A/N Thank you for the lovely reviews that gave me much pleasure, and so much needed strength to go on. :)You see, my company has gone insane lately, and we're constantly made to do overtime, and even work Saturdays. Sharing the rest of my time between some attempts at private life, and writing fiction has been a bit trying but I'm doing my best. Also this chapter must be feeding of my life force. I grow more tired day by day, and this little Mister gets longer and longer. Now, how else should I interpret that, huh? Anyway I had to cut it in two so for now I supply you with part one.

How may I scare you?

Chapter 2

Peace Talks Are Priceless

"Son, we have to talk" Colonel's hoarse voice sounded somewhere over Hawkeye's left ear, as he found his right one currently buried among hospital sheets. He must have fallen asleep sometime last night, half sitting on a chair, half lying on Margaret's hospital bed, and from the pain in his back he knew he was going to pay for it dearly. It seemed though, the world in general wanted him to pay for more than just that. "Come to my office. You know you have some explaining to do." his CO stated, and left.

Hawkeye glanced up to sleeping Margaret- unhappy to leave her, and then his eyes searched for BJ, but as it was Charles' turn for a post-op shift, he found none of the moustache man in sight. Winchester, on the other hand, made a nasty ' You're in trouble, and I'm gla-a-ad' sort of face, but then his expression turned a shade more sympathetic, and- though still pompously- he said: "Run along with Colonel, Pierce. I'll have my eye on her, so don't worry." Still Charles being Charles, he couldn't stop himself from adding " I'll take care of her properly, no bumping her head into things on my watch."

Hawkeye half-smiled at him while stretching himself. "Thank you Charles, you're a wonderful human being-" He got up and followed Colonel Potter, just in passing shooting a final, parting blow. " if you try hard enough."

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Hawkeye finished recounting last night's events to his CO, obviously omitting the more juicy details, the official version being: they argued, her hair caught fire, he extinguished it, she tripped. All logical and believable, wasn't it?

Potter looked at him suspiciously. There was something uncanny about this whole story, but he just couldn't tell at the moment what ticked him off as odd. Still the explanation was so stupid, that would Pierce really want to lie, he'd probably have come up with a much better story. When Margaret awoke, he'd ask her too just to get all the facts straight, but his experience with this crew told him, that this was one of those many times he should let the matter slide. Plus he should be thankful to God Almighty, that no such thing happened while Frank Burns was still around, otherwise he'd already have him hanging from his neck like a bloodthirsty hellhound, nagging him to court-martial Pierce for attacking a senior officer. Hail to Frank Burns, and his being stateside, he chuckled to himself. Then he opened the cabinet, pulled out a bottle of five years old Four Roses bourbon and poured half a glass each, both for himself and for his chief surgeon, ignoring Pierce's presently saucer sized eyes.

"Colonel, bourbon in the morning?!" A question not a mockery. The boy really had it bad today.

"Oh, don't act so shocked, Captain. Like you're not drinking all around the clock."

"Well, yes sure. As I always say, any time in Korea is after 5 p.m. somewhere in the world, but -"

"You've never seen me drink at this hour?" Potter asked and Hawkeye nodded.

"Well son, you and Major gave me a terrible fright. Again I might add. The night before you were lost, last night you get into a fight and one of you gets set on fire and wounded?! I reckon it calls for a morning drink?" there was a smile tugging in the corner of his lips, but his eyes remained solemn and fixed on Hawkeye's face. "One for Major's recovery, shall we?" he raised his glass to Hawkeye, and the younger man mirrored his movement. They drank in silence for a while, both deeply sunk in their thoughts.Eventually Colonel spoke again.

"Listen son, I don't know what happened between the two of you, and I don't mean to pry but –" he viewed Pierce quite sternly. "you have to sort it out, the sooner the better. "He looked again to see Pierce squirming in his seat, like a scolded child. His tired gaze softened a bit.

"I know, Major can be difficult at times, but than again so can you and I really can't afford to have my staff bickering all the time. I need you all in the best possible shape." he looked at his chief surgeon, faintly hoping this pep talk gave the boy at least some motivation. And indeed, he saw a glimpse of life returning into Pierce's eyes.

"Then Colonel, you'll have to have us all discharged and shipped home with the first stateward bound transport. We'd be in top form then, you know."

"Very funny, Captain. Still, I'm glad you're back to your cocky self, 'cause that means I can burden you with a bunch of shiny new responsibilities !" he smiled broadly, seeing and hearing the younger man groan. "First of all you'll have to cover taking care of Major Houlihan-" he watched Pierce smile. " but in all aspects other than medical. "

"What? Just what do you mean precisely?"- young man, seemed unsure how exactly should he interpret his superior's use of wording. Col. Potter knew very well what Pierce's first thought had been and he silently chuckled, deciding to play him some more.

"What to you mean, what do I mean? I've expressed myself clearly, haven't I?" Pierce's face could speak volumes right now, but instead of teasing the boy further, the Colonel went on. " In any case, we decided-"

"We?"

"Myself and Hunnicutt. Once you've passed out on Major's hospital bed- he called me and we had a chat. In conclusion, we decided that considering the circumstances, Hunnicutt should act as her doctor for the time being" Potter saw Pierce didn't like it much, but at least he didn't voice any protest . That was highly unusual, but more than welcome. "In the mean time you will sit with her, bring her meals, get her what she'd need from her tent. Whatever, she needs- you're her slave, till being told otherwise."

Pierce was grunting. "And whatever happened to actually rewarding a hero for saving a damsel in distress? In stead of, you know, pu-ni-shing him?"

"Well I could give you her hand in marriage, and half of the compound, but you'd still have to negotiate it with the Koreans, Penobscott and- I believe- Major herself. Maybe reversing this order." Potter joked observing Pierce paling a bit and gulping audibly, and then continued more seriously.

"So for now, go for something easier. Be nice, talk to her. Try not killing her and not getting killed yourself. Also, observe if she didn't hit her head too hard, if you know what I mean."

Hawkeye nodded, then he seemed to have remembered something. "But sir, about the whole 'not killing each other issue"… Taking things from her tent?! It sounds like a seriously bad idea. If she thinks I went through her stuff, she'll kill me the moment she gets up. Even more so, if she wakes up with a killer headache! " he quipped lamely.

"Good point son. " the Colonel as per usual ignored Pierce's misguided attempts at humor, keeping to the more pressing matters. "Take nurse Jig with you. And no,-" he said seeing the hopeful look on Hawkeye's face. "she can't go alone. You know well, she's merely a 2nd Lieutenant and Major might want to kill her off too, if she wakes up with her head pounding. Which I strongly suspect she will." Pierce shrugged but nodded reluctantly.

"In any case remember- the most important thing is to get this thing between the two of you settled peaceably once and for all! Before you not only kill each other, but also turn the whole camp into a battle field. Go and take care of it. And this is an order!" Hawkeye looked at him quite unhappily, but- yet again-did not oppose. Were it not for all the commotion that brought on this kind of submission, the Colonel would almost wish for it to be present every day. He sighed. "Now, BJ says that the head wound is just a surface scratch, and that the bandage will be taken of somewhere in the afternoon. I think he'll allow to move Major to her tent then, so you need to help her and check on her from time to time. Also, I received a message that tomorrow morning Penobscott will arrive, so please inform Major about it, if I don't get a chance to do so." He watched Hawkeye nodding in right places. "And now scoot. Leave me to joys of Mildred's letter and bourbon. And don't let anyone bother me till at least ten hundred hours!" Hawkeye left Colonel's office accompanied by a definite and strong "Yes sir!" coming from the front desk, at the top of Radar's little lungs.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Half an hour later Hawkeye found himself in an empty tent with an attractive looking nurse, doing nothing even remotely forbidden. Hell, they even had an official permission for rummaging through Margaret's things! The errand was built on such a striking lack of fun, that the old Hawkeye would have already done something outrageous just to counteract the boredom. His gaze lingered for a moment on Jig's properly rounded bottom, while his mind considered the possibilities, not finding any of them particularly enticing. It was the new Hawkeye that reverted his eyes though, returning to visual inspection of the tent's upper walls and ceiling. He was wondering silently, since when has he become 'the new " anything, and what exactly would that status entail. True, lately he was thinking of Margaret a lot. He wasn't looking at other nurses in any other way then strictly businesslike. Work related businesslike, that is; which for such a women lover as he considered himself to be, was- for the lack of a better word- disturbing. Sure, he was preoccupied with her condition. He was feeling slightly guilty about the whole fire extinguishing ordeal, too. He was also very confused with how intense- in all possible aspects- their mutual behavior has become of late. Still, was that really a reason for him to be so out of his game?

Jig was currently shuffling through Margaret's garments, choosing underwear, and some regular clothes for later. She already prepared a tooth brush, toothpaste, and some cosmetics, while Hawkeye was keeping a safe distance not to disturb the girl in what she seemed to be doing very well.

Instead he looked around, and noticed the bucket that was still lying overthrown. He picked it up, and set it next to the desk. On the desk itself he could see the half burned candle-stub, and some papers decorated with frilly remains of what used to be black stockings. He scooped these and threw them to thrash-bin, nested on the other side of the desk, but while he was doing that his mind began processing some facts. The papers he just saw, mostly inserted in cloth-bound filing folders, were probably some shift reports, personnel files and medical staff shift schedules. A quick glance inside the covers proved him right. Still, it was the marbled navy blue and white composition book, with nothing written on the name label, that seemed to draw his attention mostly. Thinking about it now, he's seen Margaret carrying it with her on several occasions. Always among piles of other paperwork, so he never took particular notice of it. Now- for some reason- he found it mesmerizing.

He glanced back to see Jig, still stuck among Margaret's pieces of clothing, some of them on the floor. It seemed that the girl was clumsy enough (which was odd, for she was shaping up to be a really good surgical nurse), and had scattered what was previously a neatly folded pile of mostly purely army attire. Normally he would help the girl, but today he merely nodded at Jig's offer to clean the mess up alone. His fingers were itching to open the notebook, as he was finding it much to intriguing to pass on it now. He lifted the front cover, obscuring the book with his back from Jig's sight.

The first thing he saw, was a folded letter stuck next to it's envelope. It had to be the letter that Margaret had gotten on the day of their 8063rd-bound field trip, the one she was so sour an secretive about. He knew it was wrong to read it, but then again so was looking into the notebook, so he didn't really have any moment of hesitation. He looked at the envelope first. He's come to know well Margaret's slightly rounded but firm and straight handwriting over the years. and he could tell instantly this one wasn't it. It was slightly leaning towards the right, in thin spidery curves, and if that was not enough of a give-away the envelope clearly identified the sender as Ltd Col. Donald Penobscott. It also was showing Maj. Margaret Houlihan-Penobscott as an addressee, which was quite interesting, considering the heading which read "My dear Darlene". Darlene? Who the hell was Darlene? Was it some sort of a nickname Penobslob had given her? If it was, he was hearing it for the first time. Or seeing. He went on, mouthing the words silently.

"My dear Darlene,

How long it's been since we walked together on the beach at Oahu.

I can still see the moonlight splashing at your shoulders and hear the gentle 'whoosh whoosh whoosh' of the waves-"

Okay. Hawkeye might have seen Major's marriage pretty one-sidedly, but he still was one hundred percent sure she and her spouse had never been together to Oahu or any other part of Hawaii. There had been plans about it, yes, but the Army with it's usual timeliness prevented them very efficiently from ever coming true. Which meant that Darlene was not some role-playing nickname, but a real person's name. Someone whom Penobslob held in his memories very dearly. No wonder Margaret had been so pissed off the other day, even before they left for the 8063rd. And this was only the beginning- the letter went on like this for nearly 3 pages! He scanned the rest of contents quickly to find other incriminating parts, some sentences underlined with pencil, with Margaret's sarcastic comments on the margins. Still, there was one paragraph he could not miss even if he wanted to. Deeply etched pencil underlined the words that Major's husband wrote so lightly.

"I know you heard I've married. You'd like her. She's competent and a hard worker. She'll make an excellent hostess when we return to the States. All in all, a sturdy woman."

The word sturdy was circled and decorated with three exclamation marks drawn next to it. And the empty line between this paragraph and the next one sheltered a lone, penciled sentence in Margaret's even handwriting.

"I mean nothing to him"

It was almost heartbreaking to see, and Hawkeye remembered that evening in the abandoned hut, when he had asked her what was wrong, and if it had been about the letter. Instead of a proper answer Margaret just gave him a sad look, while uncontrollable silent tears started first rolling, then streaming down her cheeks. He hugged her instinctively and for a while they sat like that, embracing each other- both of them wordless and in a world of their own. Obviously, once Margaret gained back the control over her emotions she tried putting up the barrier again, but at this point he wasn't fooled anymore. Besides, once the Korean army commenced with the shelling, Major's shields came crushing down again and then her need to be held, and his to hold and protect overpowered them both.

He felt a rising anger towards her jerk of a husband, but he managed to stifle the to urge to crush the letter in his hand. Instead he folded it as it had been and stuck it back into the notebook, the item which finally seemed to strike a cord within him. It was so, because he remembered now, waking up that morning in the hut to the sight of Margaret scribbling feverishly in the very same composition book. He had watched her for a moment, seeing the frown of concentration creasing her forehead, her teeth firmly and frequently biting the pencil-end, and he stirred wanting to ask her about what it was that she needed to put down so badly. The moment he showed any signs of life though, she smiled broadly, put away the pad and started chirping in an all to bright fashion. The happy chirping was so out of character for her, that not being able to help it he went into a rigid state of full denial mode right away, obviously all thoughts about the writing pad successfully erased.

Now, when he actually had a chance to know what she had written then, he couldn't let it go. He flipped through the pages impatiently, to find the latest entry. And there it was, a lone page with no comments just a letter draft with many corrections. The final version being:

Dear Hank

I'll never forget the night we spent in that abandoned hut. You gave me your warmth and your caring when I was afraid, and now I think from time to time when I'm afraid again I may have the courage to let another person know it. You've helped me to grow a little.

Thank you Hank.

It took him a moment to comprehend, but then he chuckled in mirth over how brilliant Margaret truly was. Sending the bastard a reply containing a letter meant for another man? How much more cunning could you get? It was a character trait, quite similar to his own, that he's always loved about her. Personally Hawkeye was sure that this letter, if she'd actually decide to send it would cause much more commotion than any long tirade she might possible conceive. Obviously with Penobscott's planned a arrival to the camp the chances of sending were slim, but it was the thought that counted, and the fact that the letter hand been actually meant for him, only made the matter more interesting. He closed the writing pad, placing it back on the desk. He smiled to himself, thinking fondly of all kinds of unpleasantness he could perform towards Margaret's husband when he'd arrive tomorrow morning.

He turned to see Jig already waiting for him, ready to pose some verbal comment of a mocking variety. He beamed at her with a slightly apologetic look, and noncommittally put his arms on her shoulder as they walked out of Major's tent.

"Let's go bring the Sleeping Beauty her bare necessities, shall we?"

"You must mean the sleeping dragon?" she mused cooly.

"No-" he said quite joyfully. "I meant what I said." he hesitated though under her doubtful eye. Jig did have a point. "OK. Let's make it 'the sleeping dragon beauty'. Does is sound more appropriate?" She nodded, and he proceeded to humming and then singing loudly a new set of lyrics to a well known melody.

"We're off to see the Dragon, the beautiful dragon that sleeps-" he sang while pulling Jig into a merry, large-stepped jogging towards the hospital tent.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

A/N 1

3211 words and it's just bout the half of the chapter. oO How, I ask, how has it come to this?? :) And now for the planned notes:

A/N 2

1.Now pray tell me where might I have stolen the 'You're a wonderful human being" line from?. If there more then one sources, so be it, but I know it mostly from a certain one movie. So, anyone? :) I'll make a Mexican wave (by myself , but I move fast :) for the winner… ;P

Disclaimer-wise, it's not like I steal on purpose, mind you, it's just that I'm a closet cultivator of postmodernism in writing, and this line just fit so darn well.:)

2. As you probably know in initial seasons nurse's names were derived from the Joint Army/Navy phonetic alphabet, that was in use in U.S Army from 1941 till 1956, I decided to adhere to this noble tradition when I was naming my purely random nurse.

Also when I saw the code word for "J" I just couldn't help myself ,as for me the word itself is just so inseparably connected with Japanese manufacturing system (if you don't want to take my word on it, ask Maple Fay she'll tell you the same. ) that for personal reason I just had to put it in! And voila: we have a nurse Jig :)

3. I'm not 100 sure but from what I checked, nowadays the Army Nurse Corps members are all officers, the lowest rank being 2nd Lieutenant, which is followed by 1st Lieutenant and Major. I'm not sure how it was in the 50s but for my own convenience (not to mention the sake of my mental health) I decided to go along with the current status. If anyone knows more, do share but I'll probably still leave it this way .:

4. As some of you will notice (I'm taking in the account the possibility that not all of you know every MASH episode by heart. God knows I'd like to, but I don't :) I had to edit some parts of "Comrades in arms" in order to fit my story. I did not originally plan it, but since I already deprived Margaret and Hawkeye of a chance to have a peace-talk about their feelings (lol, by setting Margaret on fire. Some people are right I am cruel.), I thought that finding both letters and reading them by his lonesome, would make a stronger impact on Hawkeye's budding realization than hearing them from Margaret. And It worked. First he's angry at Penobscott, and the childishly happy, even if he can't quite trace the reason. For such an intelligent man, you're a simple creature at times, Dr. Pierce :)))