The next day we all woke early and made our way to the mess tent. After I had gotten my tray I looked around for a place to sit. I saw Hawkeye look at me and wave me over. B.J., Charles and Radar were sitting with him. I smiled and made my way to their table.

"Good Morning gentlemen," I greeted as I sat down next to Radar.

Radar mumbled something and continued to eat his breakfast. Charles greeted me with a good morning.

B.J. smiled at me then glanced at Hawkeye. "So, Knocko I hear from Hawk here that you had a knock out time last night. And that you took out a Marine?"

I looked over at Hawkeye with a look that said why did you tell him? He just shrugged at me and continued to dissect his food.

"Yeah I guess I did."

B.J. whistled and shook his head. "Man I don't want to get on your bad side."

"As long as you don't make a pass at me you'll do fine," I teased.

"Why would I with your shapely body?" he teased back. I gave a sarcastic laugh and continued to eat my food.

As we ate our breakfast people kept coming up to me and saying stuff like, "Way to go Knocko!" and "Way to get them marines!"

When the sixth person had left after congratulating me B.J. said, "Well looks like you've been adopted into the MASH 4077 family. Eh Knocko?"

"Now am I going to have to live with that name?" I asked behind my hand to hide my embarrassment.

B.J. and Hawkeye shared a glance and together said, "Yep"

I moaned. I almost wish I hadn't knocked out that Marine. We finished and I headed to the latrine to empty my bladder. As I left I noticed a billboard and went and looked at what was posted there.

There was a flyer for rejoining the army, some personal ads, events coming up but what caught my eye was a flyer for a poker night at the Swamp. I had learned earlier that the Swamp was where Hawkeye, B.J. and Charles lived. I looked at the date and saw that the next one was that night. I checked the time and decided to go.

After my shift in the afternoon I went looking through all my stuff for all my money. After I had rounded it all up I noticed I had $30. That should be enough to play. As the time got closer I changed into something more comfortable and made my way to the Swamp.

I knocked on the door and looked in when I was bid to enter. I saw B.J. setting up a table and Hawkeye rounding up some chairs. Charles saw me and asked, "My dear why are you here at this hour? We were just about to play some poker."

"I was wondering if I could play with you guys. If that's alright with you gentlemen."

Hawkeye looked up from his chairs and looked at me. "I don't mean to offend you or anything but you don't stand a chance against any of us. Not even ol' Chuckles here who I might say is a bit poorer near the end of the night."

"Oh offense taken. I was thinking that maybe one of you might be man enough to play against me but I guess not," I countered. I held up my chin defiantly and waited for his reply.

"Oh come now Pierce lets have the lady join us. Maybe she could teach you a thing or too. After all she did go to Boston University," cut in Charles.

"Okay but don't start crying when you lose all your money. How much did you bring anyway?" said Hawkeye as he added another chair to the five already there.

"Thirty."

"What thirty cents? I'm sorry but that won't even get you a chip," said Hawkeye from the head of the table with his arms crossed.

I rolled my eyes. "Thirty dollars genius."

"That should be enough," shrugged Hawkeye.

That was when Colonel Potter and Klinger came in and each took a seat. "Okay lets get this show started," said Potter. He looked round and saw me standing. "You playing too? Well then lets all get a seat. Who's dealing?"

Then the games started. At first I lost a few games but I soon had my money back plus more. After I had won my sixth game in a row with a full house Klinger threw down his cards and said, "I can't believe I used up my cloth savings just to be beaten by a woman." He looked at me and added, "No offense."

"None taken. Here use this for your new cloth savings. I hope to see more Klinger creations." I tossed him a five dollar chip and he solemnly thanked me. He got up and left the rest of us to play more poker.

After the ninth game Potter gave up too. Then it was just the Swamp rats and me. As Potter left Hawkeye eyed me and said, "Now why don't we make this a bit more interesting."

"Yes why don't we? It's getting a bit boring winning all the time. Is there anyone here at this place that can beat me?" I said teasingly.

Hawkeye laughed sarcastically and said, "Why don't we play something else?"

"Like what?" I arched an eyebrow in question. Why was he taking so long to ask?

"Why don't we play strip poker?" He sat back and looked at me playfully. I saw his eyes twinkle with humor and he grinned at me with a most flattering grin.

"Are you sure you all would like to strip down with me in the room? I'm sure that would embarrass you guys too much."

"Oh but we're pretty sure you'll be the one doing most of the stripping," replied Hawkeye. He started to shuffle the cards while watching me. B.J. and Charles exchanged glances and continued to watch us argue.

"But what about B.J.? He's a happily married man I'm not sure if that would be good for him if he saw scantily clothed men."

Hawkeye cocked an eyebrow and asked, "You're not chicken are you?"

I quickly stood up and placed my hands on the table in a fierce manner. "What did you just call me? Listen here buddy where I come from we don't take being called a chicken lightly. So if I was you I would watch myself."

Hawkeye sat up a bit nervously and held up his hands. "Okay, okay just calm down Knocko. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

I sat back down curtly and looked at each of the men sitting around the poker table and sighed. "Okay how are we going to this?"

Hawkeye looked up from his shuffling and asked, "Do what?"

"Are we doing layers or per article of clothing?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Hawkeye innocently.

I rolled my eyes. "Your sick idea of playing strip poker. Are we doing layers or per article of clothing."

Hawkeye thought for a while and looked over at me slowly. "How about per article of clothing so the humiliation can be drawn out more."

There was a chorus of yes's from us and Hawkeye started to deal the cards. I looked at my hand and saw that I had a pretty good hand and when it was my turn to change I only traded one card. I saw B.J. starting to sweat and he kept stealing glances at all of us to see if any of us was bluffing. Hawkeye sat coolly casually looking at his cards and calling out bets. Charles looked a bit nervous too.

Finally when we called out our hands Hawkeye had the best of the lot with a flush. He triumphantly looked at each of us but his gaze lingered on mine as the losers shed off our clothing. Thankfully I had a jacket on so all I had to take off was that and he looked at me with an approving twinkle in his eyes as he looked at the shirt I was wearing.

I had sort of wanted to make up for the night before so I had picked out a light blue halter top that matched my eyes and that had my initials embroidered at the hem in gold. I had a simple gold chain around my neck that had a golden heart on it that dangled close to my heart.

I blushed at the attention I got from the Swamp rats even from B.J. who soon broke the silence with a nervous, "Can we get on with the game?"

We continued playing but I didn't lose anymore clothing. There were several times Hawkeye seemed quite sure of himself but got shot down with my hand. Soon they were all in their underwear shivering from a slight breeze coming from outside.

"Why don't we just stop now while you guys still have your dignity," I said as I peered over my hand at the mostly naked men in front of me.

"No, no we still have one chance to get you back," said Hawkeye almost crazily. He seemed really obsessed with this game of poker. His eyes shown brightly and he kept glancing around at all of us like a caged animal.

"Well I fold while I still have my underwear," said Charles as he put down his hand. He looked over at B.J. and he did the same and folded. They tried to get Hawk to stop but he didn't want to hear any of it.

He laid down his hand and looked over at me crazily, waiting to see what my hand was. I looked at his cards and saw that they were a full house. I sighed and laid down my cards. He looked over and almost howled which made us jump. I had a flush and he didn't seem to like it.

He looked at me gravely and stood up to strip down to his bare bum. I hurriedly said, "That's okay you can just keep your underwear on. I'll just leave now. Well thank you gentlemen for an interesting evening. I wonder if we can do this some other time?"

Charles looked at Hawkeye and replied, "Yes I think that can be arranged since you seem to have beaten Pierce here it would be fun to see it happen again. What about you Pierce?" Hawkeye grumbled and put his clothes back on. "Well thank you for a wonderful evening Bridgette." Charles stood up, took my hand and kissed it, which made me blush. "Could I interest you with a walk to your quarters?"

"Sure. I would love to," I replied to his generous offer.

As we left I heard Hawkeye say to B.J., "Oh great the pompous windbag is interested in her. I was hoping in getting her to myself."

And B.J. replied, "Well doesn't look like your chances are going that well with the charming Charles Emerson Winchester the Third after her."

I called to them before we got out of hearing range, "Your chances are just as good Hawk." I heard him snort and we left.

Charles asked me all sorts of questions about me and I answered them as truthfully as I could. I lived near Charlevoix Michigan. I had a brother who was drafted and I had a boyfriend who was still at home but we were seeing different people for the time being. And no I wasn't seeing anyone.

I asked him questions too about his life. He lived in a swanky part of Boston. He had a sister. And he wasn't currently seeing anyone at the moment either.

When we got to the door of the Nurses tent we stopped and he kissed my hand again. "If we were back in the States I would have invited you in for coffee," I said as he looked down at me.

"Oh that would have been fine. Well goodnight m' lady."

As he turned to leave I quickly planted a kiss on his cheek. He turned back and asked what that was for.

"That's for being such a gentleman," I replied as I entered the Nurses tent.

As I walked in the Nurses all stopped what they were doing and asked if that was Hawkeye. I said that it was Charles and they all started to giggle. I asked what was the matter and Kristin replied, "He has never shown any interest in anyone here or anywhere that we know of but somehow you've seemed to have caught his attention. He's usually so full of himself."

"He doesn't seem like that to me," I said puzzled. "He seems quite a gentleman and a great man not that Hawkeye doesn't have his qualities too. Now if you don't mind I would like to get to bed."

They left me alone and I crawled into bed. I sat thinking about the men who seemed to have crushes on me not that I'm not used to it or anything but they all three seemed quite nice. I turned onto my side and slipped into a peaceful sleep.