A/N: Once again, I don't own anything M*A*S*H related. Anyways, enjoy this chapter!

Previously: Trapper sat up long enough to reach for the blanket at the end of the bed. Spreading it over their bodies, he lay back down and embraced Kate once again. "For coming here." Within moments they had drifted off to sleep.

"Trapper…hey, Trap."

Slowly Trapper opened his eyes, not quite recognizing his surroundings. Kate, still nestled in his embrace, sighed in her sleep, bringing the memories back for Trapper. Glancing up, he realized Hawkeye was in the VIP tent as well. "What the…"

Hawkeye grinned slightly, but his expression was grave. "One of your kids' fever spiked and he's crashing. I'm scrubbing in with you." Tossing a set of scrubs towards the bed, he stepped outside so Trapper could get dressed.

Adrenaline surged through Trapper's body. Carefully he eased out of the bed and pulled on his boxers, followed by the scrubs. He left his robe and t-shirt where they were and, after pressing a kiss to Kate's temple, hurried out of the tent to join Hawkeye in the OR. As they scrubbed in, the nurse on duty filled them in on what had happened. The wounded GI was already prepped and ready when Trapper and Hawkeye got in the OR. "This kid was loaded with shrapnel," Trapper muttered. "I thought I got it all, but I must have missed a fragment."

"You may have to run the bowel," Hawkeye suggested.

Trapper nodded as he reopened the GI, thinking he's just a kid. He'd spent a lot of time in the kid already, hunting for fragments and patching holes in his stomach and liver. He'd lost a lot of blood, but Trapper had thought the kid was out of the woods. With a sigh he got to work.

"Trap, his pressure's dropping," Hawkeye said a half hour later. "Have you found anything?"

"Not yet," Trapper replied, frustration in his voice. "Wait…wait, there it is." Carefully he extracted a tiny shrapnel fragment buried between the coils of intestine. Dropping it into the metal pan held by his friend, Trapper began sewing the GI back up.

"Good work. His pressure's coming back up," Hawkeye noted. Setting the pan aside, he watched Trapper work. "So you and the new nurse, huh? That was fast…trying to set a record?"

Trapper grinned sheepishly beneath his mask. "This is something I've never felt before," he admitted. "Not even with Louise. Not this intense, anyway. You know me, Hawk. You know I don't rush into something like that."

Hawkeye nodded in agreement. "No, you don't. That's more my style."

"Call me crazy…"

"You're crazy."

"…but I think Kate is special. She makes me feel different. No other nurse here has made me feel like this."

"Does she know about Louise?"

Trapper shook his head slightly as he worked on the last few stitches. "Not everything. She knows that I'm in the middle of a divorce, but I haven't gotten into the details yet." He fell silent as he tied off the stitch and started the final suture.

Hawkeye motioned for Klinger to help him carry the GI back into post-op. "Go back to bed, Trap. I'll take care of the rest for you," he said.

Trapper flipped him a wave and cleaned up before heading back to the VIP tent. Easing into the tent, he shed his clothes and crawled back into bed with Kate.

She stirred. "Trouble?" she asked sleepily as he wrapped his arms around her again.

"I had to go back in on one of the GIs. Missed a piece of shrapnel," Trapper said through a yawn. His body was sending him urgent rest telegrams. "He's okay now. Go back to sleep." As he started drifting to sleep he felt Kate twist around so they were spooned together. He tightened his embrace as sleep overtook him.

The sounds of the camp awoke Trapper in the morning. Stretching, he stilled as he felt Kate stir beside him. "Morning," he said, nuzzling her neck.

"Morning," she echoed, pressing against him as she stretched. "I wondered when you would wake up."

Trapper chuckled. "How long have you been awake?"

Kate rolled onto her back so she could see him. "Long enough to think we'd better get up," she said with a grin. "Otherwise Hawkeye'll probably send a search party for you."

"He knows."

Propping herself up on her elbows, Kate searched his face. "What do you mean, he knows?"

"He came to tell me about the soldier during the night." Leaning over, he gently kissed her. "Don't worry. I trust Hawkeye with my life. You can trust him."

Kate kissed him back before getting out of bed. "I trust your judgment." As she started dressing, she asked, "How are we going to do this?"

"Well, I figured we'd get to know each other, go on as good of a date as we can manage here…"

"I meant how are we going to get out of here without raising too much suspicion?" Kate said with a laugh as she pulled on a pair of pants. Reaching down, she snagged Trapper's clothes and tossed them in his direction. "I don't know about you, but I'm not too keen on the entire camp knowing about us."

Trapper grinned. Pulling his boxers on, he mentioned, "They're bound to find out anyway. Why leave 'em in suspense?" Reaching out, he grabbed her hand and tugged her over so she straddled his lap. "C'mere," he growled playfully before kissing her thoroughly.

Knocking on the door interrupted them a moment later. "Lt. Boswell?"

Kate sighed. "Just a minute," she called as she got off Trapper's lap and reached for a shirt. Tugging it over her head, she tucked in the hem and fastened her pants while Trapper pulled the rest of his clothes on. "Come in, Radar. And please, call me Kate."

Radar entered the tent, keeping his gaze down. "Yes, ma'am…I mean Kate. I hate to interrupt, but Hawkeye wanted me to tell Trapper that the, uh, the soldier you worked on last night died this morning."

As the company clerk left the tent, Trapper sighed in frustration. "I must have missed something, but that's not possible. I ran the bowel, I checked everything last night."

Kate sat on the bed beside him. "It was probably an infection from the shrapnel. You did everything you could." Squeezing his hand, she continued, "There's a saying that I heard a few years ago: there are certain rules about a war, and rule number one is young men die, and rule number two is doctors can't change rule number one." When Trapper looked at her, she shrugged. "What? We both know it's true."

"Did you go to command school with Henry? That's the same thing he told Hawkeye a while ago when his buddy Tommy was killed," Trapper replied. Seeing Kate's confused look, he explained, "A few months ago Tommy Gillis, a friend of Hawk's, came to visit. He was writing a book about the war. Funny guy, you'd have liked him. Anyway, he went to the front and caught a bullet that tore through the aorta. He made it to the OR, but Hawk couldn't save him." Trapper shook his head. "That was the first time the war really got to Hawkeye." After a moment he stood. "Come on, I'll get you a cup of bad coffee."

TBC...

Thanks again to beahawk. I do understand that you're only trying to help, and I really appreciate it.