The elevator doors opened and Hawkeye was deposited on the third floor of the hospital. Almost as soon as he stepped off, he spotted B.J. up ahead in the hallway and trotted to catch up to him. "Hey, good-lookin'," he said as he reached B.J.'s side.
"Hey hey!" B.J. exclaimed, stopping in his tracks. "What brings you here, Hawk?"
"Apparently the entire population of Crabapple Cove is healthy today. There was nothing going on at the office, so I closed up shop. Thought I'd come visit ya… take you to lunch. Can you get away, by any chance?"
"If the cafeteria is good enough," B.J. said with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, but I can only spare about 20 minutes. Busy day."
Hawkeye shrugged, "I'll take that."
The hospital cafe always gave Hawkeye pause. It too closely resembled the chow line at the 4077th, though the food was better. Not by much, but better.
They both opted for the relatively safe choice of salads. As they sat down at a table near the windows, Hawkeye couldn't help noticing that a young blonde nurse two tables over was staring at B.J. She was being pretty brazen about it.
Hawkeye looked from her to B.J., who was clearly trying to pretend he was unaware of her attention. "So," Hawk said with a smirk, "who's the young lady?"
"Who would that be?"
"Oh come on, Beej. Don't be coy. You know that sweet little thing over there is staring at you. She's practically drooling." He waited until B.J. finally looked up to meet his eyes. "And…?"
B.J. shrugged, "And nothing. She's hinted that she'd like to go out with me, but…"
"But? You're playing hard to get? What?"
B.J. shrugged a second time. "As it happens, I'm not interested in her. I'm trying not to encourage her in any way."
Hawkeye's teasing smile faded as a thought occurred to him. "Is it too soon? I mean, after…"
With a quick shake of his head, B.J. said, "No, I don't think that's it. I'm just not interested, that's all."
They fell into silence for a while as they ate their salads, and then Hawkeye smoothly changed the subject. Privately, he was glad he didn't have to imagine scenarios where B.J. began dating the perky young blonde, but he hoped his friend wasn't denying himself the possibility of finding someone new to love.