"Petey!" I said, in the middle of an operation. I was on my tenth guy, and there were still at least twenty to go.
"Yeah, Boss?" Petey was practically running through OR.
"Get Scott Fowler here."
"Uh, what if he's busy?"
I took a deep breath and said, "I want him here yesterday Petey!"
"On it!" Pete ran out without questioning me.
"Cal," Father Drake whispered in my ear. He was assisting me. "Take a deep breath, and calm down a little."
I took another deep breath. "Sorry Father."
"It's okay, just focus."
"I'm focusing." Taking one last deep breath, I went back to work on the patient.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"Captain A.C. Pierce," I grinned under my mask when I heard the voice. "What are you doing all alone in this part of the war?"
"Doing what I do best. You joining me or not?" I gave a quick glance up to Scott who was already prepped.
"I'm already dressed for it so might as well."
I all out smiled. "Thanks for coming Scott. I really appreciate it."
"It's no problem Cal. I was actually thinking about transferring." He had a sly tone in his voice as a few medics brought in a patient for him.
"Where ever it is, it better be close. You know how much we love you at the poker game every week."
"Oh, it'll be closer than you think."
"Well where is it?"
"I was hoping to get a spot here as camp therapist. Of course, I'd have to talk to the CO but..."
I was all out beaming as I closed. "Scottie, it would be an honor to have you here."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"So," I sat down next to Scott in the mess after our OR shift was over. "I gotta know, why do you want to transfer here?"
He just shrugged. "I just wanted a little change of pace. "
I shook my head. "You picked the wrong place."
Scott just smiled. "No I didn't."
Seconds later, Petey came in. "Cal, there's a guy in Post OP who wants to see you."
"Why?"
"He said that he's got a message from Captain Stacey." My heart fell.
"Is he okay?" Both Scott and I got up and followed Petey to Post OP.
"He wouldn't tell me. All he said was that he needed to talk to Captain Cal Pierce right away." Petey led us to a bed with a guy who clutched an envelope.
"I'm Captain Cal Pierce."
"Ma'am," He started in the thickest southern accent that I had ever heard. "I was told to give this letter to a," He motioned me closer and whispered in my ear. "Future Mrs. Greg Stacey."
I nodded. "That's me. Is he okay?"
"He's fine." The man handed me the envelope. "And he apologizes for not calling, he was very busy when he got there."
"Thank you very much. You don't know how much this letter means to me."
"You're very welcome ma'am." He gave a thousand watt smile, and I left him.
"Now, if you gentlemen would excuse me, I'd like to read this in private."
"No problem, Mrs. Stacey." Scott taunted in my ear.
"Please don't tell anyone."
"Wouldn't dream of it, Boss." We smiled at each other and I went into the office. I lounged in the wheelie chair, opened the letter and started to read it.
My Dearest Cal,
I am so sorry that I didn't call you earlier but it's really busy here. There's always someone who needs some sort of medical attention. And it's so noisy here. But there are those times when it gets deadly quiet and the bombs stop exploding. It's an unnerving and intense silence, nothing like the ones back home.
I know it's only been a day, but I've missed you like crazy. I can't wait until I come home and I can hug you and never let go. I'm so sorry that this is so short, but we just got a load of casualties.
Love, Greg
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
It's been two weeks, and I haven't heard anything on Greg or Marie. I had done everything, short of going there myself, trying to contact them. But everything so far had failed. I had tried to get my mind off of worrying about them by knitting and doing my puzzles, but that too had failed. I wish Hawkeye was here, he would know what to do. Hawkeye. That was it.
"Petey!" I burst out of the office and startled the kid as he played solitare on the floor.
"What? What?"
"Pete, get Crabapple Cove on the line and that's an order."
"Yes ma'am." I never gave direct orders, so when I did, it meant not to question but to do it. I paced in the office for five minutes before Petey said, "Hawkeye Pierce, Boss."
"Hawkeye?"
"Art? What's wrong?" He always knew when something was wrong.
"It's...Greg and Marie." Petey had left the room to give me a little privacy.
"What happened?" He was sitting in the living room with Margaret, watching the latest episode of House M.D., and she turned the television down when the phone rang.
"Battalion Aid needed a surgeon and a nurse, Greg and Marie went. The MP said that they would only be there for a week, and it's been two weeks without any word." I waited a second for Hawkeye to respond, but when he didn't I continued. "I've tried everything to get in contact with them, but nothing works." Just then, I let out a tear and took a sharp intake of air. "I don't know what to do Hawkeye."
Hawkeye didn't exactly know what to do either, I had never let myself cry around him. "Honey, I'm going to put you on speaker phone and Margaret is gonna help you out too, okay?"
"Okay." I was practically full out crying now.
"Sweetie?" Margaret asked gently. "What happened?"
"I haven't been able to call Greg and Marie at Battalion Aid for two weeks. And they were only supposed to be there for one. I've been trying to contact them, but every time I've tried it's always failed. And I don't know what to do now." They let me cry.
At least for a while before they began to assist. "What you need to do is to ask around the local villages to see if they've seen Greg or Marie. If you haven't made contact with them in another few days, just give us another call and I'll talk to General Grayson, okay?"
I took a deep breath. "Okay. Oh, God I feel like such a little girl. Calling the parents for help." I started chuckling to myself.
"Hey," Hawkeye put in. "Calling the parents is nothing to be ashamed of. Back in Korea, sometimes I'd call my dad just to hear his voice and stay sane."
After I stopped chuckling, I asked, "What's the date?"
"April 14th. Why?" Margaret asked.
"I haven't looked at a calendar in ages." And then I scoffed. "You know, in two weeks, it'll mark my third year anniversary of being here. Three miserable years. I wanna come home. I miss you guys."
"You sound tired babe, why don't you go take a nap."
I scoffed again. "Naps are for children."
"Well as far as I'm concerned you are my child, Art. And as a father, I'm telling you to go take a nap." I was shocked at Hawkeye's statement.
"Okay Hawkeye, you win." I was easily defeated.
"Goodnight Art."
"Goodnight," Margaret said after Hawkeye.
Unintentionally, I responded as I laid my head on Petey's desk, "Night mom, night dad." And then I crashed.
Margaret hung up the phone and turned to Hawkeye. "I'm worried about her Ben."
"So am I." He grabbed her hands and squeezed them.
"Did you really call your father back in the day?"
He shook his head. "No. I didn't want him to know that I was scared. But he knew anyway."
"Ben," She sounded so weak. "What're we going to do?"
Hawkeye shrugged his shoulders. "We're in the same boat as Art. We just have to wait."