Margaret decided they should go home early the next morning instead of waiting until the evening. The night before she had been hurt by Hawkeye's unenthusiastic reception to her news but by the morning she was angry. She didn't know how Hawkeye could be such a jerk and she refused to speak to him.

Hawkeye's shock over Margaret's news clouded his vision and it took him a while to see how upset Margaret was. Once he did notice he tried to talk to her but every time he was cut short or ignored. He didn't want to make a scene in front of Preston so he waited until Preston was in bed and Margaret was cleaning the kitchen before he tried to talk to her.

"Margaret will you stop slamming everything? You'll wake Preston."

"You have some nerve!" Margaret cried angrily.

"Margaret-"

"Don't Margaret me, Buster. I'm not interested," Margaret declared slamming down a plate.

"Let's talk."

"Talk? Now you want to talk? I told you I was pregnant! Do you have any idea how hard that was for me? And what do you have to say about it? Am I sure! No the morning sickness, exhaustion, emotional instability and medical tests are all wrong."

"I was wrong. I was surprised. I -" Hawkeye tried to explain.

"I told you I was pregnant in Korea and you used words like 'wonderful' and 'miracle'! I tell you I'm pregnant with our child - OUR baby and you don't even ask me how I am," Margaret yelled tears streaming down her face.

"Don't you think that maybe that was the problem? In Korea you thought you were having another man's child. It didn't have anything to do with me. This has everything to do with me. I just got a three year old son I didn't expect and now-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Margaret interrupted closing her eyes in an attempt to stop the room from spinning.

"Margaret sit down," Hawkeye said concerned.

"No."

"Stop being stubborn. Sit down," Hawkeye ordered taking the unusual role as dominate figure. Amazingly it worked because Margaret sat down. "Are you okay?"

"No," Margaret said crying. "I'm pregnant. My entire world is changing and….and I'm scared."

"Margaret-"

"I wanted - no I needed you to be happy about this. I needed you to at least say something about it," Margaret said standing up and walking out of the kitchen.

"You really screwed up," Trapper announced pouring a round of gin from the still as they sat in the Pierce garage.

"Yeah, I agree with him," BJ seconded accepting the glass.

"Well, thanks for that revelation," Hawkeye replied sarcastically.

"I mean really Hawk, what were you thinking?" BJ asked. "That right there is the one moment you just don't blow."

"I can't believe she didn't punch you," Trapper said. "I really don't think I can get use to this new Hotl-Margaret."

"You missed it when she slugged him. They'd just got back from a little Korean adventure. He was standing on the table talking about how glad he was to be back and wham," BJ recalled slamming his hands together.

"She didn't slug me," Hawkeye corrected. "She slapped me. Hard. But I kind of have real problems here. You both have been married a long time, you know Margaret, what do I do?"

"I don't know. I was happy when my wife told me she was pregnant," Trapper said.

"Why weren't you happy? It's not like you don't already have a kid."

"That's it! I'm trying to figure out what to with Preston," Hawkeye explained. "It's not that I'm not happy. I'm overwhelmed. I never expected for Margaret to say she was pregnant."

"You didn't notice any signs?" Trapper asked.

"No," Hawkeye replied semi-embarrassed. "I didn't know I was suppose to."

"And you call yourself a doctor!" BJ cried with mock horrification.

"Will you be serious?"

"What you need to do is beg."

"Grovel," Trapper corrected.

"Crying couldn't hurt," BJ added.

"Yeah, I'd cry if I were you."

"That's it? crying?" Hawkeye asked in disbelief.

Trapper and BJ looked at each other and shrugged.

"Yep."

"That'll work?"

"Hell no!" both men cried simultaneously.

"You just said-"

"We said that is what you need to do, not that it would work," BJ corrected.

"What you need to do is catch her on a good mood swing. Now this is really a science that just can't be taught. Having experienced it three times I'm still not an expert. It's like a minefield, with snipers. You need to talk to Margaret when she's either happy or sad - and sad is risky - for that matter so is happy but it's your best bet. Now then you beg for forgiveness and understanding. This is the minefield because one wrong word and you're a goner. The snipers come in because you could be saying and doing all the right things but it could all go kaput in an instant," Trapper explained.

"That sounds about right," BJ confirmed.

"What are my odds with that strategy?"

"I'm going to be honest with you Hawk - not good."

"Yep. You're screwed," BJ said holding up his glass for a toast. "Godspeed."

Hawkeye didn't know if giving Margaret time would hurt or help his case but he wanted to give himself some time to study the minefield he was going to enter. He thought about talking to her when Preston was around since she was usual happy around him or at least not angry but he didn't think it was a good idea to hide behind his child. Since talking to her at night hadn't worked the last time he decided to try the morning in his next attempt. The early morning.

It was a risky plan. She could be angry that she woke him or too tired to notice and he was hoping for the latter.

"Margaret?" Hawkeye called gently brushing hair out of her face. "Margaret?"

"What?" Margaret asked groggily.

"Could we talk?"

"No."

"Please," Hawkeye begged. "I really want to talk with you."

"What time is it?" Margaret asked sitting up.

"It's early. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Hawkeye apologized.

"I don't want to do this right now."

"Margaret, I was a jerk but I didn't mean to be. It's just that …." Hawkeye trailed as he thought of BJ and Trapper's warning of not making the situation about him. "I'm happy about this."

"You woke me up to lie to me?" Margaret asked glaring at him.

"I'm not lying," Hawkeye insisted.

"Really? So you if you had a choice. You could go back in time or something and could decide if I got pregnant or not. What would you choice?"

Hawkeye recognized this landmine. "Of course I'd want you to be pregnant."

"Liar!" Margaret cried. "I don't even know if I'd want to pregnant. Or if I even want to be pregnant now."

"You don't want the baby?"

"It's not that I don't want it," Margaret corrected tears forming in her eyes. "I do….I think. I don't know. I haven't had time to think about it much. When I do - think about it - I - I - I don't know."

"It's okay," Hawkeye said running his hand threw her hair, brushing away her tears and feeling like a complete ass for being so selfish.

"It's not okay," Margaret protested. "I look at Preston and I love him but when I think about this baby I feel …numb. I can't believe it. How can I be pregnant? I don't feel pregnant. I feel sick but not like I'm having a baby. What does that mean? How can I not feel anything?"

"You're not very far along. It's not like you can feel it or see it."

"What if I never feel anything? What if I don't ever feel anything for our baby?"

"That's not going to happen," Hawkeye replied finally feeling confident about something. "Margaret you're going to be an amazing mother. I have no doubt about that. Not for second. You shouldn't either. You're so wonderful with Preston - the best he could ever have and I could ever hope to give him, and he isn't even your son. This baby," Hawkeye said taking her hand and his and placing it on her stomach. "Our baby is just as lucky. There is no one else in the world I'd rather have a family with Margaret. I am happy about this baby. I'm happy you're my wife and I'm happy that my wife is going to give me the most amazing gift in the world. Okay?"

"Yeah," Margaret replied quietly.

"I love you," Hawkeye said gently kissing Margaret.

"I love you too."