"Memories of the Past, Dreams of a Future"

By Sandy

Author's note and Disclaimer. I don't own any of them..wish I did...with the exception of Meagan. She's my creation. Don't make any money..it's just for my own fun. I am not a Dr so some of my medical references may be off. Nor am I a soldier so same with my military info. For the sake of my story, Hawkeye is about 35 during the last year or two of the war. Post where you like, just let me know where :) Feed back? Love it! Flames? I use them to roast marshmallows!

It started out like so many other days at the 4077th. After 19 straight hours in OR, many of the Doctors and nurses were catching some much needed sleep. Hawkeye Pierce and BJ Hunnicutt were no exception. Oblivious to the hustle and bustle around them, they slept on. Radar hated to wake Hawkeye but, visitors-especially one as beautiful as this woman-were rare at the camp. A civilian visitor at that. Radar wondered who she was-she said that she was an old friend and wanted to surprise him. Radar grinned imagining Hawkeye's delight in this lovely visitor. Wondering again just exactly WHO she was, Radar leaned over Hawkeye and gently tapped him on the shoulder. "Hawkeye?" he whispered, "you have a visitor." As usual Hawkeye just moaned in his sleep. "C'mon Hawkeye!" he said, louder this time "Wake up! You have a visitor of the female kind!" He grinned as one eyelid crept open. "I knew that would get you. C'mon. She's waiting in the colonel's office."

Hawkeye quickly put on his boots and ran his hands through his hair. "Who is it?" He asked Radar on the way to Potter's office. "I don't know, sir. She said she was an old friend and she wanted to surprise you. Hawkeye was a bit confused as to who it might be but, didn't say so to Radar. I guess I will find out he thought to himself.

As they approached Potter's office, he saw a woman standing there in civilian clothes, long curly brown hair reaching halfway down her back. There was something familiar about that hair but, he couldn't see her face cause her back was turned. No, it couldn't be her. He thought what on earth would she be doing here? He stopped dead in his tracks about 10 feet from her as she turned to face him. "Meagan?" he said disbelief in his voice. "What in the hell are you doing here?" She laughed. The same laugh that he had always adored about her. "I came to see you, Hawkeye" "I was in Tokyo seeing Jimmy on his R and R. He got called back early so I came to see you since I was close" "Jimmy's outfit is fighting near here and I was hoping to see him again before I have to go back to Maine". "Wait a minute, are you from Crabapple Cove too?" Asked Potter. "Yes I am" she replied. "Hawkeye and I have known each other for years." Hawkeye explained "Meg's brother Jimmy is one of my best friends. He has been my best friend since I was 12. I have known Meg here since she was two. Hell I practically raised this kid after her parents died when she was 7. She's the little sister I never had." "You raise a kid, Pierce?" Potter asked in disbelief. "Well her brother was her only family after that. No aunts uncles, nothing. Jimmy worked alot to keep them together and Dad and I helped out too." "I adored this little rag a muffin" With that he scooped her up and gave her a big hug. "My god" he said "it's fantastic to see you!! How long can you stay? Are you still nursing? How is Jimmy? Have you seen Dad lately?" " Tarnation Boy" Potter exclaimed "give the poor girl a chance to answer and to breathe!" Hawkeye laughed and set her down on the ground. "Sorry Meg. Let's get you settled into the VIP tent and get you something to eat. And I will introduce you to everyone." "Let me get your bags ma'am" Radar said as he picked up her stuff. Meagan laughed' "I am not in the army, you don't have to call me ma'am.. Please call me Meg or Meggie. All my friends do" she said with a smile. "Ok Meggie" Radar said grinning back at her. "Let me show you to the VIP tent." "I will be there in a few minutes and will take you to lunch and to meet everyone" Hawkeye said "God, it is so great to see you! "I think it's great to see you too, Hawkeye" she said softly. "See you in a few minutes?" "Yes" he said.

"That is a very lovely young lady there Pierce." Potter said as they watched them walk towards the VIP tent. "You did a helluva job raising her." "Yeah she is great isn't she?" Hawkeye said. "It was so hard on her, on them both, when their parents were killed. Jimmy worked two jobs to support them. He was only 17 but was already a man then. I helped out and stayed with her alot so we grew pretty close. Jimmy worked alot so was always gone. It was me that helped her with her homework, taught her to ride a bike and skate, listened to her with all the childhood problems. In some ways I was almost like a father to her. The day I left to go to college it almost broke my heart to see her cry. She was only 8 and felt like she was losing me too. She kept saying I am a big girl, I won't cry. But as I got ready to step on that train, she started to sob and wouldn't let go of me. She begged me to stay but of course I couldn't. I hated leaving her like that. That tiny little girl with the big blue eyes. I felt like such a heel. For a while she wouldn't even talk to me when I called or write back when I wrote. Jimmy said she cried for me everyday after I left. I went to see her when I went home for Christmas break. At first she wouldn't even look at me. Finally I held out my arms to her and she ran to me and I picked her up and hugged her. We were both crying. She promised she would never be mad at me again." Potter had sat in silence as he listened to Hawkeye talk. It was obvious the young lady was very special to him. "For all the hard times she still came out ahead" Hawkeye said as he continued. "She graduated valedictorian and went on to nursing school where she graduated first in her class. She's been working at the Crab Apple Cove hospital for several years now. She's one of the head nurses. Jimmy got drafted the same time as me so she's been pretty much alone for a while now." "Like I said Pierce, That's a helluva young lady there." Potter said. "You better go. You don't want to keep her waiting"

Hawkeye grinned as he knocked on the door and she said "c'mon in, I am fixing my hair." "Want me to do that for you?" he said laughing. "Not unless your styling skills have improved since I was 7! I can't believe how you sent me to school some days". She said with a grin. "Well I never claimed to be a braid expert he said still laughing. "Let's get some lunch. Maybe it will be food today."

In the mess tent he took her around and introduced her to everyone. "You already know Colonel Potter and Radar. Margaret" he called "come over here for a sec. I have a friend I want you to meet." Megan smiled at the pretty blond woman that came over to them. "Meagan Montgomery meet Major Margaret Houlihan. She's the chief nurse here. Meagan's a nurse too" he said to Margaret "and an old friend of mine form home." It's very nice to meet you Major" Meagan said shaking the other woman's hand and smiling warmly. "Please call me Margaret. It's so nice having another woman around. You are from Crab Apple Cove too? You're not in the Army, what are you doing here?" Margaret asked with a smile. "Well I was in Tokyo visiting my brother and decided to see Hawkeye while I was here." "That's great" Margaret said "I hope that you and I can get better acquainted while you are here." "I'd like that a lot Margaret" Meagan said. At that point a tall blond man came up to their group. "Meg, this is one of my tent mates, BJ Hunnicutt." Hawkeye said. "BJ, this is Meagan Montgomery an old friend of mine from home. Her brother Jimmy is one of my best friends." "BJ it is a pleasure to meet you. Hawkeye told me so much about you in his letters" Meagan said. "Hawkeye's little sister!!" BJ said with a big smile. "He has told me a lot about you too. I know you're not really his sister but, you might as well be and any sister of Hawk's is a sister of mine." "Great!" Meagan said "a girl can never have too many brothers looking out for her can she? OK Boys feed me! I am starved!" Margaret, Please come sit with us?" "I'd love to" she said.

As luck would have it lunch was pretty much the standard fair that day. "It's not much worse than YOUR cooking Hawkeye" she said with a playful jab to his ribs. "Hey I was the king of PBJ's!" he said laughing. During lunch Hawkeye introduced her to a lot more people. The camp priest Father Mulcahy welcomed her to the camp with a smile and told her he would be there for all her spiritual needs. She had a hard time not laughing when she was introduced to Klinger. Today he had on a blue dress that was better suited to a graden party. She knew cause she had the SAME dress! Hawkeye had written her about him and she was delighted to meet him! He was sure a nice guy. A little nutty but nice. Then came a man that Hawkeye introduced as Major Frank Burns. "Nice to meet you major" she said shaking his hand. "You need to salute an Officer!" he stated "and why are you out of uniform!?" "Oh lay off Frank, she's not in the army. She's an old friend of mine from home that will be staying for a few days." Hawkeye said with a laugh. "Oh. Well then there is no need to salute. Goodday" he said as he walked away. "Boy, Ferret Face is an ass isn't he?" Meagan said out loud then clapped her hand over her mouth as she realized what she had said. "Oh I do beg your pardon" she said "I ..um..seem to have heard that somewhere"...trailing off as the other people at the table began to laugh uproarishly. "You pretty much hit the nail on the head there missy" Colonel Potter said wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. "Nice to know Frank's reputation is known far and wide." "Yeah well Hawkeye's descriptions of him were pretty accurate I would say!" "I need to get going folk, lots of paper work to do." Colonel Potter said. "Young lady I will see you later" "Goodbye colonel." After that the group broke up to go about their various duties. "Meagan why don't you come by my tent this afternoon and we can talk. I get off duty around 4." Margaret said as she stood to leave. "I'll be there" Meagan said.

Hawkeye, Meagan and BJ made their way back to the swamp to talk and catch up. After a bit BJ had to go on duty so Hawkeye and Meagan were left alone. "I can't believe that you are here. It's been what..over 4 years since I last saw you?" Hawkeye said. "Yeah" Meagan said "since I graduated nursing school." "How is your job going? You wrote me that you had become one of the head nurses." "I am the youngest head nurse they ever had. I love the job. I see why you love being a Doctor. It's a great feeling to help people." Meagan said looking at him. "Now I know why you had to go away to school. I didn't then. I never told you I was sorry for the way I was that day you left. I was just a scared little girl who didn't want to be left alone. I couldn't even talk to you. I hated you for leaving me. Even though I knew it was wrong of me all I knew was that I needed you and you left. I was sure you would never return. Mom and dad left and never returned. When you came back that Christmas, I couldn't even look at you. I was so happy when you held out your arms for me. I was glad that you still cared." She stopped as tears slowly began to course down her cheeks. "Jimmy and I were never as close as you and I were. Even though you and I became close again while you were at school, I always wanted to tell you I was sorry for making you feel so bad. So I am telling you now, ok?" "You have always been there for me, even if you weren't there. I thank you for all you did for me. For all the times you stayed in to take care of me. And thank you especially for not being too busy to have a little girl tagging along at your heels." "Now now, you are going to make ME cry in a minute." Hawkeye said with a smile. "I hated leaving you that day. I knew you couldn't understand why I had to leave. I am glad now that you do. You are the sister I never had. Hell in some ways you were almost like my own child. You will always have a special place in my heart." he said leaning over and hugging her. "So hey, why don't we go have the nickel tour of this place?"

"That sounds..." just then over the loudspeaker "ATTENTION!! INCOMING WOUNDED. ALL PERSONNEL TO OR. CHOPPERS ON THE PAD-AMBULANCES IN THE COMPOUND. SORRY TO MESS UP TEATIME FOLKS!" "DAMN" Hawkeye said "take a raincheck on that, I have to go. Why don't you go back to your tent and rest and I will see you when I am done." "Hawkeye" Meagan said "did you forget I am a nurse?" I will come along and help." "Meg this isn't like at home" Hawkeye said. "I know that" she said "let me help if I can." With that they both took off at a run for the OR. "Colonel, I want to help." "OK" he said "we can always use another pair of hands. Kellye will show you where to scrub up and get gowned." "Ok Hawkeye, see you inside." she called back over her shoulder as she followed Kellye into the Pre-Op ward. "Some young lady you got there Hawkeye." Potter said. "I know" Hawkeye said.

Seven hours later, they were still in OR with more still to go. "Ok, next!" Hawkeye called as he tore off his gloves and got on a clean pair. "Meg, why don't you take a break. You must be exhausted after your trip and everything." " I am fine Hawkeye" she said barely looking up from the patient she was assisting BJ with. "Hey no fair taking away MY nurse" BJ said laughing. "You're just jealous cause I got her this turn." "Ok you two, have it your way" Hawkeye said with a laugh. He looked at Margaret who was at his table " I can't believe how great she is at this. She's never done this sort of thing. If I didn't know better I would swear she was trained by you!" "She is quite good, Pierce. I would love to have her in my team of nurses. I really look forward to getting to know her." "She's not that great. Not even in the army " Frank muttered to himself. A chorus of "Shut-up, Franks!" hit him from all sides.

Four hours later, they all stepped out of the OR, exhausted. "I don't know about the rest of you but I could sure use a belt" Colonel Potter said looking at BJ, Hawkeye, Margaret, Frank and Meagan. "Let's hit Rosie's, the drinks are on me." "Sounds great to me Colonel, I never refuse a free drink" Hawkeye said as he stretched the kinks out of his back and shoulders. "He looked over at Meagan, who was doing the same. "You want to come along?" He asked. "Sure" she replied. "Where is Rosie's? "It's just outside the camp. You passed it when you came in." As they were walking towards Rosie's, Hawkeye put his arm around Meagan's shoulders and hugged her. "You were fantastic in there. Everyone was talking about how easily you picked up on the routine. You know you didn't have to help. You are a visitor here. I have never seen anyone with such a natural gift like that." "I have" she said looking up at him. " You were a great inspiration to me you know."

"With me, flattery will get you everywhere!" He said grinning. " Let me buy you a drink...a nice Shirley Temple." "Hawkeye!" She exclaimed. "I am not a child that needs a Shirley Temple anymore" "I know" he said. "I was only teasing. Let's go."


Stories | Forward