A/N Some may have noticed since chapter five the chapters have been named after Chantal Kreviazuk songs... I do this alot when I cant think of good chapter titles, just so you know why most of the titles from here on in dont make ANY sense.

A few days later it was still cold out, the mud had frozen into deep ruts and holes, making it a challenge to move with haste through the compound when anyone needed to. Still everyone seemed to get by, the casualties had slowed, the fighting seemed to have relaxed, perhaps it was the weather or the lack of people to shoot at, but everyone was happy that they didnt have to stitch up anyone.

Sara was heading to Henry's office, she had agreed to meet Hawkeye and Trapper there after she had visited Chris (whom she had become close friends with) because of the two surgeon's having to give him their reports and the need for free booze. She gave a sigh and pulled her coat closer around her shoulders, clearly not wanting to head out into the cold October air. She shivered and stepped out into the blistering wind, in only a matter of seconds her cheeks became red and numb, she quickly walked across the compound, the sun was just setting, dim shadows danced around the ground in intricate prances.

She didn't notice the hand swiping out in front of her as she passed by the men's shower, someone grasped her wrist and pulled her into the shadows of the tent. Sara gave a scream and desperately tried to pull away but the man held her arm tight.

"Well, well. Sara Howard, we meet again."

The young girl gasped as her eyes fell on her attacker, His shifty little eyes were enough to tell her who he was.

"That's Sara Pierce to you Colonel Flagg, or should I say Mrs. Mary-Lou Partridge?" She demanded, "What are you doing here? Did your hound pick up the scent of a communist again?"

"I think you know what I'm doing here," The quite looney colonel said briskly, "I have to take you back to the USA."

"Didn't you try that already and fail miserably?" Asked Sara once more as she tried to shake off his tightening grip on her wrist, "Or has your ego not taken enough of a beating and you feel the need to fail again?"

"Don't you try to talk you're way out of this," Snapped the colonel, "You're coming with me."

"Right, as soon as I get my release papers from the looney house, go run around on the North Korean's side with pom-poms and Tango with Frank Burns! Let me go!"

"HEY!" Hawkeye, who had heard the commotion from inside Henry's office and feared for Sara, suddenly appeared a few feet from where the Colonel had dragged Sara into the shadows, "What the hell is going on?"

Sara quickly shook off the grip on her wrist which had lightened when Hawkeye had appeared and stepped swiftly away from the angry looking Colonel. Hawkeye put his arm defensively over her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"You okay?" He didnt wait for reply, instead he turned back to Flagg who was looking fairly mad, "What the hell are you doing back here?"

"I'm here to take her back to the USA." Flagg replied smugly, waving a finger in Sara's direction, "And you won't be able to stop me this time, I wont fall for any more of your tricks."

"So you think attacking her is the only way to get her to cooperate?" Hawkeye demanded, taking a dangerous step towards the C.I.A agent.

"I wasn't attacking her!" Flagg retorted bitterly.

Hawkeye looked down at his daughter, "Did he?"

She smiled to herself, Hawkeye gave her a small wink, she knew what to do, "Yes, he did." She said, suddenly changing into a very scared little girl, "He just grabbed me out of no where!"

"Really?" Hawkeye said with his brow raised, "I'm sure General Clayton would like to hear about this..."

"She's a liar!" Flagg snapped suddenly, "Are you going to listen to her, a kid or me? A grown man."

"Grown man-child is more like it." Sara muttered, "Come on Hawkeye, let him do his snooping or whatever it is little men like him do when they aren't play tea party."

Hawkeye scowled at Flagg who was still standing in the shadows with his fists on his hips, there was an anger in his face that Sara had never seen before, he looked as if he was about to kill Flagg in anyway possible. For the first time in her life, Sara was scared of Hawkeye. She reached out and lightly touched his hand, "It's okay Hawkeye, Let's go."

He either didn't hear her or was simply ignoring her feeble plea to go, "You keep your hands off of her." He hissed, "I don't want to see you within five feet of my daughter again."

"Daughter?" Flagg asked, slightly bewildered, he pulled out a notepad and began scrawling things down while his beady little eyes shifted back and forth hastily.

"Come on Sara, we're going to talk to Henry."

Sara followed Hawkeye numbly through the compound, frightened to say anything or even lag behind for a single moment, Fearful that he would lash out angrily once more. They entered the outer office only to find Radar had his ear pressed against the door listening in to the conversation going on between Henry and Trapper in the next room.

"Glued your ear to the door again, Radar?" Hawkeye asked without the friendly gleam that was usually in his eyes.

Radar swiftly straightened up, "Well how else am I supposed to learn anything?"

Hawkeye shrugged and pushed his way through the doors, leading Sara with him who still looked fairly frightened by her whole ordeal.

"Hey, what happened?" Trapper asked suddenly as he looked up from his chair in front of Henry's desk and noticed Sara's frightened look.

"Oh we had a little run in with Colonel Quaky," Hawkeye explained as he moved over to Henry's class cupboard and poured out a bottle of something, pouring himself a glass and settling back into a chair. "Henry, did you know Flagg is back?"

"You're kidding?" The Colonel asked, "Great, this is all I need, Louise Parker or whatever the heck it is he goes by wandering the camp and making a mess of things."

"What's he doing back?" Trapper asked.

"Apparently trying to get Sara back to the US," Hawkeye replied, "And this time he isn't afraid to use force."

"What do you mean?" Henry asked with an eyebrow raised, "Sara, did he hurt you?"

"Just grabbed my wrist," She replied, showing the CO the bright red mark around her right wrist, "It's nothing, I think he's just getting desperate."

"Oh you think?" Hawkeye asked, "It's ridiculous, I thought all the paperwork was sorted out to let her stay!"

"It was!" Henry said defensively, "Radar! Bring me the..."

Radar was already in the room handing Henry a file folder, "Here's Sara's permission documents, all signed, Sir."

"Than..."

"You're welcome, sir."

"...ks Radar."

Henry flipped open the folder and looked over the stack of papers, it certainty hadn't been easy convincing General Hammond to let Sara stay, but in the end they had done it, so it didn't make any sense that Flagg was there now, all the papers were signed. Everything was in order! Radar would have pointed it out if something wasn't in order.

"Well I just don't know you guys," Henry muttered, "I suppose I can call General Clayton and..."

"Yes, that's good!" Hawkeye said, "Call General Clayton, do what you have to, we need to get the royal nut job out of here."

"Maybe our last prank finally made him crack," Trapper suggested as he took a sip of his martini.

"I think he cracked ages ago," Hawkeye replied, "We just need to make him fall apart..."

"So what do you plan on doing?" Sara asked as she leaned against the door frame before turning and pushing one side of the door open, "For goodness sake Radar, you might as well just come in, it'll be easier than giving the door a physical."

The young clerk blushed but nodded and stepped into the office, Henry just pushed his fishing hat forward over his eyes and lay his head down on his desk, "Well whatever you do, just make sure it isn't illegal, I don't need any of the General's on me for letting you two goons get away with something else. They always want me to court marshall you or put you under house arrest or give you life in front of the firing squad..."

"It's alright Henry," Hawkeye said, "We'll think of something... Im not promising that it will be legal though."

Henry made a shrugging motion with his shoulders and muttered something which sounded an awful lot like "lifetime in front of the firing squad."

xXx

In a matter of hours almost everyone at the 4077th knew of Flagg's appearance and all were counting on Hawkeye and Trapper to figure out some sort of scheme to rid the camp of this crawling, spying menace before he found a way to take Sara back to the US, whether she wanted to or not.

Sara didn't find the crazed Colonel much of a problem after Hawkeye had been so forceful in warning him to stay away from her, she of course was still rather unnerved by his outburst and nearly began crying once she had found Trapper alone and managed to explain to him what had happened.

"He's just looking out for you," Trapper had replied as he moved down the row of cots in the post-op ward and looked down at another clipboard, "But I see what you mean, I've never heard of Hawk getting so serious before in my life, either sober or not."

"He's been acting really weird lately, Trapper." Sara muttered as she followed him, "I don't know what to think anymore."

"Just let him be Hawkeye, he'll figure out where he left his head in a few days, I'm sure."

"I hope you're right..."

Sara had taken to talking more and more to Christopher Everett, next to Radar he was one person closest in age to her and she found they had a lot in common, both orphans, both wanting to get away from home, both in the same war but fighting for different things.

"I don't think you understand," She said one day as she sat on the end of his cot, "You're going around at the front giving these doctors their pay. You break what we repair, it's one never ending circle."

"We have to fight to protect our country," Chris explained, "Even if it means a few lives."

"A few lives?" Sara gaped, "More like a few thousand, we see guys come in everyday with their bodies half blown apart, and for what? Freedom that we already have? I see people come in here all the time, they aren't here to help the South Korean's, they're here to kill the people that go against everything we believe in. We have no tolerance for others, so why are you here? Is it really because you didn't want to go to a foster home or are like the rest of them?"

Chris pondered this for a moment, unsure how to reply, when he did Sara knew he was forming the thought in his head very carefully, "I don't know, I suppose im here to help the South Korean's... I'm here because I want the war to end..."

"Killing them wont end it," Sara replied sadly, "And then we fix them again, just for both sides to go off and kill a bit more, Imagine if we all just left... There would be no one to fix because there would be no one to kill."

"And what about you?" Chris asked quietly, "What are you doing here?"

"I can't go home," Sara answered sombrely, "If I do my god parents will find me, I'm just as safe here as I am back home. Besides, I couldn't leave my friends, someone needs to stop them from getting alcohol poisoning."

"Seems to me that your reason isn't much better than mine..." Chris said with a smirk.

"Maybe not," Sara grinned, "But you'd do good to remember who had her fingers jammed in your neck for fifteen minutes during surgery."

Chris chuckled, "You're right, I appreciate it, really I do."

There was an odd moment of silence before Sara looked at the young man, "So... when do you have to go back to your unit."

"Doctor McIntyre said I could in about five days..." He replied mournfully, "Now I'm not so sure I want to go back."

Sara grinned, "Well you don't have to..."

"Forget it, Im not telling anyone, and you promised you wouldn't either..."

"And I wont." Sara replied as she stood up from the end of the cot, "I'll see you later, I have go back to the Swamp before Flagg finds me."

"Flagg?"

"Uh, don't ask." Sara laughed, "it's a long and confusing story."

"I'll take your word for it."

Chris watched Sara leave the post op ward, something about the young girl amused him, she had a different way of looking at the world, much different then the girls back home, only worried about their make up and jewellery. Not Sara, she just wanted to get through each day alive...

He didn't notice as the shifty eyed Colonel Flagg approached him through the far door of the post op ward.

"Hello Corporal," Flagg said as he sat down on the edge of the cot, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, thank you sir," Chris replied as he shifted his weight uncomfortably, unsure who this new man was or what he wanted.

"I'm Colonel Meyers," As one could imagine, Flagg had a fake id card to prove who he was, he quickly showed it to the young man before putting it away, and giving him a very stern look. "I'm going to be frank with you, I'm here from Regimental, It's my job to bring Sara Howard back to the USA, unfortunately her..." He cleared his throat, "Father, won't let me get within five feet of her to discuss the matter. I need you to try and convince her."

Chris choked back a laugh, "Are you serious? No offence meant sir but she's strong willed, I can't convince her to do anything... I barely know her!"

Flagg frowned, "Listen young man, Its important that she go home, it's not safe for her here... If you aren't willing to help then I may be forced to take actions against you."

"Because I'm not willing to betray a friend?"

"Her father... Her real father may have had communist connections. It's my job to root out the pinko's and the traitors and she may have some connections because of her fathers work."

"Well that's her business, not mine." Chris said bluntly.

"Young man, I can make your life very unpleasant if you aren't careful..." Flagg said in a dangerously low voice, "I have files on everyone, I have files bigger than McArthur's house. I have files on you that tell about the worm and cheese sandwich you fed to Julie Morgan in the first grade."

"Firstly, sir, it was worms and sand, secondly, no one forced her to eat it. So go ahead and do your worst, I'm not going to betray someone that saved my life."

"No... Tell me Corporal, How many candles are going on your cake next week?"

'Uh oh...'