Hawkeye placed his cup of coffee on the table and sat down next to his wife handing her some toast. "You should eat this."
"I don't want to." She pushed it back toward him.
"It'll do you some good."
She glanced at him with an arched eyebrow. "I think I know what it will do." After he nodded she folded her arms across the table and laid her head down on top, groaning.
Hawkeye rubbed her back and kissed her head as he stood up. The tea pot was whistling. "Are you going to be okay riding around all day with your parents?"
"Yes." It came out mumbled but he understood. He knew the answer without asking anyway.
After pouring the tea and fixing it the way she liked he brought it back over to her. "Here baby, try this."
"Thank you." She picked her head up and tried to give him a small smile but her facial muscles didn't seem to be working well.
He sat down and sipped his coffee while watching her. They thought she was finished with the morning sickness but when she woke up that morning they were shown just how wrong they were. She was in the bathroom for the better part of an hour before she made her way downstairs just to collapse in the kitchen chair.
Hawkeye grabbed a piece of her toast and bit into it. "Maybe I should stay home today."
"I'll be okay."
With her pale skin, blood shot eyes, and hair all over the place she wasn't very convincing, but he knew better than to argue with her. He'd just call the hospital in the other room. "Come on, let's go upstairs and get you back to bed."
Her head was pounding from throwing up a little earlier so she didn't even nod. Hawkeye picked up her cup of tea and put his arm around her leading her back to their bedroom. "I don't want them to find out this way."
"They won't. I'll play sick with you."
"We should tell them tonight and your father too."
"That sounds good." He opened their bedroom door and steered her toward her side of the bed but she had another idea and headed toward his side. Hawkeye sat the cup on the nightstand and pulled the covers back for her.
When she noticed he was looking at her questioningly she spoke. "It makes me feel better when you're here."
He was definitely calling in now. Seeing her so sick always made him feel helpless. All he wanted to do was take care of her but nothing he did seemed to do the trick. "I'll be right back." He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
Before she closed her eyes she looked over at the clock. "You have to get going or you're going to be late."
"No, I'm not going in." She opened her mouth to respond but he beat her to it. "Don't argue with me. Just rest." He was out of the room before she could say anything.
&&&&&&
It was nine o'clock when Hawkeye unwrapped his arms from his wife and snuck out of bed. He could hear his mother-in-law banging around in the kitchen and was surprised that she waited so long to make breakfast.
"Good morning."
Peg didn't even turn around. She was still embarrassed from what happened the previous morning. "Morning, hon. I thought you would be at the hospital by now with all those surgeries." When she finally did look at him she noticed his appearance. "You can't go in all wrinkled like that. Don't you have any pressed clothes?"
"I have someone covering for me today. Margaret doesn't feel well; I was lying down with her."
"Oh. What's wrong with her?"
"Stomach bug I think." He pulled out a clean cup and poured himself some more coffee.
"Is she asleep?"
"Yes. She won't eat breakfast so you don't need to make a lot."
"Are you hungry?"
"I had something earlier, but thank you. What time are you meeting with the realtor?"
"At ten. Do you think she's up to going?"
"I'll ask her." Hawkeye kissed her on the cheek on his way out of the room. "Don't be nervous around us."
"I'm not," she lied.
&&&&&&&
The water was running upstairs when he returned to their bedroom. He knew she liked privacy when she wasn't feeling well so he didn't bother her. Instead he began to strip and change into something a little more comfortable and a lot less wrinkled. Jeans would do just fine he decided. He pulled on a black polo and combed his hair back with his hand. Looking in the mirror he gave himself a little nod and then proceeded to the bathroom door now that the water was off.
"Can I come in?" He was already opening the door.
Margaret was just wrapping a towel around her body. "Hey, where did you go?"
Hawkeye grinned widely at her. He could clearly see the changes taking place in her body already. "Just grabbed another cup of coffee. I thought you were still sound asleep."
"I don't sleep well alone." She picked up her tooth brush. "What's with the smile?"
"Nothing." He was standing behind her now and wrapped his arms around her waist. Placing a kiss on her neck he asked, "Are you feeling better?"
"A lot better." She started to brush her teeth all the while he kept his arms around her and his chin on her shoulder. She loved feeling him so close; he made her feel safe and loved. Rinsing her toothbrush she placed it back on the counter and turned her face to look at him. "I'm glad you stayed home."
"Mmm." He kissed her lips quickly. "Me too."
Without turning around she reached back with her hand and pulled his head in for another kiss. "You taste like coffee. I miss coffee."
He smiled and kissed her cheek. "Your mom is downstairs making breakfast."
She let out a groan. "I'm not eating anything right now."
"I told her already." His hand began to drift into the opening of her towel. When he felt the skin of her stomach he stopped and kept his hand there. "I can't wait until we can feel him move." She was about to open her mouth but he quickly spoke again. "Or her."
"Me too." She placed her hand over his. "I should get ready." Hawkeye kissed her cheek and then released her.
&&&&&&&
The day had been long to say the least. They were dragged around from house to house all afternoon, and her parents were no closer to finding a home than they were the day before. Margaret was glad her husband took the day off, if for no other reason than just to have him around to lighten the mood. Normally a day with her parents was enough to make her want to jump off a cliff, but today was different.
They were sitting on a large window sill in the family room of the sixth house of the day waiting for her mother to get done critiquing the place. She was probably complaining about the tile in the upstairs bathroom. "The ceilings are nice," Hawkeye noted.
Margaret tilted her head up to look. "A ceiling is a ceiling."
"Does that mean a wall is a wall?"
"No, it just applies to ceilings. Don't even try to get out of painting that room. I want that disgusting wallpaper gone by the time my child is born."
Hawkeye held up a hand. "I'm not trying to get out of it. We're hiring someone."
She glanced over at him. "Oh? This is news to me."
He placed his hand around her waist and pulled her so they were hip to hip. "You don't need to be around any fumes, and I am not the greatest handyman. We'll take that day and shop for furniture to fill that room."
She smiled and nodded. "We need everything, don't we?"
"First baby."
Contently she laid her head on his shoulder. "Only baby you mean."
Hawkeye placed a kiss on her head. "Whatever you say, darling." The first time she realized she was having morning sickness and not the flu she decided this was their only child. Of course that changed when she was feeling good and when she saw siblings playing together.
Their eyes moved to the doorway that led into the room from the kitchen. Her mother's voice was coming through loud and clear conveying everything she didn't like about the house.
"Makes me wonder how they ever found a house to buy in their lives," Hawkeye mumbled. He stood to his feet as his in-laws came into the room. "Ready to go to the next one, Peg?"
"Yes, let's go. Margaret, are you feeling okay?"
"Fine, why?" She asked as she grabbed her purse and stood up.
"Just checking."
Margaret gave her husband a questioning look and he shrugged his shoulders as he reached for her hand. All day long Peg had been asking her daughter how she felt, and then naming off symptoms asking if she felt any of those.
&&&&&&
Alvin Houlihan sat in the large chair in the guest room looking over some pictures and details of the houses they just looked through. His glasses hung near the tip of his nose and his cigar hung out of his right hand as close to the open window as he could get it.
The bedroom door opened and in walked his wife. "What are you doing?"
"Looking over houses."
"I mean the cigar. If your daughter finds out that..." She tried to reach for it, but he was too fast.
"What did you think of that house down by the ocean? The one with the pool."
"I don't know."
Alvin continued going over the homes knowing that he was going to have to be the one to narrow down the houses if they ever wished to move before the next snowfall... seven months away.
Peg settled down on the edge of the bed staring out of the window. "When do you think they're going to tell us?"
"Dunno."
"Why haven't they told us yet? It's so obvious."
"You'll have to ask your daughter."
"She's your daughter too." Peg slapped his knee gently. "I'm her mother, why wouldn't she tell me? The moment she found out she should have rushed to the phone to tell me."
"Peg, Margaret isn't you. She does things differently, always as. I'm sure she'll tell us soon."
Heaving a heavy sigh she stood up and grabbed the laundry basket. "I guess so. I can see it in her body you know."
"I know you can."
"I'm her mother; I just don't understand why she hasn't said a word. We've been here for four days now."
"Ask her, I don't have any answers for you."
Rolling her eyes she left the room. She spotted her daughter walking out of bathroom. "Honey?"
"Hmm?" Margaret smiled.
"Is everything okay?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mom. Why wouldn't it be?"
Nothing irritated Peg more than when her daughter openly rolled her eyes at her. Her jaw clenched and she let out a breath. "Your father's smoking. Go stop him."
"In the house?"
"In the bedroom." Peg continued on her way down the hall to the stairs. She heard her daughter spit and sputter and only grinned.
Margaret threw open the door to the guest bedroom and stalked over to her father. She ripped the cigar out of his hand; put it out in the ashtray he had next time, and then tossed it out the window. "You can finish it out there."
As she turned to leave he called to her. "Hey Margaret?"
"What?" She snapped.
"Your mother knows."
"I know, she was the one that told me you were smoking in here."
Figures. "I'm not talking about that. She knows about the baby, and she's hurt you haven't said anything to her."
She was shocked for a moment, but quickly recovered. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes you do. She's known for three days now."
Margaret sat down on the bed, hands in her lap. "How? No one but Hawk and I know."
"Hell if I know." He sat her papers in his lap and looked at her. "Then it's true that I'm going to be a grandpa?"
She nodded with a bright smile. "You're not supposed to know yet. We were going to tell you tonight along with Hawkeye's father." After a moment she placed her hand on his arm. "Are you excited?"
He tugged on her arm and pulled her over until she was sitting on the arm of his chair. Wrapping his arm around her he gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Did you have any doubt I wouldn't be?"
"Well... no. But the baby will be a Pierce."
He waved his hand in dismissal. "He's got Houlihan blood running through his veins. He's as much a Houlihan as you or I."
"So when he's screaming at the top of his lungs because he didn't get what he wanted, I can blame it on the Houlihan temper?"
"Absolutely not. Anything this kid does that's irritating will come from his father."
Margaret laughed and kissed her father on the cheek. "Okay, that sounds fair to me." She stood to her feet. "Don't tell anyone we had this conversation. My husband will be pissed if he ever found out that my parents knew before his father."
"You were never here."
She was about to leave the room but turned to remind him of something. "Oh, I was here alright, and if I ever catch you smoking in my house again you'll be sleeping on the porch swing." That said she was out the door.
"You're just like your mother," Alvin mumbled.
&&&&&&
Margaret found her mother on the porch swing sipping a cup of coffee. She was staring out at the ocean with a hurt look on her face. Margaret was sure she would see unshed tears if she was closer.
Peg looked up startled when she heard the porch creak. She gave her daughter a quick smile before she went back to staring at the crashing waves. "What are you doing out here?"
"Looking for you." It had been two hours since she saw her mother in the hallway upstairs. Dinner was finishing cooking and all of the men were in the den talking and sipping cocktails.
"Oh yeah? What do you want with me?"
Margaret sat down next to her mother and picked up her hand. "I wanted to talk to you."
"Need help with the pie?"
"No." She slid closer to her mother and laid her head on her shoulder. It wasn't often that she was affectionate, much to her mother's dismay. Margaret had always been more like her father when it came to emotions, unless it was anger or frustration.
Peg sighed. "You're happy?"
"Yeah, happier than I ever thought possible."
"Good." She patted her daughter's leg.
After a few moments of silence she spoke again. "There's something I want to tell you."
Peg felt her heart beat speed up. "Yeah, what is it?"
"Hawkeye and I…we were…our plan was to tell you all tonight, but I want you to know first." Margaret sat up so she could see her mother's face. "Hawk doesn't know I'm telling you, so please don't say anything." A bright smile came across her face. This was the first time she was going to talk about their baby with someone other than Hawkeye or her doctor. "I'm pregnant; you're going to finally be a grandma."
Peg smiled, tears coming to her eyes. "Finally is right!" She enveloped her daughter in a big hug. "Oh God, I'm so happy. I knew you were pregnant, I knew it."
"How'd you know?"
"A mother knows her daughter. You'll see." They pulled apart, still smiling. "When?"
"October."
Peg couldn't stop smiling. "If we weren't planning on moving here already, this would have made that decision for us."
"Yeah, I thought it would."
"How do you feel? We need to go shopping for everything. You need some bigger clothes, you need everything for a baby. Tomorrow we'll go."
She smiled and patted her mother's hand. "Thank you, but Hawkeye and I are holding off on that for a little. We'd like to get the nursery done first, and do a little shopping together."
"Oh, right. Well we can go later, right?"
"Of course. It's been killing me to stay away from baby stuff lately. News travels fast in this town and if anyone had seen either one of us so much as glancing at a baby blanket…"
"I understand. Well let's get in there and tell everyone. I'm going to burst if I can't celebrate."
Margaret smiled. "Just remember that you don't know yet, okay? My husband would kill me."
"I highly doubt that, but I won't say a word."
"Good, but you're going to have to stop smiling before you go back in there." Margaret stood up. "Dinner will be on the table in five minutes."
"I'll be right in. Give me a minute to get myself together." Peg had waited a long time to become a grandmother, she couldn't hide her excitement that easily and she knew she wouldn't be able to do so for long. "You'll tell everyone before we eat, won't you?"
"Yes." The back door shut behind Margaret with a squeak. She was surprised to see Hawkeye standing there in front of her. "Oh, hi."
"Hi." He looked her up and down. She had a goofy smirk on her face and tried to push past him. He grabbed her arms and stopped her, making her look at him. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing. Help me get dinner on the table, please?" She kissed him and pushed past him.
Hawkeye looked out the back door and then back to his wife. Peg was sitting out there with a giant smile on her face, wiping tears from her eyes. "You told her, didn't you?"
"What? No."
"You're such a terrible liar."
She didn't know what to say so she busied herself getting the food ready to be taken to the dining room table. "Can you cut this roast?"
He stood at the counter with the knife doing as she asked. "I'm surprised you held out for this long actually."
"I didn't te…"
The look he gave her told her she wasn't getting out of this one. "I'm sorry. I know we agreed." She didn't want to tell him that both of her parents knew. Technically she didn't tell them, they just knew.
"Honey its okay." What she didn't know was that a week ago he had let it slip while fishing with his father.
Margaret abandoned what she was doing and gave him a hug. "You're not mad at me?"
"No. I just wish I had been there when you told her."
"I'm sorry." She gave him a gentle kiss. "Next time."
He just grinned and shook his head. It was only hours ago that she wanted nothing to do with a second child. "Next time I get to shout it from the rooftops the minute I find out."
As soon as everyone was seated Hawkeye made the announcement about the baby. Just as expected everyone was elated. Hawkeye didn't figure out that both Alvin and Peggy knew about the baby before hand, and Margaret didn't figure out that Hawkeye had told Daniel either. They both decided what the other didn't know wouldn't hurt them.
&&&&&&&&&
When they pulled into their driveway Alvin was sitting on the front porch smoking and reading the paper. "You should talk to him about quitting," Margaret said to her husband. "He doesn't listen to me."
Hawkeye looked at her like she lost her mind. "What makes you think he would listen to me?"
"You could try." She opened the door and stepped out of the car.
He rolled his eyes before he got out of the car. "When are they headed home?"
"I'm bringing them to the airport tomorrow afternoon. Pop the trunk."
He reached into the car and did as she said. "If they're leaving so soon why did we get all of this food? We can't eat it before it rots." The trunk was filled with paper bags full of food.
"Well my mother is staying a few extra days and you know how she likes to cook."
That was the first time he heard anything about that. Slowly he turned his head to look at her as they stood at the trunk. "Why?"
"After she found out about the baby she wanted to stay for a few days to see if I need help with anything."
"You're fine." He said with certainty. "Did you tell her she could go home?"
"No."
"No?" He knew he had to step carefully when it came to issues about her family. "But you're fine. What could you possibly need help with?"
She eyed him for a moment before she spoke. It had been a week since her parents first came to stay with them and she knew Hawkeye's patience with them was wearing thin. He liked his privacy and he loved coming home to Margaret and only Margaret. "I think she just wants me to need her right now."
"I can take care of anything you need. What do you need?"
"I don't need anything yet." She gathered some bags into her arms. "My mother needs to be needed."
Hawkeye growled lowly. "I love her, but you and I haven't been alone for a week. I was hoping we could spend this weekend alone. Larry is ready to paint Saturday." It was just supposed to be the two of them looking for things for their baby. He didn't want anyone else around.
She blew a loose piece of blonde hair out of her eyes. "I can't just kick her out of the house."
He followed behind her with his arms full of bags. Alvin stood up and looked directly at Hawkeye. "She shouldn't be caring that."
"I'm fine, Dad." Margaret said on her way through the door.
"What are you thinking? She shouldn't have to lift a thing and she's caring three bags."
Hawkeye wanted to haul off and punch him. So she was caring some bags, they couldn't weigh anymore than her purse. He made sure she only picked up the lightest bags. "Would you mind moving from the door? Your smoke is going into my house."
In the kitchen he sat the bags down on the counter and turned around to go back outside. He didn't say a word to anyone. After he brought the rest of the things in he pulled Margaret aside and told her he was going to head over to his father's. He needed some space and a place to cool off. He was close to blowing his top from frustration.
Peggy was okay, he didn't mind her presence so much, but ever since they told Alvin about the baby he had been on Hawkeye's case about everything. The way he drove was too dangerous, he didn't cater to his wife enough, he needed to start acting more adult. Nothing was good enough; it was worse than when they first married. Margaret seemed to be taking it all in stride, much to his surprise and dislike. She kept reminding him that they were their guests and they would be leaving soon. Soon wasn't soon enough. He couldn't stand living in the same house as his in-laws.