A/N: This is the seventh of my 31 stories as I work my way through Draco's Den, Excelsior Fanfiction, Hermione's Haven, Marvelously Magical Fanfiction, Melting Pot Fanfiction, NaNo's Misfits, and Wizarding Crossover Connection's 31 Days of Writing Fanfiction event. Each day is a brand new prompt and hopefully, each day will be a different fandom coming from me.
The challenge: Major Character Death. Spoiler warning: Henry Blake doesn't make it home.
Love always,
~starr
"Numb."
"Confused."
"Frozen in time."
Hawkeye Pierce looked around at the group gathered in the operating room, mourning the loss of the beloved Colonel Henry Blake. Each person gathered shared the feeling that overwhelmed them when Radar delivered the news. It had been three days since the devastating news, but everyone felt as though it had just happened moments before.
"Terrified."
"Lost."
"What about you, Hawk?" Trapper asked, placing a hand on Hawkeye's shoulder.
Hawkeye glanced at the hand out of the corner of his eye and hung his head. He took a deep breath as he lifted his head to look around the room again. "Scared," he answered, leaning against the operating table. "Henry Blake was a good man who deserved to make it home to his family and look at what happened to him. What does that mean for someone like me?"
"What do you mean, Pierce?" Houlihan asked, furrowing her brow as she leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees.
"I don't have a wife and kids waiting for me to come home from the War," Hawkeye said, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't even have a practice to go back to because I closed up shop before I left for Korea."
"What about your dad?" Radar asked timidly, looking around the room for the first time since they had all gathered there.
"Sure, I've got my dad," Hawkeye replied, "but going home to your parents is nothing like going home to a wife and kids. Henry had a brand new baby boy that he'll never get to meet because of this damn war. What else is this fighting going to take away from people who don't deserve it?"
"Everything," Margret sighed, shaking her head. "None of us are going to be the same after this. Henry Blake may have been going home to a happy life with his wife and children, including a brand new baby, but he wasn't the same man they knew. He has seen things."
"We've all seen things," Trapper chimed in. "How many kids have we watched die on the table?"
"Or patients we thought we saved and shipped off to Seoul only to hear back that they didn't survive the helicopter ride," Hawkeye replied, scrubbing his hands over his face. "It just isn't fair."
"Life isn't supposed to be fair," Burns scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest and shook his head. "We lose patients all the time. What makes this any different?"
Margaret's face snapped towards Frank with narrowed eyes. "What makes this any different?" she shrieked.
Trapper reached over and smacked Frank upside the head. "Be careful, Frank. You're in hot water now."
"Obviously, Frank isn't mourning the loss of our friend," Hawkeye said, rolling his eyes. "Why are you here if you think we are overreacting?"
"If you don't want me here, then I'll just leave," Frank announced, reaching for Houlihan's hand and pulled her towards him. "Let's go, Margaret."
Margaret pulled her hand away from him and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not going anywhere, Frank."
"But Margaret," Frank whined, pouting his lower lip briefly.
"Good-bye, Frank," she said, rolling her eyes as she turned her back to him. "Where were we?"
"Discussing the wonderful man that was Colonel Henry Blake, ma'am," Radar chimed in.
"Henry deserved to make it home, but he didn't," Hawkeye said, reaching behind him to grab a glass off the table behind him and lifted it in the air. "To Colonel Blake, may we here at the 4077 live up to the caliber of people he expected us to be."
"To Colonel Blake," they cheered, toasting to his memory.
After a few moments of silence, Radar's head popped up, and his eyes went wide. "Choppers."
"The cycle never ends," Hawkeye mumbled to himself, downing the rest of his martini. He watched as the rest of his friends rushed out of the Swamp. Taking a deep breath, Hawkeye made his way out of the Swamp and up to the chopper pad. "War doesn't allow time for mourning. A surgeon's work is never done."