"I got you something," Klinger said to Lona when he reached her cot. She jumped, then looked around.
"It's beautiful!" she said after a small gasp. Klinger handed the dress to her and she unfolded it. "Why?" Klinger shrugged.
"I don't know," he mumbled. "It's got to be better than sitting in your uniform the whole time." Lona smiled, slightly warmer than the sad smile that spooked the nurses and corpsmen.
"Help me put it on?" she asked.
Before"Klinger, wake up," Potter said, giving Klinger a slight shake.
"What?" Klinger blinked awake and struggled to sit up.
"Easy, Klinger," Potter said. "It's just me."
"Sorry, Sir," Klinger mumbled, still half asleep. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, I'm about to question Lona, that's all. I thought you'd like to be there," Potter explained.
"Yessir," Klinger said. "Permission to get changed first?"
"Of course," Potter said, walking out of the room. Klinger got up and quickly pulled on his pants and jacket. Stamping his feet into his boots, he walked into the Post op.
"Ready," he said to Potter who was with Margaret.
"Write all this down, won't you?" Potter asked, handing Klinger a pencil and clipboard. Klinger nodded and trailed after him over to Lona's bed, where the young woman was asleep. Margaret followed them, and tapped Potter on the shoulder.
"I thought we were going to wait until she was better to question her?" she asked.
"The lieutenant was awake earlier this morning, and she seemed healthier than she has been since she first came in," Potter said. "Anyway, we mightn't get a day where she's feeling better." Klinger glanced at his watch. Nearly 1000 hours. He'd overslept, far longer than usual.
"Don't worry about the time," Potter said to him. "You've had a lot on your chest." Klinger nodded, and sat on the foldout chair beside Lona's cot. He tapped her gently, and her eyes opened almost instantly.
"Hi, Max," she said, her smile warmer than it usually was.
"I'd like to ask a few questions, lieutenant," Potter said, sitting on the empty cot on the other side of her. "Please answer them as truthfully as possible."
"This is about what I told Max when I first got here, isn't it?" she asked. "When I said I was with an aid station?" Potter nodded.
"There is no records of a nurse being permanently assigned to an aid station, the two men you brought in don't recognise you, and the army has you down as missing in action," Potter said.
"I was a POW," Lona said. "Caught when I went to give help to a local. The front line moved while I was there, and the village I was in was taken over by the North Koreans."
"Are the stories about what they do to female prisoners true?" Margaret asked.
"Worse," Lona replied. "They treat you like stray dogs, not fit to even eat their scraps, like toys, to be used until broken then thrown away and replaced."
"Can we get back to where you've been all this time?" Potter asked patiently. Margaret nodded in agreement, her face was pale and she looked a little shocked at Lona's description.
"I was at a POW camp since early in the war. I'd probably lasted the longest there, so many died from disease, infections, hunger. Some even killed themselves, believing they'd never get home again anyway. The Koreans never gave us a drop of medicine to help the sick.
"Five days ago, an American plane flew overhead and dropped a bomb nearby. Most of the North Koreans fled, and the POW's broke out. A lot of the others were gunned down by left behind Korean soldiers, but another bomb distracted them enough for the few left alive to escape." Lona hesitated.
"Is that how you got your chest full of shrapnel?" Potter asked. Lona nodded.
"I had just turned around to see if we were being chased, and was hit by the blast," she said. "One of the soldiers from the camp was right behind me, I probably would have been worse off if he hadn't been there at that moment."
"Dead?" Potter asked gently. Lona nodded. "Keep going," Potter said.
"There were six of us in the group. A few of them had been hit by the blast as well, two had been lucky, they'd been in the trees before the bomb and hadn't been touched. I bandaged up their wounds roughly, I was the only one qualified enough to do anything, and we started looking for the front line.
"One man died just ten minutes after we started heading south, from the stress, I guess. We buried him before moving on, it seemed like the honorable thing to do," Lona said.
"Did you get a name?" Potter asked. Lona nodded and reached into her pocket under the blankets.
"We agreed to keep track of everyone who'd died, so their families knew," she said. She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and unfolded it. It was crumpled, browned from the dust. She handed it to Klinger and pointed out the names. "I think Harry Brown was the first man to die. Red Beckett was shot by a guerrilla a few days later, Tony Miller stepped on a landmine. Craig Dawnson died from infection and Ted Wild just disappeared. I don't know if he was recaptured or anything, he just didn't turn up again after scouting for food."
Klinger slipped the paper under the report. It would be important to the lost men's families.
"What next?" Potter asked quietly.
"I was starting to give up hope of ever finding anyone from our side to help me. I felt I was going to die, and no-one would ever find me," Lona continued, her eyes closed. "The bombing was bad where I was, and I found those two men I brought in beside the road, injured and out cold. Their jeep was nearby, so I loaded them in and followed the road the opposite direction the jeep was facing. I found their aid station, and they gave me instructions to come here after putting a few bandages on their friends. They didn't realise I was hurt myself, they just thought if I was right to drive to the aid station, I'd be ok to get here. They didn't even ask where I had come from.
"I arrived here, and told Max I'd been part of their aid station. It seemed easier at the time than to explain everything."
Potter nodded in understanding. "Anything else you want to say?" he asked.
"Thank you to your surgeons for doing all they can for me," Lona said. "I know I have a chance because of them."
"It's what we're here for," Potter said with a smile, standing up. Klinger stood up hurriedly with him.
"I'll be back in a few minutes," he whispered to Lona before following Potter to his office. The Colonel waited to be seated behind his desk before saying anything.
"Radio HQ and give them the list of names," he said, pulling some paper from his desk. "And write up that report in triplicate."
"Yes sir," Klinger replied, turning to leave.
"Klinger?"
"Yes sir?" Klinger asked, stopping and turning to face Potter again.
"Take good care of her."
"Y-yes sir," Klinger said, slightly surprised by the Colonel's words. He hurried out again and stopped outside the door. Suddenly remembering the dress, he threw the clipboard with the report onto his desk, and opened his footlocker. The dress was where he left it, folded up carefully on top of his second uniform. He pulled it out gently and took it into the Post op. Lona was sitting up now, watching BJ talk to one of the far patients.
"I got you something," Klinger said to Lona when he reached her cot. She jumped, then looked around.
"It's beautiful!" she said after a small gasp. Klinger handed the dress to her and she unfolded it. "Why?" Klinger shrugged.
"I don't know," he mumbled. "It's got to be better than sitting in your uniform the whole time." Lona smiled, slightly warmer than the sad smile that spooked the nurses and corpsmen.
"Help me put it on?" she asked.
It took Klinger a moment or two she was asking Margaret, who'd come up behind Klinger to see the dress.
"Of course," Margaret said. She helped Lona out of her cot with Klinger's help, and took her behind the curtain where Lona could change in privacy.
"That was really nice of you, Klinger," BJ said, coming up behind him. "Some other men would have ignored her when they found out she probably wouldn't make it."
"That's what I was going to do, at first," Klinger admitted. "Then Hawkeye came found me and told me she wanted to talk to me. I couldn't say no."
"It was probably the best thing you could have done for her," BJ said. "She's getting better, Klinger, faster than anyone could have guessed. Hawk and I think it's because of you." Klinger didn't have a chance to answer, because at that moment, Margaret stepped out from behind the curtain and pulled it aside.
"Ta da!" she said as Lona was revealed. The dress fitted her almost perfectly. It looked tight across the chest, but that was because of bandages under it.
"It's perfect, Klinger," Lona said. She gave a small curtsey.
"You look fantastic," BJ said sincerely.
"Where did you get it, Klinger?" Margaret asked.
"Mail order," Klinger replied. "I got it just after Radar went home."
There was an awkward silence as the three 4077th members remembered the trouble they'd had at camp because of Radar going back to the states. Both BJ and Klinger avoided looking at anything apart from their shoes.
"I love it," Lona declared, ending the silence. She danced to Klinger lightly and wrapped her arms around his neck before giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Klinger turned slightly red, and turned away.
"It was nothing," he mumbled.
"Come on, you should be resting," BJ said to Lona, but he was smiling when he said it. He helped her back into the cot, and she lay down, smoothing her dress out. BJ beckoned Margaret away so Klinger and Lona could be together for a while.
"BJ says you're getting better," Klinger said awkwardly.
"I feel better," Lona said. She suddenly gave Klinger a proper smile, and it struck Klinger how beautiful she was. The small sad smile she reserved for everyone seemed to say she'd given up, but this laughing smile, this smile of happiness, it made Klinger feel as if they were the only ones in the world.
"Hey Klinger," BJ's voice brought Klinger back to earth. He focused on BJ's voice, and couldn't help but notice Lona's smile had faded down to her usual sad smile.
"Sorry to interrupt again," BJ said, glancing from Klinger to Lona. "But you've got work to do." There was a slightly pained look on his face. "Sorry," he apologised. "It's just I'm off duty in ten minutes, and Charles will flip if he finds you in here again, not working."
"Ok, thanks, BJ," Klinger said. Turning to Lona, he said "I'll talk to you later." Lona just smiled her usual smile and gave a small wave. Klinger walked back to his office, a small spring in his step. There was something about Lona that just made him want to sing.
