2

Margaret awoke sometime after Pierce had. Of course he had already passed out again. She knew enough not to open her eyes or move. She laid silently for a minute, wondering about the best way to get rid of a hangover, or if she'd do best just to sleep it off. Amazingly enough she'd been conscious for several minutes before she realized someone had their arms around her.

She tried to think back to the events of the last night. Klinger, Potter, B.J., and Charles had gone. She and Hawkeye had remained a bit longer to finish off their respective drinks. He'd walked her back to her tent, and into her tent, and she didn't have to figure out the rest. She was rather proud of herself for figuring out whom she was with without the slightest bit of movement. Because she knew he was as tanked as she was, and because she didn't really mind having Hawkeye in her bed, she decided she might as well go back to sleep and worry about it later.

B.J. woke up around eleven. he'd already slept off most of his hangover. He stood up and looked over to Hawk's bunk. To his surprise his tent mate wasn't there. Beej knew his friend had gotten too drunk to be up already, and since the supply room didn't offer much in the way of comfortable bedding Hawk usually came back to the Swamp at some point, even if he did have a date. "Probably passed out at Rosie's," Beej said to himself. "He'll find his way back when he regains consciousness." Beej left the Swamp and headed for the showers.

Klinger was on mail call. It was already 11:30 and several people who hand't been at the party the night before were rather annoyed at getting their mail so late. He was looking forward to going to the Swamp. Most likely they would still be asleep anyway. He knocked and entered. B.J.'s bed was unmade, and both he and his robe were gone. Hawkeye wasn't there either, but his bed didn't even look slept in. Charles was the only Swamp-rat present, and he was still sleeping. Klinger left the mail on it's respective foot-lockers and left. He wondered aloud where Pierce was, feeling rather jealous.

Klinger headed to his last stop, Major Houlihan's tent. He had no desire to awake a sleeping Major, he always considered it a task equal to waking a sleeping grizzly bear, especially when he knew she had spent the last night drinking. She had been in a better humor since she'd started hanging around with Captain Pierce, but he was still rather scared of her. He knocked very softly on the door, and when he got the answer he expected, no answer, he walked happily away, and stuffed the mail in his jacket for later.

Around noon, both Pierce and Margaret awoke. Neither of them wanted to deal with what they knew they had to, so Hawkeye stated the obvious, "I guess we both showed up in our un-dress uniforms." Margaret didn't laugh at this attempt at humor. She was worried she was going to lose Hawkeye somehow from what had happened, and that fear did not do wonders for her mood.

"Don't you remember? We left Rosie's together, and you walked me back to my tent, and then we..." she fell silent as Pierce remembered enough of the previous night to confirm his suspicions. He wasn't sure what Margaret was feeling, and he hoped it wasn't the urge to slug him, even though that would be pretty difficult since they were both lying down.

He stood up, and after finding his clothes he spoke as he dressed, "I hope you don't mind if the whole camp finds out," he said, "because it's twelve o'clock, and I have post-op duty in an hour. I don't have time to exit discreetly, not to mention Beej and who knows how many other people already know I didn't make it back to home swamp home last night." He spoke a little bitterly, because he didn't like the idea that he would be something to be ashamed of, even though she hand't said anything like that yet.

"Oh, just go. It'll be okay."

"Good, we'll talk about this later." He pecked her on the cheek and walked out of the tent. No sooner did he open the door than B.J. cam walking past on his way to the Swamp from the Mess Tent. 'Here it goes', thought Hawkeye. B.J. just eyed him as they walked back to the Swamp. He held the door open for Hawkeye to go through, and then he entered himself.

"So, where were you last night? 12 hour pass to Tokyo?" B.J. asked, chuckling.

"C'mon Beej, you know where I was?" Hawkeye said irritatedly, "Now are you going to throw it back in my face or leave me alone?"

"Calm down Hawk? What's the problem?"

"THE PROBLEM!?!? THE PROBLEM?!?! Doe you realize Margaret is probably in her tent right now cussing me out? I'm sure it's something about taking advantage of her, or whatever! She was the one person in this place that knew what I was going through. You, but you have a wife and little girl to go home to. I'll be leaving sometime and I'll have to start a new life after three or four or heaven forbid how many more years in this hole. She knew what that was like, but now she's probably lost all respect for me and will never speak to me again."

"Do you really think that little of her Hawk? Margaret wouldn't let one mistake, and I'm not convinced it is a mistake, or even anything bad, to get between the two of you. She's probably in her tent wailing because she thinks you've lost all respect for her. I'll cover for you in post-op. go see her. Talk about this." B.J. was sorry for his friends, but he didn't understand how Hawk and Margaret couldn't see what the rest of the camp did, that they were perfect for each other. He picked up his jacket and left the Swamp.

Hawkeye began to think, 'Why am I acting like this? It was one night. We got drunk and made a mistake. It's no more my fault than hers.' He decided to try his luck and he walked over to her tent, sorting out his thoughts along the way. He walked up to the door and knocked. It was so much like the routine they'd acquired over the past month it almost seemed to him like everything was normal, but there was no answer, and when he opened the door he realized it wasn't the same. Margaret lay in bed, she had on the awful drab olive jeans that were the norm for the compound, and an oversized grey ARMY sweatshirt. He head was buried in her pillow.