The moment after Margaret left for her honeymoon Chris became very clingy again. He wasn't literally clinging to his dad this time, but he seemed to need at least a couple feet near the man to feel safe. He also wanted to be held a lot. Chris often put his arms around his neck and stayed like that for as long as he would allow it.
Hawkeye was having a hard time with it. He wanted to comfort the child but he also didn't want Chris to overdo it. He didn't know if this was healthy for the child or not.
That night Chris woke everyone up by screaming. Hawkeye immediately collected the boy in his arms, making the child stop his screaming and started sobbing.
"Chris, it's okay! You were just having a nightmare." He tried to calm down the little boy who was now sobbing hysterically.
"Shhh...it'll be okay." he whispered to the frightened child in his arms. His voice was soft and soothing.
Chris felt damp from his sweat as he buried his face against the man he trusted. His sobbing slowed down but he couldn't stop his body from trembling.
This nightmare was a rough one. It was incredibly scary and he had felt so alone. As most of his nightmares this one started out pretty normal, but after a while he noticed people started to disappear. First they simply stopped noticing him and then they would completely ignore him and slowly fade away. It looked a bit like a big black cloud or smoke closing in at a rapid speed. And before he knew it, he was completely alone with nothing but black around him. He called out and cried, but nobody heard him.
Hawkeye held him close. "I know you're scared Chris. I'm here." He rocked the boy slowly back and forth in his arms. "It's okay..." he said again softly. "Everything will be fine…"
The trembling slowly stopped and Chris sighed deeply. After that it only took a couple of minutes before the child was asleep again.
Hawkeye put the sleeping boy next him and collected the blankets from his cot. He quickly wrapped them around the boy to tug him in before he himself fell asleep.
The next day Chris wasn't the only one who seemed to have trouble with Margaret leaving. Frank Burn was clearly not himself. The man was moody and his mood swings had gotten worse. So the Colonel decided to give him a couple of days of R&R.
After Frank left Chris became even more stressed. The child wasn't close to the man, but the change seemed to stress him out. The child completely stopped talking and became very held back. Hawkeye tried to cheer him up or even get a normal reaction from him but nothing seemed to work and it worried the doctor. If Chris was acting this way after only two people left, how would he ever adapt in the US. If he had to take his child away from everything and everyone the boy started to trust, how would he react? If the war ended tomorrow they would be in serious trouble. But on the other hand, this war could last forever and Chris could be well in his teens before they were able to leave.
During the next couple of days, Chris had another nightmare and his mood didn't change. And to make things worse they were overrun with wounded. Hawkeye had to literally pry the boy's arms away from his neck during triage. Chris wasn't happy to let go and it took a couple of stern words before the boy accepted he needed to stay out of the way.
The wounded kept coming and Frank had failed to report back to camp on time. And with Margaret still on her honeymoon they were short a surgeon but also a head nurse.
Nobody seemed to have time to watch over the sad child who was sitting in post-op. Chris wanted to be close to his dad but as he wasn't allowed inside the O.R, the post-op was the next best thing. At least he wouldn't be alone.
He needed to stay out of the way. So he went to sit next to the door on a chair with his notebook. Some of the patients tried to talk with him, but he completely ignored them, he didn't want to talk with them. During times like this it was better to focus on his story or on his schoolwork. He hated to feel this scared and it made his skin crawl.
Meanwhile the Colonel had received a call about Frank's weird behavior. Apparently Major Burns had confronted and scared two blonde army women, but escaped before the MPs could catch him by jumping out of the window.
The Colonel put Radar to the job of making some calls in order to replace Frank in the meanwhile. They could really use the help, as more wounded were planning to arrive.
Chris sighed sadly, he didn't like it when his dad was working so much. He was happy to be sitting here because if he listened he could still hear his dad's voice inside the O.R and could hear what they were saying. He looked up from his notebook when he heard another familiar voice. It also came from the O.R.
He quickly stood up and had to stand on his toes to be able to peek through the small window from the door and saw Margaret standing next to his dad. She was already dressed in her scrubs and seemed ready to work. Even though she didn't look very happy about it. He released a loud sigh as a huge wave of relief washed over him. This was great, things would go back to normal in no time. He finally felt like he could breathe easily again. He listened for a while and heard them talk about her honeymoon but she didn't want to talk about it. The conversation went towards Frank being absent. The only thing that was said was that he was behaving irrationally before Hawkeye told them he didn't want Chris to overhear. Apparently his dad thought he was already stressed out enough, which he was but he also wanted to know and it made him irritated that his dad wanted to hide it.
Klinger rushed towards the door so Chris quickly jumped out of the way. As Klinger rushed past Chris saw the man was wearing a white nurse outfit and wore a pair of sparkling gold earrings. Again Chris felt a small pang of jealousy. He didn't care much for the outfit but those earrings were really pretty. He still didn't understand why boys shouldn't wear earrings but he knew people disapproved so he kept quiet.
Radar came by for a moment to talk briefly to Klinger, apparently Frank was heading for a section 8. The man was behaving weird. He had attacked someone screaming Margaret.
Klinger found it really funny and Radar was about to say more but he noticed Chris was watching them from a distance and immediately stopped talking. The clerk quickly made an excuse and left. Chris sighed defeated as more people came running past him. He was a bit hurt that Radar left so quickly but he knew if his dad did that, there was something he wasn't allowed to know. It happened often that when he came into a room people quickly stopped talking. His dad explained it as people talking about inappropriate things. Which wasn't good to hear as a child, but Chris didn't really understand. What could they be talking about what was so inappropriate?
After a while his dad finally walked in post-op and Chris immediately walked up to him.
Hawkeye was very relieved to see his kid smiling again, apparently the boy had seen Margaret already.
"M-Margaret is back." Chris said softly. His voice sounded a bit rough after being silent for so long.
Hawkeye couldn't stop the huge smile he got after he heard his kid speak again. "Yeah, she is! Like I told you she would." He brushed the boy's head affectionately before he left to speak with one of the patients. He wished he had more time with his son, but they were still short staffed.
Meanwhile Radar finally had found a temporary replacement for Frank, he rushed into post-op to tell the doctors about a Charles Emerson Winchester, who would be arriving soon. Chris started to feel a bit nervous about it as he didn't like change very much, and new people scared him.
Hawkeye, who had noticed him getting upset again had tried to explain that this new man was only temporary and that there was nothing to worry about and that nobody could hurt him, he could go to everyone from the 4077th to get help. Chris nodded, he knew those things were true but it didn't make the nerves go away.
Hawkeye hated the fact he hadn't more time to explain things to his son, so he did what he could and gave Chris some comforting words of encouragement before he had to go back to work.
The doctors worked through the whole night. Hawkeye had told Chris to go to bed on time and he hadn't seen the boy at all during the night which was surprisingly. He was relieved and glad that the boy listened but he had thought Chris would be more difficult today. Especially with the news of a new doctor coming to their MASH. Maybe Margaret coming back had helped more than he thought.
The next morning Chris got dressed for breakfast so he could spend it with his dad on the man's thirty minute break. His dad always made sure they at least eat together, even if it was just for half an hour.
After that his dad had to go back to work nf Chris spent some time on his schooling in post-op, even though he was way ahead now. Sometimes there wasn't a lot to do around here, and he thought most of his schoolwork was very interesting. Even math could be fun if you were bored enough.
It was already around noon when the doctors finally finished with the last patient. A very tired Colonel Potter had invited BJ and Hawkeye for a drink in his office and of course they accepted.
The boy jumped up from his seat as his dad walked through the door and quickly joined them. His dad put an exhausted arm around his shoulders and told him they were going to Potter's office for a drink.
Chris grinned, that didn't surprise him at all but he didn't mind. He was just happy he could spend time with them.
They were sitting around Colonel Potter's desk, toasting their drinks. Chris stood next to his dad, he wasn't doing anything besides leaning against the man. He felt better now that Margaret was back but he still needed some comfort. His dad had been working for so many hours now and he had missed the man.
The door slammed open and a stranger walked in. Chris jumped up and quickly got out of the way. He put some distance between him and the new man by hiding behind his dad as he grabbed the back of the man's shirt.
The new doctor didn't look happy while the Colonel introduced the other doctors. The man shook everyone's hand and called them all doctors, not even bothered to remember everyone's names.
And this is Christopher, Hawkeye said as he gently pushed the nervous boy to the front.
The man looked down at the boy with a bored expression.
"H-Hello I-I'm C-Christopher." Chris mumbled. Hawkeye put his hands on the boy's shoulders to comfort him. He was a bit surprised at Chris talking already to the stranger but he was very proud of the boy for doing so.
Charles looked at the boy and Hawkeye could've sworn he saw the man's eyes go softer after the stuttering child introduced himself but his demeanor didn't change.
"Indeed you are." Was the only thing the man said. Which didn't improve the opinion Hawkeye had of the man. Charles seemed smug and arrogant.
After a couple of seconds of silence Hawkeye tried again to make conversation. He parked himself down on Potter's desk and asked. "Where you're from, Charlie?"
Chris quickly moved to stand behind his dad and further away from the new man.
"Charles. " the man said arrogantly and a bit insulted.
"We're pretty informal around here." Potter explained. "We get very close. "
Charles stood a bit straighter as he said. "I don't intend to be here long enough to get chummy."
"Well I'll drink to that!" Hawkeye said. He turned towards the bottle of whiskey but Chris had already beat him to it and quickly filled his glass. It still made Hawkeye feel uneasy but Chris still looked overjoyed to be doing it. And even though the boy was still trembling at least he was smiling a bit.
"I'll join you" BJ said, making Chris jump up to fill his glass as well.
Potter looked over Charles's files and he seemed to be impressed.
Chris handed BJ his drink as the man sat down besides Hawkeye. Chris went to stand between the two men, it felt rather safe. Charles refused to sit down so he remained standing with an air of superiority.
Chris stopped focusing on the adults speaking and was trying to feel comfortable with this new man in the room. He was quietly looking at the man. The man was bald on the top of his head with brown hair on the sides. He was very tall, almost as tall as BJ but a bit more chubby. He looked like he wasn't happy to be here, but he didn't seem mean.
At that moment Margaret rushed in calling for the doctors for a complicated case. So Charles's skills immediately came in handy.
Chris was a bit nervous with his dad in the O.R with the new guy, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. So he just waited again till the adults were finished with work.
It took an hour or two before they were and Chris joined them while they washed and dressed back into their normal clothes.
Chris didn't understand all of the conversations the adults were having but apparently everyone was really impressed by Charles's work. Which Chris believed to be a good thing, they were never impressed by Frank so this had to be better. Maybe they would even be friends.
He still kept a close eye on the new man, like he did with every new person. Charles didn't seem like a bad guy, but Chris had difficulty understanding him. The man used long and difficult words he had never heard of. And which he didn't understand. But he was also intrigued as Charles seemed very confident and Chris wanted to be confident as well.
Frank called later during the day and of course Hawkeye and BJ wanted to listen in. So they gathered in the small office to listen to one side of the conversation.
"What's up? " Hawkeye asked Radar.
"I don't know," Radar said. "I should have listened on my own phone."
"Opportunity missed is an opportunity lost." BJ voiced.
The Colonel was laughing by the time the phone call ended.
"What's the latest on Burns? " BJ asked.
Hawkeye went to sit on the man's desk and Chris quickly sat next to his dad, he moved a bit closer to the man. He didn't like hearing about Frank, but his dad found out he already heard some of the story and decided it was better to explain everything than to hide it. So Chris knew Frank didn't feel right at the moment and it made him uneasy, scared and unsure. He didn't really like Frank that much, but the man still felt like family.
"This one's a doozy" Potter started with a chuckle. "He saw an officer and a blonde walking down the main drag. And in his state... "
"Bombed? " Hawkeye interrupted.
"Boiled!" Potter laughed. "Mistook them for Margaret and Penobscott. Well this couple went into a public bath, stripped down, got in the water. "
"Wow," Radar gasped. "A man and a lady in the same water?"
"Baptist! "Hawkeye explained.
Chris didn't even know what a Baptist was but he didn't want to interrupt.
"Frank jumps in with them, still in uniform." The Colonel continues the story laughing.
Hawkeye let out a loud laugh while BJ snickers.
The colonel couldn't stop laughing while he tried to continue. "He then grabbed the woman and started crying. "
The surgeons all laughed loudly and they seemed to find it extremely funny but Chris didn't really get what was funny about it, it sounded so sad. Radar at least seemed more shocked than amused, and that made Chris feel a bit better.
"Suddenly he realizes he's in the water with the wrong couple. " Potter continues over the sound of the others laughing. "Mrs. Kester hollered bloody murder."
"Wait a minute!" Hawkeye said snickering. "You mean Brigadier General and Mrs. Kester? "
"In the buff!" Potter said, making Hawkeye laugh so hard that he almost fell from the desk.
"Wow! " Radar replied shocked and Chris had to agree it sounded really bad. Frank seemed to be in trouble and he really didn't know what was funny about it. Maybe Frank would have to go to jail for this, or get sent away by the army. He pulled at his dad's sleeve and looked at the man questionably. But Hawkeye was laughing too hard to notice him.
"They're holding Burns for psychiatric observation. " Potter said.
A wave of panic washed over the boy and immediately his palms got sweaty. He tried to wipe it off and control the trembling that started. He had to accept the fact that Frank probably wasn't coming back, and that probably a new person would arrive.
"But then-" Potter said. The man poured himself another glass of whiskey and continued. "Hang onto your skivvies-" He took a long gulp of his drink and said. "He's being transferred out of here. "
Chris couldn't control the small gasp escaping him and his dad immediately pulled him close.
Hawkeye inwardly cursed himself for not noticing Chris's distress sooner. He had forgotten for a moment that the child was here and he should've been more alert. Chris snuggled closer and Hawkeye was glad that Chris didn't seem very upset, just a little. The boy had glossy eyes and was trembling a bit but his breathing was normal so it could've been a lot worse.
"Transferred?" Hawkeye asked just to be sure. "Out of here? "
"You mean for good?" BJ asked.
"That's right." Potter said.
"Holy cow!" Radar gasped.
Chris released a deep sigh. He had managed not to cry and he didn't want to move away from his dad just yet. He was a bit upset about not seeing Frank again and this means another new person would arrive soon and that scared him.
"They can't do that to us! I still have so much more we wanted to say to the fink." BJ said laughing.
"And all of it rotten." Hawkeye replied with a snicker.
"This calls for a toast!" The Colonel said as he refilled everyone's glasses. Even Radar got a glass. Chris didn't understand why they weren't upset by this but he was also a bit glad about it. If his dad was feeling fine and even seemed happy it couldn't be that bad.
Hawkeye made the sentimental toast with "Goodbye Ferret face." before they slammed their drinks down. Radar immediately started coughing the moment downed his drink. The Colonel patted the clerk firmly on his back while BJ picked up some papers from the Colonel's desk and threw them in the air as he exploded in a loud cheer.
Chris, who got startled by the sound and movement almost fell from the desk but Hawkeye quickly held him steady before the boy could fall off.
After that they headed back to the Swamp. The only thing Hawkeye wanted to do now was to go to sleep. Chris was holding on to his sleeve but the boy seemed to be okay other than trembling softly and being quiet.
"But why did Frank do that, dad? " Chris asked his dad a few minutes later. Hawkeye had explained Frank's situation a bit better. But Chris couldn't understand why this was happening.
Hawkeye yawned widely. He was already undressed and ready to go to sleep. And he really wanted to go to sleep but Chris had the need to understand this so Hawkeye needed to talk this through. He had told Chris, Frank was really missing his friend and that's why he behaved the way he did, but that didn't make much sense to the child.
"I think I need to explain it when you're a little older." Hawkeye replied, brushing the boy's hair.
"Why?" Chris asked.
"Because you'll understand better when you're older. " Hawkeye said as he looked at his son who seemed to think it through. The boy looked tired as well, which worries him. Hawkeye didn't see his child out of bed yesterday night but Chris looked very tired.
"Why don't you take a nap as well?" Hawkeye tried. Chris looked up at him with a slightly guilty expression. "You look tired." Hawkeye explained.
"Do I have to?" Chris asked softly. The boy seemed to have trouble keeping eye contact with him.
"Yes." Hawkeye replied, he didn't know if Chris did wander out of bed yesterday but the boy surely seemed like he was up all night. A nap definitely couldn't hurt. Hawkeye already had his eyes closed and was drifting off to sleep when he heard a sigh and a soft "Yes, Sir" from his son before he heard the boy changing into his pajamas.
After their nap Hawkeye and BJ started packing Frank's personal belongings to ship stateside and they weren't really careful with it as well.
Chris seemed to be doing well, aside from his quiet and slightly sad demeanor. Hawkeye had sent Chris earlier to help Radar with paperwork. The boy pouted and didn't want to go at first but after Hawkeye gave him the option to help Radar with his papers or help out in the kitchen. He had made his choice easily. This way the boy was kept busy and they had some time to sort out all of Frank's stuff. Which included all the clothes with holes in them, and the good pieces were those of BJ and Hawkeye.
Meanwhile in Radar's office Chris was typing away on the typewriter. He didn't mind helping Radar with paperwork, it was mostly typing a lot on the typewriter and that was fun to do, but he didn't want to leave his dad's side. Hawkeye had to work so much these days and now that the man had time, he was sent away. He sighed, he knew he could've done his chores yesterday, so he wouldn't have to do it today. But he simply didn't want to so now he needed to do it today.
The work lasted for a couple of hours and Chris was very happy with Radar working with him. They talked the whole time while they were working and Chris was starting to feel better than he had since all the changes.
After they finished Chris walked back to the Swamp to find all of Frank's stuff gone and replaced by all of Charles's stuff. He didn't know why it bothered him that Frank left. He didn't even like the man.
He still hadn't decided if he liked Charles, but after watching the man the whole day he wasn't very afraid anymore. Just a little. He quickly walked over to his dad who sat in his chair with a drink.
Hawkeye put his arm around the boy who was leaning against his side and explained that Charles would be staying permanently in the 4077th. Chris looked over at the man and seemed relieved. Hawkeye was glad the child seemed to be doing fine. Chris still didn't say much around Charles but Hawkeye had seen the boy taking more to Radar. His mood was definitely improving.
Charles was loudly complaining about this unit. Chris didn't understand all the words the man used but he got the idea. Charles didn't want to be here because apparently everything was dirty, smelly and ugly.
Chris watched the man with curiosity. He was glad the man would be staying, Charles didn't seem so bad. He wanted to ask about some of the bigger words he didn't understand but he also was a bit afraid to ask the man questions.
As Charles was rambling on, Chris collected his courage. He could do this if he wanted. He was just about to say something when the intercom came to life alerting them.
"Attention all personnel, MASH 8063 is overloaded. Their casualties are on the way!"
Chris sighed defeated as the adults got up to get to work. Hawkeye hugged him tight and told him to behave before he rushed out of the door.
The boy collected his notebook and a comic and walked over to post-op. He sat down on his chair and started writing a bit, there wasn't a lot to do during times like this. He was glad to have people running around him or he wouldn't have any distractions at all to occupy him.
Radar came in and said Frank was on the phone and the man wanted to talk to Hawkeye, saying this was the last time they would talk to each other. So Hawkeye didn't want to miss that opportunity and rushed to the phone. Chris quickly on his heels.
BJ talks first, and then Frank asks to talk to Hawkeye. After a few moments, Hawkeye sounds incredulous, then annoyed. As soon as he gets off the phone the man grabs the whole phone and aggressively throws it out of the door.
Chris gasped and jumped out of the way.
Radar screamed, "Hey I'm responsible for that" as he ran after the now broken machine.
The child looked at his dad with big wide eyes full of fear. The moment Hawkeye saw the boy, he felt a pang of guilt as he again managed to scare his kid because he couldn't control his temper. He sighed sadly and motioned the boy close. Chris quickly went over and wrapped his arms around him. While Chris got his breathing and trembling under control, Hawkeye explained what was the latest news on Frank Burns.
All of the charges against Frank have been dropped, he has been assigned to a VA Hospital back in Indiana, and worst of all, he has been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
BJ attempts to grab the phone from Radar again to get his own aggression out, but Radar holds on tight and refuses to give up the machine.
Hawkeye didn't seem to like the news about Frank, in fact the man seemed really angry about it. But Chris was feeling relieved. At least the man wasn't going to be locked up or anything. And now that he knew Charles would stay here, he wasn't as scared anymore. He started to know the man a little.
After the phone call the doctors had to get back to work so Chris went back to post-op to pass the time. He even talked to some patients until his dad told it was time for him to go to bed. Hawkeye always had a minute from work to put him in bed and he felt grateful for that. He had missed his dad so it was nice to see him even though it was only to get tucked into bed.
After his dad left he lay awake for a while thinking. He felt a bit nervous that his dad worked with Charles and he wasn't there to watch. He knew the man wasn't dangerous but that didn't help as his hands started to get clammy. He sat up and he grabbed his pillow to snuggle with it. He wished he could stop this feeling, he felt so scared even though he knew it wasn't really necessary. He sniffed a bit as tears threatened to fall. He didn't want to get in trouble but he really wanted to see his dad, if only for a minute.
Chris didn't even think about it as he grabbed Wally and got up. He didn't spend as much time with his stuffed rabbit as he once did but he did feel better when he held the bunny.
He quietly sneaked out of the Swamp. He needed to wait for a minute until everyone was out of the way so he could sneak to the O.R unnoticed. He waited in the shadows until Radar's office was empty before he entered and walked over to the door leading to the O.R.
This was the same spot he stayed in yesterday, and nobody had noticed him. Even though his dad seemed to suspect something did happen.
The small filing cabinet next to the door made a perfect hiding place on short notice. He slowly peeked through the small window but was immediately disappointed. From this angle he could only see Charles's back, with the possibility of his dad seeing him as the window was right in the man's line of sight.
Chris quickly hid again behind the cabinet to think this through. His dad was on the opposite side of the room and if Chris wanted a clear vision he had to sneak through post-op to look through that door. Which was almost impossible to do on a busy night like this. He looked at Wally and slowly got up and stepped out of his hiding place. He had to admit defeat and go back to bed.
He managed to get back outside unnoticed and the moment he thought it was safe he jumped into the shadows of a nearby tent. There were other people around so he needed to be quiet. It was hard though as he tried to hide by moving from shadow to shadow. He almost made it back without being seen when suddenly someone rushed around the corner and almost ran into him.
Chris jumped up and let out a startled squeak and he quickly put his hands in front of his mouth to stop making noise. Radar wasn't so subtle and screamed loudly as he almost fell over the boy.
"Chris! You startled me!" Radar asked after he calmed down a bit. "Why aren't you in bed?"
"L-Latrine break" Chris whispered as he looked at his feet and slippers. He really hoped Radar wouldn't know that he was lying. But thankfully Radar didn't and the clerk happily guided the child back to bed. Chris had almost convinced his friend to read him a bedtime story or rather a comic book but Radar insisted he hadn't time. So the clerk left and Chris slowly drifted off to sleep.
After surgery, an exhausted Charles tells the others that he doesn't think he can hack it, but Potter disagrees and reassures him that he will do just fine.
Charles looked around to the other doctors and said. "If you people did it, I certainly can." and he walked out with his head high and an air of dignity.
After Charles left Potter cautions the other two doctors to not pull any pranks on Charles until he gets settled in.
BJ laughed and said "I wish you could have told them that before we put the snake in his bed" which gets Hawkeye laughing, and even earns a disbelieving snicker from Potter himself.
Chris was awoken hours later by soft voices in the background and then music started to play. Which surprised him a little before he remembered Charles had brought a record player. It sounded like something classical and Chris didn't mind, it was nice to listen too. Especially when he wasn't awake enough to get up.
Hawkeye entered the Swamp and was a little irritated by the fact that Charles put on some record while his son was sleeping, but after one look at his sleeping child he decided it wasn't an issue.
BJ comments on the music. Hawkeye replies, "Please, Beej...Mozart."
He went to his son and gave a kiss on the top of the blond hair sticking out from under the blankets. Chris mumbled something that sounded Dutch, but the boy stayed asleep.
Hawkeye climbed in his bed, but something was sticking in his back so with one arm he tried to grab what he was laying on. He finally got a hold of it and janked it free to find out he had a snake in his hand. He started screaming wildly.
Chris fell out of bed, and quickly scrambled to his feet. He looked at his dad with wide eyes as the man was thrashing around screaming.
Hawkeye ran to the door and threw the fake snake out of the Swamp. He looks over to Charles and says, "Clever...very clever." He took a deep breath and went over to Chris. The boy was startled and his breathing was fast and rapid. But he already seemed to be recovering. Hawkeye was proud of the boy. He seems to recover a lot more easily now. He gently guided the child back to bed, explaining about the prank they tried to play on Charles. Chris gave him a disappointed look, which made the man chuckle.
Charles looked pretty smug as he said "Please...Mozart", and then went back to listening.
Hawkeye ignored the other man as he crawled into bed. These days had been hectic and he was glad things were sorted out.