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If you recognize it, it is not mine.
The following chapter contains references to Hawkeye Get Your Gun and the book MASH FAQ by Dale Sherman.
They were operating around the clock, Colonel Potter called it right. The casualties just kept coming. Anytime it seemed like they might be getting close to the end, a new batch of wounded arrived. It was increasingly difficult to stay awake, working on one patient after the other. Claudia began the stretch with a string of resections of bowels and one damaged femoral artery, but then the chest cases started coming in. She was still feeling pretty beat, but there was no time to think about that.
Major Burns, on the other hand, was doing his best to handle the easiest operations and at the same time keep insulting the Colonel due to his age, which made the atmosphere even weirder. Radar got 4 days off, but thankfully before he left the camp, he made sure they had enough plasma, whole blood and morphine. So even with so many injured people arriving steadily, they were prepared as best as they could have been. Which was lucky, because some of the wounded boys had more holes in them than a sieve.
In the end, they were at it for thirty four hours with the occasional five minutes break. Colonel Potter and Rester were the last one left in the OR, with Claudia working on a pierced gallbladder and Potter finishing up on a chest wound.
"How are you doing, Claudia?" Potter asked while checking his own work. He was almost done.
"Good, will be closing soon."
"That's not what I meant."
"Don't worry, I survived the thirty hours beforehand, I can take another five minutes."
"I'd still feel better if you got some rest in the next few days."
"Colonel? I appreciate it, but…"
"No buts, or I'll make it an order."
"Alright, close for me, please. I am going to do sleepy-sleepy."
"Good girl."
"Goodnight, father." Claudia said loudly and with rolling of her eyes left the OR.
After so many demanding hours, almost the whole camp was sleeping. Everything was quiet except a few steps now and there due to shift change. It took another dozen hours before the usual business of the outfit returned. Colonel Potter finally got to paint Hawkeye – with his boots on the desk and a drink in hand. Claudia visited them for a little chat.
"Well, boys, hello, are you having fun?" She gave them a big smile.
"Aren't you supposed to be resting?"
"I was. But I got too bored."
"You came to the right place to get excited." Hawkeye winked at Claudia and blew her a kiss.
"Don't move, Romeo."
"Yeah, let the artist work. Oh, nice." Claudia then turned to Hawkeye. "He even made you look attractive."
"That's not hard to do, I am the best looking woman here. Oh, wait, no, that's you."
Colonel Potter caught the way Hawkeye was looking at Claudia, but didn't say anything. He didn't want to rock the boat and for once he was just going to enjoy the peace and quiet between the two of them. Well, reasonable quiet, since they both needed to comment on everything all the time. Sporadically they engaged him in their conversation, but mainly it was Claudia and Hawkeye who did the talking. It didn't take long, though, before Claudia left and Colonel Potter started to worry about the state of her health. He was going to check up on her later or maybe he could send Hawkeye, surely he would gladly volunteer. Or maybe not, he needed a doctor's opinion and not a hanky panky enthusiast's one.
Potter's concern turned out to be right, so he confined her to her bed, stressing he doesn't want to see her at work for at least three days. On the way back from her tent, Klinger jumped out at him and offered to read his fortune from his shadow. Sighing, the Colonel returned to his office just in time to hear the phone ringing. A South Korean hospital needed supplies and two surgeons.
Claudia found out about Potter and Hawkeye's trip after they already were gone. Although she was awake, they didn't even say goodbye. She knew why. Colonel Potter was worried she would want to go and of course she would. It should've been her, it would have made more sense.
And now she was stuck in the camp while the Colonel and Hawkeye were being shot at or who knows what. Hawkeye didn't belong nearer the front. He didn't even belong at 4077th. His very skilled hands belonged back in the States, performing miracles at the forefront of medicine. Instead he was in horrible danger.
At the very moment when Claudia fell asleep again, Hawkeye and the Colonel were operating for the twentieth hour straight, trying to forget about how unsterile everything around them seemed. It was difficult to operate with nurses who barely spoke English and use only instruments that were available.
Hawkeye missed the old 4077, and was genuinely looking forward to seeing it again. Plus that's where Claudia was. He was going to answer for disappearing like that, he knew, but Potter had asked him not to tell her and for once, Hawkeye did as he was told. Her health issues worried him and frankly he'd rather go himself than watch her leave for the front.
Situation at the Korean hospital was bad and the injuries even worse, the wounds full of worms and dust. He was dead on his feet when they finally got to rest. And the Colonel didn't even sleep then, he waited until Hawkeye got some rest and could take his place.
"Hey, listen, you wanna finish a great dream for me?" Hawkeye asked Colonel Potter with a big grin.
"If I can't come up with one of my own."
"I was in the candle-lit room, soft music in the background, soft girl in the foreground…"
"Stop right there, I am a married man!"
"Well, can you at least buy her a drink till I get back?"
"Sure."
It went without saying, Hawkeye didn't confess the identity of the woman he was dreaming about. Claudia was the center of his dreams since they shared their first kiss.
When Hawkeye and Colonel Potter reached the 4077, both were exhausted beyond belief. They sweated all the way through their uniform, the dust of the Korean road sticking to them stubbornly. The alcoholic haze was slowly turning into a bad hangover and without any water to soothe their thirst, the journey was difficult. It didn't help that Hawkeye had finally some time to think about everything he went through those past two days. He had been at aid stations before, where the fighting was more intense, but even there the conditions were more sanitary.
So when Hawkeye and the Colonel stumbled into the camp in the middle of the night, they weren't on their sharpest. They did try to be quiet and not disturb the sleeping personnel, but they really weren't up for it in their disheveled state. First one to show up was BJ, who was still awake worrying about his two friends. He ran out of Swamp, ignoring Frank's complains about the noise and rushed to help them.
Claudia was the second one to reach them, dressed in a fluffy gown. She took in the scene, raising an eyebrow and looking at BJ, who was trying to help Colonel Potter stand up straight.
"Where's your jeep? What happened to you?" She asked, letting Hawkeye lean against her.
"We got bombed." Hawkeye said, barely able to articulate the words between fits of hysterical laughter.
BJ and Claudia looked at each other again, slightly amused.
"OK, Beej. Let's divide and conquer." Claudia said, shrugging her shoulders. "Come on, Hawk. Let's make you a little presentable." She slid her hand around Hawkeye's waist, bringing his body closer and then guiding him to the shower tent. She threw him into the stall with his clothes still on, soaking him from head to toe. The smell of strong liquor was hanging in the air.
"What are you d-. " Hawkeye speech was cut short by a wave of water hitting his face. "Hey!"
"Calm down, Hawkeye, you are going to feel much better afterwards." Claudia watched as Hawkeye turned to her, his hand clutching the side of the stall for balance. He ran the fingers of his other hand over her cheek, lightly caressing it. He felt her breath hitched.
"Was it rough, Hawkeye?" She asked, worried.
Noticing Hawkeye dropping his eyes, it was clear he didn't want to talk about it now. She respected that. After turning off the water, she threw his robe over, the one that Klinger kindly brought in, and helped him to her tent, where Klinger already laid out some clothes for Hawkeye. In contrast to how loud Hawkeye was when entering the 4077 camp, now he was silent.
Claudia helped him out of the wet clothing, her hands gentle and searching. He enjoyed her touch, closing his eyes at times, trying to focus only on her. It wasn't long before he was comfortably in clean dry clothes, settling next to her on the army cot. She was laying on her side, looking down at him and running her hand through his damp hair.
"I am sorry." He whispered quietly, scooting even closer to her.
"Sssssh. Sleep, let's talk tomorrow." Claudia reassured him, putting her hand around him.
He must have been completely worn out, because he was in deep sleep in about a minute or so. He didn't even wake up when BJ came to check on them. Apparently Colonel Potter was already in his tent preparing to go to sleep as well.
"Did he say anything about what happened?" Claudia was interested.
"Not really. But it must had been tough. They are both really out of it, huh?"
"Yeah, well, we can't really blame them, can we?" She said, again looking at the man next to her, still running her hand through his hair.
BJ gave her a little wave and with that he left, leaving her in the silent tent. Just occasionally a little whimper escaped from Hawkeye's lips as he trashed around in his sleep. Claudia wondered whether he was experiencing an unpleasant dream, because every time he squeezed closer to her.
In the end she barely slept. She managed to fall asleep early in the morning, but had to go visit the latrine a while later. And while she was already up and out of her tent, she decided to get some water. Hawkeye would certainly need it.
He was slowly awakening by the time she stepped into her tent, groaning quietly while rubbing his eyes. Claudia put the water on the table and rushed to pull up a chair next to the bed.
"Hawkeye, good morning. Are you feeling better?" She said, deliberately very softly.
He turned slowly to face her and she immediately noticed the dark circles under his eyes. It took him a while to sit up, but he managed it and then quickly grabbed the glass of water she offered. He gulped it down as she watched him with an amused look on her face.
"Thank you. You saved my life." He ran his hands through his hair, noticing it was clean. Cleaner than it could have been after the adventure on the way back. Did he have a shower or what? She caught his hands into hers, seeing how they were shaking.
"I have an inkling that Colonel Potter probably did save you more than I did. What happened to you out there?" She still spoke quiet softly, aware he probably had a hell of a headache.
"Well, we got drunk apparently. I definitely remember that…" Hawkeye sighed loudly. "Why do you think something worth mentioning happened?"
"Well, for one, you lost your jeep." Claudia said, reminding him his ordeal.
"Oh, yeah. It got blown up." Hawkeye said, trying to make it seem like no big deal.
But Claudia wasn't fooled, because Hawkeye was too beat to lie successfully. She shifted closer to the edge of the chair to be closer to him and enveloped him in her arms. She could feel him hugging her back, inhaling her scent and kissing her neck. He was tense, she could tell.
"Hawkeye, tell me what happened."
He did tell her, in embarrassing detail, what they went through on their trip. Even including the time they stopped at the checkpoint and the soldier said the hospital is dead ahead. He talked about the conditions at the hospital, how he heard patients screaming in agony when they arrived because the hospital ran out of all painkillers. He also confessed how he managed to hypnotize himself to sleep instead of Colonel Potter. He left out the part when he dreamed about her, it didn't really fit the mood, so then he skipped to the part when they got bombed and shot at.
She listened to him carefully, not ever interrupting, just occasionally reassuring him with a caress or a squeeze of a hand. He didn't look at her much during his narration, which made her wonder if he told her everything important or what was going on. But she didn't push. He's been through enough.
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