He ran. The only thing on his mind was to hide. He couldn't deal with any of this, he didn't know how either. It was completely out of his control when people left.
He ran towards the officers club, he didn't think. His body seemed to have a mind of his own as he ran inside and turned towards the bar.
Thankfully the whole place was empty as the small boy darted behind the bar and pulled open one of the small cabinet doors. He didn't even realize that the small below bar cabinet still had stuff in it.
He just climbed in, pushing the bottles out of the way.
They clinked loudly with the floor, rolling in all different directions but Chris couldn't care. He climbed in even though it was a tight fit and closed the doors. Darkness developed him and he released a long shaky sigh. He felt too much so he did what he always did when that happened. Without even realizing it he pushed himself away, far away into a small place in his mind a place where nothing existed and no one could see him or hurt him. He was no longer aware of his surroundings, but instead he felt as if he were in a dream, a place where nothing mattered and nothing existed.
Chris tucked himself up into a tight ball, wrapping his arms around his knees and burying his face deeper into his arms.
Inside of the O.R, Hawkeye had both his hands inside a soldier's chest when he heard the jeep drive away. He had all his focus on this lung he needed to repair but he knew that jeep driving away was Radar leaving here forever and besides being sad himself he also knew his son would be very upset and he expected the boy soon.
Some time passed and Hawkeye was slowly getting worried. Where was Chris? There wouldn't be any other place his son would want to be right now, the boy must be heartbroken. He tried to keep calm but there was something wrong, Chris should be here by now.
While he had all his attention on this young man who needed at least one functional lung in order to live he called out to Klinger.
"You hollered." Klinger said with a grin as he appeared next to Hawkeye.
Hawkeye released a nervous sigh and asked the new Clerk if he could take some time to see where Chris was holding up.
With a salute and an "Aye aye Sir!" he left.
Leaving Hawkeye alone with his nerves and a dying soldier whose life was completely in his hands. He couldn't lose his focus but he wanted to know where Chris was. If his kid was alright. Maybe the boy was sobbing somewhere and needed comfort.
He managed to make a lung out of the minced meat that was the soldier's original lungs but his focus kept wandering. The soldier was closed up again and ready to start his recovery. One of the enlisted personnel gently took the soldier back to post-op while another person brought in the next person.
Klinger was gone for a while now. He should have found Chris by now, he had to.
Klinger came by as his second patient was brought in. The expression of the new Clerk worried Hawkeye before the man spoke.
"I can't find him anywhere!" Klinger said nervously. This was bad.
Hawkeye shot the new clerk a panicky glare and asked. "Did you look everywhere?"
"Yeah," Klinger responded. "I looked in the showers, Swamp, latrines, Potter's office and the clerk's office, the mess hall and of course the nurses tent."
Hawkeye felt a surge of panic go through him but he pushed it down. This dying young soldier needed him. With a slightly shaking voice he said. "Did you see any footprints following the tire tracks?" Hawkeye asked. If Chris was following the jeep he wanted to know that first before spending time looking all over camp.
Klinger shook his head. "I checked, but there's none that I can see."
Hawkeye nodded. His biggest fear would be his son, walking on his own in this war zone. There was still a chance that the child hid himself inside the jeep, but Radar would have noticed that by now. He hoped at least that wasn't the case.
"Did you look under the beds and in dark small places? He could be hiding somewhere." Hawkeye asked as his nurse helped him put on clean gloves. He remembered several times when Chris hid away in a small dark space.
"I'm going to look right now!" Klinger said as he left.
Hawkeye sighed as the clerk left the room. He put his attention back to the dying man in front of him. This time he needed to collect all the metal pieces out of this bowel before sewing it back together. He needed his focus but he was worried, very worried. With a heavy heart, Hawkeye started to slowly pick out the metal pieces from the wound, one at a time. His fingers moved quickly, but delicately, as his nurse tried to stem the bleeding. He was determined to try his best and save this man, no matter how worried he was about his son.
A while later a now slightly panicked Klinger walked up to him with bad news. He still hadn't found any trace of Chris and he wasn't the only one searching as several personnel started the quest to find the child now that the rush of triage was over.
Hawkeye just stood there for a second, trying to get his nerves back under control before he continued cutting into a human being. He always took pride in his steady nerves while operating but this time it was different. He had never been a father before, and especially not one to a traumatized child with weird tendencies to hide or walk off.
The colonel cleared his throat and spoke up. "Do you think he would leave camp?"
"I don't know." Hawkeye said, his voice carried a small tremble that most of the people in the O.R must have heard. He couldn't help it, what if his son was walking alone out there and needed him while he was stuck here. He had half in mind to just drop his work and walk out, but that could go ugly very fast. He knew Colonel Potter wouldn't have him shot for desertion but it was more than that. They were saving lives here.
He ignored his rising panic and tried to continue his work without a hitch. He succeeded for at least a couple minutes before he felt a sharp pain in his finger. "Ow!" He hissed and quickly pulled his hands away from the patient. He had cut into his own already bandaged finger. He was relieved he didn't cut the patient but this was a first.
"Pierce! Get that hand cleaned!" The colonel stated. "And while you're at it, take a break to find your boy" He added to a relieved doctor.
Hawkeye nodded and was already out of the door when he heard the Colonel yell back "Ten minutes tops!"
He pulled his gloves off, not even bothered to check his hand. Chris needed him and thats way more important right now. Besides he knew he cut it a little, and as the earlier crushed finger was still bandaged, he wasn't too worried about bleeding all over the place.
The first thing he wanted to check was the tire tracks. He needed to see for himself if his kid left. The ground was dry with a lot of shoe prints and it took a while before he saw a set of smaller ones but when he did, most of them turned away from the tires. Of course Chris could have climbed into the back of the jeep but Hawkeye was sure someone would have found out by now.
He let out a deep relieved sigh, most of the small prints walked around and turned away. Of course most of them were older but it seemed clear to Hawkeye that Chris probably didn't leave the camp, so now all he needed to do was find him.
Klinger swore that he looked everywhere but Hawkeye knew his son, he knew how good Chris could be in hiding. Especially when the boy was upset.
He went to the Swamp first, he needed to start somewhere anyway. He took time to look under the beds and even inside trunks and bags. The little chicken was jumping up and down but Hawkeye ignored her. Chris wasn't here.
Chris also wasn't in the kitchen. He quickly looked in every cabinet and dark nook before moving over to the clerk office.
Both the offices were empty. No small boy to find anywhere and it became even more nerve wracking as the minutes flew by. He swore he owned every grey hair because of his sons antics.
Klinger joined him as he almost ran from one tent to another, the new clerk was talking a mile a minute about where he already looked.
After almost a complete round through the camp Hawkeye and Klinger burst through the wooden doors of the Officers club. The place looked dark and empty and it felt hopeless even before they started looking.
"I told you that I looked in here already" Klinger said somberly as he looked at his surroundings. "I even looked underneath and behind the pinball machine."
Hawkeye stepped forwards, suddenly remembering the time Chris hid inside one of the small bar cabinets and asked. "Did you look inside the bar cabinets?"
The shocked expression of the clerk told Hawkeye what he needed to know. Those cabinets are small and it would be a tight fit for Chris but Hawkeye knew his son better than anyone, he knew Chris liked small spaces.
He almost ran behind the bar and his heart leaped up hopefully as he saw several bottles sprawled on the ground. Thankfully none of the bottles was broken so there wasn't any lingering glass as he fell to his knees in front of the small door with the most bottle in front of it.
He didn't waste anymore time as he pulled it open. It was dark but he immediately recognized the hurled up small boy. His whole body seemed to deflate by the huge wave of relief washing over him.
"Chris!" he gasped softly as he reached out and carefully put his hands under Chris's armpits to gently pull the boy closer to him. Chris didn't respond as he got pulled out, not even when Hawkeye developed him into a tight hug.
Klinger released a nervous chuckle and mumbled. "Thank god!"
Hawkeye stroked the small boy's back gently and said softly. "Hey, Kiddo. You made us worried."
The child was stoic and didn't return his hug, he even felt a bit cold and was shivering.
With no time to deal with Chris's emotional state, Hawkeye helped the boy standing and looked into those blue eyes. Chris didn't even seem to notice him. He kept staring with unseeing eyes, which reminded him a lot from when the boy first arrived at the 4077th.
With a heavy heart, he gently brushed the slightly messy hair and quickly gave a kiss on the boy's forehead. He knew Chris wouldn't even notice but he needed it, needed some sort of contact. It hurts to see him like this.
"Let's get you warm and scrubbed up." Hawkeye mumbled with affection. Chris was here, safe and sort of okay, which was enough for him right now. He would have to deal with this when there weren't people to save.
Klinger gave the youngster a look, like he thought the boy was crazy and asked.
"What's he doing?"
Hawkeye sighed as he put his hands on the child's shoulders, turned him and gently guided him out of this building. He needed a way to explain this as easily as possible. Sidney had explained what this kind of reaction was, but how to explain. Chris had learned himself this little surviving trick in order to deal with the bigger traumas in his life. Radar leaving must have been a harsh reminder of what happened to the boy's parents.
"It's like he is pretending not to be here." Hawkeye said. It was of course way more complicated than that, but not everyone needed to know that.
He asked if Klinger could fetch a sweater for the boy as he and Chris both needed to scrub up to be in the O.R. Hawkeye knew Chris would be easy to deal with in this state and he would probably stay in bed but Hawkeye wanted him close, needed to see him.
The ten minutes were already over but nobody said anything about it. The whole room seemed to calm down when Hawkeye brought the boy with him. A murmur of relieve sounded through the room as he guided Chris to his chair and quickly returned to his operating table.
The next patient was already brought in, while BJ had taken over the bowel case.
Klinger gave Chris a blanket and the boy flinched a little as Klinger wanted to pet his head.
The O.R session took almost the whole night. Chris had fallen asleep pretty fast after he was found, which Hawkeye was grateful for. At least the child would get some hard needed rest and this way he could keep an eye on him.
After they were redressed and cleaned up, the four doctors walked out of the building. Crickets were chirping close by as Hawkeye carried his sleeping child, again being grateful the boy was still small enough to do so. He felt a rush of affection for his child as the boy put his arms around his neck, returning to hug at least a little. It was a clear improvement from earlier. "It's going to be okay." He mumbled softly to his boy.
Inside the tent, Hawkeye lowered Chris into the cot and gently started to undress him. Chris was still wearing his jeans and sweater and Hawkeye thought it was better to give the child a shirt to wear. His shirt to be precise, anything that could help even a little was appreciated and for some reason, his shirts gave the child comfort.
After removing the shoes, pants, small socks and putting the shirt on the small boy, Hawkeye put the blankets gently around him and gave him a goodnight kiss on the top of his head. Chris mumbled sleepily but didn't wake up as it had been a long and difficult day.
Next to him, in her cage, Hawkeye noticed the little chicken hopping up and down at the side of the cot, trying to jump on it. Apparently the bird had the feeling she didn't get enough attention today at all.
Hawkeye glared, he didn't care if the bird got enough attention or not, as long as she got fed it was fine by him, and he knew Chris took his responsibilities seriously. He didn't want to pick up the little bantam, but the bird was consistent and maybe it would cheer Chris up a little.
Before he could pick the bird up he was distracted by something on his nightstand. It was Radar's teddy bear. He sighed sadly as he picked up the small stuffed brown animal. He would miss his friend. Radar meant a lot to him and this whole unit, the gently young adult made everything a bit less grim.
He turned around to show the bear to BJ, but he only got a tired mumble from the other doctor so he put the teddy bear back into the night stand. This way Chris would find it the next morning. Maybe it would help a little. He wondered how Chris would be the next day. The child's reaction to his friend leaving, scared him. It reminded him too much of how the boy was when he first found him and he never wanted this type of reaction again. It was heartbreaking besides Chris acting like a nut case.
With a tired sigh, he dropped down on his cot. He heard the sound of the jumping chicken softly in the background. He remembered his decision to pick up the little bird but he was already too far asleep to care.
Chris woke up the next day, feeling kinda groggy and not really sure what was going on. He couldn't remember how he ended up in his bed. He couldn't remember anything after he saw Radar drive away. It scared him a little but this wasn't the first time this happened and there wasn't anything he could do about it. The thought of Radar brought tears to his eyes. He sniffed softly and wiped them.
As yesterday events caught up with him and the fog of sleep disappeared he also started to get angry. His dad was the one sending Radar away, at least he yelled at the man to go, which was terrible enough.
He shot a glare at his sleeping father on the cot next to his before his attention was drawn to the night stand. Radar teddy bear. He lifted up the bear gently as more tears fell. He felt terrible.
Several hours later, Hawkeye woke up groggy and well over lunch time. The first thing he saw was Chris sitting on the cot next to him, reading one of his books. The boy was still wearing his shirt and pajama bottoms and an angry scowl.
"Morning." Hawkeye mumbled sleepily. He was glad to see his son reacting like a normal child even though he wasn't happy with the glare the boy gave him. Chris didn't greet him back but he did turn his glare away from him back to the book he was reading.
Hawkeye yawned and mumbled. "Ohh great, I'm getting the silent treatment" He saw Chris's ears turn red from behind his history book cover.
He grabbed his cup and was surprised to find it empty. He was so used to it that Chris always brought him some coffee as he woke up. Apparently it wasn't only a silent treatment but also a non serving treatment, which was the first time the boy did this.
"Did you eat breakfast?" Hawkeye asked. Normally Hawkeye and Chris would eat together but as Chris got more confident they decided it was better to let Chris eat on his own.
Well, Hawkeye decided. It was just easier to sleep through the morning without first setting an alarm clock to eat breakfast and then to return to sleep. Chris had agreed and it hadn't been a problem till apparently today, as he saw the boy's ears turn even redder.
"Chris?" Hawkeye added in a more stern tone.
The boy sighed and put his book down. He gave his dad a pleading look with those big blue eyes and shook his head.
"Really?" Hawkeye said sternly as he got up from his bed. He put on his red bathrobe and walked over the child.
As he stood near the boy's cot he noticed the chicken cage. Cinderella had a big amount of diverse vegetable and chicken feed. While the little bird cheerfully bounced around she scuffled the straw and vegetables over from one side to another.
"Really, Chris..." Hawkeye said as he crossed his arms. "Breakfast for the chicken but you refused to eat." Not to mention his coffee.
His son's blush expanded further to his neck but Hawkeye saw the stubbornness flash across those blue eyes.
He sighed and motioned for the boy to get up. "Breakfast now..."
Chris quickly scrambled to get up. He was angry at his dad but he didn't want to risk any punishment.
"Come on, time to get dressed." Hawkeye said tiredly. He still carried his empty coffee, wishing it was filled when he stepped into his slippers.
BJ was already up and out, while Charles was fast asleep, snoring in the background as Chris changed into his normal clothes. He put on a green striped shirt, but not the army green, this was a brighter more childlike color.
"Ready?" Hawkeye asked, a bit gentler. He was a bit moody about his kid not eating breakfast but he didn't want to be too tough on the boy. He was already happy and relieved the child was "normal" again.
Chris put on his slippers and nodded so they made their way to the mess hall. He refused to say anything, he felt terrible. He was sad and angry at the same time. He couldn't get the image of his dad sending Radar away out of his mind and on top of that he really missed his friend.
Inside the mess hall, his dad stirred him towards the serving line.
After his dad ordered his food he gave an expecting look. Chris knew his dad wanted him to talk, but he just couldn't. He pointed at the food that he wanted, ignoring the glare his dad shot his way. Igor couldn't care less and just served the boy what he wanted.
They sat down and started eating. Hawkeye was first sniffing his food before he took a bite, while Chris was playing with his food.
He moved his eggs from one side of the tray to the other side. He wasn't hungry. He even felt nauseous. Just because he was so sad. Or so angry, he didn't know which one of those made him lose his appetite.
"Are you going to stay mad at me?" Hawkeye asked suddenly after he finished his bite.
Chris just shrugged. He was definitely planning on it, he wanted the man to feel bad.
"Chris, I didn't send Radar away. His mom needed him back." Hawkeye tried again. Maybe he had been a bit too angry when Radar decided he wanted to stay, but he really had been afraid the man made the biggest mistake of his life, he was needed back home. It made him sad to see his son angry at him and he felt terrible.
Chris just ignored him and it was getting on his nerves. It even took some prompting to get the boy to eat.
The rest of the day went by pretty peacefully. There weren't any wounded and besides the normal shifts of post-op duty it was a quiet day. Hawkeye had told his son that he would set an alarm clock to eat breakfast together the next morning as he had a pretty good idea that Chris would ignore his breakfast again.
Chris gave him an angry look but that only proved his point, he had the right idea. His son didn't need to lose any more weight. The stress of these past days were already visible on the small skinny boy and it needed to stop sooner than later.
Putting Chris to bed wasn't too difficult, aside from the boy being angry and sad the whole day it went by pretty smoothly and because Hawkeye had nowhere to be besides the Swamp, Chris didn't mind being sent to bed.
Unfortunately after a couple of hours, Hawkeye noticed the child's rapid mumbling and hasty movements before the child started screaming but he wasn't fast enough to prevent it. He was by his side in seconds, gathering the sobbing boy in his arms.
He had expected this to happen. He sat down next to him on his bed and held him tight. There wasn't anything else he could do to help besides the soothing words and comfort.
They sat together like that for a while, the boy was still half asleep. He had so many nightmares in his young life already that he was even getting used to them so it didn't take long for Chris to fall back asleep. It was sad but helpful.
After a further peaceful night, the sun reached the top of the tents, revealing the beginning of a new day. Chris stirred as he heard people mumbling outside of the tent. The Swamp was located in the middle of the camp so most of the personnel needed to pass it. He stretched out lazily, bumping against Cinderella who slept against his side.
The little red chicken ruffled her feathers as if she had been insulted by the movement so Chris quickly petted her to apologize. He shot a look at Radar's teddy bear. The little stuffed animal wasn't moved from his spot and for some reason it made Chris feel a bit better. Like a piece of Radar was still here. Unmoved.
He got up gently, making sure not to disturb the sleeping chicken and got dressed. He felt sad and a nervous panicky feeling had a hold of him, which meant he had a nightmare. He did remember waking up screaming, but he couldn't remember the dream itself. The lingering feeling told him it had been a bad one.
He wasn't hungry and the nearing breakfast filled him with even more nausea. He shot a look at his sleeping dad. He knew the man went to bed at a late hour like he often did. So without the alarm clock the man would definitely sleep until noon or later.
After he was fully dressed, he waited. He refused to get his dad his morning coffee. He was still mad and he needed his dad to know that. The longer he waited the more nervous and nauseous he became. He shot a look at the alarm clock. He could easily disable the alarm and sneak out, but how angry would his dad be if he did that. He wasn't hungry and he definitely didn't want to be near food but to risk punishment was a whole other matter. Would it be worth it, or would his dad flip out, deciding he needed to be punished or would he get away with it with only a scolding.
He walked over to the little nightstand. The alarm clock stood next to Radar's bear. He picked up the bear with a sad sigh.
If Radar was here, they would be doing the sorting of the mail by now, or feeding his animals. Most of Radar's pets had gotten new owners, but some remained. He had promised to take care of them, just like the rest of the personnel. The remaining rabbits and other rodents had become sort of a mascot activity for the whole unit to take care of, with Klinger and Chris as main caregivers. Chris remembered feeling so sad but also feeling proud to be picked.
He put Radar's bear back and his hands picked up the alarm clock before he even thought of it. Disabling it would be so easy. His hands shook a little as he stared at the small clock.
He wanted to ignore breakfast so bad. The idea itself of food brought up more nausea.
With a shaky nervous sigh he quickly disabled the small clock and turned around to see if his dad was still sleeping at the same time the man released a loud snore. Chris jumped a little at the sudden noise but relaxed after he realized what it was.
He needed to get Cinderella her breakfast first, then he needed to feed the other animals and then he could help Klinger, to count as his chore. This way he wouldn't be near his probably angry father when the man woke up and it couldn't hurt to do a chore to ease that anger.
Hawkeye finally woke up after a few hours, to the sound of people talking and birds chirping. Something was wrong, he had expected to be woken up by the loudly ringing of his alarm clock.
He groaned and reached over to grab it. His hand bumped against the soft teddy bear before it found the hard metal piece.
Lifting the clock closer, his sleepy blurry vision slowly became clear and he noticed the time.
His eyes shot wide open and he sat up. His alarm had been turned off and he knew who was behind it. It had to be his son. "The brat." He mumbled angrily.
He put the clock down and yawned widely before he brushed his hand through his unruly hair. Looking around the tent he noticed his son wasn't here. It didn't surprise him as the boy would know he would be pissed.
BJ, who was there, greeted him with a "Morning."
"Morning..." Hawkeye greeted back. "Do you know where Chris went? The brat disabled my alarm clock."
BJ raised his eyebrow and gave him a slightly confused look. "Why would he do that?"
"Never mind that. Have you seen him?" Hawkeye said while he waved the question away like it was nothing, there wasn't any need to explain the whole story. BJ knew Chris lost some appetite when the child was upset, but the doctor didn't know the child sometimes refused to eat as well as a result of it.
BJ shrugged and said. "Last time I saw him, he was trailing behind Klinger to help with the mail."
Hawkeye got up and put his bathrobe on. It was time to fetch his naughty kid and drag the child to the mess hall. He grabbed his coffee cup and felt disappointed to find it empty again. It still surprised him a little. Chris was never this angry for so long.
He pointed his empty cup towards BJ who was sipping on his own steamy cup of coffee and asked. "Did Chris bring your coffee?"
"Yeah." BJ answered with a glint in his eye. He's been enjoying Chris's little standoff. He wasn't the one who angered the boy by yelling at Radar and he enjoyed finding his coffee on his nightstand the moment he woke up. It was sweet that Chris took so much care into helping out. How the boy knew he was about to wake up remained a mystery.
He shot a grin at the angry doctor and asked. "Yours empty again?"
"Yeah" Hawkeye answered back in an annoyed tone. He didn't say anything else, he just turned and left the tent with angry strides. He couldn't be angry about not getting his coffee but he did have something to say to the child about his alarm and the boy not eating. Which he was pretty sure the child didn't do.
Chris sighed, annoyed. Doing the mail with Klinger was a complete nightmare. He wanted to politely convince the man to sort out the mail before delivering but he still didn't feel like talking. He tried to show the man what he meant by simply starting to sort a stack but Klinger took the mail he was holding and dragged one of the big mailbags to the middle of the already messy room. The whole office was filled with unruly stacks of paper. Paper was everywhere, from the floor to the top of the cabinets.
He gave Chris a stack to deliver and told the boy he was about to do the same and they would meet up after to repeat the process until the first bag was empty.
Chris thought it was stupid to do it that way but as a child he couldn't argue with an adult even if he had wanted to use his voice. So he accepted his fate and went on his way.
He wasn't the only one getting annoyed about the way the mail was delivered. A lot of people stopped by to tell Klinger he was really bad at this job. Some people even yelled at him. He overheard Margaret yell loudly at the man as he walked by. He felt bad that Klinger got yelled at even though they were right to be angry.
It took so much longer than it normally would, hours had passed and he already visited Francis twice, Margaret three times and made several trips back to the nurses, not to mention the enlisted personnel tent and the first mail bag wasn't even empty yet.
Thankfully most of the personnel didn't blame him but he was getting more nervous and scared the angrier people started to get.
Back at the clerk's office, Chris sighed defeated as Klinger gave him another stack of mail. The first letter was addressed to Father Mulcahy which meant he needed to go there again. He knew at least the priest wouldn't be angry if he visited him for a third time.
"Christopher!" The angry voice of his dad snapped suddenly.
Chris let out a soft squeak and dropped the stack of mail he was holding. He looked at the dropped mail for a second before turning towards his angry father. He had been so busy doing the mail he had forgotten about his dad and the time he was supposed to wake up.
His dad signaled him closer and he quickly made his way over, not daring to make the man even more angrier. The words 'Please don't be mad... please don't be mad...' were circling through his mind as he went to stand in front of his father. He gave the man his best pleading look.
"Did you turn off my alarm?" Hawkeye asked when Chris was near. The boy looked at the floor. His ears started to burn as he nodded.
There was no point in lying, his dad already knew. He hated getting into trouble but it was the choice he made. He thought it was the easiest option but he was regretting it now he was facing his dad. He kept looking at the floor, he didn't want to see the look of disappointment.
Suddenly he saw movement from the corner of his eye and he let out a surprised high yelp as a sharp pain erupted in his right ear. His dad had a firm grip and pulled him a step closer.
"You're acting like a spoiled brat, you know that?" Hawkeye said as he let go. He was cranky enough without his coffee and he shouldn't take it out on Chris. Even though the boy was being utterly annoying.
Chris rubbed his ear softly, trying to ease some of the pain as he fought against his rising tears.
His dad put a firm hand on the back of his neck and turned them towards the door.
"Klinger, I'm stealing my son away for a moment, from whatever this is." Hawkeye said as he gestured towards the mail spread throughout the room. How could mail sorting look so unorganized?
"Don't take him. He is the only one who wants to help me without yelling at me." Klinger said pleadingly. The new clerk looked desperate.
Hawkeye wanted to tell the clerk to shut up but he held back and snapped. "I'll bring him back in about an half hour or so. Would that do?"
Without waiting for a response he guided Chris out of the clerk office.
Chris let himself be guided, the firm grip on his neck was telling him he shouldn't be difficult right now. His dad wasn't hurting him but the irritation of the man was clear. He sniffed softly, he was almost certain he was getting punished for this.
After he wiped his eyes he noticed they were headed towards the mess hall instead of the Swamp and he let out a long relieved sigh. This meant hopefully that he was getting away with it.
"You should be relieved." Hawkeye said suddenly, making Chris jump a little.
"I'm willing to let this one go, but don't think you will get away with it the second time." Hawkeye said sternly as he turned Chris to face him.
They stood right outside the mess hall and Hawkeye knew he would feel better when he had his coffee. He was annoyed but he didn't want to punish his child when the boy was so upset already, a good scolding however was definitely earned. "So you better hope that alarm is going off tomorrow or your fanny is the one paying for it."
Chris looked absolutely horrified. His eyes got huge and his face turned red as a tomato, including the boy's ears and neck.
"Well?" Hawkeye snapped. "Is my alarm going to ring tomorrow morning?" He hoped he could convince Chris to say something but the child quickly nodded.
The words "Yes, sir" were on the tip of his tongue but something blocked them. He felt so sad and angry and for some reason that prevented him from talking. He felt panic and fear when he tried, like he wasn't allowed too because he felt so sad. He knew that was crazy, that he was allowed to speak but he seemed to freeze if he tried.
"Good" Hawkeye mumbled. He was still annoyed but it seems like his son got the message so he guided the child inside. He gave him a tray and pointed him towards the food line.
Chris took it and didn't waste any time doing what he was told.
Hawkeye finally filled his cup of coffee and joined his son. He felt a bit disappointed that Chris still didn't speak and again pointed at what he wanted to eat, but he had a feeling he couldn't fix this problem so easily. The problems with Chris were mental ones, and something only a psychiatrist could handle.
It's been days already since the child spoke and this time the boy was also angry. The last time Chris was angry with him he started to wander. Now Chris wasn't speaking and was angry with him which made predicting what the boy would do difficult.