14

Chapter 6 - Here We Belong....

MASH 4077TH, SEPTEMBER, 1952

As Hawkeye reluctantly sedated the shaking Radar, Sidney Freedman went outside the CO's office with Colonel Potter and Father Mulcahy. The 2K shrink had done his best, but Radar simply hadn't been ready for the harsh news. No matter how much he loved her, Edna O'Reilly was not Walter's mother. No Immortal had parents.

"Y'know, Sidney? I just realized. I've seen pictures of Mrs. O'Reilly."

Father Mulcahy cut Colonel Potter off.

"I know what you're going to say, Colonel. But the resemblance between them is one of grooming and upbringing. I once dealt with a family in my parish that just plain loved children. An - interracial --child they took in knew such love and joy. Dressed as they were, groomed as they were, taught to speak as they spoke, he didn't even catch on til he was 10, despite a seemingly obvious clue. The urge to belong is a very human one."

Sidney nodded, realizing again how deep the parallels between himself and Father Mulcahy, his latest Watcher, really ran. This in turn jogged another fleeting memory from the night of Herod's Slaughter Of The Innocents. An unbelievable memory. So unbelievable, he went silent while Potter continued.

"Poor kid didn't handle the adopted part too well. How's he gonna handle not being able to have kids? Not to mention outliving just about everyone he knows. Add to all that, being stuck at 20. Sounds like a dream come true, til you realize Radar's always felt a tad awkward for being so young. Lad was probably looking forward to his mid-twenties, at least. I sure know I was."

Sidney found his voice again.

"Truth be known, Sherman--it never happens when it should. I was only 25 when I died. Connor Macleod was 18--and by today's standards, he does NOT look 18. Different nutrition and upbringing. Radar will adjust, because that's what he's always done. That kid is plenty tough, underneath it all. Right now, though, there's something I forgot to mention about the Horsemen's attack on my town. It involves you, Father."

Francis' face showed his confusion at this.

"By me, I'll assume you mean The Watchers, Sidney."

"You'd assume wrong, Father. That night, when those monsters came for us....."

Potter saw Freedman at a loss for words.

"Doctor? Sidney? C'mon, man! You told us about how that Caspian character took your family. How much worse can this be?"

Sidney looked at Potter.

"In content? No worse, and much better. But Sherman? In what it reveals--its much bigger."

The Padre grew queasy, feeling a dark corner in his own mind rustle with activity, like a musty hidden attic that is exposed to the air after decades.

"Say--what you must, Sidney."

"All right, but its gonna flat knock your socks off--maybe more so than Radar's were. Here goes."

Now even Potter grew apprehensive, as he, too, felt the tumblers on his memory safe turn. It was a name Sidney mentioned--except it couldn't be--him?

"Father, that night I was killed in Judaea - You Were There."

Sherman suddenly withdrew, and went to look for a picture in his office. Francis stood, almost flattened by Sidney's words.

"Sidney, I swear to you, I am not an Immortal. Other than some odd dreams, I am merely a full-time Priest and part-time Watcher. Thank Heavens for your nomadic lifestyle. Otherwise, I'd have two full-time jobs."

"I know that you're not one of us, Francis. Yet, you were there. You were dressed in a modern priestly raiment, and your eyes glowed a fierce blue. Even Kronos steered clear of you."

"Yet, up until today, I was quite certain The Four Horsemen were a legend. Sidney, I've never encountered any of The Horsemen."

But Freedman shook his head.

"We all have, Padre. Remember Doctor Adams at the 8063rd?"

"Ah, yes. He had a snootiness about him that makes Major Winchester's worst moments seem endearing. For all that, he walked as a man with a great many regrets. He was originally from Walnut Grove, Minnesota. He is about 150. Rather a child, by Immortal standards."

"Eh-Uh! This is off the record?"

"Of course. I'll have to fudge almost everything I've seen today. Much as I did when Colonel Flagg tried to kill you. So many lies."

"With more to come. Father, Adams was -- The Oldest. He knew about The Watchers, and told me in turn. He was also Death of The Four Horsemen. It was him, and not The Child, that they were really looking for that night."

The revelation about the Slaughter lifted an old burden from Francis' soul. The time-twist placed a new one on his mind. For now, though, Mulcahy uttered a name most Watchers thought as real as The Three Bears. There was raw wonder in his voice as he spoke.

"Methos."

Potter came out of his office, holding a worn photo. Pierce went past him, and headed for his tent, upset. He had not seen Radar so shaken since Henry died. Of course, Hawkeye reasoned, in a way, the kid was now mourning himself. He pulled something out from under his cot, and rejoined his friends. Potter was now speaking.

"Sidney, this young fella in the front is me. The lug is Cyrus Marner, and the skinny number with the giggles is Casper Okthoskvy. My question is, is the fella with the scar above and below his eye familiar to you at all?"

Now it was Sidney's turn to freeze. His heart began to beat faster, and his breathing became ragged. He recognized the face in Sherman's photo. It was the face of Pestilence itself. Reaching under the jacket he carried, in one movement Sidney had Sherman at swordpoint, shouting in a voice that seemed to echo unto itself.

"You will tell me where Kronopoulis is. You have no will of your own. Do not seek to protect him. I compel you to answer."

Sidney was sweating, and Father Mulcahy tried to calm him.

"Sidney, please, we're all...."

"SLEEP, FATHER!!"

Without meaning to, Francis did just that.

"Now, Sherman, you will...."

Now, though, another sword knocked Sidney's away, and out of his hand. A sword held--by Hawkeye Pierce.

"Sidney, if I say that this new therapy of yours stinks, will that be enough to get you to calm the hell down?"

Sidney was amazed that Pierce was wielding a replica of the dragon katana once owned by Ramirez, and now the property of Connor Macleod. But his hate for 'Kronopoulis' ran too deep for him to control himself. So he decided to control Pierce, instead.

"Hawkeye, lay down your sword and go to sleep. You have no choice."

Hawkeye shrugged.

"Is that 'echo in the valley' supposed to mean something to me? C'mon, Sid. This isn't you. This isn't even not you."

Sidney started to shudder and shake.

"But...The Voice. No one can just shrug off...."

A combination of exhaustion, shock, and Pierce's unexpected resistance had Sidney sitting down. He looked up at Sherman, whose face held more sympathy than anger.

"Its all right, Major. Kronny's rubbed just about everybody the wrong way, in his...time."

Then, Radar started crying out again from inside. Hawkeye shook his head.

"He can't be up already. I gave him enough sedative to keep Captain America in slumberland."

Sidney got up.

"Once, that might have been true. But not anymore. Hawkeye, you know how to use that sticker?"

"So the nurses tell me....Oh, you mean the sword! Connor showed me some basic katas, but that's about it."

Sidney prepared to leave, as Potter went in to check on Radar.

"It'll do. Practice with the boy. Anything you can give him, he can use, til I can find a mentor for him. Now, the fewer people know about all this, the better."

Pierce and The Padre nodded at that eternal truism. But it would be rough, as demonstrated by the jeep that then pulled in, bearing BJ, Charles, and Margaret.

"Well, Hawk, I see you haven't burned down the camp, which I'll go on and take as a good sign. Hey, Sidney! Take any heads to the shrinker today?"

"Pleaase, Hunnicutt. This camp rather redefines the word 'static'. It is as constant as The Northern Star, but neither as fun nor as pretty to look at. Ah, Major Freedman. You're far too late, I fear. Pierce's marbles are long gone, at this point."

"Pierce, now lets not have any comments about how Charles' head looks like a marble. You can do better than that. Doctor Freedman, can I speak with you, briefly?"

"Sure, Major. How are...things between you and...er, Colonel Penobscott?"

They walked around the corner into relative privacy.

"Sidney, I would just as soon forget the man ever existed!"

Freedman gathered his strength, and spoke in the Voice.

"For today, Margaret, act as though you never met him."

"Um...sure. Doctor, was that 'echo in the valley' supposed to mean something to me?"

Sidney said his goodbyes, and left, shaking his head at the place he would return to that night, after a stop at the Evac to deal with some shattered nerves.

"I love these people--but TWO of them shaking it off?"

As he pondered this mystery, back at camp, an unknowing BJ looked over a sleeping Radar.

"Poor kid. I guess he'll be a while getting over that shelling."

Hawkeye nodded, a little bit grimly.

"In more ways than one."