Next chapter! I hope you like it. There's not much action in this one, just a lot of conversation etc.

A few more days passed, and most everyone in camp was quick to notice the difference. Everything went smoother when the Chief Surgeon and Head Nurse weren't constantly at each other's throats. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Neither Hawkeye or Margaret was in any particular hurry to hide their relationship from the camp; they were private, yes, but neither one of them was embarrassed to be seen hand-in-hand, or to be caught sharing a gentle kiss. For the folks at the 4077th, nothing could seem more natural than Hawkeye and Margaret together. It made them wonder why it hadn't happened sooner.

As soon as Margaret's pregnancy had been announced, planning began for a baby-shower-come-farewell party for her, set to take place just before she left. For, while no one had said anything yet, everyone knew that the nurse would, eventually, have to leave, no matter how much they all silently wished otherwise.

Margaret, however, was having slightly more trouble with that conclusion. She'd known it would have to happen, known she would have to quit the army and start anew, and it wasn't as though she didn't want to get out of Korea. It was just…well, mainly it was Hawkeye and all the what-ifs that came with their relationship. He'd mentioned once that he saw marriage in their future. But what if he changed his mind when she was gone and some blonde-haired, blue-eyed thing took her place? He'd told her he could be a one-woman man if he chose to, but Margaret had seen far too many well-intentioned men eventually cave to temptation – Hawkeye was only human, after all.

And that was just scratching the surface! Where in the States would she go? She'd never had somewhere to call home before, not properly. She wasn't particularly close to any of her family, but she knew that Hawkeye was. Should that be a factor in where she chose to live, or was she jumping the gun a bit? How big of a home would she – they? – need? Somewhere for a small family? Or would they need space for more children?

That thought stopped her in her tracks. She was getting ahead of herself – again. She was doing it far too much lately. Of course, she'd never dared share any of her thoughts with Hawkeye. She didn't want to rush things – and she knew how stupid that sounded when they already had a baby on the way. In fact, for the last few days, she'd been tiptoeing around Hawkeye, terrified that she might prompt him to bring up her return home. She needed to be more sure about exactly where that conversation would lead before she could commit to it.

She turned at the sound of her door opening, a small smile playing on her face Hawkeye appeared. He'd long since given up knocking, and now just came and went as he pleased.

"Honey, I'm home!" He called cheerfully. As he crossed the room towards her, she briefly let herself wonder what it would be like to hear that everyday for the rest of her life. When he was standing in front of her, he bent his head to kiss her gently, resting his hand on her abdomen, as was his customary greeting now. He made to pull away from her, but she stopped him with a hand on the back of his head, pulling him back for a longer, deeper kiss. She was stalling; she wasn't ready to talk yet. He finally pulled away from her, happy but confused.

"Margaret, is something wrong?" She stepped out of his embrace, laughing airily.

"No, no, I'm fine, Hawkeye." She he knew he wouldn't buy it, not for a second. He knew her too well. He frowned and stepped closer to her again, taking her hand in his.

"Margaret, something's wrong. Now tell me." Margaret bit her lip, but remained silent. When he didn't make a cocky remark or a bad joke, she made her mind up.

"It's getting closer…me having to leave, I mean, and we've never talked about… I don't really know what to do." After a brief flash of sadness in his eyes, he frowned.

"You don't know?" He echoed. She shook her head.

"I don't really have any friends or family to go back to. Everyone I knew joined the army." They shared a brief smile. Hawkeye sat down on her bed, pulling her with him.

"Well, we'd have to stay near Crabapple Cove. I hope Maine works for you, because I can't really leave dad." He looked down at her, apparently seeing something in her expression that she didn't know was there, because he hastily added: "You'd like my dad, and we can always move somewhere else later…" He looked away from her, pulling her tightly against him. "The houses in Crabapple Cove are all beautiful; you'd love them. They're not too expensive, either. Maybe we could get one by the beach. We could paint it blue. I've always like blue – we don't see enough of it here. There's plenty of space for kids, and it's just around the corner from dad." Hawkeye was staring at the opposite wall of her tent with a soft smile on his face, clearly lost in his vision of home. She wondered if it looked anything like she was imagining. His smiled faded as he looked back at her. "Or we could do something else, if you'd prefer." She shook her head.

"It sounds perfect," she whispered, placing a hand on his cheek and kissing him slowly, all her fears gone.

Hawkeye left Margaret's tent more than a little on edge. Like Margaret, he'd been dreading that conversation. What if Margaret had wanted to live somewhere else? He loved Margaret, truly, he did; but he wouldn't – couldn't – leave his dad. He'd shared her other fears too. He'd seen so many soldiers get the dreaded 'dear John' from their wife or girlfriend. He didn't blame the women, just as he didn't blame the equally unfaithful men her knew in Korea. He blamed the war. All the same, the idea of Margaret being swept off her feet by a colonel – maybe a general – based in the USA while he was stuck in Korea…

And that was without even thinking of his fear of fatherhood. He'd talked to BJ, and it had helped some, but he was still certain he was going to be a horrible dad. Maybe Margaret had been right. Maybe he wasn't ready for a family. He'd been trying, but there wasn't really a baby yet. Not one that he could screw up, anyway. But then he'd come out with all of that about the future – their future. He was good at thinking on his feet – he'd got more than one nurse into his bed with whispered promises of commitment, sometimes whole speeches that he'd thought of in a matter of seconds, although he wasn't exactly proud of it. But this time, he really felt what he'd been saying. He'd been thinking about what he wanted to do for weeks, and he could so clearly imagine Margaret standing with him on a veranda, watching their children – children, plural, more than one – running around the yard. It was idyllic, it was clichéd, but it was what he wanted, and a huge grin spread across his face as he realised that it was what Margaret wanted too.

Hawkeye gingerly lifted an unidentifiable brown lump to his nose, recoiling from it almost instantly.

"Smell this!" He demanded, thrusting his fork in Margaret's face as she sat next to him, attempting to eat her own dinner. She frowned and tried to move away. "No seriously! What do you think it smells of?"

"Hawkeye…" She complained, shuffling a little further along the bench.

"I lost a pair of gym shorts in my first year of high school," he began, and Margaret sighed, leaning her head on her hand. "I found them at the back of my locker a week before graduation." He slammed his hand down on the table triumphantly. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear out cook had just stuck those same shorts in gravy and served it with a side of creamed…" he poked the runny substance with his fork. "Potato." He decided. Margaret dropped her fork.

"How the Hell did BJ put up with sitting with you for so long?!" Hawkeye held up his hands in defence.

"Hey, I'm just being honest." Margaret sighed again, wondering if maybe she'd been too quick to snap. It wasn't his fault that the army didn't seem to understand that the most important thing about food was the fact that it was edible. Just as she was about to apologise, he carried on. "Telling it like it smells. And let's face it, a pubescent boy's sweaty, never-been-washed shorts make for a pretty accurate comparison." She glared at him.

"I can barely keep anything down right now as it is, Pierce! I don't need you sitting there, with your…smelling and…and…describing!" Hawkeye opened his mouth to retort when BJ and Colonel Potter appeared, each carrying a chair.

"Hi kids!" BJ greeted. Hawkeye and Margaret both gave a mumbled 'hi', too busy glaring at each other to say much else. BJ and Colonel Potter sat down opposite them, trying to gage how serious their argument had been. Not very, BJ guessed, given that they were both still here. He stabbed something brown with his fork and brought it up to his mouth, unable to stop himself taking a whiff first – too much time eating with Hawkeye.

"Ugh!" He grimaced. "Food's bad today. Smells like old gym shorts, right Hawk?" He watched as Hawkeye shot Margaret a smug grin as she folded her arms and turned away, finally breaking their glare. BJ smiled – it'd been nice to have Hawkeye and Margaret getting on so well, but this, this bickering, was such an integral part of their relationship. He'd missed it.

Colonel Potter surveyed the couple and decided a change of subject would do them a world of good.

"So, you two got any names picked out for the little one yet?" Both Hawkeye and Margaret visibly brightened.

"Well," Margaret began, shooting Hawkeye a quick smile, "We were thinking Alan for a boy." BJ and the Colonel laughed as Hawkeye rolled his eyes.

"No, we weren't thinking anything of the – OW!" Hawkeye rubbed his arm where Margaret had elbowed him, hard. "But then Alan certainly does have its merits…"

"What about if it's a girl?" BJ asked.

"Melissa." Hawkeye replied quickly. BJ raised an eyebrow.

"And was this a group decision too?" Margaret nodded.

"Yes, actually. We just think it's such a lovely name." Hawkeye reached over and took her hand.

"Well, we'd have a lovely daughter." The two smiled softly at each other. BJ and Colonel Potter both smiled too, both enjoying one of the many moments they'd witnessed that made them sure Hawkeye and Margaret would be together forever.

BJ, Colonel Potter and Radar were, along with the rest of the camp, gathered in the mess tent for Margaret's party. The three men had, while they waited for the guest of honour, decided to start the drinking early.

"I've said it before boys, and I'll say it again: that plan was genius. I hope you're proud of yourself, son. A lot of good has come from it." he addressed to Radar. Radar shrugged, blushing slightly.

"I didn't really…I mean it was Captain Hunnicutt who got everything sorted, I just… I'm just real happy that they're together, and they're going to have a baby, and it's gonna be wonderful with a mommy and a daddy and everything!" They all smiled.

"They're generally the people required, Radar," BJ reminded him, but silently agreed just the same. He trusted Hawkeye to do the right thing; trusted him more than anyone else he knew. But, for a while, at the start, he'd wondered if things would work out. Hawkeye and Margaret were two of the most stubborn people he knew. He'd wondered if maybe both of them would be two proud to admit what they really wanted.

"Do you think they'll have a girl baby or a boy baby?" Radar asked excitedly. BJ smiled again, something he'd been doing almost non-stop for the past few days.

"I bet Hawk wants a little girl. You can just imagine him being the over-protective dad when the boys start calling."

"And if she's anything like her mother, you can be damned sure they will!" Colonel Potter agreed.

"I think Cap'n Pierce would like a boy." Radar put in. Potter shook his head.

"I sure as Hell hope not. Can you imagine another Hawkeye running around the place?" He asked, chuckling, then quickly falling silent with his companions..

"They're all gonna be fine, aren't they?" Radar asked a few moments later, breaking the hush. BJ considered the question carefully before he answered. It was going to be tough on them. They were both so stubborn, like he'd said, and they both had very strong opinions. They could argue like no one else he knew. But then…then there was a softer side to them both, which balanced out the fire. If you'd told him when he first got to the 4077th that the hot-headed, regular army nurse and the pacifistic, would-be draft dodging doctor would have ended up together, he would have laughed in your face. But still…there was something between them. He opened his mouth to give Radar his answer, but was interrupted by a gun shot.

"Get down!" Someone called as another shot sounded. Everyone quickly dived under the tables, waiting nervously for the shooting to stop. Fortunately, it seemed that the two blasts were all they were getting. As people started to get back to their feet, they heard footsteps approaching the door.

"Is that-" BJ started to ask, but stopped halfway through, frowning. The steps were coming much too fast, and they clearly belonged to only one person, whereas Margaret had Hawkeye with her. The door was flung open and Klinger, who'd been pulling guard duty, burst in, rifle in hand.

"What the Hell's the matter, son?" Colonel Potter demanded.

"It's Major Houlihan sir."