Margaret sat down on her cot, as far away from Frank as possible. He scooted towards her and kissed her cheek gently.
"I missed you my angel. I'm glad we're friends again." Margaret listened nervously; his voice was not normal, it had a dazed and unnatural quality to it. She swallowed her fear and spoke up.
"We are not friends again Frank. I am only sitting here because you asked me too, and I am inclined to do as you ask so long as you are holding that weapon."
Frank seemingly ignored her statement and began nuzzling her neck. Margaret glanced at the door and lurched towards it.
"Stop or I'll shoot," his voice was no longer whining but strong and demanding. Margaret froze and slowly turned towards Frank. He got up and walked towards her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Margaret cringed as he kissed her harshly, pushing her back towards the cot.
----------------------------
Hawkeye slowly walked out of the dark building and headed across the compound, no destination really in mind. Klinger had convinced him to leave the officer's club so he could close it up for the night.
Hawkeye was confused with his motives for kissing Margaret. At first, he had brushed it off as something he did all the time with the nursing staff. However, this time it was different. When he kissed her he had not done it as a ploy to climb into bed with her; but because he cared about her. It had not emerged from lust, but for a want of words, a feeling that he could not seem to express with words. Hawkeye sighed as he reached Rosie's and realized that, it too, was closed. He plunged his hands deep into his pockets before walking back towards the swamp.
"Frank please stop," Margaret whimpered. Frank had climbed on top of her and was now pinning down her hands as he frantically tried to remove his clothing. Margaret realized he had set down his gun and she slowly stretched her fingertips, reaching for the weapon.
There was a sudden knock on the door and Frank froze and then quickly reached for his gun.
"Margaret, I need to talk to you." Frank glared at the silhouette of Hawkeye's head before returning his attention towards Margaret. Margaret whimpered as Frank pulled her panties down around her ankles. Frank harshly clamped his hand over her mouth and waved his gun as a reminder.
"Margaret are you in there?" Hawkeye's worried voice drifted through the canvas walls.
Hawkeye tried the door to Margaret's tent and was surprised to find it locked.
"Margaret, come on wake up, I need to talk to you."
Margaret took a shaky breath, knowing what would happen if Hawkeye left. "Hawkeye," Margaret called out as loudly as possible. Frank once again clamed his hand over her mouth. He picked up the gun and glanced uneasily at the door.
"Margaret, I need to talk to you, open the door." Hawkeye glanced uneasily at the tent. He had heard Margaret call his name, he knew it. He looked behind him, searching for some sign of her outside her tent….nothing.
Hawkeye heard an agonized groan from Margaret followed by Frank's shrill yelp and he immediately began to bang on the door.
"Margaret open this door now!" he screamed. When there was no answer, he slammed all of his weight against the wooden door. After two, more tries the thin door gave way and Hawkeye stumbled onto Frank, who was frantically trying to dress himself.
Frank saw the angry, almost wild look in the captain's eyes and he grabbed for his gun aiming it towards Margaret, who was now curled up on her cot, sobbing uncontrollably. Colonel Potter and BJ rushed in behind Hawkeye and stared in shock at the scene before them.
"Put down the gun, you worthless scum," Hawkeye growled. Frank glanced towards the door and then at Hawkeye. He scooted closer to Margaret and slowly edged his way to the door, keeping the gun aimed directly at Margaret, but his eyes on Hawkeye.
BJ took this opportunity and grabbed at Frank's arm, pointing it downward as the gun went off. To everyone's amazement, Frank managed to throw BJ backwards and then he quickly took a shot at Margaret's crumpled form.
Hawkeye lunged at the man as Margaret screamed in pain, knocking him onto the floor. Colonel Potter rushed to Margaret, to see how badly she was injured.
Frank picked himself off the floor and fled outside. Hawkeye quickly caught up to him and sent him sprawling in the dirt.
Colonel Potter emerged from the tent and fought his way through the crowd of people, to where Hawkeye was beating Frank senseless. Potter took a hold of Hawkeye's shoulder, but Hawkeye threw him back. All the curious onlookers watched for a moment in amazement. Their passive surgeon, who they swore would never hurt a fly, now had Frank Burns unconscious, and he was not letting up.
Sherman once again firmly took a hold of Hawkeye, pulling him off the man.
"That's enough captain!" he yelled loudly. Hawkeye picked himself up and rushed to BJ who had just emerged holding Margaret.
"How bad is she?" he asked in a daze, his professional side kicking in.
"The bastard nicked an artery," BJ muttered while carrying her towards the OR.
"I'll scrub," Hawkeye announced, running towards the main hospital building.
Colonel Potter caught up with him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"You are not going to be anywhere near that girl Pierce. Now do not interrupt me. You are far to involved emotionally and I refuse to let you into OR."
Hawkeye sat down heavily on the bench in the scrub room, for once he knew Potter was right and he was not going to argue.
He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, his head hanging down. BJ came in the room shortly to scrub and then quickly left, not uttering a word to his friend.
Hawkeye's mind wandered over the things that had happened, wondering what he should have done, what he could have done. He came to the kiss he had given her that evening and he shuddered. Slowly he got up and stared through the window in to OR.
BJ's back was to him and Colonel Potter stood over Margaret, keeping a watch on her blood pressure. Hawkeye looked at her pale face and a lone tear made its way down his frightened face.