54
On screen Margaret was saying: "You'll have to excuse the way I look, I haven't seen a beauty parlor since Tokyo."
"No, you look just fine." Clete assured her.
Hawkeye leaned over and kissed his wife on the cheek. "Did you ever." He assured her. She smiled back at him and returned his kiss as her screen self replied:
"Ah, thank you." Then looking at the interviewer blankly added. "What was the question?"
Hawkeye chuckled and commented to BJ. "One little compliment and she forgets everything else." Margaret shot him an amused smile as Clete repeated his question.
"What do you miss the most around here?"
"Around here?" Margaret repeated, her expression thoughtful. "Well, frankly I'd have to say a sense of order and discipline."
"Good for you, Margaret." Frank murmured under his breath.
"Well, one thing I miss is my wife's cooking." BJ replied in response to the question. Then with a chuckle he added. "What am I saying, anybody's cooking!"
"Here, here!" Trapper exclaimed in agreement.
"I second that!" Hawkeye echoed.
"I remember, I remember!" Henry commented shooting both men an amused smile.
"To repeat an old adage, war, like politics, makes strange bed fellows. The 4077th is a highly diverse, if not disparate group of people, and yet the war seems to have molded them into a family."
"I would say," Potter began thoughtfully. "All things considered, and without overstating it, they are just about...no forget just about. They are about the best bunch of people I've ever worked with in my entire life."
The present day audience applauded their agreement and appreciation at the former CO's comment.
"When you share the horror that we do day in and day out, you don't just feel close, you cling to each other." BJ observed.
In agreement with BJ's words, looks of friendship were exchanged as each person silently thanked the others for their unwavering love and support during those difficult years.
In the background they hear Klinger comment. "I hate the damn army, but I love these people."
"The way people come and go around here," Radar remarked, his tone reflecting his emotional distress. "You just get to know one person and he leaves, and then it's another person."
Hawkeye leaned forward and smiled warmly at both BJ and Trapper. Both men returned the friendly gesture with a smile of their own.
"Well, you have to understand." Margaret was telling Clete. "I'm Regular Army, most of them are not. They're a terrible unruly, undisciplined bunch..."
Trapper chuckled in amusement and looked at Margaret knowingly. "Now that sounds like the Major Houlihan that I remember." A moment later his face dropped in surprise when the onscreen Margaret finished her comment.
"...and I thank God for each and everyone of them when those casualties roll in."
BJ chuckled at Trapper's expression and said. "Now that sounds like the Major Houlihan that we remember."
"You get close to everyone in a place like this." Hawkeye was telling Clete earnestly. "Some more than other, of course. Ah, my bunkmate, for instance, BJ Hunnicutt - clean cut, family, even temperament – in spite of that I really like the guy."
BJ chuckled and reached over to slap Hawkeye on the leg. "And despite your quirky habits and your twisted sense of humor I really like you too." Hawkeye just chuckled in reply.
"And then of course there's Major Winchester, our newest arrival." Father Mulcahy pointed out. "Someone should say something nice about him." He hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Ah,...he's a very good doctor."
BJ and Hawkeye burst into uncontrolled laughter. "That's about the size of it." BJ remarked as he shot Charles an amused smile. Charles merely glared back at him.
"Tell me something about the people here." Clete asked Charles.
"Ah, no." Charles chuckled lightly in reply. "I don't want to get into personalities here. However, there are some people that I will try very hard to forget, though I never shall. One in particular who is, you might say...well, let's start with immature, self righteous, arrogant, everything I abhor."
The entire staff that truly knew Charles scoffed sarcastically at his remark.
"The only thing that makes him marginally acceptable is his skill as a surgeon. 'Course even in there his conduct is insufferable."
"Why, Charles, you little flatter you." Hawkeye shot the other man a teasing look. "You do care." Charles merely rolled his eyes in disgust.
"At least Ben would never send his daughter half way around the world to go to school." Margaret exclaimed in equal disgust as another contraction seized her. She was quite appalled at Charles doing such a thing and her growing discomfort was making her tone more biting than usual.
"I beg your pardon?" Charles remarked, giving her a look of complete surprise. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you sending your daughter, your own flesh and blood to a boarding school in England – thousands of miles away from home." Margaret pressed, her anger rising with the pain she was feeling. "What kind of a father are you anyway?"
"The kind that want the best education for his daughter." He replied seriously, looking at his friend seriously, his eyes sparking slightly from the unexpected confrontation. "Margaret, the London School for Girls is one of the finest schools in all of Europe. Clara will receive the best training there that she could ever hope for. My sister Honoria is a graduate of the same school and received top honor in all of her classes. My mother was valedictorian for her class, majoring in classical music and English literature."
"And it doesn't bother you that she's so far away from home?" Margaret commented, eyeing the other man carefully.
"Of course it bothers me." Charles assured her sincerely. "But it's only for a few more years. After that she'll be going to school in Boston where she'll be able to live at home."
Margaret sighed slightly as both the anger and the pain left her. She still wasn't happy about the thought of the poor little girl being so far away from her parents while she was still so young, but it did make her feel better to learn that it was a decision based on Charles' trying to do what he thought was best for her and not because he was trying to get rid of her.
Hawkeye's next comment to Clete quickly captured everyone's attention, drawing it away from Margaret's sudden angry outburst.
"Our Head Nurse is really something, Major Houlihan...Margaret."
"Margaret! Oooh!" Trapper teased, shooting his old friend a look of mixed surprise and amazement. Hawkeye merely responded by putting his arm around his wife's shoulders.
"...Did I mention she's really something?" The onscreen Hawkeye repeated, a look of deep emotion on his face.
"Boy, Hawk, did you have it bad!" Trapper exclaimed with a laugh.
"Did I ever." Hawkeye agreed as he kissed the side of Margaret's head lovingly. "Really bad."
"So, were you in love with Margaret by this time?" BJ asked curiously looking at his friend expectantly.
Trapper looked at BJ with a surprised look on his face. "Didn't you know?"
BJ shook his head and replied. "Hawkeye never told anybody about his feelings for Margaret, not even me."
"Not even me." Margaret echoed emphatically. "I didn't even know that he had feelings for me in Korea until years later."
"So, were you in love with Margaret when this interview was done?" BJ asked again.
Hawkeye let a slow smile spread across his faces as he looked deeply into his wife's beautiful blue eyes. With a tone full of emotion he replied. "Yes, I was very much so."
"Well, that explains why you were always so jealous when Margaret made a fuss over other men." BJ commented.
"What other men?" Hawkeye replied in a tone of surprise. "What fuss? When?"
"Well, how about when Scully came into the picture." BJ remarked with a smile. "Or when that army optometrist came to camp."
"Oh, yeah, Buzz Herzon." Margaret replied, looking slyly at her husband out of the corner of her eye.
"You sure remember his name awfully fast." Hawkeye commented, looking at his wife carefully.
"Well, what can I say." She smiled slyly. "Some men are just more memorable then others."
"Is that so." Hawkeye said, looking at her seriously. "And what was so memorable about Buzz?"
"It wasn't so much Buzz that was memorable." Margaret admitted. "It was how jealous you were of him."
"Jealous? Me? You've got to be kidding! Why would I be jealous?" Hawkeye exclaimed in complete denial.
"Because you were in love with Margaret." BJ answered simply.
Hawkeye's expression softened as he looked at his beautiful wife. "Yeah, well, I guess you got me there."