"You bumbling incompetent!" the Major snapped at her.

Jo cringed inwardly. The lights flickered and momentarily they were in the dark again. She knew that everyone had been on edge since the blackout was ordered. It had been days and it seemed that the longer they waited, the more antsy people got about the potential attack.

"I'm sorry Doctor," Jo stuttered. "It's just that..."

"I don't want excuses, I want my clamp!"

"Yes Doctor," Jo replied softy, handing him the clamp.

"Charles, take it easy," BJ called from across the operating room.

"Why don't you lay off?" Hawkeye chimed in.

"None of us likes working under these conditions," Potter added, and as if on cue the lights flickered and the room went dark again.

"Nurse, I'll take over here," the head nurse said from beside her and Jo was startled. She must have moved next to Jo during the momentary darkness, but Jo hadn't noticed.

"I could use some help over here," BJ called to Jo as the lights flicked back on.

Colonel Potter stopped her, "Wait, go out to pre-op and see how many boys we have left to work on."

"Colonel, I was just there. These are the last of our patients," Major Houlihan answered.

"Lieutenant, I'd like to speak with you," the head nurse said to Jo as she was getting ready to walk over to post op in the dusk for her shift.

"Yes Major," Jo replied.

"I'd like to know what happened in there." The Major motioned towards the O.R..

"I was reaching for the clamp when the lights went out," Jo explained. "I couldn't find it in the dark."

"A good nurse knows where everything on her instrument tray is."

"Yes, Major. It won't happen again," Jo muttered.

"Good. See that it doesn't. Now head over to post op, your shift starts any minute."

The shift started like most others. Jo made her way around the post op ward, checking on each of the patients' vital signs and bandages. The ward was full and several other nurses were working. Two of the doctors were also making rounds.

Pausing for a moment, Jo watched Hawkeye as he joked with a patient as he carefully checked over a patient. Across the room, BJ was quietly talking with Major Houlihan beside the bed of a patient. There was buzz of activity and conversation.

Suddenly there was a loud explosion near the tent. For a moment Jo heard nothing except the ringing in her ears. Everything and everyone around her seemed to be reacting soundlessly. Jo stood in shock for a moment until the sound returned to the chaos around her. She threw herself to the ground next to a patient's bed.

The soldier in the bed next to her was crying. She could hear his whimpering begin to get louder, and covered her ears. The lights flickered momentarily and with the next blast, went out completely.

In the dark, Jo could feel her panic beginning to rise. The darkness was closing in on her and she was finding it hard to breathe. She felt a hand grab her shoulder.

"Let go!" she shouted and wriggled free, jumping to her feet.

In the darkness Jo stumbled from the tent, leaving those inside calling after her.

There were explosions from all around. Jo was standing very still in the middle of the compound when Hawkeye found her. Her eyes were wide.

"It's not safe out here," he explained loudly, over the background staccato of weapons fire. "We need to take cover."

Jo didn't move. In fact, she didn't even blink. She gave no indication that she had heard Hawkeye.

"We need to go, now!" he shouted. When she didn't move, he picked her up and flung her over his shoulder, pulling her into the nearest tent.

It was dark inside. All the screens had been covered with heavy canvas the day the blackout was ordered. Hawkeye set Jo down on her feet, but her legs did not support her.

"Oops," he said softly, catching her before she hit the ground. She was shaking like a leaf in a violent windstorm.

"Are you okay?" Hawkeye asked.

"Fine," she replied, through clenched teeth, willing her muscles to stop twitching. Her voice was hoarse.

"Why the hell did you run out of there?" he demanded. "You could have been killed!"

"I - I had to get out of there."

"You could have been killed," he repeated, softer this time.

"What would it have mattered? Everything here is dead or dying!" Jo snapped back.

"Don't say that. It would have mattered. A lot of people here rely on you. I see how much you care about your patients. You reassure them, you hold their hands when they're scared. You are a damn fine nurse."

"I didn't in there. When it really counts, I can't comfort them. I can't protect them. When fire is coming down all around us I'm just as scared as they are."

"We all are," Hawkeye told her. "We are still human, after all."

Jo began to weep. Her shoulders shook, but not in fear. The sobs seemed to come from the furthest, deepest part of her where she had been pushing them down. Hawkeye wrapped an arm around her. She stiffened a little, but didn't pull away.

"You have friends here, you know," he muttered into her hair. "We're here for you. I'm here for you, if you'll let me be."

His voice was softer than usual. Jo recognized it as the voice he used when he was comforting a patient. She turned her body and allowed him to wrap both arms around her.

The shelling had stopped about an hour before dawn, though there was no way of telling when it was dawn from inside the tents. Hawkeye hadn't moved for nearly as long. A head rested peacefully in his lap.

The door to the supply tent swung open loudly, spilling light into the once pitch black room.

"Shush!" Hawkeye warned, to no avail, but the body resting next to him didn't stir. He blinked his eyes in the sudden light as a human-shaped shadow moved into the doorway.

"Pierce?" a voice hissed. "Is that you?"

"Shh," he repeated. And in a whisper, "We're in here."

The man in the doorway moved into the room. "So this is where you've been. Really Pierce, I hardly think this is the appropriate time for a romantic, how shall I put it, liaison. Do you know Colonel Potter has the entire camp out looking for you?"

"Charles." Hawkeye's voice took on a warning tone. "Nothing happened."

But Charles continued. "If I hadn't found you, we were going to report you kidnapped! But here you are. In the supply tent with a nurse."

"Charles, look at her."

The Major bent down to inspect Jo's face. It was relaxed, because she was sleeping, but her cheeks were still blotchy and her eyes puffy and red.

"Pierce, what did you do?"

Hawkeye rolled his eyes. "Do you think you can help me get her up? She's been sleeping there for a couple of hours and I think that my legs joined her after the first half an hour."

The Major lifted her off of Hawkeye, and Hawkeye stretched his legs. Jo sighed, and began to open her eyes.

"Jo? Jo? The shelling has stopped," Hawkeye told the groggy nurse.

"The blackout has been lifted," the Major added. "A patrol caught the enemy soldiers this morning."

"They even sent a search party out to look for us."

"The search party!" the Major exclaimed. "I must tell them that I've found you, before they have you declared missing in action." He stood up quickly and left the tent, the door banging shut behind him.

Jo rubbed her eyes. "How long was I asleep?"

"A couple of hours," Hawkeye told her.

"That's the longest I've slept in weeks. Why do I feel so tired?"

"If that's the longest you've slept in weeks it's no wonder you feel so tired. Come on, let's get you to bed." Hawkeye said, trying to help Jo up. His legs buckled underneath him, and he sat down again. "They're just asleep," he said in reply to her concerned look.

"My fault, I suppose," Jo said, offering him her arm. She could see him hesitate before he took it. "Don't worry," she said with assurance, "I'm tougher than I look."

They stepped out into the bright morning light. Hawkeye squinted, and Jo blinked her eyes furiously, trying to adjust to the dramatic change in lighting. Hawkeye leaned on her shoulder and stretched his legs gingerly.

The camp was beginning to move in its usual fashion. The search had been called off, and everyone in camp was getting back to their assigned duties. There were a few glances as Hawkeye and Jo made their way from the tent.

"You know," Hawkeye told her, "people are going to talk."

"I know," Jo replied.