So here it is! The epilogue. Thanks to MASHlover23, hippiechick2112, jewelledweevil, and Paulina'sHM for following, favouriting and reviewing! I know this isn't as good as the original, but thanks for actually bothering with it! I love you all. I'm now working on a M*A*S*H/Virals crossover, if you wanna check that out sometime (you don't need to have read Virals to understand it, though, I don't think). Hope to see you there!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Since the week I spent with Mom and Cathy in April, things have changed a little. Cathy and I have kept in touch - it's not just me calling and having Mom tell me Cathy's out or sick even when she's not, or having her hang up on me immediately. She came to stay recently, and it felt almost like it used to.
Apparently Hazel asks about me sometimes. In answer, I'm doing just fine out here.
Mom was probably right when she said she was unable to get along with Hawkeye, but at least they're sort of on speaking terms now.
As far as I know, Petebog never did come back, but by now no-one cares anymore. He's out of all our lives. There's still the worry that he'll let the metaphorical cat out of the bag, but there's nothing so far. Since it doesn't concern him, I assume he's stopped digging. I hope I'm right, for all our sakes.
People can surprise you.
Sometimes you think you can rely on somebody then realize you can't, only to discover later they were there for you all along.
You can go from being best friends with someone to not speaking to them (and then discovering they didn't even notice you'd moved away).
You can think love will last forever, then be rejected at the last minute for a life with no future but at the same time no limits).
You can believe they'll never love you back, then find out they've walked away from everything they've ever known for you.
Then there are the other people who don't surprise you one little bit, bastards like Petebog who'll stay slimy and inconsiderate no matter what you do.
You learn to avoid people like that once you've sussed out who they are. I like to think I've gotten better at that since the whole Petebog fiasco.
Sometimes you can surprise yourself.
You can think you want something, then when you get it realize maybe the grass wasn't so green on the other side after all.
You can hate people, yet somehow find it in you to try and move past it.
You can be ashamed of the person you've become, then figure out there's no one you'd rather be.
I will probably always be Homewrecker Becca, and I hate what this could mean for my future, and I really hate the name Becca, but there are times this destructive tendency has come in useful. If I wasn't the hurricane I am, my life would have gone in a completely different direction. None of the things that have happened to me would have happened. Maybe I should start up a business and start charging people for my services. Rebecca Pierce-McIntyre, Homewrecker and Matchmaker.
Who knows, maybe I'll have an occasion to use the nicer part of my skill set someday soon.
A couple weeks ago, Cathy and I were dragged along to the annual unit reunion. I like going, but I don't like Erin. She follows us around, and then her equally annoying parents will leave her with us and we'll be stuck with her. Then we'll be seen as a free babysitter's service (although in 1957 we decided to request payment) and be left in charge of everyone else's Mashlets. It's a downward spiral we try to avoid whenever we can.
It was whilst we were trying to make sure we weren't spotted that it happened. As a general rule, Charles Emerson Winchester III and Maxwell Q. Klinger do not get along, but on this particular day, something was different.
The cogs started turning in my brain.
"Cathy..."
"No."
Maybe next time, I'll have better luck.
Beck Pierce-McIntyre, August 12th, 1949.
The OATIB playlist!
Welcome Home - Radical Face
Carry On - fun.
Some Nights - fun.
King Of Anything - Sara Bareilles
Last Hope - Paramore
Embers - Owl City
This Isn't The End - Owl City
(In case you're wondering, I will not be persuing the Chaxie angle.)