During the next hour, Jefferson found out Alex had saved the Major's life, gone AWOL more than once, had a dead brother buried in Korea and her sister had been sent home on a false discharge.

'Why do you stay in the war? You've been offered discharges so many times,' Margaret asked. Alex glanced around, as if someone would hear.

'When I first came to Korea, I was conscripted, before I had even finished nursing school, so I came to Korea as a rookie. I learnt more at that unit than I could have in any hospital. When our unit was attacked and I was offered a discharge, like the rest of the survivors, I said no, because Isaac was still in Korea. He'd been sent over a couple of weeks after me, and we promised each other we wouldn't accept a discharge if the other was still here, unless it was from a real bad injury that we had to come home for.

'You know I then came here to the 4077th, and after a month or so, I was offered a discharge after my brother died. I said no, but changed my mind and went home.

'When Dani, my sister, signed up, I signed up with her, to keep an eye on her I suppose. After she went back to the states, I didn't have to stay, I guess,' Alex paused a smiled. 'I suppose I stayed after that because I like to finish what I start. Most of the time, anyway.'

'What are you going to do when that patch comes off your eye?' Jefferson asked.

'I dunno. If I don't have to go home because of it, maybe I'll put in a requisition form to come back here,' Alex shrugged.

'Here?' Margaret and Jefferson asked in surprise.

'Yeah, it's a good unit. Not too big, not too small, activities, a bar, an officers club and a Still. A drinking woman's dream,' Alex joked. Margaret gave a soft laugh, but the dark haired lieutenant didn't say anything. Jefferson didn't drink much as a rule, but obviously Alex liked to.

'Did you miss Hawkeye when you were at that other unit?' Margaret asked. Alex looked at her, undecided whether she should answer or not.

'I missed him as much as I missed BJ, and everyone else here,' she replied cautiously.

'I thought you and Hawkeye were seeing each other before you got transferred,' Jefferson interrupted, knowing she was on dangerous ground.

'Who told you?' Alex asked.

'It's common knowledge around camp,' Jefferson answered. Alex studied Jefferson to see if she thought she could trust her.

'I did miss Hawkeye, but I figured the moment I was gone, he'd be chasing other nurses, so I tried not to miss him more than I missed everyone else,' Alex said to both Margaret and Jefferson. Both nodded. Margaret knew Hawkeye, and Jefferson knew what Hawkeye was like, even though she'd only been there a few weeks.

'What about you? What's your history?' Alex asked.

'Me?' Jefferson asked in surprise.

'No, I mean the cot,' Alex said in a sarcastic voice. 'This your first unit?'

'Yes,' Jefferson admitted.

'Crazy lot, aren't they? If you get transferred, and trust me, you probably will be, everything will seem boring compared to here,' Alex grinned. Margaret punched Alex lightly on her uninjured arm, and Jefferson smiled back at Alex. Alex was outgoing, nicer to her than the other nurses and had an interesting life. She couldn't help but enjoy herself around Alex.

'That Winchester doctor, he's good. I wouldn't let him go if I were the Colonel,' Alex said to Margaret.

'He's quiet good, but very annoying at times,' Margaret said. Alex nodded. From Hawkeye and BJ's complaining, he drove the two up the wall.

'Major Winchester will be looking for you if you aren't back soon,' Jefferson said hurriedly. Alex looked up.

'I suppose he will. Can you wheel me back to the post op?' she asked. Margaret held the door open for them

'See you around, Margaret,' Alex called over her shoulder as Jefferson wheeled her across the muddy compound.

'Lieutenants,' Margaret replied, going back into her tent.

'How sweet, she's going to pretend she doesn't like me,' Alex grinned. Jefferson didn't reply, but took her back to the post op for rest.

Kooshball: Wow, what a badly written chapter! I was in a hurry and this needed to be rewritten to make sense. A little bit more of Alex's history, for both people who know her and people who don't.

Can anyone tell me any affects of being blind? (Yes, that gives away the story line, but what are you going to do?)