A/N...Yeah...I'm an idiot...I forgot that a while back I uploaded an apology note cause my time between updates had gotten ridiculous again due to my worst enemy...writer's block and I uploaded it as a chapter, thus making my chapter numbers here not match with the ones on my hard drive. i forgot this and apparantly, I made a mistake in typing in chapter numbers when I was uploading once and used the one from my hard drive, and I didn't even notice, thus messing up my chapter numbers and making methink I had already uploaded this one, but I hadn't.So, sorry about that. Apparantly, the story can be read and make sense without this chapter, but I make references to it in a later chapter and it's a lovely little filler, I think, so here you all go, for your reading pleasure...And now I'm off to make the real update :) Enjoy!

-AEM

Wedding Bells and Bomb Shells

Chapter 23 - Realizations

"Hawkeye…Where'd Mama go? She went running past, she didn't even say hi or look at me or anything. Is she mad at me?" Erin asked tearfully, running towards Hawkeye, who was approaching with Stephanie close on his heels.

Hawkeye scooped up the young girl into his arms and held her close "Oh no, baby, your mom's not mad at you. That's not it at all. She just wasn't feeling well and she needed to hurry to the bathroom, that's why she didn't stop." He reassured the girl, distractedly, still keeping an eye on her father.

Erin pulled away from leaning on Hawkeye to look him in the face "Does she have the sickness that I had? You can make her better right, Hawkeye?" Erin asked anxiously. Fully confident in her honorary uncle's ability to make anything that wasn't right better.

"I would, sweetie and so would your Daddy, but your Mom isn't telling us what's wrong with her. I don't even know if she has the sickness that you had"

"But…but…"Erin's lower lip trembled "Since she won't say what's wrong, does that mean cause she won't get treated, that she's gonna die?"

"What!" Hawkeye looked stunned at this pronouncement, which threw all thoughts of needing to talk to BJ out of his mind as Erin began to cry full-force tears "No, Erin, of course not! Where are you getting all this?" He asked, furiously, but there was to be no intelligible answer from the young girl "No…no…sweetie, don't cry, don't cry, baby. Uncle Hawkeye will make everything better, you know that…" he tried to sooth, using the full confidence the girl had for his doctoring abilities, a fact that made Hawkeye feel very good about himself, to his advantage, stroking her hair, reassuringly.

A sudden, very loud rumbling noise, made Erin, who had begun to calm down, and all the other children around her and Hawkeye scream with fright. Erin clung to Hawkeye even tighter than before, her tears renewed. Hawkeye clung Erin even tighter to himself, partially out of a need to protect this young girl he cared so much about and partially as life support to keep his own self here with her rather than dragging his mind kicking and screaming back to Korea. This sound reminding him so much of the sound of bombs he had heard so often back in Korea, that had scared him senseless back then and just as much now.

As suddenly as the noise started, it stopped again. The only noise that didn't stop was the sound of screaming, which Hawkeye suddenly realized wasn't coming only from the children. Hawkeye opened his eyes; he hadn't even been conscious of closing them…and spun around, Erin still clinging fiercely to him in his arms towards the other children. Baby Sherman was crying furiously in the arms of Stephanie, who looked quite frightened, herself. Kathy had her arms protectively around her younger sister, Becky, though she was crying just as hard as her sister. For the first time in quite a long time, Hawkeye found himself at a loss for words out of fear.

Klinger and Soon-Lee came rushing over at that point. Klinger snatched his baby out of Stephanie's arms, while Soon-Lee thanked Stephanie for protecting her baby in a rapid mix of English and Korean. Stephanie nodded distractedly and ran from the room as soon as decently possible, presumably to find her father. Trapper and Louise were the next to arrive throwing their arms around both of their daughters.

"Hawkeye, what was that!" Radar yelled as he ran over flanked by his mother and girlfriend, much more like the flustered Radar he had been back in Korea, rather than the cool, calm, collected Radar of today. "First there was this loud boom…" he spread his arms wide to illustrate how loud the boom was "…and now the back wall of the ballroom's on fire!"

"I dunno, Radar" mumbled Hawkeye, not really paying much attention, focusing more on the sobbing child in his arms rather than the conversations around him.

"An earthquake, maybe?" Klinger suggested, trying desperately to sooth his baby son.

"I dunno, Klinger" Hawkeye mumbled, just as distracted

"Oh come on, Klinger, get serious. An earthquake wouldn't light the room on fire" protested Trapper

"Oh yeah…"

"Pierce, everyone all right?" Colonel Potter asked, arriving on the scene with his wife and Father Mulcahy close on his heels, Charles and Lorraine not far behind. Lorraine was clinging to Charles' hand, something which, under normal circumstances, Hawkeye would have teased Charles mercilessly about, but seeing how these weren't normal circumstances and that Hawkeye had more important things to worry about, he found he couldn't care much.

"Yeah everyone's fine"

"Everyone accounted for?" Charles asked, his voice rapt with attention

"Uh…yeah I think…I dunno, BJ has the guest list…Klinger, do me a favor, go find BJ and tell him to get his ass and his guest list over here" Hawkeye ordered, more forcefully than he had meant, his mention of his best friend, awoke thoughts of fear when he began to wonder why BJ hadn't come over to check on his kid like the rest of their friends had with their kids. But these thoughts were driven almost immediately out of Hawkeye's mind as Erin, hearing the mention of her father's name, began to scream for her father, her mother, and pretty much any member of her family.

The entire group swooped down on Erin, trying to calm the five-year-old down.

"Erin!" yelled a voice suddenly, mingled with fear

Erin looked up from where she had pressed her tear-streaked eyes into Hawkeye's shoulder, desperate for comfort "Mama!" the young girl screamed, and began to wiggle out of Hawkeye's arms.

The group parted to reveal Peg, who looked shaken, but ready to receive her daughter. Erin was transferred from Hawkeye's arms to Peg and Peg hugged the young girl to her.

"Oh God…" Peg's voice shook, but steadied almost immediately as she looked up at Hawkeye "Hawkeye, what happened?"

Hawkeye briefly wondered why everyone assumed that he knew what was going on any better than any of them and why they were automatically deferring to him as their leader. It felt good, yes, but confusing all the same. Hawkeye opened his mouth to speak, though what he was going to say to reassure his friends not even he knew, when Klinger returned, vividly pale under his dark Lebanese skin "Hawk!" he ran towards the group and began to talk breathlessly "I looked everywhere, I can't find BJ anywhere!"

"What!" Hawkeye and Peg asked in unison

"Maybe, he's in the bathroom" suggested Radar, desperate to find any conclusion that didn't involve doom and despair

"No, can't be" Charles waved away that conclusion "I was there mere minutes before the explosion, I only just managed to get back…" he trailed off and squeezed Lorraine's hand unconsciously "Hunnicut wasn't there" he concluded

"He cut in with me dancing with Margaret, that was the last I saw him" Colonel Potter offered

Whether Hawkeye heard any of this conversation was unclear for after Klinger had come back with the information that BJ didn't seem to be present, he went back to the last time he had talked to BJ…they had been at the table talking about Charles…no that wasn't it…BJ had been dancing with Margaret, Hawkeye remembered after vaguely hearing from Colonel Potter that BJ had cut in with him and Margaret…he had been with Peg…Hawkeye looked up at Peg, who was looking at someone, he didn't look to see who, tears threatening to fall out of worry for her husband…Peg had gotten dizzy…he had wanted to find BJ, but then Erin's fears and the explosion had put all thoughts of BJ out of his mind. BJ had been over near the outside wall. Hawkeye looked up quickly, half expecting to see BJ coming towards them, shaken, but still smiling that cheesy smile of his, but he wasn't. All Hawkeye saw was the wall…the caved in wall…That must have been where the explosion had taken place, Hawkeye hadn't thought to look for where it had happened, more concerned for the children than anything else, but he looked now for that was the last place he had seen BJ Hunnicut.

That was when Hawkeye remembered something else. He hadn't connected the two items together before, he would never be able to figure out why he hadn't, probably due to fear, preoccupation with other matters and the inability due to all of this to focus on more than one matter at a time. BJ was missing, last seen near the now caved-in wall. Now he remembered. Margaret had been with him.

Hawkeye's insides froze. "Hawk, what's the matter?" Trapper asked. Hawkeye hadn't even realized anyone was looking at him.

Hawkeye pointed a shaking finger at the caved-in wall. "There…" he said hoarsely "He was there…BJ was over there, I was the last to see him before I turned to talk to Erin…Margaret was with him"