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Title: Shrapnel of Love
Author: Thora Arwin
Disclaimer: MASH characters aren't mine. Bonnie is.
Category: Gen/Het
Summary: A young girl, in search of her brother, finds herself in MASH.
Chapter: 1/?
E-mail: xxxylin@yahoo.com
Feedback: Well… I'd most definitely like some, lol!
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*****SHRAPNEL OF LOVE*****
Chapter 01
There he was. The doctor that had saved my life, leaning against a feeble tent doorframe, chatting up a nurse.
I squinted against the blinding sun, the light outdoor breeze caressing my bruised cheeks from the shrapnel grenade.
Spring was beginning and I could smell it in the air; wild flowers blossoming in the hills and the olive-green grass growing on mines on the dirty roadsides.
If I hadn't been in Korea, I might have enjoyed the view.
"That's Captain Hawkeye Pierce, ma'am," Radar said cheerily, supporting my weight with his right hand and nodding towards a large circular tent in the middle of the compound, "the one that operated on you? And that's the Swamp."
"The Swamp?" I asked, amused, holding my robe over my body.
It was so hot I could cry, pearls of sweat trickling down my forehead and neck and down my ribcage from my armpits, but I had nothing on underneath the robe, except for my post-op pajamas. I didn't want to flash anyone so I gripped it tight.
"Yes, sir! I mean… ma'am." Radar fidgeted like he'd just gotten an itch.
I laughed as much as the stitches in my left cheek allowed. "Radar, I'm Bonnie."
He gave me a shy grin.
Captain Hawkeye Pierce. Tall, dark-haired and he was smiling big at the girl in front of him. I couldn't see him too clearly because the sun was in my eyes but I noticed he was thin, a little slouched and he was undressing the nurse with his gaze.
She was laughing at something he was saying, her body language showing she'd meet up with him whenever he'd ask her to, although the way she brushed her blonde hair behind her ear made it clear she was playing a little hard to get.
I rolled my eyes.
"Do you want to finish the tour of the camp, Lieutenant?" Radar asked and then he slapped himself over his cap. "Duh… meant to say Bonnie."
"Sure, Radar."
"Oh! One more thing! I need to ask Hawkeye which issues of Appli— ahh, heck, it doesn't matter— he wanted to order!"
I couldn't help but smile. "Of course. Go ask."
"I'll be right back! Hawkeye?!"
He ran off, a dusty cloud rising into the air where his boots had been.
Radar was an amazing person. I knew him for ten minutes and already I felt like he could be my younger brother. Always helping people, making jokes and, as I found out, running the whole MASH unit. He was so smart for his age. Only a little older than me. And he'd been at my bed with Doctor BJ Hunnicut when I woke up after the operation. Asked me if I wanted to see the camp. And because I hadn't been seriously hurt, Captain Hunnicut had let me.
"But bring her back before midnight, Son," he'd said, grinning. And I'd immediately known that every patient he'd treated would be going home okay. And that his wife Peggy was a very, very lucky woman.
I watched Radar run up to Captain Hawkeye Pierce and the blonde nurse. Radar was holding his cap so it wouldn't fly away and he almost knocked the Captain over when he tried to stop his wobbly feet from running further than he wanted.
They exchanged a few words, the nurse grinning, and then they looked my way.
When he looked at me… when Captain Pierce looked at me… I felt the strangest thing. This tight feeling in my lower belly. Something I'd never felt before.
The nurse excused herself and they both headed my way. My throat was so dry it felt like I'd been breathing sand dust. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the Captain.
His walk was cocky, self-assured, with the tiniest trace of swagger in it, and he was saying something to Radar, then looking my way again. His hands were deep in his pockets and he was dressed like all the other people in the camp, in Army green pants and jacket, with silver dog tags dangling off of his neck, resting on his khaki skirt. Which was not tucked in like Captain Hunnicut's but loosely hanging over his hips.
They stopped in front of me and he stretched out his hand.
"Hey there, Bonnie," he said, smiling. And I knew why the nurse had been blushing so much.
His voice was melodic, smooth, the soft baritone rubbing over me like a living presence and making my heart beat hard against my ribs. His smile was genuine, reaching his blue eyes and making me legs shake. He could have been looking at a stone and it would have melted it into a slobbery pancake at his feet.
"Captain Benjamin Franklin Pierce of the 4077th," he said, grinning. "But call me Hawkeye."
The charisma was radiating off of him like heat.
I took his hand and almost winced at the electric charge passing through me. What was wrong with me, dammit?
If he noticed, he didn't show it.
I meant to say 'Nice to meet you, thanks for getting the shrapnel out of my gut' but instead I stuttered out, "Hawkeye?"
And immediately wanted to slap my own stupidity. Sheeeesh.
We broke the contact and the Captain just grinned bigger. "Well, either I have really good eyes, or my Dad's favorite book is Last of the Mohicans."
Radar nodded sideways. "It's the other," he said quickly.
Hawkeye laughed, his jet black hair flapping in the wind and his sparkling, even gaze never leaving my own. "How do you like my needlework, Bonnie?" he asked, gesturing at my cheek.
The way he'd said my name made me shiver all over.
"Oh, this?" I absently touched my face. I'd been so lost in my own little fantasy world that I had completely forgotten about the stitches. "They're good. It's okay."
"Let me see."
And he closed the distance between us and took my face in his hands. Inspected his embroidery. Stepped back again.
Left me weak in the knees.
"It's looking good," he said, squinting against the sun like me. Then his face lit up and he shot me a grin. "Exactly like the stitches on my socks I did yesterday. You saw them, Radar. What do you think?"
"Exactly like the socks, Sir."
"We practice on socks," he told me. "Sometimes it's the other way round. We practice on people then try it out on socks."
I had to laugh and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders like we were old friends and turned us around until post-up ward came to view. His closeness was overwhelming.
He let go off me. "Ok, Radar. Take her back to bed. And no funny business, she needs the rest. Or I won't lend you my issues of Applied Nudism."
Radar eyed Hawkeye warily then looked at me. "He's just kidding," he said in a hurry.
Hawkeye shook his head and said seriously, "I never joke about nudity, Radar—"
I noticed Captain Hunnicut casually walk up behind Hawkeye, startling him. Grinning, he said, "Hawk's telling the truth. He never has any clothes on."
"It's not true that I had nothing on, Beej. I had my radio on."
"You just can't think with clothes on, huh."
"She couldn't either."
BJ pointed a thumb at Hawkeye and laughed. "He's just trying to embarrass you, Bonnie."
Hawkeye raised an insecure brow. "Am I trying to embarrass her, or myself?"
I bit down on my lip and looked down, trying not to burst out laughing. The dirty ground seemed awfully interesting.
"The next question is, is it working?" He chuckled and checked his watch. "Okay, time to go examine the patients."
"Or the nurses," BJ corrected.
"I've been examining them all night, Beej. Now I got to do the patients."
I licked my lips, smiling. Looked up at Hawkeye. He shot me a broad smile himself. Shaking me to the core.
"See you in bed, Lieutenant," he said, saluting with his left hand, curiously bent in the wrist.
Before I had a chance to say anything he was gone.
I couldn't believe him. I could not believe him. He'd smelled like a woman and a bottle of cheap alcohol. He'd been unshaved, hair messy on top of his head, absolutely un-Army like. I'd never seen a doctor like that in my entire life. His manners were weird, he had absolutely no respect for anyone and he seemed like a womanizer, flirt, sex-a-holic. An arrogant prank-player, cracking naughty jokes wherever he went.
And it was working.
Whenever he'd looked at me I couldn't stop shaking. Whatever he'd said made me forget about the misery I'd gone through up till now. Wherever he touched me left my skin begging for more.
What was happening to me?
Why did I want his eyes on me? Why did I feel like I wanted him looking at me, smiling at me? I knew nothing about him. He was a complete stranger to me.
"Bonnie?" Radar asked and I heard him over the thump, thump, thump in my head. Whoa… Was I dizzy from the heat or from…
"Sure," I said. "Let's finish the tour."
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