Katie awoke to find herself lying on a low cot with green blankets and a not-very-soft white pillow.  The place looked vaguely familiar, although she couldn't place it.  Where was she?  What was she doing here?  She would have sat up and taken a look around, but she felt too weak to lift a finger.  She did manage to glance over at her arm, however and immediately she wished that she hadn't.  There was a tube in her arm!  A tube.  In.  Her.  ARM!!  Katie began to scream, twisting and trying to tear the tube out.  "Get it off me!  Get it off!  Get it OFF!" 

            People began shouting, but she didn't pay any attention.  "Get this thing out of my arm!"  She continued to tear at the tube until someone grabbed her arms and forced her to stop.  Two someones, actually – two surgeons she immediately recognized as one Hawkeye Pierce and BJ Hunnicut.  Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped slightly open.  "Hawkeye?  BJ?  What're you guys doing here?"

            "Trying to fix you up," Hawkeye commented, readjusting the tube in her arm as BJ forced her to hold her arms still.  "You're not being very cooperative."

            Katie screamed and tried to move again, but BJ held her still.  "It's alright, kiddo," BJ said reassuringly as Hawkeye finished with the tube and reached over to the end of the bed to take a look at her chart.  "You're going to be just fine."

            Hawkeye nodded and gestured to BJ.  "What he said, unless you try to tear that tube out of your arm again.  Trust me, that won't be very good for your health."

            Katie stopped trying to move, breathing heavily and looking wildly from BJ, to Hawkeye, and back to BJ again.  Hawkeye suddenly swore and stood up, dropping the clipboard like a hot potato.  BJ raised an eyebrow.  "Last time I saw the charts, Hawkeye, her stats were perfectly fine.  With the exception of the hardware store we removed from her stomach, that is.  What's the matter?"

            "I'm sick of it, BJ!  Sick of it!  She's just a kid!"

            BJ patted Hawkeye on the arm, still keeping a wary eye on Katie in case she tried thrashing again.  "I know, Hawkeye.  Over half our customers are kids.  They must have heard of our special discount for soldiers under the age of twenty."

            "No, BJ, this one's really a kid!  She's only thirteen years old!  By all rights she should be back in the States, or Tokyo, or . . . or anywhere else but here!"

            BJ sighed and turned back to Katie.  "Well, kiddo, Hawkeye here has a point.  You shouldn't be here.  No one in their right mind would bring a child to a place like this, and somehow I don't think you came here on your own initiative.  So . . . mind explaining why?"

            "If I knew, I'd . . ." Wait a moment.  It was coming back now . . . something about an elf, or Genie, or – or whatever it had called itself.  And . . . darkness.  The world gone.  Waking up here . . . Yes, she remembered.  Now her memories were coming back to her.  I have an explanation, but not one that anyone here will believe.  For right now, I think I'll just play a little forgetfulness.  I do it all the time at home.  "I'd tell you.  But I don't, so I can't."

            BJ and Hawkeye exchanged glances; Katie knew that they couldn't have missed the short break in her answer, but either they had decided to ignore it, or they had decided to discuss it later.  She didn't really care which it was, as long as they'd let her rest now.  I can't believe how tired I am . . . She tried to stifle a yawn, but she was unsuccessful.  BJ flashed her a grin as Hawkeye made his farewell and headed over to a cot across the way.  "Well, kiddo, you've had a long day.  I'll let you have some rest; just don't start thrashing again."  He patted her on the arm, then got up and went to join Hawkeye.  Within moments Katie was so fast asleep that she wouldn't have woken if the 4077 had been shelled.   

            Hawkeye Pierce was washing his hands in the room outside to OR when BJ came in.  Hawkeye could tell that something was wrong by his silence, and when he turned around he almost had a heart attack.  That wasn't a look you often saw on BJ's calm features. 

            "Hey, what's wrong, BJ?"

            BJ leaned against the wall opposite the sinks, trying, and failing, to control his expression.

            "Hawk, I need to talk to you about that patient.  The kid who woke up screaming this morning."

            Hawkeye finished drying his hands and joined BJ as they made their way outside.  "What about the kid?"

            BJ took a deep breath.  "Look, this might seem like a long shot, but I think – I think she was abused."

            "Abused?"

            "You know, beaten, r—"

            "I know what abuse is, BJ.  I just couldn't believe my ears.  Or maybe I didn't want to believe my ears."

            BJ thrust his hands into his pockets, staring off ahead into space as he continued.  "The kid has bruises all over her hands, arms, neck – you name it, there's a bruise there."

            "Sounds like how I feel when I come out of the OR."

            "Yeah, but worse.  These bruises are in the shape of fingers, and occasionally an entire handspan of bruise – there're two on her neck, like someone was trying to choke her a while ago.  Those aren't marks made by shells and shrapnel, Hawk."

            Hawk frowned as he pushed open the door to the Swamp.  "Yeah, I know.  I guess that explains why she's out here.  Probably running away."

            BJ nodded.  "That's what I thought; did you notice the small catch in her reply when we asked her why?"

Hawkeye moaned and collapsed on his bed.  "Just what I need," he groaned, "More pain and suffering." 

BJ sat down on his own bed, propping his head up on his hands and staring off into space again.  "I just wanted to run my idea by you before I go to the Colonel."

Hawk opened his eyes.  "You're what?"

BJ sat up and glared at him.  "I'm going to the Colonel."

Hawk raised his hands in defeat.  "Alright, alright, calm down, BJ.  I just wanted to know why, that's all."

"I want permission for her to stay with the 4077 M*A*S*H."

"You what?!"

"Come on, Hawk, I can't let her go back to wherever it is she came from.  She'll get beaten again, and who knows what else.  At the very least we can get permission for her to bunk with the nurses for a while.  And then we can make sure that she goes to someone who loves her, someone who'll give her the care and respect she deserves." 

Hawkeye sighed and lay back on the bed.  "And I suppose you'll be wanting my help."

"That's right, Hawkeye."

"Fine," Hawk groaned.  "Alright, who's up for a martini?"

Frank chose his moment to stomp into the M*A*S*H, slamming the door behind him.  He took a look at Hawkeye and BJ.  BJ had lain back on his bed and was attempting to get some kind of rest, and Hawkeye was attempting to numb his memories of the pain and suffering he saw daily by taking them for a swim in a martini.  Gin, very dry. 

"You two make me sick!"

            Hawkeye reached over and nudged BJ with his foot.  "Hey!  BJ!  Did you hear that?  We make Frank sick!"

            BJ nodded slowly, his eyes still closed.  "We're getting better, Hawk.  Time was, we could only annoy him.  Now we make him sick.  Just so long as he doesn't vomit in here."

            "Oh, go suck an egg, you two!"  Frank snarled, making his way to his own bed on the far side of the room. 

            "I would, Frank, if there were any eggs, fresh or otherwise, to suck," Hawkeye quipped.  "But the army chickens haven't been laying very well, so you'll have to settle for a martini olive."

            BJ cracked a small grin, but neither of them really cared whether or not Hawk's comment was humorous as they both fought exhaustion in their own way.  Frank merely scowled and sat down to his Reader's Digest. 

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Many thanks to my first reviewer!!  Unfortunately, I cannot thank you by name, but I think you know who you are.  I greatly appreciate the review; constructive criticism is always welcome!