Part One - Reunion
Margaret stubbornly shook of the helpful hand of the stewardess that tried to help her down the steps of the small airplane.
"I am perfectly capable of doing it myself, I can look after myself you know!" She insisted, helping her four-year-old daughter, Danielle down the steps. Her other child, Molly, short for Margaret was at the bottom of the steps, had been carried down and was waiting with the Hunnicutts.
"Please ma'am, allow us to help, after all, with your condition." The younger woman started nervously.
"It's called pregnant and I've been this way twice before, I'm perfectly all right. BJ! How are you?" Margaret informed the lady icily before making the last of the steps herself and hugging her old friend warmly.
"Wonderful! Margaret, this is Peggy, Peggy, this is Margaret." BJ introduced his pretty blonde wife.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Mrs?" Peggy shifted her baby to shake her hand.
"Call me Margaret, and it's nice to finally meet you too." Margaret and Peggy had heard a lot about each other and felt as though they'd known each other all their lives.
"BJ, it's so great to see you after all these years, these are my daughters Danielle and Molly. This one is expected in about 6 or 7 weeks, but hopefully after I get home." BJ laughed as Margaret placed a hand on her very swollen stomach.
"I'm not sure I'm up to delivering another baby quite yet. This is Ryan." BJ took his sleeping son from his wife's arms to place him in Margaret's.
"How beautiful, he's so perfect." Margaret smiled as they made their way out of the airport.
"Where's Erin?" Margaret asked, as they squeezed into BJ's car.
"At home, our neighbours are sitting her and Grace," Peggy explained.
"Grace?" Margaret asked as Ryan began to fuss, wanting to get back to his mother.
"Oh, Margaret, I forgot, it's been seven years since we saw each other. Well, Gracey is probably 12 months older than your Danielle, she was a little belated welcome-back gift." BJ said and Margaret laughed.
"That's what Molly is. Her dad had to go intestate for three weeks when I was expecting her. He came back early to find a note tacked on the door from me. I'd gone into labour a week early and he made it to the hospital in time to be told he'd just become a father for the second time."
"That would've been a wonderful surprise." Peggy chuckled. As BJ hoped, Margaret and Peggy had hit it off instantly.
"Yes, but he made me promise never to do that again. He's also got me on oath not to have this little guy until we're home again." Peggy gave a hearty laugh at that.
"Well, BJ delivered Ryan in the backseat of his parent's car. We were visiting them for the night and his car wouldn't start so we borrowed theirs to get to the hospital, we missed by two minutes." Peggy chuckled and Margaret admired the sleeping boy, who had Peggy's finger tightly in his grasp.
"You're very lucky to have such a wonderful family, BJ, Peggy. The girls' dad will be out in a few days, he goes on holidays on Friday, he just wanted me to go out early and get the girls settled." Margaret explained, with a sly smile.
"That's okay as long as we know when his plane gets in, we'll pick him up. By the way, have you heard from Hawkeye? I couldn't locate him anywhere, and I was hoping to get him out here too. I've got Radar coming as well tomorrow." BJ asked, hoping that Margaret had heard from his best friend.
"Well, you'll be surprised, but I have heard from Hawkeye fair bit." She bit her tongue, laughing to herself.
"What's your husband's name Margaret?" Peggy politely asked.
"Oh, it's Benjamin, if we have a boy, we'll name this little one Ben Junior." Margaret motioned to her stomach. While BJ looked confused at the strangely familiar name.
"Benjamin, why is that name so familiar?" BJ murmured.
"Isn't it, that Captain Pierce's name?" Peggy spoke up softly.
"Hawkeye, I don't know, I think it is Margaret, do you know?" BJ had rarely heard his friend's given names and if he had to, probably wouldn't have been able to tell someone.
"Well, I believe that is his name." Margaret bit her tongue harder and continued biting it all the way back to BJ and Peggy's house.
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Part Two - Settling In
"Okay Molly my Sweet Pea, out we hop, BJ can you get Danielle?" BJ lifted the sleeping girl effortlessly as Peggy opened the front door.
"Mummy, daddy!" Two girls ran into the hall, a youngish woman close behind.
"Hello Angel, Shortcake, have you been good?" BJ bent down and hugged his daughters, one about 8, the other 5 to him, Danielle woke at that and was surprised to find herself in the middle of a group hug.
"Thanks Marcia, I don't know what we'd do without you sometimes." Peggy let the babysitter out and Margaret in.
"Here we are, your home for the next month and a half." Peggy held the door open as Margaret; carrying Molly struggled through the door.
"Here we go Sweet Pea," Margaret put her daughter down and Molly clung to her mother's skirt nervously.
"Mummy!" 'Shortcake' Honnicut, the younger daughter ran to her mother and wrapped her arms around her legs.
"Hello my Shortcake, this is Aunty Margaret, she's going to be staying with us for a while." 'Shortcake' looked up, soft blonde hair falling into her green eyes.
"You must be Grace, what a big girl you are!" Margaret bent down awkwardly, and looked the little girl in the face.
"Shortcake." The little girl mumbled, holding her mother's hand tightly.
"She's nervous around strangers." Peggy explained, as Margaret smiled, holding a hand out to the girl.
"Okay Shortcake, you can call me Aunty Margaret."
"Aunty Megs." Shortcake whispered.
"She doesn't say much, but what she does say, she means. She has a mild form of autism, she's very bright really, understands everything you say. She probably won't be able to start school in the fall, she won't be ready unless she comes out of her shell." BJ explained, now sitting on the floor, a girl on each knee.
"That means she's going to call you Aunty Megs and you have to call her Shortcake." 'Angel' Honnicut put in shyly. She was 8, going 9 very soon and had reddish-brown curls and her mother's eyes.
"You must be Erin." Margaret smiled, and the little girl nodded, a little less shyly.
"Do you want to see my room?" She asked, and Margaret nodded.
"Come on," Erin got off her father's knee and took Margaret's hand and then Molly's, the little girl laughed and hugged Erin's hand under her chin.
"Come along Princess," Margaret held her other hand out to Danielle, who sleepily sat on BJ's knee. She took her mother's hand and leaving Peggy, BJ, Grace and Ryan in the hall Erin gave her new friends a tour of the house.
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"Wow, Peggy, you didn't need to go to this trouble." Margaret pushed Danielle's chair in and settled Molly in her highchair.
"It's no worry. I love to play the hostess." Peggy smiled modestly, as she lifted Shortcake into her chair.
"You do it very well darling." BJ kissed his wife's hair as she bent over her daughter.
"She certainly has your hair, Peggy." Margaret commented easing herself into her seat.
"Yes, she's got her daddy's eyes though, that funny green. Looks like Molly is a miniature you." Margaret laughed, Molly had the same blonde curls as her mother, but her eyes weren't quite the same.
"Yes, she's got her grandmother's eyes though. Her daddy often calls her a changeling because she doesn't resemble him at all." Margaret smiled.
"Help yourself, I'll get the kids fixed up. Where does Danielle get that hair?" Peggy asked, serving Erin some salad.
"Her daddy, she's just like him. From her hair, to her eyes, to her nature, she even likes the same bad jokes, though I don't think she gets all of them." Margaret added in an undertone, as Danielle's blue eyes sparkled mischievously; reminding BJ of a face he hadn't seen in a long time.
"Is Molly named after you?" Peggy asked.
"Yes, her full name is actually Margaret Rhiannon. We picked Rhiannon because it sounded okay with both Molly and Margaret." They'd finished supper and Peggy and Erin were putting out desert.
"Aunty Megs, have." Shortcake picked a cookie from the plate Erin passed around and gave it to Margaret.
"Thankyou very much Shortcake." Margaret accepted the cookie and took a bite.
"Who's Danielle named after Margaret?" BJ spoke up then.
"After her grandfather, Daniel." "Must be her dad's side, your father is Alvin isn't he?" BJ asked, and Margaret nodded, swallowing her food.
Yes, Alvin 'Howitzer' Houlihan. Joy is her middle name because we were over the moon to have her." BJ grinned at his daughters and kissed Peggy fondly.
"Remember when Erin was born, I couldn't speak properly for three days, and then with my little Shortcake, it was five days because I knew I wasn't going away from her and then with Ryan I'm still feeling funny and he's a month old!" Margaret and Peggy chuckled lovingly.
"Yes, when Ben first became a father he called everyone in the town. The operator went insane!" Peggy laughed and Molly gave a yawn.
"If you want to put her to bed, she's sleeping in the cot in Ryan's room. He's still in the little crib." Peggy smiled, at the little girl whose eyelids seemed to be getting heavier by the minute.
"Thanks, I'll just put her in as she is. She can have a bath in the morning I think. She's near worn out." Margaret lifted her daughter.
"Should you really be lifting her?" Peggy asked anxiously.
"Yes, it's okay as long as I feel up to it and lift her the right way." Margaret put her daughter on her barely visible hip and carried her upstairs.
"Shortcake bed too," Grace said, holding her arms up to her father.
"Okay Shortcake, Danielle beautiful, when do you go to bed normally?" As BJ lifted Grace and held his hand out to Danielle, she yawned and smiled.
"After supper." She responded as Margaret's voice floated down calling for her older daughter to come upstairs and brush her teeth. Danielle ran upstairs and Peggy turned to Erin.
"Erin my Angel, you can stay up until 8 okay?"
"Yes mummy, can I have some ice cream?"
"When Aunty Megs and daddy come back down okay?" Erin nodded and when BJ and Margaret came downstairs, they had their ice cream and Erin went to bed.
Margaret, Peggy and BJ talked until late in the night, reminiscing and laughing. They retired just before twelve and Margaret slept through until Molly's yells woke her up the next morning.
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