Title: Just as Fatal by Meredith Bronwen Mallory
Fandom: MASH
Pairing: Hawkeye/BJ
Categories: Romance, Angst, Post-episode
Length: Medium (4850 words)
Warning: Discussions of death and claustrophobic situations
Rating: Rated T by author


Author on LJ: Unknown
Website: [r]eturn to [s]ender


Summary: Hawkeye is so jittery in C*A*V*E, but we're never told why he has claustrophobia, or even when he realised he had it.

Review: An odd story by one of the more senior writers in MASH fandom. After an incident in which Hawkeye is revealed to be claustrophobic, a verbal blunder by Winchester adds the information that it is somehow connected to his relationship with his mother. Once alone with BJ, Hawkeye seeks to unburden himself about the origins of his phobia.

It would be nice to be able to believe a little more fully in the backstory for Just As Fatal; for this reader the descriptions of Hawkeye's mother and her semi-mystical background didn’t quite ring true, although the picture of her still trying to tell him stories and legends even on her deathbed is a persuasive one. Nor is the incident that apparently triggered Hawkeye's claustrophobia entirely convincing; maybe the author could have spent a little more time on both of these aspects to good effect.

Nevertheless what follows is a sweetly described declaration of love from both parties, leading to the resolution that there is one confined space in which Hawkeye feels perfectly safe - the circle of BJ's arms.

Meredith Bronwen Mallory is an author who seems to impress and annoy me in equal proportions. What is good about her work is really very good indeed, but there are lapses which get on my nerves and her rhyming pleas for feedback make my teeth curl. If you don’t mind about such things, however, there is a great deal here to admire; I just wish that she had gone a little deeper with this one.


Link: Just As Fatal