12
Hawkeye and Margaret sat upstairs in his room. Margaret was getting to go down to dinner. Standing in front of the mirror she was wondering she should really tell Daniel why Hawkeye had come out to see her. She did feel that he had a right to know. Why not? That was his grandchild.
Hawkeye just sat on the bed as he watched her brush her hair. He was just happy that she had agreed to marry him. He also glad that he had finally gotten up the courage to ask her, unlike last time when he had chickened out.
"You almost ready?" he asked.
Margaret put the brush back down on the dresser. The answer was plain and simple. No. No she wasn't ready to go down there and act like nothing happened when Hawkeye went down there to see her. No she wasn't ready to answer a lot of questions that just led up to what happened to Serena. She was getting better and there was no way that she would pull herself back into that.
"I guess," she said looking down at the brush.
Hawkeye tilted his head to the side to see her face in the mirror. All he could see was the loose hairs that now hung over her face. They glimmered in the sun light that was now pouring through the window and flooding the entire room with an orange and yellow glow. With her hands hanging limply down at her sides, she grabbed hold of the sleeves from her sweater that came down and loosely covered the palms of her hands. She lifted her head and softly smiled as she raised her hands and held them up to right below her chin while still holding onto the sleeves. She then turned around to face him.
"You sure?" Hawkeye asked.
Margaret smiled as she nodded.
"Yes, I'm sure," she said.
Hawkeye smiled as he got up. With his body covered in the same glow, he walked over to her. There was a look of sorrow in his eyes. As if he had seen the hesitance in hers. He grabbed her shoulders and gently kissed her. She let go of her sleeves and wrapped her arms around his neck. Once they finally pulled apart, he swept the hair from her face revealing that soft little smile.
"Let's go," he said and then took her hand.
He led her out into the hallway and down to the kitchen. There was the smell of roast beef as they entered the kitchen. Hawkeye pulled the chair out for Margaret and then sat down next to her. Daniel came over with the food and started serving them. They each thanked him and then waited until he sat down to join them. Only, when he did, they weren't expecting the awkward silence that had followed. Daniel, who was tired of it, looked up from his plate and smiled over at Margaret.
"So, how do like the food?" he asked.
Margaret looked up from her plate and smiled at him.
"I like it, thank you," she said.
There was another silence there for a minute.
"So, why did you have Ben come out to see you?" Daniel asked.
Margaret looked up. She knew where this was going and dreaded it. As much as she hated it, it had to be done. She had to tell him about Serena. Sooner or later he would find out anyways, and she didn't want him finding out from some one else and then getting mad at her.
"Well, I needed some cheering up. Some one very close to me had just died," Margaret said.
"Oh," Daniel said realizing that he had just stuck his nose where it didn't belong.
"I'm sorry," he said.
At first he had just thought it was that she had missed his son or something simple like that. Margaret had her hand down on her lap, but soon enough, felt Hawkeye grab it.
"It's okay, actually, it's probably something that you should know," Margaret said.
She could feel a lump in her throat as she tried to steady her voice. The tears started to swell up in her eyes when she looked directly at him.
"The person who died was my daughter. The reason that Hawkeye came to visit was because, well, because, because that was his daughter to," Margaret said.
Daniel blankly stared across the table. There were no thoughts running through his head because he didn't know what to think at that moment. He was just told that he actually had a grandchild, but they died. How was he supposed to take that? He was mad, but he couldn't be mad at Margaret. He saw that way that Hawkeye was when he first came home. He couldn't blame her for not telling him then. He also couldn't get mad at her because she was the one who had been there and lost her daughter, not him. He didn't even know that this person existed. Of course he'll be sorry and wished that he had met her, but, it wasn't really truly going to change his life. Hawkeye's, yes, but only because he was a father at one time. He missed out on his chance to see his kid grow up, but Daniel got that chance with Hawkeye. He also knew that he wouldn't get to see the little one too often. He was busy with work during the normal hours.
"What was her name?" Daniel asked still in shock.
"Serena. Serena Danielle Houlihan," she said.
Daniel smiled at the idea of his name being used, he just didn't like the way that he had found out about it.
"I never meant to hurt you," Margaret said.
"It's fine, you didn't," Daniel said and then went back to his food.
Daniel sat back and stared at the two with pity. He did have questions about Serena, but he figured that if she wanted him to know, that she would tell him. It was obvious that she was upset and he didn't want to make it worse for her.
"If you're interested, I have some photo albums," Margaret said.
"How about tomorrow?" Daniel asked.
Margaret gave him a soft smile. Even though Serena was dead, she still liked it when others gave her some sort of acknowledgement.
The next day they did as planned. It was after dinner and Margaret got out the photo album that she had. Setting it down on the table in front of every one, she looked over to see what each of them was doing. On the one side of her sat Hawkeye who seemed to just be staring at the book. Like he was waiting for something to happen, or in disbelief. On the other side sat Daniel who had the same expression as Hawkeye. She could see that same look on the little's girl's face as she walked into the hospital room shortly after her accident.
"Here it is," Margaret said opening the book.
After she had opened it, she let Daniel have it. He was the one who hadn't seen any pictures of her yet. All he did was stare at each one with his face looking as if he had just been kicked in the stomach. There was a longing in his eyes. Once he finally got to the end, he closed the book and handed it to Margaret.
"Thank you," he said.
Margaret took the book and rubbed her hand over it.
"I guess some things are too good to be true," she said to herself and then took the book back up stairs.
Walking into the dark room, she just stood at the foot of the bed for a minute and stared out the window as the rain drops hit against it. She just stood there in a daze watching it. Suddenly, there was a streak of lightning and then a loud clap of thunder that caused Margaret to jump and start to fall back.
"Don't worry, I've got you," Hawkeye said as he grabbed her shoulders.
Margaret slowly turned her head to his face, full of concern, looking down at her. He knew that she didn't like loud noises and thought he should be with her.
"Why are you here?" she asked.
"Well, it all started over in that room across the hallway over there," Hawkeye said turning and pointing towards Daniel's room.
Margaret chuckled at his joke.
"See? It worked. You just need the more sophisticated jokes," he said smiling down at her.
Hawkeye knew that she needed to be cheered up before she started thinking about Serena again. There was no doubt that she had been thinking about her the entire time, but this was different. She was looking back on things that had happened.
Margaret turned back towards the bed.
"Disgusting maybe, but not sophisticated," she said walking to the bed.
Margaret set the book down and smiled as she looked it over. Hawkeye came up behind her and picked the book up as he looked it over.
"Just be thankful that you did get to have her around for the time that you did," Hawkeye said.
"I'm more thankful then you would ever know," Margaret said.
Another clap of thunder came. It sounded closer then last time and this time made the house shake a little. Margaret sat on the bed starting to get nervous as she held on to the bed sheet. Hawkeye walked over and put his arm around her as he sat down next to her.
"It's just thunder," he said.
"Mommy!" the little girl screamed from her bed as the storm got worse.
Margaret, who was scared herself, rushed into the bedroom to see Serena sitting up and crying as she tightly hugged her teddy bear.
"It's okay. Mommy's here," Margaret said walking over to the bed.
"I don't like the loud noises Mommy," the tear stricken child said.
"I know. I don't either," Margaret said sitting down on the bed.
Serena scooted over to give Margaret room and then loosened her grip on the bear.
"Hawkeye doesn't like the noises either," Serena said.
Margaret sighed as she remembered the Hawkeye that got her through the night when they were in the cave together and then went back alone to go operate. How he was enough to get her through the shelling.
Before another word could be spoken there was another streak of lightning that illuminated the room, then soon enough, the thunder came. Serena yelled as she wrapped her arms tightly around Margaret's waist. Margaret put her arm around the little girl's shoulders and tried to calm her down.
"I'm probably one of the only parents that never told their children that because they were too busy being just as scared as they were," Margaret said.
Hawkeye just looked over at her with interest.
"You know, you don't have to be scared," he said.
"I know that. I just am," Margaret said looking down at the ground.
"I won't let that thunder hurt you in here," Hawkeye said with mock heroism.
Margaret sighed as she stared forward.
"This is the safest I've felt during a storm than I have in a long time," she said.
"I love having some one to keep safe," Hawkeye said.
They looked each other straight into their eye's. The lightning illuminated the room. The bright flash of light was followed by the ominous sound of the thunder. But this time, she didn't care. It just didn't bother her. Slowly, they leaned in and kissed. They wrapped their arms around each other and then pulled apart to take another look. As if they were making sure of what they were doing and then kissed again. That kiss lead to another kiss which lead to another kiss until eventually they laid back on the bed.