It was the day after Hawkeye's eyesight was recovered and Chris was still very shaken up about the whole thing. He was very clingy and Hawkeye seemed to get a bit annoyed about it. His dad was on duty at the moment and he told Chris that some distance would be good for them so he told the boy to stay in the Swamp. Chris almost refused but his dad had given him so many warnings these past days for punishment that he didn't want to risk it.
So there he was sitting on his bed trying to get his mind off it by doing his school work. It wasn't really working, he was reading one of his history books, and writing down some difficult words he didn't completely understand to ask his dad about later, but the annoying scared feeling he felt made it hard to concentrate. He always had that feeling when his dad was out of sight.
He knew his dad didn't mean it like that, but this felt like punishment. And he hated it. It felt like nobody wanted to spend time with him.
BJ was laying on his cot going over some letters of Peggy for the last twenty minutes. He felt for the boy, Chris just looked so sad and it was almost painful to watch. He wanted to do something that would cheer the child up. But what?
His thoughts went back to yesterday, and it really hit home to him how hard the boy needed some laughter. He grinned as an idea started to form. He knew it was probably not much, but if he can make the little boy smile at least once then he can help him feel better. He stood up, grabbed one of his notebooks from his desk and a pencil and walked towards the child's bedside table.
"Hey," BJ said out of a sudden, making Chris jump a little.
"I just got a great idea." BJ said with excitement. The man had a mischievous grin and a twinkle in his eye. Chris was familiar with that twinkle, his dad had that look often so he got a huge smile just by looking at it. This was going to be good.
BJ told the boy about a prank he wanted to try, and wanted to know if Chris wanted to help.
"B-but won't I get in trouble?" Chris asked softly as he felt his face get warm, he must be blushing like crazy.
"Of course not!" BJ grinned widely, "If we do it right, nobody will ever know." Chris smiled shyly as BJ showed him his notebook, and started explaining.
"I don't think my dad wants me doing anything bad..." Chris' voice trailed off. He looked at his hands, which were shaking slightly.
"Come on kid," BJ said kindly, "it'll be okay! We're going to have fun! "
At the nervous expression of the child he continued " And I promise that I will take all the blame for this. "
"Y-you promise Hawkeye won't get mad? "
"I promise, Hawkeye can appreciate a joke. And besides, the point is not to get caught." BJ said, ignoring the obvious awkwardness from the boy.
This seemed to calm the boy down a little," Okay, I'll help." Chris said, getting more excited. He really wanted to help, he liked BJ and it felt great that someone wanted to spend time with him. They immediately started planning their first one.
A couple hours later Hawkeye was walking back from post op. He sighed deeply. He felt bad for keeping more distance between him and his kid. It just felt mean to him, especially when Chris was still feeling a bit clingy but he was trying to make the child a bit more independent, even though he had missed the boy a lot himself.
He entered the Swamp and found BJ and Chris sitting together on a cot giggling, well his son was giggling, BJ just had a huge grin. Hawkeye stood there for a second just being very relieved his kid seemed happier again. "Dad!" Chris said happily as he noticed the man, he jumped up and immediately got the man a drink.
Hawkeye sat down as Chris handed his drink. He gave the boy a big hug. "Thank you, Kiddo. You seem to be having fun." He still felt a bit uneasy when his son served him but he was getting used to it by now, and it still seemed to make the boy happy. BJ explained they were sharing stories and started telling a crazy tale about his hometown.
The next morning after he and BJ set the first prank in place, Chris felt very nervous. He was really afraid his dad would get mad and being nervous made him clumsy. So he already tripped once during the food line and almost dropped his food tray as Igor served him his eggs. BJ tried multiple times to get him calmed down, but it wasn't helping much. Even distracting the child didn't have any effect.
It was just a harmless prank, BJ explained over and over again. He also promised him nobody would get mad, but it didn't help at all.
"What are you guys whispering about?" Hawkeye asked as they sat on a table across from Margeret and Frank. He was a bit confused about Chris being so nervous but he forgot about it immediately after Frank lifted his coffee cup.
Margeret shrieked as she saw the spider under the cup, not knowing it was just drawn on by BJ the night before.
"Frank! There's a spider! " she yelled to a confused Frank. "What? Where?" the doctor asked, while looking frantically around his cup. The moment he saw the black spider legs on the bottom of his cup he screamed as a girl and dropped his cup on the table in front of him. "AHHH! Why didn't you tell me?!" coffee spilled everywhere as the cup stopped bouncing and just layed there. The spider wasn't moving.
"It's a fake." Margaret snapped as she carefully picked up the now empty cup. "Someone drew this. Who was it! "
Radar started laughing and soon more people around the table joined in.
"A fake...?" Frank asked, as he looked at the cup Margeret was holding. "You're right! I should have known that someone was messing with us!" The man snapped.
"Ohh real funny guys! Who did this!" The angry man demanded but everyone was laughing too hard to answer. Hawkeye was almost sliding off the bench because he was laughing so hard. BJ nudged Chris with a grin and the boy giggled. He felt really relieved his dad liked the joke and wasn't mad, and it was pretty funny to hear Frank scream like a girl.
"I bet that's how he screamed on his wedding night." Hawkeye managed to get out.
"That's not true!" Frank snapped before he took his coffee drenched food tray and moved away to another table.
"Savages!" Margaret added to Hawkeye before she followed.
The next couple of days Hawkeye noticed that Chris became a lot happier, he seemed to be having a lot of fun with the pranks that started happening around the unit. And he stayed trouble free even though he still seemed to have trouble letting Hawkeye out of his sight.
Hawkeye understood why Chris felt that way but he didn't know if it was healthy to give in or to force some space. So he decided to do something in between. During O.R Chris wasn't allowed inside anymore. The boy seemed to absolutely hate it but it seemed to work at least a little. He seemed to be doing better with his patrolling these past days, Hawkeye at least didn't catch the child out of bed. And he thought that after his eyesight disaster it would probably start again, but Chris was really trying to listen and Hawkeye couldn't help but feel proud.
So today Sidney would arrive for his monthly poker game and Chris's check-up and it lifted the child's mood immensely. Even during breakfast as he was doing a crossword puzzle with Francis he was talking so fast from excitement that he forgot to use English with some words, making it very interesting to listen to.
Radar was just about to take a bite but his fork stopped midway, as the boy rapidly let out a complicated string of words.
"Huh…" The clerk let out as food fell from his fork onto his tray.
"Never mind him, Radar, Chris is secretly an alien in disguise." Hawkeye said laughing.
Chris didn't even notice them and Francis had to interrupt him, to get him to focus.
"I need another word for Tidy, four letters." The priest told the boy, he always let Chris have the easy questions knowing it would make the child happy.
"Ohh I know that one," the boy said as he wrote the word Neat.
"Eat something," Hawkeye said, interrupting his son who had already started talking again. The young boy looked at him quizzically, and then at his plate of food, like he forgot it was there. He giggled before he started chewing his food.
The moment the psychologist entered the 4077th, Chris was by his side. "Sidney!" The boy said as he pulled the man's sleeve.
"Hi, Angel. How are you these days?" The man said to the boy while handing his luggage to Radar who offered to help.
Chris felt his eyes become teary and he quickly wiped them, he didn't cry this time which made him kinda proud. He had missed Sidney a lot and wanted to tell the man everything that happened. After he got a long hug from the man Chris started telling him all about his dad losing his eyesight and how scared he was. Sidney always seemed to like talking with him and kept asking a lot about how he was feeling, and it made Chris feel special to the man.
Sidney listened to the boy, who was now telling him about a lot of pranks that were happening around the mash. Chris looked at him with a mischievous smile and his eyes shone from joy. Sidney couldn't help but chuckle at the excitement from the child. It made him happy seeing Chris excited, especially after what happened with his dad. Chris sounded very upset about Hawkeye getting hurt, but now he just seemed happy.
He had planned on staying for a while anyway, and observing Chris was a great excuse to do so. The child seemed fine, but Sidney had to know for sure before he would leave again.
The poker game would start around 20:00 hours so Sidney thought he had some time to relax beforehand but with a very excited kid, the time just seemed to fly by. So before he knew it, it was time.
The Swamp was packed with people. BJ sat with his back towards the door, to his left sat Radar, Klinger, and Margeret sat across from him. Next to Margeret, sat Sidney with Chris and Hawkeye completing the circle next to BJ.
Klinger was wearing a fur coat that Chris seemed to adore. The boy wasn't as outspoken anymore with showing and telling he wanted to wear that type of clothes, but he kept complimenting Klinger on them, while his eyes lightened with joy. It was mostly the colorful clothes that got the boy's attention, but he also seemed to like soft fabrics.
Chris was having the most fun he had in a while, he loved playing with his dad and friends. He was getting really good at shuffling the cards. So he demonstrated and was very proud that most adults were impressed.
"Really Pierce! Teaching that to a child." Margaret scolded. Hawkeye just laughed and said they practiced together.
As the round began Chris started with playing without real money. He grinned as he looked at his cards. He practiced a lot and knew what he needed to get to win, even though he couldn't really figure out how to bluff. He just settled on being happy and grinning all the time, he didn't mind the bad cards he just loved playing with his friends.
That strategie seemed to work as he won his first round.
Margaret gave Hawkeye a dirty look, while Radar groaned having lost a buck.
"What? I didn't win." Hawkeye smiled proud as he replied to the look Margaret was giving him.
After that his dad decided it couldn't hurt letting the boy play with money, and Chris was loving it. His dad got very excited when he won, so he tried his best. The boy won again two rounds later, but Sidney interfered and explained this was not good parenting.
"You're only saying that because he's winning," Hawkeye said as he helped his son collect the chips.
"Maybe I am, but that doesn't make it an untrue statement. It's proven that gambling at a young age is a bad idea."
"Oh come on! You have to admit, he's good at it," Hawkeye protested. Chris had never thought about himself as good in something until now, and it made him smile. His dad patted his head proudly.
"He's ten years old Hawkeye, you know better than that," Sidney replied in exasperation. Chris frowned at that, he didn't want to stop. He gave his dad his best pleading look.
Hawkeye sighed and looked at the time. "It's already been a couple of hours and it's past your bedtime. So it's better if you go to bed"
"But papa, I'm having fun." Chris pleaded, his eyes were big and he was pouting.
But his dad just laughed. "If having fun would be reason enough to skip bedtime, no child would ever be in bed again."
"But…" Chris tried as Hawkeye nudged him to get up.
"Go get ready for bed, I'll come in a minute." Hawkeye said.
Chris wanted to object, but he knew he wouldn't change his dad's mind anyway, and he didn't want to get in trouble while everyone was here. So he changed into his pajamas and crawled into bed.
"Will you tell me a bedtime story?" Chris asked softly.
"Of course "Hawkeye said as he happily climbed into bed next to his son.
The next morning, Chris was happily surprised to hear that Sidney decided to stay for a couple of days. They were all sitting together for breakfast, Sidney trying to enjoy his coffee while Chris was trying to show the man some of his stories he wrote.
"Chris, put those away." Hawkeye said. "Breakfast first then you can bother Sidney again."
Chris looked at his dad heartbroken, "I don't b-bother him, r-right?" the boy nudged Sidney gently, "R-right Sidney?"
"Not at all, Angel. " The man said, taking a sip.
"I was only joking, there's no way you could ever bother someone." Hawkeye laughed as he ruffled the boy's blond hair playful.
Frank snorted as he just walked by their table, "Yeah right! The kid is always bothering me. He should be quiet while eating."
"That's good, Frank." Hawkeye said as he looked over to his now sadly looking son. Chris was blushing so hard even his ears were red and his eyes threatened to fill themselves with tears. Frank looked confused at the other doctor. "So you agree?"
"Yeah of course." Hawkeye said as he winked at his son. " It's good that he's bothering you, it gets a bit tiring doing it all on my own."
"What about me?" BJ added " I want to bother Frank too." He winked at Chris , making him smile.
Radar chuckled.
"Ohh shut up!" The man snapped. He took a seat across from Hawkeye. But the moment he sat down the bench collapsed with a loud crack. Frank fell and rolled over the floor, throwing his food tray across the table. Margaret let out a startled yelp as she jumped up, avoiding the flying food. Chris squeaked but most people started laughing. Hawkeye barked out a loud laugh, while BJ chuckled.
Frank angrily got up and rushed away out of the mess hall escaping all the laughter.
Sidney stayed for several days, and Hawkeye and BJ became a bit worried about the man. So they decided to find out why Sidney was staying. Chris didn't mind that Sidney stayed. He had shown the man all his stories, except for the first chapters of his big story, that story wasn't for other people. But Sidney read all his smaller ones, and the man seemed to really like it.
As BJ and Hawkeye snooped around Sidney's stuff, Chris was in Radar's office making a kite with the clerk. Radar asked him to make one to play with some local kids, and Chris absolutely loved it. It felt good to know Radar still liked hanging out with him.
They found some paper and Chris was coloring it while Radar made the frame. Chris painted little blue triangles and a big orange heart, next was an arrow as the kite was probably going to be the fastest kite ever, and at last he drew a green star. Because of the army. He colored the remaining space light blue and showed Radar his work.
"What do you think?" Chris asked his friend with excitement.
"I like it!" Radar grinned brightly at him. The boy grinned back and looked curiously as Radar attached the paper vorming it into a kite. Chris was amazed and the kite simply looked great.
He ran outside with Radar who was trying to get the kite into the air. It didn't have a tail or anything but Chris loved it anyway. He always wanted to fly a kite, and he had a great time making it together with Radar. They found some local kids who wanted to play, most had never flown a kite before either and were amazed at the colorful contraption.
They couldn't get the kite to fly, but they had a lot of fun trying. Radar was the one running and trying to get it to fly, as he runs faster than most of the kids but there wasn't enough wind to take it very high. It took awhile before the kite really went up high enough and then it got blown straight towards a tree and got stuck.
So they spent the last half hour trying to get it out, but as it was getting late most of the kid's left already. Chris didn't mind, they had fun and maybe later they will make a new one.
The next morning during breakfast, they were sitting together with Radar, Margaret and Sidney. Radar couldn't open the sugar jar, so Margaret who was getting irritated just looking at the struggling weak man, snatched the jar out of his hands and with force opened it.
She and Radar both screamed as fake snakes shot out of the jar into the table. Chris let out a squeak as he jumped a little, spilled his drink. Hawkeye burst into a laughing fit banging the table. Chris always got startled but it was worth it to hear people laughing so hard, especially his dad. He felt a bit stupid for being scared even though he knew about the fake snakes, but he just couldn't help it.
The dead glare Margaret gave Hawkeye made the doctor laugh even harder as he tried to convince the woman he didn't do it.
The next morning BJ had awoken Chris to help with the next prank. He and BJ had snatched a garden hose from the kitchen and it was BJ's crazy and funny idea to fill Frank's air raid pit. The pit he made in case of an air raid.
Chris giggled, this was going to be so funny, he liked pranking Frank. Sometimes it was a bit mean, but most times it was harmless. They were almost finished as Sidney emerged behind them. Chris gasped and turned bright red, making BJ look behind him to the man.
"Ohh hi." BJ said.
"You! You're the practical joker?" Sidney said surprised and a bit shocked. "And little Chris, the sweet innocent little boy, " Chris's face got even redder as he tried to stammer an apology.
"It certainly looks that way, doesn't it?" BJ said, ignoring Chris's stammering and gently pulling on his sleeve. He promised the child he wouldn't get in trouble but he knew Sidney wasn't upset about it. "Would you like to help?" BJ asked Sidney.
Chris stopped pulling on BJ's sleeve and waited for Sidney to answer. If Sidney wanted to help he wouldn't be in trouble, he was nervous about the man getting angry and telling his dad about this, but it seemed like Sidney was loving this idea as well. His eyes lit up and he got a huge smile.
"Sure!" the man said without hesitation. "What do I do?"
Chris let out a big relieved sigh, making Sidney chuckle. " Did you think, I don't know a good joke when I see one," He said as he put his hand reasuranly on the boy's shoulder.
BJ led Sidney to the Swamp door and said.
"As loud as you can, shout." "Air raid! "
Sidney laughed, finally getting the bigger picture of this prank and sneaked closer to the door. He had a huge smile as he cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled. "AIR RAID! Air raid!"
Chris was hiding behind BJ and Sidney as he heard Frank jump out of his bed screaming "Air raid"
The man ran outside wearing only his Long Johns while screaming "Air raid."
Sidney, BJ and Chris were already laughing loudly at the man before Frank turned and headed towards his pit.
He ran as fast as he could and tripped over the sand bangs surrounding the pit, landing face down into the brown dirty water. Frank was yelping and thrashing around, the sound of the splashing only masqueraded the sound of laughter for a little while.
The next day Sidney finally decided to leave. He had stayed for almost three weeks but he needed to get back to work, and even though Chris would miss him he knew Sidney was needed elsewhere.
They hugged and said their goodbyes as he told them he'd be back next week again for the poker game. Chris couldn't help but sniffle a little as his eyes got glossy, he hated it when people left. It still scared him and he liked Sidney a lot.
Sidney looked at him concerned, but before he could ask the boy, Chris just threw himself into his arms and wrapped him in a tight hug, which made the man stumble a bit.
"It's gonna be okay, Angel. I'll be back before you know it."
Sidney said softly, wrapping his arms around the boy. The young boy nodded his head against his chest, tears already falling down his cheeks as he clutched onto the man.
They stayed like that for a couple of seconds until Chris finally calmed down. The boy wiped away the last of his tears and gave him one last smile before Sidney stepped into the jeep, closing the door behind him.
Hawkeye put his arm around his boy reassuringly as Sidney drove off. The sound of the jeep tires against the hard pavement faded away and got replaced by the sound of several cans dragging along.
Sidney stopped the jeep and looked behind it. There he saw that someone had tied some cans with strings onto his jeep. The man laughed and waved at the three watching him leave, before he stepped in again and drove off, completely ignoring the loud scraping against the ground.
Chris was still wiping his eyes but he had stopped crying, and was even smiling a bit. Hawkeye looked at the boy beside him, he chuckled softly and ran his fingers through Chris's hair playfully. Making the boy giggle slightly and turn to look up at him with big, blue eyes.
"You okay?" Hawkeye asked gently, keeping a hold on Chris's head so he couldn't get away if he wanted to. Chris nodded and got rewarded with Hawkeye smiled brightly before he leaned down and playfully kissed him on the forehead.
"I'm proud of you" Hawkeye told the brightly smiling boy.