She stood in the doorway smiling, "I almost can't believe it."
He chuckled. "Well, It has been some time, hasn't it?"
"It certainly has."
She stepped aside and led him in. He looked around the room, "Where's BJ?"
"He's making lunch," Peg looked towards the hallway and called out, "BJ! Guess who's here!?"
Instantly, they heard the sound of the faucet being turned off, and before they knew it, he was entering the living room with the largest grin on his face.
"Charles! You came!"
"Well of course I came. I'm not usually one to turn down an invitation."
Peg motioned to the couch. "Please, put your bags down and make yourself comfortable."
Charles left his bags by the door and gladly seated himself on the couch. "Your place has changed since I was last here."
"Well it's been nearly fifteen years since you first visited."
Charles looked around, their living room still had the same pastel lavender wallpaper, but there were many new decorations on the wall. Most of them were framed pictures, mostly family photos. He noticed one from BJ and Peg's wedding, Erin holding her high school diploma, and... Charles smiled. They even hung up BJ's old M*A*S*H group photo.
There was everyone else smiling back at him, Margaret, Klinger, Father Mulcahy, Hawkeye, Colonel Potter, Radar, BJ, and himself. This shell of the past almost made his eyes water, until he glanced to the picture beside it. It looked newer than the rest.
And it definitely was. You could tell by the gray hair on BJ and Peg, and the fact that Erin wasn't in it. And as Charles looked closer he noticed their smiles. They didn't seem as real, almost empty and fake.
"How is she? Erin?" Charles looked back to the couple. "I haven't gotten a letter from her in quite some time."
BJ nodded. "She's doing alright, we got a letter from her just last week. She even sent us a new picture," BJ said, pointing to the wall behind the couch.
Charles turned to look behind where he was sitting, and just above the couch hung a framed photo.
Erin was standing with a large grin on her face, her arm looped around the back of someone else who seemed to have been laughing at the time of the picture being taken.
"Erin sure is a tall one. Is that... Darlene, she's with?"
BJ nodded. "She always writes to Peg and I about her."
"Yes, her stories to me recount their numerous shenanigans," Charles smirked at BJ, "almost reminds me of a certain mustached prankster back in Korea."
BJ laughed, "well like father, like daughter." BJ reached for his wallet. "A few months ago Erin sent us another photo of her and the unit." He pulled out the small pocket-sized picture and handed it to Charles.
He looked over the group picture. He spotted Erin and Darlene standing next to each other. Beside them was a tall red haired woman, he guessed she must have been Jo. And in front of her was a shorter man who looked to be in his early twenties, probably was the Sargent Porter she told him about. And in the middle of the front row was and older man, maybe in his early fifties. He guessed he had to be Colonel Dayton. And on the end of the front row, there was an older woman kneeling in front of the others.
"My word... Margaret."
BJ reached for the picture as Charles handed it back to him. "She's changed a little, hasn't she?"
He shook his head. "Besides they grayish hair, she doesn't look any different from the day we left Korea."
"Have you gotten any letters from her? She's sent Peg and I a few in the past months."
Charles shook his head. "I haven't gotten anything from her."
"Maybe when she comes back, I'll have to arrange a reunion for those of us who are left."
"Maybe she'll actually show up this time," Charles scoffed.
BJ sighed as he slipped the picture back in his wallet, reaching for the one that was tucked behind it.
On the back was written in blue pen, "1955, Mill Valley." And flipping it over he faintly smiled at the old memory.
He handed it to Charles. And as he took the picture from BJ, he looked over the old photograph.
"You- you still have this picture?"
BJ nodded. "I always kept it in my wallet." BJ gave him a distant smile. "You remember, how I set the timer on the old camera and the five of us scrambled to pose in front of it before the shutter went off?"
He chuckled, "Yes, of course. How could I forget you frantically getting back off your feet after having tripped on the way to the couch?"
BJ chuckled back. "Well I suppose that did happen."
There in black and white, the five of them were sitting on the same old couch that Charles was sitting on now.
He was grinning. BJ was sitting beside him, with a small- five year old Erin in his lap. Next to BJ, Hawkeye was sitting between him and Peg.
All of them were smiling.
Charles ran his hand over the creases in the picture. "I still can't believe you have this..."
"I've been carrying it for nearly fifteen years. Maybe it needs a new pocket."
Charles looked up at BJ. "No. I couldn't possibly take this from you."
"Just keep it, Charles."
Charles nodded, his eyes glazing over. "Alright. Thank you, BJ."