A/N: Part 2 of 2 of the 'Andrea feels bad and is putting up multiple chapters out of guilt' update! Thanks for all your patience! I haven't been receiving any death "You must update or face the firey doom of my wrath" flames, so I appreciate that! With any luck, I'll get up Chapter 18 relatively soon. With that said, enjoy the story and review both chapters 16 and 17! Thanks you, my loyal readers for your continuing reviews, support and all of that stuff. Makes a person feel good. grins (cause the stupid smiley face for some reason shows up as a Wing-Ding's circle-y thing.)
Disclaimer: -sigh Must we go through this again? For obvious reasons, namely the fact I am a 17 year old female whose name is not Richard Hooker or Larry Gebhart, I did not create, produce, or fashion in any way, shape or form any of the characters in this story (well, with a few exceptions, but none too notable). I've just borrowed them for my own sick and twisted purposes and for your reading enjoyment, so don't hurt me please!
Mill Valley California
Sunday May 5, 1956
10:00 AM
"Hawk…Hawk c'mon, get up. Trapper figures we have enough time for a round of golf before we have to get ready" BJ called, shaking his best friend awake.
"Ready? Ready for what?" mumbled a bleary eyed Hawkeye.
BJ laughed "Your wedding, stupid"
"Is that today?"
BJ chose to ignore him and went to the door of the hotel room they were sharing.
"Time" mumbled Hawkeye
"10:00. C'mon, you in for golf or not?"
"How can you not be hung over from last night?" asked Hawkeye
"Mrs. Potter made coffee" said BJ
"Answer my question, how can you not be hung over from last night?"
BJ laughed "I just did. I had a cup of Mrs. Potter's coffee. Whew…she makes the strongest coffee that would sober up even the most drunk fellow…"
"Well, that would be me," mumbled Hawkeye "I'd better get some then…" He stumbled out of bed and over the shoes that he'd kicked off the night before after his bachelor party…
It had just been a quick, one-two-thing. BJ had a friend who owned a bar, who owed him a favor, so the friend had let the guys use the room for free, while the ladies had a small, impromptu bridal shower for Margaret at the Hunnicut household, which she hadn't expected because she wasn't used to having friends that would do something like that for her. They had had a fun time, cooing over the baby and begging Margaret to tell them what their men had been like in Korea. The men had gotten drunk (some, in Hawkeye's case drunker than others) and had a ball swapping stories and comparing life at the 4077th in Colonel Potter's day to when it had been under the late Henry Blake's rule. All during the two days from when everyone had arrived in California, to that day, including the wedding rehearsal, which had taken place the day before the bachelor party and the bridal shower, no one had seen hide, hair, nor heard mention of one Frank Burns ever arriving in Mill Valley. Hawkeye had been very disappointed to hear this, as he had been looking forward to seeing Frank's face when he learned that Margaret's groom was his most hated adversary.
BJ and Hawkeye went out to the living room. BJ immediately went over to where Trapper, Klinger and Radar were sitting. Hawkeye ignored them and stumbled over to the kitchen, met Colonel Potter and Father Mulcahy, ignored them too and spent 2 minutes gulping two cups of coffee. By the time he was finished, he understood how BJ had been so awake before.
"That," Hawkeye addressed Colonel Potter "was the strongest coffee my taste buds have ever had the privilege to meet"
Colonel Potter laughed "That was the work of my missus. Mildred can make a pot of coffee that's so strong, it can keep your taste buds blooming for a week!"
"My mom makes a pretty mean coffee too" spoke up Radar
"Then she's making the coffee tomorrow" said Hawkeye
"Hey, that's good. I hope you can taste it all the way in England" laughed Trapper
"What?!"
"That's right" remembered BJ with a smile "You're going to be on your honeymoon tomorrow, so unless we put a cup in a doggy bag, you're not going to be able to drink Mrs. O'Reilly's coffee"
"Oh yeah" Hawkeye remembered "Forgot about that"
"What a nice husband you're going to be" joked BJ and promptly got the paper cup that had formerly held Hawkeye's coffee thrown at his head.
Margaret hadn't wanted a honeymoon. Well, she wanted one, but she also was a Houlihan and as such, taught to scrimp and save every penny. She had assumed the trip to Mill Valley was a honeymoon and hadn't expected Hawkeye to come home one day, arms filled with travel brochures, asking her where she wanted to go for their honeymoon. He had a travel brochure for nearly every country in the world (though Margaret had noticed a lack of brochures from the eastern countries of Japan, China, etc.) It had been a toss-up between Hawaii and England, but they finally decided on England because Margaret had always wanted to visit there and since they had just spent two weeks in beautiful, sunny California and decided it was time for a change in weather.
Hawkeye went to sit on the sofa in the living room. "So where are the ladies?" he asked.
"My house" said BJ.
"They've been there since 8 getting ready" put in Klinger
"8?!" repeated Hawkeye, dubiously "What for?"
"The ladies always take longer to get ready" Colonel Potter shook his head "At least, that's the way it's always been in my day"
"They've got to do their hair, makeup and all that" added BJ
Hawkeye turned to Trapper "So what's this about golf?"
"Well," started Trapper "Way I figure it is, there's a golf course down the road. We've got a couple of hours until we have to get ready, so why sit around when we can go golfing?"
So, the group went golfing. They had a grand time, talking of whatever came to their minds. Hawkeye, BJ and Trapper made jokes and continually made fun of Charles' atrocious golfing skills. The game ended with Charles chasing the three around the golf course waving his putter and threatening to tie it around their necks. Trapper, still not used to Charles, feared that the Chief of Thoracic Surgery would hold a grudge against him and when they got back to work, he would take revenge on Trapper's job, since he was quite friendly, or as friendly as Dr. Winchester ever got with anyone, with Trapper's boss. Trapper had nothing to worry about, though. Charles was grinning at the end of his show and thoroughly surprised Trapper when he successfully tricked BJ into believing someone had stolen his car by hiding it behind a 'particularly useful clump of trees' as Charles so put it when he confessed to the deed later. BJ retaliated by stealing the laces out of Charles' best dress shoes upon their return to the hotel and after BJ returned them after a great deal of threats (on Charles' part) and laughter (on the part of BJ, Hawkeye and Trapper), the combined efforts of Klinger and Radar were almost not enough to shove Charles into his room, to keep him from retaliating.
Hawkeye fell onto his bed with laughter as he and BJ entered their room. BJ closed the door after hearing Charles' slam shut.
"That was great!" laughed Hawkeye as BJ sunk down on his bed, which was next to Hawkeye's "Best practical joking I've seen since you, me, Margaret and Charles dumped a bucket of beer on that Colonel friend of Potter's"
"You mean Colonel Daniel Webster Tucker? How could you forget that name?" grinned BJ
Hawkeye turned to the clock. It said '12:15 PM'. He then turned to BJ "Guess we'd better get going" he said then.
"Guess we'd better"
Hawkeye showered first, then BJ. Hawkeye stood in front of the mirror shaving better then he ever had. He was concentrating so hard on being clean-shaven, that he didn't hear the door to the bathroom open and didn't notice BJ was even out of the shower until he appeared in the mirror next to him. Hawkeye had left his shirt off, so not to get it messed up with stray facial hair. Hawkeye and BJ were silent. Hawkeye was still concentrating heavily on shaving and BJ was contemplating his own facial hair when something on his friend's body caught his eye
"Hawk," BJ laughed suddenly, breaking the silence
"What?"
"Your dog tags. They're still on"
Hawkeye looked at his bare chest to find the very familiar silver tags were still dangling from the chain around his neck. During the three years he had been in the war, he had gotten so used to them, the feeling of them on his chest that they felt like a part of him. He had forgotten their existence until just this moment. He picked them up and traced his index finger over the familiar words that were his name, blood type and religion.
"Wow," he murmured "I forgot about these. I suppose I should take them off" mused Hawkeye and did just that. They paused in silence again as if remembering thoughts from the war that neither of them had thought of for a long time. Hawkeye ran over the textures of the dog tags with his hand "It feels like they're trying to remind me of something. Or maybe to warn me," he mused
"Warn you about what, Hawk?" questioned BJ "It's not like you to be so superstitious"
"I don't know" chuckled Hawkeye, "It's really funny that they should pop up today of all days. On a day that's supposed to be so happy, a reminder of something so awful…" Hawkeye shook himself suddenly and ran a hand through his unruly blackish gray hair. "Okay no more pensiveness. This is my wedding day and I'm not going to be pensive". He moved away from the mirror to let BJ begin shaving his chin and flopped on his bed "And also, this is my last few hours as a bachelor and I'm not going to spend it being sad and depressed". He leaned over and deposited his dog tags into a compartment of his suitcase.
Hawkeye stood up again, put on his shirt and began combing his hair. BJ finished shaving his chin and moved to where two ties were draped over a chair. He threw one to Hawkeye, who caught it and moved back in front of the mirror to begin tying it. BJ finished his and went to help Hawkeye, who was uncharacteristically fumbling with his tie.
"Nervous?" asked BJ, pushing Hawkeye's hands away from his throat and taking over tying the tie.
"Nah, not really"
"Oh really? Then why did you look like you were trying to hang yourself with your tie?"
"I've never been married before. I also haven't tied a tie since my cousin Mary's funeral, which by the way was when I was seven"
"What about that old suit you used to wear sometimes in Korea?"
"Clip-on"
"Shoulda known" BJ laughed. He straightened Hawkeye's tie.
Hawkeye smiled "Thanks, Beej"
"No problem. What are friends for?"
"Beej, I want to thank you again for being my best man. You're my best friend, BJ. For two years, we shared a lot and I'm really glad you can share the best day of my life with me"
BJ smiled "No problem, Hawk. I am so happy for the two of you. Nothing can keep me from enjoying this day with the two of you. Nothing"
Hawkeye smiled too, knowing the full meaning of what BJ meant by 'Nothing'. The two went out to the sitting room to find Klinger, Trapper and Radar already assembled, looking very handsome in their tuxes that resembled the ones Hawkeye and BJ, who also looked very handsome, wore. Colonel Potter, also in a tux, and Father Mulcahy, joined them and finally Charles did the same, prompting jokes about vainess, toupees and one joke concerning something about shoelaces. Finally, the limousine that was to take the gentlemen to The Gardens arrived and they were off.
"Nervous?" Trapper asked, sitting in the limo.
"Nah" Hawkeye waved his hand away like he was brushing off the question like it wasn't important. Truth be known, the dark-haired surgeon was a little nervous, he wasn't sure why, but he was. He had no reason to be nervous; he had finally won the heart of the woman of his dreams, but there still was something; something nagging at the back of his head; he couldn't put his finger on it, but whatever it was, it was disturbing him because he wasn't happy when he so wanted to be. Maybe the appearance of his old dogtags had caused his brain to visit a place it hadn't visited in years and was causing him to remember the fear he had lived with for three years. Yes. That must be it. He tried to shake himself out of this revile, but found he couldn't. He had this hideous foreboding that something was going to happen, but he couldn't for the life of him, figure out what it was about...
A/N: DUNH DUNH DUNH! evil music plays What is Hawkeye having premonitions about? Is something about to happen, or is Hawkeye just going slooowly insane…No one knows…not even me…Ok that was a lie…heehee! The answer to these questions and others you might have will be answered next time on 'Wedding Bells and Bomb Shells'. What will make the update come faster, besides more free time for this author? Review! DUNH DUNH DUNH!