-Guy with sign that says "The End Is Near" walks past-

Kooshball Note: Ok, "Nurses" will be finished very soon, within another three or four chapters. Because I've only seen the last few seasons of MASH once, these last few chapters won't be accurate. Either learn to live with the inaccuracies or flame me. I don't particularly care which, but I will ignore flames.

Someone had the bright idea of making a time capsule, Alex wasn't sure who. But for the last few days, Hawkeye and Margaret had been going around, looking for things to put into the box. Alex didn't have anything to put in the capsule, though Hawkeye had pleaded with her to include something.

She did, however, go to see them put it into the ground. Margaret had complained about the items in the box until Hawkeye started producing some more powerful items, such as one of Henry's forgotten fishing flies and Radar's bear that had been left behind. Alex looked at the bear in surprise. She had been unaware he'd left it in Korea.

Alex watched Hawkeye put the bear into the time capsule, signifying the people who'd come as boys, gone home as men.

'Hey, can I put something in?' she asked suddenly, wanting to be part of this moment. There were a few startled glances up at Alex.

'Yeah, sure,' Hawkeye said.

'I'll be back in a minute,' Alex said. 'Don't bury it without letting me get it.' She ran off in the direction of the Swamp.

'A whole heap of junk,' Margaret sniffed after she'd gone, staring down into the capsule.

'Significant junk,' BJ reminded her. 'It all has a meaning that relates to us.' Margaret had no reply to that.

Alex came back, something pale green in her arms. When she held it up, they soon realised what it was.

'Your dress,' Hawkeye said.

'Klinger made it for me sometime last year,' Alex said, looking at it fondly. 'When Dani was at the 4077. It was my favourite dress in the whole world.'

'It's all ripped,' Klinger said, sounding kind of hurt. Alex looked at him, tears in her eyes.

'It got ruined when I went on R and R to Tokyo with Charles,' she said to him. 'I couldn't bear to tell you. I tried to have it repaired, but it was impossible.'

'What's it signify?' Potter asked softly. Alex swallowed, and blinked a few times to keep the tears back.

'To mistakes made,' she replied. She looked at Charles. 'For better and for worse.' Sombrely, she laid it in the capsule, and Hawkeye put the lid on it. The time capsule was put into the hole by Hawkeye, and Charles wrapped an arm around Alex's shoulders. She gripped his hand tightly, watching the others piling the dirt over the box. The personnel of the 4077 started walking away, once the box was deep in the ground.

'Good choice, Major,' Margaret said softly to Alex. The younger nurse looked at her superior in surprise. This was the first civil word she had said to Alex since moving into the Swamp.

'Thank you,' Alex said, giving Margaret a small nod. Margaret didn't reply, but instead walked off to her tent.

'To the Swamp?' Charles asked. Alex nodded. Shoulder to shoulder, the two walked to the Swamp. BJ and Hawkeye seemed to be going to the officer's club with Potter, so they would have the tent to themselves. Inside, Charles put on a quiet record, and Alex sat on the edge of her cot, watching him get the bottle of wine from under the shirts in his footlocker.

'Charles,' she said as he poured the drinks. 'What will happen to us after the war?'

'What do you mean?' Charles asked.

'Well, Hawkeye's relationship with any nurse was never going to last beyond the war. I was wondering if ours was meant to be the same,' Alex explained.

'Of course not!' Charles said, handing her a glass of red wine. 'I want to take you home and meet my family. I want to meet your mother and your sister.'

'Good,' Alex said, satisfied. 'I've had a couple of bad relationships over the years, Charles. I'm happy you're not one of them.'

'I could never hurt you intentionally,' Charles said. He held up his glass. 'To us after the war,' he said.

'Us after the war,' Alex replied, tapping her glass with his. 'May the war end as soon as possible.' She drank deeply, glad to have one of the many things off her chest.

'You seem a little preoccupied,' Charles said to her, sitting on the crate opposite where she was sitting. 'What's wrong?'

'It's nothing,' Alex said. 'Just a whole heap of little things.'

'I could help you with the little things,' Charles suggested. Alex looked up at him, and smiled.

'Don't worry about it,' she said.

'I almost forgot,' Charles said, standing up again and going to his footlocker. 'I asked Mother to send something from home for you.' He produced a brown paper wrapped parcel. Alex took it from him, slightly confused.

'What is it?' she asked.

'Open it,' Charles said. He seemed excited about the gift. Alex untied it, and pulled the paper away. Inside was an old book, the pages slightly browned from age.

'Romeo and Juliet,' Alex said with a smile. 'Shakespeare.'

'I remembered what you said in Tokyo. A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet,' Charles said. Alex nodded. She vaguely remembered that part of the night, where she had over heard people talking about the "police action".

'Are you happy with it?' he asked eagerly after a moment. He seemed to want to please Alex with the gift, so she nodded.

'I love it,' she said. She laughed gently. 'I just haven't picked up a book in so long. I think I might have forgotten how to read.'

'I'll read it to you,' Charles said. He sat beside Alex, took the book from her and opened it to the first page. The nurse moved closer to him, enjoying his warmth and company. 'Two households, both alike in dignity--'

'Skip this part,' Alex interrupted. 'Let's read where Romeo and Juliet meet.' Charles smiled at Alex.

'Alright,' he said, flipping through the book to "Act two, scene 2". 'I shall be Romeo. Do you wish to read Juliet?' Alex nodded before leaning her head on his shoulder.

'But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!' Charles read softly. Alex's eyes were closed, and a gentle smile was on her mouth. She had always loved Shakespeare, and it sounded magical to her in Charles' hushed whispers, as if he were really Romeo.

'Hey kids, not interrupting, are we?' Hawkeye asked loudly as he and BJ barged into the Swamp. Alex jerked her head up quickly, annoyed the spell had been broken.

'I told you we shouldn't have come in while they were alone,' BJ muttered to Hawkeye, no jest or sarcasm in his voice.

'Romeo and Juliet,' Hawkeye read off the book in Charles' hands. 'Wherefore art thou Romeo and all that, right?'

'We're not up to that part yet,' Alex said irritably. 'Weren't you two in the officer's club?'

'We were, and now we're here,' Hawkeye said. 'Hey, booze!' He had spotted Charles' bottle of wine.

'Not "booze", you cretin,' Charles said loudly, standing up. Alex flopped onto her cot, sighing loudly and cursing Hawkeye silently.

'Sorry, Alex,' BJ said to her.

'It's ok, I'm sure Charles and I can read it another time,' Alex said hopelessly as she watched Charles bicker with Hawkeye about the wine.

However, that never happened.

Kooshball note: I do not own either MASH or anything written by Shakespeare. Do I look rich to you? Anyway, leave a review.