(This story takes place 25 years after the Korean War, in 1979. The Korean veterans meet in New York. Among these are those from the 4077th and their families. A lot has happened since they last saw each other. Hawkeye married Margaret. Their son, Ben, was born in 1960. Radar married Sandy, a girl from his hometown. Unfortunately, Sandy left him on their honeymoon. Radar married Patty in 1956. Radar’s daughter, Rachel, was born in December, 1963. They live in St. Louis, MO. Klinger married Soon-Lee, and they had two sons in 1954 and 1964. The youngest of these is Jacob, who decides to accompany his father on the New York trip. Charles Winchester married Helena Rothschild, a wealthy Jewish socialite, after the war. They had two daughters, Charla, born in 1959, and Elizabeth, born in 1961. In addition to his daughter Erin, BJ and Peg had a son, Andrew, in 1956. When they all get to New York, they decide to spend the summer at Hawkeye’s, in Crabapple Cove, Maine.)

Characters:
Hawkeye
Ben
Radar (Walter)
Rachel
Klinger
Jacob
Charles
Helena
Charla
Elizabeth
BJ
Erin
Andrew
Margaret
Patty
Mulcahy

Chapter One: Rachel’s Dilemma

Rachel O’Reilly sat outside on the porch of the old Maine boardinghouse that had been her home for the past few weeks. She still couldn’t get used to the way that the icy wind cut through the air, even in May. In St. Louis, she thought, it would be nearing 80 degrees.

She sighed again and picked up a book. It hadn’t even been her idea to come here. She would have rather stayed in St. Louis with her Auntie Eileen, but her father wouldn’t hear of it. Now here she was, stuck for the summer in a place where lobster festivals were held every day, without a car, her friends, or her credit card. She didn’t even like the people she was with, although there were plenty her age. She had to room with Elizabeth Winchester, whose perfectionist ways were intolerable for Rachel.

Well, she reasoned with herself, you got a pretty good deal out of it. Rachel pretty much always got what she wanted, and this time was no exception. In order for her to peacefully make a trip to Crabapple Cove, she had persuaded her father to let her get contact lenses and a new haircut. The contacts were great, and she was going to get the haircut today.

The front door opened, awakening Rachel from her half-slumber. She decided that she wanted to go get the haircut today.

"Hey, Dad?" Rachel asked in her sweetest voice.

"What, sweetie?"

"Can I go and get my hair cut today? Remember, you promised."

"All right sweetie. Get in the car, I’ll be there in a minute."

"Can I drive?"

"What?" However much he adored Rachel, Walter was cautious about letting her drive. As a police lieutenant in St. Louis, Walter had seen too many kids busted up after auto crashes.

"Please?"

"Oh, all right. Here." He threw Rachel the keys. She was a good kid, and he knew he could trust her. Still, he worried about her often.

"Watch the traffic, Rachel." Walter reminded her.

"I’m watching! It’s just some idiot just passed me! Wait until I catch up with him at this red light."

The red light flashed, and the man who had passed Rachel was beside them in a huge gray Lincoln. Rachel rolled down her window. "Nice signal, buddy! Learn how to drive!"

The man rolled down his tinted window, and elegantly gave Rachel the finger. Appalled, Rachel turned to her father. "Daddy, did you see that? He gave me the finger! What am I going to do?"

"Get his tag number, and I’ll have him reported."

"Don’t bother." Rachel rolled down her window, and repeated the gesture as she drove away.

The hairdresser’s shop was nearly empty when Rachel arrived. "Hey, Dad, you can go to the hardware store or something. This won’t take long. Pick me up here in thirty minutes."

"Okay, I’ll be here."

Rachel sat down in one of the leather chairs as the hairdresser snipped her hair away. She gasped as a long piece of her hair fell into her lap. After what seemed like an eternity, the hairdresser whirled Rachel around to the mirror.

"There, how do you like that?" the hairdresser asked sweetly.

Rachel stared at the reflection in the mirror. It wasn’t her, it couldn’t be her. The long auburn hair that had once been Rachel’s pride and joy was now only below her ears. It would take forever to grow out. She looked again, and then buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

Walter came in and ran to Rachel. "What’s the matter, darling? There’s no need to cry. Your hair looks fine, Rachel, really."

"Get me a paper bag." Rachel looked at the hairdresser. "Now."

"What for?"

"Just get it."

The hairdresser returned with the bag, which Rachel calmly slid over her head. "Let’s go home, Daddy."

"All right, we’ll go home, and maybe we can get Erin to fix your hair. Hers is cut a lot like yours. And then after that, we’ll go see a movie."

"Grease?"

"Whatever you want, darling." Walter couldn’t stand to see his daughter cry, and he would do anything to get her to stop, even watch John Travolta for the millionth time.

Rachel opened the door to the boardinghouse and bolted up the stairs to her room. There she found Elizabeth primly sitting on her bed, painting her nails.

"Hello, Rachel. Whatever happened to your hair?"

"Oh, shut up, Elizabeth. I know how awful it looks. You didn’t need to tell me."

"Rachel, it doesn’t look that bad. All you need to do is, well, curl it a bit. Oh, have you heard the latest news?"

"No," Rachel replied. "What is it?" If there was one thing that Elizabeth Winchester was good for, it was gossip.

"Erin’s brother is coming here, from college. He goes to Radcliffe, you know. Well, anyway, he saw a picture of Charla, and he fell in love with her. That’s why he’s coming here. To meet Charla."

Rachel laughed. She had met Andrew Hunnicutt the year before, and he would never like Charla. Andrew was casual, good-natured, like his father where Charla was very, well, sophisticated. Sure, Charla was pretty, but there were some things that looks couldn’t make up for. "Excuse me for saying this, Elizabeth, but Andrew and Charla just aren’t going to click."

"How do you know?! You always make the worst of things for everyone!"

"Elizabeth, I know. Andrew’s a doll, but he’s not Charla’s type. I met him last fall, and he’s very...."

"Simple?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. He’s not a country club boy at all."

"Oh." Elizabeth went back to painting her nails. What a priss, thought Rachel.

Erin sauntered in the room. "Hey, Rachel, I like your hair. Listen, guys, we’re all in for a campout in the Cove tonight. Elizabeth, are you in?"

"Sure!"

"Rachel?"

"Yeah, why not. Who’s gonna be there?"

"The usual. Me, you, Elizabeth, Charla, Ben....."

"Enough said, Erin. I’ll be there." The one good thing about Crabapple Cove was Captain Pierce’s eighteen year old son, Ben. Only Erin knew how Rachel had fallen in love with Ben the first time that she had seen him. Rachel knew that if she could trust anyone, she could trust Erin.

"Oh, yeah, Klinger’s kid, Jacob, will be there. He’s a bit younger than you, Rachel. I think you’ll like him a lot. Well, get ready. I’ll have some marshmallows ready." Erin left to go set up the tent.

That night, Rachel admitted that maybe she was having a little fun. Jacob Klinger had the same outlook on the place as Rachel, and they had talked for most of the day. She was hardly interested in him romantically, however, he made a great friend.

Everyone gathered around the campfire for some roasted marshmallows. "Lets hear your deepest, darkest secrets. Rachel, you’re first. Tell us....what your biggest dream is."

That I’ll marry Ben Pierce, win a million dollars, Rachel thought. But she decided to tell another dream. "I want to join the Air Force."

Charla spoke up in her whiney voice. "But the military is so harsh, it’s hardly the place for a woman!"

Jacob said harshly. "Personally, I think it’s a great idea that she wants to be a pilot. Why shouldn’t she?"

"I agree with Jacob. Besides, if it wasn’t for the military, we wouldn’t be here having such a great time!" Erin lectured.

"Lets change the subject. What rank did everyone’s folks get to?" Jacob asked.

"Police lieutenant, St. Louis, Missouri." Rachel stated proudly.

"Lieutenant colonel." Charla said smugly.

Rachel could feel the anger rising inside her. "Who, your father or your mother?"

"All right, girls, that’s enough." Erin lectured calmly. "Okay, I have another good idea. How about we have a group sing?"

Usually Rachel would have readily agreed to this kind of group sing, but she wasn’t in the mood for it. Why had she even argued with Charla? She knew that the military wouldn’t accept her because of her disease. She hadn’t told anyone, not even Erin, about her disease. Elizabeth thought that Rachel was just being a little snitch with her locked box. She thought that it was a safe, when, in reality it was a refrigerator. Rachel also had to be cautious to lock the door in her bedroom so she could open the lock and take her insulin. Back in St. Louis, everyone knew about her diabetes, but it didn’t bother them. Rachel could just imagine what a snit that Elizabeth would go into if she found out. Rachel didn’t exactly dislike Elizabeth, but she could never bring herself to trust her. Besides, she could imagine what embarrassment that it could cause her father. The thought of all these tough military officers thinking that Rachel O’Reilly was an invalid was too much. She wasn’t an invalid, no matter how much her father treated her that way. She was, after all, an Irish-American, a fighter. It was better that no one knew, and she would take care of herself.

The group had just finished a chorus of "Sweet Home Alabama" and were now on their way to singing "Oh What a Night", which happened to be Rachel’s favorite song. Her father had often told her that it was her song, because late December, 1963 was Rachel’s birthday. In fact, it was Walter who had discovered Rachel’s undeniable musical talent, when she was six years old. Rachel was sitting on the sidewalk when Walter got a call for a robbery. He left Rachel on the sidewalk, only to come back to find her, surrounded by hippie musicians, singing some Burt Bacharach tune for cash. It was Rachel’s first performance, and with seven dollars, she hadn’t done bad.

Next, the group launched into "Shower the People". During the chorus Rachel noticed that Elizabeth sat there silent the whole time that they were singing. "Hey, Elizabeth, sing with us!" Erin called.

"That music is repulsive, obnoxious, and mind-impairing."

Rachel whispered to Erin. "She probably doesn’t know the words."

"All right, everyone, lets give a special song here to Elizabeth. What’ll it be?"

"How about that ‘Say a little prayer for you’ song?" Jacob called out.

"Okay, everyone sing now. When I wake up, and I put on my makeup, when I comb my hair, trying to decide what dress to wear.."

Rachel thought it odd that the son of a man who actually did wear dresses was singing this line. The whole group joined in, "I’ll say a little prayer for you, say a little prayer for you!"

Rachel’s voice blended in with the rest. "Forever, and ever, you’ll stay in my heart, and I will love you, never, no never, we never will part, together, together, that’s how it should be, to be without you, without you, that would be heartbreak for me..."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, although it was quite a performance. I could kill Erin and Rachel for this, she thought. But it wasn’t the embarrassment of those little idiots that bothered Elizabeth. It was that she wouldn’t stand to be embarrassed in front of Ben Pierce. No matter, Elizabeth had seen the way that Rachel had been looking at Ben all night long. She was determined not to let her get the best of a Winchester. Besides, when it came down to a battle of wits, Elizabeth Maria Winchester could outsmart Rachel O’Reilly any day. Or could she?

Chapter Two: A Confused and Indefinite Matter

Walter, Hawkeye, Klinger, and Helena were resting by the Pierce’s cozy fireplace. Charles had gone upstairs for some R&R, and was in the kitchen preparing a meal. The group soon found out that Helena Winchester was much more pleasant to be around than her formidable husband, and a good conversationalist. They had been talking of things that had happened to them since the war.

Walter went first, telling about the 25th of December, 1963.

"Looks like Santa forgot to leave your instructions, Radar." Hawkeye joked.

"Yeah, he sure did. I sat at home for a week, wondering how to manage her. I think I got the hang of it, though. We’ve made it."

"So, Radar, what was your most memorable day besides that?"

"When the government closed my farm down, the day Sandy left me, and the day Kennedy got shot. Also the time that..." Walter’s voice trailed off when he remembered what Rachel had made him promise - never to tell anyone about that "thing" that she had.

All in all, that was Walter’s most unforgettable, and scariest scene of his life, when Rachel’s diabetes had first stricken her. The scene of his beautiful six-year-old baby lying there, near death, was still enough to bring tears to his eyes. It had taken Rachel a long time to get used to the daily insulin regime, and the process was painful for her. Not even the pain of losing Sandy and the farm had compared to when he thought that he might lose his daughter. After all, Rachel was what kept Walter going. She meant more to him than the farm or his wife ever had. If I had lost Rachel, he thought, I would have lost my life.

Klinger spoke next. "The most unforgettable moment for me was when my nine-year-old asked me after the Kennedy assassination, ‘How come that man shot the good guy?’ It was enough to almost make me cry."

Hawkeye smiled. "Yeah, Ben asked the same question when Bobby got shot."

"Us Winchesters were invited to the White House on several occasions. I never liked the younger Kennedy." Helena stated.

Walter laughed at a sudden memory. "When Bobby Kennedy was shot, Rachel was six. All she had to say was ‘Daddy, did he really sleep with Marilyn Monroe?’"

Everyone laughed at the young Rachel’s boldness. Suddenly Hawkeye spoke up. "Hey, Radar, guess what? Your ex is working in Augusta, about 25 miles down the road. She’s a bag lady at the supermarket."

It took a while for the news to sink into Walter’s head. He hadn’t seen his ex-wife since their honeymoon, when she had left him. And did he want to?

The next morning, however, Walter drove to Augusta to see Sandy for himself. He had practically memorized the instructions that Hawkeye had given him, and Augusta wasn’t that far. As he pulled up to the supermarket where she worked, he felt a little apprehension, even fear. He had no clue what he was going to say to Sandy, whether he would feel anger or pain at the sight of her..

Walter walked over to the cash register. "Hi, Sandy."

Sandy turned around and gasped. She had never had any thoughts that she would ever see Walter O’Reilly again. "Walter? Is that you?"

"Sure is. Long time, no see, shall I say."

"I know. Haven’t heard much from Iowa these days."

"Neither have I."

Walter thought for a moment. "Are you married, Sandy?"

"Divorced. I have a son, Leary."

"We can guess who he’s named after."

"That’s none of your business, Walter. The reason I left you is that I wanted to be free, to be myself instead of some Iowan housewife. Did you ever get your farm back?"

"No. I’m a police lieutenant in St. Louis."

"Happy to hear it. Well, goodbye, Walter. It’s been nice talking to you."

"Yeah, you too."

Walter drove home in tortured silence. What should he have done? Sandy seemed believable in her attempts to make Walter feel sorry for her, but somehow she hadn’t succeeded. He wanted to forget her. But that was impossible.

Chapter Three: War of the Winchesters

Elizabeth knew that something was up with Rachel and Ben. She had seen it in their eyes, heard them talking and laughing, and heard Rachel and Erin’s hushed conversations. She also knew why Rachel kept a lock on her safe. That must be where all her love notes from Ben are, she thought. Well, today, she thought, I’ll see that for myself.

Elizabeth sauntered up to the room that she and Rachel shared. There was the box, as it always was, locked. Elizabeth fiddled with the lock, seeing if she could get it open. Then she had an idea. No matter how talented Rachel was in other subjects, she had a terrible time memorizing numbers, so she would have to use a familiar number for her combination. Her birthday. She would try that.

"12-25-63," Elizabeth mumbled under her breath. She twirled the dial once and the lock flew open. But what was inside shocked her. No notes, no anything but a truckload of syringes that were being cooled. What were they for? Rachel wasn’t one of Elizabeth’s favorite people, but she didn’t think that she was capable of a drug addiction! And, anyway, who should she tell?

Elizabeth decided to notify Walter first, since Rachel was his kid. "Hi, Mr. O’Reilly!" Elizabeth greeted Walter with a smile.

"Why, hello, Elizabeth. What brings you here?" Walter shared Rachel’s feelings about the Winchesters; he disliked all of them except Helena. Unfortunately, the Winchester children tended to be a lot like Charles.

"Well, there happens to be a slight problem. You see, I accidentally stumbled upon some things of Rachel’s. I was thinking that they might be illegal drugs or something, and I decided to tell you so you could...., well, get help for her." She pulled the syringe out of her pocket.

"Elizabeth, that’s no illegal drug."

"How do you know?"

"Well, for one thing, I’m a cop in St. Louis. That ought to tell you something in itself. Second, I know my daughter, and that is not illegal drugs."

"But, Mr. O’Reilly, what is it?"

"That is none of your business. But I can assure you that it’s nothing at all to worry about. Hear me?! Good."

Elizabeth sighed and left. She found her father in the Pierces’ screened in porch, calmly smoking a cigarette. She decided that she better not chance it by telling him. Radar O’Reilly had seemed harmless enough, but Elizabeth silently feared Rachel. She was tough; not just Army tough like Margaret, but Marine tough. Elizabeth knew she wouldn’t stand half a chance in a fight with her. After all, Rachel was from St. Louis, one of the largest cities, and she was used to fighting. Just leave her alone, thought Elizabeth, and the rest will come by itself.

Meanwhile, Rachel and Ben were sitting on the Pierces’ front porch, listening to the radio and talking.

"Isn’t this such beautiful scenery, Rachel? I mean, could you ask for a more beautiful place on earth to be right now?" Ben asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, the most beautiful place on earth right now would be a St. Louis street with me and my friends hanging out, going to see the Cardinals play, and driving my father crazy by making him chauffeur when he’s off duty. That’s the perfect summer day."

"You miss it, right?"

"Like mad. To me, heaven is living in the city. Here its just so....well, quiet."

"Yeah, it sure is quiet. But that is its charm. I promise, this summer will not be boring at all."

"I guess." Orleans’ ‘Dance With Me’ came on the radio. "Hey, turn it up. I love this song." Rachel turned the radio up to almost ear-blasting sound.

Ben smiled at her. "Want to dance?"

Oh God, thought Rachel. This is it, what you have been waiting for. "Yeah, sure." Ben wrapped his arms around Rachel as the music played, and as the last verse came to an end, he leaned over and kissed her.

Meanwhile, Margaret, and Helena were cooking while Walter and Hawkeye had some coffee. Walter stared blankly at the front porch through the kitchen window, when something caught his eye. It was two people dancing, that he was sure of. He put on his glasses and moved in for a closer look. Was it what he thought it was?! No, of course, it couldn’t be! "Hawk, Hawk, look! Isn’t that Rachel and Ben? They’re....."

Patty smiled. "Like father, like son."

Hawkeye rolled his eyes. "True. Ben and I are going to have to have a serious chat after dinner. How about you, Radar?"

"I dunno. I never did much lecturing about that kind of stuff."

Patty laughed. "Don’t worry. I’ll talk to her. Kind of like a woman-to-woman talk. But, you should take into consideration that she is nearly sixteen. She’s old enough for this, believe me."

Walter sighed. "I know, Patty, but...."

"She’s growing up, Radar."

"I suppose so, Patty."

Later that evening, Rachel went up to her room. Elizabeth was downstairs practicing her piano, and Rachel was daydreaming to the strains of a Mozart concerto. She couldn’t believe it, she really couldn’t. The memory kept repeating itself in her mind, and suddenly she really wasn’t missing St. Louis as much anymore. Oh, sure, she could still almost hear the jazz saxophones from the black part of town, and see the people dancing. She and her best friend, Audrey Mickeljohn, always bought ice cream there because it was cheaper, down at old man Luke’s restaurant. They served the best Creole food in Missouri, too. Rachel missed that, for sure. She also knew that Audrey would be expecting a letter from her soon, too. Well, she’d send her one soon enough. For right now, all her thoughts were concentrated on Benjamin Franklin Pierce, Jr.

Someone knocked on Rachel’s door. "Who is it?"

"It’s me. Can I come in?"

"Sure." Rachel went to open the door.

Patty stepped inside and sat on Elizabeth’s bed, wrinkling her perfectly made bed. "We need to have a talk."

"Sure, what do you need to talk to me about?" She sat on the bed beside of Patty.

"This afternoon. You and Ben on the veranda."

Rachel felt her face growing red. "Oh."

"Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. It’s just that your father is having a fit over this."

"Why? That’s ridiculous. I’m sure he’d rather me go out with Ben Pierce than one of those street kids back home!" Rachel protested.

"Yes, I’m sure he would. But he doesn’t realize that, yet. Right now, he’s threatening to kill if anything happens to you."

Rachel hesitated. "Mom, what do you think about this? Am I doing anything wrong?"

"No. All’s fair in love and war. I found both of those to be true at the same time. You’re young, and nothing’s going to stop you anyway. So carry on. Just try to keep it as far away from your father as possible. Deal?"

"Yes."

Patty went to the door, but Rachel stopped her. "Mom, is Daddy mad at me or disappointed in me?"

"No, darling, he’s just scared."

Patty sighed, and sat back down on the bed. "Rachel Victoria O’Reilly. You’re a miracle. After you, it didn’t matter so much about the farm. There was you."

"The U.S. Army is sponsoring a special week in New York City for all the veterans of the MASH units, including enlisted. We’re going to have a costume ball, and a formal dinner. And, all of the vets can bring their whole families, which means you get to be there."

"Great! When is it?" Rachel inquired.

"In three weeks. What are you going to be?"

Rachel smiled. "The character from my favorite movie, Star Wars. Princess Leia."

Patty laughed. "You always were a princess, Rachel. Do you remember the painting ‘American Gothic’?"

"Yeah. I saw it at the Smithsonian when I went to DC with the Drum Corps. It’s really weird."

"That’s what we were thinking of going as."

"Really? That’s neat." Rachel said goodbye to Patty, and she left.

Elizabeth came in from practice without saying a word to Rachel. "Well, hello Elizabeth. Aren’t thou going to speak to me today?"

Elizabeth whirled around from the door. "You’re such a snit, Rachel. I heard what you and Patty were talking about while I was downstairs practicing. All you do to me is lie and cheat and..."

"Wait a minute here. You’re talking about Ben, aren’t you?"

"Of course I’m talking about Ben. Can’t you see that? I know about you, Rachel. And I’m ready to reveal all of your innermost secrets to Ben. Until then, I’m moving in with Charla, and Erin’s staying in here."

"Fine with me. You two need to be together, anyway. That way, both of you can concentrate on going to your stupid parties, and I won’t have to deal with you. You’re a ditsy little airhead and you’re a cheating snake, so get out!" Rachel was beginning to get really angry with Elizabeth.

Later that night, Elizabeth started to clean out her closet, and Erin moved some of her things in. By that night, Erin had settled in, and things were getting better. Elizabeth hadn’t spoken to either of them.

"So tell me about yourself, Rachel. You never got around to explaining." Erin said.

"All right." Rachel sat on the floor next to Erin. "I’m Rachel Victoria O’Reilly, from St. Louis, Missouri, resident of 1612 Loughborough Avenue, in the typically Irish and German part of town. My best friend is Audrey Mickeljohn, who happens to be my second cousin. I’m a flag girl in the Drum Corps, I’m in junior ROTC, I love animals, and my Aunt Eileen is really traditional, so I had a traditional Irish dance for my fifteenth birthday, a ceilidh, of which I hated, but I couldn’t refuse her. I was born on December 25, 1963, in St. Louis at the Lutheran Medical Center. I’m Methodist, Audrey’s Catholic, and we don’t really care. I live right next to Carondelet Park, so if you ever come to St. Louis, you’ll know where I live. The brewery for Anheuser-Busch is really close, and usually I can smell the alcohol if I’m at the Gateway Arch. My father is from Ottumwa, Iowa, and my mom is from Lancaster, Missouri. And I think Elizabeth Winchester is a snotty twerp. If I was home, I’d use more precise language to describe her, but I can’t."

"Was your mom in the Korean War?"

"Yeah. She was a nurse. Dad met her in the station a few days before he left for home. Lancaster and Ottumwa are only 100 miles apart, but they didn’t see each other for a while anyway."

"Really? Well, I’ll tell you about me. I was not even a year old when my father was drafted to go to Korea, so you’re lucky. However, I don’t remember much about him being gone, because when he came back, he never let me out of his sight. I have a brother, Andrew, who’s in college at Radcliffe. I served as an Army Nurse in Vietnam, and after I got out of there, I resigned my commission. I was really depressed for a while after that."

Rachel sighed. "Audrey’s brother David went to Vietnam with the Air Force. He’s MIA. His family still hopes he’s alive, but I seriously doubt it. Most MIAs don’t come back."

Erin looked out the window. "Yeah, well, I was 20 when I went. I’d been commissioned as a second lieutenant, and I was happy. We went to Nam to make some changes. All we’d heard was peace and love, and we were all going to stop that war ourselves. It turned out that it was all a joke. After that, I never thought about peace and love. I’d seen too much hate to believe that it could ever exist again."

Rachel felt tears come to her eyes. She’d remembered David when he left home in ‘71, a tall kid with blond hair, just like Audrey. He’d even sent her and Audrey matching parasols from Saigon. She also remembered the day that his parents got the letter that he was missing. She and Audrey had been to a Cardinals game with Walter, and her mother was waiting for them when they got home. Audrey had planned on spending the night, but her mother had called and said that she had to go home then. Patty had tried to explain to Rachel what had happened, but she didn’t quite understand. All that she could understand that David was gone. She’d cried all that night while her father tried to calm her down. Walter had tried to tell Rachel that they would find him, but they never did. Even Audrey had almost lost hope.

Erin smiled at Rachel. "Well, how are things going between you and Miss Winchester?"

"Not good. I hate her."

"I know. Don’t worry, though. Hawk would have a fit if Ben fell for Elizabeth."

"Okay, but what does he think about me and Ben?"

"I have no idea. I guess it’s good, though. After all, Hawk and Radar were friends. That’s not exactly true for him and Charles."

At that moment someone knocked on the door. "Who is it?"

"It’s me. Charla."

Erin glanced at Rachel, and she shrugged. "Come in, Charla. We weren’t expecting you."

Charla came in and sat down beside Rachel and Erin on the floor. She was actually quite pretty, Rachel realized. Charla had her father’s blond hair and her mother’s dark eyes, and she was small. "I had to get out of there. Elizabeth’s driving me insane, and besides, I have to tell Rachel that she’s planning to do something to you. She hates you, but I don’t. I never had a reason to, and besides, I like you both."

"Okay..." Rachel turned to Erin. "Is it all right that she stay in here?"

"Sure." Erin looked baffled and Rachel shrugged.