A Gentleman
Charles had left Pierce to sort himself out. Besides, he knew Hunnicutt should be finished soon and then he'd have to listen to the story again.
He made his way to the mess tent and after grabbing himself some questionable lunch, he searched for a seat with some appropriate company. He smiled to himself when he saw her sitting there, the woman he'd just spent the last few minutes talking about was here, all alone at a table. He went straight over to her.
"Mind if I join you?" Charles asked.
"Of course not." Gaby said, smiling sweetly at him. She had an empty tray in front of her and was just sitting there, drinking a coffee.
"It's nice to have some different company. The company you're in, I find, makes the food more or less appealing. I feel I'll be able to eat a whole meal today."
"Why, you're very sweet, major." She replied, "But I feel I should remind you that I am seeing your tent mate."
"Oh... I got the impression from a conversation I had with him that you two had a disagreement." Charles was getting curious as to was really going on between Pierce and Rose.
"It was nothing much. I couldn't stay mad at him for long." She said. "Do you know where he is?"
"He's in the swamp, well, he was." Charles said.
"I best go talk to him. Poor guy's probably worried sick that we're gonna split up." Gaby stood up to leave.
"Your company has been most interesting." Charles said.
"Thank you. You're a true gentlemen, major." Gaby walked from the mess tent and Charles watched as she made her way to the swamp.
Once she was out of view, he also left and made his way to the supply tent.
He found BJ immediately. BJ briefly looked round to see who had entered, but was in mid-count so he didn't say anything until he had finished.
"Come to help?" BJ asked.
"No, not really." Charles said honestly. I wanted to talk to you about Pierce."
"Is he okay?" BJ asked looking a little alarmed.
"He's fine. I meant more about his relationship with the new nurse Rose. I've just heard two very different accounts about what's going on between them."
"Explain, Charles?" BJ asked a little confused.
"Pierce told me they had just had an argument and he wasn't sure what to do about things with her, that she wanted a more serious relationship than he did. She just said they'd had a slight disagreement. She then went over to the swamp to reassure him that he needn't worry about their relationship breaking up."
"I can't really see what the big deal here is Charles. He already spoke to me about this, he wasn't sure about how serious he wanted the relationship to be and he's probably sent her mixed signals." BJ explained.
"You don't think there's something strange about her?" Charles asked.
"Yeah, I do. I think she's scared of this place and the people. Margaret's already decided she doesn't like the woman, she's just insecure."
"Yes, I'm sure you're right. I'll have to try to reassure her a little." Charles said. He could see why Pierce liked to bring his problems to Hunnicutt, he seemed to see things for what they really were.
BJ returned to the supplies in front of him. "Much left to do?" Charles asked.
"Not really." BJ replied.
Charles sighed quietly. "Can I help at all?"
BJ smiled at the surgeon next to him. "There's always room for one more."
Hawkeye was laying on his cot, eyes closed when Gaby entered the swamp. Assuming it was Charles returning from the mess tent, he kept his eyes shut.
He felt the side of his cot dip slightly as someone sat by his side and then felt a hand rest on his thigh, "Come on Charles, I'm not in the mood." He said as he opened his eyes to see Gaby very, very close to him.
He smiled at her a little nervously as she lent in and kissed him.
She broke the kiss off and sat back and looked down at him. "You're so silly," she said "Thinking that I'd just go off and leave you. Do you believe in fate, Hawkeye?"
"I, er, don't really believe in that kinda stuff." he said, sitting up more so he could distance himself from her.
"Well, I do. I believe fate made us meet each other."
"Hey, hang on a minute. Is this some kind of set up? Did the nurses put you up to this?" Hawkeye smiled broadly, then laughed a little to himself. "It's brilliant. You act really possessive to freak me out. It's genius. Who's idea was it?" Hawkeye said, knowing how underhanded the nurses could be at times.
"Hawkeye, you don't have to pretend with me. I know you. I love you."
"Come on, Gaby, really. Was it Margaret? You can stop with the psycho act."
It was somewhere in the next few seconds of saying this, Hawkeye realized that it wasn't an act.
"I can't believe you don't think my feeling for you are real!" Gaby said to him, her voice hollow in a very displaced sort of way. She was waking away from the camp, Hawkeye following her.
He realized that Gaby really did believe everything she said to him and now he'd enraged her. He was going to attempt to bring her back to the camp, calm her down and then inform Colonel Potter he had a raving loony as a nurse. He couldn't believe that this woman had been so normal when she first arrived, especially as he'd spent more time with her than anyone else. She brought new definition to the term split personality.
"It's not that, it's just that sometimes we all play tricks on each other like that." Hawkeye explained.
"And people get hurt!" She screamed at him. Hot tears ran down her face as she continued to try to leave him behind.
"Look, please just stop walking away. Let's talk, okay?"
"I don't wanna stop here." Gaby said, continuing her stomp away from camp. "You can talk as you walk can't you?"
"Yes but, I wanted to talk to you properly."
Gaby stopped suddenly. "Fine. Talk to me. Explain to me why you made me look an idiot in front of everyone!"
"I didn't make you look an idiot, no one thinks you're an idiot either. Please, just come back to the camp with me and we can make all this better." Hawkeye said hoping she could tell he was at least sincere about wanting to get her back to camp.
"Okay, but you have to do something for me first." Gaby asked, her tone of voice suddenly shifting from one of anger moments ago to one that was sweet, warm and flirtatious.
"I'll try." Hawkeye said, not prepared to promise her anything.
"Okay, sit down with me a minute." She said, as she sat on the dusty ground. Hawkeye looked round for a minute, feeling a little silly, but he did sit next to her. "Now, you have to close your eyes and I'm going to put something in your hand, but no peeking."
Hawkeye was reluctant to close his eyes and she could tell. "It's a picture I want to show you." She explained.
Still feeling reluctant to do so, but realizing it was calming her down, he closed his eyes and held a hand out. She touched his hand with her soft, delicate fingers and moved his hand so it was on the ground, palm up. "You really will love this." She said.
She reached round to her back pocket and pulled the surprise out of her pocket carefully. "Are you ready?" She asked. Hawkeye nodded his head.
She slipped the protective cover from the end of the scalpel and watched as she plunged the razor sharp instrument into Hawkeye's hand.