Captain Anderson, the eye surgeon, came back to the 4077th a few days later, to take the bandage off of Alex's eye, and to see if it had healed properly. Nurse Jefferson had to trade six other nurses all sorts of things to make sure she was on duty when the bandage came off. Hawkeye, BJ, Colonel Potter, Charles, Margaret and Klinger were all there too, to see if Alex was alright. Hawkeye and BJ had found out Alex wanted to stay there if she wasn't totally blind in her right eye, so a lot was riding on the well being of her sight.
'OK, let's have a look,' Captain Anderson said, carefully peeling the bandage off. He pulled the cotton away from Alex's eye, and she rubbed the eye gently.
'Been waiting for days to do that,' she said with a grin before opening her right eye. Jefferson couldn't help but gasp when she saw it. The iris of the eye was paler than the left one, though she didn't know if it was permanent or from not being used. The eye looked scratched across the iris and pupil, which had turned gray. The Captain seemed undisturbed by Alex's eye.
'Looks a little damaged, can you see anything?' he asked. Alex closed her good eye.
'I can see a bit, but everything is slightly duller,' she said nervously.
'Follow my hand,' Captain Anderson said, moving his hand slowly from left to right. Alex's eye followed it, and he put it down. 'Well, you've got about fifty percent vision in your right eye. That's always better than fully blind. What's it like with both eyes?' he asked.
'It's alright, like I have hair in front of my right eye,' Alex replied. Captain Anderson made Alex do a few things like write a few lines on a piece of paper and pick up pens before standing up.
'Well, I reckon she'll be like that permanently, but it's better than I thought it would be,' he said to BJ and Colonel Potter. 'It's up to you guys if you send her home or not.'
'Thanks, Jake,' BJ said. 'If you want to grab something to eat before you go, the Mess tent is just across the compound.' Captain Anderson nodded and walked out.
'We can't have a blind nurse here,' Charles started arguing before the door had even swung shut behind the Captain.
'She's not blind, and Alex is as much a part of the 4077th as anyone else, she should stay,' Klinger said.
'It's dangerous here, and with Alex is half blind, she might get hurt,' Hawkeye said, surprising Jefferson.
'I think Alex is a bit smarter than that to go wandering into a mine field, Hawk,' BJ replied.
'Lieutenant Dustin should be sent home immediately,' Margaret snapped.
'Quiet,' Colonel Potter ordered as the group began bickering. 'Last time I checked, I was in command here, so it really boils down to my decision.' Everyone was quiet, more than one person sulking.
'So what are you going to do with me?' Alex asked.
'Keep you here,' Colonel Potter said, making the others stare at him in surprise.
'Yahoo!' BJ cheered and Alex grinned.
'Why? She's useless as a nurse,' Charles pointed out.
'I'm not useless,' Alex said, her faded eye thoroughly creeping the higher ranking surgeon out. 'I can see, can't I? I can still assist, be on Post op duty, take care of patients. It'll be like I never lost part of my sight.'
'I've heard lots of things about Alex,' Colonel Potter started slowly. 'She's turned down many discharges, and somehow I think she'd turn this one down as well. So unless you really want to go home, Alex, I'll sign your transfer papers to stay here today.'
'I'm happy to stay here, at the 4077th,' Alex said. Colonel Potter nodded, and headed back to his office. Klinger followed him, turning towards Alex to shoot her grins every few steps. Hawkeye slouched off out the other door behind Margaret, who was talking loudly to Charles exactly why Alex should have gone home.
'BJ?' Jefferson stopped the tall doctor as he walked past her. 'Why did Hawkeye want Alex to go home? I though he'd want her here with him?'
'He does, but he also doesn't want her hurt. She can't die if she's in the states,' BJ explained. Jefferson nodded as BJ went to the desk to retrieve something, and pretended to do something to one of the patients beds as he came back.
'What's this?' Alex asked, laughing.
'Celebration drink,' BJ grinned. There was a martini glass and tin mug from the mess tent in one hand, and a bottle of clear liquid in the other.
'I've missed you,' Alex told the bottle. BJ just laughed and poured her a drink into the mug. Jefferson knew it was gin from the Still, and was almost curious to taste what it was like.
'To the successful operation on your eye, may it one day be properly healed,' BJ said, holding up his glass.
'To the 4077th, my home away from home,' Alex held her mug up in turn and they clinked them gently. Alex sipped her drink carefully before grinning up at BJ. 'Thanks for sticking up for me,' she said. 'Hawkeye's always trying to tell people what I can and can't do.'
'How so?' BJ asked in surprise.
'Once, I offered to go hostage so he and the others could operate safely on some wounded soldiers, and he didn't want me to go.' Alex stared straight ahead, remembering the fear.
'I never knew that,' BJ said.
'Hawkeye probably never wanted to tell you about it. He told you about the sniper, and how I saved Trapper, Margaret and Klinger, right? He never explained the rest of what happened. Anyway, it was just a few hours after Klinger was shot in the arm by the sniper,' Alex replied. BJ nodded. Jefferson moved away more. Now that the excitement was over, she wasn't looking forward to two shifts in a row, never mind giving up her favourite record.
'Just something you have to give up for those you love,' BJ was saying, though Jefferson couldn't hear what the two were talking about now. But she couldn't agree more.
Kooshball: Short note(s) to Kazoo about some of the things mentioned in your review.
I've only seen the episode where Charles becomes a member of the 4077th once (I would have seen it twice, except the first time it was shown, I wasn't really interested in MASH. Since then, I have learnt the error of my ways.)
In later episodes, after Radar has gone home, Margaret wasn't as impressed with Charles as she used to be. Again, I've only seen those episodes once or twice, so you might be right there.
You are right about Charles being a better tent mate than Frank. But, after living with him for a few months, they may have forgotten how annoying Frank really was!