17

"Nothing Dad." Hawkeye laughed against Margaret's lips. "I'll be right there." He kissed her again before releasing her. "Wait here." He whispered before moving towards the kitchen. "Smells good, Dad." He commented as he walked through the door. "What are you making?"

"Lasagna, Caesar salad and garlic bread." His father replied as he chopped some garlic for his salad.

"Boy you've been busy." Hawkeye commented as he picked up a piece of bacon out of the salad and popped it into his mouth.

His father slapped his hand away and good-naturedly requested. "Why don't you set the table. Everything is just about ready."

"Yes, sir." Hawkeye obeyed

"So your date went well, that's good." Daniel commented as he started mixing the dressing for the salad.

"It went better than good." Hawkeye commented as he set three plates on the kitchen table. "It went fantastic."

"Really?" His father said, looking at his son out of the corner of his eye.

"She was the most amazing woman I have ever met." His son continued, trying to hide his smile as he pulled open a drawer and grabbed three forks and three knives.

"What was so special about her?" His father pressed as he tossed the salad with the dressing.

"Everything, Dad." The younger man replied as he set the cutlery on the table. "She's smart, funny, beautiful, compassionate – and she has a wonderful sense of humor." He leaned against the counter beside his father as he continued. "You know that she picked up on a joke I was trying to play on someone without me having to tell her that I was playing a joke. She just jumped right in and played along as if we'd been playing tricks together for years. It was wonderful!" He paused for a moment before repeating enthusiastically. "She's just amazing."

Daniel chuckled slightly as he looked at is son with amusement. "You said that already." Picking up the salad bowl he walked towards the table asking as he went. "So are you and this 'amazing' woman going to be seeing more of each other?"

"As a matter of fact we are." Hawkeye replied as he grabbed three glasses from the cupboard. Walking towards the table he said. "In fact were going to be seeing a lot of each other." He paused for a moment, looking his father in the eye as he added. "We're getting married."

There was a slight crash as Daniel dropped the salad bowl on the table, knocking over one of the glasses that Hawkeye had just set down. The older man looked at his son with a mixture of confusion and shock. "You're...you're getting mar...married?" At Hawkeye's confirming nod he repeated. "You're getting married to a woman you just met last night?"

"Well, not exactly." Hawkeye said casually, a mischievous smile spreading across his face as he took in his father's horrified expression.

"What do you mean 'not exactly'?" His father demanded, his tone rising in his confusion. "Did you or did you not just say that you are marrying the woman that you went on a date with last night?"

"I did." Hawkeye confirmed, slowly moving towards the kitchen door.

"And did you or did you not tell me when you went on this date you had no idea who this person was aside from the fact that she was a cousin of Brad Millar's girlfriend?"

"I did." Hawkeye nodded slowly, as he continued to move towards the kitchen door.

"Well, then as far as I can see that means that you are planning on marrying a woman that you met last night on a blind date...where do you think your going?" Daniel's eyes had been following his son as he inched his way towards the doorway. "I'm not finished with you yet!"

"I'm not going anywhere." Hawkeye assured him as he stuck his hand through the doorway. Daniel's eyebrows raised as he saw another hand reach out and take his son's. "I just have someone I want you to meet." Daniel watched in silence as Hawkeye pulled the hand's owner through the doorway and into the kitchen. Then, putting his arm around the woman's waist he said. "Dad, I'd like you to meet my fiancee, and the most amazing woman that I have ever met, Margaret Houlihan."

"Margaret Houlihan!" Daniel exclaimed, shooting his son a questioning look. "As in Major Margaret Houlihan from the 4077^th?"

"The very same." Hawkeye smiled proudly. "Major Margaret Houlihan, our beloved Head Nurse." He kissed the side of her head lovingly. Margaret smiled at Hawkeye and then looked back to her future father-in-law.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Dr. Pierce." She extended her hand to the older man. "Hawkeye has told me a lot about you, sir."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you too, my dear." Daniel accepted the offered hand eagerly. Now that he knew that his son's fiancee wasn't someone he had just met, but the very woman that he had been pinning over since he'd returned from Korea he couldn't be happier. "Please come in, sit down, supper's almost ready. Hawk, you'd better set another..." He stopped when he noticed that there was already three place settings on the table. Pointing to the additional setting he looked at his son. "When did you do that?"

"When I set the other two places." Hawkeye told him, giving him an amused smile.

"I didn't even notice." Daniel remarked in disbelief as he gestured to the extra place and invited. "Please have a seat, Margaret."

"Thank you very much, Dr. Pierce." Margaret gave him a warm smile and sat down at the table. "It smells delicious in here."

"I'm glad that I made a hearty supper." Daniel commented as he pulled the lasagna pan out of the oven. "Some times we only have sandwiches and soup."

"Those are the nights that I cook." Hawkeye joked as he set a pitcher of water on the table.

"Oh, don't believe him." Daniel commented, giving his son a teasing slap on the back of the head. "He's a good cook. Ought to be, I taught him everything I know." As he cut the lasagna into pieces he asked curiously. "So, how did you two meet up again?"

"Just like I told you, Dad." Hawkeye replied with a broad smile. "My date last night was with the most amazing woman I had ever met."

"Wait a minute!" Daniel exclaimed with great surprise. "Margaret was your date last night? For real!?" At the pair's confirming nod he added. "You mean to tell me that Brad fixed you up with Margaret last night?" The couple nodded again. "That's incredible! What are the chances!" Then he looked at them again and asked seriously. "And you two are really getting married?"

Hawkeye moved up behind Margaret, kissed her on the top of the head then lifted her left hand to show his dad the ring on her finger. "We really are."

An enormous smile broke over Daniel's face. It was the same smile that Margaret had seen on Hawkeye's face thousands of times over the three years she'd know him. "This calls for a celebration! I'm taking you both out to dinner tomorrow night! We'll go out to the Resort and have a big dinner."

"Dad, you don't have to do that." Hawkeye objected, deeply amused at his father's excitement. He'd almost swear that it was his dad getting married instead of him.

"You'd better believe I'm going to do it!" Daniel exclaimed eagerly. "How often does my only child get married? Once, twice?" His eyes sparkled mischievously.

"Once is it for me." Hawkeye told him as he knelt down and wrapped his arms around Margaret. "There's no way I'm letting this one get away." The couple smiled at each other as Daniel finished cutting the lasagna.

Margaret glanced over at the clock on her nightstand and groaned when she saw that it was only 2:30am. She turned over on her side and tried to let sleep claim her, but no matter what she did her mind wouldn't let her body rest. Rolling onto her back again she put her hands behind her head and thought about the events of the last few days. She still couldn't believe that less than a week ago she had finally left Tokyo to come back to the States. She had been living there for the last three months, trying to decide where it was that she wanted to go now that the war was finally over. She'd applied for several nursing positions all over the country, but no place she'd heard back from had appealed to her. Finally she'd decided to come to Boston and visit Carrie. Maybe with her help, she could figure out what it was that she wanted to do. So, Wednesday night she'd arrived in Boston, ready to stay with Carrie for a few weeks while she got herself set up again. Little did she expect to have her whole life sorted out in such short order. She smiled as she remembered how annoyed she'd been when Carrie told her that she'd arranged a blind date for her for the dinner Friday night. She hadn't been on a date in months and certainly hadn't felt like going on one with a guy she didn't even know. There was only one guy that she'd wanted to see, and at that point she was sure that she would never see him again.

Bringing her hands forward she looked at her new ring in the dim light from outside. She couldn't help but smile at the thought that she was actually going to be Mrs. Hawkeye Pierce. "Margaret Pierce." She whispered to herself, feeling her heart beginning to beat harder at the thought.