Disclaimer: I don't own anything from M*A*S*H*, no matter how much I would love too, I don't so please don't sue me!

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Before anyone knew what happened, November was upon them. November was a very cold month in Korea, and it would only get colder. It was also the beginning of the Flu season. Having the flu and having to pull double or even triple shifts in the Operating Room was absolutely no fun.

"Attention All Personal, Lunch, or what resembles lunch, is now being served. That is all." Kimberly hears that, and wearily drags herself over to the mess tent. She hoped that after getting some food into her system she'll feel better.

"It is definitely winter out there." She hears Hawkeye call to her as they make their way over to the Tent.

"Yeah, that it is." She calls back to him, trying not to show that she wasn't feeling well. They get into the mess tent, grab their food and sit down. "Hey BJ, remember that kid that I took a whole lot of shit out of his gut?" He asks, taking a mouthful of slop.

"Yeah, what about him?"

"Well, I was checking on him, and he had a 101 fever, I had to go back into him and I found 2 pieces of shrapnel that must have floated in his blood stream into the heart."

"Yeah? He's lucky you found it. How's he doing?"

"Stable now, he still has a fever, but he is doing a lot better."

"Good." BJ says eating. "What is this?" He asks pointing at what could be apple sauce, or cream corn.

"I find its best if you don't ask." Hawkeye says, looking over at Miller. She has not touched her food, only moved it around. "Something bothering you Kimberly?" Hawkeye asked her.

"No." She says, forcing a spoonful of mush down her throat.

"It's gonna be tough if we get causalities today." BJ comments. "I mean we have Frank sick."

"Ahh, he is saving patients at last." Hawkeye says smiling.

"And we have about half the nurses sick also. Plus last night Potter didn't look too well either."

"Ah I have done a full days of surgery alone one time. and we have 3 right now, so it will be a cake walk." He says smiling.

"Yeah, well I for one am not looking forward to hours upon hours of surgery."

"What time are you on Post-Op Kim?" Hawkeye asks her.

"1 O'Clock." She says, trying to force another spoon of food down her throat.

"Ah, that's not bad, the afternoon shift."

"No, but I have the night shifts tomorrow and the day after that." She says. "That's gonna be hell."

"Yeah, I hate night shifts, but it has to be done." BJ says, nodding.

After another spoonful or two of the lunch, Kimberly gets up and throws it away. She fears that if she forces any more food down her throat it will end up coming right back up. "I'll see you guys later." She calls, and heads back to her tent to rest before she has to go onto Post-Op duty.

"She didn't eat much, did she?" Hawkeye says.

"Not much at all." BJ says agreeing, and shrugging, and finishing off his plate. "But, can you blame her?" He adds.

"No." He says.

Back in Captain Miller's tent, she sits down on her bed, and closes her eyes. "That didn't help." She says to herself, feeling lousier than she had before eating. She knew that she was getting the flu, but was going to fight it off as long as she could. She already felt the nausea, and the temperature change in her body, she also felt like she could sleep for a year, but she had to keep going. They needed her. They were already 2 doctors short as it is, and with out her, they would be insanely short handed. She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew, Radar had come into her tent to wake her up.

"Captain Miller, you're due in Post-Op." Radar called to her, as she opened her eyes to look at him.

"What time is it?" She asked.

"12:30 Kimberly." He says to her.

"Alright." She says. Radar leaves and she sits up, overcome by dizziness. "Bad Idea." She says out loud, as she shuts her eyes, trying to keep the world from spinning. Her eyelids felt like they weighed 10 tons, and her legs felt like solid steel, but her knees were jelly as soon as she stood up, but still she pressed on. She was far too proud to admit she was sick to anyone but herself.

"Good Afternoon Captain." Major Houlihan says to her as she walks through the Post-Op Doors.

"Afternoon Major." She replies and looks at what Frank had written out for her. "Did the major get worse?" She asks when she read through what each patient was ailing.

"Yes, he is quite sick."

"Aren't we all?" Kimberly thinks to herself. "Hopefully we won't have causalities today then."

"I agree." The Major says, and Kimberly sits down at the desk to work on some charts. Around 2 hours later, Kimberly hears,

"Attention All Personal, incoming causalities, get them while there hot folks! It's gonna be a long hull!"

"You have got to be kidding me." She says shaking her head, and running out to start triaging.

After about 12 hours of operating, Kimberly starts feeling really sick. "Silk." She calls to the nurse. "I'm almost done here. I'm gonna take a 5 minute break and I'll be right back." She tells Hawkeye.

"Fine." He says, paying more attention to his patient than her. She finishes the patient, and heads outside for a breath of air. She sits down on the bench, and relaxes a bit.

"Doctor?" One of the Nurses calls to her.

"Yeah?" She asks looking up.

"Are you alright?" She asks.

"Yeah, fine." She says. boy if that isn't the understatement of the year.

"Alright." She says. "You look a bit pale."

"I'm fine." She says again, trying to clear her head before having to go into surgery again.

"Ok." She says, but not convinced. The next thing Kimberly knew, Pierce had come outside. The nurse must have told him how she looked.

"You alright?" He asks her.

"Fine." She says, putting on a fake smile.

"Shame on you Kimberly, you should know better than to lie to a doctor." He says smiling to her. "You sick?" He asks her, and when she doesn't respond he replies, "I'll take your vow of silence as a yes. Fever?"

"Hawkeye, I'm fine." She says to him.

"You sound like a broken record." He says to her, placing a cool hand on her forehead.

"You're burning up." He says, reaching for a thermometer, but she stops him.

"Don't." She says shaking her head. "I know I'm sick, I wanna finish operating."

"Trust me, I know how it feels to be sick and operating. I had to do it before, alone. And by the time the last patient came through the doors I could barely stand." He says shaking his head. He notices her closing her eyes and asks, "You nauseous?"

"Yeah."

"Throwing up?" He adds in, while checking her glands.

"Not yet." She says smiling. "I have been willing myself not to for the past 12 hours."

"That's why you didn't eat at lunch. I thought something was wrong, but I just couldn't put my finger on what it was."

"We only have 5 more patients."

"Go get sleep Kimberly. You have done well past your time here."

"Listen, 5 more won't be to long of a time." She tells him.

"Its at least 2 hours of work still Kim! You're sick! Go be sick!" He orders.

"And what? Let you and BJ work another 6 hours when we could be done in 2 hours?

No! I can't do that." She says. "I'll be fine Hawkeye. I have been so far!"

"You've been lucky!" He says to her.

"Let me finish. I can be sick later." She says stubborn. Hawkeye has definitely met his match with this girl. She was just as stubborn as he and her ego was just as high. if that was even possible. "I'm a doctor! I can tell when I have had too much! I will be fine!"

"Fine. Do what you want." He says. "If it gets too hard don't be afraid to quit." He says, watching her. She slowly stands up, gets her balance and heads into the OR." Margaret was originally helping Hawkeye, but he would rather her assist Kimberly being that sick. "Margaret, I want you to assist Kimberly." He says, "Murphy, you'll be assisting me." Margaret nods and starts to head over, before Hawkeye grabs her arm,

"She's sick. Watch her." He quietly tells her. "Kelley, gloves."

"Alright." Margaret says, and heads over to Kimberly's table.

"Scalpel." Kimberly calls to Margaret.

"Scalpel." Margaret replies, keeping close tabs on Kimberly's condition.

1hr later, BJ looks over to the young Captain's table, and sees that her color is getting increasingly worse. "Kimberly, how's it going?"

"Fine thanks, how are you?" She says.

"You know that's not what I was asking." BJ says to her.

She ignores him and says, "Retract that would you?" She suddenly gets squirted in the mask with blood, and is almost sick. "Dammit! Where is that coming from?!" She says frantically searching inside the boy. "There, I need to pack that off. Come on Margaret!"

"I'm trying doctor." She replied, helping Kimberly pack off the bleeder. Finally the get it tied off, and they begin to close. She calls for another patient, before Hawkeye can protest. The patient wasn't requiring a long operation, just cleaning out some shrapnel from his legs and arms, so it wouldn't take too long. During the middle of the operation, however, she got extremely shaky. "Doctor? Are you alright?" Margaret asks.

"Fine." She says, trying to stop shaking. Margaret looks over at Pierce, and they lock eyes.

"Miller, are you alright?" Pierce asks.

"If one more person asks me that, I'm gonna go insane." She says, finally stopping her hands from shaking. "Forceps." She calls for, and Margaret hesitates, "Come on dammit! I need forceps!" She practically yells. She knew that she wouldn't be able to last much longer, but wanted to finish up this patient. BJ and Hawkeye exchange looks, and return their attention to their patients.

Finally, after almost 15hours of cutting their day was over. Pierce, Hunnicut, and Miller went into the scrub room to wash their hands, and go back to their tents. When they came out of surgery the sun was up.

"Yet another successful day Doctors." Pierce calls.

"Yes. I agree." BJ replies.

"Now, Kimberly, I want you in your tent, in bed, and not coming out of there until you are better." Hawkeye says to her, as they walk out of the OR. "Do you hear me?"

"Yeah." She says, her coloring as white as their masks, except her cheeks, which were bright pink. While walking, back to their tents, Kimberly suddenly gets extremely dizzy, then everything goes white and then black. Hawkeye quickly turns and grabs her before she hits the ground. She is out cold. "Shit." He says.

"Get her to Post-Op." BJ says to him, as they both quickly make their way into the Post-Op, and lay her down on a bed.

"She's burning up." Hawkeye says, just as Margaret walks into post-op.

"What happened?" She asks them, alarmed.

"She passed out about 2 minutes ago." Hawkeye tells her. "Give me a thermometer."

"Here." She says, pulling one out of the soaking alcohol.

"104.5" Hawkeye says, shaking his head.

"We have to get her temp down and quick." BJ Replies.

"Yeah. Margaret go get some ice and a wet cloth." Hawkeye says to her. She nods and runs to get the supplies. A few minutes later, she brings them back. "Put this at her feet."

He says, handing one of the ice packs to Margaret. He places one pack under her neck and 2 at her sides, and a cloth on her forehead. By the time they are done she is shivering from the cold. She starts trying to pull away from the cold, thrashing around, BJ puts his hand on her shoulders, "Come on Miller, your alright. Relax." He says. "You need this." He says, hoping to calm her down. He looks up at Hawkeye who has his hand on her forehead trying to keep the wet towel on.

"Relax Kimberly." He says to her. "You have a very high fever, and we need to bring it down. Don't fight us." She slowly starts to calm down, but is still shivering. "Keep these on for about 20 minutes, and then recheck her temp." He tells Margaret. "I need to get some sleep." He says.

"Right Doctor." She says, writing down what he said on her chart. "You should get some sleep too BJ." She says, not looking up from the chart.

"Yeah Margaret, I'm going, you should do the same also." BJ says, following Hawkeye out of the Post-Op, but before they hit the door, Hawkeye turns around, "Come get me if anything changes." He says. "Get another Nurse to take over, and get some sleep Major." He tells her as he catches her yawning. "Consider that a threat and not an order." He throws in then walks out and over to the swamp. Hawkeye goes over to the still and pours BJ and himself a martini. "What a day." BJ says, taking the martini, and laying on the bed.

"I'll second that." Hawkeye says, quickly downing his martini, and placing it back on the still, before flopping face first on his bed. "I could sleep for the entire war."

"I second that." BJ says smiling, and closing his eyes.

"Wake me when the war is over." Hawkeye says, as his normal before sleep line.

Back at Post-op, Margaret, tries to stay by the young doctor's side, but realizes that she must also sleep. "Smith." She calls to the nurse, who was on her shift.

"Yes Major?" She says coming over to her.

"I need you to keep a check on Captain Miller alright?" She says, yawning again. "If any change occur go wake up Captain's Pierce and Hunnicut. All you have to do is follow the orders on her chart."

"Alright Major." She says, looking over the chart.

"If you need anything I'll be in my quarters."

"Of course Major." She says, and watches the major leave.

Around 6 hours later, Lieutenant Caroline Smith walks over to the Swamp to wake up the 2 doctor's. She knocks on the Swamp door and calls, "Hawkeye, BJ, you better wake up and come quick." When they don't wake up, she goes in and shakes Hawkeye. "Captain Pierce!"

He stirs, and opens his eyes, "What is it Lieutenant?"

"It's Captain Miller. Her fever has gone down but she is putting up an awful fight. She is thrashing around..." That was all she had to say,

"BJ get up. It's Kimberly." He says, pulling on his boots quickly, grabbing his bright red bathrobe and heads out of the Swamp, with BJ on his tail. They get in, and she was thrashing about.

"Kimberly." Hawkeye says, trying to restrain her. "Calm down, you're ok." He tells her.

"What is her fever down too?"

"103.5," Kelley says, looking at her chart.

"That's not low enough. Keep administering the penicillin." Hawkeye says to her. "Grab a wet rag, and keep it on her head." He says.

"Do you want a sedative?" Kelley asks.

"Did I ask for a sedative?" He says with venom dipping from his words to the nurse.

"Don't you give her anything ok? Only what I tell you, or BJ." He tells Kelley and sits down next to the young Captain, and keeps his arm firmly against her shoulder. She seems to calm down once someone is with her, so he decides he best stay with her.

"What do you think Hawk?" BJ asks him, looking over her chart."

"That it's just you and me for a while." He says, sighing.

Shortly after, Margaret comes in to Post-Op and walks over to where Hunnicut and Pierce are, "How is she?"

"Sick." Hawkeye replies.

"I think that we should give ourselves a flu shot. It just came in, and it's brand new." Margaret says, before being cut off by Hawkeye...

"Major Houlihan, if you even think of coming anywhere near me with that flu shot you have another thing coming to you." He says, "Remember the last time you injected me with that devil serum?"

"Pierce, this is different. They have made it better, I mean sure it's just a trial, but it should help."

"Margaret, no, I will not take that shot, I have never been sicker than I was the last time you gave it to me! I am healthy now, and I intend to stay that way!"

"Fine, take your chances, BJ, what do you think?"

"I think that I also am going to pass on that Margaret. We are down to two doctors already."

"And we are down nurses too Hotlips, I would recommend you not taking it either. I for one will not give you the shot." Hawkeye adds on.

"I didn't get sick from the last batch; you probably just had it in your system." She says before once again getting cut off by the Captain,

"Major, YOU were LUCKY not to get sick, and maybe I did have it in my system, but I know that before that shot I was feeling 100% and a few hours after, I was on my ass."

"Pierce."

"Major, it is in your best interest, along with the people you work with and your patients, to NOT take that shot." Hawkeye says quite stubbornly, holding a thermometer in place in Kimberly's mouth. "Has she woken up at all?" He calls to the Lieutenant.

"No Captain, she hasn't. They only movement we have had from her was her thrashing around a bit." Lieutenant Smith replies.

"She should have woken up." He says sighing. He looks at the thermometer, shakes his head and then holds it out for BJ to read it.

"Its not going down much is it?" Margaret asks.

"No, not much at all." Hawkeye replies, before standing up. "I better check on the other flu patients."

"I'll help." BJ says nodding, taking one half of the room, he stops at Frank's bed, "Frank. How are we feeling today?" He asks smugly.

"How is it that you aren't sick Hunnicut?" Frank asks, in a feverish state.

"Someone up there likes me." He smiles pointing upward to the sky. "Now shut up and open your mouth." He says stuffing a thermometer in it. After a few minutes, he takes the thermometer out of his mouth and checks the temp, "And the lucky number if the day is 102. You should be back in the swamp and annoying us in no time Frank." He says, as he walks around to the other flu patients.

About an Hour or so later, after the nursing shift changes, Nurse Able calls out,

"Hawkeye? She's waking up." Immediately Hawkeye runs over to her bedside, "Kimberly? Can you hear me?" She starts to stir, and he keeps talking to her, "Open your eyes Kimberly. Come on, you can do it." She finally is able to look at him and he says, "There you go. You gave us quite a scare there Doctor." He smiles.

"What happened?" She asks, in a very quiet tone.

"You passed out around 4 hours ago. You had a really high fever, but we were able to bring it down a bit." She nods. "Right now, just rest alright? We need you well soon."

"Alright Hawkeye." She says, closing her eyes again.

"Able?" He calls.

"Yes?"

"I want you to still keep a close eye on her alright? I still don't like her temp being up in the 103's."

"Yes doctor." Able says, looking at Kimberly's chart. "Hawkeye?" She asks, noticing how pale he has gotten since last night. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, fine, I just need some sleep." He says, lying. The truth was he was feeling miserable, but wouldn't allow himself to be sick, especially when it was only him and BJ left in the picture. He didn't know how BJ would be able to handle flying solo. "If you need me I'll be in the Swamp."

"Alright." She says, giving him one more look over, before moving onto another patient.

Hawkeye gets outside, and feels the cool air hit his face. He feels better outside, but he knows that won't last too long. "How am I going to get through this." He says, groaning. He body already was aching. He felt almost as bad as he did when he had to fly solo a year ago. He got back to his bunk, and flopped face first down, falling fast asleep. He hoped that after he got an hour or two of shuteye, he would feel better, but that just wasn't the case..

TBC..

******* TBC

Thanks for bearing with me! I hope you are enjoying the story so far! Please R&R Once again, sorry the Update took so long! The next chapter will be up very soon! *STARY*