Kooshball: No-one likes me any more, obviously, or you're all too busy watching the Olympics. Either way, I'll post another chapter of this, and hope someonereviews.
Jefferson sat down beside the nurse, and carefully picked up her dogtags. They told Jefferson that the woman in front of her was Alexia Dustin, a qualified nurse from the States. By the Colonel's and BJ's reaction to her, she must have been here before, though not necessarily as a patient. As well as the large tear in her shoulder, Alex had suffered a sprained ankle, and large gash in her right leg that had lost a lot of her blood. In all reality, it was lucky she was alive at all. Gently, she pulled back a stand of bloody hair away from the sleeping nurse's face, wondering if there was meant to be such a large lump on her right eyelid. Maybe it had always been like that, maybe it was just swollen from being hit. Jefferson would ask Major Winchester to take a look at it later.
Alex woke up eventually, sometime during the night. Her right leg hurt, her left ankle throbbed, her left shoulder ached, and her right eye wouldn't open without pain. Looking around, it was obvious that she was in a MASH unit, she just didn't know where. When she tried to sit up, her left shoulder began throbbing like mad. Moving the tear in her bloodstained jacket and shirt, Alex saw she had been sliced open by something, and then operated on. She recognised the stitching, her unit was the one that did all the fine tuning the closer outfits didn't have time to do. She traced the stitches on her shoulder lightly, her skin tingling with pain. She hoisted her sleeve back up so the stitches weren't too noticeable, then called out.
'Hello? Where am I?' she called out. Movement from the other end, and a tall, proud looking man walked toward her.
'You're awake,' he said. His voice had a snotty air to it, and by the way his clothes were pressed, Alex could tell he was of high class society. No-one else she had met in Korea had their clothes pressed unless they were used to it already.
'Yeah, I'm in pain, but I'm awake,' Alex replied. 'Who operated on me, they did a good job.'
'I did,' the man replied, making himself straighter.
'I recognised your work, and I've seen some of the other guys you've patched up. You'll put a lot of people out of work if you keep on operating the way you do,' Alex said. The man didn't appear to know whether to take her comment as a compliment or not.
'Thank you,' he said finally.
'So what's the damage to my shoulder?' Alex asked, moving her arm slightly.
'It was deep, torn tissue, maybe infected. You'll be up again in two weeks,' the man replied.
'I'm Lieutenant Dustin, but Alex is just fine,' Alex told the man.
'I know,' he said. 'I'm Major Charles Winchester.' Alex grinned at him, but he didn't return the smile. It almost seemed as if he was wary of her.
'So, where are we?' Alex asked.
'The 4077th,' Charles replied. Alex's heart jumped in her chest.
'The 4077th?' she asked faintly. Charles nodded at her, probably wondering if she were deaf.
'Why? Is there a problem?' he asked.
'No problem,' Alex said. She paused for a second before looking up again. 'Is Hawkeye here? Captain Pierce?'
'Pierce isn't here,' Charles said. Alex looked at Charles to see if he were joking. Hawkeye couldn't be gone, dead or gone home. He would have tried to contact her...
'Pierce is on R and R in Tokyo,' Charles finished. Alex let out a shaky breath.
'When will he be back?' she asked.
'Another three days, but the Colonel of this outfit is trying to track him down to tell him you're here, I don't know why,' Charles said before walking off. If the Colonel knew Hawkeye would want to see Alex, the 4077th must still be being run by Colonel Potter, Alex decided. A nurse came into the Post op, and Alex waved her over.
'Is Captain Hunnicutt around any where?' she asked the nurse. 'But don't bother him if he's just come off a shift or anything.' The dark haired nurse nodded, and left. About ten minutes later, a tall man walked into the tent, followed by the nurse.
'Alex!' BJ said, moving quickly to the side of her bed.
'BJ? I almost didn't recognise you with that dead caterpillar under your nose,' Alex said. BJ looked a little annoyed, and Alex laughed. 'I'm kidding, you look great,' she said. 'Just shave the damn thing off.' BJ laughed.
'How long has it been?' he asked. 'A year?'
'Fourteen months I think,' Alex replied. 'I'd get up and hug you, but I kinda hurt all over.'
'Did you want a pain killer or something?' BJ asked.
'I'll be ok,' Alex replied. She grinned up at BJ. 'It's a good feeling, being back. For such a little hell hole, it was pretty fun.' BJ grinned as well.
'It's good to have you back,' he said.