"What do you mean?"

Trapper knew he probably could have worded his thought much better, but it was far too late to think about that now.

"I mean," Trapper said, slowly forming the words in his mind before spitting them out, "Let's just think about it for a minute, you know her name, you know how old she is, but what else do you really know about Sara?"

Hawkeye fell back onto his cot and looked thoughtfully at Trapper, as if trying to find the hidden message in his friends comments.

"You didn't know about her dad," Trapper pointed out quietly, relieved that he had found an excuse to push the subject more. "So what else do you think you know about her?"

"Trapper, are you trying to make me not trust her?" Hawkeye demanded angrily.

"No!" Trapper replied, "But... I think it's time you sat down and talked to her about everything that's happened."

"Trapper, I appreciate all you're doing, really," Hawkeye said quickly, "But this is something that has to be between Sara and I."

"Looks awfully one sided to me." Trapper muttered as he rolled over on his side, away from Hawkeye, and shut his eyes.

"What?"

"Nothing," Trapper muttered from his cot, "G'night Hawkeye."

"Night Trapper..."

xXx

"I don't know, they seem like such nice people..."

"That's why I need your help, Major Korton."

"I'm only a lieutenant."

"That could be changed very easily."

"I don't understand what you want me to do."

"It's very simple really..."

xXx

Frank Burns glared angrily down at his operating table.

"What's the matter Frank?" Trapper asked from his patient, "Lose your watch again?"

"Don't remember how to malpractice?" Sara asked.

"Hammered?" asked Hawkeye.

"This man is a North Korean!" Frank said angrily as he waved his gloved finger at the frightened young man who had not been put to sleep yet.

"Hmm very good Frank," Henry said as he peered into the gull bladder of an American soldier, "Ten points if you can guess his age without counting his rings."

"Colonel! I refuse to operate on a North Korean!" snapped Frank.

"Smart thinking Frank," Hawkeye said, "Who knows where that North Korean's been?" He made a comical gagging sound behind his mask.

"Could it be... North Korea?" Sara guessed.

"Congratulations young lady, you've just won yourself a hernia!"

"I'll put it with the collection."

They had been operating for three hours, forty-two minutes and had only closed up four soldiers. A hill had been hit fairly hard and the 4077th had gotten both allies and enemies, all wounded in some way or another. The POW that Frank was standing over had several broken ribs and three fairly deep wounds on his right leg that needed to be stitched along with two bullets in his shoulder, he was one of the luckier cases.

"Colonel!"

"Frank, just operate on the kid." Henry said angrily, not wanting to argue with Ferret Face anymore than necessary.

"No."

"Oh for the love of..." Hawkeye muttered at his patient, " Here, Frank, you close up, you can do that can't you? I'll fix your patient. God forbid you actually practice some kindness for once in your miserable life. Come on Sara, you're going to assist."

They swiftly exchanged their bloodied gloves for new ones and stepped over to the second table where a young Korean man lay, still awake, looking fairly frightened and unsure about where he was.

"Don't worry, kid." Hawkeye said soothingly to the young man, "We'll get you fixed up, then Frank can toss you over the lines. In a matter of days we'll repair you again."

"You're lucky he can't understand you," Sara pointed out, "He'd be even more scared than he already looks."

Hawkeye grinned, "Alright Ginger, Let's put him under and get him fixed up before Frank decides that he doesn't even want to work in the same room as a North Korean..."

"Well..." Frank said from his table.

"No, Frank." chorused Trapper, Sara and Hawkeye, they exchanged strange glances as if to say 'Well that was weird'. As the general anaesthesia mask was being placed over the young man's mask, his eyes widened in fear, swifter than any of the surgeons or nurses could react, he had a scalpel in his hand and was off of the operating table, the silver blade held to the nearest nurses neck....

Sara.

"Woa! Jesus!" Trapper exclaimed, nearly dropping the blade he held over his patient.

"Oh good grief, not again." Henry muttered.

"Someone get a sedative ready!" Hawkeye shouted, "Sara are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine." She replied simply, "But I have to admit, the knife to my neck is a little unnerving."

"Does anyone here speak Korean?" Hawkeye demanded.

"This is why I don't like operating on the enemy!" Frank said smugly.

"Frank, keep your smarmy comments to yourself!" Hawkeye snapped angrily, "Come on, someone has to speak Korean around here."

No one did, no one made any effort to move closer or away from the North Korean, they were all frozen to their spots. Sara seemed mildly amused by all the was happening and not scared or worried by any of it. The young North Korean began shouting violently in his native tongue, his seemingly harsh words fell on deaf ears as no one could really understand a single word he spoke.

"Will someone get him on to a table?!" Henry demanded, "We've still got patients out in Triage and we can't bring them in with him brandishing a knife every which way!"

"Okay, just calm down." Hawkeye lowered his voice and calmly made a few short steps towards the North Korean, "No ones going to hurt you, we're going to patch you up... That's why I took the case instead of Frank, it's okay-."

"Hey!"

"Will you relax, Frank?" Trapper said angrily from his patient, "He can't understand english."

"Well I don't want my reputation tarnished."

"God forbid you actually save someone while you're over here," Sara muttered, the North Korean said something to her and forced the blade closer into her neck, but not so much as to actually break the skin and risk injuring her.

"Come on, put down the knife." Hawkeye said, regaining his composure once again, "Please put down the knife?"

"I don't think he understands 'please' in English." Trapper pointed out.

"Well he should," Hawkeye replied bitterly, "It should be a universal word, everyone should understand 'please' and 'thank you' for that matter."

"As interesting as this conversation is," Sara said quickly, "I don't feel the scalpel getting any further away from my jugular and I'm pretty sure I need that intact."

"Trapper, fill up a needle with anaesthesia and pass it to Sara's free hand," Hawkeye said, trying to sound as calming as he had a moment earlier as not to raise suspicion, "Sara, on the count of three, you get him in the leg with it, we'll get his arm away."

"Wonderful plan," Sara muttered as she felt trapper press the needle into her free hand, "I hope it works."

"That makes two of us," Hawkeye replied, "Ready?"

"Oh of course," she grinned, "Stab and duck, I'm sure I've got it. Don't worry, if I mess up we can always try again!"

"Aren't you little Miss Positive..." Hawkeye muttered, "One... Two... Three!"

Sara quickly twisted her head and neck away from the blade as she jabbed the needle into the North Korean's leg, he gave a shout and looked pained for a moment as Trapper pulled the scalpel from his hand with a comical "yoink", the next moment he was flat on the operating table in a dead sleep.

Hawkeye stepped over to Sara who looked quite relieved (and a little faint) and check her neck, there was the smallest of cuts where the scalpel had begun to dig in, but nothing to worry about.

"Go back to the Swamp and get some rest, you look dead tired."

"Yeah, it's been a crazy day." Trapper looked at her quizzically over his white surgeon's mask

xXx

"How much sump could a sump pump pump if a sump pump could pump sump?"

"I don't know, how many martini's can you down without making a complete fool of yourself?"

"Less than one." Hawkeye downed the last of his drink and rubbed his eyes, "God this was a long day."

"You look a little stressed," Trapper observed from across the round bar table in the officers club, "Want to share?"

"Not really..."

"Penny for your thoughts,"

"Thats not very much."

"Yes, we'll you're drunk so I'm really not expecting very much." Trapper grinned as his took another swill from his martini.

"I'm just worried..."

"About Sara?"

"Sort of," Hawkeye admitted, "She's been acting pretty strange since that incident with Flagg, I'm really... I don't know..."

"Worried? Scared? Petrified? Confused? Bemused? Thoughtful?"

"That about covers it."

"Well," Trapper sighed, "Maybe it's time you actually sat down and talked to her about everything that's happened, it can't be easy for her you know, I think you'd both do good to talk about your feelings..."

"When did you become Sidney?"

"About three martini's ago," Trapper replied, "I'm serious, Hawkeye, just talk to the kid."