A/N: Heyyyy there awesome, loyal readers! I'm proud to present Chapter 28 of Wedding Bells and Bomb Shells, up thanks to some late night inspiration that kept me up till about quarter to 4 in the morning this morning. I would have posted it then, but I couldn't think of a chapter title till now. Anyway, I really hope you all like it! Two more chapters left! I hope to have em up soon, if I don't get too distracted by the distraction that is myspace. And I'm still thinking about writing a sequel, cause this plot bunny's starting to bother me.

And thanks to all my awesome reviewers! You are what keeps me writing and the knowing that someone appreciates my work. So enjoy everyone and review!

-AEM

Wedding Bells and Bomb Shells

Chapter 28

Lost or Found?

Hawkeye's jaw dropped at this pronouncement. He suddenly felt someone crush the bones in his hand. He looked over and found that Peg had grabbed his hand and was squishing it in surprise and newfound hope. They exchanged excited glances and ran hand-in-hand toward the pile of rubble…

Hawkeye and Peg got there, the rest of the 4077th gang on their heels. Unlike the quiet digging of before, the workers were excitedly digging around one specific area, not too far away. Other than that, there was no sign of life beneath the rubble.

Casting a sympathetic glance toward Peg, and unwilling to let his own disappointment show, Hawkeye addressed the man who had come to get them "So you think you found something?" he prompted the young, yet slightly naieve man who looked proud that he had found something, though no one knew what it was.

"Oh right, sorry" the young man's cheeks flushed, slightly reminding Hawkeye of whenever Radar got flustered back in Korea, but Hawkeye found that, despite the resemblence to his younger brother figure, he found he didn't care much about embarrassing the younger man when all he cared about was getting his wife and best friend back "It's not much…" the young man continued "We found a hand…we had a doctor check it…pulse slightly thready, but there" He finished proudly "It's right over here" he walked a foot around the rubble and gestured to a hand lying limply on the floor of the ballroom

"That's BJ!" screamed Peg suddenly, surprising everyone, including Hawkeye

"Umm…Peg, how can you be sure?" Hawkeye asked timidly

"It's his wedding ring, I should know. Besides, I'd recognize his hand anywhere" Peg flung herself to the floor, grabbing her husband's hand.

Suddenly a whirl of activities ensued. The young man, who appeared to be the one in charge, began barking orders right and left, finally leaving without another word to the group to go supervise something or the other. Another worker came and ushered them back so they wouldn't be in the way.

Pegregainedher death grip on Hawkeye's hand. "Yes! I knew they would be found!" she flung her arms around Hawkeye's neck and squeezed tightly, nearly choking him

As excited as Hawkeye was, he couldn't get to the same degree of excitedness as Peg was for there was a little voice inside of him telling him that there still was a chance that it might not turn out all right.

"We've got him!" yelled a voice suddenly and the group of workers cheered "We need a gurney STAT!" the medical workers who had been on standby rushed forward .

A paramedic rushed up to Peg "Ma'am, we think we've found your husband. If you'll come with me, we need you to positively identify him"

Pale, Peg nodded silently. She turned to Hawkeye "Hawk, will you come with me?" she asked, almost nervously "I'm scared of all the other reasons they would want me to identify him"

Hawkeye's vivid blue eyes showed concern "Yeah, of course, Peg"

Peg smiled "Thanks" she took his hand again and squeezed it gently

Hawkeye and Peg went to join the paramedic next to the gurney "Ma'am, is this your husband?" the paramedic asked

"Yes" Peg whispered

The paramedic smiled widely and took Peg aside, but Hawkeye didn't follow "Your husband appears to be doing fine…" the paramedic began, but Hawkeye tuned out the rest of what the paramedic was saying. He hadn't looked at BJ since he had approached the gurney; he had avoided it, but now he looked down. BJ looked oddly the same as always. Outside, he was just very pale and bruised and cut, he looked not much different than he did when a long night of drinking would get seriously out of hand back in Korea. Hawkeye beheld the so familiar face of his best friend, remembering how he had so recently thought there was a chance he would never see it again, and was eternally grateful that that hadn't been the case, cheesy mustache and all

"Hey Hawk" said a voice weakly, shaking Hawkeye from his thoughts

Hawkeye's jaw dropped "Beej!" he breathed "Hey there buddy, how ya doing?"

"Like I've been buried under solid rock for God only knows how long"

Hawkeye smiled "Right. Stupid question"

"Yeah. Do me a favor?"

"Of course. Anything"

"Stop holding hands with my wife, yours is coming soon" Hawkeye looked slightly stunned and BJ laughed weakly "She's all right, Hawk, don't worry. I made sure of it. Made sure I got the brunt of when the wall collapsed"

Tears came to Hawkeye's eyes "Thank you, BJ"

"What's a best friend for? Besides, she's my friend too. And I see you took care of my wife too, so we're even"

"God, Beej…" He laughed suddenly and wipeda tear out of his eyes"I never thought I'd say that again. Beej…" he repeated softly

"I know, Hawk, I know" BJ smiled and squeezed his best friend's hand

"I knew…I hoped you'd be all right. I mean, we survived a war without anything happening to us, except a few…a lot of nasty hangovers. You didn't live through the war to be killed by a small, homemade bomb set by an idiot."

BJ laughed and Hawkeye stared at him for a minute, tears in his eyes "You really are my best friend, BJ…" Hawkeye trailed off and looked at his best friend again, and for the first time in his life, was at a loss for words "Don't do that to me again, okay?"

"Okay Hawk" BJ smiled "What happened anyway?"

Hawkeye's face turned into a scowl "Frank Burns happened. He decided to prove that he wasn't afraid of us and could stand up to us and all the times we made a fool out of him by setting a bomb"

BJ's eyes widened "Wow. Talk about a $50 retaliation for a 2 buck crime. Never thought old Frank had that in him"

"I think that was the point" Hawkeye said quietly

"Where's Frank now?"

"Jail, thank God. Under arrest for two counts of attempted murder and possession of illegal explosives and use of illegal explosives. No bail"

"Don't think he'll be getting out of there anytime soon"

"Good. His daughter was helping him"

"Stephanie?" BJ's jaw dropped in disbelief "I would have thought she wouldn't be able to hurt a fly much less set off a bomb"

"She didn't do it"

"But you just said…"

"She just gave Frank the idea to stand up to us and she knew about the bomb but she didn't set it. Frank wouldn't let her and he asked that she not be charged with anything and take her charges on top of his own. Shock and wonder to us all, Frank Burns does care about something and that's his daughter"

BJ's eyes widened again "Now that I wouldn't have thought old Frank had in him"

"Oh my God, BJ!" suddenly Peg appeared by the gurney next to Hawkeye. Hawkeye looked on with a smile as he watched BJ's face light up when he saw his wife and Peg fling her arms as far around BJ's neck as his lying-down position on the gurney would allow.

"Peg!" BJ's voice was muffled against her shoulder "My sweet Peggy!"

"Oh Lord, BJ, I was so scared…"

"I know…I know. It's all right now, darling. Everything's all right. I'm fine" BJ consoled

"I love you BJ"

"I love you too, my angel"

"Sir? We need to take you to the hospital now" the paramedic approached them

"Beej, I gotta stay here…" Hawkeye started

BJ held up a hand to silence his best friend "Yeah, Hawk, I know…"

"I'll come visit you as soon as I can" Hawkeye promised

BJ smiled "I wouldn't have it any other way"

Peg tore her eyes away from her husband long enough to look at Hawkeye "Hawkeye, I want to thank you for being there for me. Talking to you really helped me, I don't think I could have made it through this without you. You were the one that gave me the hope to go on and really believe that BJ would be all right, even if you weren't so sure yourself. I can see why BJ considers you his best friend, and I'd like to consider you that too"

Hawkeye smiled down at the petite blonde and reached over and hugged her "Of course, the feeling is very mutual. I don't think I could have gotten through this without you either cause it was in trying to convince you that everything would turn out okay and seeing you believe me that made me believe too"

Peg smiled through her tears "Margaret will be all right, Hawkeye"

"I know" Hawkeye said determinedly, released Peg, but kept one arm around her shoulders and looked over at BJ "That's because she had BJ looking out for her"

Hawkeye sat as near to the site of the explosion as he was allowed. Everyone from the 4077th had either gone to the hospital, following BJ and Peg in the ambulance, or to the house to fill their spouses and significant others in on the latest news and bring Erin to the hospital to see her father. Hawkeye had insisted that they all leave, he really didn't have a reason why he had done that, though he was kinda regretting it now. He could have used the company, to get himself out of his own head That had been a half hour ago. He had sat there since everyone had left, replaying the scene with BJ and Peg in his mind. He had meant every word that he had said to the both of them about how convincing Peg to believe had made him somewhat believe too, but this increasing amount of time from when they had found BJ made Hawkeye pessimistically wonder if he was wrong. And that thought made him scared, angry and sick all at once.

The raised voices of the diggers brought Hawkeye from his thoughts. He looked up at them. The young man in charge from before approached him. Hawkeye stood up quickly, brushing his hands on the sadly ruined pants from his tux.

"Doctor Pierce…I think we may have found your wife" started the man

Hawkeye's breath caught "Really? Is she all right? How is she?"

"I honestly can't say. I'm not a doctor, but she appears to be fine, just a bit battered and bruised. From what I hear, it appears that when the bomb went off, Dr. Hunnicut shielded your wife's body with his own so he would get the brunt of the damage and it appears to have worked. She's not quite as beat up as he was"

"Yeah, that's Beej…noble no matter what" Hawkeye smiled fondly

"The workers are working on unburying her even as we speak, so if you'll just come this way…"

A gurney stood at the ready like it had with BJ, in pretty basically the same spot, which wasn't very surprising as they had been together when it had happened. The spot was blocked off by yellow caution tape, but looking beyond it, Hawkeye could see long, slender legs, which he would have recognized anywhere. Upon seeing this, Hawkeye threw back his head and laughed harder than he had in days. People were looking at him like he was crazy, but he didn't care. He had been through hell in the last few days. He had always said that being in the Korean War was like going to hell and back, but this had been like he had suddenly returned to it all over again. Not the same conditions per se, but the same mindset, living in constant fear of being blown up, the noise of the explosion, the sight, and the fear that the people he cared about more than anything in the world would be lost to him forever. It was a blast from the past. A very sick, twisted, frightening blast from the past. One which he never wanted to experience ever again. He had lived through those feelings every day for three years, and this experience had reminded him what it was like, that he, god willing, would never have to deal with this ever again, and that he hadn't lost two of the people he held most dear. And more importantly, that it was over. The old, familiar fear was over. For good this time.

"Dr. Pierce?" the paramedic was back, Hawkeye hadn't realized how long he had been spacing out. The gurney was right behind him now, and, Hawkeye now noticed, had an occupant. "Dr. Pierce, is this your wife?" the paramedic stepped aside and Hawkeye looked down at the woman lying on the gurney. Her long blonde hair lay all over, but Hawkeye thought it looked angelic; her gorgeous, hand-made whitegown was tattered and torn (their friend who had made it would have a fit), but Hawkeye thought it still looked beautiful and her long, athletic legs were bruised, but Hawkeye didn't see any of these imperfections. Instead he saw, the woman that he loved, the love of his life; his wife.

"Yes" Hawkeye answered, voice shaking with a mix of disbelief and love "Yes. This is my wife. My Margaret"

The paramedic grinned "Excellent. The woman we found was confirmed to be Margaret Houlihan, aged…"

"No" Hawkeye cut him off "No, this isn't Margaret Houlihan. Margaret Pierce. Mrs. Margaret Pierce"