Hello! I'm back, and I'm so happy that so many people reviewed, even though I haven't updated for a llllllloooooonnnnngggggg time. This is for you guys!
Note- If any of the characters seem out-of-character, you have my deepest apologies.
Chapter 5 – And the Results Are . . .
Begin Chapter
Charles sat at his desk, wondering what to say to the lieutenant. It bothered him greatly at the results that came back from Seoul. He had made sure that Corporal O'Reily gave him the results instead of Pierce.
"Why do I care about that GIRL so much," he mumbled to himself, "She's just a lieutenant."
"But she's so young," he argued to himself, "And to think what that sleaze bag did to her. If that wasn't enough, now she's –"
Charles cut himself off. He quickly looked around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping. After he was satisfied that nobody was paying attention to him, he pulled out the lab results from his shirt pocket. He unfolded the results and went over them again and again, trying to see if there had been any mistakes. There weren't any.
The door to the Swamp opened, and in walked B.J.. Charles quickly folded up the results again and stuffed them in his shirt pocket.
"A little jumpy today aren't we Charles?" B.J. asked sarcastically.
"Ah, Hunnicutt," Charles flustered, "I was just reading the paper."
"Ah, reading the paper. Well, since when did the "Stars and Stripes" come in medical sheet format?"
"Alright," Charles seethed, "It's the test results for the lieutenant."
"The one that Hawk is protecting like a watch dog?" B.J. asked as he walked over to Charles' cot. He sat down on it and told Charles, "He's worried about her. He already lost her uncle, and doesn't want to lose her."
"You don't think I don't know that!" Charles snapped.
"All that Hawkeye wants to do is look at the results."
"It's not as simple as that." Charles sighed, "I promised the lieutenant I wouldn't tell Pierce, and that is what I planned to do."
"Why promise something like that, when Hawkeye can just order her to tell him."
"You forget something though Hunnicutt," Charles accused pointedly.
"Oh yeah? What's that?" B.J. countered.
"Pierce is too noble to order something when he wants to make friends with patients."
"Well, then can I at least see the results?"
"Are you going to tell Pierce?"
"No, I promise."
"Just to be sure, I order you to not tell Pierce."
"Alright. I won't tell him, can I please see the results?"
Charles grumbled, and reluctantly handed the results to the captain. B.J. unfolded the results, and read through them, trying to not show how upset he was. He folded it up, and handed it back to the Major.
"So, how long do you think it will be before Hawkeye notices this?" B.J. asked.
"Hopefully, she'll be gone before we'll tell him."
"And if she hasn't?"
"He's a big boy, he can find out himself."
Scene Change
"Hawkeye, where are you taking me?" Hannah asked.
It had been a few hours after the incident, and after deciding that Hannah was well enough to get up, he decided to show her something.
"A place that I really should visit more often."
Currently, he had placed his hands over her eyes, and was steering her with his arms. Hawkeye had given up on asking what was wrong with Hannah, as long as she was here; he really enjoyed getting to know her.
"Well, here we are," he stated, holding up his hands.
They stood before a small, white, wooden cross. A wreath of wild flowers hung around it. In tiny writing, it read: Lt. Colonel Henry Blake. May he rest in peace.
"Oh, Hawkeye," she whispered. She turned to face the Captain, then threw her arms around his neck, which was quite a feat, considering the height difference, and whispered, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," he replied, unable to think of anything else.
The two of them went and sat down on a nearby log, to sort through their thoughts, and to regain their composure before heading back to the 4077th. Hawkeye looked over at the young lieutenant who appeared to be lost in thought. To break the silence, Hawkeye started to chuckle.
"What's so funny, Captain?" Hannah asked, looking uncertainly at the chuckling Hawkeye.
"Just thinking about an argument your uncle had with one of previous surgeons."
"Ferret Face?"
"How'd you know Frank's nickname?"
"Uncle Henry always wrote me a separate letter. He told me about things I'm not even sure Auntie Lorraine knew about. So, about the argument?"
"Oh, right, well, Ferret Face wanted to charge insubordination on me against him for failing to salute. Well, Frank told him, 'I'm the one with the oak leaves,' and Henry replied, 'and I've got dimples on my butt'."
Hannah laughed so hard that she nearly fell behind the log. The two looked behind them at the sound of gravel crunching. Someone was moving quickly towards them. It was Father Mulcahy, approaching the two.
"Hawkeye," the padre gasped, trying to catch his breath, "We're expecting wounded any minute. You should get back to camp right away."
"Alright." Hawkeye replied, standing up and brushing himself off.
"Is there anything I can do?" Hannah piped up, struggling to stand.
"No, leave it to the professionals," Hawkeye told her, as he headed quickly back towards to camp, leaving Father Mulcahy and Hannah to stand there watching him.
Padre looked over at Hannah, and saw her eyes flashing daggers towards the running captain. She picked up her sack that continually hung on her back, as she started back to the camp at a quick trot. Padre came up behind her, and asked, "Something troubling you my child?"
"Pierce forgets that I'm a field surgeon, so I get to work on the patients well before him," she hissed scathingly.
"Well, I must admit that Hawkeye can forget some things, but I don't think he meant to hurt your feelings."
"It's not my feelings that have been torn at, it's my pride that needs to be fulfilled."
"A tarnished pride can haze ones perception."
"Sorry Father, but Hawkeye needs to be reminded that women can do any job that men can do. It's a changing world Padre, and men can't do it be themselves."
Hannah left the father in thought as she hustled back to the camp, ignoring the pain searing throughout her leg.
Scene Change
"And where do you think you're going, little lady?" an MP asked Hannah, as she was about to go into Pre-Op.
"I'm going into the OR," Hannah replied, trying to get past, but the MP refused to move. Hannah looked up into the MP's eyes, and commented, "Excuse me."
"I'm sorry little lady," a voice stated behind them, in an all-too-familiar way.
Hannah slowly turned to face the person who had spoken out. It was Colonel Crackpot – I mean, Colonel Flagg, who was in one of his strange "disguises".
"Flagg."
"Lieutenant."
"And what, pray tell, are you doing here?"
"Making sure that you don't escape justice."
"Why don't you go ask Goul to tell you what happened the night his troupe left, or in his eyes "went AWOL"?"
"Why don't you just face the court marshalling like a big boy, oh wait, you're just a girl."
"You take that-"
"Hello Flagg," Colonel Potter's voice interrupted the two, "Is there a problem?"
Colonel Flagg straightened himself up. Over the course of his and Hannah's "conversation", both of them had gotten menacingly closer together. Pointing at Hannah, Flagg stated, "As a matter of fact, yes. This lieutenant appears fine enough to be transported. I don't see why you keep her here, when all that she's doing is taking up extra bed space."
"Well," Colonel Potter started, "If Major Winchester, who is still responsible for her care, feels that she is not fit for transport, then she is most likely not ready for transport," Colonel Potter broke his attention from Flagg, and drew it towards Hannah, asking, "Lieutenant? Are you alright?"
Hannah had begun swaying side to side, her face gradually paling. She was starting to realize how hard of a time she had just coming back to camp. Her eyes had lost their spark of liveliness. She could taste bile in her mouth.
"I . . . am . . . perfectly . . ." Hannah couldn't finish her sentence. All of her energy had been zapped. Both Colonel Flagg and Potter watched as she fainted into a mass of olive drab heap.
Colonel Potter rushed over to the fallen Lieutenant, checking for a pulse. Right as he found it, Margaret had emerged from OR. Seeing the colonel hovering over the fainted lieutenant, she poked her head back inside, and shouted, "COREMAN!"
Flagg let out a roar and kicked a nearby trash barrel. Shortly after, he had to have a x-ray taken to make sure that he hadn't broken anything.
Scene Change
Hawkeye trudged into the Swamp by himself. Charles had Post-Op duty. BJ had decided to try his luck in the Mess Tent for whatever the dinner was tonight. Hawkeye thought that now would be the best time to find some of the good alcohol that he had smelt Charles smuggle in a few days ago.
First, Hawkeye tried the footlocker, but it was locked (Hawkeye knew that he would regret the time he put some frogs into Charles' footlocker). Next, Hawkeye tried Charles' desk. He found some old photos, but not any liquor. Then, Hawkeye looked under Charles' cot. He found some food that looked edible (except the can of caviar), but not one drop of booze.
As Hawkeye started to get up, something underneath Charles' pillow caught his attention. Hawkeye removed a folded up piece of paper. It was a medical sheet, and it had Hannah's name on it.
After a moment, Hawkeye sat back down on his knees. He kept looking at it until he heard the Swamp door open. In walked BJ.
"Hey Hawk, whatcha doing?" BJ asked, not recognizing the paper in Hawkeye's hands.
Waving the piece of paper, Hawkeye asked in disbelief, "Did you see this?"
BJ just sat down on his cot, placing his head in his hands.
Scene Change
"Evening lieutenant," Charles' voice called out as Hannah's vision cleared from its cloudy state.
"Evening Charles," Hannah replied, trying to sit up.
She failed in her attempt, her back flopping down onto the cot. She let out a moan in pain.
"Everything hurts," she groaned, then whimpering, "Including my stomach."
"Well, then I guess you should eat something," he replied, placing a tray onto Hannah's cot.
"Food makes me nauseous though," Hannah groaned again.
"Well, there's a reason for that."
Charles bent over and whispered something Hannah's ear so that only she could hear. Hannah bolted upright, a shocked expression on her face.
"You're joking right? Please tell me you were joking," Hannah stated, fear rising in her voice.
When Charles shook his head no, Hannah let out a loud groan, falling back into the laying position.
"Why me?" she moaned/wailed.
"I'm sorry Han-"
Suddenly, the door slammed open, as a furious Hawkeye stormed in, the piece of paper squished in his fisted hand. He stopped in front of Hannah's cot, and shaking his fist at Charles, he roared.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SHE WAS PREGNANT!"
Post-Op became deadly silent right at that moment.
End Chapter
Well, that's all for now, so if you were the few who guessed that Hannah was pregnant, then you get a cookie! Yeah for you!
And just what you wanted to see . . . A DISCLAIMER. Note, I do not own anything MASH related.
Remember to review people!
Favorite saying from Colonel Henry Blake:
"Klinger, it's my considered opinion that no one is going to believe you are pregnant."
