Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
By Tuttle

Author's Note: This is my second fan fic and I'm still rusty around the edges. I'll get the hang of it one of these days. For my newest fanfic, I decided to use a theme that I felt strongly about, the loyalty of friends and their reactions to tragedies that occur to each other, and who else would be better to display my theme than Hawkeye and BJ (my two favorite characters). This story was a little hard for me to write (I used a lot of personal experience) and you'll understand why after you finish it. Let me know what you think about this story. You can email me your comments, I could always use constructive criticism. Also, the usual speech. The title of this story came from a song by Elvis Presley. I thought it would be fitting. None of these characters are mine, but the story is. Please don't reproduce this story in pieces or in whole without my permission. Thanks.

Dear Dad,

The hell rages on over here. I've come to the conclusion that's exactly what this place is. There's constant fighting, bloodshed and the temperature right now is about 100 degrees. And it's only 8am.

Well, Dad, we aren't expecting any casualties for at least another 24 hours, but we are having some problems over here. An unexplainable, unnamed virus. Just something new to worry about. It's been mostly Aid Station surgeons affected so we aren't at any immediate danger at the 4077th. At least we hope. But don't worry about anything Dad.

Nobody here knows what to do. Since yesterday we've been free of casualties with the exception of one kid that stepped on a mine. The eight o'clock movie was shown at four. Not many people watched it though. It's too hot to sit in a crowed mess tent and watch a war movie when we can sit out in the backyard and watch it in the warm Korean air. I was even tempted to eat dinner naked last night, but we remember what happened last time I tried that.

I'm going to go eat some breakfast now, Dad. They're serving everyone's favorite, powdered eggs and World War II surplus toast. Talk to you again soon.

Your son,

Hawkeye

Hawkeye left the Swamp and walked to the mess tent. He grabbed a piece of toast and a cup of coffee and walked over to the table where the gang was sitting.

"What's going on?" Hawkeye asked as he took a seat.

"That kid, Barker." Margaret said.

"Is that the one that stepped on the mine?"

"Yeah," Potter answered. "You operated on him, right Pierce?"

"Yeah, why?"

"He's having a helluva time with that leg. It's gonna have to come off."

"I thought I had it, what happened?"

"The blood just isn't circulating, son."

"Damaged artery?"

"Could be."

"I guess I'll take it after breakfast. But first I'm gonna check, maybe I missed something." Hawkeye was not thrilled about taking the boy's leg. Anything he could do to save it, he would. "I'm gonna need a scrub nurse, maybe another surgeon, Margaret, are you interested?"

"Sure," she said. "I don't have anything else to do today."

"I'd like to assist, Pierce, if you don't mind," Potter said.

"OK, Colonel, I'll have him ready at 10:00." Hawkeye sniffed his toast, looked at it and then took a nibble from the edge. The taste was horrendous. Hawkeye turned to BJ with the toast still in his hand. "Beej did you try this? It's harder than yesterday."

BJ didn't even look up, he just picked at his breakfast. "Beej?" Hawkeye asked.

"Huh," answered BJ.

Hawkeye looked concerned at his friend. BJ's eyes were slightly bloodshot and he seemed a little rundown. "Beej, are you OK?" Hawkeye asked.

"Yeah, I'm just really tired."

"Didn't you sleep at all last night, Hunnicutt?" Potter asked.

"I was in Post-Op most of the night." BJ said rubbing his eye.

"Are you sure you're OK?"

"Hawk, I'm fine, just lay off alright."

"Well excuse me for caring."

"Hunnicutt, why don't you go get some sleep son." Potter suggested.

"I think that's a good idea. I f anyone needs me, I'll be in the Swamp."

"He couldn't possibly be that tired," Charles said one BJ left the tent. I relieved him at midnight. If anyone should be suffering from exhaustion, it should be me."

"Maybe it's the heat, it gets to all of us at some point." Potter said.

"That's probably it," Hawkeye said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go get a patient ready for surgery." Hawkeye grabbed the rest of his toast and walked out of the mess tent. He decided to stop back at the Swamp first. Hawkeye began to approach the tent when he saw something lying on the ground. He got a little closer, and then he realized what it was.

"Oh my God," Hawkeye said. "Beej!" Hawkeye ran over to his friend who was lying in the dirt. "Litter! Come on, come on, move it, let's go!" Hawkeye jumped up and ran towards the mess tent. He stuck his head by the door. "Colonel, you'd better come quick, it's BJ, he's collapsed." Everyone jumped up from the table and ran after Hawkeye into pre-op.

"What happened here, Pierce?" Potter asked.

"I was going back to the Swamp and I saw him. He was just lying there in the dirt, just lying there."

Margaret and Charles were trying to get BJ up. He was lying on a litter in pre-op as Margaret leaned over hi with smelling salts. All of a sudden, BJ let out a gasping cough and opened his eyes. The staff crowded around him.

"Hunnicutt, what happened?" Potter asked.

"You had us worried sick." Margaret added

BJ sighed. " I don't think this is just exhaustion."

"Why don't we keep you in post-op for a while," Hawkeye said. " You've probably got allergies or something."

"Pierce," Potter said. " You and Margaret go get Barker ready for surgery. Winchester will help me Check BJ. We'll see if we can rule anything out."

"OK." Pierce said. "Come on Margaret." Hawkeye and Margaret went towards the post-op ward to get Barker. Winchester and Potter stayed with BJ.

"What a twist," BJ said. " The doctor becomes the patient."

" Just relax, son. We'll have you out of here in no time. Now honestly tell me when this started."

'"The other day after the OR session. I went back to the Swamp. It was just a headache, no big deal."

"That's all that bothered you, your head?"

"No," Hunnicutt sighed. He knew it was useless to keep his condition a secret. "My head, my throat, my ears."

"Hunnicutt, why didn't you say anything?"

"I figured it was probably a cold, allergies. It probably is, it'll go away."

"Major could you get me that tray over there?" Potter asked Charles., and Charles who would never agree to toting trays complied. I'm just going to draw some blood, son. See what's going on."

Potter continued with BJ as Hawkeye and Margaret worked on Corporal Barker. They were forced to begin the operation without Potter.

"Give me suction in there, Margaret, I can't see a thing." Hawkeye said. " If I can find what's wrong with this kid I just might be able to save the leg. More Suction."

"These boys get younger everyday. Barker can't be any older than 18."

"Hold on, I think I see something, Margaret, give me a little retraction. Suction." Hawkeye looked at the insides of the boy's leg. "Look at this, look. A severed artery. I think we may have caught it in time. We'll see." Hawkeye and Margaret continued to work. Yet at the same time, they worried about BJ. The time slipped by slowly in the OR

"Finished closing, doctor." Margaret said.

"Let's get him into post-op. KLINGER!" Hawkeye called.

"You rang sir?" Klinger said.

"Take Corporal Barker to post-op. Use the short cut."

"Yes sir."

Hawkeye and Margaret left the OR. Hawkeye yawned, stretched, and untied his surgical mask. He dropped down onto a bench and threw the mask into the basket next to him as Colonel Potter entered.

"Well?" Hawkeye asked.

"Is he OK?" added Margaret. "What's wrong with him?"

"Everything and nothing." Potter said.

"What?" Hawkeye asked perplexed.

"Exactly." Potter explained. " He has all the classic symptoms of the flu, headache, sore throat. But there's other things. Dizziness, fluctuating temperature."

"Well, that could be the flu." Margaret said.

"In the middle of July?" Hawkeye asked.

"What is it then?"

"Well, folks." said Potter. " I say that what we have here is that Aid Station virus."

"But that's incurable." Margaret was shocked." We'll have to quarantine the whole camp."

"Not the whole camp, Major, just Hunnicutt. Now we have to check the camp. This thing might be contagious. I've already checked Winchester and he's checked me. Pierce, get everyone into the mess tent. Start an assembly line. Enlisted first. Winchester will help you. Margaret, you take Pierce's duty in post-op and I'm going to get on the horn and see if I can't find out anymore information on this mystery virus."

The three of them went their separate ways. Hawkeye to the mess tent, Margaret to post-op and Potter back to his office to make a phone call.

Potter walked into his office, "Klinger, get me General Embry on the phone. Don't stop calling until you get him!"

"What should I tell him once he's on, sir?"

"Tell him to hold for me."

"Yes sir." Potter entered his office as Klinger called the General. "Hi, Sparky. It's Klinger....Fine, Sparky I need to ....Yeah I got the magazines, Captain Pierce loved them. Now Sparky I need to place a call to General Embry....Don't ask me, Colonel Potter wants to talk to him....Sparky, I gave that up a year ago....OK." Klinger put the phone down. "Go ahead Colonel."

Potter grabbed the phone. "General, Colonel Sherman T Potter 4077 MASH....Fine, General. General, we have a problem here. One of our surgeons is showing signs of that new virus....Yes....BJ Hunnicutt. General could you....Hunnicutt. H-U-N-N-I-C-U-T-T....That's him, sir....Is there any new information about this virus out?...Yes sir....Oh it's not....That's good. Anyway to treat it yet?...Oh....Yes.... You too sir, right." Potter put down the phone. "Klinger!" he entered. " Go get Pierce, Houlihan and Winchester."

"Yes sir." Klinger said. "Is there anything wrong, sir?"

"Nothing to worry about yet, son." Klinger left the office. Potter didn't want to worry anybody who didn't already know about what was going on.

"Will Majors Houlihan and Winchester and Captain Pierce please report to Colonel Potter's office. The announcement went over the loudspeaker. The three officers heard it and put down everything that they were doing to talk to Potter. They entered his office one by one and sat.

"Well?" Pierce asked. "What did you find out?"

"To start with," Potter said. "It can't be passed from person to person, which means BJ is most likely the only person in the camp who has it."

"It," Pierce said. "What exactly is 'it'?"

"Still, nobody seems to know. The only thing we do know is there's no cure."

"So he's going to die."

There was complete silence in the room for a moment. They were all shocked that a person that they had worked so closely with and grown so attached to was going to die and there was nothing that they could do about it.

"How long does he have?" Margaret asked.

"A few days," Potter answered. "A week at the most."

"This heat isn't going to help any either." Margaret said. " It's got to be 100 degrees."

"110." Pierce corrected.

"Colonel," Winchester said. "Many of Hunnicutt's symptoms are similar to influenza. What would happen if we treated him as if that was the case, as if he actually had the flu?"

"I don't know," Potter said. "It might help a little."

"Or it could kill him." Hawkeye said. "There's no way to tell how he would react to those drugs in his condition."

"There's no way to tell how anyone would react to any drug in any condition, Pierce." Winchester said.

"I say we try it." Potter said. " The first bad sign we see we'll pull him Off it."

Hawkeye sat with his head in his hands. His eyes closed with thoughts of his best friend running through his mind. He hadn't even noticed that the office had emptied. By now it was 1:00pm, but Hawkeye wasn't hungry. The food that day was probably disgusting anyway. He did know what he wanted to do though.

Hawkeye left Potter's office and walked towards post-op. He entered and approached the bed where BJ was lying. BJ looked worse than he did that morning. His eyes were bloodshot and his face pale.

"Hi." Hawkeye said sitting on the edge of BJ's bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Lousy, how's work."

"Same old stuff." It was hard for Hawkeye to talk to BJ. "They're starting you on some medication to fight some of those symptoms you've got."

"Yeah, I know, Colonel Potter came in before and told me. Hey Hawk, can I ask you a favor?"

"Anything."

"Nothing much, just paper and a pencil."

"Sure." Hawkeye got up and walked over to the desk on the other end of post-op. He picked up a pad of paper and a pencil and returned to BJ. "Anything else?"

"Not right now."

"OK, uh, so, you can do that writing. I'll come back later."

Hawkeye got up and began to leave when he heard BJ call him. "Hawk!" Hawkeye turned around and walked back to the bed. "I'm gonna die, aren't ?"

Hawkeye was stunned by BJ's question. He was faced wit this same question many times before, but never by a doctor, never by his best friend. He couldn't lie and tell him that everything was going to be alright. He couldn't tell him the truth either. The thought of losing his best friend scared Hawkeye to death.

"Give the medicine a chance to work." Hawkeye said. "Don't think about that sort of stuff, you'll be back on you're feet in no time." That's what Hawkeye wanted to believe. But unless there was some miracle, he wouldn't.

Hawkeye gave BJ a pat on the shoulder. "I'll be back a little later. Get some rest, OK."

BJ nodded. Hawkeye walked away from the bed and out of post-op.

The temperature seemed to have risen another ten degrees. There wasn't a soul in the compound with the exception of a few nurses on their way to the showers. Normally, Hawkeye would find pleasure in harassing them, but he didn't. He just walked across the compound until he reached Father Mulcahy's tent.

Hawkeye knocked on the door and opened it slowly. "Father?"

"Oh, Hawkeye, come in."

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"No, no not at all. I was just working on Sunday's sermon. I can take a break."

"Father, did Colonel Potter talk to you about BJ?"

"Actually, Hawkeye, you're the third person today to talk to me about BJ."

"Father, I just don't understand it. I went to medical school. I see people die everyday. I learned how to cure people's ailments. Yet, I can't find a way to help him. I feel useless."

"Hawkeye, I know I'm not a doctor, but I do know that you're doing the best you can for him."

"Right now, my best is not enough."

"You're faced here with an illness you've never seen before, and you have no idea how to cure it. Your best is all you can do."

"He's my best friend, Father. The only person I've ever felt this close to in my life. Now he's dying and there's nothing I or anybody else can do about it. He has a family, a wife and a daughter. I feel I've let them down. I can't even bear to think of his daughter growing up without a father."

"Don't look at it that way, Hawkeye. We're all close to BJ. What you should do is just be there for him. He needs you more than ever now. Not only as a doctor, but as a friend."

"You're right, father. You're right and I know exactly what to do." Hawkeye left the tent and walked back towards post-op.

He entered the tent again. This time, he didn't walk up to BJ, but Margaret who was sitting at the desk at the other end of the structure.

"How's he doing?" Hawkeye asked.

Margaret put down what she was doing and shook her head gently. "Doesn't look good. Colonel Potter's on the phone again with General Embry. He says we're lucky if he makes it through the night."

"Is he awake now?"

"Should be, you could talk to him if you want."

Hawkeye walked over to BJ's bed. "Hey Beej, how are you feeling?"

"Same as before."

"So...It's getting cooler out. Seems like a storm's on the way."

"That's gotta be better than 100 degree temperatures, huh?" There was silence for a few moments. "Remember when I asked you to get me some paper?"

"Yeah."

"I had Klinger put it under my pillow in the Swamp. Just keep that in mind."

"OK." There was silence again. "It's getting pretty late, why don't you get some rest."

"Yeah, I am tired. God night, Hawkeye."

"Good night." Hawkeye got up and walked out of post-op. He approached the Swamp, opened the door and entered. His cot looked wonderful to Hawkeye after a day like he had. He didn't even bother to turn the cot down, he just fell asleep with it the way it was.

The morning came quickly. Hawkeye turned over on his bunk and slowly opened his eyes. Colonel Potter was standing over him. Hawkeye sat up.

"What is it, Colonel?"

Potter sat on the edge of Hawkeye's bed. "I sat up with Hunnicutt all night." Hawkeye knew what Potter was going to say. He didn't want to hear it.

"When." Hawkeye asked. "What time did it happen?"

"11:35."

Hawkeye didn't know what to say. He didn't shed a tear. He didn't sniffle or clear his throat. "Does everyone else know?"

"They're all in the mess tent for services. Hawkeye, since you knew him the best, I think it would be fitting that you say a few words on his behalf."

"Yeah, sure."

Potter got up and began to leave the Swamp. He stepped outside and turned around. "Pierce, his last words to me were to remind you about a letter."

"Sure, Colonel." Potter left the tent. Hawkeye got up and began to get dressed. With only his shirt and boxers on, he walked over to BJ's cot and lifted the pillow. The paper was there, just as he said it would be. Hawkeye unfolded it and began to read. He could hear the thunder rumbling in the distance and knew the storm was on the way. He continued to dress. As he left to attend services at the mess tent, he grabbed the paper.

Hawkeye approached the mess tent. He entered and took a seat next to Margaret and Colonel Potter. The ceremony went along smoothly with the occasional rumble of thunder and crack of lightning. There was sobbing and wailing among the majority of the camp, others had a few lone tears, but not Hawkeye. Still, his eyes were dry.

When the time arrived to say a few words on BJ's behalf, Hawkeye stood up and walked towards the front of the mess tent.

"We've all known BJ Hunnicutt for a pretty long time. Some got to know him a lot better than others." The thunder bean to get louder than before. "I had the privilege of sharing a tent with BJ, my best friend. The most devoted family man I ever met. Before he died, he wrote a note. I just want to read some of it to you now." Hawkeye reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter. It was then that the skies opened up and the rain began to pour into the camp. "He says, 'The time I spent here in Korea wasn't the best time in my life. Having to leave my wife and little girl during the early part of her life was no picnic. But once I got here, I found a group of the most wonderful people. Colonel Potter, was like a father to me, thousands of miles from home. Margaret, sometimes you reminded me of my wife, which was very rewarding when I was feeling low. Charles, a far cry from Frank Burns. You helped me make it through the tough times even if I did have to pay for it later. (just kidding). Klinger, the doer of good deeds and snatcher of anything I needed. Father Mulcahy, gave me guidance during the rough times. And last but not least, Hawkeye, my best friend. You made life here bearable. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't find you here. Thank you all for being so important in my life. There is now and always will be a special place in my heart for each and every one of you'." Hawkeye took the letter, folded it and put it back in his pocket. "Goodbye, BJ."

And with that, Hawkeye stepped out of the mess tent into the rain to hide the tears that had waited so long to be shed.

THE END