Chapter 47
Uijeongbu Korea; February 16th, 1953
"You got any more of that cherry brandy?" Kelly asked as she held out her glass.
"I actually have an entire second bottle, but I'm only getting it out if we make a pact that Meg is cut off after two more drinks." Ellie Marie teased.
"Hey…." Bigalow complained, "since when is there a drink limit in bull sessions?"
"Since the one before Christmas when you had too much special eggnog and tried to decorate the latrine because it didn't have enough 'Christmas spirit'" Ginger said, and they all laughed appreciatively.
"By the way…." Baker said, "not that I'm complaining, but where's your cute little husband gotten to tonight Ellie? I hate to think we ran him out of his own house."
"No you don't." Ellie Marie countered, filling her glass again.
"Nah…I really don't." Baker agreed, with a smirk.
"He's scheming." Ellie Marie said, "He saw these kids when we were in Seoul last weekend having a blast just playing with an old barrel frame. They were seeing who could keep it spinning around their waist the longest. Max got the idea that maybe he could make it into some kind of toy, and then patent it. So he's been making prototypes all week, now he's looking for investors. As far as his schemes go it's actually pretty well thought out."
"You know I always thought the hair brained scheme thing with him was just to get out of the army, but it's more than that isn't it?" Kelly said, "he really can't resist a good hustle."
"He really can't." Ellie Marie confirmed with a smile, "but it doesn't bother me. I figure it doesn't matter if he has a thousand half baked plans. It only takes one good one. Besides, there's a lot worse things for a husband to be than ambitious and unwaveringly optimistic."
"Here here!" Bigalow said, raising her glass in toast and then downing it as they laughed.
"You know…..I was kind of hoping Millie would come tonight." Ellie Marie pointed out, as she plucked another cookie off the tray on her table, "this is our first hang out since she got here."
"Yeah we invited her….but she had….another engagement." Kelly said with a smirk.
"That's her third…engagement this week isn't it?" Ellie Marie questioned.
"Fourth," Ginger corrected with a smirk, "she was out last night too. She and a certain chief surgeon are becoming quite the item."
"Apparently." Ellie said, "and you're ok with that?" She looked in Bigalow's direction, and she shrugged noncommittally.
"Sure…why wouldn't I be?" She answered.
"Well….I just got the impression you and Hawk were a bit of a thing yourselves."
Bigalow laughed and shook her head.
"We are not, nor have we ever been a thing." She clarified, "we are at most, two people who on occasion scratch certain itches the other might have, and flirt to relieve the boredom. To be honest, it's a bit of a weight off of me to have his focus somewhere else. I don't know if you've noticed but he kind of requires a lot of attention." They all laughed appreciatively.
"So…..I've always wanted to ask…." Ellie Marie said with a smirk, "about Hawkeye….."
"What about him?" Bigalow asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Is really as…..skilled and prolific as he claims to be?" Ellie Marie asked.
"No man on the planet is as skilled and prolific as Hawkeye claims to be." Bigalow shot back, and they all laughed, "but he holds his own. He can have a bit of a one track mind at times, but he gets the job done. What about Max?"
"What about Max?" Ellie Marie said, blushing slightly.
"Girl the truth is….ever since you two got together, you have to know we've all been curious." Ginger said with a mischievous smile, "he's just so different from most of the other fellas around here."
"I mean, I've known him since my first day here." Baker said, "we came in with the same crew, and as much as I adore him, and think you guys are great for each other, I'll admit I just can't imagine him….like that."
"Well I'm pretty ok with you not imagining my husband in that way." Ellie Marie pointed out with a half smile.
"You know what we mean though…." Kelly added, "we're just curious….what he's like…"
"In bed?" Ellie Marie finished, and Kelly blushed.
"None of the gory details." Baker clarified, "just the basics." Ellie Marie shook her head and gave them all a slightly exasperated sigh.
"Ok fine." She said, pouring herself another drink, "You know how Max is when he gets an idea in his head? How excited and passionate he gets about it, and how single minded he is about making sure he does it as over the top and grandiose as he can?"
"Yeah…." Ginger said.
"Well…he's pretty much like that with every aspect of his life that he feels strongly about." Ellie Marie said pointedly.
"Oh….OH!" Kelly said, her eyes widening as she realized what Ellie Marie meant.
"Damn…." Bigalow said with a smirk, "wish somebody had told me that before you showed up." She teased. Ellie Marie threw a pillow from the couch at her.
"He was married before I showed up!" She pointed out.
"Wouldn't have been Meg's first married conquest." Ginger said, "remember good old Trapper John?"
"Hey!" Bigalow pointed a finger at her, "That was not me! That was Nurse Able."
"Only because he turned you down." Baker pointed out, and Bigalow glared at her.
"Was Trapper really such a dreamboat?" Ellie Maire asked, lying back on her couch and sipping her drink, "with all the stories I hear I swear he seems too good to be true."
"Oh no, he was." Ginger confirmed, "Curly auburn hair…green eyes, crooked smile with a lil' dimple, and that cheeky Boston accent. The rough and tumble kind, not the snooty one like Major Winchester has."
"Sounds like a heartbreaker." Ellie Marie said.
"Oh he was that alright…." Baker confirmed, and she lowered her voice like she was telling a secret, "Even Major Houlihan had a crush on him. She'd never admit it, but it was so obvious."
"What?" Ellie Marie said, sitting up and giggling, "I thought she was with Frank Burns!"
"She was." Bigalow said, "but everybody knew she was only bunking up with old ferret face because they were both Majors and she wanted to look like the good little soldier who went for the regular army guy. But we all saw the way she looked at Mr. Bad Boy Trapper John on the sly." All the girls giggled appreciatively.
"Man I've missed this!" Kelly said happily, "we cannot let a full month go by before we do this again!"
"Who knows…maybe next time we can actually pick a night when Millie is willing to unlock her lips from Hawkeye." Ellie Maire teased.
"Come on Ellie…." Bigalow said, rolling her eyes slightly, "you know as well as I do that Hawkeye is just her most convenient excuse."
"What do you mean?"
"Well….she's just not really that friendly." Ginger said with a shrug, "we do our best but she never seems all that interested in spending time with us."
"Really?" Ellie Marie asked, "I admit I'm a little out of the loop, what with not living with you guys anymore, but she's never seemed unfriendly to me, just kind of shy."
"She definitely is shy." Kelly confirmed, "and we all know it's not easy walking into this group of big personalities. It's probably just going to take her a little more time to open up."
"And here we have our resident peace maker." Bigalow said, motioning grandly towards Kelly.
"Alright Meg, that's it. You're cut off." Baker said with a smirk, as she pulled the glass from Bigalow's hands.
The next morning Ellie Marie and Klinger were awoken by a knocking on their door just after dawn. Ellie Marie sat up and looked around blearily, sliding out from under Klinger's arm that was draped across her.
"Who is it?" She asked.
"It's Margaret." Came the reply. Ellie Marie headed to the door and opened it. Margaret looked up at her with a grave expression.
"Major what is it?" Ellie Marie asked quickly, "is everyone alright?"
"I'm afraid not." She replied, "I'm sorry to have to wake you with this kind of news, but Nurse Carpenter has been killed."
"Oh my god…." Ellie Marie gasped, putting a hand over her mouth.
"How'd it happen?" Klinger said, coming to stand at her shoulder.
"Her body was found this morning." Margaret said, "it seems she went for a walk last night and wandered off the road. She stepped on a landmine."
"Jeez…." Klinger murmured.
"Father Mulcahy is making himself available today, for anyone who needs to talk." Margaret explained. "And he'll be organizing a service in the next few days."
"Ok….." Ellie Marie said, nodding numbly. She felt like she was in a daze. Margaret reached up and squeezed her arm.
"I know she wasn't with us long." Margaret said gently, "but she was still one of us, and a loss is a loss." Ellie Marie nodded in agreement.
About an hour later she made her way up to the main building to find Hawkeye sitting at the desk in Post Op. He looked down at the paper in front of him and sighed heavily.
"Hey soldier…" She said gently, squeezing his shoulder, "how are you holding up?" He looked up at her as if he hadn't even realized she was there.
"Wha? Oh….hi Ellie. I'm alright." He said, looking back down at the paper.
"Whatcha doing?" She asked.
"I told Father Mulcahy I'd do Millie's eulogy." He explained. "I had to do it."
"Oh yeah?" Ellie Marie asked.
"Nobody else volunteered this morning, when Colonel Potter made the announcement, and I realized Father Mulcahy would just do one of those routine services where all you do is just fill in the blanks."
"Hey….give him a little more credit than that…he always tries to make it personal." Ellie Marie said, leaning against the desk next to him.
"I'm not trying to knock the father, but honestly what could he say really?" Hawkeye asked, "That she was a nice person who died before her time, and now she's gone to a better place?"
"Hawk…." Ellie Marie put a hand gently on his forearm, "at times like this, I don't think it's so much about the words that are said. I think it's about us all being together to listen to them."
"No, it's got to be more than that!" Hawkeye said in frustration, "It's gotta say something about Millie!"
"I didn't realize she meant this much to you."
Hawkeye sat back heavily in the chair and sighed, looking down at his hands in his lap.
"That's just it….she didn't." He said quietly, "We just jumped into the sack together. If she were alive now, and being transferred out of here. I'd say goodbye to her, probably toss off a couple wise cracks, and uh….and honestly I'd most likely forget about her in a few days." He pressed his hands over his eyes and leaned back, groaning in frustration, "but now I feel like I owe her something…"
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Ellie Marie asked gently.
"Toss up a prayer that I miraculously figure out how to be a genuine person who can access his more complicated emotions within the next twenty four hours?" He asked with a sigh.
She gave him a slightly sad smile and ruffled his hair. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around him, giving him a quick kiss on the temple. To her surprise he reached up and wrapped his arm around one of hers, holding her there in the embrace. She rested her cheek against the side of his head.
"At the risk of sounding sappy, I love ya you big lug." She said, and he squeezed her arm in response.
"Thanks Mom…." He teased, letting her go. She gave him one more affectionate pat on the shoulder before turning and heading into the office.
"How's Hawkeye doing?" Klinger asked, looking up from his desk.
"He's…..introspective." She said, walking over and sitting down in his lap, "death does weird things to people."
"You can say that again." Klinger agreed.
"How about you love?" Ellie Marie asked, putting a hand on his cheek, "how are you? I kinda left in a hurry this morning without checking in with you."
"I'm fine." Klinger replied, "I didn't really know her that well ya know? Not like you did. She was kinda quiet."
"I know….but I also know that getting confronted with stuff like this kind of twists you up, from past experiences."
"Getting confronted with the love of my life's potential death twisted me up." He clarified, running the back of his hand along her cheek, "so do me a favor and don't go wandering off the road anytime soon ok?"
"Promise." She said, and she leaned in to kiss him. It started out as a simple kiss, but as she began to pull away he put a hand behind her neck and pulled her back in kissing her deeper. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned into the kiss, he responded in kind and after another blissful moment she pulled back, breathing hard.
"What was that for?" She asked breathlessly.
"I just….never want you to forget…how crazy I am about you." He said quietly, running a thumb across her bottom lip, "I'm just as crazy about you today as the first time I laid eyes on you gorgeous. More in fact. I fall more in love with you every single day, and I just wanted to make sure….that you know it." Ellie Marie tilted his head up and kissed him again.
"I know it, Max." She said softly, "I'll always know it."
The inner office doors opened and Colonel Potter walked out.
"Klinger I just signed this death certificate for Nurse Carpenter. Can you get it sent to H.Q. pronto? Oh! Pardon the intrusion." He noticed Ellie Marie sitting in Klinger's lap, and she quickly moved to get up.
"At ease, Captain." Colonel Potter said, motioning for her to stay where she was, "on a day like today I think we're all feeling the need to hold our loved ones a little closer. You just happen to be one of the lucky few who has that opportunity."
Klinger wrapped his arms tighter around her and she leaned her cheek against the top of his head.
"You doing alright Colonel?" She asked, and he sighed and shook his head.
"Things like this are always hard to swallow." He said, "as C.O. it's my job to take care of each and every one of you people. It's my responsibility to make sure you get home to your loved ones safely, and I take that responsibility very seriously."
"We know you do sir." Klinger said gently.
"The thing is….I have to accept that this is war, and at times people will have to put themselves in harms way. I even have to accept that I can't save everyone, but something like this….something so random and senseless. It's hard to not feel like I failed." Colonel Potter said heavily.
"Colonel…." Ellie Marie reached out to squeeze his hand, "She was out of bounds in the middle of the night. There was nothing you could have done. You gave her the rules and boundaries to protect her, and she chose to ignore them. That's not your fault. You can't watch every person, every hour of the day."
"I know…." The Colonel nodded, "but I'm still going to have to be the one who writes her family, and what is there to say?"
———
Later that evening Ellie Marie walked across the compound clutching a small book to her chest. Even as she walked towards the Swamp she wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing. She understood why the girls wanted her to do it, and it seemed like the right thing to do on some level, but it also felt like such a violation. She took a deep breath and then knocked on the door.
"Come in." Charles called, she opened the door and found him sitting on his bed reading, Hawkeye was sitting across from him on his own bed staring at the same piece of paper that only had slightly more writing in it.
"Still struggling to find the right words about Millie?" She asked.
"So far I have….she was a very good nurse. She was quiet and kept to herself, worked a lot of night shifts, and she was stingy with her fudge." He replied.
"Stingy with her fudge?" Ellie Marie asked, sitting down next to him.
"The other nurses said she got a big box for Christmas and only gave them each one piece." He explained, "they weren't bad mouthing her or anything." He added quickly, "it's just something that stuck in their memories."
"Huh…I guess she never told them." Ellie Marie said quietly.
"Never told them what?" He asked.
"I was on night shift with her when she got that fudge." Ellie Marie explained, "she didn't eat any of it herself. She gave each of us nurses a piece, and then she gave the rest of it to the guys who were in Post Op, said they could use a treat way more than her."
"She did that?" Hawkeye said, looking at her with an intense expression she couldn't quite place.
"Yeah, she did." Ellie Marie confirmed.
"That's perfect Ellie. Thank you!" Hawkeye said, and he began scribbling on the paper quickly.
Ellie Maire tightened her grip on the little book in her hands and sighed.
"Hawkeye….I have something that the other nurses asked me to give you, but I gotta be honest. I don't really know if I feel right about it."
"Ok….well what is it?" He asked.
"They felt bad, you know? That they couldn't tell you more about Millie." She explained, "and I think they kinda felt guilty about not knowing her better for that matter. They love what you're trying to do, and they wanted to help you do it right. So….." She held out the book, "they wanted to give you her diary."
"Her diary?" Hawkeye said, looking down at it in disbelief, "I can't read that! Those are her personal private thoughts, to read them without her permission…..when she isn't even here to object….it feels like…."
"A violation." Ellie Marie agreed with a nod, "I know. I feel that way too in some ways. Which is why I was so hesitant to bring it to you. But on the other hand I get what they're trying to do, you wanted to know her Hawk. Right or wrong, this is the only option you have left to do that. You knew her more intimately than anyone else here. Sure it was only physically, but maybe if you read this you can finally know her on a deeper level. It's not like you have to share anything you read in here with anyone else. If you really feel like it's too personal, you can just keep what it says to yourself." Hawkeye reached out and took it from her.
"I'll think about it…." He said, looking down at the book.
"That's all I ask." She said. He sighed and shook his head, before getting up and walking out with the diary in his hand.
"He really is deeply troubled by this isn't he?" Charles said as he watched him leave.
"Yeah." Ellie Marie agreed with a sigh, "I think he's being confronted with some things about himself he'd rather not face. I'm proud of how he's reacting to it though. He's not running or hiding from it, he's actually facing it head on."
"I supposed even Pierce was bound to show some growth if given enough time and opportunity." Charles replied, and she shot him a tired smile.
"So are you aware of your husband's newest ridiculous venture?" Charles asked, as he stood and poured two glasses of wine, offering one to her. She accepted it.
"The hoop toy thing?" She said, sipping the wine, "of course. He's been working on it all week."
"Tell me….does it ever get tiresome watching him bounce from one inane scheme to the next?" He asked.
"I don't know…." She said thoughtfully, "I guess I admire his ingenuity and imagination, not to mention his resilience. While I fully intend to be the breadwinner in our family, it's nice to know that if my plans fall through, Max will always find a way to make sure we're ok, no matter what he has to do."
"I suppose that's true…." Charles said, "There is a sort of….blue collar nobility about that notion."
"Charles have you ever noticed you have a particular talent for saying what you perceive as compliments in the most condescending way possible?" She pointed out, and he smirked taking a sip of his wine.
"Besides….I actually thought his current venture seemed one of his more promising." She added.
"Please…..a ring that children spin around their waists?" Charles said with an eye roll.
"You didn't see how the kids in Seoul were going crazy over it Charles." She said, "and if there's one thing I know Max is a pro at every single time, it's entertaining kids. They go crazy over all his silly ideas, let's be honest most of the time he's basically a big kid himself."
"He should always have you as his spokesperson when he's fishing for investors." Charles said, pointing towards her with his wine glass, "You have a unique talent for making him seem like he walks on water."
"Well…that's marriage my friend." She teased, and they both took long drinks of their wine.
"So circling back to your chosen profession." Charles said, crossing his arms and looking at her, "I'm not sure if I've decided to forgive you for giving up your promising career as a surgeon to become a psychiatrist." Ellie Marie laughed.
"You say that like you didn't do your own brief stint in the psychiatric branch of Harvard medical. Which I know you did." She countered.
"Yes I did! And I determined they are all a bunch of quacks!" He shot back.
"Charles…." Ellie Marie said, "with all the amazing things you've seen Sidney do for these boys since we've gotten here, I know you don't believe that. I want to do the same thing for the guys who manage to make it back home." He looked up at her and smiled.
"An admirable sentiment…" he admitted. He looked down at the wine in his glass for a moment and took a deep breath, "Ellie…." He said quietly, "I know it may seem cliche….but these circumstances with Lieutenant Carpenter have cause me to become quite….introspective."
"There's a lot of that going around." She said.
"Yes…I imagine there is." He said, "but I realized…I don't believe I've ever told you….and I'd be remiss if I were to let anything happen to either of us….without you knowing." He looked up at her, "You mean a great deal to me Eleanor." He said, "So much in fact, that I don't believe I would have made it through my first few months here without your support. You have been a constant source of comfort, and often contention." She chuckled appreciatively, "but you always push me to grow, and learn about myself. I am…a better person for having known you Mrs. Klinger. And I wanted to make sure I told you that, at least once."
"Thank you Charles…." Ellie Marie said, and she swallowed hard against the lump in her throat, "for what it's worth, I always knew that man was inside you. Even when you didn't want to admit it. And you mean a great deal to me as well." He gave her a quick look and blinked rapidly as he looked away.
"Well…." She said taking a deep breath, "at the risk of initiating an uncomfortable display of affection." She teased, "do you think a hug might be in order?" He smirked, and stood up.
"I think I may be able to manage it." He replied, opening his arms. She stepped into the and hugged him tightly.
"Thank you Ellie." He said quietly.
"Anytime Charles." She replied, giving him one more squeeze and stepping away. "So I suppose I will see you tomorrow for the service?"
"You suppose correctly." He said, "Goodnight."
"Goodnight Charles." She replied, and she walked out the door.
———-
"Are you sure this looks ok?" Ellie Marie said, smoothing down her dark blue dress, and looking nervously in the mirror, "I hate that I don't have anything black to wear! We're in the middle of a war zone, there's death all around us. It seems ridiculous that I don't have something to wear to a funeral."
"Baby….you look perfect." Klinger said, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her lightly, "and while I hope to god we never have to do this again for as long as we're here. When we get back tonight I'll pull out that black velvet number I have and fit it for you, if it'll make you feel better."
"You're the best husband in the world. You know that?" She said, tucking her head on his shoulder.
"The only thing I care about is being the best husband for you." He said, kissing her forehead, "You ready to go?"
"Not at all." Ellie Marie sighed, "but we have to go anyway."
"Oh hey….I forgot to tell you. Major Winchester decided to invest in my hoop idea!" Klinger said as they walked out the door.
"He did?" Ellie Marie said with a smile.
"Yeah….he said I had….what did he say again? I had a special genius for capturing the essence of the stupidity in American consumerism."
Ellie Marie laughed.
"Yeah….that sounds like Charles."
They walked across the compound and took a spot on one of the benches in the mess tent. Ellie Marie tried not to think about the fact that the last time the mess tent had been set up in this configuration was for their wedding. Father Mulcahy stood at the front and looked around at them kindly.
"It's never easy to lead a service like this." He said, "In a time where we all feel a good deal of uncertainty, and confusion. I invite you to read with me a passage in which King David speaks of his own times of uncertainty, and the assurances he had in our Lord."
The father led the group in a reading of the twenty third psalm, and as he finished he nodded toward Hawkeye who stood and took his place at the front. He took a deep breath and looked out at them.
"Millie Carpenter was 27 when she died." He began, "Not many of us knew her very well, and that was our loss because she was really somebody worth knowing. I'm sorry to say I didn't really know her myself very well, until last night when her amazing fellow nurses suggested I read her diary."
He shot them an appreciative smile,
"I got to know Millie Carpenter in those pages. So let me tell you about her. I'll start with the fudge. It was a big box, but Millie only gave one piece to each nurse. Well, what most of you don't know is that she gave the rest of it to the wounded in Post Op. She worked the night shift, so she kept that to herself. We thought she was kind of unfriendly. But… in fact…she looked at us with a kind of awe, that we've done our jobs for so long and so well. She could have told us that…but she wasn't able to because…"
He looked down and took a steadying breath.
"It wasn't what some of us thought, that she was uncaring. It was because, as she wrote often, she was shy….she was just too shy to express her feelings. She could write it to herself but she couldn't say it to us. I…I wish she had, because if she had, I might have felt for her before what I feel now."
Hawkeye brushed tears away from his eyes.
"I really care for Millie, and I've learned something from her. See…I'm a lot like Millie. I'm not shy…."
Everyone chuckled slightly at that, and he looked up at them with a reluctant smile before continuing.
"I…..I cover up my feelings with jokes…" He said quietly.
"and I don't tell the people I….I care about, the most important thing that I can tell them. That I do care." He took a deep breath.
"It's too late for Millie to change, and that's sad. But maybe we can take a page from her diary. And I'd like to start right now, and let a little of what I feel show through the cracks…..through the wise cracks."
They all chuckled appreciatively again.
"To all the people here who I've sweated with and endured with…" He looked up at them.
"You're very important to me, and I hope I do a better job of letting you know it. And to those closest to me…who…who mean so much to me. Colonel Potter…Father Mulcahy…Ellie…Klinger…Margaret…Charles….and Beej. I want you to know… I love every one of you. And Goodbye Millie."
"Goodbye Millie." They all echoed quietly.
———-
"Ok you ready operator?" Klinger said into the phone, "The wire goes to Mr. Amir Abdullah! It's spelled just like it sounds. 1329 South 15th Street. Toledo, Ohio. Dear, Uncle Amir. We're in business! Have check in hand."
"Change that to have check in trash!" Charles snapped, walking in from Post Op, grabbing the check out of Klinger's hand, and ripping it up.
"Major, have you lost your mind?" Klinger said angrily.
"Nope, just changed it." Charles replied.
"Why??"
"I've done some market research and prospective consumers find your product patently silly and remarkably stupid." Charles said.
"Of course it's stupid! That's what you told me you loved about it!" Klinger retorted, throwing his hands in the air.
"Love affair's over Sergeant." Charles said, turning and walking out.
"What the heck did I do?" Klinger said, slumping in disappointment.
"You did nothing doll face." Ellie Marie said wrapping her arms around him and kissing his cheek, "honestly it was kind of a miracle that you got him on board in the first place. By the end of this war you might actually come up with a hustle good enough to get some money out of him." Klinger shook his head and sighed.
A few minutes later Ellie Marie made her way over to the lab and found Hawkeye there looking at cultures.
"Mind if I join you?" She asked.
"Mi laboratory es su laboratory." He said. She stood next to him and grabbed a slide from the box. He shot her a furtive look, and she smiled.
"So how are you doing?" She asked, looking into the microscope.
"I'm…..weird." He said.
"I was looking for any new information, not established personality traits." She teased, and he chuckled. He looked up from the microscope and turned to lean against the counter.
"I feel like I can't go back to the way I was before you know?" He said, crossing his arms across his chest, "reading her diary woke something up inside me, and I know I can't just be that guy who never cares anymore."
"And that's a bad thing?" She asked, turning to stand next to him.
"It's a scary thing." He replied, "and I can't help but wonder……" He trailed off and sighed.
"What?" She asked.
"You remember when the U.S.O. troop showed up? And Marina had that crush on me? You told me you believed my 'Klinger' was out there and I'd find her some day. Reading Millie's diary, I realized how easily I could have fallen in love with the girl I met in there. What if I met my Klinger, and then lost her before I even had a chance to realize it?"
"Aww Hawk…" Ellie Marie threw an arm around his shoulders, "can I tell you a secret?"
"Is it juicier than the last secret you told me?" He teased, and she slapped him playfully on the arm.
"The truth is…I know I talk a lot about how Max and I are soulmates, and we were destined for each other, but that doesn't mean I believe Max is the only man on this planet that ever could have made me happy. It just means he was the one who was here when the time was right, and was meant to be the one for me."
"So what are you saying?" Hawkeye asked.
"I'm saying maybe Millie could have been the love of your life, but in the end that wasn't what was meant to be. Maybe her role in all this was to open you up so you're ready when that right girl shows up."
"Huh…." Hawkeye said, "I never thought about it like that. Maybe you're right."
"Either way….I gotta say. I'm glad Millie Carpenter came into our lives, however briefly. It seems she got us finally talking about the things that really matter."
"Yeah…" Hawkeye agreed, "I'm glad too."