Title: 50 Starts -- Numbers 31-40
Pairing: Trapper/Margaret
Prompt: #98 Writer's Choice - Trapper/Margaret pairing
Rating: 17+ (Major)
Word Count: 858

See Part 1 for disclaimers.

31. Umbrella

He had found it on one of his and Hawkeye's trips into Seoul. The handle was yellow -- it matched the shade of her hair. The parasol was filled with butterflies of every color imaginable. When Hawkeye saw it and asked the obvious question, he'd said he was buying it to send home to his wife for her birthday.

That was a lie.

He wrapped it in plain brown paper and laid it on her bed.

They spent the next few hours together in post-op, and when their long, late shift was finished, he offered to walk her back to her tent and she accepted. When she opened the door, she saw the package on her cot. She turned and glanced at him suspiciously. He shrugged and suggested she open it. When she did, her eyes lit up -- just as he'd hoped they would.

And Trapper tried not to mind that she thought it was from Frank.

32. Gravity

Trapper's muscled body presses down on top of her, the pure weight of him nearly causing her to suffocate. But Margaret doesn't care. She won't move or push him away. The pleasure sweeping through her at the feel of his hot skin molded perfectly to hers won't allow it, so instead, she pulls him closer.

33. Freckle

Margaret has a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. I never noticed them before. Probably because she's never let me get close enough to her to actually see them. But today, in the supply shed, she does.

As we huddle together beneath the itchy wool blankets, I see them. A small sprinkling of barely visible orange spots. She looks absolutely angelic, and I am filled with a fierce desire to kiss them. But I don't. She's already rejected my advances once.

Instead, I tuck myself in behind her and snuggle into her shoulder. As I feel myself drifting off into sleep, I tell myself that one day, I should tell her how perfect her freckles are.

34. Nothing

I told Frank that, while we were locked in the supply room during the shelling, Margaret and I hadn't done anything. I guess in the strictest sense, it was actually the truth. What I didn't admit to was that I realized I really like Margaret Houlihan. As a nurse. As a woman. I like everything about her.

And that's not nothing.

35. Moon

They race through the dark field, fumbling around like children. One yells tag and runs off. The other follows. When they meet again, both fall to the ground. Laughter fills the night air as they roll in the grass, over and over again, until finally coming to a rest beneath a small, sickly-looking tree. Mouths join together in a tender kiss. The clouds that fill the sky part, allowing a single shaft of white moonlight to shine down on them.

36. Hair

We live in a world filled with blood and dust. Booze and sweat. Antiseptic and death. Day after day. Horror upon horror. Yet, when I turn my head and bury it within her soft, blond hair, she smells of roses, and I can forget, for just a moment, that there is more to life than this place.

37. Sex

Clothes are discarded. Lips meet. Bodies join together. They rock slowly. Kisses deepen. The passion intensifies, then muscles lock in place. Breathing ceases for a moment until names are whispered into air. One final kiss and they separate.

38. Dark

The night is their friend. It hides them from prying eyes. Blankets them in the secrecy they need. The secrecy they want. He has his reputation here and his wife back home. And she has Frank. No one else knows they've fallen in love. No one but them … and the dark that conceals them.

39. Tense

Twenty-eight hours. Twenty-eight long hours on his feet in the OR. He lays prone, face down on her cot as her hands massage his back. She kneads and presses his flesh until the knotted muscles beneath become pliable. One by one, they submit, then yield to her fingers and when each one has softened, Margaret slides off of Trapper's back and snuggles in beside him. He rolls over and pulls her against his body. Their lips meet as her hand slips down his side. There is one final part of him that is still a little tense.

40. Suspicion

Margaret is watching him from her tent again. He can see her out of the corner of his eyes. Each time he tosses the football, he uses it as an excuse to glance over. And each time, she pulls back from the door. Trapper has his suspicions as to why she's there. Why she's watching. He's mentioned it to Hawkeye, but Hawkeye thinks he's crazy.

"There's no way that Hot Lips wants anything from you, except for maybe a salute and possibly an apology."

That's what Hawkeye had said.

But Trapper is convinced it's something else. And tonight, he plans to pay her a visit and find out.