Seems you guys have finally given up on me. Anyway, like I said all those months ago, I have no plans of quitting in the middle. Or even close to the end. I'll take it to its end and end it shall!

If any of you are still reading, lemme know of any/all feedback. And also, if you have ideas for me for a new story.

Hope to cya guys around. Happy reading!

Chapter 96

Down went my plan to talk to BJ or to put it correctly, fess up. I didn't have the guts or the ruthlessness to ruin his fine mood that night. Potter was another matter. After dinner, as I was making rounds, Radar approached me. He looked tired and pale.

"Hawkeye, Colonel Potter wants to see you."

"Kid, you OK?"

"Huh, me? Yeah. I'm alright, Hawk." He looked uneasy.

"Cummon Radar. Its me you're talking to. What's going on?" I put a hand on his forehead to check his temperature. It was not warm.

"Its nothing, Hawkeye." He spoke with some force this time.

"Tell him I'll be with him right after the rounds." I told Radar, wondering what happened that had him looking ill.

Potter was sitting behind his desk, smoking a cigar. And he had a bottle of whiskey open in front of him.

"Mornin' Colonel Potter, Sir!" I waved at him in my most formal quasi-salute manner. Use of my left hand was supposed to be amusing at the least. He was not in a mood to be amused. Lately he was less than interested in being amused, particularly by me.

"Sit down, Pierce." Came the dry drawl. Maybe he didn't have enough scotch in him yet.

"What did I do now?" I asked in my most whiny tone, thinking Frank must have come to him and complained yet again about my conduct.

"Quit the jibber jabber, Pierce. I got this directive from Seoul. You have a formal hearing next week and while you're gone, somebody from Seoul will come to investigate the matter." He slid an official looking paper towards me with all those numbers, alphabets and slashes and backslashes I wasn't interested in. My blood had already started seething if that was possible under those freezing circumstances...

"MATTER? What do you mean by 'Matter'? It was not a ........... It wasn't an elaborate scheme of mine to nail Frank that went awry. 'Frank' screwed up and I tried to save that kid's life despite..." I started off heatedly before realizing how quickly all my good cheer had evaporated.

"I didn't say that. Stop behaving like I'm responsible for whatever is happening. This is worrying me more than it should!" Potter spoke in a no-nonsense tone. He rubbed a hand over his eyes, displacing his glasses for one brief moment before giving me his steely glance once more.

"Then what did you say?" I asked belligerently this time. His worry had me worried. And also, it made me feel bad. But only until I remembered that what was worrying him was not exactly my fault. A life was lost and I was being held responsible for that loss.

"I want you to talk to Burns."

"About?" The same belligerence and his expressions were reminding me of days long past.

"Just stay quiet and listen to me for a few minutes, willya? I want you to talk to him about dropping charges."

"I'm not going to ask him for anything. You know it as well as I do. Besides, I think he'll drop the charges anyway. Cate might not be as committed to his harebrain schemes as he likes to think."

"Your faith in females of the species is admirable and misplaced. They both came to me before Lt. O'Hara decided she couldn't have anymore of us. She wanted you to pay for whatever you had done to her..." Potter left that hanging and I felt like this was the hundredth time I was expected to explain what I had 'done' to seek the wrath of that woman, like women needed a reason to dispense their wrath to the likes of me...

"For the last time, Sir, I didn't do anything to her. Maybe that was my mistake!" And then I went silent. I was feeling angry at this turn of fate. As if my posting here wasn't enough to wreck whatever bits of sanity I possessed that every other month, something like this popped its head. Losing friends to this war was bad enough. But losing myself...... That just wasn't an option!

I realized Potter was staring at me with something akin to concern and not scorn. Part of me felt good that somebody gave a damn but it was replaced by the reminder of my most recent sojourn to the principal's office.

"I know its been tough for you especially since you're the most uncivilized civilian I have ever seen in my whole dang life. Army is bad enough and in war? I feel bad for you boys. And on top of that..." He took a long drag at his cigar and then a long pull at his drink before continuing, " ...this idiot. I don't know what they punished me for when they gave me Frank Burns." His drawl made me smile despite everything.

"Do you have any idea how worried we were when you came in. Regular Army is supposed to be worse than Frank Burns or so we thought." I grinned, remembering the day we opened our bar in memory of Henry and were informed by Radar that Frank Burns was going to be replaced by one Col. Sherman T. Potter, USA. Fewer things had filled me with the dread of the unknown as that little piece of information.

"I need you to mend fence with him, Hawkeye!" His emphatic tone and use of my name told me he was guilting me into truce with Frank. What he knew almost as well as I did was, Frank wasn't a man you could reason with or persuade to do the right thing. That and his uncanny ability to see when I tried to manipulate him not to mention his ultimate fantasy to see my demise were all bound to stop him from even bothering to listen to anything I had to say. The only thing that could go in my favor was Cate developing/rediscovering some scruples and pronto.

"I can always tell his wife of his state of the union. Or tell him that I would tell her? That has worked in the past if you wanna know."

Potter, man of principles etc. went into 'think' mode for all of two seconds before admonishing me for even thinking of such a thing. Some people were incurable. No point telling him it was BJ's idea to begin with.

"Just do what I said. Tell him to let it go!"

"So he can ride his sanctimonious horse and tell me, you and rest of the humanity how humane he is and how ruthless we are? Surely you jest!"

"PIERCE!" Papa bear was angry and I had pushed him as much as I could without him losing it so I decided to shut up.

"I'll try. But you know it as well as I do he's not gonna budge. Its his one great opportunity to scalp me and he's gonna make it count!" That was me shutting up.

"Just give it a try, willya? I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, Colonel Potter."

"Just one last thing, Pierce." I could hear a little slur in his voice implying the magic of now half empty bottle of single malt sitting in front of him, "How did your father deal with you?"

I just smiled at him and shook my hand. I doubted if he could remember anything I told him now in the morning.

"He had his ways! Goodnight, Col. Potter." And with that, I left him to nurse whatever was left of his bottle.