Paradise

B.J. stirred from a light doze as Hawkeye walked into the Swamp with a world-weary sigh. He'd just gotten off post-op duty, and right before that, they'd logged a little more than nine hours in surgery. Just another endless day-and-night in Korea.

B.J. felt the dip of his cot as Hawkeye sat near his feet. He opened one eye. "Hey," he whispered, though there was no real need to be quiet. Charles was on post-op now, and they had the Swamp to themselves.

"Hey," replied Hawkeye with a yawn. "Mind if I join you?"

B.J. smiled. "I wish you would."

Hawkeye crawled on top of him, the cot being much too small for two men to lie side-by-side. B.J. didn't mind. It felt good to have Hawk's body covering his, it felt right. When they were alone like this, they couldn't keep their distance. Couldn't keep their hands off each other. It took everything they had to hide their relationship when they were around others. Once it had started, several months ago, it'd taken on a life of its own. They were more than lovers; they often felt like they were melded together. Like they were a single person, each one incomplete without the other.

Hawkeye settled himself gently on top of B.J., fingers stroking his hair, their legs entwined. B.J. slowly, lightly ran a hand up and down Hawk's back, hoping to soothe. "Beat?" he asked, which was a stupid question, because of course Hawkeye was exhausted. It was obvious and it was a given.

Hawkeye buried his face in B.J.'s neck. "Yeah," he murmured. B.J. could feel his eyelashes against his neck, could feel every warm exhale against his skin. His eyes fell shut as he savored the sensations.

"Hawk," he breathed. "Let me take you away from all this."

Now he could feel Hawkeye's smile. "Where are we going?"

B.J., his eyes still closed, opened his mouth and let his imagination take over: "To a beautiful tropical island. It's deserted, so there won't be a soul there to bother us. It'll be just you and me, and we can make love on the beach—"

"I've always wanted to make love on the beach," interrupted Hawkeye with a very contented, far-away voice.

"Well, we'll do it there. And as often as you want to. There's nobody around to see us, we can do whatever we want. The weather's perfect, the island is so peaceful. We can swim, we can take long, leisurely walks. When we get tired, we'll just lie there on the soft sand and go to sleep."

"Mmmm. I think I could stay forever, Beej," Hawkeye mumbled agreeably.

"Well unfortunately we don't stay forever, Hawk. After a few days we get tired of eating nothing but berries and coconut."

That earned a small but genuine chuckle from Hawkeye. B.J. considered it something of a victory any time he could elicit laughter from Hawk. If you can get the funniest person you know to laugh, you're doing something right. "Damn. I knew it sounded too good to be true," Hawkeye said.

B.J. was still rubbing Hawk's back tenderly. "So we do end up leaving," he continued, "but we can go back again. It can be our own private little hideaway, where we go to escape from the world and be alone. It's our paradise."

Hawkeye planted a soft kiss on B.J.'s earlobe. "It sure is. It sounds perfect."

"Yeah," B.J. said, tightening his embrace a little. "Doesn't it."

"You know what else is perfect?"

"What's that, Hawk?"

"Being here."

B.J.'s eyes blinked open. "Here?" he asked, incredulous.

Hawkeye planted another kiss, this one on B.J.'s cheek. "Anyplace where I'm with you is paradise, Beej. It doesn't need to be a tropical island. It doesn't even need to be warm and comfortable and dry. It can be this damp, smelly, filthy tent… as long as I'm with you, it's paradise to me."

B.J. was so touched that for a moment he couldn't speak. But then he said, his tone plaintive, "You deserve better than this place, Hawk. I want to take you away from here."

Hawkeye propped himself up on an elbow to look at B.J.'s face. He smiled, an unmistakable look of love in his eyes. His lips touched B.J.'s briefly before he leaned down to whisper into his ear, "You already do."