"School Days Part Two: Friends 4Ever"

by Sara

Author's note: This is a continuation of "School Days" and I think it would be wise to read the first part to fully understand this story. You can expect a third and final part to "School Days" in the near future. Thank you for your time! Questions? Comments? Complaints? Suggestions? E-mail me!

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After catching up on what had happened in each others lives since Margaret had gone off to Japan, the two set off in search of their commanding officer. From what they'd heard, his name was Henry Blake and his clerk's name was Walter O'Reilly.
They found Lieutenant Colonel Blake standing by the frame of a medium sized tent that was standing in the middle of the compound. He looked rather puzzled by the papers he held in his hands. "Colonel Blake?" Hawkeye asked to get Henry's attention. It took Henry a while to figure out Hawkeye was addressing him, but when he finally realized this, he promptly answered with, "For Pete's sake, call me Henry. Oh, who are you?"

"I'm Captain Benjamin Franklin Pierce, better know as Hawkeye. This young lady here is Margaret Houlihan, also know as my sister." Henry looked bewildered when Hawkeye introduced Margaret as his sister. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why they had different last names and how they managed to get assigned to the same post. "What can I do for you?" Henry asked. "We were wondering about where everyone would be spending their time here in Korea."

"What?"

"In other words, in what tent will the folks here be staying?"

"Uh, hold on a second. WALT-!!"
Corporal O'Reilly appeared before Henry finished yelling for him. "Sir, with all due respect, please call me Radar. Oh, you never made up the sleeping arrangements, sir."

"Oh. Uh, well, I suppose the personnel can pick their own arrangements," Henry said.

"Great," replied Hawkeye. He grabbed Margaret's hand and the two walked off to find the best living quarters possible. It took them only a minute to claim the tent that was directly across from the medium-sized one in the middle of the compound and between two other tents that would become Frank Burns and "Trapper" John McIntyre's tent and Henry Blake's tent. The tent in the middle of the compound was shared by the nurses. The one tent on the other side of Henry's tent belonged to the camp priest Father Mulcahy. The enlisted men shared a tent next to Trapper and Frank's tent. In half an hour, everyone would become very familiar with the location of the OR and post-op because wounded were expected. They came earlier than expected--about twenty five minutes earlier. "WE'VE GOT WOUNDED!!" blared the PA. The 4077th MASH would hear a lot of this type of announcement in the three years they'd be in Korea.

*Compound*

"Get this one into the OR stat!! If we hurry we might still be able to save him!!" yelled Trapper.

"This one better go in before first! Prep 'em while I go scrub!" called Hawkeye. As he was running towards the scrub room, he tapped Margaret on the shoulder and said,"C'mon. Your assisting me." While they went to go scrub, the compound was still rather chaotic. No one was even considering the fact the people who needed attention the most were North Korean, to the doctors and nurses at this MASH unit, they were injured people who needed help. In less than ten minutes, all of the patients were tagged and the compound was clear once again.

*In the OR*

No one was used to seeing young men's bodies so torn up and occasionally, the some people on the OR staff would have to walk out before they got sick. After about ten hours, only one patient was left. Henry had just finished a patient so he said that he'd take the last patient. It was a little girl who couldn't have been more than nine years old. Luckily, after a closer look, Henry realized she only had a few cuts and bruises. Thank God her injuries weren't any worse. It only took him about ten minutes to clean out and bandage her wounds. By this time, all of the others had finished their patients and had silently slipped out to get some rest.

*In Margaret and Hawkeye's Tent*


"I never thought that shift would end," commented Hawkeye.

"Me neither."

"I'm glad it did though. I didn't know how much more of that I could take."

"Same here. Now, I'm not speaking Major to Captain, but sister to brother: Shut up so I can sleep!"

"Okay. Sorry I kept you awake."

"Good night," she said pointedly.

"G'night," he replied.

*Mess Tent the Next Morning*


"How'd you sleep, Hawkeye?" questioned Frank.

"I wouldn't know...I was unconscious the whole time,"answered a rather tired Hawkeye.

"Oh. I barely slept at all, I kept waking up with these terrible nightmares about the OR session."

"Yeah. And guess who was up every time he woke up?" said Trapper.

"I know what it feels like, Trap. I was awake a lot too, thanks to my roommate," he shot an angry look towards Margaret but she could tell he wasn't really mad at her.

"Well, who stayed up with you all the time back in Crab Apple Cove?" she retorted.

"I don't remember," he teased.

"Hawkeye..." she warned.

"Okay, okay. My big sister. Now, what was her name?" Hawkeye taunted.

"Benjamin Franklin Pierce..." she was ready to kill him.

"I'm dying to know, how are you two brother and sister? questioned Trapper.

"It's a long story," replied Hawkeye.

"I got no place to go," answered Trapper.
Hawkeye told the story about how they'd gotten to be family, and all the while, Margaret was thinking about Frank Burns and Hawkeye. She thought Franks was really cute, but she also remembered the promise she made to Hawk before she'd left for Tokyo. It still stood. Well, maybe I could talk to him and ask him to come to her quarters that night while Hawkeye was on duty. Frank stood to leave because he wasn't interested in how Hawkeye and Margaret became "brother" and "sister". Margaret followed Frank and asked if he'd like to come to her tent that evening around nine. Frank agreed.

*Ten That Evening*

While she and Frank were going at it, the door opened. "WHAT THE H*LL? MARGARET!" Oops. It was Hawkeye. "Hawkeye. Hi. I didn't expect to see you here..." she said. "I LIVE here. UNLIKE him." Hawkeye pointed to Frank. "Uh, well, we were just-" Hawkeye cut her off, "I can tell what you were 'doing.'"

"Uh-"

"WHAT is DAD going to say when he reads my letter?"

"Oops. I forgot about dad."

"Good one. What about that lil promise you made me?"

"Oh yeah...that one..."

"Well?"

"This wasn't a date.."

"I can tell....more like a sleep over."

"Hawkeye, it's not like that."

"Sure, sis. I believe you."

"What can I do to make it up to you?"

"First, Ferret Face can get out of here!" Frank scampered out. "And you, my dear 'sister', can move over," concluded Hawkeye. Margaret giggled just like the schoolgirl Hawkeye had always known her as. "Yes, 'Doctor'," acknowledged Margaret. "You do know that this is good for you right?"

"Of course....a daily 'checkup' from your favorite doctor...that's what you always say, isn't it?"

"Yes. Why, did you like him?"

"I didn't really...I was hoping I could get to you through him..."

"Ah...and it worked."

"Sure did."

She couldn't take it any longer...he was there...she was there...the light switch was there...not to mention that the cot was there...

Fade out.....
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Fade in...

*Mess Tent a Few Weeks Later*

Everyone knew that the "brother and sister" team was more than they let on. When Hawkeye and Margaret walked in, everyone started to talk in whispers. Hawkeye gave Margaret a puzzled glance and she just shrugged. After turning green over the food, they sat down with just some coffee. Because of the color (and smell) of the food, they passed it up. By this time, the occasional whispers had returned to the usual din of the mess tent. They sat next to Trapper and Henry who acted a little awkward towards them. Finally, Hawkeye couldn't take it any more, so he stood up and left. "Oh, no." Margaret got up and ran after him. "Hawk?" she asked worriedly.

"Leave me alone."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No."

"C'mon...I had to face it too, ya know."

"D*mnit, Margaret, you don't understand, do you?"

"No, I don't."

"And I don't feel like explaining it."

"Benjamin Franklin-"

"Just leave me alone!"

"Not until you'll talk about it."

"Then, you'll be following me for quite some time."
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