Disclaimer: I don't own Mash!

A soft touch, gently rocking Hawkeye's shoulder made him awaken from his slumber. It took his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the harsh light of the fluorescence lights in the ceiling above his bed. Once they his pupils had adjusted; he turned his head to the right to find that a young brunette nurse was standing by his bed.

"It's just me, Mr. Pierce."

"I'm not dead yet – right?" Hawkeye asked in a croaky voice.

The young nurse's gentle smile only became more pleasant as she replied, "No, Mr. Pierce. How are you feeling?"

"Like I'm dying," Hawkeye sardonically mumbled.

The nurse's soft brown eyes reflect the expression of deep sympathy, which Hawkeye did not care for in the slightest.

In his mind, he didn't deserve an ounce of sympathy. He was the one who had gotten himself into the grim predicament he was facing. Nobody forced the bottle into his hand. He was the one who decided to keep on drinking. No, sympathy was the last thing he deserved.

"For Christ's sake stop looking at me like that! Why the hell are you still on my case? I thought I told Dr. Williamson to boot you off of my case." Hawkeye sounded irritable much like an angry wolf.

"Well he obviously didn't listen," the nurse kept a patient tone with him.

Hawkeye gritted his teeth. He knew that there no point in arguing with her. Since had been transferred to the hospital a four days ago, the young brunette was the only nurse that was there to attend to him.

He had been very ornery with her. He didn't let on that it was because she reminded him that he wasn't a young man anymore. A perfect picture of youth he thought, the first time he saw her.

She had been very helpful to him in regards to writing the letters. She went out and on her own coin bought a high-quality ballpoint pen, and the best stationery that the hospital gift shop had. As soon as Hawkeye had finished with one letter, the nurse put it in an envelope, stuck on some stamps, and sent it away with an express delivery service.

In all aspects, Hawkeye thought that his nurse was a model nurse. If he weren't a drunkard and was still practicing medicine, he would have hired her in a heartbeat.

There was only one thing off about her, which was the fact that she refused to tell him her name, despite his constant prodding. So, since she wouldn't divulge her name to him; Hawkeye simply referred her as "Minnie", because of she reminded him of Minnie Mouse. The lilt she had when she would laugh was what reminded him of the cartoon character.

There was something else about her that was also familiar to him, but he just could not put a finger on what it was.

At night when Hawkeye would be asleep – or try to sleep – there was a grouchy, fat nurse with a thick German accent that would stop in. He did not care for her sour attitude, but then again, it was better than the sad, sympathetic glances, that the brunette gave him.

"Do you know if there is somebody here to see me, Minnie? I know my chart says no visitors, but I changed my mind as of yesterday…" Hawkeye could hear the fear of rejection in his own voice.

"There is in fact somebody here who wants to see you. Do you think you're up to it?"

It suddenly dawned on Hawkeye that he had made it through another night on the Earth. Realizing that it could be Sidney who was waiting to see him, he told the nurse in a much more alert tone than before, "Yeah, of course. Send them in right away."

"Okay, I'll go get her." The nurse's nodded as she quickly shuffled out of the room.

Hawkeye furrowed his brow in confusion. Why did the nurse say "her"? The last time Hawkeye checked, Sidney Freedman was a man.

The very brief interlude where the nurse went to fetch his mystery visitor seemed like an eon to him. Finally, he heard the definitive click-clack of woman's high-heeled shoes approach his door.

Hawkeye's jaw dropped in shock when he laid eyes on the older woman, whose arm was linked around Minnie's. He now knew why Minnie looked so familiar…

Besides a few wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, she practically looked the same as she did since the last time he had seen her in July, of 1953. She wore a maroon colored dress that stopped just below her knees. Her hair was still the same shade of dark brunette and stopped just before her shoulders. The rouge and soft pink lipstick highlighted the shimmering brown eyes that he had stared into many a time before, in the dimly lit supply shed at the 4077th.

Minnie grinned with satisfaction at Hawkeye's floored expression. She was happy that her plan was going to work out after all.

"I take it you two remember one another. Mr. Pierce, this is my mom – Shelly Bigelow."

"Bigelow," Hawkeye smiled for the first time in over a year.

Now it all made sense. Standing beside her Mom, Hawkeye knew why Minnie looked so familiar; she was almost an exact carbon copy of her Mom.

Bigelow was stunned at the poor state of her old lover. She expected him to look rough seeing as that he was in hospice care, but she never in a million years did she expect him to look so sick.

His skin was as yellow as a lemon, and his hair white like snow. The gown he was wearing looked three sizes too big. There was barely any meat on his bones. His belly, however, looked swollen though – a typical sign of liver failure.

She pushed her feelings aside however and unhooked her arm from her daughter. She then walked over to the foot of Hawkeye's bed and took a seat on the edge of it.

"Oh Hawkeye," Bigelow sighed as tears welled in the corners of her eyes. She cautiously grabbed one of Hawkeye's hands and squeezed it between her two hands. "It's a shame that after all of these years we have to meet again like this."

Hawkeye's tired eyes were suddenly bursting with life while they locked in with Bigelow's."What have you been doing all these years? Why didn't you come to any of the reunions?"

Bigelow bowed her head almost in shame. "I – I really don't know Hawk. By the time the war had ended, I was just so tired. First I was stationed at a hospital in Paris during WW2, and then Korea… I had just had enough of war. I didn't to be a part of anything that reminded me of it."

Hawkeye understood her position all too well.

"I don't blame you for that one bit," Hawkeye stated warmly. He then continued on, "But why are you here?"

Before her mom had a chance to answer; the younger Bigelow in the room piped up.

"When I mailed out the first of your letter's, I saw that it was to a Walter O'Rielly, and you signed it as "Hawkeye" – then it dawned on me. You were the Hawkeye that my Mom always talked about when somebody mentioned Korea. I know I violated the sanctity of the patient confidentiality rule – but I figured that you wouldn't mind."

Hawkeye grinned at the young nurse. With the smooth tone he commented, "Now I know where you get your good nursing skills from, not to mention your looks. It's a good thing I'm too sick to try and make a pass at you. Otherwise, I'm sure your Mom here would have slapped me so hard that I'd of flown through the air all the way to Arkansas."

Both women laughed. For a second it was as if Hawkeye wasn't dying and that he was still his rambunctious old self.

"Well, I will let you two have some alone time. I have a few more patients to check up on," Minnie said before she turned around and left.

"Why did you come here? We haven't seen each other for more than two decades." Hawkeye asked, his tone becoming serious.

"Molly isn't married yet, and - "

"Wait a second – your daughter's name is Molly?" Hawkeye couldn't help but to chuckle.

Bigelow laughed as well, knowing what Hawkeye was getting at. "Yes, it is. You weren't far off by calling her Minnie. I actually considered that as a possible name!"

Hawkeye chuckled. After a few moments, he then let Bigelow continue on, "As you were saying?"

"Right, well Molly is still at home. One day she came home from work very upset. I asked her what was wrong. She refused to tell me. But after a bit of prodding she finally gave in. She was upset about a difficult patient of hers by the name of, Pierce. She then went on to say that she has been mailing letters for him. She said that his story was so sad. After breaking out into t sobbing fit, she finally let on that it was the Dr. Pierce that I went out with during the Korean war."

"I uh-" This was one of the few times in his life that Hawkeye was at a loss for words.

"I just had to come and see you, Hawk. Out of all the men I dated in my life – I never had as much fun as I had with you at the 4077th."

"That's really, um, touching Bigelow. I really had-"

"Don't – it's okay. I knew back in Korea that what we had in Korea was only a temporary thing." Bigelow pleaded.

Hawkeye nodded in understanding, "So, what happened to you after the war? It's like you just dropped off from the face of the Earth."

"Well, on my plane ride home from Honolulu to San Francisco, I met this handsome, fast talking bombardier. Once we landed, we both skipped our next flight and wound up together in a motel room if you get my drift," Bigelow paused for a moment and sighed. "Nine months later, I found myself alone in the hospital with a newborn baby girl."

"And what happened to her Father? I am assuming that you two are married, now?" Hawkeye asked, very concerned that she was speaking in singular terms.

"No," Bigelow shook her head, "the only time I ever heard from him when he complained that the child support payments were too much."

The sadness in her voice tugged on Hawkeye's heartstrings. He could tell by the weary expression on Bigelow's face that life after Korea hadn't been kind to her either.

"What did you do then?"

"My parents were so disappointed in me when I told them that I was pregnant and wasn't engaged to be married, that I was excommunicated from the family. I moved here to Boston right before my due date and have been a single mom ever since. There have been a few men since Molly's father, but they never stuck around…"

"There idiots then," Hawkeye stated matter of factly.

"You really think so?" Bigelow gave him a weak smile.

"Are you kidding me? With looks and brains like yours – any man would be lucky to call you his own."

"Oh Hawk," Bigelow chuckled, "you haven't changed one bit. You still can sweet talk a woman like no other man can."

"It's so good to see you again Bigelow… you really don't know how much this visit means to me," Hawkeye was shocked to find tears welling in his own eyes now. "Despite the fact that that loser got you pregnant and left – you did a hell of a good job raising your girl. She's a damn good nurse and has a one in a million personality just like her Mom."

"You really think so, Hawk?" Bigelow asked tentatively. The insecurities she held throughout the years of being a single Mom in a society where children out of wedlock were shunned upon were blatantly obvious.

"Of course! For pity sake, she's this young and works in hospice? Doesn't that say something to you about how good a job you did raising her." Hawkeye warmly reassured her.

Bigelow flashed him a huge grin, "That really means a lot to me, Hawkeye." After pausing for a moment, she worked up the courage to ask, "What happened after the war for you?"

Hawkeye's smile quickly faded into a frown. "Basically, the hold that the still had on me in the Swamp grew and grew. Twenty some years later here I am. Alone and dying in the hospital."

Bigelow merely nodded, not knowing how else to respond.

"It's okay Bigelow."

"What's okay?" She really didn't get what Hawkeye meant.

"Don't feel sad for me. I did this to myself. Believe me, if you knew about some of the things I've done you'd agree that sympathy is the last thing I deserve right now." Hawkeye said, sounding a tad bit irritated.

"Well I don't know what you did, but if that's what you want I'll try my best not to be sad. Okay?"

"Fine by me," Hawkeye agreed, feeling more and more tired by the second.

"You can go back to sleep if that's what you need," Bigelow told him, noting his apparent exhaustion.

"What if I don't wake up?"

"Don't be silly," Bigelow rolled her eyes playfully, "I know you will because I'll be waiting for you to wake up."

Unable to keep his eyelids open anymore, Hawkeye reluctantly fell back asleep. Before he lost consciousness, he told himself that he would wake up.

Sure enough, two hours later Hawkeye was awoken by the sound of a rather loud verbal argument happening just outside of his room. The blinds were shut so he couldn't see who was arguing.

He knew that one voice belonged to his doctor, and the other sounded very pompous. In fact, it sounded so pompous that he could have almost sworn that it belonged to Charles Emmerson Winchester the III.

A few curt words later, and Hawkeye discovered that it was in fact Charles who was raising hell in the hallway.

He had gained a few more pounds and lost a bit of hair since that last time Hawkeye had seen him. But other than a few wrinkles, it was undeniable that it really was his old Swampmate standing in the doorway.

"Charles?" Hawkeye gaped in astonishment.

"That's right, Pierce," Charles replied, "May I perhaps come in?"

"Sure," Hawkeye furrowed his brow in confusion, "I mean wh-"

"Shush now, Pierce," Charles remarked a soothing tone, "just let me do the talking."

Feeling feeble, Hawkeye had no choice but to nod in agreement.

Charles walked over to Hawkeye's bed and sat on the foot of it, just like Bigelow had hours prior.

"What give Charles?"

"For starters, I kicked that nitwit Williamson off of your case and assumed the position of your physician." Charles scowled in his characteristic, Winchester like manner. "That moron wouldn't have a job here if his Father hadn't donated those two research labs."

"But how did you now I was here?" Hawkeye begged to understand.

A small smile spread across Charles' lips.

"Well once I received your remarkably sentimental letter; I have to admit that I've been on the phone with just about every hospital in the country, trying to find out where you are. Yet, all along you were right here in Boston Mercy," Charles suddenly inhaled, astonished to find that the emotion he felt inside suddenly took on the physical form of tears.

"You see Pierce," Charles fought back his emotions, "I have never been one to outwardly express my feelings for the people in my life that have touched me the most. After reading that I impacted your life as much as you've affected mine… well, I had to let you know before you leave this world for good that I cherished our relationship as much as you do. While in Korea, you – as well as Hunnicutt – taught me numerous lessons about the virtue of humility, as well as what the meaning of true friendship is. I am forever in your debt for that."

Hawkeye gently laid a comforting hand on Charles' knee. With an appreciative tone he said, "It's okay Charles. Please don't be sad for me. I'm just glad that you're here."

Charles smiled weakly, "Yes… well, you see as the years have passed by – I've come to the conclusion that despite the lack of physical proof of life after death – I believe that there, in fact, is. I think it's a pleasant place where our souls can go to heal after facing the trial and tribulation of Earthy existence. Despite your weakness regarding alcohol, I wholeheartedly believe that – as the Christians say – there is a mansion waiting for you in Heaven."

"Charles," tears were now flowing down Hawkeye's sunken in cheeks, "I – I don't know what to say."

"Then don't at all," Charles smiled before he quickly regained his usual dignified composure. "Now then, according to your charts, you still have some time left with the living – so please try to conserve your strength. After all, our old comrade Bigelow and I are not the only visitors waiting to see you."

Hawkeye could almost have sworn that his heart skipped a beat. He played it cool though and calmly inquired, "What do you mean?"

Charles stood up and patted Hawkeye hand softly, "Sidney Freedman in downstairs in the main foyer. He has to make some calls, but after that he'll be right up."

A/N: Hi there. I just wanted to say a quick thank you too all whom have review/followed/favorited this story. Your support really means a lot to me.

I am wondering what your thoughts are on if the dialogue for Winchester is in character in your opinion? I've never written for him before, not have I for Hawkeye much, now that I think about it.

I chose Bigelow to make an appearance because well, she was my favourite of the reoccurring nurses throughout the series.

There are only three more chapter left until this story concludes. Until my next update – Cheers!