See first chapter for information!


The vehicle was crawling quietly along the road. Her captors were holding a discussion in Korean in the front seat, and her head, throbbing from dehydration, was resting against the window. Suddenly a gunshot was heard followed by the vehicle spinning wildly out of control. She didn't know how long it was before the vehicle hit a tree and came to a stop. By now she had fallen down in between the seats, and she didn't know how it had happened, but she felt the unmistakable trickle of blood running down her face. She heard the two men exit the vehicle and take off, only to hear the voices of two men call after them.

"Check the jeep!" She heard one of them order. Footsteps approached the side, and then the door opened and she felt hands pulling her from the vehicle.

"I've got her!" The man pulled the blindfold off of her head, and she didn't think she'd ever be so grateful to see an M.P. again in her life. She smiled at the man just before another gunshot was heard, and his hands dropped from her arms and he hit the ground. The two Korean men walked over, dragging the other M.P. with them. She was squatted down, trying to find a pulse on the man lying in front of her.

"Stand up," one of the Koreans ordered. She did as she was told since there was nothing she could do for the man anyways. "You lucky, we got new prisoner. You free to go, but first…" He took a step forward and stomped down on her left foot with his boot. She yelped in pain before stumbling back and down into a trench. The Koreans kicked some dirt at her and were gone.

As soon as his eyes opened Hawkeye was met by three sets of worried eyes, belonging to B.J., Klinger and Col. Potter, looking down at him. He tried to sit up, but his head swam so he let his head fall back down.

"Hawk, you alright?" His friend was knelt down by his side taking his pulse. He moved his hands from Hawkeye's wrist to his eyelids where he pulled them up to check the bright blue eyes. About that time, the room was overcome by a loud growling.

"Pierce, when was the last time you ate?" asked the Colonel.

Hawkeye thought long and hard. "Um…breakfast. Yesterday." He again tried to sit up and made it this time.

"Well it's no wonder you had a face to face meeting with the floorboards. Hunnicutt take him to the mess tent and don't let him out until he eats an entire meal. Then take him to the swamp to get some sleep."

Klinger and B.J. helped the fallen surgeon to his feet. "Colonel…"

"Don't argue with me Pierce. If there's wounded I'll call you. If I hear anything on Houlihan, I'll call you. Other than that you need rest." He turned on his heel and walked back into his office. B.J. grabbed Hawkeye's elbow and led him toward the mess tent.

Hawkeye was now sitting at a table looking at a tray full of food that hardly resembled anything edible. B.J. was sitting across from him, sipping on a mug full of lukewarm coffee.

"Do you want to talk about it Hawk?" He looked up from his meal and was met by the unmistakable worry that was etched in his friend's features.

"I'm alright, Beej." The look on the other man's face said that he wasn't being as persuasive as he hoped. He turned his attention back to the food.

"Hawkeye, you can't fool me. I know you care a lot about her, and this is tearing you up inside. It's not like you to not eat. It's not doing you any good to keep it inside, either." So many times he relied on Hawkeye to pull him up from the holes he dug for himself and seeing him this low weighed heavily on him.

"There's nothing to talk about. She's gone and there's nothing I can do." The two sat in silence the rest of the time that Hawkeye finished his lunch. Then he returned to the swamp and laid down on his cot. He tried to fall asleep, but had no luck. Instead he picked up a pen and a pad of paper and decided to write a letter to his dad.

Dear Dad,

Hello again from the beautiful country of Korea. Today is a beautiful 108 degrees and the wind speed is 0. The sun is boiling and the blood is flowing. But enough of paradise…

Something's been on my mind, dad, and I don't know what to do about it. I don't even know what to tell you so you can give me advice, but I suppose I'll just start at the beginning.

I'm sure you remember me telling you about Major Houlihan, our head nurse. Well she was taken by the North Koreans yesterday, and it's tearing me up inside. And it scares me, dad. I've never felt like this about a woman before. But she's so different than any other woman I've ever been with. Most women I get what I want, and then they're gone from my mind, but she…I can't shake her. So much of our time is spent at each other's throats…but dad…sometimes I wonder if I lo

"Aren't you supposed to be sleeping, Captain?" Klinger asked standing in the doorway.

Hawkeye's pen ran off the side of the page and he looked up, startled. "Aren't you supposed to knock?" Hawkeye ripped the paper off of the pad and crumpled it up into a ball.

"Sorry. Colonel Potter wants to see you immediately. I really didn't see anything, you didn't need to get rid of the letter," he assured the raven haired surgeon.

"It's alright, it wasn't any good anyways. Let's go." He stood up and exited the swamp, tossing the paper ball into the trash can on his way to the C.O.'s office.


A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks so much for all of your wonderful reviews so far. I really appreciate them, and they're giving me the motivation to continue this story!