2

Chapter 2

It was already Saturday and Hawkeye was getting ready to leave for San Francisco. As he was getting ready all he could think about was Margaret. She meant the world to him. As he looked in the mirror he couldn't believe how tired he looked. His eyes that once danced with mischief now were dull and showed his sadness, his hair seemed to have a little more grey and he had several days of growth on his face. Thoughts ran through his head of a happier time and it tore him up when he woke up to find that Margaret was gone.

"Are you almost ready to leave Hawk?" his dad called up to him waking him up from his daydream.

"Yeah, just let me clean up and I'll be right there."

Hawkeye appeared a few minutes later and the loaded his luggage into the car and began their drive to the airport. They drove in silence for about ten minutes until Daniel decided to break the silence.

"So, you're arriving in California at 2?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah Beej is picking me up then we're going to his house for the reunion."

"Who's all going to be there?" Daniel quizzed.

"Oh you know the usual crowd. Radar, Potter, Klinger, Trapper....."

"What about Margaret?"

"What about her?" Hawkeye asked with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"I was just wondering if she was going that's all."

"Yeah she's going," he said almost in a whisper.

"Well we're here," Daniel stated, happy to break the tension. "Try to have a good time Hawk." It hurt him so much to see his son like this.

"I'll try," he said forcing a smile as he said good bye to his dad.

San Francisco

Hawkeye looked around the airport trying to find his friend through the crowd, but he finally caught glimpse of that cheesy moustache and new it was BJ.

"Hey BJ!" He called as he walked towards his old bunkmate.

"Hey Hawk good to see ya!"

"You too Beej," he said forcing a smile.

"Well come on lets get going before everyone starts arriving at the house."

They were only in the car five minutes till BJ had to start quizzing him. They hadn't keep in touch that much Hawkeye and Margaret divorced and he could see his friend was still hurting.

"So how are you doing Hawk?"

"I'm alright," he said showing no emotion in his tone.

"Come on Hawk-"

"I said I'm fine," he said in a warning tone letting BJ know to change the subject.

"Uh huh, well we should be there pretty soon, I can't wait for you too see how big Erin has gotten! I can't believe that she'll be turning 6 this year. Well here we are!" He said as they pulled into the driveway. No one had arrived yet so it gave him time to get prepared for Margaret's arrival.

"Do you want a beer?" BJ offered.

"Yeah, thanks."

Just then there was a knock at the door and Hawkeye's heart skipped a beat hoping that it would be Margaret, but he was relieved to see it was Radar and his wife Patty. Shortly after Colonel Potter and his wife, Trapper and Louise and their two daughters who Erin took to right away, Klinger and Soon Li arrived and the party was in full swing. Everyone was laughing and reminiscing about old times, but Hawkeye seemed very distant. He forced a smile when he needed too but inside he had wished he stayed home. All he could think about was Margaret and then he saw her and he couldn't believe it. He felt himself falling to pieces all over again and had to leave before everyone noticed. He walked quickly up to the spare room he would be staying in and was try to tell himself to be strong. He downed the beer he had in his hand hoping it would numb his pain for a little while at least.

"Hello stranger." A familiar voice said to him.

"Hello Margaret," He said in a sad tone.

She couldn't believe the sadness in his eyes he looked like a lost puppy dog, and it tore her up inside and she new she was the one who did this to him. He deserved and explanation but he didn't know how he would react and it scared her.

"Did you leave because of me?" She asked

"Well you would be an expert on the subject of leaving," he said harshly.

"I wanted to talk to you about that," She had to tell him, but just then Peg came upstairs with a little boy just over one year of age who was crying.

"Sorry I couldn't calm him down I think he missed his mommy," Peg said as she placed the infant in her arms causing Hawkeye a lot of confusion.

"Thanks." She said as Peg left the room.

Hawkeye just started. He couldn't say anything, he was almost frozen as he saw her with the infant.