'Our date was great,' Jefferson was saying to Lieutenant Baker as Alex walked into the showers.

'Oh, you had a date?' Alex asked. 'Who with?' She took her green robe off and got into the first shower stall.

'Uh, Hawkeye,' Jefferson said as Alex started lathering up the soap, watching the red head carefully. There was a slight hesitation in Alex's actions, small enough to go unnoticed to anyone not looking for it.

'So he's started dating again?' Alex asked casually as Baker left hurriedly. No-one wanted to get on the wrong side of any nurse's bad mood, not even the other women in camp.

'Yeah,' Jefferson said. 'You don't mind, do you?'

'Me? Why should I? It's about time he got over me,' Alex said. Again, there was a slight hesitation in her reply that most would have missed.

'I wouldn't say he's over you,' Jefferson said, drying herself. There was a pause. 'He mentioned your name while we were together,' Jefferson continued bravely. Another pause to see if she'd gone too far. 'Several times.' Alex paused from shampooing her hair to look at her friend.

'So you two have been—'

'No, we never got that far,' Jefferson said with a slight blush. 'I think he's got his mind on other things to actually do anything right now.' Alex shrugged.

'Whatever,' she said. 'I couldn't care less.'

'So you're ok with this?' Jefferson asked. Alex nodded.

'I've known Hawk a long time,' Alex said. 'I knew what he was like before I started dating him. We're friends now, just friends, and I'm just surprised he didn't start dating again sooner.'

'So have you started dating again?' Jefferson asked.

'No,' Alex replied. 'I'm not my sister, after all.' Jefferson lingered in the showers for a moment longer before leaving. Alex waited until she'd gone to let herself think about the jealousy she was feeling. Hawkeye was already dating the other nurses, so soon after they'd decided to be just friends. Maybe she could start seeing Charles on a regular basis, just to annoy him. After all, they'd shared a bed in Tokyo.

Alex shook her head to stop herself thinking this sort of thing. Just because Hawkeye was seeing other people, didn't mean they couldn't be friends. He was dating one of the other nurses when she'd first arrived, and they'd managed to be friends.

And Alex still hated herself for what happened in Tokyo. She couldn't even joke about it to herself without feeling sick in her stomach. What if she was pregnant? If Hawkeye did still have feelings for her, and found out she was pregnant with Charles' child, he'd kill both of them.

Alex was just wrapping a towel around her head when Charles walked in on her. She screamed, and Charles jumped. Luckily, she'd already wrapped her robe tightly around herself, so there wasn't another embarrassing incident like Tokyo.

'I thought the nurses had finished!' Charles yelled in apology, head turned away so he couldn't see anything.

'It's ok,' Alex said, calming down quickly. 'I'm decent, and just leaving.' Heart beating from the shock, she walked past Charles, who held a hand out to stop her.

'I'm sorry,' he apologised.

'See, saying sorry won't kill you,' Alex said.

'I think we need to discuss our position,' Charles said.

'What's there to discuss?' Alex asked. 'I thought we weren't talking about this any more?'

'It's going to be difficult to work together until we sort this out,' Charles said firmly. 'It will seem like we are forever in the same place at once, until we talk about this.'

'Where?' Alex asked finally, her hand on her hip, unhappy with Charles' suggestion. 'When?'

'Supply room, nineteen hundred hours tonight,' Charles said.

'Um, Charles?' Alex asked. 'You do realise what the supply room is used for at night? Don't you think it would make matters worse if we were caught in there together?' Charles coughed and his cheeks seemed to glow a little.

'Where do you suggest?' he asked.

'I could get the other nurses out of my tent, but that might be suspicious as well,' she said. 'However, I can fix that. Just show up at my tent at nineteen hundred, ok?' Charles nodded and Alex left the showers quickly, hoping no-one had noticed her coming out a few minutes after Charles had come in.

It wasn't until she'd reached her tent that she realised that maybe, just maybe, Charles wanted to use the supply tent in the same way Hawkeye did.

'So where's Baker and Kellye?' Alex asked Jefferson at about six forty five. She'd had eaten earlier at the mess tent, sitting with the other nurses and avoiding the surgeons. She still felt guilty about Tokyo, and even about meeting up with Charles afterwards felt like she was betraying Hawkeye and BJ.

'Kellye is on Post Op duty until late, and Barker has a date,' Jefferson said.

'Who with?' Alex asked, dreading the answer.

'Um, Hawkeye,' Jefferson replied, nervously.

'He's getting around, isn't he?' Alex asked bitterly.

'Hey,' Jefferson said, sitting on Alex's cot beside the other nurse. 'You want to have a girl's night in, just you and me?' Alex almost said yes, but remembered her meeting with Charles.

'It's ok,' she said, giving Jefferson a small smile. 'I've kind of got a headache anyway, and was going to go lay somewhere quiet to rest the night.'

'Don't leave the tent,' Jefferson insisted. 'I'll go, and Kellye and Baker won't be back til late. You'll have the tent to yourself.'

Alex smiled. 'You are so good to me,' she said. 'I promise, one day we'll have an all girl's night, just us nurses.' Jefferson smiled back and started pulling her boots on.

'I'll be watching the movie in the mess,' Jefferson said before she left the tent. 'You need anything, come find me, ok?' Alex nodded in reply and tried to look like she had a headache. Jefferson slipped out the door, and Alex waited impatiently for the Major.

It was just "nineteen hundred hours" by Alex's watch when Charles came into the tent. Alex was just wondering why the army had to use hundred hours instead of the normal hours and minutes when she realised he'd arrived.

'No-one saw you, right?' Alex asked worriedly, sitting up. Charles shook his head. Glancing around the tent, he smiled.

'So how did you dispose of the other three nurses?' he asked.

'Dispose of? Charles, you make me sound like I killed them,' Alex said. 'One's on Post Op, one's watching the movie.' She paused for a moment, letting a brief moment of jealousy pass through her. 'And one's on a date with Hawkeye,' she said finally. 'They shouldn't be back until later tonight, by which time I hope we've finished talking.' She got Charles a fold out chair from the back of the room and sat on her cot while she waited for him to organise himself.

'So,' Charles said. 'Where, do we start?'

Alex took a breath. 'What if I'm pregnant,' she blurted out. This seemed to take Charles by surprise.

'What do you mean?' he asked.

'What if I'm pregnant with your child,' Alex said. 'What happens next? Obviously, you wouldn't marry me. I'm middle class. Yet, my mother would kill me if I never married the father of her grandchild.' Alex paused with a faint sigh, and avoided his eyes. 'I think the best idea is if I tell people the father is a dead soldier. If I am pregnant. That way, I don't spoil your name.'

'What makes you think I wouldn't take responsibility?' Charles asked. Alex looked up from her shoes.

'I'm not your type,' she said in amazement. 'Your family would hate you.'

'They don't seem to care about class as much as they used to,' Charles said in a slightly annoyed tone. 'And what would you know about my "type"?'

'I don't know you very well, Charles,' Alex admitted. 'But I know your type. I've met them many times. Above all, you hold your aristocracy above all else. You could never marry me and hold your head up back home at the same time.'

'Do you remember much from our night in Tokyo?' Charles asked. Alex shook her head.

'Not a lot,' she said.

'There was drinking,' Charles said. 'Dancing. Talking. I realised that night you were not the norm. That's what I look for in friends.'

'And how do you define the norm?' Alex asked in curiosity.

'The ingrates around here, they are the norm,' Charles said. 'People I saw in the streets of Tokyo, they were the norm. You are special. You are dignified, bold, tasteful.'

'Are you describing me, or a fine wine?' Alex asked.

'The first time, and the only other time, I fell in love in this godforsaken place,' Charles said in a low voice, 'was with a girl from Rosie's bar. She sold herself to other men, wouldn't have been able to tell Shakespeare from Twain, and had no manners. You tell me now, that you are not my type.'

'God, Charles, I don't know,' Alex said, feeling slightly upset. She felt she was screwing everything up again, and she hated not being in control. Charles moved onto the cot beside her and laid a gentle hand on her back. Alex sat for a while, feeling sorry for herself, until she realised what he was doing. She jumped up, angry. 'What the hell are you doing?' she demanded. She could feel her eyes tearing up, and she blinked angrily to stop herself crying. She sat down again, finally. 'I'm sorry,' she apologised. 'From what I remember of the other night, you were excellent company, and though things went a little too far, I want to become friends. I don't know, maybe it will evolve into a relationship, later on, but not now, not when I have so much on my plate.'

Charles nodded sombrely. 'I understand,' he said, maybe a little too briskly.

'I know it's going to be difficult, but if we talk everything out slowly, maybe we can make things easier for ourselves,' Alex said. Charles nodded again, standing up. 'God, you're not going to give me the cold shoulder, are you?' Alex pleaded. 'I've had enough of being ignored by everyone.'

'I'm sorry,' Charles apologised. He seemed sincere. 'We should try and talk this over later on.' He stood up.

'Maybe the back room of Rosie's bar,' Alex suggested tiredly. 'Today's Tuesday, right? We'll meet Friday morning, around six hundred hours, unless there's wounded. I'll organise it all with Rosie.' Charles nodded and Alex opened the door for him.

'I hope we can work this all out,' he said before Alex closed the tent door. He muttered something to himself angrily and walked towards the Swamp.

Inside, Alex collapsed on her cot, mentally exhausted from the day of worry. She was asleep within five minutes.