Summary: A reunion takes place in New York where Margaret and Hawkeye drop a bomb on everyone.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of M*A*S*H

Rating: T+

Paring: Hawkeye/Margaret

TEN YEARS LATER:

Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan strolled briskly out to the mail box to gather the post and then retreat inside from the nippy Maine winter weather. Crabapple Cove had been described to her so many times by Hawkeye, and she was delighted to find that everything he told her turned out better in real life. Margaret jogged up the porch steps and rushed back inside the cozy cottage she shared with the man who was able to blot out the horror of her past when they were in the war, in Korea patching kids up, and sending them back out to die. "Sweetheart!" Margaret called out going through the mail where she found a note from BJ. "Hawkeye! Mail's here."

Benjamin Franklin Pierce, Hawkeye to everyone, sat in the den next to the roaring fire reading the Crabapple Cover courier when he heard the slam of the screen door and his wife calling out to him. Setting the paper aside he picked himself up from the comfy chair, abandoning the fire, where he found his Hot Lips in the entry hall reading a letter. "Anything scandalous in the daily mail?" He asked with a wicked smirk, but going from the look on Margaret's face, it was still good news. "What is it?"

"It's from BJ. He's writing about a reunion party that's going to take place two months from now in New York." Margaret looked at Hawkeye. "He wants to know if we can make it."

"That all depends," Hawkeye shrugged playfully.

"On what?" Margaret replied knowing very well where his mind was going.

"Is Frank going to be there?" Hawkeye smiled broadly. "I would love to torture him for old times' sake." He laughed when she smacked him playfully on the arm.

"Guess we'll have to go and find out." Margaret winked and handed him the rest of the mail. "I will see you tonight, my shift at the hospital starts soon." She kissed him on the cheek.

"We could always make use of the Doctor's lounge." Hawkeye laughed. "I've got rounds tonight too!"

"See you then, doctor." Hot Lips leaned in, kissing her husband passionately.

TWO MONTHS LATER:

Hawkeye and Margaret walked into the ballroom of the Pierre Hotel seeing so many familiar faces. It brought a smile to her face as she tightened her hands on his arm, across the room she saw Frank Burns standing with his wife, Louise. At one time that would have bothered her, but now there wasn't so much as twinge of animosity. She only shook her head. "Are you glad we came here?" Margaret asked. She was smiling from ear to ear seeing all of them again. The room was full to bursting with comrades, family, and children old enough to stay awake. It did her heart good to be here with Hawkeye on her arm.

Hawkeye spied BJ talking with Father Mulcahy and Colonel Potter over in a corner. They were laughing, toasting, and having so much fun that he needed to get in on the action. Radar and his family were over talking with Charles, his parents, and his sister. The man still looked so uptight and snooty. Angling his head, he kissed the side of Margaret's head, pressing his lips to her hair. "I'm ecstatic. So much so I might cause some trouble!" Hawkeye laughed jovially taking his arm from her hold so he could take her hand instead. Despite all the fights, all the pranks, and all the rotten things they had ever done to each other in Korea, he found he loved her more and more just because of it.

Margaret laughed, "How about we say 'Hello' first and then cause trouble." Then again, she loved the way her darling Doctor caused trouble.

"Oh, if we must." Hawkeye chuckled, hugging her closer to his side. He was eager to get over to his war time family and celebrate with them, and to tell them all something he and Margaret had been keeping quiet. They sauntered over to where the small group of their war family stood talking. Margaret left Hawkeye's side to go to Colonel Potter. "It's so good to see you all."

Colonel Sherman Potter turned to see Hawkeye and Margaret. The two of them looked so happy, just like all of them did being reunited. Even Frank Burns had turned up, much to most people's chagrin. In light of that, Potter was still happy to see everyone. "You two make quite the pair," Potter chuckled. They had definitely come a long way from the yelling, screaming, bickering children he'd had to deal with in Korea.

"Well, good things take time to happen," Hawkeye shrugged and smiled, and then draped his arm across Margaret's shoulders. "We have some…"

"Margaret!"

Margaret resisted the urge to roll her eyes as Frank Burns, and his wife Louie, came over to their little circle just as Hawkeye was about to spill the proverbial beans. At one time she had been jealous of the rail thin woman. She had wanted to marry Frank. Boy, had she been out of her mind. "Frank, just in time." She couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he heard that she was married to Hawkeye. "We were about to share some amazing news with everyone." Her smile couldn't get any wider as she looked up into the eyes of the man she loved.

"As I was saying," Hawkeye grinned a deviously pleased smile as he took Margaret's left hand, holding it up showing off the wedding band that adorned her long delicate finger. "Hot Lips and I," he kissed her knuckles quickly, "we were married a couple years back."

A thunderous cheer and round of applause erupted from the small circle they were in. It was so loud that Margaret had to cover her ears as she laughed. Her eyes remained on Frank though. The color had drained from his face, and his lips had vanished. Just the look she wanted to see.

BJ looked to Hawkeye, "You dirty rat! You didn't call me! You didn't invite me to the wedding!" He laughed, genuinely pleased for his best friend. In the phone calls they had, the letters sent back and forth, not once did his comrade in comedy mention he was finally married to Margaret Houlihan. Of all the people to make an honest man out of Hawkeye, it was her. BJ was definitely happy for them.

"Surprise!" Hawkeye chuckled. When the ruckus had died down, he filled them all in on details while being keenly aware that his lovely wife kept her eyes on Frank Burns. She was waiting for Ferret Face to pass out or throw a tantrum. "It was a small ceremony on the beach of a secluded lake." He kissed her brow. "I didn't know Margaret had come to Crabapple Cove, until one night I was on rounds at the hospital and there she was standing at the Nurses Station. We went out for coffee and kept going out."

"And then, one day, I moved in." Margaret fiddled with her ring. "We were living together for a year before Hawkeye asked me to marry him." Locking her eyes with Frank, she added, "I've never been so happy in my life." She wanted him to see the truth of her words. The last little tendrils of feeling she had for the man were gone.

Hawkeye could still feel the intense wave of emotion that slammed into him the first time he saw Margaret standing at the nurse's station filling out a patient's chart. Instantly he was transported back to that night they spent together in the bombed out hut in Korea. The love he had for her, that had started to grow that night, welled up in him full force. "I knew I couldn't let her leave my life again." From his left, he heard a whimper from Frank Burns. It made the devil inside him grin widely. "What's the matter Frank?" Hawkeye asked in a cheeky manner.

Frank whimpered unintelligibly. Margaret and Pierce were married. Married. He couldn't believe it. Then again, he couldn't voice his displeasure with his wife standing right next to him. After all this time, he still loved her. He wished he hadn't messed up so much when they were together. "Oh, nothing. I'm happy for the two of you, really I am." He giggled that high pitched nervous giggle he used when he was really dying inside.

"That is really something, you two!" Potter crowed. He knew under their bickering and prank pulling, they were bound to become a stable couple. And from what he was seeing, they were deeply in love. It reminded him of his marriage with Mildred.

"Congratulations," Francis, the former camp priest, praised.

"Thank you, Father." Margaret smiled.

"I had a feeling you two would end up together, once you stopped playing pranks on each other." Potter guffawed. It really warmed his heart to see his former Chief Surgeon and Head Nurse arm in arm. They had really grown up and grown close.

"He's still the prankster." Margaret tattled. "It's true I don't find organs in my boots or under my pillow anymore, but he still plays the occasional prank." And that couldn't make her happier, course she got him back, but it only made her life better.

Hawkeye shrugged in his boyish manner everyone knew from their long days in Korea. "Gotta keep the rust off my humor." Then, from behind his smile, he leaned in and whispered to Margaret, "Frank looks like he going to have a heart attack."

"Let him eat his heart out," Margaret replied behind her own smile. Sure, there was a part of her that felt sorry for Frank, that same small part even missed him on occasion, but when she looked into Hawkeye's blue gaze, she loved him more, and the memory of Frank Burns faded a fraction more.

"Tell us Margaret, is living in Crabapple Cove all it's cracked up to be?" BJ chuckled. One thing Hawk talked about more than gin or nurses was his home town in Maine.

"Yeah, Margaret, is it?" Hawkeye teased.

"It's better," Margaret answered, addressing BJ. "In the years I've lived there, the horror of Korea is mostly a distant memory." At that, everyone in the small circle nodded solemnly. Each and every one of them had scars from that time. After a few minutes of silence, she continued speaking. "There are times when a car will back fire, and we jump out of instinct, but I'll look at this darling man I can call my own, and I know we're not back there. We're home."

Hawkeye turned to his Hot Lips, pulling her into his arms. He looked over at BJ, seeing reflected in his best friend's eyes that he too had moments where he was rocketed back to their time at the 4077th. The only one of the bunch who probably looked back on their time there fondly was Burns. While he held his wife, he said to BJ, "You, Peg, and Erin should come for a long visit."

"We'd love that," Peg answered before her husband.

"We have plenty of room," Margaret replied, pillowing her head on Hawkeye's chest. It would be nice to be joking around with BJ again, to see Hawkeye laughing with his best friend.

"Then we will definitely plan something while these two are otherwise distracted." Peg laughed. She smiled at the other woman that her husband had told her so much about. BJ had even shared his thoughts on how close his best friend and Margaret actually were. Now, she could see his musings were correct.

"So, Margaret, how is your military career? Still a 'Major'?" Frank asked, trying to be snotty, but inside he was dying. Hawkeye, his biggest tormentor, and Margaret, the woman he still loved to this day, were married. He missed out.

"Oh, no," Margaret turned her gaze on Frank. "I'm a full Colonel, but after a while staying in the military wasn't where my heart was anymore." She glanced at Col. Potter, where she saw pride in his eyes. That meant as much to her, maybe more, because it was him. Her father had told her he knew she would get to Colonel. Not that he was proud of her. "What about you, Frank, are you still a Lt. Colonel?" With that, his visibly shrank. And that was pleasing to see too.

"Hello all! Can I have your attention! Oh, come on everyone! Settle down for a moment would ya!"

Hawkeye and Hot Lips turned toward the stage where Walter, formerly Radar, O'Reilly stood holding a mic. "Uh oh, Andy…" He whispered to his wife. She only playfully hit his stomach.

"Hush," Margaret scolded, lovingly.

"It's been a pretty amazing night, and I can't believe I'm seein' all y'all again!" Radar spoke into the microphone while his eyes scanned the crowd for his hero, and friend, Hawkeye. "There's also a surprise that's been dropped on a few of us tonight, that really should be shared with the rest. Captain. Pierce and Colonel Houlihan were hitched!"

And just like that a round of cheers and applause filled the ballroom. Hawkeye brought Margaret in against him, kissing the top of her head. Together they waved at every one, friends and family alike. This had to be the best reunion in the history of reunions. And it was made special because of one young kid from Ottumwa, Iowa got up on stage and outed both he and Hot Lips.

THE END