Alex opened the bottle and poured the contents into five different glasses. Kellye, Jefferson and two nurses from a different tent were celebrating with her that night about her promotion. Not many people knew yet, just the Colonel, Klinger, Charles, BJ and all of the nurses, save for Margaret. Alex didn't know if they'd spread the news at all yet, though she didn't think so. She would have had people knocking on her tent door all night to say congratulations all night otherwise.

Somehow, Alex had managed to provide a few bottles of booze around and some "party" food, consisting mainly of pretzels, sweet biscuits and another box from home of rum brownies. Actually, Klinger had helped her find most of it, but none of the other nurses cared. They just knew Alex had been promoted to Major and they were celebrating.

As well as Kellye and Jefferson, Nurses Crystal and Marple had joined the celebration. Crystal was a blond nurse, with large blue eyes. She'd been one of the nurses Hawkeye had been seeing whilst Alex was on R and R.

Marple was a young woman, just over from the states. She had gingery brown hair, like the colour of ginger biscuits, and soft, brown eyes. She looked a lot younger than she actually was, and the nurses tended to treat her like she was still in junior high. She was slightly naïve, but she seemed to grasp onto ideas around camp pretty quickly.

'Hang on,' Alex said, a brownie in her hand. 'I'm going to get Major Houlihan.'

'Major Houlihan?' Nurse Crystal whined. 'She won't come. In fact, she'll probably tell us to knock the whole thing off.'

'Margaret isn't that bad,' Alex said firmly. 'And the invitation was open to all nurses. She may be hard on us, but she's still a nurse.'

'Go get her,' Kellye said. 'We don't mind.' She gave Crystal a look to make the other nurse shut up. After all, it was Alex's party, and she could invite who she wanted.

'Maybe it'll loosen Margaret up,' suggested Nurse Marple. Alex left the tent, hyped up from all the excitement. Margaret won't be too annoyed Alex had been promoted, she decided. She'd be happy for the red head nurse.

It was just ten minutes before Alex left the nurses tent, Hawkeye entered Major Houlihan's tent. He had gone in looking for the Head Nurse who had meant to start a Post op shift twenty minutes ago. Margaret's light had been on, so he barged in without invitation.

He found Margaret sitting on her unmade cot, curled up with her pillow on her lap, and a piece of paper in her hand. There were letters scattered on the cot around Margaret, some ripped up, most still in tact.

'You ok?' Hawkeye asked Margaret gently. The head nurse jumped, having not heard him come in.

'Just reading over all the love letters Donald sent me,' she said as Hawkeye sat down and picked up a letter.

'And Frank,' he said. Margaret snatched it back.

'Most are from Donald,' she snapped.

'Are you sure you're ok?' Hawkeye asked. Margaret started crying harder.

'No,' she wailed. Hawkeye comforted her, holding her close to him. After a few minutes, Margaret pulled away, still sniffing slightly. 'You're a good friend,' she said.

'Not really,' Hawkeye said. 'If I was such a good friend, would Alex be ignoring me?'

'She's probably just rethinking her life,' Margaret said.

'Maybe we can't be just good friends,' Hawkeye muttered loudly. 'Maybe we can't take it back to what it was like when she first came.'

'Maybe you should stop worrying,' Margaret suggested.

'Maybe,' Hawkeye said. 'Look, I came here for a reason. You had Post op twenty minutes ago.' He paused for a moment. 'However, if you want to skip that tonight, I'll cover for you.' Margaret gave him a thankful look.

'I'll come,' she said. 'I can be there in a few minutes.'

'Take the night off,' Hawkeye insisted. 'No-one will know.'

'Thanks, Hawkeye,' Margaret said, staring up at him. Hawkeye gave her a friendly smile.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door, and Alex yelled in 'Hello, Margaret?' Hawkeye fell off the cot with a noisy bang, having been startled by the yell, and Margaret hurried to help him up.

'Just wait a minute,' she hollered to Alex, sounding a little stressed. She tried pulling Hawkeye up quickly, but just succeeded in getting herself worked up.

'Go answer her,' Hawkeye was hissing at Margaret, struggling to stand. Margaret went to the door, her nightdress hanging off one shoulder. Alex came in before she had a chance to open the door.

'Hey, Margaret, we're having a party in my tent, do you want to come?' Alex asked, looking around the tent. What she saw was this: Hawkeye standing up near the cot with his hair mussed and looking slightly panicky at being caught, Margaret with her nightdress hanging crookedly like it had been pulled on in a hurry, the messy covers on the cot. Alex's expression darkened.

'Obviously you have plans already for tonight,' she said coldly, looking at Hawkeye when she said this. 'I won't bother you two any more.' She turned to go out, but stopped at the door. 'And in case you were interested, I got promoted yesterday,' she added, slamming the tent door, leaving Hawkeye and Margaret to take in what had just happened.

'Did she say she's been promoted?' they asked each other in unison.

Alex arrived back at the nurse's tent, angry and upset. There were tears on her cheeks, but she ignored them as she poured herself a glass of scotch, drinking it before it had time to settle properly in the glass.

'Is she coming?' Nurse Marple asked. Alex just drained a second glass. The other four nurses watched quietly as she had a third, then a fourth. She dropped her glass, and swore loud and long. Eventually, Alex calmed down, and looked around the tent.

'Come on,' she said bitterly. 'I thought we were meant to be partying?'