Henry paced the floor of the examination room. The others had taken up various seated positions, and were waiting patiently for him to get his thoughts together.

"It's just really, really hard to describe, guys. It was like, it was dark, and then I came to, and I could see there were people there, but no matter what I did, I couldn't move. Couldn't even close my eyes." He sighed, "I mean, we've all read up on paralysis, the descriptions from survivors of paralyzing accidents and such, but... I don't think I've ever been so terrified in my life." He shook his head, then smiled, and tried to lighten the mood a bit, "Then there was the plank of wood sticking out of my chest, but who hasn't woken up like that every once in a while, hm?"

The congregated chuckled and broke the solemn silence. It was no longer a simple chortle to help relieve tension. The crew really seemed to be getting used to the idea with their usual adaptiveness, and they quickly fell back into their normal modes.

"So what happened next, Henry?" B.J. urged, "How'd you get all the way back here form the evac?"

"Well it was really the oddest---"

"Attention, all personnel!" the announcement began, and the doctors, the priest and the corpsman all looked up to the ceiling almost simultaneously.

"Looks like storytime'll have to wait, Hunnicutt." Potter stated after the announcement had ended. "Pierce, can you see Blake back to the VIP tent before coming to scrub up?" He asked, and, without waiting for an answer, began to head for the door.

Despite himself, Henry's animosity rose to unwarranted levels toward the older man. The fury he'd felt in the tent and suppressed returned and was redoubled. "Now wait just a minute, Colonel!" he protested. "I might be dead, but I'm still a doctor. There are going to be boys coming off of those choppers, and one more pair of hands might help save a life!"

His piece said, Henry seemed to calm down. Mulcahy had quickly moved himself to a spot between the old and new COs, and this had probably helped quite a bit.

Potter frowned, unable to argue against saving lives. "You think you can control yourself in there?"

Henry settled back and mirrored the gesture. Could he? He recalled the thoughts that had flooded his mind on the way back to the camp, and became concerned. All eyes were on him.

He suddenly smiled. "Colonel, I think I might have an idea."

~