The next two days followed the same routine more or less. They'd arrive at the hospital around 8:30am and stay all day. They would leave around 7:00pm, grab dinner at the diner on the way and head back to the house. Hawkeye would watch a little television while Erin worked on her school work – she was missing school but didn't want to fall too far behind.

After a phone call to the hospital to check on BJ they would head to bed around 10:00pm. Hawkeye spent several hours each night either lying in bed or more often than not pacing around the bed in the guest room.

They arrived at the hospital on the 4th morning – a Saturday – and walked into BJ's room. Erin went to him immediately kissing him lightly on the cheek. As she pulled back she saw BJ's face twitch slightly.

"Daddy Hawk . . . his face twitched!" Erin exclaimed.

Hawkeye came up to the bed and stood watching. "Are you sure? "

Erin leaned down and kissed him on the check again. Sure enough BJ's face twitched. Hawkeye paused a moment than reached down and grasped BJ's right hand in his. It was slow and barely there but BJ moved his fingers slightly.

"Well Erin it looks like your dad might wake up today. We'll just have to wait and see."

Shortly after lunch they were sitting in BJ's room making light conversation when Hawkeye saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Hawkeye stood up to stand at the foot of the bed and saw BJ's head move slightly. Erin moved around to stand on the right side of the bed watching him.

"Daddy Hawk I think he's waking up!"

BJ's right hand was flexing slightly and his eyelids were fluttering. Hawkeye went out into the hall and flagged down a nurse then hurried back into the room.

"Dad? Dad please wake up." Erin lifted BJ's right hand.

BJ would flex his hand then relax it, flex it again. His eyes opened slowly then squinted at the light and closed shut. This was followed by rapid eye movement under his eyelids then they opened again a little wider before closing again. It was, Hawkeye thought, a little like watching a colt take its first steps.

Finally BJ's eyes opened and stayed open. He blinked slowly looking down at himself. Feeling the tight grip on his right hand he turned his head and moaned at the pain. He closed his eyes again, willing himself to move more slowly – it felt like 100 construction workers were loose inside his head trying to hammer their way out.

He saw Erin's concerned face looking down at him. She was crying quietly. "Erin."

"Hi daddy." Silent tears streaked slowly down Erin's face.

He gripped her hand in response as Erin leaned down and gently hugged him. He lifted his right hand patting her lightly on the back.

The door to BJ's room opened and the doctor came striding in. He walked up to BJ's bed and immediately began checking BJ's vitals. "Dr. Hunicutt I'm Dr. Watson. Do you understand what I'm saying?" he asked.

BJ mumbled a low "yes".

"Good. You know you gave us all quite a scare. You've been out for several days now. I'm going to ask you some questions first and see how you're doing okay?"

BJ nodded then moaned at the pain. "Water." He mumbled.

"Of course." Dr. Watson replied.

"I'll get it." Hawkeye replied. He went into the bathroom and was back out seconds later with a glass which he handed to Dr. Watson. BJ had his eyes closed again but opened them when he felt the cup at his lips. He drank then pushed the cup back. The doctor sat it down.

He spent the next 10 minutes asking BJ questions, checking BJ's vitals, shining the light into BJ's eyes and checking his response to light and dark. Finally he sat back apparently satisfied. "Well Dr. Hunicutt I don't think we have anything to worry about here. You have a severe concussion; we had to drill a small hole in your skull to relieve the pressure. I was concerned about memory loss and the loss of motor skills. You don't remember the day of the accident or the accident itself but that's not uncommon. It may come back to you or it may not but I don't think that's anything to be concerned about. The headache you're sporting now will go away but you will continue to have headaches off and on for the next few months as your head heals. The swelling is going down which is good. We'll keep you in a few more days of course but you should be back home in the next 3 to 5 days. The nurse will give you some pain meds here shortly and I'll be back later to check on your progress." The doctor patted BJ's arm and stood up to leave.

Hawkeye moved aside to allow the doctor to pass by and out the door. Hearing the squeak of the shoes on the linoleum floor BJ slowly turned his head and met Hawkeye's gaze dead on.

Normally verbose during times of uneasiness and nervousness – and any other time for that matter - Hawkeye suddenly found himself tongue-tied with no clue what to say. They starred at each other for several long moments. Hawkeye read pain, longing, and hope? in BJ's eyes before it was masked. BJ read fear and uneasiness in Hawk's gaze.

BJ finally broke the silence. "Hawk. You came."

Hawkeye nodded. "Yeah well work has been pushing me to take a vacation for the last 2 years. I figured this was as good a time as any."

"Thanks." BJ replied quietly.

Hawkeye shrugged uneasily. "So, how does your head feel?" he asked.

BJ sighed and closed his eyes. "Remember the anti-green party?" he asked.

Hawkeye smiled slightly. He had stormed out of The Swamp after Col. Potter had informed them the Army had increased the rotation points needed to go home. In his anger he had grabbed a jeep and lied his way into the peace talks to give them a piece of his mind. When he returned back to camp BJ had met him outside the mess tent dressed in clothes that had been dyed a rosy red and escorted Hawkeye inside where the rest of the waiting camp were dressed in clothing dyed the same rosy red. They had even gone as far as to dye their hair. They had all been nursing serious hang-overs the next day. "Yeah I remember." He replied.

"I wish I felt that good." BJ responded. He opened his eyes again noticing the strained tired lines on Hawk's face, his growth of facial hair. He looked thinner too BJ noticed. "Hawk? You look as bad as I feel."

Hawk shrugged. "I'm fine." He said.

Erin finally spoke up. She could feel the tension between them and didn't want things getting awkward. "I want to hear about the anti-green party." She said.

Hawkeye started telling the story of how he took off in the jeep headed to the peace talks. BJ chimed in telling the events as they played out at the MASH leading to the subsequent party after. It was enough to help ease the tension a little.

BJ slept on and off throughout the rest of the day. When awake he and Hawkeye were cordial and polite, like strangers who had just met.

The doctor came back at 7:30pm to check on BJ's condition and was pleased at his level of awareness. "You're doing well BJ. Tomorrow we'll try you on some light foods and see if you can keep that down. We're going to start decreasing your pain medication – I want you more aware and we're going to see about having you sit up tomorrow. If the pain gets unbearable page a nurse. Get some rest, I'll see you tomorrow." The doctor left.

Erin and BJ chatted for another 20 minutes but it was clear BJ was tired. Hawkeye nodded to him and said they'd be back in the morning and quietly walked out of the room into the hall. Erin gave him a hug and a stern admonishment to rest and followed Hawkeye out into the hall.

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They stopped at the diner to grab a quick dinner and then headed back to the house.

Hawkeye couldn't stop thinking – hadn't that always been his problem? He decided he was a fool. He shouldn't have come back to California. He knew that now. Hell, he thought, what was he thinking? He had known it even as he'd made the decision to come. He'd wanted to see BJ again – just once more in his lifetime and this was his excuse. He hadn't thought it would be like this though. "What were you expecting?" his inner voice asked him. "That you and BJ would hug and just pick up where you left off?"

He hadn't spent one day since without thinking about BJ, about the life they'd briefly shared, what he was doing now. What a fool he was he thought bemusedly. Did BJ think about him at all anymore?

They arrived back at the house. Hawkeye grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator and joined Erin in the living room to watch a little television. Erin was lying on the couch, Hawkeye sitting in the matching chair.

Next to the television was a small table and on it a photograph of him and BJ. Hawkeye was dressed in his tux wearing his groucho glasses. Standing next to him, one arm resting on Hawkeye's shoulder and one leg crossed in front of the other was BJ wearing his pinkish shirt and regulation army pants. Hawkeye's smile was bittersweet. Korea had been hell but he wouldn't have made it out of there without BJ's calming presence.

He glanced over and noticed Erin asleep on the couch. Swallowing the last of his beer he got up disposing of it in the trash. Back in the living room he grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch and covered Erin with it then headed upstairs to the guest room.

tbc