Disclaimer: I don't own anything from M*A*S*H*, no matter how much I would
love too, I don't so please don't sue me!
********
April was a very rainy month for the 4077th. It seemed like just about every day they had a downpour of liquid from the sky...
"I can't believe it's raining again!" Jason says, flinging his soaked parka onto the ground.
"I know..." BJ says, holding his glass of gin. "Welcome to April Jase."
Jason laughs and shakes his head at his Bunkie, "So, is there any more on the Peace Talks?"
"Nah, only news is that they want this war ended by the summer."
"Well, then hopefully it will be before July so you can get home to Peg and Erin." He says smiling.
"I'm not getting my hopes up." BJ shakes his head.
"I can't believe it's been almost 8 month's since I got over here."
"Yeah, it's been almost 2 years for me." He says, looking at his watch. "Two years of post-op, which I am going to be late for if I don't get moving."
"Alright, well have fun."
"I intend too." BJ says, pulling his parka over his head, and quickly making his way over to Post-Op. "Afternoon Charles."
"Yes." He says gruffly. "On time I see."
"I tried to be late, but the rain was coming down to hard." BJ jests, getting a scowl from the other surgeon.
"Anyway, let me get you up to date on the patients in the ward. Keep an eye on Private Lucas here. He has used up a lot of blood and is on his seventh unit."
"Who worked on him?"
"I did. I would appreciate it if you would come and get me if I have to go back in again."
"Will do Chuckles." BJ says, smiling.
"James, over here has had a fever of 104 for the past few days. He came in with it."
"The flu?"
"No. We aren't too sure what it is from."
"Odd... anything working?"
"The ice packs have been helping but didn't start working till around a day ago."
"The fever was higher?"
"Yes. But anyway, I bid you adieu. I am going to go and sleep. If you need me, I'll be in the tent."
"Alright. I'll catch you later Charles."
"Right." He says as he heads out of the ward.
"Margaret..."
"Yeah?"
"Keep up with the penicillin, only double the dose's."
"Right Doctor."
"Hopefully that will stop this fever thing... I also want urine checks every half hour."
"Alright." She says, writing what he says on the chart.
"And give another unit to Charles's boy. He needs it."
"Of course, Able, grab another B positive for Lucas please."
"Yes Major."
"We have it covered Hunnicut." She smiles.
"You always do." He smiles back at her.
"Dr. Hunnicut! Lucas's blood pressure is dropping."
Instantly the Captain and Major are over with the patient. "Able. Go over to the Swamp and get Winchester. We have to open him up again."
"Ok." She says and runs over to the Swamp to drag the already weary doctor back into surgery.
"What happened?" He asks scrubbing.
"I got him stable now, but his blood pressure was dropping. There is definitely a hole in there somewhere that you have to plug up." BJ says.
"Right." Charles says yawning.
"I can do it for you if you need me too."
"Nonsense, I had at least 20 minutes of sleep..." He says sarcastically.
"See you after."
"Indeed." Charles says as he heads into surgery.
Around two hours later, Margaret goes over to check the fever patient's temperature. "No change BJ."
"None?"
"No."
"Dammit." He says, hanging his head. "Continue. Hopefully it will break soon."
"Yes Doctor." Margaret says, stifling a yawn.
"You look as tired as I feel." BJ says smiling.
"That's good than I only look like it because I am not tired." She says smiling.
"Margaret, don't lie, you were never good at it!"
"I resent that remark. I am a damn good liar." She smiles, and continues on her rounds.
Over the past months, Margaret and BJ have gotten quite close. Margaret feels that opening up to people will cause weakness, but after Hawkeye's death she had to, and she picked BJ. The only other person she showed her 'weakness' to was Hawkeye.
The next morning, BJ woke up feeling a bit under the weather, but he thought nothing of it.
"Morning Chief." Jason says smiling at him.
"Morning Jason." BJ says returning the smile. "How did Post-Op go last night?"
"Quietly, thankfully. I hate it when it's three in the morning and the place is jumping."
"As do I."
"When do you go on?"
"Noon."
"Attention All Personnel... Incoming wounded! The boredom is over!" BJ and Jason quickly move from the mess tent and into triage.
"Looks like we're back in business." Jason shouts to his chief surgeon.
"Looks that way." BJ says, as he starts in to scrub up.
"How many hours are we looking to be putting in Colonel?" Charles asks the CO.
"Looks like it is going to be a long one." He says, to his surgeons. "About a day's work."
"Great." BJ says, shaking his head. "I hate working on Marines."
"I agree they are all far too young." Charles says shaking his head. Margaret quickly pulls up the surgeons masks as they head into surgery.
"Scalpel." BJ says.
"Scalpel." Margaret replies.
"Wipe my forehead please."
"Yes doctor." Margaret says, wiping off the sweat on a towel. He felt a bit warm to her, but she kept her mouth shut.
Fourteen hours later, Colonel Potter shouts out to Pre-op, "How many more do we have?"
"Four." Father Mulcahy says, as he sticks his face into the room. "There are four more, three are minor though."
"Great." Potter says. "We are almost done gang."
"Get me another one." BJ calls, as he and Margaret pull of there gloves and get new ones put on.
"You have the last critical BJ." Klinger says, as he places the man before him. "Liver's nicked."
BJ shudders at the thought, before quickly looking at the X-ray and patching up the small knick in the organ.
Finally, after 20 hours of surgery they are finished.
"Am I still standing?" Jason asks, as he slides down onto the bench and closes his eyes,
"Scratch that question, am I still alive?"
"I'd take your pulse but I can't lift my arm." BJ says, sitting next to him.
"Alright gang, let's get some shuteye." Potter says, as he stands up to walk out of the scrub room. BJ stands up and wipes the sweat from his brow and heads back to the
Swamp with his other Bunkie's hot on his tail. Each of them quickly lie on there cots and fall fast asleep. Each of them are able to sleep approximately 4 hours before they hear,
"Attention All Personnel. Act two is setting up in triage. All shifts report to duty! All Shifts to OR now!"
"This is a dream...." Jason says, pushing himself up.
"No, this is a nightmare." Charles says.
BJ slept right through the announcement which was completely odd for him.
"Are you coming with us Chief?" Jason asks. "Hey BJ."
"Hunnicut?" Charles asks, walking over to the cot, shaking him awake.
"Huh? What?" BJ says, sitting up.
"The war Chief, remember? It's back in action."
BJ groans and stands up. He is now feeling absolutely miserable, and his temperature has elevated. "Let's go."
"I'll take the chopper pad." Jason says, running up to retrieve the patients.
"I guess that means you and me Hunnicut are left to do the Bus and Ambulances." Charles says, as they head over to pre-op.
"I guess it does." BJ says, wiping his forehead with his shirt sleeve.
"Are you alright?" Charles asks his fellow surgeon.
"I'm fine." BJ lies. "Why?"
"You don't look well at all." He says, noting the pale complexion of the surgeon in the dimming daylight.
"I'm fine... Really." BJ says, "This one's first." He calls to the corpsman.
"Alright. I'll take him first, get him prepped." Charles shouts.
All surgeons meet in the Scrub room briefly before heading into surgery.
Klinger comes in and says, "The fever patient just died."
"Dammit." BJ curses, as he continues working on the boy lying before him. "What was his temp at?"
"106 when he passed on."
"My god..." Margaret says. "The penicillin didn't work at all..."
"Let's just hope no one else is affected by it." The Colonel says.
"Let's hope..." Jason says, glancing over at BJ. He knew something wasn't right with him, but he just couldn't put his foot on it.
Surgery was fairly long, and lasted about 14 hours, and every hour seemed like an eternity for BJ. He felt absolutely horrible, but had to continue. In the back of his mind he kept the idea that he may have what the one soldier had.
"How many more Father?" BJ called.
"That's the last one."
"Great." BJ says, as Margaret wipes his forehead for the millionth time.
"Are you alright BJ?"
"Fine, suction."
"Suction. You don't look..."
"Major..." He warns her. "Suture."
She shuts up and hand's him "Suture."
Finally, they were finished. There were no more causalities and none planned in the next day.
"Wow that was hell." Jason says, yawning. "20 hours and then another 14 on top of that and somehow we managed to throw in a 4 hour nap that didn't account for anything in my books."
"This was one of the longer nights." Charles says.
BJ pulls off his surgical gown and pulled on his green shirt, he shakily stood up, which did not go unnoticed by the other men in the scrub room. "BJ? You alright?"
"Fine." He says, regaining his balance. "Just tired." He tells them wiping his brow with his sleeve. Suddenly the room starts spinning, and he feels himself falling forward, and then nothing.
"Grab him!" Charles says, lunging at there falling chief surgeon. Jason stops his head from hitting the ground.
"My god he's burning up." Jason says. "Margaret! Go get a penicillin IV set up!"
"What happened?" Margaret says coming in. "Oh my god." She says when she sees BJ on the ground. "What..."
"He's burning up. Charles help me with him." Jason calls as he and the other man carry there fallen companion into post-op.
"What in tarnations happened to him?" Potter calls, quickly making his way over to his Chief Surgeon.
"He just collapsed."
Potter sticks a thermometer into his mouth and waits. "Has he been feeling sick?"
"Not that he has told us."
"He has had an elevated temperature for a while." Margaret says, feeling partly responsible to his condition. "He felt really warm in surgery, but I didn't think anything of it."
"Don't blame yourself Margaret." Potter says, looking at his Head Nurse. He pulls the thermometer out of his mouth and shakes his head.
"What is it Colonel?"
"I think he may have what the private had."
"But penicillin didn't work!" Margaret says.
"He has a temperature of 104. Klinger, get on the horn and patch me a line to Tokyo. Let's find out what this is. Margaret, take some blood and ship it to Seoul. Tell them I want the results back to us PRONTO."
"Right." She says running to get a needle.
"Wear gloves!" Potter shouts as he goes into his office.
"Sir, Colonel Mitchell is on the line."
"Thank you Klinger." He says, as he goes into his office and picks up the phone. "Frank? Sherm. We're not doing too well up here, just had a fever patient die on us, and we think one of our surgeon's has it. What information can you give to us? Uhuh... alright... is it contagious... only through blood... alright... any cure... Penicillin works in the beginning right... the strong survives.... Alright, thanks Frank. Good bye." Potter hangs up the phone, "Damn." He curses. He did not want to lose another surgeon. "Klinger! Get the officers in here pronto!"
"Right Sir." Klinger says, and puts an announcement over the PA, "Attention All Personal, all officers report to Colonel Potter's office pronto! That is all."
"What is it sir?" Margaret asks, franticly.
"This fever is only transferred through blood. BJ must have came in contact with it sometime during his caring for him."
"So what can we do for him?" Jason asks.
"Keep with the penicillin..."
"Sir! That didn't work for Private James, what makes it..." Margaret says, cutting off the Colonel.
"Major keep your mouth shut and let me talk." He says, "Now, if you will let me finish, it says that if gotten in time penicillin could work to bring down the fever, but if not, only the strong survive. Anytime you think that you are going to be working with BJ's blood I want you in gloves, that is a direct order, which means, Margaret, all of your nurses must have gloves on hand when working on BJ. However, we won't know IF he has this fever till after the blood work comes back, everything that I am telling you is for precautions right now."
"Right." Jason says.
"I'll pray for him..." Father Mulcahy says, blessing himself.
"Any questions?"
"How quick does it kill..." Winchester asks.
"About a week, could be longer." Colonel Potter says. "Did you send the blood work out Major?"
"Yes sir." She says to him. "It will be back in a few hours."
"Right. Well, if there aren't any questions, Dismissed." All the officers leave, except
Margaret who is still in shock. "Major? Are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, fine." She says standing up.
"Major, keep your faith up, he isn't dead yet."
"It's like Pierce all over again. Colonel, I can't loose another one. I can't loose another person who I care so much about."
"I know Major, but hopefully the penicillin will work."
"Hopefully..." She says, walking out and back into post-op. "Lieutenant."
"Yes Major?"
"Anytime you go near Captain Hunnicut, I want you in gloves. NO ACCEPTIONS!"
"Yes Major."
"I also want temperature checks done on him every half an hour, and you report back to myself or one of the Doctors."
"Of course Major." Bigelow says, looking at the head nurse. "It's what Private James had isn't it?"
"I can not confirm that." Margaret says.
"Major..."
"I think it is yes, which is the reason our CO wants us to take every precaution there is when it comes to caring for him. Let me know when he wakes up."
A few hours later, the blood results come back positive for the nameless fever. "Damn." Potter says as he looks at the results. "I hope to god we caught it in time." He walks into the post-op ward and over to Charles, "It's positive. Keep him on penicillin and have a cool compress on him at all times."
Charles sighs and says, "Yes sir."
"Let me know about any change in his condition."
"Margaret..." Charles says, walking to the other side of the ward to tell her the news,
"It's positive."
"Damn." She says, as she finishes taking the blood pressure of one of the men lying there. "So now what?"
"We wait."
She sighs, writes the blood pressure on the chart and heads over to BJ's side, and takes his temperature. "104... no change..." She watches him start to stir. "BJ? Hey BJ open your eyes. BJ, look at me, come on..."
"Margaret..." He says, cracking an eye open.
"Oh thank god..."
"What happened?"
"You passed out. You have a really high fever. I need you to try and remember, did you come in contact with James's blood?"
"Who?"
"James... the fever patients... did you..."
"I don't remember." He says.
"Ok, it's alright. You're gonna be fine, just rest ok?"
"I think I can manage that." He says, closing his eyes.
Margaret does not leave his side unless she absolutely had to. Around 4am, she was doing some paperwork, and heard BJ talking to someone.
"Hey... you came back. So what's going to happen to me?" BJ asked what seemed to be nothing to anyone except for him.
"Nothing. You're going to be alright Beej." Hawkeye told him.
"I'm not dying?"
"BJ?" Margaret says, pulling a chair next to him. "Who are you talking too?"
"Hawkeye." He tells her. "I'm not going to die am I?" He asks again.
"BJ, don't think about that... you are going to be fine." Margaret tells him,
"No you're not dying BJ. You'll be fine, just sick for a while." Hawkeye says, smiling, sitting on the other side of the bed.
"BJ, Hawkeye's dead. You can't be talking to him." Margaret tells him.
"But I am. He is sitting right over there, can't you see him."
Lewis hears BJ talking and sees Margaret getting upset, and walks over to them, "He's delirious Margaret... don't pay any attention to what he is saying." He tries to comfort the nurse.
"No, I know what I see... and Hawkeye is right here... can't you see him?" BJ asks Margaret. "Can't you see him Margaret? He's sitting right across from you."
"BJ, Hawkeye died in August, he can't be sitting there, he's gone." Margaret tells her sick friend.
"I know he is, but he came back. He told me that I would be ok! He is looking at you right now..."
"BJ stop.."
"They can't see me." Hawkeye tells his friend.
"But why can't they?"
"I don't know... I am still working on that answer." Hawkeye says, shaking his head.
"Hawk... I don't understand..."
"BJ, that's enough. Hawkeye is not sitting right next to you! He is not there! He is dead, you have to stop this. You are going to wake up the other patients." Margaret says, placing the cool compress back on his head.
"Listen Pal, Margaret's right, you're going to have to rest to recover. You'll be fine but you have to help it along. If you need me, I'll be around. Keep fighting pal, and you'll pull through." Hawkeye tells BJ, as he slowly fades out.
"Bye Hawk." He says, as he closes his eyes.
Margaret has tears in her eyes, as she takes his temperature. "105..."
"We have to tell the Colonel." Lewis says, as he stands up. "Margaret, he is delirious..."
"I know." She says wiping her eyes.
"I'll go tell Colonel Potter." Lewis tells her, as he heads out.
"Dammit." Margaret says, wiping her eyes one last time.
"105?" Potter say as he walks into the ward. "Damn." He goes over to his cutter, "Has he been awake at all?"
"Yes. He was talking to..." Margaret stops.
"Talking to who?"
"Hawkeye... he said he was having a conversation with Hawkeye."
"He's delirious." Potter tells her.
"I know, but he insists that he had a conversation with him."
"Pack him in a bit of ice... see how that takes to his elevated Temperature."
"Right Colonel." Margaret says, heading out to get ice packs for her friend.
"I can't loose another one..." Potter says, shaking his head, as he goes to his cabinet and grabs his bottle of scotch. "Good god I can't go through that again." Potter rose from his chair and walked into post-op to check on the status of his surgeon. "Margaret, why don't you go and get some shuteye." He says to his head nurse.
"No, I'm fine."
"It's not question, it's an order Major..."
"But sir!" She says, standing up.
"No buts about it Major, I need you rested in the event that we have more casualties coming in! I can't have you falling asleep at the trays, now go!"
"I'm fine sir..."
"Margaret, go." He says, as he watches her reluctantly rise from her chair next to BJ and walk out of the ward. "She gets more stubborn every day, I swear." He picks up Hunnicut's chart and shakes his head.
"How's he doing Colonel?" Father Mulcahy asks as he enters Post-Op.
"Not well Padre I fear. There has been little change, but that little change is an elevation in temperature. He's one point away from Private James's breaking point."
"That bad..."
"He's delirious also, keeps having conversations with Hawkeye."
"Is he coherent?"
"According to the chart quite, however, I haven't been able to talk to him yet."
"Perhaps in time..."
"Keep him in your prayers Padre. He needs it."
"I haven't stopped." He says, sighing.
"Neither have I."
"You say he was talking with Hawkeye?"
"That's what the Major was telling me Padre."
"Huh, interesting."
"What is?"
"This isn't the first case I have heard of someone talking to a friend or loved one who has passed on when they were quite ill."
"Its delirium Padre, that's all it is." The Colonel says, quite sure of himself.
"Perhaps..." The father says, as he sits beside BJ, silently praying for the young man's life.
Margaret headed back into her tent, and laid on her bed. She was physically and emotionally exhausted. She didn't know how much more she could take. She curled up and cried for a good while, before she forced herself to stop, "Enough Margaret. You are the head nurse, nothing should affect you! Stop crying! The others need you to be strong!" She mentally told herself. "But I can't lose another." She says aloud, and breaks down into tears again. After what seemed like hours she finally fell asleep, it was a restless sleep, but it was sleep none the less. Sleep that she desperately needed.
Around 7am, Lewis took BJ's temperature again, praying that it would be lowered, but his results were quite distressing. "106, oh shit..." He says aloud, and runs into Potters office. "Colonel..." He says,
"What is it?"
"Hunnicut's temp is 106..."
"Damn, we have to get it down and fast, or..." He trails off.
"You're right, but how?"
"Ice... get him immersed in ice."
"Right Sir." Lewis says, and runs back into Post-Op with the orders from their CO.
"Kelley, we need ice, and lots of it. Get it here, pronto."
"Right." Kelley says, running over to the kitchen.
"BJ, can you hear me Chief? Wake up." He says, to his friend. "Come on BJ, open your eyes." Slowly his eyes open, but they are glazed over. "BJ, can you hear me?" He nods his head. "We have to get your fever down pal, you're up to 106 ok? We are packing you in ice, so if you feel cold, don't fight it. Do you understand?" Again he nods. "You'll be fine, just stay with me."
As soon as Kelley brings in the ice, Margaret walks into the ward. "What happened?" She asked, fear in her tone of voice.
"His fever's elevated." Lewis says, not wanting to lie to the Head Nurse.
"To what?"
"106."
"WHAT?!" She says, helping pack him in ice. She looks down at him and sees that he is awake. "BJ? Are you ok?" He nods.
"He hasn't been talking... but I figured jesters are as good as vocal ability." Lewis says to the worried Major. "Keep a check on his vitals, we don't want to throw him into shock." Margaret takes his hand to keep an eye on his pulse.
"You can do this BJ... keep with us. Just stay awake." Margaret says. BJ averts his eyes to the side that nobody was on, as if he was watching somebody.
Margaret followed his eyes, but couldn't see anyone. "Who are you looking at BJ?" She thought as he continued to stare off to the side. BJ gripped Margaret's hand tightly as they finished placing the ice around him. "You're ok Hunnicut, just relax." She tells him. "I hope to god this works." She keeps saying in her mind, "Please, let this work."
After a half an hour they took the ice off and let his body warm up to the room temperature, hoping that it would have done some good to his temperature. He stayed awake for the entire 30 minutes. Margaret, after about 15 extra minutes took his temperature, and smiled when she saw the results. "104." She says, to the Colonel. "It helped!"
"Yeah, but he still isn't out of the woods yet." He says shaking his head.
BJ looks at Margaret once and then closes his eyes. She waits a few more minutes and then stands up, and walks outside for a breath of fresh air. She stands in the cool afternoon and feels the wind blow against her face. For a few minutes she stands like that.
"He'll be fine..." Margaret heard someone say. She looked around, but didn't see anyone.
"I must be losing my mind." She says aloud after searching the compound for the owner of the voice, as she takes a deep breath and heads back into Post- Op to sit with BJ for a while longer. It was two more days before BJ woke up again. Margaret had taken to staying by his side almost every moment of the day, unless they were in surgery or she was forced to try and get some shuteye, as there CO so gracefully put it. BJ started to stir which grabbed Margaret's attention right away.
"BJ, can you hear me?"
"Yeah." He says to her, opening his eyes.
"Oh thank god." She says, almost breaking down into tears.
"What happened?"
"Don't you remember?"
"No." He says, trying to sit up.
Margaret puts a thermometer in his mouth as she begins to explain to him exactly what went on the past 4 days, "You ended up with the same fever that James's had BJ, you scared the hell out of all of us!"
"How long have I been out?"
"Don't talk till I finish taking your temperature. The past two days, but before that you were talking to us a bit, but nothing too coherent." She tells him. After a few more minutes she takes the thermometer out of his mouth, and smiles. "102. Thank god."
"What did I have?"
"They don't have a name for it yet, however, remember when that boy came in with the fever?"
"Yeah, the one who died."
"Yeah, well you must have come in contact with some of his blood."
"I did. I was taking his blood and it spilled... I instantly caught it in my hand, however I didn't have gloves on and I had cut my hand earlier that day..."
"That will do it." She says, cutting him off. "Well you were delirious, and had an entire conversation with Hawkeye."
"Oh." He says, looking away from her.
"Your temperature spiked to 106 and we thought we were gonna lose you too BJ. We packed you in ice and your ok now." She says smiling. "But do me a favor, and never scare me like that again."
"I'll try not to." He says, grinning.
"God BJ, I thought I was going to lose another one of you." She says, shaking her head.
"Margaret, I'm fine." He reassures her.
"I know, but a few days ago my god BJ, I couldn't lose another one of you, Hawkeye was hard enough..."
"You don't have to worry about it." He assures her. "I'm fine. I'm not going anywhere." He takes her hand closest to him, "I promise." She smiles and nods her head, wiping a tear away from her eye.
"I'm just glad you're awake."
"Me too." He says smiling.
"Well you need your rest. I'll be back in a bit." She says smiling.
"Alright." He says, as he closes his eyes. Margaret jumps up and runs into the CO's office.
"Colonel! He's awake!"
"How is he?" He asks his excited Head Nurse.
"He's coherent, and his temperature is down to 102."
"Thank god." He says, hugging Margaret.
"He's going to be fine!" She says grinning ear to ear.
"Good, now I want you to go and get some rest, do you understand me?"
"Yes sir." She says, knowing that she will finally be able to sleep.
"You are officially off duty for the next 12 hours Major, and if I see your keaster in here in less than 6 hours you are in trouble." He says smiling.
"Yes sir." She says, as she walks out of his office. She stops by Post-Op one more time before heading back to her tent. "Kelley, if anything changes on Captain Hunnicut, let me know."
"Yes Major." She says, smiling. "I'm glad he's ok."
"Me too Kelley, me too." She says grinning. "I'll be in my tent."
"Of course Major." Kelley says, and with that Margaret heads back to her tent. As soon as she makes it through the makeshift door she falls on her bed, and remembers what she had said to Hawkeye when she saw him before they took him away. "I asked you to watch over us, and there is no doubt in my mind that you didn't. BJ's gonna be fine, and I hope that you had a bit to do with that." She says, quietly to the empty tent. "Thank you Hawkeye for watching over us. I don't know what I would have done if he died too." She smiled and turned over, closing her eyes. She was exhausted and had no trouble falling asleep, however, before she fell asleep, she swore that she heard the same voice telling her that BJ would be ok speak to her again, only this time it said, "I'll always watch out for you." She once again passed it off as being too tired, because she was too 'level headed' to believe that someone was actually speaking to her. For the first time in six days, she slept for more than 6 hours.
BJ had to stay in post-op for another two days, till his fever completely broke. They didn't want to take a chance of him relapsing. It was another week till his strength came back completely, and he was able to work his full OR/Post-Op shifts. No one spoke of his delirious talks with Hawkeye, because no one wanted to believe that they happened, however in the back of everybody's mind lied the question of what if he actually did speak with Hawkeye and did see him, but that was only in the back of their minds. They were all just thrilled to get their Chief Surgeon back. It was a miracle that he survived.
*****
TBC...
Please R&R, but please be kind... I haven't been writing fic's that long. Thanks for all the reviews! Keep them up! If there are minor things wrong with this fic, I apologize; it was 1am when I finished it... I got an idea and had to go with it! Thanks for the Reviews!!! KEEP THEM COMING! Only around 3 more chapters of the fic, unless I come up with an interesting idea for another chapter. I know this chapter was bit far fetched, but I like it when things occur out of the ordinary! Keep up the reviewing! Thanks so much for everyone who has reviewed me! It really helps me out! Glad you are liking it!
*STARY*
********
April was a very rainy month for the 4077th. It seemed like just about every day they had a downpour of liquid from the sky...
"I can't believe it's raining again!" Jason says, flinging his soaked parka onto the ground.
"I know..." BJ says, holding his glass of gin. "Welcome to April Jase."
Jason laughs and shakes his head at his Bunkie, "So, is there any more on the Peace Talks?"
"Nah, only news is that they want this war ended by the summer."
"Well, then hopefully it will be before July so you can get home to Peg and Erin." He says smiling.
"I'm not getting my hopes up." BJ shakes his head.
"I can't believe it's been almost 8 month's since I got over here."
"Yeah, it's been almost 2 years for me." He says, looking at his watch. "Two years of post-op, which I am going to be late for if I don't get moving."
"Alright, well have fun."
"I intend too." BJ says, pulling his parka over his head, and quickly making his way over to Post-Op. "Afternoon Charles."
"Yes." He says gruffly. "On time I see."
"I tried to be late, but the rain was coming down to hard." BJ jests, getting a scowl from the other surgeon.
"Anyway, let me get you up to date on the patients in the ward. Keep an eye on Private Lucas here. He has used up a lot of blood and is on his seventh unit."
"Who worked on him?"
"I did. I would appreciate it if you would come and get me if I have to go back in again."
"Will do Chuckles." BJ says, smiling.
"James, over here has had a fever of 104 for the past few days. He came in with it."
"The flu?"
"No. We aren't too sure what it is from."
"Odd... anything working?"
"The ice packs have been helping but didn't start working till around a day ago."
"The fever was higher?"
"Yes. But anyway, I bid you adieu. I am going to go and sleep. If you need me, I'll be in the tent."
"Alright. I'll catch you later Charles."
"Right." He says as he heads out of the ward.
"Margaret..."
"Yeah?"
"Keep up with the penicillin, only double the dose's."
"Right Doctor."
"Hopefully that will stop this fever thing... I also want urine checks every half hour."
"Alright." She says, writing what he says on the chart.
"And give another unit to Charles's boy. He needs it."
"Of course, Able, grab another B positive for Lucas please."
"Yes Major."
"We have it covered Hunnicut." She smiles.
"You always do." He smiles back at her.
"Dr. Hunnicut! Lucas's blood pressure is dropping."
Instantly the Captain and Major are over with the patient. "Able. Go over to the Swamp and get Winchester. We have to open him up again."
"Ok." She says and runs over to the Swamp to drag the already weary doctor back into surgery.
"What happened?" He asks scrubbing.
"I got him stable now, but his blood pressure was dropping. There is definitely a hole in there somewhere that you have to plug up." BJ says.
"Right." Charles says yawning.
"I can do it for you if you need me too."
"Nonsense, I had at least 20 minutes of sleep..." He says sarcastically.
"See you after."
"Indeed." Charles says as he heads into surgery.
Around two hours later, Margaret goes over to check the fever patient's temperature. "No change BJ."
"None?"
"No."
"Dammit." He says, hanging his head. "Continue. Hopefully it will break soon."
"Yes Doctor." Margaret says, stifling a yawn.
"You look as tired as I feel." BJ says smiling.
"That's good than I only look like it because I am not tired." She says smiling.
"Margaret, don't lie, you were never good at it!"
"I resent that remark. I am a damn good liar." She smiles, and continues on her rounds.
Over the past months, Margaret and BJ have gotten quite close. Margaret feels that opening up to people will cause weakness, but after Hawkeye's death she had to, and she picked BJ. The only other person she showed her 'weakness' to was Hawkeye.
The next morning, BJ woke up feeling a bit under the weather, but he thought nothing of it.
"Morning Chief." Jason says smiling at him.
"Morning Jason." BJ says returning the smile. "How did Post-Op go last night?"
"Quietly, thankfully. I hate it when it's three in the morning and the place is jumping."
"As do I."
"When do you go on?"
"Noon."
"Attention All Personnel... Incoming wounded! The boredom is over!" BJ and Jason quickly move from the mess tent and into triage.
"Looks like we're back in business." Jason shouts to his chief surgeon.
"Looks that way." BJ says, as he starts in to scrub up.
"How many hours are we looking to be putting in Colonel?" Charles asks the CO.
"Looks like it is going to be a long one." He says, to his surgeons. "About a day's work."
"Great." BJ says, shaking his head. "I hate working on Marines."
"I agree they are all far too young." Charles says shaking his head. Margaret quickly pulls up the surgeons masks as they head into surgery.
"Scalpel." BJ says.
"Scalpel." Margaret replies.
"Wipe my forehead please."
"Yes doctor." Margaret says, wiping off the sweat on a towel. He felt a bit warm to her, but she kept her mouth shut.
Fourteen hours later, Colonel Potter shouts out to Pre-op, "How many more do we have?"
"Four." Father Mulcahy says, as he sticks his face into the room. "There are four more, three are minor though."
"Great." Potter says. "We are almost done gang."
"Get me another one." BJ calls, as he and Margaret pull of there gloves and get new ones put on.
"You have the last critical BJ." Klinger says, as he places the man before him. "Liver's nicked."
BJ shudders at the thought, before quickly looking at the X-ray and patching up the small knick in the organ.
Finally, after 20 hours of surgery they are finished.
"Am I still standing?" Jason asks, as he slides down onto the bench and closes his eyes,
"Scratch that question, am I still alive?"
"I'd take your pulse but I can't lift my arm." BJ says, sitting next to him.
"Alright gang, let's get some shuteye." Potter says, as he stands up to walk out of the scrub room. BJ stands up and wipes the sweat from his brow and heads back to the
Swamp with his other Bunkie's hot on his tail. Each of them quickly lie on there cots and fall fast asleep. Each of them are able to sleep approximately 4 hours before they hear,
"Attention All Personnel. Act two is setting up in triage. All shifts report to duty! All Shifts to OR now!"
"This is a dream...." Jason says, pushing himself up.
"No, this is a nightmare." Charles says.
BJ slept right through the announcement which was completely odd for him.
"Are you coming with us Chief?" Jason asks. "Hey BJ."
"Hunnicut?" Charles asks, walking over to the cot, shaking him awake.
"Huh? What?" BJ says, sitting up.
"The war Chief, remember? It's back in action."
BJ groans and stands up. He is now feeling absolutely miserable, and his temperature has elevated. "Let's go."
"I'll take the chopper pad." Jason says, running up to retrieve the patients.
"I guess that means you and me Hunnicut are left to do the Bus and Ambulances." Charles says, as they head over to pre-op.
"I guess it does." BJ says, wiping his forehead with his shirt sleeve.
"Are you alright?" Charles asks his fellow surgeon.
"I'm fine." BJ lies. "Why?"
"You don't look well at all." He says, noting the pale complexion of the surgeon in the dimming daylight.
"I'm fine... Really." BJ says, "This one's first." He calls to the corpsman.
"Alright. I'll take him first, get him prepped." Charles shouts.
All surgeons meet in the Scrub room briefly before heading into surgery.
Klinger comes in and says, "The fever patient just died."
"Dammit." BJ curses, as he continues working on the boy lying before him. "What was his temp at?"
"106 when he passed on."
"My god..." Margaret says. "The penicillin didn't work at all..."
"Let's just hope no one else is affected by it." The Colonel says.
"Let's hope..." Jason says, glancing over at BJ. He knew something wasn't right with him, but he just couldn't put his foot on it.
Surgery was fairly long, and lasted about 14 hours, and every hour seemed like an eternity for BJ. He felt absolutely horrible, but had to continue. In the back of his mind he kept the idea that he may have what the one soldier had.
"How many more Father?" BJ called.
"That's the last one."
"Great." BJ says, as Margaret wipes his forehead for the millionth time.
"Are you alright BJ?"
"Fine, suction."
"Suction. You don't look..."
"Major..." He warns her. "Suture."
She shuts up and hand's him "Suture."
Finally, they were finished. There were no more causalities and none planned in the next day.
"Wow that was hell." Jason says, yawning. "20 hours and then another 14 on top of that and somehow we managed to throw in a 4 hour nap that didn't account for anything in my books."
"This was one of the longer nights." Charles says.
BJ pulls off his surgical gown and pulled on his green shirt, he shakily stood up, which did not go unnoticed by the other men in the scrub room. "BJ? You alright?"
"Fine." He says, regaining his balance. "Just tired." He tells them wiping his brow with his sleeve. Suddenly the room starts spinning, and he feels himself falling forward, and then nothing.
"Grab him!" Charles says, lunging at there falling chief surgeon. Jason stops his head from hitting the ground.
"My god he's burning up." Jason says. "Margaret! Go get a penicillin IV set up!"
"What happened?" Margaret says coming in. "Oh my god." She says when she sees BJ on the ground. "What..."
"He's burning up. Charles help me with him." Jason calls as he and the other man carry there fallen companion into post-op.
"What in tarnations happened to him?" Potter calls, quickly making his way over to his Chief Surgeon.
"He just collapsed."
Potter sticks a thermometer into his mouth and waits. "Has he been feeling sick?"
"Not that he has told us."
"He has had an elevated temperature for a while." Margaret says, feeling partly responsible to his condition. "He felt really warm in surgery, but I didn't think anything of it."
"Don't blame yourself Margaret." Potter says, looking at his Head Nurse. He pulls the thermometer out of his mouth and shakes his head.
"What is it Colonel?"
"I think he may have what the private had."
"But penicillin didn't work!" Margaret says.
"He has a temperature of 104. Klinger, get on the horn and patch me a line to Tokyo. Let's find out what this is. Margaret, take some blood and ship it to Seoul. Tell them I want the results back to us PRONTO."
"Right." She says running to get a needle.
"Wear gloves!" Potter shouts as he goes into his office.
"Sir, Colonel Mitchell is on the line."
"Thank you Klinger." He says, as he goes into his office and picks up the phone. "Frank? Sherm. We're not doing too well up here, just had a fever patient die on us, and we think one of our surgeon's has it. What information can you give to us? Uhuh... alright... is it contagious... only through blood... alright... any cure... Penicillin works in the beginning right... the strong survives.... Alright, thanks Frank. Good bye." Potter hangs up the phone, "Damn." He curses. He did not want to lose another surgeon. "Klinger! Get the officers in here pronto!"
"Right Sir." Klinger says, and puts an announcement over the PA, "Attention All Personal, all officers report to Colonel Potter's office pronto! That is all."
"What is it sir?" Margaret asks, franticly.
"This fever is only transferred through blood. BJ must have came in contact with it sometime during his caring for him."
"So what can we do for him?" Jason asks.
"Keep with the penicillin..."
"Sir! That didn't work for Private James, what makes it..." Margaret says, cutting off the Colonel.
"Major keep your mouth shut and let me talk." He says, "Now, if you will let me finish, it says that if gotten in time penicillin could work to bring down the fever, but if not, only the strong survive. Anytime you think that you are going to be working with BJ's blood I want you in gloves, that is a direct order, which means, Margaret, all of your nurses must have gloves on hand when working on BJ. However, we won't know IF he has this fever till after the blood work comes back, everything that I am telling you is for precautions right now."
"Right." Jason says.
"I'll pray for him..." Father Mulcahy says, blessing himself.
"Any questions?"
"How quick does it kill..." Winchester asks.
"About a week, could be longer." Colonel Potter says. "Did you send the blood work out Major?"
"Yes sir." She says to him. "It will be back in a few hours."
"Right. Well, if there aren't any questions, Dismissed." All the officers leave, except
Margaret who is still in shock. "Major? Are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, fine." She says standing up.
"Major, keep your faith up, he isn't dead yet."
"It's like Pierce all over again. Colonel, I can't loose another one. I can't loose another person who I care so much about."
"I know Major, but hopefully the penicillin will work."
"Hopefully..." She says, walking out and back into post-op. "Lieutenant."
"Yes Major?"
"Anytime you go near Captain Hunnicut, I want you in gloves. NO ACCEPTIONS!"
"Yes Major."
"I also want temperature checks done on him every half an hour, and you report back to myself or one of the Doctors."
"Of course Major." Bigelow says, looking at the head nurse. "It's what Private James had isn't it?"
"I can not confirm that." Margaret says.
"Major..."
"I think it is yes, which is the reason our CO wants us to take every precaution there is when it comes to caring for him. Let me know when he wakes up."
A few hours later, the blood results come back positive for the nameless fever. "Damn." Potter says as he looks at the results. "I hope to god we caught it in time." He walks into the post-op ward and over to Charles, "It's positive. Keep him on penicillin and have a cool compress on him at all times."
Charles sighs and says, "Yes sir."
"Let me know about any change in his condition."
"Margaret..." Charles says, walking to the other side of the ward to tell her the news,
"It's positive."
"Damn." She says, as she finishes taking the blood pressure of one of the men lying there. "So now what?"
"We wait."
She sighs, writes the blood pressure on the chart and heads over to BJ's side, and takes his temperature. "104... no change..." She watches him start to stir. "BJ? Hey BJ open your eyes. BJ, look at me, come on..."
"Margaret..." He says, cracking an eye open.
"Oh thank god..."
"What happened?"
"You passed out. You have a really high fever. I need you to try and remember, did you come in contact with James's blood?"
"Who?"
"James... the fever patients... did you..."
"I don't remember." He says.
"Ok, it's alright. You're gonna be fine, just rest ok?"
"I think I can manage that." He says, closing his eyes.
Margaret does not leave his side unless she absolutely had to. Around 4am, she was doing some paperwork, and heard BJ talking to someone.
"Hey... you came back. So what's going to happen to me?" BJ asked what seemed to be nothing to anyone except for him.
"Nothing. You're going to be alright Beej." Hawkeye told him.
"I'm not dying?"
"BJ?" Margaret says, pulling a chair next to him. "Who are you talking too?"
"Hawkeye." He tells her. "I'm not going to die am I?" He asks again.
"BJ, don't think about that... you are going to be fine." Margaret tells him,
"No you're not dying BJ. You'll be fine, just sick for a while." Hawkeye says, smiling, sitting on the other side of the bed.
"BJ, Hawkeye's dead. You can't be talking to him." Margaret tells him.
"But I am. He is sitting right over there, can't you see him."
Lewis hears BJ talking and sees Margaret getting upset, and walks over to them, "He's delirious Margaret... don't pay any attention to what he is saying." He tries to comfort the nurse.
"No, I know what I see... and Hawkeye is right here... can't you see him?" BJ asks Margaret. "Can't you see him Margaret? He's sitting right across from you."
"BJ, Hawkeye died in August, he can't be sitting there, he's gone." Margaret tells her sick friend.
"I know he is, but he came back. He told me that I would be ok! He is looking at you right now..."
"BJ stop.."
"They can't see me." Hawkeye tells his friend.
"But why can't they?"
"I don't know... I am still working on that answer." Hawkeye says, shaking his head.
"Hawk... I don't understand..."
"BJ, that's enough. Hawkeye is not sitting right next to you! He is not there! He is dead, you have to stop this. You are going to wake up the other patients." Margaret says, placing the cool compress back on his head.
"Listen Pal, Margaret's right, you're going to have to rest to recover. You'll be fine but you have to help it along. If you need me, I'll be around. Keep fighting pal, and you'll pull through." Hawkeye tells BJ, as he slowly fades out.
"Bye Hawk." He says, as he closes his eyes.
Margaret has tears in her eyes, as she takes his temperature. "105..."
"We have to tell the Colonel." Lewis says, as he stands up. "Margaret, he is delirious..."
"I know." She says wiping her eyes.
"I'll go tell Colonel Potter." Lewis tells her, as he heads out.
"Dammit." Margaret says, wiping her eyes one last time.
"105?" Potter say as he walks into the ward. "Damn." He goes over to his cutter, "Has he been awake at all?"
"Yes. He was talking to..." Margaret stops.
"Talking to who?"
"Hawkeye... he said he was having a conversation with Hawkeye."
"He's delirious." Potter tells her.
"I know, but he insists that he had a conversation with him."
"Pack him in a bit of ice... see how that takes to his elevated Temperature."
"Right Colonel." Margaret says, heading out to get ice packs for her friend.
"I can't loose another one..." Potter says, shaking his head, as he goes to his cabinet and grabs his bottle of scotch. "Good god I can't go through that again." Potter rose from his chair and walked into post-op to check on the status of his surgeon. "Margaret, why don't you go and get some shuteye." He says to his head nurse.
"No, I'm fine."
"It's not question, it's an order Major..."
"But sir!" She says, standing up.
"No buts about it Major, I need you rested in the event that we have more casualties coming in! I can't have you falling asleep at the trays, now go!"
"I'm fine sir..."
"Margaret, go." He says, as he watches her reluctantly rise from her chair next to BJ and walk out of the ward. "She gets more stubborn every day, I swear." He picks up Hunnicut's chart and shakes his head.
"How's he doing Colonel?" Father Mulcahy asks as he enters Post-Op.
"Not well Padre I fear. There has been little change, but that little change is an elevation in temperature. He's one point away from Private James's breaking point."
"That bad..."
"He's delirious also, keeps having conversations with Hawkeye."
"Is he coherent?"
"According to the chart quite, however, I haven't been able to talk to him yet."
"Perhaps in time..."
"Keep him in your prayers Padre. He needs it."
"I haven't stopped." He says, sighing.
"Neither have I."
"You say he was talking with Hawkeye?"
"That's what the Major was telling me Padre."
"Huh, interesting."
"What is?"
"This isn't the first case I have heard of someone talking to a friend or loved one who has passed on when they were quite ill."
"Its delirium Padre, that's all it is." The Colonel says, quite sure of himself.
"Perhaps..." The father says, as he sits beside BJ, silently praying for the young man's life.
Margaret headed back into her tent, and laid on her bed. She was physically and emotionally exhausted. She didn't know how much more she could take. She curled up and cried for a good while, before she forced herself to stop, "Enough Margaret. You are the head nurse, nothing should affect you! Stop crying! The others need you to be strong!" She mentally told herself. "But I can't lose another." She says aloud, and breaks down into tears again. After what seemed like hours she finally fell asleep, it was a restless sleep, but it was sleep none the less. Sleep that she desperately needed.
Around 7am, Lewis took BJ's temperature again, praying that it would be lowered, but his results were quite distressing. "106, oh shit..." He says aloud, and runs into Potters office. "Colonel..." He says,
"What is it?"
"Hunnicut's temp is 106..."
"Damn, we have to get it down and fast, or..." He trails off.
"You're right, but how?"
"Ice... get him immersed in ice."
"Right Sir." Lewis says, and runs back into Post-Op with the orders from their CO.
"Kelley, we need ice, and lots of it. Get it here, pronto."
"Right." Kelley says, running over to the kitchen.
"BJ, can you hear me Chief? Wake up." He says, to his friend. "Come on BJ, open your eyes." Slowly his eyes open, but they are glazed over. "BJ, can you hear me?" He nods his head. "We have to get your fever down pal, you're up to 106 ok? We are packing you in ice, so if you feel cold, don't fight it. Do you understand?" Again he nods. "You'll be fine, just stay with me."
As soon as Kelley brings in the ice, Margaret walks into the ward. "What happened?" She asked, fear in her tone of voice.
"His fever's elevated." Lewis says, not wanting to lie to the Head Nurse.
"To what?"
"106."
"WHAT?!" She says, helping pack him in ice. She looks down at him and sees that he is awake. "BJ? Are you ok?" He nods.
"He hasn't been talking... but I figured jesters are as good as vocal ability." Lewis says to the worried Major. "Keep a check on his vitals, we don't want to throw him into shock." Margaret takes his hand to keep an eye on his pulse.
"You can do this BJ... keep with us. Just stay awake." Margaret says. BJ averts his eyes to the side that nobody was on, as if he was watching somebody.
Margaret followed his eyes, but couldn't see anyone. "Who are you looking at BJ?" She thought as he continued to stare off to the side. BJ gripped Margaret's hand tightly as they finished placing the ice around him. "You're ok Hunnicut, just relax." She tells him. "I hope to god this works." She keeps saying in her mind, "Please, let this work."
After a half an hour they took the ice off and let his body warm up to the room temperature, hoping that it would have done some good to his temperature. He stayed awake for the entire 30 minutes. Margaret, after about 15 extra minutes took his temperature, and smiled when she saw the results. "104." She says, to the Colonel. "It helped!"
"Yeah, but he still isn't out of the woods yet." He says shaking his head.
BJ looks at Margaret once and then closes his eyes. She waits a few more minutes and then stands up, and walks outside for a breath of fresh air. She stands in the cool afternoon and feels the wind blow against her face. For a few minutes she stands like that.
"He'll be fine..." Margaret heard someone say. She looked around, but didn't see anyone.
"I must be losing my mind." She says aloud after searching the compound for the owner of the voice, as she takes a deep breath and heads back into Post- Op to sit with BJ for a while longer. It was two more days before BJ woke up again. Margaret had taken to staying by his side almost every moment of the day, unless they were in surgery or she was forced to try and get some shuteye, as there CO so gracefully put it. BJ started to stir which grabbed Margaret's attention right away.
"BJ, can you hear me?"
"Yeah." He says to her, opening his eyes.
"Oh thank god." She says, almost breaking down into tears.
"What happened?"
"Don't you remember?"
"No." He says, trying to sit up.
Margaret puts a thermometer in his mouth as she begins to explain to him exactly what went on the past 4 days, "You ended up with the same fever that James's had BJ, you scared the hell out of all of us!"
"How long have I been out?"
"Don't talk till I finish taking your temperature. The past two days, but before that you were talking to us a bit, but nothing too coherent." She tells him. After a few more minutes she takes the thermometer out of his mouth, and smiles. "102. Thank god."
"What did I have?"
"They don't have a name for it yet, however, remember when that boy came in with the fever?"
"Yeah, the one who died."
"Yeah, well you must have come in contact with some of his blood."
"I did. I was taking his blood and it spilled... I instantly caught it in my hand, however I didn't have gloves on and I had cut my hand earlier that day..."
"That will do it." She says, cutting him off. "Well you were delirious, and had an entire conversation with Hawkeye."
"Oh." He says, looking away from her.
"Your temperature spiked to 106 and we thought we were gonna lose you too BJ. We packed you in ice and your ok now." She says smiling. "But do me a favor, and never scare me like that again."
"I'll try not to." He says, grinning.
"God BJ, I thought I was going to lose another one of you." She says, shaking her head.
"Margaret, I'm fine." He reassures her.
"I know, but a few days ago my god BJ, I couldn't lose another one of you, Hawkeye was hard enough..."
"You don't have to worry about it." He assures her. "I'm fine. I'm not going anywhere." He takes her hand closest to him, "I promise." She smiles and nods her head, wiping a tear away from her eye.
"I'm just glad you're awake."
"Me too." He says smiling.
"Well you need your rest. I'll be back in a bit." She says smiling.
"Alright." He says, as he closes his eyes. Margaret jumps up and runs into the CO's office.
"Colonel! He's awake!"
"How is he?" He asks his excited Head Nurse.
"He's coherent, and his temperature is down to 102."
"Thank god." He says, hugging Margaret.
"He's going to be fine!" She says grinning ear to ear.
"Good, now I want you to go and get some rest, do you understand me?"
"Yes sir." She says, knowing that she will finally be able to sleep.
"You are officially off duty for the next 12 hours Major, and if I see your keaster in here in less than 6 hours you are in trouble." He says smiling.
"Yes sir." She says, as she walks out of his office. She stops by Post-Op one more time before heading back to her tent. "Kelley, if anything changes on Captain Hunnicut, let me know."
"Yes Major." She says, smiling. "I'm glad he's ok."
"Me too Kelley, me too." She says grinning. "I'll be in my tent."
"Of course Major." Kelley says, and with that Margaret heads back to her tent. As soon as she makes it through the makeshift door she falls on her bed, and remembers what she had said to Hawkeye when she saw him before they took him away. "I asked you to watch over us, and there is no doubt in my mind that you didn't. BJ's gonna be fine, and I hope that you had a bit to do with that." She says, quietly to the empty tent. "Thank you Hawkeye for watching over us. I don't know what I would have done if he died too." She smiled and turned over, closing her eyes. She was exhausted and had no trouble falling asleep, however, before she fell asleep, she swore that she heard the same voice telling her that BJ would be ok speak to her again, only this time it said, "I'll always watch out for you." She once again passed it off as being too tired, because she was too 'level headed' to believe that someone was actually speaking to her. For the first time in six days, she slept for more than 6 hours.
BJ had to stay in post-op for another two days, till his fever completely broke. They didn't want to take a chance of him relapsing. It was another week till his strength came back completely, and he was able to work his full OR/Post-Op shifts. No one spoke of his delirious talks with Hawkeye, because no one wanted to believe that they happened, however in the back of everybody's mind lied the question of what if he actually did speak with Hawkeye and did see him, but that was only in the back of their minds. They were all just thrilled to get their Chief Surgeon back. It was a miracle that he survived.
*****
TBC...
Please R&R, but please be kind... I haven't been writing fic's that long. Thanks for all the reviews! Keep them up! If there are minor things wrong with this fic, I apologize; it was 1am when I finished it... I got an idea and had to go with it! Thanks for the Reviews!!! KEEP THEM COMING! Only around 3 more chapters of the fic, unless I come up with an interesting idea for another chapter. I know this chapter was bit far fetched, but I like it when things occur out of the ordinary! Keep up the reviewing! Thanks so much for everyone who has reviewed me! It really helps me out! Glad you are liking it!
*STARY*