I don't own M*A*S*H, just the original characters and story line.
It wasn't busy at this time of day in the Mess Tent. There were only a few other people there besides Charles and Becca.
BJ found them right away, sitting next to each other and talking, just as they had been in Post-OP. Again that bubble of happiness surrounded them, so bright that he was shocked it didn't blind the other occupants. He hated that it was all going to be destroyed.
"Klinger wasn't kidding, she's beautiful."
BJ looked at his friend. "Can't you see it?"
Hawkeye didn't seem to hear him as he started across the room. BJ took a deep breath and followed quickly. This was not going to end well.
"Hello Charles, did you miss me?"
Charles looked up at Hawkeye and wasted no time making his disgust clear. "To miss someone you have to care that they were gone. As I didn't care there was no reason to miss you."
Hawkeye seemed not to hear Charles' answer and sat across from Becca, BJ taking the seat next to him, across from Charles. BJ kept an eye on Charles to gauge his reaction to all this.
"You must be Becca Coals that the Colonel told us about. I'm Hawkeye Pierce."
BJ couldn't ignore the way Becca's body tensed at the sound of Hawkeye's name. If he hadn't been watching the two closely he may never have noticed the change. Her smile stayed on her face, but BJ could tell now that it was clearly forced, completely different from the smile she had given him earlier in Post-OP. He didn't miss the look of concern cross Charles' face either.
Unlike when she met BJ, Becca didn't offer a handshake to Hawkeye, instead keeping her hands on her side of the table. "It's nice to meet you Dr. Pierce." Even her voice sounded forced to BJ and he had just met the girl not ten minutes ago. "I've heard a lot about you."
The whole interaction felt very cold to BJ, but he couldn't look away. He watched Hawkeye continue on as if he hadn't noticed Becca's clear discomfort with him.
"All good I hope," Hawkeye said with a smile. "How are you liking our little slice of the war?"
Becca remained tense as she responded. BJ watched as Charles moved slightly closer to Becca, nearly pressing his side up against her side. She relaxed slightly, as if acknowledging that Charles was there, a person she trusted.
It was obvious she didn't trust Hawkeye, which was strange given that she had never met him before. Which meant that the things she had heard about him were not good, not at all.
"Everyone has been very kind given my situation. Dr. Winchester has been kind enough to show me around and keep me company when the nurses are unable to do so."
BJ glanced at Charles, but he seemed not the hear much of what Becca was saying, instead focusing on trying to make Becca relax. Charles didn't like seeing Becca like this, which just made BJ more curious as to what had happened.
"Well, Beej and I are back and if you ever want anyone to talk to and Chuckles here isn't around, feel free to give one of us a call. I know I could never refuse a pretty lady's request."
Becca's smiled faltered slightly before she brought it back, her face seeming to lose all color. Hawkeye's compliment seemed to make Becca even more uncomfortable then she was before. It was at this moment Hawkeye seemed to notice it.
"I'll keep that in mind," she replied. She turned to Charles, "Thank you for the lovely afternoon going over things in Post-OP with me. I have an appointment with Father Mulchay in a few minutes and I don't wish to be late."
Charles nodded. "Of course."
She looked at BJ and her smile was less forced now. "It was nice to see you again Dr. Hunnicutt." As she turned to Hawkeye the smile changed to a forced one, something Hawkeye seemed to notice this time based on his confused expression. "And you as well, Dr. Pierce."
Becca stood and walked out of the Mess Tent. Hawkeye moved to follow her, possibly to get some sort of explanation as to her reaction, when BJ grabbed his arm and pulled him back down in the seat.
"What the hell was that for Beej?"
Charles stood. "Well, if you will excuse me, I'm going to try and attempt to get some sleep as I was forced to work a near 24 hour shift due to your late return. Gentlemen."
BJ waited until Charles had left the Mess Tent and walked away before answering Hawkeye's question. "Did you seriously not see it?"
Hawkeye raised an eyebrow. "See what? Becca was tense when she learned who I was, but that just confirmed that someone told her something about me that she didn't like. I just wanted to talk a bit with her and clear the air."
BJ couldn't believe it. "That was more than just hearing bad rumors about you," he said firmly. "She looked terrified. She didn't do that when she met me, so it has to be something with you. Most women blush when you suddenly compliment them, but Becca paled, as if she had seen a ghost or something. She practically bolted out of here, away from you."
Hawkeye looked outside the tent where Becca was sitting and talking calmly with Father Mulchay over a bible. She had paper in her hand taking notes while he pointed things out and chatting with her. She wasn't scared or nervous with him. He had even noticed how relaxed she was with Charles when they walked into the Mess Tent. She didn't flinch when she smiled at BJ. For some reason, and Hawkeye didn't know why, she was terrified of him.
"Why would she be scared of me when we just met? It makes no sense."
BJ shrugged before standing. "I don't know, but maybe you should try asking someone close to her. You may find out why. I gotta get back to Post-OP."
BJ walked out of the Mess Tent leaving Hawkeye at the table alone. Hawkeye sat at the table for a few more minutes, just observing the way Becca interacted with Father Mulchay. Her calmness and relaxed nature just grading on Hawkeye.
Why was she so scared of him?
Hawkeye stood. He was going to find out the truth. He was going to follow BJ's advice and talk to someone close to her to see why Becca had fled from him.
Hawkeye started with the nurses. Surely if Becca had a close friend it would be with one of them. However, he learned very quickly that most of them spent little time with Becca outside of Charles' Post-OP duty. He tried Margaret next and learned that Becca enjoyed talking about 1950's military procedures and Margaret's family life, but that the Major didn't spend much time with her, instead Becca spent most of her time with Charles. He tried some of the wounded and learned that she was very kind and enjoyed speaking with them about their homes and their plans for the future, but spent a lot of time just listening to Dr. Winchester talk about medical procedures and treatments for all sorts of ailments.
It seemed as though all signs were pointing him to the one person he didn't want to talk to this about, Charles. Somehow, and no one was quite sure why or how it had happened, Charles and Becca had become nearly inseparable in people's minds.
Finally Hawkeye knew he had no other options and decided to approach Charles about it. Charles was in the Swamp, lying on his cot, listening to his music at an acceptable level for once, with his eyes closed.
"Charles, I need to talk to you."
Charles opened his eyes and sighed. "If we must."
Hawkeye sat in the chair next to Charles' cot, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped together in front of him.
"Why is Becca terrified of me?"
Charles turned to Hawkeye as he sat up. He could see in Hawkeye's face that he was serious about this. He really was concerned and wanted to know why Becca had run from him earlier today.
Charles sighed. "I'm afraid that it is partially Klinger's fault for opening his big mouth and partially mine for answering Becca's questions so easily." Hawkeye looked confused. "Her time is much different from ours and she wanted to know the meanings of some words she heard that aren't as common in her time. I provided her the definitions of those words at her request."
Hawkeye shook his head. "I don't understand. What word would have caused her to panic at the sight of me?"
"Seduce."
Hawkeye sat straight up and glared at Charles. "Are you saying that you told her that I was going to seduce her?"
Charles narrowed his eyes in anger. "No," he said calmly. "She simply asked the meaning of the word which I provided. It was Klinger who accused you of being a seducer of women."
Hawkeye seemed angry. He shook his head before standing and pacing the tent. "I can't believe Klinger would say such a thing like that."
"Given your history with nurses, can you blame him?"
Hawkeye froze before turning back to Charles. All fight left him as he realized Charles was right. "I suppose that's true. I still don't understand why that would cause her to be afraid of me. She ran from me like I had the plague."
Charles sighed. "I don't expect that you would, you don't know her."
Hawkeye stopped and turned back to Charles, a look upon his face that Charles found he didn't like. Hawkeye was plotting something and whatever it was Charles wasn't going to like it.
"You're right, I don't know her. But you do." Hawkeye moved towards Charles. "You and she seem to have spent a lot of time together over the last few days, practically inseparable as I heard it." Charles couldn't deny this, it was true. Becca had come to him with that sweet smile on her face and asking her questions and Charles had done nothing to push her away. The only time they spent apart was when he was in surgery or she was discussing things with the other people in the compound. Whens he was apart from him it felt like something vital was missing. Charles didn't dwell on that much.
"Of course we spend time together," he said finally. "We share living quarters."
Hawkeye shook his head. "No. This...this is different. You haven't let anyone get close to you since you got here, but this girl..." Hawkeye smirked. "She is practically attached to your hip."
"That is absurd." Charles stood, turning off his music before looking back at Hawkeye. "I'm finished with this conversation. Good-bye."
Before Hawkeye could say another word, Charles walked out of the Swamp, his steps long and determined, even though he didn't really know where he was going. Seconds later, Hawkeye was right back at his side.
"Wait," he said firmly. "The point I'm getting at is that you know her so well that you can convince her I'm not all bad."
Charles stopped and looked at Hawkeye fiercely. "I think her fear is a good buffer between the two of you. It will keep her away from your less than honorable intentions."
Hawkeye narrowed his eyes in anger before taking a deep breath. "You have no idea what my intentions are towards her..."
Charles turned and stated walking again. "You are the Casanova of the camp. I've seen you hit on every single nurse and you expect me to believe that I don't know what your intentions are towards Becca? Please."
Hawkeye walked with Charles. "It's true that I'm attracted to her, she's beautiful. But that doesn't mean that she will give me the time of day. I just don't like that she is afraid of me when I have no intention to hurt her. It makes me very uncomfortable."
Charles stopped again and looked at Hawkeye. It wasn't often that the man asked for help, of any kind or from anyone, but here he was asking it of Charles. He sincerely wanted help in making Becca not be afraid of him.
The only problem was Charles didn't want to help Hawkeye.
Seeing Becca today in the Mess Tent running from Hawkeye make Charles both happy and worried. He had come to know Becca very well in the short time they had known each other and felt that she was justified in her fear. She didn't know or understand physical attraction, desires or needs. She was innocent and Charles wanted her to remain that way.
Although, being completely honest, he really just wanted her to remain that way to give him piece of mind. He didn't want her to be attracted to Pierce, or any other man in camp for that matter. He found that he didn't even trust Father Mulchay, which was ridiculous as the man was a celibate priest and wouldn't dream of touching Becca.
Every time she looked at another man caused a wave of jealousy to flood his body. He was a Winchester and above such things, but with Becca none of that mattered. He cared about her deeply and wanted to protect her.
Charles took a deep breath. He had the power to make this situation with Hawkeye go one of two ways. He could choose to not help Pierce and watch Becca continue to be fearful when around him and possibly be removed from the Swamp all together, which he adamantly didn't want. Or he could help Pierce and run the risk that Becca would eventually fall for Pierce's supposed charms. Either way Charles was not happy about the possible outcomes.
He looked across the camp where Becca was still chatting with Father Mulchay. She was no longer taking notes, but just talking about whatever it was they were talking about. She smiled, but not like she did when she was alone with him. He didn't want to lose this, the one bright light he had in this dim place.
He turned back to Pierce and sighed.
"I will talk to her, but I make no guarantees."
The smile Pierce gave him, along with the slap on the back, had Charles wishing he had said no to the whole thing.