Chapter Thirteen
Korea, 1952
Sydney went to visit Vaughn again later that day. She sat next to him in a chair, willing him to wake up so that the three of them could get out of Korea as soon as possible. She held his hand tightly hoping that he could feel it but knowing that he was probably so deeply unconscious that a bus could've hit him and he wouldn't have felt it. The tears that hadn't wanted to come the last time she'd visited him finally started to fall down her face. She wiped them away when she heard footsteps behind her.
"Good afternoon, Miss Bristow." It was Sidney.
"Good afternoon to you, too, Dr. Freeman." She replied, turning to face him.
"I see your friend hasn't woken up yet." He pulled up a chair next to her. "That must be very hard for you."
"It is." Sydney nodded, letting go of Vaughn's hand. "Is there something that I can do for you?"
"No, not really. I just came here to see how one of the soldiers was doing. He came in with massive psychological damage. Apparently he'd seen his buddy shot to death by a Korean soldier."
"That would be traumatizing to anyone." Sydney said.
"Yes. Very. Anyway, I saw you sitting here and figured that maybe you'd need to talk to someone."
Sydney looked from to Sidney and back again. "That's very thoughtful of you, but I think I'm all right."
"Are you sure? Klinger told me about what happened the night before. He said that you've had difficulty adjusting to all the death and injury around you."
"And that makes me weird?" Sydney asked in disbelief.
Sidney chuckled a little. "No, I guess you're right." He looked over at Hawkeye who was checking up on a man who had lost an eye in battle. There was a patch over it, but Sidney still knew that there was nothing underneath it. "Maybe it's us that need the shrinks, me included. We've been here for so long that sometimes death no longer seems like that big of a deal."
"But sometimes it does," Sydney said, remembering Margaret's little episode in her tent the night before.
"Yes. There are some exceptions." Sidney agreed. He looked at the young woman carefully for a moment before saying, "You know, you never answered my question."
"Which question was that?"
"The first day I asked you what your occupation was and you avoided the question, if I remember correctly, with a very impressive theatrical performance."
"I had good reason for that."
Sidney smiled. "You're with the government, aren't you?"
"What makes you say that?"
"That would explain all the secrecy…and why you tried to pretend you were seeing three of me."
"I thought it was only two." Sydney said, recalling her eccentric performance just five days earlier.
That's when it hit her. She, her father, and Vaughn had been there for five days. If and when they managed to get back to their own time, Sydney's cover would be blown, she was sure of it. Her father would be killed as would she and Vaughn would have to find another agent to help the CIA bring SD-6 down. She knew that her imagination was getting the best of her, but that didn't matter. All that she cared about right now was Vaughn…and Hawkeye.
"Sydney?" The psychiatrist asked.
"Hmm?" She was still off in another dimension.
"Are you sure that there isn't something that you need to discuss with someone? No problems you're having right now?"
"Oh, I've got problems, just not ones that can be discussed. Besides, you'd never believe me anyway."
"Try me." Sidney replied, smirking. He'd heard it all in his days as a psychiatrist. He knew that no matter what Sydney had to say it probably wasn't as bad as she thought it was.
Sydney opened her mouth to say something when she heard the sound of a truck outside.
"Ambulance in the compound." The voice over the PA announced. "All personnel report to triage immediately. My guess is this probably isn't a visit from Santa Claus."
Doctors and nurses rushed out of Post-Op. Sydney looked at their retreating figures sympathetically.
"I've seen a lot of death and destruction in my line of work and yet I still don't envy these men and women anything." Sydney said, mainly to herself but also to Sidney as well.
The psychiatrist nodded. "That's why I'm just the shrink."
The next few days passed quickly. There were a few ambulances here and there, a chopper or two, but other than that there wasn't much to do medically. A wounded soldier informed Hawkeye that there had been a lull in the fighting lately which was good news for the MASH doctors. It meant that there was less to worry about.
There was no word from Colonel Potter during this time. People were starting to get worried, especially Radar who kept trying to get a hold of General Kite with no luck. He stopped eating and sleeping after a while and just stayed at the desk all day. Everyone knew that something big was up, even Sydney and Jack who had spent most of this time sitting with Vaughn and discussing possible ways to get back.
The CIA agents had been in Korea now for a week and a half. By that time everyone at the 4077th knew who they were and where they had come from. It was getting more and more dangerous to stay but they really had no choice. Margaret had informed them that there was a chance Vaughn would never wake up. Jack had suggested just leaving him and the clock there so that if he ever did come out of the coma he could find his way back. Sydney voted strongly against that option and opted to stay with him while Jack went back. This plan had seemed plausible but when Jack reset the clock to noon nothing happened.
"Dad, what the hell are we going to do?" Sydney asked that night at dinner, crying into what was supposed to be a slice of ham.
"I don't know sweetie. I just don't know."
Hawkeye and BJ were sitting across from them playing a game of poker.
"Is there any way of contacting someone from 2002?" BJ asked, trading two cards.
"Not that I know of." Jack replied.
"Besides," Hawkeye countered, "how would they know that that person had been reached. They can't exactly send a message back to us."
"This is a mess." Margaret moaned, letting her fork clatter to her tray. "There's got to be someway to clean it up."
"Well, we could always-" Hawkeye started, but was interrupted by the PA system.
"Attention all personnel! Jeep in the compound! Our fearless leader has returned!"
A cheer erupted from the MASH staff as they rushed out of the Mess Tent to meet Colonel Potter. Radar was already there helping him out of the jeep, as was Klinger who was pulling Potter's luggage out of the back. Hawkeye, BJ, and Margaret crowded around him like children around a parent who has gone off on a long business trip.
"It's good to have you back, sir." Margaret said, giving him a warm hug.
"Did you bring us anything?" Hawkeye asked, as he and BJ searched the bags that were sitting on the ground behind the vehicle.
Rizzo who had come to take the jeep back to the garage was the first to notice that something was wrong. "What's eatin' you, sir?" He asked, seeing the Colonel's dejected look.
Potter stood up tall and walked to the middle of the throng of people that had gathered in the compound. Radar, who had disappeared seconds before, now handed the Colonel a bullhorn. "Everyone, I have an announcement to make!" Where once there had been the murmur of many voices there was now complete silence. "As you know I was gone for the past few days on business in Seoul. I knew when General Kite called me to say that he needed to see me that the situation wasn't good. I have come back in order to pack my bags."
The crowd went wild with indignation. It took a few minutes for Potter to get them to calm down again.
"It is with great sorrow that I inform you now that a chopper will be here in a week to take me to an airport in Seoul where I will be sent home at once. It appears that my services will no longer be needed here." Again the staff started to shout but Potter held up a hand for silence. "General Kite believes that my good friend Colonel Richard Riley is better suited to be your CO than I."
"This is ridiculous!" Hawkeye muttered, grabbing the bullhorn away from Potter. "Are we gonna take this?" He asked the men and women of the 4077th. A resounding "no" was his answer. "That's right!" The chief-of-staff replied, putting an arm around Potter. "This man is the best damn CO around and we won't let them take him away from us. If they send him home, they send us all home."
This seemed to make a lasting impression of the wrong sort as everyone began to chant, "Send us home, send us home!"
"Hawkeye," Potter began. " I think you'd better quit while you're ahead."
Margaret, who had tears in her eyes, asked, "Isn't there a way that we can stop this?"
"I'm afraid not, Major Houlihan. Kite's not the kind of man to change his mind when he's got it set on something."
Mulcahy, who had been standing with Jack and Sydney the whole time suddenly said, "It all makes sense now."
"What does, Father?" Jack asked, turning to the man.
"This is the reason why you're here." He replied. "You've been sent here to help us."
Sydney gave him a puzzled look. "What are you talking about? We were sent here because of my stupidity."
Mulcahy shook his head. "I think that you'll find, my child, that everything happens for a reason." And with that he walked back to his tent.
"Dad, do you really believe what he said?" Sydney asked, looking back at the forlorn mob that was clustered around the Colonel.
Jack started to shake his head then decided against it. "You know what? I actually do, Syd. I actually do."
Just then a corpsmen burst out of the O.R. "He's awake!" He yelled. "He finally woke up!"