4

*At the Pierce House*


"Dad!" called Hawkeye. "In here," replied Daniel. Hawkeye walked into the living room. "Dad, can I talk to you?" asked Hawkeye just as his dad said, "I need to talk to you."

"You first," they said in unison. Hawkeye gestured to his dad. "I was wrong about Margaret. She's one heck of an impressive person," Daniel said. "And you're saying this after she nearly killed you?" asked Hawkeye. "It was more of the other way around," chuckled Daniel. "That's not funny," muttered Hawkeye. "I guess you're right," he agreed. "I approve," Daniel said after a minute. "Now, what did you need to talk to me about?" he asked. "Dad, Margaret...she's...moving to Washington, DC and I want to go with her?" he said it as if it were a question. "Well, I don't know...it's not like I can control what you do though..." admitted Daniel. "Would you like to come with me? I'd miss you terribly if I had to leave you behind. You wouldn't have to live with us, er, I mean me, or anything. Please? Mickey would miss you, too. Please, dad?" Hawkeye begged. "We-ell...I'll go," Daniel said. Hawkeye gave his dad a hug. "Thank you! You've made me so happy!" he exclaimed and headed for the door. "Where are you going now?" asked Daniel. "To see Margaret!" Hawkeye called as he closed the door. "Have fun and don't do anything I wouldn't do," Daniel said to the door.

*At Margaret's House*


Hawkeye threw open the front door to her house and saw her standing about three feet away. He quietly snuck up behind her, picked her up and spun her around while saying, "Dad, Mickey, and I are coming to Washington with you!" "Great!" she exclaimed. He set her down and asked, "When do we leave?"

"Immediately. In other words, as soon as everyone and everything is ready."

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that we're gonna get our own place... you and me and Mickey...Dad doesn't know it yet, though."

"Sounds good to me!"

*About Two Months Later*


Finally, everything about the move was settled. It had taken a while, though. From the very beginning, they knew it would be hard to find the perfect apartment. They had to find one that allowed children and pets because Mickey would obviously be going with them and Margaret had made it very clear she wouldn't leave Daisy behind. Not to mention they had a tough time finding a place that was a little on the big side, but one they could afford. They would find one, but soon realize they could practically drive from Maine to the hospital they would be working at in the same amount of time. When they were almost ready to give up, they found the perfect place.

The last two months had consisted of a lot of giving into something that person hadn't wanted much. Hawkeye had wanted to take his couch, but Daniel didn't want to have to go out and buy new furniture. Margaret said they could take her couch, but Hawkeye said that he wanted his couch. This argument alone took a week to resolve. Then, there was the dilemma of decorating. Hawkeye owned a picture that he swore he'd die with, and Margaret said if he took it, he would indeed die with it. "Hawkeye, if I didn't like you so much, you would be dead as a doornail right now," she said while they were fighting about the picture. They had then agreed to take it, so long as Margaret could stuff it in a closet and never have to look at it. The biggest fight they had was over beds. Margaret couldn't stand a soft mattress, and Hawkeye loathed hard ones. Not to mention he said he wouldn't be caught dead living in the same place as "that hideous old rag you call a bed spread." After a month and a half, they decided to decorate the bedroom when they got settled. As for the mattress dilemma, Margaret had pointed out that she had given in more than Hawkeye and also that a soft mattress was bad for a person's back. Hawkeye had given in after cursing about how he hated that she was right. Sometimes as he was walking past Margaret he'd mutter the word "soft" and she would stick her tongue out at him, even though he'd say something about it being immature. After a while, she started to ignore him, and he finally got over it.

Well, this was the day they'd get to move in to their new apartment. Margaret and Hawkeye were arguing over last minute details, Mickey was crying, and Daniel was trying to get everyone to act somewhat rationally so they could get there and get settled before the next century. "Hey, I hate to bring this up, but I'D LIKE TO GET THERE SOMETIME THIS YEAR!" Daniel yelled about the din. "Well, LOTSA LUCK," Hawkeye and Margaret hollered back. Then they continued their argument about who was going to drive, what route they would take, and when and where they'd stop. "If we stop there, Einstein, we could just about walk to our new place," Margaret said. "I don't wanna stop where you're talking about because that will be during rush hour and we'll never get back on the road," Hawkeye said through clenched teeth. "I wanna go to Jerry's and say bye," wailed Mickey. "Mickey, come here. I wanna talk to you," said Daniel. "That's a great reason to stop there. We'd be avoiding rush hour traffic," Margaret said to Hawkeye. "Maybe we would be, but I'm not gonna risk stopping then and maybe getting stuck there for the remainder of rush hour," Hawkeye snapped. "I'll do what you want, so long as you are driving," Margaret gave in. "Your car, you drive," he said. "Then we use my plans,"she snapped.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Go ahead, you can drive, then."

"Hon, I am not driving."

"So, something we both agree on? That's a first."

"What it comes down too is that I will not drive."

"Neither will I."

"Yes, you will."

"No, I will not."

"YES."

"NO."

"YES!"

"NO WAY!"

"SHUT UP!"

That last exclamation was Daniel. "If you two had any sense, you would both drive for five and a half hours...it is an eleven hour drive, you know," Daniel commented. "Yeah, well, I'm not gonna drive that pile of junk she calls a car," Hawkeye said. "What do you mean by 'that pile of junk?' It's a '56 Chevy and it is NOT junk," Margaret wasn't really mad, though. "I'm sorry...mine looks a lot better, can I help that?" he teased. "If it gets a paint job it might look better," she shot back. "Red...what a horrible color...red and white...my blue and white one looks much better," she continued. "Yeah, well, just let's go...it's an eleven hour trip, and you're driving the first half of it," Hawkeye said. "Oh, gee, thanks," Margaret replied.

*Three Hours Later*


Margaret was staring out the window daydreaming. She was very happy because she got Hawkeye to drive the first half. If she knew what the traffic in Washington was like, she would have begged him to drive the second half, but they wouldn't find out what that traffic was like until later. "You alive? Yo!" Hawkeye was trying to get Margaret's attention, but her mind was off in space. He took one hand off of the steering wheel and touched her shoulder, causing her to jump. "Oh, you are alive," he said. "Yeah," she said. "Well, I thought you'd like to know that that cat of yours isn't happy with being stuck in that carrying case." As if on cue, Daisy made a pitiful mewing sound. "Aw...poor little Daisy," Margaret said to the cat. "Meow?" Daisy asked. "I'd love to take you out, but I don't think Hawkeye would like that," Margaret said to the cat. "Darn right I wouldn't like that," Hawkeye muttered. "Mew?" Daisy said as she laid down in the carrier to attemptt to sleep.

*A Day Later*


"Well, this is it; home sweet home," Hawkeye said as they stepped into the rather bare apartment. "I still wish Grampa could live with us," Mickey said sadly. "He doesn't live that far away, Mickey. He only lives five minutes from here," Hawkeye said to Mickey. "Well, anyway, I think we should start to unpack. I dunno about you two, but I'm glad the furniture is here already....too bad we have to move it around a lot, though," Hawkeye said. "I think it'd be a good idea if we got the bedrooms ready first," Margaret suggested. First was Mickey's room. The mattress was right in front of the door so they had to step over it. "I hope you know how to put this thing back together," said Margaret. "Um...yeah, I think I know," Hawkeye replied. "Wonderful," muttered Margaret. "Um...I have a really dumb question, but I'm gonna ask it anyway," said Hawkeye, "Where on Earth is the box we packed the screwdrivers in?" Margaret sighed. "Go look for the box that says 'junk drawer' on it," she stated. "It's probably in one of the boxes marked 'kitchen,'" she continued. "Great. By this time tomorrow, we might find it," Hawkeye replied. "We'll help you look for it, Daddy," Mickey volunteered. They spent half an hour looking at the labels of the boxes they'd piled in the living room. "Ow!" "Huh?" came Hawkeye's reply. "I found it," Margaret said through clenched teeth. "Great...what did you do to yourself, though?" Hawkeye asked. "Paper cut, what else?" she said. "Um...I dunno. The important thing is you found the right box," Hawkeye said, oblivious to the dirty looks Margaret was sending his way. Hawkeye heard a faint meowing sound. "Um, Margaret, where's Daisy?" Hawkeye asked. "Um...I-" she was cut off by a long, pitiful meow. "Hawkeye," laughed Margaret, "get off of that poor cat's tail!" He moved his foot and Daisy made a strange sound as she bolted across the room. "Aw...c'mere, sweetie," Margaret said. "I'm busy right this minute; be there in a second," Hawkeye replied. "Not you, stupid! I was talking to Daisy!" she exclaimed, trying hard not to laugh. Daisy walked the other way, like a typical cat. Mickey yawned, which reminded them what they were supposed to be doing. "Aw, man! Hawkeye, come see where her royal highness has laid down to sleep," Margaret called from Mickey's room. When he saw where the cat was, he said, "She's your cat, you pick her up and move her." Margaret bent over to pick up Daisy, but once she put her hand by the cat, Daisy bit her. She tried again and the same thing happened. After several more tries, Hawkeye said, "Here. Lemme do it." As soon as he picked the cat up, she started to purr. "Wrong person, Daisy," he heard Margaret mutter. Hawkeye set her down and they continued to attempt to reassemble the bed. After an hour, they finished except for putting the mattress on it. They set it on the bed frame and crash! It collapsed. "This is NOT happening," mumbled Hawkeye. After another hour, it was assembled, mattress and all. "All I wanna do is go to bed," Hawkeye said, yawning, after they finished putting Mickey's bed together - again. "What bed?" asked Margaret. "You have a point. In that case, I could go for some coffee," he said. Margaret tried not to laugh. "Sorry, that won't work either," she replied. "Okay, then let's go put the bed together, since that's our only choice," he said. Hawkeye told Mickey that he'd have to go to bed soon, so he should try to find his pajamas. They were getting to be pros at assembling beds so it only took them forty-five minutes to get their bed together. Finding the sheets, their pajamas, and Mickey's teddy bear was another story though. "Margaret, are you sure we didn't miss-label any of these boxes?" grumbled Hawkeye after twenty minutes of searching. "I don't know, your royal highness," she snapped. Margaret walked into Mickey's bedroom where several boxes of his stuff were when she noticed that Daisy was no where in sight. She walked around looking for Daisy and when she found her cat, she also found Mickey's teddy bear. Daisy had grabbed it by the ear and she then apparently took it to Hawkeye and Margaret's room where she was kneading it with her paws, trying to flatten it so she could sleep on top of it. "Daisy!" exclaimed Margaret. "Hawk, I found the teddy bear...you have to see this!" she called. Hawkeye came in and took a look at the cat and the stuffed animal. "Get off of that," he grumbled gently pushing the cat off of the teddy bear. "What is your problem, buddy?" Margaret snapped.
His response was, "That cat is spoiled rotten."

"Excuse me?"

"We gave up the best apartment because they didn't allow pets, but we just had to take her. Any normal person would have ditched her at the drop of a hat."

"Hey, I'm not gonna do that to her."

"I'm not going to discuss this any further with you."

He walked out to continue the search for Mickey's pajamas and the sheets. Margaret sat down on the bed next to Daisy. She picked up the cat and hugged her. "He'll cool off, Daisy," she said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Ah-ha! Found it!" Hawkeye exclaimed. "Go get ready for bed, Mickey," he said, handing Mickey his pajamas. Hawkeye then made the bed with the rather wrinkled and mismatched sheets he found. "Yo, I found the stuff," Hawkeye called to Margaret. No response. "Margaret?" he called. He walked into the living room and found her asleep on the couch. "First day and already she's mad at me. Wonderful," he muttered.
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