?' Charles asked, unsure what they were meant to talk about.
'He died, when I was only young,' Alex said.
'I'm sorry,' Charles said, worried he'd put his foot into it.
'Doesn't matter, he was a two-timing bastard anyway,' Alex replied. Charles looked slightly shocked at Alex's crude language. 'Sorry,' she apologised. 'But he was. Mom found out just a month or two ago he'd been sleeping with his secretary. He had been a businessman before that.'
'What does your mother do for money?' Charles asked cautiously.
'Mom makes wedding dresses and that sort of thing. She's very good, almost as good as Klinger was,' Alex replied. 'Dani is a secretary, soon to be housewife. As much as I want to get married one day, I don't want to give up nursing for it. Mind you, my nursing career is pretty much sunk anyway.' She drained the glass and filled it again.
'You really are an unusual woman,' Charles said to her. Alex knew it wasn't a compliment as such, but smiled anyway.
'Thanks,' she said, sipping her drink. 'I try.'
'You seem to get on with everyone,' Charles continued. 'No-one can get along with everyone.'
'I don't get along with everyone,' Alex said. 'The man before you, a Major Frank Burns, he hated me. We had a few times where we actually got along, but he despised me for being so much like Hawkeye. And Margaret didn't like me to begin with. I still manage to drive her up the wall, but she likes me better than she used to.' Alex poured another wine for herself.
'And then there was the last month or so. I've been getting on everyone's nerves for a while now.' She sipped her drink, and looked up at Charles through her long lashes. 'Plus, you've always seemed to dislike me.'
'I wouldn't say dislike,' Charles said.
'Don't lie,' Alex said with a smile. 'You've been bitter towards me since I first called you "Charlie".'
She suddenly frowned and turned her head towards the couple at the next table, listening to what they were talking about.
'Can you believe them?' she asked Charles, motioning towards them. 'They keep calling the war a "police action". Can you imagine?' She looked over at them again and shook her head. 'A rose by any other name smells just as sweet. And a war by any other name is just as bloody.'
'Shakespeare,' Charles said with delight.
'Romeo and Juliet,' Alex said, sipping her drink. She could feel herself getting drunker, but years of practise helped Alex hide her lack of sobriety, though her words had become slower and more pronounced. 'What, did you think I was some illiterate moron?'
'No,' Charles said a little too quickly. 'I didn't expect you to know about the more sophisticated arts.'
Alex shrugged. 'Personally, I preferred Hamlet.'
'Where did you see the play?' Charles asked interestedly. He was now curious about the woman who obviously was more than she let on.
'Oh, I never saw the play,' Alex replied. 'I read the book in high school. I used to read everything, but when I got to my final two years of school, I had no time to do anything. I had to give up reading to make way for my studies. I never really got into the habit of reading again.' A man came up to Alex and Charles, his neck slightly red from embarrassment.
'May I have a dance?' he asked Alex, his gaze continually flicking towards Charles as if he were worried the surgeon might hit him.
'You don't mind, do you, Charles?' Alex asked, standing up.
'Go,' Charles said, his expression hard to read. He wasn't sure if he was happy that this man was taking the unusual Alex away from him, or not. Alex took the man's hand and stepped gracefully onto the dance floor with him. For a woman who limped everywhere, she wasn't too bad a dancer. She waltzed with the other man for a few songs, smiling and laughing. Alex obviously loved the attention, yet she didn't crave it at the camp, like Hawkeye and some of the others did. It had taken Charles a while, and several glasses of wine, but he realised she was different to the others.
He stood up and walked over to the dancing couple, and tapped the other man on the shoulder.
'May I cut in?' he asked. There was a pause as Alex thought about it. For one frightful moment, Charles was afraid she'd turn him down. After all, the man she was with now was handsome, closer to her own age and more her style.
Alex smiled and dropped the other man's hands, and moved to Charles. The other man seemed a little disappointed, but didn't try fighting the decision, and he went back to his friends.
'Feeling left out, Charles?' she asked.
'I wanted to teach you how to dance properly,' Charles said. 'Your dance moves are atrocious.' Alex grinned.
'Go on then,' she said. 'Teach me.' Charles didn't speak for a moment.
'Maybe it was his dancing,' he said finally. 'Yours is fine, but he is a horrible dancer.' Alex smiled again. They both knew it was a lie; Charles just wanted to spend more time with Alex.
'I'm surprised you came out to dance,' she said. 'Especially since I was with Luke.'
'I thought you were going to turn me down,' Charles admitted.
'Charles, the people at the 4077th are like family to me. I can't say no to family,' she replied. Alex's foot suddenly slipped, and she stumbled.
'I've got you,' Charles said, stopping her from hitting the floor.
'It's ok,' she said to the people stopping around them to make sure she was ok. 'I'm just a little clumsy tonight.' Charles helped her to her feet. 'Let's go back to our table,' Alex said. 'I'm not healthy enough to dance all night.' Charles helped her back to the table. Alex poured them more wine, and the two drank.
'Excuse me?' the man from before was back again. 'Are you ok?'
'I'm ok, Luke,' Alex said, giving him a dazzling smile. 'I'm just not very light on my feet.'
'Oh, but you're very light on your feet,' Luke insisted. 'Can we dance later tonight?'
'I don't know, Luke,' Alex said. 'I'll let you know, ok?' Luke nodded, dismayed, and went back to his friends. 'He's sweet,' she said, watching him leave. 'Don't know what he sees in me, though.'
'What doesn't he see in you?' Charles asked. Alex smiled as if told a joke that wasn't in least bit funny.
'Charles, look at me,' Alex said. 'I've got a limp, I can't see out of one eye, my shoulder and face is scarred. No man wants a second hand woman.' Alex used to be proud of her good looks, but war had had turned into a woman who was convinced that she wasn't beautiful, despite many heads turned when she walked into a room.
'My dear, you are not a used car,' Charles said, 'and not every man is after a homecoming queen. You cannot look at the bad things in you without looking at the great things in you as well. You have sparkling personality, you are intelligent, and no matter what anyone says, still very beautiful.' Alex shook her head, like she didn't believe it. Usually, she took compliments with good grace, but with several glasses of wine in her, her defense system was down.
'No man would ever find himself attracted to me,' Alex insisted. Charles took her hand.
'I find you attractive,' he said softly. Alex glanced at him, to see if he was joking. His face was very serious.
Twenty minutes later, they were stumbling down the hallway on the third level of their hotel, lips pressed against each other. Alex pulled away and started giving Charles quick little kissed on the lips.
'You don't think.' Kiss. 'I'm being.' Kiss. 'Too forward.' Kiss. 'Do you?' Kiss.
'Of course not,' Charles muttered. Alex giggled as his moved his mouth from her lips to her neck. She let out a yell, and half fell.
'Are you ok?' Charles asked, pulling away to check she wasn't hurt.
'Just my leg again,' Alex said, trying to pull herself up. 'Geez, it hurts though. Must be all the alcy-hol.' She giggled again. Charles pulled her up, and kissed her hand before releasing it. He went to his room, unlocked it, and came back to help Alex into his room. He left her by the double bed, and closed the door before stumbling to the other side of the bed. Alex was trying to get out of her dress, and accidentally ripped it. She threw it at the door, and climbed under the covers. She pulled off her slip and bra from under the blankets, and threw them across the room. By this time, Charles had also got undressed, and was already under the covers when Alex joined him. They began kissing again, pressing together with only a thin sheet between them.
'My Alexandria,' Charles murmured into her, making her giggle again.
'Oh, Hawk,' she muttered loudly, eyes closed in bliss. Charles stopped, and pulled away.
'Excuse me?' he asked. Alex opened her eyes, they'd begun to dull with tiredness, and she was starting to become more disorientated.
'Why'd you stop?' she asked.
'You called me Hawkeye,' Charles said.
'Did I?' Alex asked.
'I cannot do this,' Charles said, wriggling backwards.
'Why not?' Alex asked.
'Because you still love Hawkeye,' he said. 'It does not feel right.'
'But it's you I love,' she insisted. Her eyes started closing. 'You... Hawkeye.' Charles shook his head. Alex's gentle snoring a minute later told him that she's passed out.
Charles closed his eyes for a moment, and woke up the next morning, naked, hung over, and partly pressed against the nude Alex, with nothing but a thin sheet between them.
Kooshball Note: Come on guys, leave some reviews!