Alex was back in her home town. There was a baby in her arms, cooing happily. Hawkeye appeared at one end of the street, and Charles at the other. Alex started walking towards Charles, the obvious father of the child. As Alex neared Charles, other people, his family by the looks of it, came and blocked her way. She couldn't get to Charles to give him the baby, even though he held his hands out to receive it. Alex turned and looked at Hawkeye. She walked towards him, and no-one blocked her path. However, when she tried to hand the child to Hawkeye, he ran away. Suddenly, all around her were exploding bombs, and she couldn't see Hawkeye or Charles anywhere. In her arms, the baby had turned cold, and when she looked down, it was no longer a baby, but a dead Korean girl, no older than five years old. Looking up, Alex could see a bomb falling towards her. She opened her mouth to scream, but it was too late.
Alex jumped awake from the dream as the tent door slammed loudly. Baker had stormed in, obviously in a bad mood.
'Haven't you any manners?' Jefferson snapped. 'Alex hasn't been feeling well.' Jefferson and Kellye were sitting on Jefferson's cot with cards in their hands. Obviously, they'd snuck in earlier that night without waking her.
Baker gave Alex a dark look. 'It's your fault I'm back so early anyway,' she said bitterly. 'Nothing happened and it was because Hawkeye was too busy thinking about you. He wouldn't shut up about you. I wish you hadn't come back to the 4077th. We'd have our old Hawkeye back.' She stormed out again, leaving the other three nurses shocked.
'Damn, I am good at screwing things up, aren't I?' Alex muttered to the other two nurses, her head in her hands.
'Don't mind her,' Jefferson said, standing up. 'You can't help it if Hawkeye is still attracted to you. It'll pass soon.'
'I don't know if it will. My life is just so complicated right now,' Alex said. 'It's Fate's way of messing with me.' Jefferson and Kellye glanced at each other.
'It's not that bad,' Kellye said, getting up and wrapping an arm around Alex's shoulders. 'It could be worse.'
'How?' Alex asked sourly.
'Hawkeye could have forgotten you completely,' Jefferson said after a pause where Kellye tried to think of something.
Over the next few days, Nurse Baker ignored Alex completely. It angered the red head that Baker was holding her responsible for Hawkeye's reactions the previous night. She tended to avoid Baker now, and Hawkeye. He and BJ were always inviting her over to the officer's club, Rosie's, or the Swamp for a drink, but Alex constantly refused. Obviously, she hated having to ignore BJ as well, but that could lead to her spilling the truth about Tokyo. That was the last thing she needed.
It was the day before Alex was to see Charles at Rosie's. The wounded didn't show any signs of coming in, and Klinger reported that there were no major manoeuvres being performed within a fifty mile radius of the 4077th during the next few days. She was sitting quietly in Klinger's office, waiting to be called in to see Colonel Potter. Klinger had come and got her just twenty minutes before, but she hadn't been allowed in because he was halfway through a call from the states. Something to do with the curtains in the Potter's living room. Every now and then, Alex would be able to hear parts of the conversation.
'No, dear, I don't think they need replacing.'
'I'm not sure he's reputable. You'd be better off ringing Joe to put them in.'
'I'm sure whatever you've picked will look just fine. You've always had a flare for colour.'
Eventually, Alex was called in. Alex turned slightly pale at the thought of going in, she didn't know how much news of what she'd done in Tokyo had come through. Maybe that General had called to complain about the eggs in his hat.
'Sit down, Lieutenant,' Potter said, motioning towards the chair. Alex sat nervously. She hated it when people went all military on her, and called her "lieutenant" or "ma'am". It meant something big was happening when Colonel Potter used it with her.
Alex sat, her palms feeling sweaty. 'Don't fret,' Potter said, noticing her shaking slightly. 'This isn't about the fireworks you lit in that bath house.' Damn. Someone told him about that.
'What is this about then, sir?' Alex asked. If he was going to be formal, then so was she.
'Have a drink,' Potter said, pushing a glass in Alex's direction. She took it gladly, but it slipped from her fingers and spilt over the table.
'Hell, I'm sorry, sir,' Alex said hurriedly, standing up and pulling a handkerchief from her pocket to soak up the mess.
'No, it's ok. This is why you don't operate in surgery,' Potter said. 'I guess it's a nervous thing.' Alex nodded, her face red from the accident. Potter refilled her glass, but Alex didn't take it. She left it on the desk, mentally cursing her injuries that prevented her from doing anything she wanted.
'Now, you know the army,' Potter started. 'They tend to be a little slow at times.'
'Oh god, they didn't tell my family I'm dead or anything?' Alex asked, worried. Hawkeye had told her several times about the time he'd be declared dead. It was her worst fear in the war, apart from actually dying.
'According to the army, you're still alive,' Potter reassured her. 'They still think you assist at the operating table, which is the 4077th's little secret.'
'Then what has the army done this time?' Alex asked. Potter smiled.
'You seem to think this is going to be bad,' he said.
'It's the army. It's always bad,' Alex said.
'Not this time,' Potter said. 'It turns out, while Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake was here, he put you up for promotion.' Alex's jaw dropped.
'What?' she asked weakly. 'So now I'm a Captain?' Potter shook his head.
'Not quite,' he said. 'It seems your last CO, a Major Evans, he also put you up for promotion.'
'Oh my god,' Alex said. She went to pick up her drink, but remembered her arm was playing up. So instead, she used her right hand. She drained the drink, and stared Potter in the eye. 'This isn't some kind of joke at my expense, right?' she asked. Potter shook his head.
'No,' he said, with the hint of a smile on his face. 'However, it does mean you are a Major.' Alex almost dropped the glass again. A Major? She hated the military, and now she outranked all of her friends. The others were going to kill her. She turned her attention back to Colonel Potter when she realised he was talking to her again.
'Now, for some reason, they wanted it all to be very hush-hush,' he was saying. 'No big parades outside the camp, no Generals to give you honours or anything. I guess that's why it took so dang long for the orders to be put through.' He stood up, and handed Alex two small pins. 'I now promote you to Major,' he said. 'Talk to Klinger about getting the stripes on your uniform. He's good at that sort of thing.' Potter stopped when he realised what he'd said.
'I know, I find it hard to think of him wearing uniform too, sir,' Alex said. Potter smiled at her, and gave her a quick salute.
'I suppose you'll want to go spread the news,' he said. Alex nodded, and walked rather quickly out of the office, while Potter was left to contemplate the new curtains that would greet him when and if he got home.