Lessons

B.J. looked over Erin's shoulder as she worked on her science homework at the kitchen table. "You're not much further along than you were 20 minutes ago, Erin. Do you need help with anything?"

She put her pencil down and looked up at him. "It's not hard, it's just that my mind is somewhere else."

"And again I ask: anything I can help with?" B.J. said, smiling. The life of a 14-year-old, he was quickly learning, was constant drama and quandary…whatever shall I do and however shall I cope? And his daughter was certainly no exception. In fact, he wondered if she wasn't sometimes too caught up in her own mind. He didn't want her schoolwork to suffer.

"Dad, how do you know when you're in love?"

B.J. managed to suppress a laugh. Drama, is that the word he'd thought? Try melodrama. She was only 14, for God's sake. In love? She wasn't even dating anyone yet. Still, he didn't want to take the question too lightly.

"Well, honey," he said, sitting down at the table next to her. "Love is pretty complex. It can happen over a long time, friendship that grows into something much more. Or it can happen kind of quickly, with this feeling that everything about the person is just somehow 'right.' Everything sort of clicks, and you realize it was meant to be."

"But how do you know?"

She was earnest and persistent, and the expression on her face sobered B.J. He looked down at the table as he gathered his thoughts, trying to find the right words. "You know it's love when you don't just enjoy being around the person, you need to be with them. You're happier when you're with them, you're more at peace. They both calm you and excite you. Y'know?"

She nodded, and he kept going, encouraged by her rapt attention. "You feel like that person is a continuation of yourself. You feel completely at home with them, like you share a soul. You can finish each other's sentences, you can almost read each other's minds. It's a very special feeling, Erin, and when it happens to you, you'll just know it."

Erin sat quietly for a moment, absorbing the words and nodding slightly. B.J. watched her, amazed at the fact that his little girl was 14 and beautiful and wondering about love, and he misted up at the reality of it. Just then a pair of hands came to rest gently on his shoulders, and he smiled. He had no idea that Hawkeye was even home, much less listening to the conversation he'd been having with their daughter.

"When it comes to love, Erin," came the soft voice from behind him, "you need to leave yourself open to all kinds of possibilities."

B.J. felt Hawkeye touch a kiss to his neck, and he reached up to grab the back of Hawk's head so he could kiss his mouth. Then he looked back at his daughter and said, "Question answered, honey?"

Erin smiled. "Yeah, Daddy. Thanks." She didn't elaborate on why she'd wanted to know, or if there was a special someone she had in mind, and B.J. decided that was all right. She would tell them in time, if there was in fact anything worth telling.

He stood up from the table and pointed at her homework. "Back at it, now, missy," he said, and she nodded and did as she was told.

B.J. turned to Hawkeye and pulled him into a hug, thinking about how he'd found love in the middle of a war, when he certainly hadn't been looking for it, when in fact he had sported a ring that symbolized he belonged to another. It had taken him a long time to come to terms with the things his heart told him, but once he did, everything about his life just fell into place.

He held onto Hawkeye and thought there was one more thing he should tell Erin. When you find the love of your life, the one who's perfect for you, the one you were meant to find…you don't ever let him go.