It has been far, far too long, especially since I've had this chapter written for months. I guess I just really, really suck at updating. I have many, many excuses for not updating in...what, almost a year? I know, it's a pitiful effort. The chapter after this is also finished, but I've done absolutely nothing on the one after that, and I don't want to post chapter 7 until I have chaper 8 well under way. The upshot of all of this is that I can't give you any kind of promise that the next chapter will be added in a timely manner. Once again, I apologise. Anyway, on with the show!

When he stepped through an open door into the Swamp, Hawkeye was almost surprised. He didn't recall deciding to come here, nor could he remember the journey from post-op itself. When he found himself sitting on the edge of his cot, staring blankly into the middle of his tent, he didn't remember how he got there either. It wasn't until BJ was kneeling in front of him, gripping his upper arms and shaking him firmly that he realised the Swamp hadn't been empty.

"Hawkeye?" His friend half shouted. Hawkeye pushed the other man's hands off of him and moved a small distance away. "How are you doing, Hawk?" Hawkeye just shook his head. "Have you spoken to Margaret yet?"

"Don't Beej," Hawkeye begged, his eyes imploring his friend to understand. BJ just nodded, and allowed their tent to fall silent. Too much had happened in the last 24 hours to both of them, but especially Hawkeye. BJ wasn't able to process how close one of his friends had come to dying, nor could he process the fact that he'd been unable to save his friends' child. He imagined that Hawkeye, for whom the situation was infinitely worse, was also entirely unable to cope with all that had happened.

After what could have been hours of both men silently avoiding their thoughts, Hawkeye spoke.

"It's over, BJ." His voice was so quiet that BJ struggled to make out the words.

"Hawk?" He questioned carefully.

"It's all over," he repeated slightly louder.

"What's all over?" BJ asked, frowning. He could think of too many things his friend could be referring to.

"Everything." Hawkeye whispered brokenly, and then, clearing his throat, said in a louder voice: "Me and Margaret. Margaret and me." BJ stared open mouthed at the other man. He couldn't mean what BJ thought he meant, could he?

"You and Margaret?" Hawkeye nodded slowly, looking at his hands.

"Margaret and me," he muttered. "She said we were only together for the baby…and now that there wasn't…wasn't a baby…" Hawkeye raised his eyes, exuding anguish, to BJ. "Beej, she doesn't love me anymore. Or…or she never loved me… I don't know which is worse…" BJ moved so he was sitting on the cot next to his friend, wrapping his arms tightly around him. Hawkeye's head fell limply against his shoulder.

"She doesn't mean it," BJ whispered firmly to Hawkeye. "She's hurting, and she doesn't mean it." When he didn't get a response, he glanced down and smiled, relieved to see Hawkeye asleep.

Margaret wasn't left alone with her tears for long. A few minutes after Hawkeye had left, she heard the creaking of the chair next to her cot as someone else sat down.

"How are you doing, Margaret?" She quickly wiped her eyes before she rolled over to face the owner of the gruff voice.

"Colonel Potter," she greeted. "I'm doing fine, sir, thank you." He frowned at her. He didn't like her sudden formalness any more than she did, but she couldn't help it. She didn't know how else to survive this.

"Uh huh," he muttered. "I'm truly sorry, Margaret." He told her. "I'm sure you must be real torn up." Taking a deep breath to stop the new flow of tears she could feel about to start, she frowned, trying to look as confused as she could.

"About what, sir?" He stared at her, unyielding. "Oh, right. You mean…that." She tried to think of a better response, but nothing came to mind. Thankfully, Colonel Potter changed the subject.

"I saw Hawkeye come in here earlier." He watched for her reaction carefully. One of the nurses had come to fetch him as soon as she'd seen Margaret awake, so he'd been standing just inside post-op long enough to hear most of their conversation.

"You mean Captain Pierce? Yes, I think he did drop by…"

"Horse Hockey, Major!" He had intended to keep calm, as despite his anger with her for the way she was behaving, he cared deeply for her, and he knew it wasn't right to criticise her reaction to such dreadful news. "I heard your entire conversation." He continued, more softly. She looked away.

"Oh…" She whispered. Potter sighed.

"Margaret, the last day has been rough. I know you must really be hurting." Hesitantly, she nodded. "But Hawkeye's hurting too. I know; I spent half the night sitting up with him." He frowned. "And now you've gone and said all that to him… It's not doing you any more good than it is him, is it?" She shook her head. "Everyone in camp can tell that's not really how you feel. Everyone but Hawkeye, that is." Margaret nodded again.

"I know." She looked back at the Colonel, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I didn't mean to say…what I did. But he came in here, and told me…everything, and I didn't know what else to do!" She began crying more openly as the Colonel squeezed her hand. "I do love him. And I need him. But I've screwed that up now!" The Colonel smiled gently at her.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Margaret. That boy would do anything for you. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he's back here tomorrow morning, at the latest, begging for you to take him back." Margaret wiped her eyes again.

"I should be the one begging." She told him. The Colonel stood up.

"Perhaps," he agreed. "But if I were you, I'd just let him apologise. He feels awful guilty." With that, Colonel Potter headed back to his office, leaving Margaret trying to figure out what Hawkeye could possibly be guilty of.

Unwilling to leave his friend alone, BJ spent the next few hours sitting on his cot, watching Hawkeye sleep. He wasn't angry with Margaret. A part of him wanted to be, the part that was staunchly loyal to Hawkeye. But he knew what Margaret could be like, and in this situation he wasn't going to judge anybody's actions. He just hoped that the two of them sorted everything out, and soon.

A knock at the door caused him to look away from Hawkeye.

"Sir?" Radar called softly from the other side, quickly pulling it open and stepping inside.

"What is it, Radar?" BJ asked quietly.

"Dr. Pierce is on the phone for Hawkeye." BJ nodded and stood up, moving over to Hawkeye.

"Hawk?" He reached down and gently shook his shoulder.

"What is it?" Hawkeye jerked awake, sitting up so fast that he almost bashed his head on BJ's chin.

"Hawk, your dad's on the phone." BJ told him. Hawkeye nodded, slowly getting to his feet.

BJ waited quietly just inside the door of the office with Radar as Hawkeye sat at the desk with the phone.

"Hi Dad…I'm ok, I guess…what?" He pulled the phone away from his ear, pressing it to his shoulder. "He wants to double check details…for when he picks up Margaret from the airport." Radar frowned, apparently not having been filled in on all the details of the previous night. BJ frowned too, but because of the helpless look in his friend's eyes.

"What are you going to tell him?" BJ asked quietly.

"I…I don't…" He shook his head. "I don't know what the Hell to tell him! I don't know if…" He sighed, and lifted the phone back to the side of his head. "Uh, sorry Dad…you know, bad connection. So, Margaret…Um…I-I don't…" He sighed again. "She's not coming home as soon as we thought…Well, there were some c-complications…Yeah, the war…She's ok, I think, but..." He took another deep, shaky breath. "The baby isn't…" He stopped, and quickly glanced back towards BJ and Radar, his eyes now pleading. BJ and Radar looked at each other, and then, before BJ could say anything, Radar opened and closed the door forcefully.

"We got wounded in the compound!" He called, slightly louder than usual. Hawkeye's expression changed, instantly looking relieved.

"Sorry Dad, I gotta go. Yeah, I'll write. I love you." He placed the phone back heavily in the bag, surreptitiously wiping away a couple of stray tears from his face. "Thanks Radar." Radar shrugged.

"It's ok." He paused. "I'm real sorry about..." He trailed off.

"Thank you." He stood. "Anyway, I think me and BJ are going to head back to the Swamp now. See you around, Radar." Hawkeye left the room, BJ close behind him.

"What happened back there?" BJ questioned gently as soon as they'd entered their own tent. Hawkeye sat down on the edge of his cot, reaching for the empty martini glass sitting on the floor next to him. He made no move to fill it up, instead just twisting it slowly in his hands.

"He just…He realised what I was saying, and he wanted… He had all these questions, Beej. I hadn't even thought of some of them, and I don't have answers for any of them. What the Hell was I supposed to tell him?" BJ shrugged.

"Maybe he could have helped?" Hawkeye shook his head firmly.

"He doesn't know her. There's nothing he could have said." BJ frowned, not fully convinced, but sensing it wasn't a subject worth pushing. "I think…I think maybe Margaret just needs some space."

"Maybe," BJ agreed easily. Hawkeye nodded, seemingly more to himself than anyone else.

"Yeah. I'll go talk to her again in a few days, she'll have had some time to deal with…stuff, and I'll see where we are then." BJ bit the inside of his lip, trying not to let his worry show through. He had a feeling that his friend was making a huge mistake.