Title:
Author: Hawkeye/Katy
Beta: Alex/Odysseus, Onigami/Ryan and Nox/BJ
Fandom: MASH
Rating: FRT
Disclaimer: I own Adair and the plotline. That is all. MASH belongs to… whoever it belongs to. frowns Who does it belong to? Fox? Meh… I dunno.
Summary: AU. Hawkeye was a doctor with a difference. We all knew that. But, honestly? How different is different?
BJ moaned softly, blinking in the dim light of the Swamp. He twisted his head from side to side. Hawkeye sat up from where he was perched by the still. The glowing white ball continued to float next to his head, but, BJ noticed absently, it was empty. Trapper was gone. Hawkeye whistled softly, his blue eyes fixed on BJ and filled with concern. BJ frowned. What in the world was Hawk doing? Hawk… Another surge of guilt washed through the blonde as he realized that, yet again, his waking thoughts had been, not of his wife, but of Benjamin Franklin 'Hawkeye' Pierce.
Hawkeye frowned, taking his eyes off the blonde doctor in the bunk next to him and turning them onto the glowing orb hovering by his head. He whistled again. Damn you, Trap. His frown grew even larger as the orb stayed empty. He reached up a hand, ignoring BJ's wide eyes, and swept his fingers through it. Hawkeye whistled again, a slow, complex, five-toned tune that made BJ's jaw drop. Hawkeye heaved a long-suffering sigh as the glowing ball remained empty.
"Never around when you need him," he said dryly to BJ.
"Look who's talkin', Mr Jeep-thief…" came a voice from glowing ball, followed closely by Trapper Macintyre's strawberry blonde head.
"I didn't steal that jeep! You did!" Hawkeye snapped back, indignantly, before shaking his head, "But that's really beside the point, Trap. You said you'd help me when Beej came round again."
"And here I am… And there he is…" Trapper said calmly, ruffling his wings against his back.
"Right…" Hawkeye replied, looking uncharacteristically flustered, "Uh… Beej… floor's yours… any questions?"
BJ blinked at the dark haired doctor. Any questions? Questions? After everything Hawkeye had just shown him… BJ could hear Trapper snickering in the background. Hawkeye flushed with embarrassment, burying his head in his hands.
"OK… so that wasn't the best way to put it."
"No, really?" BJ cut in, sarcastically.
"Sorry, Beej…" Hawk mumbled from behind his hands.
BJ shook his head, trying to gather his thoughts, "OK," he said, "I think the first thing I want to know is… well… everything…"
Trapper snorted, "Well, that's specific."
BJ glared at Trapper, "Well, let's start with how you two know each other."
Hawkeye grinned at the glowing ball, blue eyes shining with warmth. Trapper grinned back, flipping Hawkeye a mock-salute. Trapper rolled his shoulders, shifting his wings on his back. The curly haired man made an airy gesture towards Hawkeye, motioning for him to tell the story.
"Well," Hawkeye began, "According to our files, and the stories we tell everybody, Trapper and I met in medical school. It was the only way we could explain the fact that we became so close, so quickly."
"But…" BJ said, making a rolling gesture with his hand, and telling himself that he was absolutely not feeling jealous that Trapper and Hawkeye were close.
"But we actually met before we came to Korea," Hawkeye continued, "Trapper was my wingman."
"Wingman?" BJ asked, looking confused, "Isn't that a fighter pilot?"
"Damn thieves," Trapper mumbled, stretching his wings out, "Damn Helion too. Stupid numbnuts didn't even think. Just went 'round shootin' his mouth off. Weren't enough that he had wings, oh no, he had to go flyin' planes too."
BJ raised an eyebrow at Hawkeye. Hawkeye just rolled his eyes. The blonde doctor grinned. That was the Hawkeye he knew and loved. Wait… no… figure of speech… figure of speech. BJ shook his head and gestured for Hawkeye to continue his story.
"As I was saying…" Hawkeye said, shooting Trapper a look, "Wingman is also a term used by us that means a fully trained guardian angel, like Trapper here, who watches out for a newbie, like yours truly, on their first mission."
"I thought I was your first mission?" BJ said, squashing another irrational surge of jealousy.
Hawk nodded, "You are. But," he snorted, "Look how well I've handled it so far. You slip-winged me within six months of starting the assignment. Imagine how it woulda gone if Trap hadn't been here beforehand giving me pointers."
Trapper grinned, "Smokin' crater…"
"Your humor astounds me," Hawkeye replied dryly, "And thanks for the vote of confidence by the way."
"Wait," BJ mumbled, holding up a hand, "Slip-winged?"
"Slip-winged," Trapper cut in, "Means you busted him. Now he has to explain the whole guardian angel thing. Technically, shouldn't happen," the curly haired man shrugged nonchalantly, "Almost always does though. Hawk did good to last out six months."
"Really?" Hawk asked, looking slightly mollified.
Trapper nodded, "Took me two weeks, three days, nine hours and seventeen minutes to get slip-winged."
BJ raised an eyebrow, "Not that you were counting…"
Trapper looked rueful, blushing slightly, wings fluttering uncomfortably, "I wasn't, but my wingman was. Apparently I set a new record."
Hawkeye bit back a snort of laughter as Trapper threw him a glare. BJ grinned as well, relaxing back onto his bunk, feeling startlingly at ease. It wasn't until Trapper turned, obviously hearing something on his end, that it really sank in. BJ stared at the Bostonian's wings. He. Had. Wings. Trapper John Macintyre was a guardian angel. Benjamin Franklin 'Hawkeye' Pierce was a guardian angel. It was all real. BJ frowned, as something else flitted through his mind. Trapper was protecting someone back home. So was that other guy, Adair. But Hawkeye was furious with Adair…
"Hey Hawk?" BJ asked suddenly.
"Yes'm?" Hawk replied, both him and Trapper turning to face the frowning blonde.
"If you and Trapper are both…" BJ waved his hands, still reluctant to say the word 'angel', "… and that Adair guy is one too, how come you were so pissed with him, but you're ok with Trapper?"
"Uh…" Hawkeye looked decidedly uncomfortable.
"Ah hell…" Trapper murmured.
Steeling himself, Hawkeye turned to the glowing ball still bobbing gently by his head, "I got this, Trap."
"You sure, Hawk?" Trapper looked concerned.
Hawkeye nodded, "Yeah. This has to come from me."
BJ scowled, eyes narrowing, "What does? What's going on?"
Trapper nodded, "Best 'a' luck then," and the glowing ball disappeared.
BJ turned narrowed, suspicious blue eyes on Hawkeye. Hawkeye shifted uncomfortably, wishing, not for the first time, that he had his wings so he could bring them up to cover his face. BJ looked at his friend. Could he really call him his friend anymore? Was he still Hawk? BJ frowned. That was awful. Of course he was still Hawk. It's not like he'd poured out all his deep, dark secrets either. Hawk's secret was just a little more… dramatic… than most. But then… it's Hawkeye. Hawkeye is a little more dramatic than most. But… what wasn't he telling him?
"Well?" he asked coolly.
Hawkeye flinched, "Now, Beej, you gotta understand, I didn't know, I didn't have anything to do with this…"
"Didn't have anything to do with what!" BJ all but yelled.
Hawkeye bowed his head, bringing his hands up to cover his face, seeing as he had no wings to do so, "Adair, the angel I was talking to in the supply tent, he's… he's…"
"He's what?" BJ asked in a deceptively even voice.
"Promise not to hit me?" Hawkeye asked in a small voice.
"No," BJ returned in the same calm tone.
"He's Thomas Miller's guardian angel," Hawkeye said very quickly, the words all rushed together, his head bowed.
BJ stared. Hawkeye did not just say what he think he said. He blinked. Thomas Miller had a guardian angel. Peggy left him for Thomas Miller. Hawkeye was a guardian angel. Guardian angels made his wife leave him. Guardian angels were the reason he was in the middle of this godforsaken hellhole. The normally placid blonde doctor saw red.
"So," BJ ground out, struggling to keep his voice even, "What you're telling me is that you… creatures… are the reason my wife left me!"
Hawkeye's head snapped up at the use of the word 'creatures', his eyes narrowing angrily, "One. I resent the use of the word 'creature'. Two. It is not MY fault your wife left you; I was doing everything in my power to make sure you got home to her," Hawkeye's voice dropped to a low growl, "And three. From what I hear, this was soon to happen anyway, Peggy didn't exactly sound all that heartbroken in her lett…"
That was all that Hawkeye got out before BJ's fist came into sharp contact with his face. Blood poured out of the dark haired man's nose as he fell backwards, landing on his back in the middle of the Swamp. Hawkeye's eyes blazed furiously for a second, before all the anger drained out of them. He winced as he rolled onto his knees, then his feet. Hawkeye swayed unsteadily for a second, before walking carefully over to his bunk, sitting down and grabbing his towel, pressing it to his bloodied nose.
"I deserved that," he said thickly, towel still pressed to his face, blue eyes staring up at BJ.
BJ glared down at him, rubbing a hand across his knuckles. He looked down at his scraped knuckles as the pain began to filter into his mind. As his blinding anger faded, BJ glanced at Hawkeye. The dark haired doctor was sitting on his bunk, face pale, his eyes closed, with lines of pain crinkling his forehead. BJ blinked, he'd just punched Hawkeye. He'd broken his Hippocratic Oath and punched his best friend.