Disclaimer: MASH ain't mine, but I sure do wish it were…
Medical Complications
'MASH 4077th: Best Care Anywhere' said the sign beside the dusty, potholed road my jeep had been driving along for what seemed like days. I found that hard to believe – probably not even better care than the 121st evac, I thought, let along Tokyo General. I'd served at both, but was still young enough and stupid enough to think I knew it all. That was what had taken me to a MASH unit in the first place – arguing with the Head Nurse once too often.
The driver brought the jeep to a halt outside what seemed to be the biggest tent in the untidy compound. The side flaps were down so I couldn't see in, but a sign on the door said 'The Swamp'. It seemed an unlikely name to me, but before I could comment on it the door opened and a scruffy guy wearing a purple dressing-gown over his fatigue pants came out. As soon as he saw me, he switched on a smile and hurried over, extending a hand. "Hi! You must be the new nurse. Welcome aboard, I'm Captain Pierce, Chief Surgeon, raconteur and nurse-lover, but most folks round here call me Hawkeye." I shook his hand, politely, and let him help me out of the jeep, but I had already worked out why his tent was called 'The Swamp': he was obviously a complete reptile.
"Captain," I said, giving him a cool nod, "I'm Lieutenant Emma Brown. Where can I find your commanding officer?"
"Colonel Potter," he said, maintaining the smile, "He'll be in his office. I'll be happy to show you right to his door. And then after that I could show you to the nurses' tent."
Yes, he would know where the nurses' tent was, I thought. "Thanks, but if you could just point the way, I'm sure I'll manage," I said.
"Hey, Hawkeye – new nurse on the block?" said a female voice behind me, and I turned to find a plump, pleasant-faced young woman with Lieutenant's bars on her jacket coming toward us. "Hi, I'm Kellye, welcome to the 4077th," she said, her smile looking far more sincere than Pierce's had, "You'll be bunking in our tent, I'll show you where that is once you've reported in."
We left Captain Pierce standing in the dust, and Kellye took me through to meet our CO; the Head Nurse, Major Houlihan; and the company clerk, name of Maxwell Klinger. First impressions? Potter – crusty but kindly; Houlihan – briskly efficient, unlikely to take kindly to insubordination; Klinger – an artful dodger, but probably the kind of guy it's good to get on the right side of. I suspected there was very little he didn't know about the camp, and even less in the way of supplies that he couldn't lay his hands on for the right price.
Once I'd found my bunk – top one, right hand side of the tent – and unpacked the few belongings I needed for day-to-day use, Kellye and the two of the other nurses took me over to the Mess Tent for lunch. 'Saving the worst till last' they said, and they weren't kidding – the food was just awful, and the coffee not much better. Still, joking about the stuff helped to break the ice, and we were all giggling about some quip Baker had made about the bacon when the door opened and Captain Pierce came in, accompanied by another man who, Kellye told me, was Doctor Hunnicutt. "Usually known as BJ," said Baker, "He's a nice guy. A good doctor, and he definitely won't make any passes at you."
Lacey nodded, explaining: "He's got a wife and kid back home in San Francisco. Bores me to tears sometimes to hear him go on about them, but at least he keeps his hands to himself."
"Unlike dear Hawkeye," said Baker, rolling her eyes, and confirming that my initial suspicion of the Captain had been well founded.
The door opened again and Kellye opened her mouth to tell me who had just come in, but I put a hand on her arm and said: "I know."
She looked startled. "You know Major Winchester?"
"Yes," I said, staring across the tent and wondering whether I wanted him to notice me or not. Charles Emerson Winchester. I'd never thought to see him again, certainly not dressed in fatigues in a MASH unit mess tent. "I knew him in Tokyo," I said to Kellye, knowing I was blushing and hoping she wouldn't notice.
I'd known him in Tokyo alright. Before I got sent off to the 121st, Charles Winchester and I had been lovers.
-
Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't mean that I'd been in love with him, or he with me. But we'd flirted in the Operating Room on my first day in the Hospital, met for dinner the second night, and by the third had discovered a shared love of music, wine and literature, as well as, yes, an abundance of mutual desire, which had not exactly gone to waste.
Now here we both were at the same MASH unit, and I sipped my coffee while I watched Charles collect his lunch and saunter across to slide into a seat opposite the two Captains, which surprised me a little. It surprised me even more when he made some remark that set all three of them laughing. Another man, a black sweater under his fatigues, sat down with them just then, and I noticed his crucifix just as Baker said: "That's Father Mulcahy with them. He's just as decent a guy as you'd expect."
"But watch out for his left hook," added Kellye, giggling.
"Sounds like there's a story behind that," I said.
"Uh-huh. Tell you what – we'll tell you that story if you tell us yours!"
"Mine?"
"Yeah – you know – you and the Major?" Lacey prompted, with a nudge and a smirk.
"Nothing to tell," I said, much too quickly, though the three of them just threw me skeptical looks and didn't press it, which I appreciated.
"Oh well, probably just as well. I'm due in Post-op in ten minutes," said Baker, getting to her feet.
"And I've got a pile of laundry to sort out," said Kellye.
"I need to get myself sorted out," I said, standing up with them, "Any chance I can grab a shower, do you think?"
"Sure. I'll show you where they are," said Lacey.
We made for the door, and I took another look over my shoulder toward Charles. This time he happened to be looking in my direction, and I gave him a big grin and a wink. He looked astounded, and his food dropped right off of his fork as he stared, but after a moment or two he returned the smile, and I exited the tent with the others.
-
We'd only made it halfway across the compound when the PA system crackled to life. "Attention! Attention! Incoming wounded!" it squawked, as an elderly bus and three ambulances rounded the corner and jolted to a halt right in front of us, throwing up dust and almost drowning out the noise of the helicopter that flew overhead, making for the low hill just outside the camp.
"Come on!" Kellye yelled to me, running to the back of the nearest ambulance. I ran with her, and I wasn't the only one. People seemed to be dashing from all over: orderlies and corpsmen, nurses and doctors. Doctor Hunnicutt climbed into the ambulance in front of me and was already diagnosing even as the first patient was being stretchered out of it. I wasn't entirely sure what I should be doing, so I looked around for Major Houlihan who, to my amazement, seemed to be doing triage.
"Major? Major, I just got here this morning, I don't…"
She looked up for the briefest of moments, then returned her attention to the boy on the stretcher beside her. "Shoulder wound, he's a little shocky but he can wait," she said to the nurse opposite. She stood up and returned her attention to me. "Brown. You're an OR nurse, right?"
A nod.
"Go scrub, you can assist Doctor Winchester. Captain!" She hurried off toward Captain Pierce and I made my way through the ambulances and litters to the scrub room.
-
The atmosphere in OR was… frenetic. I was used to there being one operating table in one quiet room, but this… There was chatter, people scurrying in and out, and barely room to move more than a couple inches without bumping into another nurse or the surgeon behind you. I took a couple of deep breaths and focused on the surgical instruments on the tray in front of me. At least they were familiar!
"So, Lieutenant, getting a strange sense of déjà vu?" The voice was familiar too, as were the blue eyes that twinkled down at me over the surgical mask.
"I am now," I replied, feeling as though he had lifted me out of quicksand and put me down on firm ground. This was what I'd trained for, what I knew. I already had the scalpel in my hand ready by the time Charles requested it.
It seemed strange though to hear the Doctors trading quips and insults. Even Charles joined in, giving as good as he got. I guess it was a way of coping, and certainly the Colonel seemed inclined to let it ride (even adding his own two cents worth from time to time), so I kept quiet and just got on with handing Charles the instruments he needed.
When Captain Pierce burst into song though I had to say something. I mean, how tasteless is that? I couldn't believe anyone could be that insensitive, but there he stood, looking down at his patient, scalpel in hand, and squawking a rendition of 'I've got you under my skin' that just about made my ears bleed.
I glanced up at Charles, who was visibly wincing behind his surgical mask. "Will you tell him he's flat, or shall I?" I said, loudly enough so that Pierce would hear me.
The Captain, of course, just took that as his cue to 'sing' (if I can call that off-key noise 'singing') more loudly.
Charles shook his head. "Just try to ignore him, Lieutenant, anything else merely encourages him." With a last glare in Pierce's direction, he returned his attention to the young man on the operating table and held out his hand saying: "Retractor."
-
It was dark when we finally got the last patient despatched to Post-Op, and I was the last out of OR. While I was looking around to get my bearings, a familiar voice said: "May I walk you home?"
I looked up, found Charles standing just a few yards away, and smiled. "You mean you're not going to call a cab for me?"
"Can't even manage a jeep around here without signing it out in triplicate," he said, taking my arm and guiding me past the mess tent. "I can offer you a half-decent dinner though, if you don't mind your chicken coming from a can? Before you ask, my two cretinous tentmates have adjourned to the Officers' Club, they're not likely to be back for some time."
"Has to be better than what's on offer in there," I said, jerking my head in the direction of the mess tent, "God, it smells awful, what the hell is that?"
"I've found it's better not to ask," said Charles, holding open the door to the Swamp and ushering me inside. "Here we are, and I can but apologize for the state of the place. Believe me, I have asked – repeatedly – to be assigned to separate quarters but…" He threw out his arms in a gesture of helplessness, before offering me a seat next to a relatively neat desk that I knew had to be his. Even counting the empty bunk, it was the tidiest corner of the tent.
"Let me guess," I said, sitting down and resting an elbow on the desk, "I know this must be your cot. The Still – that is a Still, isn't it? – has to be Captain Pierce's, yes?"
"Yes, though Hunnicutt is happy to help him both supply it and drain it." Charles opened his footlocker and removed several cans of food, a bottle of wine, and two glasses, which he placed on the desk by my elbow.
I pointed. "So I'm guessing that's Pierce's corner, and that's BJ's, right?"
"Correct. Though I would hazard that the photo of wife and baby next to Hunnicutt's bunk gave you a bit of a clue?"
"Well… maybe a teeny hint," I admitted, taking a glass of wine from him and gently touching it to the one he was holding. "To civilization," I offered.
"I will drink to that," he said, duly doing so.
"Charles," I said, finally getting the chance to ask him the question that had been burning me for the entire day, "What the hell are you doing here?"
While we ate, we swapped stories of how we had each gotten to the 4077th – Charles with his unhappy Colonel, me with my angry Head Nurse – and filled each other in on what had been happening with our lives. He'd changed, I realized, in the time since I had last seen him. I couldn't quite define it, but it seemed to me that he was… a little more comfortable perhaps about admitting to having feelings?
"You know, you surprised me in there today," I told him, draining the last of my wine and rolling the glass between my palms.
"Oh?"
"You were a wonderful surgeon back in Tokyo, but what I saw you do today… it was just amazing. The way you've adapted to the pace here, without compromising your skill – I thought it was really impressive."
"Why, thank you." He gave me one of his quizzical looks, as though he couldn't quite figure out whether I was fishing for some favor or compliment myself. I wasn't, actually, but he decided, I guess, to play it safe by replying: "You did pretty well yourself today. I especially liked the way you reacted to Captain Pierce's – uh – solo performance."
I put down my glass, pulled a face and stuck my fingers into my ears, making Charles laugh. And I laughed too, for a moment, until I locked gazes with him, and realized what was happening. Again. I sobered, and sat back, which made him stop laughing too. "Charles, is this going to get complicated?" I asked, quietly.
"I don't see why it should," he said, leaning toward me from his seat on the edge of his bunk and gazing at me with those beautiful baby-blue eyes. He leaned forward and kissed me, and after a moment I kissed back, moving from the chair onto the bunk beside him so that we could get our arms around each other. "See," murmured Charles. He pulled away momentarily to run his thumb lightly over my lips, "Not complicated at all…"
To be continued (probably on AdultFFdotNET, the way it's going!)