July 20, 1957

Hawkeye sat on the church steps enjoying a little alone time and fresh air while the reception raged on inside. The door opened behind him, and he was so certain that it was Trapper coming to join him that when he heard an entirely different voice say, "Hey, Hawkeye," he whirled sharply around.

"Well well, if it isn't the bridegroom himself. Congratulations, Radar!"

Radar took a seat next to him on the step, apparently unconcerned about his tux getting dirty, and Hawkeye threw an arm across his shoulders. "Thank you, sir," the newlywed replied with a grin.

"You're not already abandoning your new bride, are you, Radar?"

"Oh no, sir. I just needed to take a breather." He let out a Radaresque giggle. "When I get really nervous… you know, like 'this is your wedding day' nervous? My… special talent gets all revved up. I can hear a lot more thoughts than usual. It was starting to make me woozy in there. I just needed a break, that's all."

"I can understand that," Hawkeye said, wondering what it must be like to be Radar O'Reilly, some kind of apparent low-grade psychic. He seemed to always take it in stride, but there had to be times when it got to be a real pain in the ass. "So how does it feel to be a married man?"

"Ohmigosh," Radar gasped, his eyes wide. "That's the first time anybody's called me that."

"Well I should think so. You've only been married for an hour."

Radar seemed to give Hawkeye's question some serious thought. "Well, it feels good. I love Ginny like crazy, you know. But at the same time, it doesn't feel much different than before." He looked Hawkeye in the eye and gave a shrug. "I'm still me."

Hawkeye smiled broadly at that. "You sure are, Radar. One of a kind. I'm happy for you, kid. Ginny seems terrific. I'm sure the two of you will have a great life together."

"Thank you, sir."

"Radar, you really have to stop calling me 'sir.'"

"Yes sir."

They both broke into laughter, then passed a couple of minutes in companionable silence as birds sang above them and a car or two drove by the church. Then Hawkeye gently said, "Hard to believe… how much you've grown, Radar. Seems like just yesterday we were sitting in the Swamp and you wanted advice on… you know, being with a woman for the first time."

"Ah geez, we don't have to talk about that, Hawkeye—" Radar pleaded.

"…Or some thieving kids had taken your teddy bear and you needed help getting it back." Hawkeye drew him close. "I'm just feeling like… the baby of the family's all grown up, y'know? It's a bit of a shock to the system."

"It's been years since Korea," Radar said matter-of-factly, effectively illustrating exactly how grown-up he was now. There was little trace of the boy Hawkeye had watched over like a protective big brother.

"Indeed it has," he said wistfully, staring out into the street again. "Time marches on, and all that folderol."

Radar squinted at him, his expression one of concern. "Are you upset, sir?"

And Hawkeye pasted that winning smile back on his face to reply, "'Course not, Radar. It's a beautiful day, and one of my dearest friends has just gotten married, and there's a bunch of our 4077th colleagues inside getting drunk and embarrassing themselves on the dance floor. There's not a single thing to be upset about."

Radar looked like he was about to challenge Hawkeye's words when the door opened behind them, and they turned in unison to see Trapper standing there. "Hey kid, there you are. Your bride is starting to get nervous that you've split on her. You better get back inside and rejoin the reception, or you may not have the kind of wedding night you'd like to have… if you know what I mean."

"Oh geez. I don't want her to get mad…" Radar quickly stood and headed inside, leaving Trapper to take his place on the church step next to his former tentmate.

"Nice wedding, huh, Hawk?"

"Great wedding. They make a cute couple."

"Everything all right with you?"

Hawkeye nodded, "Yeah, sure. Just getting some air, that's all."

Trapper clapped him on the back. "Well hell… you've had enough air by now. Come on inside and let's get nice and plastered. Just like old times, huh? Klinger was dancing on the table a few minutes ago… it was really somethin' to see."

Hawkeye laughed. He could just imagine. These people… what a cast of characters. Like the goofy family that didn't get together often, but boy, when they did… look out.

Been through a war and back together. Been through hell together… somehow got out alive… well, most of 'em anyway (R.I.P., Henry), with their relative sanity intact. Getting together, then, was like thumbing their noses at the war. See this? We made it… you tried everything imaginable to take us down, but screw you. We made it.

Without another word, Hawkeye stood and curled an arm around Trapper's waist, going back into the church to join his friends in the celebration of Radar's wedding.

Radar… the sweet-natured, wide-eyed kid of the group. He sure had grown up, all right.

Kind of made Hawkeye wonder when he was planning to follow suit.