A/N: Well, the reviews are trickling in, and they're much appreciated. Therm, your continued support is keeping me going with this. And Jas Texan never fails to make me chuckle. Koosh, when I saw you'd reviewed my story I leapt out of my seat! I've read all of your Alex stories and enjoyed them immensely so I'm glad that you like my stuff too! What happy people we all are!
This chapter is coming in 2 parts because I don't like to post too much at a time in case you all get bored. They won't be too far apart though, so sit tight! And now, we present for your reading pleasure… dah daaaaaaah!
We All Fall Down Part 1
"Hey, Gorgeous! Wanna come have a peek under my covers?"
Margaret stood slowly beside the bed of the young man whose wound she was checking and directed a withering glare in the direction of the voice.
"Corporal, may I remind you that I have several very large needles out back to deal with loud mouths like you."
The young corporal smirked to himself. "I bet you say that to all the guys!"
"What is your name, Corporal?" she barked at him.
"Corporal Mikey Keen, ma'am!" he barked back with a salute. "What's yours, Blondie?"
"Corporal Keen, I will have you on report faster than you can blink. Injured or not you will respect me"
"Yes, Ma'am!" he replied, before whispering to the bed next to him, "But I always respect a lady next morning!"
Luckily for him, Margaret didn't hear this last comment as she moved to the next bed. She smiled at the young soldier as she checked his charts. He had lost his left arm when his tank ran over a land mine. The lower half was crushed by the weight of the hatch as he tried to rescue a comrade. His buddy survived, against all the odds, and Margaret hoped that it was some consolation that he had sacrificed his arm to save a fellow solider's life. She straightened again as BJ appeared at her elbow. She enjoyed her doing rounds with him. Although he could be just as ridiculous as Pierce when they were together, alone she found him an extremely professional doctor, if a little lacking in military discipline. He took the clipboard of the patient and looked at it closely.
"Well soldier, looks like you'll be shipping out of here tomorrow!" he said cheerfully. "How's it feeling?"
The young man's right hand flitted briefly to where his left arm used to be. "Fine thanks, Doc. Not so painful today."
"No," replied BJ, studying his notes, "You've been lucky, no infections. You should be feeling top dollar by the time you get back to Honolulu." He looked closely at the solider lying prone before him. How could he feel 'top dollar' when his life had just lurched off in a direction which he could never have imagined before Korea?
BJ's deft hands gently felt along the stump of his left arm. "Did you have a chance to talk to our psych about this? How are you coping? Mentally, I mean."
The young solider sighed. "Well, I dunno. I try not to think about it, or try and think of positives. Like now I have an excuse when I pitch a duff ball. I never could throw a ball in a straight line, and now they can't make fun of my wonky pitches anymore!"
They both chuckled at the absurd bad taste of this joke, until the young man's shoulders began to shake not in laughter, but with crying.
"Gee, Doc, I'm sorry. I try so hard, but sometimes I just keep thinking what's my girl gonna think when I get back? How am I gonna make a living with one arm? Who's gonna want to marry a guy with a disability?" His voice trailed off, lost in his own troubled thoughts.
BJ sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. "What's your name?"
"Eddie," came the reply.
"Well, Eddie," BJ continued, "I think that, for the most part when you get back, your girl will be glad that you're alive. And then, I think that if she really loves you then she'll learn to accept the new you. Just like you'll need to learn to accept the new you. And the sooner you can do that, the sooner everyone else around you will." He smiled at the young man. "I'm not saying it'll be easy, and I'm not an expert because I haven't been where you are right now, and I hope to God I never am. But I have seen a lot like you, and I know that once they come to terms with it, the rest kinda falls in place round about them." BJ placed a gentle hand on Eddie's good arm. "Does that help at all?"
Eddie smiled weakly. "Kind of, thanks Doc."
BJ stood up and moved onto the patient in the next bed. He was about to begin checking him over when a breathless Radar came flying through the doors at the far end of the room.
"Cap'n Hunnicut, Sir. I need to find Captain Hawkeye real fast!" his words tumbling from his mouth like a train.
BJ looked at him in astonishment. "Radar, calm down would you?" He put his hands on the Corporal's shoulders, waiting for him to get his breath back. "Hawkeye's in the showers," he said, as Radar shook himself free and made to rush out again, "Hey hang on! What's this all about?"
"It's the orphanage," Radar called back over his shoulder, "There's been an accident with a hand grenade, there's lots of injuries."
BJ stood paralysed for a moment, "But Sally and Father Mulcahy went there about an hour ago…" He found that he was speaking to himself, as Radar rushed out to find Hawkeye. BJ came to his senses and flew outside after him.
Outside the supply tent he found Colonel Potter overseeing the loading of a jeep. Klinger was rushing back and forward on his kitten heels piling the back high with medical equipment. BJ ran over to them to find out what was going on.
"Glad you're here, Hunnicut." Potter said to him as he drew level with them, "You and Pierce are heading for the orphanage. Sister Philomena here says there's been a terrible accident." He shook his head sadly as he said those last words.
"What's happened? What's going on?" Hawkeye came charging across from the showers, pulling his fatigues on over his damp body as he ran.
The nun who was standing beside Potter spoke for the first time, telling the surgeons what had gone wrong.
"One of the little ones must have picked up a hand grenade when he was out playing. It happens a lot, only last week the same child came in with one. We took it off him straight away, and he cried and cried. How can you tell a child that what he thinks is a toy could kill him? He must have found another one and hidden it from us. It blew up in his pocket as we were clearing up after breakfast." The nun's eyes filled with tears as she relived the moment which would haunt her for the rest of her life.
"Dr Lester, and the Father." Hawkeye got straight to the point. "Were they there? Are they hurt?"
"No, thank the Lord." Sister Philomena replied. "They arrived about 10 minutes after the explosion. Dr Lester sent me to fetch help, while she and Father treated the children, those who can be treated… oh dear!" The Sister disolved into tears in front of the horrified medical staff. Hawkeye could bear it no more. He jumped into the jeep and started the engine.
"Right! BJ are you with me?" he said to his friend.
"Sure thing, Buddy," BJ replied, as he jumped aboard the jeep.
"You boys be careful," said Potter, "I've got Radar to send any spare ambulances up there ahead of you. No heroic, just get up there and do what you can."
"Miracles aren't high on my list of abilities,"Hawkeye said as he threw the jeep into gear and took off leaving the others standing in a cloud of dust.
