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The following chapter contains references Lt. Radar O'Reilly, The Nurses and The Abduction of Margaret Houllihan.

Everyone in the 4077th has noticed the different atmosphere between Claudia and Hawkeye. They went from being practically inseparable to religiously avoiding each other. During high stress sessions in the OR, they broke the monotony of slagging off Frank Burns to occasionally talking a jab at each other, which met with surprising stares and suppressed laughter from the staff. Hawkeye started publically questioning why she was writing letters to his father, while Claudia proclaimed it was because "he was the Pierce she liked".

With the exception of work, they haven't seen each other since he got his sight back and although both of them were obviously distressed by the prospect, neither would admit it. Hawkeye went back to play poker and drink whenever and whatever he could and Claudia buried herself in her work and secret correspondence. During the last mal call she had gotten a dozen official letters and she needed to sort through them as soon as possible. Especially since even if she were to write right back, who knows how long would the post take to get to the States.

Claudia also spent a nice evening in officers' bar talking to Lieutenant Baker who seemed infatuated with Radar. They were later joined by all the other nurses and a few of the enlisted. The whole camp was drowning in blues after a difficult time in OR. The Post-Op was crammed with people suffering horrible burns and they were already running low on morphine. Klinger was drinking more than anyone else, since Radar was promoted and he was training in the office and really hated every second of it. The weather was quickly becoming unbearably hot in Korea, so all of this was happening in suffocating sweaty hell.

Major Houllihan was driving the nurses crazy and Claudia had so much other work she wasn't around to ease the tension. She heard a tent has been quarantine and a shouting match has occurred in Colonel Potter's office, but nothing else. It wasn't until the next day that she got told the whole story when she bumped into a teary-eyed Margaret in the scrub room.

Despite her embarrassment, Margaret was persuaded by Claudia into talking and quietly, but quickly updated her on recent events. Claudia could see the questions in her friend's eyes. Margaret felt really hurt by being excluded from the nurses' sisterhood.

"Major?" Claudia said, putting herself skillfully into surgical garb. Noticing the Major dropping her eyes to the floor, she paused. "Margaret, I have to go in. There's a pregnant woman and it's a breach. But we'll talk afterwards, alright?" She tied her facemask and added. "They don't hate you, you know? They just don't feel comfortable talking to you because you seem so distant." And with that she ran out.

The following minutes were all a big blur for Claudia. The baby was clearly rushing into the world, which presented a whole range of problems. The mother was very dehydrated and exhausted to point of fainting. Claudia worried they might have to do a C-section, but a few minutes later, she was handing the little baby to Lieutenant Gaynor who proceeded to show her to the staff in the scrub room. Claudia threw away her gloves and momentarily looked out of the door window in the direction of the baby crying out.

Hawkeye was standing there, looking down lovingly at the infant with his hand around Nurse Gaynor's shoulders who was crying more than the newly-born baby. It looked like he was whispering something. Then she saw Margaret coming closer to see the baby as well and Hawkeye was shielded from her view.

For all the fuss Major Houllihan had been responsible for then, it was still nothing compared to the time she disappeared. She finished her shift in Post-Op and then she was nowhere to be found. Radar was told to find her and spent the next few hours running around the camp turning over every rock. He asked Claudia three times if she had seen her. The last time was when she changed direction to avoid meeting Hawkeye, who was going to shower.

About a minute or two after that she heard the shot. She sprinted out of her tent and looked around. Not seeing anything suspicious, she continued to run towards the OR where the injured party would end up eventually. The wound wasn't too bad and BJ was the calmest in the room. Hawkeye and Claudia were once again in the same room and there was a sense of awkwardness spreading out.

"How do you do, Colonel?" He finally asked, while Claudia examined BJ wound.

"Superb. How are you?" She said, not lifting her eyes from BJ.

"Okay, too much shooting here for my taste." His voice had this sad quality she hated to hear in it. But she still wasn't in a forgiving mood.

"I heard you singing in the shower earlier, which is why I thought you got shot."

"I have the voice of an angel, I'll let you know. And you have the body of one." Her eyes suddenly shot up to meet his and when they did, they both froze. Without moving a muscle they stared at each other, completely ignoring the injured BJ who had a knowing smile on his face. They were so close, Claudia could feel the heat rising from Hawkeye´s body.

Suddenly a little ping tore them away from their moment. A nurse on the opposite side of the room dropped an instrument. Claudia let out a breath she wasn´t aware she was holding.

"How's that, BJ?" Claudia asked, looking at her work. The bandage was firmly held in place and everything looked per regulations.

"Fantastic, thank you." BJ said, still sporting that smile.

"Okay, then I'll leave, boys." Claudia announced, quickly leaving.

Hawkeye helped BJ stand up and tried to ignore his friends' catty stares. But then BJ spoke.

"What happened between you two, Hawk?"

"When I figure that out, I'll tell you."

Hawkeye needed some time alone after the run-in with Claudia. It felt extraordinarily intimate to be so close to her again. Knowing what she tastes like, what it's like to hold her body close and still be not allowed to touch her. And he definitely wasn't the only one whose heart was racing when they were fixing up BJ after Frank shot him. What was going on in that pretty head of hers? Hawkeye yearned to know. She was unattainable, although she was just inches away from him.

Ever since she was forbidden fruit, he kept himself busy by anything he could think of. Playing basketball with Frank's shirt, writing home or drinking to forget her or himself, whichever came first. He needed an outlet for his emotions, but without her being close, he felt trapped. Every time he saw her rushing away from him to avoid a conversation, his heart stopped.

And she was so good in the OR. She was almost always the first one in and the last one out. She was focused on work, doing it quickly, but thoroughly and still she remembered that patients were people. She… she was all he thought about recently.

Even though she pushed him away, he could still feel her stares sometimes. He felt she was watching him when Nurse Gaynor was showing the baby to the room. He didn't know what to do, he just stared at the little bundle trying to smile like nothing was going on. And after someone said: "Isn't she beautiful?"

Hawkeye answered quietly, looking up at Claudia finally. "Just like her doctor."

She disappeared from his view a moment after that.