Chapter Two

"GOOD MORNING COVIES! This is Jake Wilder, coming to you over Maine airwaves on the first day of school. The time now is 6:30 AM."

The next sound heard was a loud thud and a few inaudible curses as fifteen-year-old Caitlyn Pierce fell off her bed and onto the floor, taking the bed sheets and cover with her.

She sleepily got out of the floor and rubbed her head where she had hit it on her nightstand. Jake Wilder, the local disc jockey, and closest thing the cove had to a celebrity, had taken to making a yearly first-day-of school wake-up call at 6:30, and Caitlyn hadn't been looking forward to it.

Her high school's uniform was neatly hung in her closet (one of the few neat things in her room), red plaid skirt, knee-high socks, white polo shirt and all. She had of course made a few alterations to the ensemble, including a "make love not war" button (believe it or not, her dad let her wear that one) and combat boots for shoes, instead of the traditional loafers.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the house, Hawkeye Pierce pulled on a pair of black dress pants and a dark blue shirt. He ran a hand through his two toned black/gray hair and headed downstairs for breakfast.

Fifteen minutes later, he was interrupted from his cereal by the sound of Caitlyn coming, thudding, rather, down the stairs.

He still hadn't forgiven Klinger for giving her those. Combat boots of all things! He could have made her a dress or something.

Caitlyn came into the dining room and peered under the table at her Dad's feet.

"You're pants are to short, you look like a dork" she commented, her mouth filled with toast. Hawkeye pushed back his chair and peered at his feet, "I don't mean to alarm you Cait, but you are a dork." He grinned evilly.

"At least my hair is only one color."

"Right, the color mine was before.." he coughed uneasily, "before a lot of things."

The two went back to their breakfasts, Hawkeye's mind filled with thoughts of the war, to Linda's death, to wondering if Jimmy Reynolds down the street had remembered to tie up his dog. Caitlyn wondered what her dad was thinking about.

LATER THAT DAY CRAB APPLE COVE HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL WAXBY'S OFFICE

"Caitlyn Pierce, Caitlyn Pierce, Caitlyn Pierce. Another year, more trouble. Tell me, what did Mrs. Evans say about your, ahm, anti- American, adult oriented, ahm, accessory."

"You should really see someone about the cough, sir. It sounds like pretty nasty one to me. Of course, I'm no doctor. Maybe you could ask my Dad about it.."

"Miss Pierce! The button! What did she say?"

"Oh, right. Mrs. Evans said she wanted me to take it off, and she never wanted to see it on my shirt again," Caitlyn smiled sweetly and added, "sir"

"And what did you do with the button?"

"Put it on my book bag. She never said I couldn't have it there."

Principal Waxby sat down at his desk and began rubbing his head with his thumb and finger. He muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "typical Pierces, should have learned with her father" The principal was a man in his mid-seventies, and had had the misfortune of being the elder Pierce's history teacher.

"Pierce, you just got yourself two hours of after school detention helping Mrs. Evan's do, um, whatever it is she does. I expected better on the first day of school. Good day, you're dismissed."

Caitlyn stalked out of the room, pulled the pin from her bag and attached it to her sock, "anti-American my toe!"

EVEN LATER CRAB APPLE COVE GENERAL HOSPITAL (SERVING THREE SURROUNDING COUNTIES)

Hawkeye yawned and turned a corner of the hospital, anxious to get home. In his rush, he ran right into.

"Hawkeye!?" a wide smile spread across the nurse's face as he helped her from the ground, "what are you doing here?"

"I could as you the same thing! I live here, what's your excuse?" Hawkeye couldn't believe the woman he had just "run into" so to speak.

"Well, now that you mention it," she finished gathering the contents of her purse, and pushed a lock of blonde hair behind her ear, "I was just on my way out, maybe we could discuss if over dinner."

Hawkeye put an arm around her waist and guided her toward the nearest door, "You know, the restaurants will be packed this time of day. Why don't we go to my place, and I'll whip something up."

The woman laughed throatily and fell into step with him; "I'd love to."

BACK AT SCHOOL

Caitlyn finished cleaning (dusting, sweeping, the works) Mrs. Evans' room and headed out the door. Her best friend Casey Brooks, who had also managed to snag a first-day detention, quickly joined her.

The two, after a quick discussion of just how much more handsome Chester Wright had gotten over the summer, parted ways and Caitlyn headed home.

After the second block, she began to with she had opted for a more comfortable form of footwear, maybe a few planks tied on with yarn? (Ok, so jogging shoes would have been better, but a little exaggeration never hurt anyone.)
She had gotten them on her fifteenth birthday.

Caitlyn had never really liked birthdays. They always made her Dad depressed. It wasn't just the day her mother died; ("You're fifteen, Cait! You're getting so big!" Then unspoken- your Mom died fifteen years ago) as if that wasn't bad enough, it was the anniversary of (she wasn't supposed to know this- Sydney Freedman leaked) the day her Dad went nuts.

Some Fourth of July in 1955, huh? Your wife dies, your daughter is born, and it's been two years since you got thrown in the Cracker Factory.

She was approaching her driveway now, and by the time she fished her keys out of her purse, she was at the front door. Strangely enough for 5:30 on a Monday afternoon, it wasn't locked, and Hawkeye wasn't at work.

In fact, as Caitlyn was soon to learn he wasn't far off from work's mindset. If she were five minutes later, she would have walked in on her Dad and some blonde stranger from who knows where "playing doctor"

Luckily enough for her, however, the two were still seated at the kitchen table, having dinner (there was more flirting than eating, but that's beside the point)

"Hey Dad, guess what, I found out I'm a communist today," she grabbed Hawkeye's fork and took a bite from his plate, ignoring the woman sitting across from him, "Waxby made me stay late because my button is 'anti-American' the guy's off his rocker, I'll tell you what."

The green eyed blonde coughed nervously, giving Hawk an "Ok, introduce me now" look.

"Caitlyn, this is an old friend of mine," Caitlyn finally looked up, taking in the stranger with her deep blue eyes, "Great," she thought, "another flavor of the week, and a blonde too. This will be fun."

"Hi," Caitlyn half-heartedly waved.

"Are you even interested in what her name is?"

"Remotely," Caitlyn made it a point not to get too friendly with any of her Dad's girlfriends.

The woman finally spoke up; "It's Carlye. Carlye Breslin."