26

Daniel's eyes widened slightly as he remarked. "You mean he didn't call you last night and tell you about the wedding?" He gave his son a look of surprise. "I thought you said that you and Margaret had called everyone from the 4077th."

"We did..." Hawkeye nodded in confirmation. Then glancing at this best friend briefly he added. "...except for Beej. We figured there was no reason to wake him up in the middle of the night when he and Peg would be here in a few hours." He looked back to his friend and teased. "Besides, it was much more fun to tell him in person."

"I'll bet." Daniel's eyes started twinkling knowingly. Then turning to BJ he asked.

"So, what do you think of my son's choice of bride?" His eyes sparkled with mischief as he glanced at the couple out of the corner of his eye.

BJ caught the look and pasted a thoughtful one on his face. Before he could answer Margaret warned, her eyes flashing with amusement. "Be careful what you say Hunnicutt, I know where you're sleeping."

"I think Hawk and Margaret make a great couple." BJ replied without skipping a beat, causing the rest of the group to laugh heartily in amusement.

"And then BJ not only took his frustrations out on the still, but then he clobbered me!" Hawkeye exclaimed as he gave his old friend a mock annoyed look.

"You?" Peg exclaimed in surprise. "BJ actually hit you?"

"He nailed him good!" Margaret nodded. "Gave him quite the shiner - a real bute."

"Thanks, dear." Hawkeye teased as he put his arm around her neck and gave it a brief squeeze. Margaret merely gave him a wicked smile in return.

The five adults had spent the last four hours catching up and swapping stories about the last three years of their lives.

"I knew that BJ got homesick once in a while, but I didn't realize that he got so homesick that he'd actually attack someone because of it." Peg commented, her eyes still wide from shock. "I'm surprised that you two stayed friends, let along best friends."

"Actually Beej only got that homesick the one time." Hawkeye told her. "He usually only got depressed, not crazed."

"Well, I don't know." Margaret looked at her fiancee teasingly. "He could get pretty crazy at times - and so could you."

"And you too." Hawkeye replied, hugging her to him. Margaret merely smiled at him mischievously for a moment before opening her mouth to comment. Her reply, however, was somewhat muffled as an enormous yawn overtook her. Clamping her hand over her mouth she chuckled slightly in embarrassment.

"It's been a long day." She commented when she could speak. "Ben and I have been up since two this morning."

"Two this morning?" BJ exclaimed in surprise. "What on earth would you be up for at two o'clock in the morning? In Korea I could wholeheartedly understand, sleep was something of a rare commodity, but I gave up being a night crawler the moment I set my foot on American soil."

"I did too, for the most part." Hawkeye replied with a chuckle. "But last night I just couldn't sleep. I was too excited about the past few days - having found Margaret again, her agreeing to marry me, then also the fact that you, Peg and Erin were coming - I just couldn't rest."

"And neither could I." Margaret added, snuggling closer to Hawkeye. "I was so excited about having found Ben again, about our engagement, about moving to the famous Crabapple Cove that I couldn't sleep either." Her sentence was punctuated by another yawn, indicating her increasing ability to sleep now. After it passed she continued. "Anyway, we both ended up down here and next thing we knew we were calling everyone asking them to come to Crabapple Cove in two weeks."

"So, who's coming to this little affair?" BJ asked curiously.

"A few from here - the Chief of Staff from work, a couple of the other doctors and nurses, Margaret's cousin, Carrie - she was one of the one's that set up our 'blind date'." Hawkeye replied. "But mostly the old gang from the 4077th."

"Who's coming from the 4077th?" BJ pressed curiously.

"The Potters, the Klingers, Radar and his mom and his new girlfriend..."

"Radar has a girlfriend?" BJ questioned in surprise. "We'll I'll be."

"...Charles is also coming and Trapper and his wife." Hawkeye paused, giving BJ a serious look. He was a little worried about how his old best friend would take meeting his new best friend. He still liked Trapper a lot, but he no longer felt the same strong bond with him that he now felt with BJ. In fact he would have to say that the bond of friendship that he had with BJ was a lot stronger than the bond he'd ever had with Trapper. Maybe because their personalities complimented each other more - BJ was more easy going and level headed and Hawkeye had the 'act first, think later' approach to life. But despite those differences both were incurable jokesters.

"I look forward to meeting Trapper." BJ commented to Hawkeye, giving his friend a reassuring smile. Truth was, he was very curious to meet the man that he'd heard his friend talk about so much. He knew that Hawk and Trapper had been very close at one time, but he also knew that Trapper had hurt Hawkeye greatly when he'd left Korea and never said goodbye. He remembered clearly during the early weeks of his incarceration in Korea Hawkeye eagerly shifting through his mail in search of any correspondence from his Stateside friend. After a few weeks he seemed to resign himself to the fact that his friend had left for good, but BJ knew that the sting still remained.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to head up to bed." Margaret said as she rose to her feet and stretched slightly. "I'm absolutely exhausted."

"I think I'll join you." Hawkeye commented as he rose up off the couch. At Margaret's frown he quickly assured her. "I didn't mean 'I'll join you' join you, I just meant I'm ready to go to bed too." Margaret's face lost its look of disapproval and replaced it with a smile. She leaned over and planted a kiss on his lips.

"In less than two weeks you can 'join me'." She told him when she pulled back from the kiss.

"I look forward to it." He replied with a wicked smile.

Margaret merely chuckled and turned to Peg, BJ and Daniel who had also risen from their respective seats. "Goodnight you guys." She reached over and gave all three a warm hug in turn. "Sleep well."

"We will." The trio echoed together as they watched the pair walked up the stairs, their arms around each other.

When the couple disappeared, BJ turned to Daniel and opened his mouth to say goodnight when the other man stopped him. Putting his finger to his lips he motioned for them to follow him quietly. Puzzled BJ and Peg followed their host as he led them up the stairs and then stopped about three steps from the top. Kneeling down he leaned forward so that he could peer around the corner of the landing to the hallway above. He motioned for BJ and Peg to do the same. It was a tight fit, but all three managed to settle themselves and peek around the corner at the couple standing a few feet away.

"We shouldn't be doing this." Peg whispered to her two co-spies. "We're invading their privacy."

"Ssh." BJ put his finger to his lips. "I want to hear."

A few feet away Margaret had her back to the wall as Hawkeye leaned toward her, one hand on the wall to brace himself. The pair was completely oblivious to the audience that was lying on the stairs watching them intently as they spoke.

"It's been a nice day." Margaret commented as she felt her heart beat wildly at his closeness. "It's great to have BJ around again. And I'm glad I finally got a chance to meet Peg. She's such a sweet person. I'm glad that she agreed to be my Matron of Honor."

"I thought that you were going to ask Carrie to stand for you." Hawkeye commented, finally voicing his puzzlement at her sudden change in plans.

"I was." Margaret admitted. "But than I decided that I wanted to have Peg."

"Why's that." Hawkeye asked curiously.

"Because I'm hoping that she and I will eventually be as good a friends as you and BJ are." Margaret replied honestly. "I-I've never had any close friends...at least none that lasted. The closest I've ever come to having close friends was at the 4077th and I'm sure you remember how long it took for me to let my 'icy barrier' melt away."

"I remember." Hawkeye chuckled in remembrance. "I'd have gladly thawed it out sooner if you would have let me."

"I know you would have." Margaret smirked in amusement. "But I had to do it myself. It took a while, but I finally let it go. And now I want to replace it by the secure feeling of love and friendship."

"Well, you have a good dose of love and friendship standing right here." He told her sincerely as he reached up and touched her face with his hand. "I love you with all my heart and soul. You mean more to me than anyone else ever has and I can't wait to be able to show you how deep my feelings for you lie."