A Promise to an Old Friend Part 2
Standard Disclaimer: I wouldn't be broke and unemployed if I owned these characters.
Margaret awoke from a fitful slumber. 5 AM, as usual. Military training was hard to forget. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she remembered where she was. She was in a small roadside motel room. When she remebered why she was there, she began trembling as the fear hit her. Her biggest fear, stronger and more deep-rooted than her fear of loud noises, was her fear of change, of the unknown. For Margaret change meant loss of safety and security. This fear had led her to choose a career in the Army. After all, the Army was what she knew best. She was an Army brat, following her father to every posting he'd had. The army fed her need for order and discipline and kept her fear of change at bay. Even when she was sent to Korea, where chaos was the norm and her fear almost overwhelmed her, she had the structure and stability of the Army, with its' rules and regulations, to fall back on. It made her a little more inflexible, a little more by-the-book than some, but it offered her the safety of familiarity. It also kept her rather isolated, made friendships difficult, because she didn't want anyone to know how truly frightened she was. Not even Frank or Donald had known. She suspected that Hawkeye knew, but then he'd always been able to see through pretense of any kind and discern the truth. Somehow. she didn't mind his knowing. She knew he'd never betray her secret. In some ways it was nice having him know. There were many times when he would quietly lend her some of his strength, given her something to lean on when she'd needed it. She knew, deep down, despite her claims to the contrary, he respected her. The outward shell, the mask she put on of the strictly military major he did not respect, but the person behind the mask he did.
Margaret rose and went to look out the window. Though it was still dark, a lightening in the east told her the sun would soon be up. Moving away from the window, she went to the small bathroom turned on the taps in the shower. Adjusting the water temperature, she still marveled at being able to take a hot shower whenever she wanted. She shook her head at the memory of all the cold showers she'd had to take back at the 4077th. After her shower, she dressed quickly and repacked her suitcase. Picking it up, she walked to the motel office and turned her room key in to the still-yawning desk clerk. Putting her suitcase in the trunk, she climbed behind the wheel of her car. Pushing her fears to the back of her mind, she headed out towards the unknown. Well, not exactly unknown.