Series - M*A*S*H
Rating - M
Warnings - Romantic pairings in this fic include Margaret & Frank, Margaret & Charles as well as vaguely suggested Margaret & Hawkeye.
Disclaimer - I don't own anything and am making no profit from this.
Summary - Frank Burns gets the storyline resolution he deserves.
Author's Note - None.
Word Count - 1,146

At first, the trip to Seoul had been smoother than Frank had expected. Having packed his bags the night before, he left first thing in the morning after he had his usual cup of coffee, a single slice of toast and an egg, sunny side up. His transportation had been arranged by Flagg, whom he was a bit surprised to learn would be traveling separately from him. Deciding not to think too hard about something so trivial, Frank tossed his bags into the back seat of a worn down military transport vehicle before making his way over to the passengers side and letting himself in, but not before he gave a quick farewell salute to his apartment. Giving the signal for his driver to move out, Frank took in a breath of clean air to steady his nerves as they started on their way.

Baer Army Airfield was only a short drive from his place and Frank was thankful for it, having never liked long car rides as he had a tendency to become car sick. Picking up his orders at the front desk, he arrived at the terminal right before his flight was due for take off. After that his journey had become one long series of flights, one right after the other. From Fort Wayne to San Francisco, San Francisco to Honolulu, Honolulu to Tokyo, and finally from Tokyo to Incheon.

From Incheon, he had managed to hitch a ride to Seoul, where he placed a call to Colonel Potter at the 4077th to let him know that he had arrived safely. His former Colonel had sounded nicer over the phone than he had remembered him being and he took it as a good sign that his time back at the 4077th might not be as unpleasant as he had imagined it would be. Sure, he knew he didn't get along well with anyone at camp, but knowing that someone there would at least try to be polite to him had put him a little more at ease with the situation.

Not to say that his stay would be an entirely pleasant one, Pierce and Hunnicutt would no doubt go out of their way to make his stay as unbearable as possible. However the thought of those two provocateurs was overshadowed by the thought of Margaret. He honestly believed that just the sight of her once more would be enough to sustain him for the rest of his days, as her rejection of him was still a possibility that lingered heavily upon his heart. No, that wouldn't happen again, he would see to that. Now that he was a man of quality, a soon to be Colonel in the C.I.A., he was sure her opinion of him would be changed. He would prove to her that he had mended his ways, that he was no longer the Ferret Face Frank Burns that had made a complete fool of himself in front of everyone. Although he wasn't sure how he was going to do that just yet, he knew that however he did do it would have to be sincere, thoughtful and all of the things that he was not used to being. Not only that, he would have to prove himself in a hurry as return to the 4077th would only be for a few days, but he was sure he could do it somehow. Not only for Margaret, but for himself as well.

But for now, with nothing else to do but wait for someone to come and take him back to the camp, he decided to kill the time by buying himself a drink at one of the many pop-up parlours that lined the streets nearby. Upon purchasing a warm Orange Crush from a rather weathered looking woman, he found himself a relatively clean spot next to a brick wall of a building that was half standing, half collapsed and sat down, watching as the makeshift town went about it's day.

It was a much different sight than the last time he had seen it, unfortunately, it was much worse. As the war had dragged on without him, Frank could see the devastation that it had brought upon the people of Korea. Women and children alike were lined up at far as his eyes could see, hiding in plain sight, clothed in a layer of dirt and rags that wouldn't pass for use in the scrubbing of grease from a tire. Some even had newspaper scraps tied to their feet, the kind that he recalled seeing in his formative years during the great depression.

The sight of them brought forth the memory of a little boy he had seen as a child, one who wore those same makeshift shoes about his feet. He had laughed and pointed at the boy as he was walking to a bus stop with his parents, who promptly shushed him, explaining that it wasn't nice to make fun of those who had less than he did. Confused as to why the boy wasn't wearing shoes like all of the other children he had seen, his mother explained to him that some families had lost everything they had a few years ago during the dustbowl, that they only had what clothes they had on their backs, and when their clothing and shoes were worn through that they didn't have any money to replace them. At the time he hadn't understood why the boy's parents did not just get a job and buy their kid shoes, were they not ashamed that their child had nothing? Were they really that lazy?

Only now that he was older did he realize just what the people of Korea were going through and he could not manage to hold back the few warm tears that escaped from his eyes. Some of those tears were for himself. How could he have been so thoughtless and unfeeling during his original stay here? These people were here the entire time, why hadn't he figured out just what they were going through before? No wonder everyone had thought so little of him, he realized, it had been because he had thought so little of everyone else, and it pained him to think that he had shown not so much as an ounce of compassion before now.

Moving from his place up against the wall, he wiped the tears from his face in a hurry, not wanting anyone to see them, before grabbing his medical bag and going over to one of the families nearby. Of course he wouldn't have time to see everyone before someone came and picked him up, but for now, it seemed the right thing to do to provide what small amount of comfort he could to as many of the disheartened and desperate people that had suddenly surrounded him as possible.