Author's Note: This is part of the "Help From a Teenager" series. It takes place about a week before the bug out in "The Youngest Army Nurse". It will only really make sense if you've at least read "It Takes a Teenager to Tell" and "The Youngest Army Nurse". Enjoy!

"A Very Bad Dream"

By: Corka

Cora sat straight up in her bunk in the nurses' tent. Her heard was racing, she felt clammy and she was breathing hard. That had to be the worst dream she'd ever had, and it even topped when she'd dreamt about seeing her mother killing herself. She tried to lay back down and closed her eyes again, but she saw that horrible picture. She wouldn't be able to get over this herself. She jumped down from her top bunk as quietly as she could, put her robe, (it was actually Margaret's old robe, but with the baby coming, it didn't fig her anymore), and her coat (that also used to be Margaret's) and walked out the door.

It was cold, and Cora looked around to see if there were any lights on anywhere. She was in luck, there was one on in Hawkeye and Margaret's tent. She walked up to the door and knocked on it. "Come in." Margaret called.

Cora opened the door and stepped inside. "I uh…saw the light on and um…" She could barely talk. She just could not get the picture out of her head.

Margaret struggled out of her chair and walked over to Cora. "Honey, what's wrong?" She put her hands on the scared girl's shoulders and looked in her eyes. She could tell something wasn't right.

"Where's Hawkeye?" She asked.

"He'll be at post-op for another hour. What's wrong?"

"Well, I know it's horrible…that I'm 14 and I have to come to someone…because I had a bad dream and…can't get back to sleep or anything…but…" Her voice broke and she started crying a little.

"Shh…it's okay. I always have to go to Hawkeye about my bad dreams. We all do." She pulled the crying girl to her and hugged her. She gently guided her to the cots that Hawkeye and Margaret had pushed together, and sat her down. Margaret grabbed the chair from the desk and brought it over. She sat down and grabbed Cora's hands and lightly rubbed the back of them with her thumbs. "You know, sometimes if you talk about your dreams, they don't seem all that scary anymore, and they get the pictures out of your head."

Cora shook her head, "I think this one will still be scary…but okay." She took a breath and started. "Well, I was back in Milford…in Florence Park. That was the park that was right across from the high school. My friends and I used to go over there after school sometimes and sit and talk on the top of this huge slide. Well…I had just walked out of the high school and was walking across the street to meet up with my friends who were already at the top of the slide, but…" she sniffled back tears, "but when I put my foot on the curb…the slide blew up in this huge fireball, and…and when the fireball went away, my friends were all on the ground…charred from the fire…it was horrible." She put her face in her hands and cried. Her shoulders shook. Margaret got up and sat beside her on the cot and wrapped her arms around her and tried to comfort her.

"I know about those dreams. I've had a lot of them and I know Hawkeye has had a lot of them. They start out like a normal day at home, and then your subconscious puts visions of this stupid war in there, and they end up horribly. I know…" Margaret thought of something that might work. "You know, my mom used to do something that always made the bad dreams go away."

"What's that?" Cora asked as she started to calm down.

"Well, she would always make me get under the covers and close my eyes." When Cora didn't move, she added. "That's your cue."

"Oh, right." She got under the warm covers.

"And then my mom would come over and sit beside me with one arm under my head and with one of her fingers, that were always kind of cold, she would make an outline around everything on my face. She would start with my eyes," She had sat by Cora and was doing this while she talked. Her voice got ever so quieter as she continued. "Then she'd go around my mouth, and then she'd end with lightly tapping my nose, and then, I would be fast…asleep." Cora was also fast asleep with happy thoughts in her head.

Not long after, Hawkeye walked in and a smile spread across his face. Margaret was also asleep. He just stood there and looked at them and could tell that his wife was truly going to be a wonderful mother.

We walked over to the two of them and put a gentle loving hand on Margaret's very rounded stomach (she was due in about a week) and brushed a kiss on her lips. She woke up. "Hey Honey."

"She okay?" He looked at Cora.

"Oh, yeah. She had one of those bad dreams where it starts at home and then the war comes into it and something horrible happens."

"Aw. Got it. Poor thing. I'll take her back to the nurses tent." Margaret moved her arm and he reached over and picked Cora up and carried her to her bunk while she was still asleep. About five minutes later, he crawled in bed next to his wife and snuggled close. She would always have her back towards him while she was in his arms and he would rub her stomach until Margaret would fall asleep. He loved it when the baby would kick and he could feel it. It just made it seem all the more real that he was going to be a father. He couldn't wait until he could hold his child. Everyone was excited and everyone had sweet dreams that night. After Cora fell asleep for the second time that is.

The End