Alex was sulking in the Swamp when BJ and Hawkeye finally got out of surgery.
'I've got a kid or two that need watching until they're stable before I can go back in and check for missed fragments,' BJ said.
'I almost lost that Corporal,' Hawkeye added.
'Quit rubbing it in,' Alex mumbled. BJ and Hawkeye glanced at her before looking at each other again.
'What's wrong?' BJ asked.
'Me, that's what's wrong. I can't see out of one eye, I limp around the camp like I've had an inch cut from my leg, and now I can't even hold a damn instrument without pain!' Alex replied angrily.
'It's not your fault,' Hawkeye said. 'Your leg will stop hurting in a few weeks, and your eye isn't doing anything to stop you doing what you want to.'
'What about my arm? Margaret will never let me near a patient again, if I keep dropping things,' Alex said. BJ sat on the box beside the chair Alex was sitting in.
'Take off your jacket, I'll take a look at it,' he said. Alex did so, throwing the green jacket across the tent in a temper. BJ prodded her arm and checked the scar to see if it was healing properly.
'Tell me if it hurts,' he said, poking a tender looking part of her shoulder.
'It hurts constantly,' Alex mumbled loudly. BJ moved down the arm, checking for sings of infection or muscle impairment or anything else that might have made her drop the instruments.
'So?' Alex asked when he stood up again.
'I can't find anything wrong with you,' he said, looking puzzled.
'Maybe a drink will help,' Hawkeye suggested, going over to the Still. He handed a martini glass to Alex after filling it with gin and an olive, who sipped at it thankfully before the glass slipped out of her hand, onto her lap then smashing on the ground.
'Damnit!' Alex swore loudly, starting to cry in frustration. Charles came into the Swamp, nose wrinkled up at the noise Alex was creating.
'What's going on here?' he asked. 'What's Dustin's problem?'
'Alex is feeling a tiny bit upset about OR today,' Hawkeye explained. Charles glanced at Alex who was now standing and moving to retrieve her jacket. She swung it over her shoulders, then limped out into the dark, swearing loudly to herself.
'She keeps on dropping things, but I can't for the life of me think why,' BJ said, staring at the smashed glass under Hawkeye's chair.
'What are you still standing here for? Go after her,' Charles said to Hawkeye.
'What? Why me?' Hawkeye asked.
'When she first arrived her, you went on and on about her, as if she were the sun itself,' Charles said, rolling his eyes.
'We had a fight,' Hawkeye reminded him.
'You made up,' BJ said, shrugging. Hawkeye gave BJ a look, as if to ask whose side he was on.
'Alright,' he snapped, standing up from his cot. He left the Swamp, letting the door slam loudly behind him.
'Will the Lieutenant be alright?' Charles asked BJ.
'Depends how Hawkeye handles himself in the next fifteen minutes,' BJ replied.
Hawkeye stopped outside the Mess tent when he realised he had lost Alex. He knew from experience that she could stay in hiding for a few hours at least. He thought for a few minutes, then headed for the Officer's Club. As he approached the club, he saw the door open, and the light from inside showed that it was Alex going into the club. He jogged forward, and slipped in as well.
Alex was already seated at the bar, a few people glancing at her and whispering. Alex could hear them, but she didn't care.
'Martini,' she told the corpsman behind the bar. 'And a straw.' Hawkeye sat beside her.
'Make it two,' he said.
'What do you want?' Alex snapped at Hawkeye.
'I just thought you might like some company,' Hawkeye replied.
'I'm not in the mood for company,' Alex muttered.
'Too bad, because I'm not leaving you,' Hawkeye said firmly. Alex shrugged.
'Whatever,' she said as her drink was put on the bar in front of her. She sipped it with the straw.
'Are you going to be ok?' Hawkeye asked, taking a sip from his own drink. Alex smiled a little.
'Yeah. Sorry I'm being such a horror right now, Hawkeye. But this is what I love, being a nurse, and I can't do that if I can't hold anything,' Alex explained.
'Since when do you let a little thing like that put you off?' Hawkeye asked. Alex smiled a little.
'I'm going to have to face it sooner or later,' she said.
'I'll face it with you,' Hawkeye offered. Alex shook her head.
'I'd rather face it myself,' she said. She finished her drink, and walked out of the Officer's club.