The Girl Next Door Part Three: Unlikely Details
by SaRa
Yup, The Girl Next Door is back by popular demand. There's some surprises in store for you, believe me! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the third part to The Girl Next Door. If ya like it, lemme know! Even if you don't, send me an e-mail and tell me what I messed up on. Right now I'd like to point out that I'm neither a lawyer nor a doctor so any medical or legal information is more than likely not accurate.
Washington DC, Spring 1958
It was a beautiful spring weekend in the city. Mickey was complaining about being stuck inside on such a nice day and Hawkeye pointed out that they really hadn't done much since moving there that winter. So, they decided to call up Daniel and see if he'd like to go sight seeing with them. Margaret decided to call him while Hawkeye got Mickey ready and put out some more food and water for Daisy. Margaret was reaching for the phone and it started to ring. "Hello?"
"Hi, is Hawkeye there?" asked a vaguely familiar female voice.
"Yeah...just a second," Margaret said as she set the phone down on the table. "Hey, Hawk, pick up the phone," she said.
"Who is it?" he asked.
"I don't know; she just said she wanted to talk to ya," Margaret replied. Hawkeye went into the living room and picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Hawk."
"Julia?"
"Yeah. So, you moved to DC. I thought that it said somewhere on them papers that you weren't allowed to move without someone being informed. That someone being me. Not to mention, you had to get permission from some lawyer or something. And I hope that that chick that answered the phone is just visiting."
Hawkeye put his hand over the mouth piece and whispered to Margaret that she should pick up the other extension. She disappeared into the bedroom where the other phone was. She quietly picked up the phone. Hmm, she'd make a good detective, Hawkeye mused. Julia continued to ramble on about the agreement. She didn't mentioned that she was in town and could easily drop by or run into them someplace. Hawkeye had told her what his plans were for the day. All of Julia's rambling amounted to the fact that she wanted Mickey and also that she could get legal custody of him if Margaret and Hawkeye were living together and weren't married.
"Yeah, well, I gotta go," Hawkeye said and hung up the phone.
Margaret walked out of the bedroom. "Hawk? Did you know all this?" she asked.
"Actually, I knew half of it..."
"Oh?"
"Yeah...that I wasn't supposed to move without some papers and some other garbage."
"Wonderful. Why didn't you think of it earlier?"
"As I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted, I didn't know the consequences. Nor did I know that I couldn't have custody over him while living with someone else who wasn't my wife...even if you were, you'd have to adopt him."
"Do you know this is true?"
"I'm going to trust Julia on it...she's a lawyer."
"Great, Hawkeye!" she exclaimed sarcastically.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
"Well, c'mon, let's go. This might be one of the last things you do with your son," she snapped. They walked to tons of different places and did as much sight seeing as one could do in two and a half hours.
When they finally got back to their apartment, they had a surprise waiting for them. It was Julia, standing in the hall, waiting for them. "Well, well, what do we have here?" she asked as she gazed at Margaret.
"So, she wasn't just visiting after all," Julia said. Hawkeye opened his mouth to protest, but wasn't quick enough.
"It's really a shame, isn't it? I mean, you can have a girlfriend - or maybe I should say a live in lover - or your son. It's a shame to see someone make that type of decision. Well, I guess I'll be seeing you around, hon," she said pointedly to Margaret.
Margaret continued to just stand there, staring at Julia. Hawkeye expected Margaret to tell Julia off, but she never even opened her mouth.
"Well? You know he's going to pick Mickey, so why don't you just walk away now so you don't have to hear it?" Julia continued in this voice that was so sweet, it was actually annoying. She was taunting Margaret. That voice she was using was hard to ignore. It had a sarcastic edge to it that made her even more annoying. Must have taken her years to perfect it, thought Margaret.
"Anyway, I'll be seeing you," Julia said as she walked calmly away. It took both Margaret and Hawkeye a few minutes to fully comprehend what had just happened. "Sorry," Margaret muttered.
"What for?"
"If I hadn't shown up, you'd never be in the mess..."
"That's not true!" protested Hawkeye.
"Hawkeye, it's very true...think about it. I'm going to go make a phone call or two," she said as she walked into their apartment. She picked up the phone and dialed Ana's number. After the third ring, Ana answered. "Ana, you said that if I ever needed anything, you'd help. Well, I need a place to stay," Margaret said.
"Did you and Hawkeye break up?"
"No, but I think we should."
"Why?"
"His wife can get Mickey if we don't. I don't want to do that to him."
"Okay, you can stay here. When will you be here?"
"Tomorrow morning. It might be kind of early."
"Okay...'bye," Ana said and hung up.
The next morning
Margaret quietly got out of bed. She sat down in the living room and tried to write Hawkeye a note. She couldn't think of anything. After sitting there for a minute, she heard the phone ring. She picked it up right away, so Hawkeye wouldn't awaken. "Hello?"
"Margaret...I - I have to tell you something."
"Yeah, Tori?"
"Ana...she was...killed in a car accident last night. Drunk driver. The last thing she said was to make sure you found out before anyone else."
"A-ana? She died?"
"Yes...I'm sorry...I knew you two were really close."
"I - I have to go," Margaret said shakily as she hung up. She walked back into the bedroom, feeling as if she were in a dream. Gently, she touched Hawkeye's arm. He mumbled something. "Hawkeye?" she whispered. She could hardly speak. He woke up.
"It's five in the morning, Margaret. Are we back in Korea or something?" Hawkeye asked. Then, he looked at her and knew something was wrong. "What happened?" he asked, gently.
"A - ana...she was k - killed last night..." Margaret said.
"I'm sorry...I knew you two were close," Hawkeye said.
"We aren't....weren't...just friends," she said.
"Oh?" Hawkeye's heart skipped a beat, not really wanting to know what came next.
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