The sun shone was cheerfully as it could the day Doc Donald was supposed to come to the 4077th. It was in complete contrast to the mood around camp.
Donald's jeep arrived promptly, and Hawkeye and Margaret watched out the window as Potter and Mulcahy greeted him and began the tour.
Frank was putzing around camp, and as Radar hurried in to tell them Potter, Mulcahy and Donald were on the way, so did Frank.
Frank seemed truly distressed. The night before Hawkeye had heard him mumbling into his pillow. Now he was acting as jumpy as a dog in a Korean delicatessen.
"How's it going?" He asked Hawkeye.
Hawkeye stood looking out the window at the three approaching figures, two familiar, one not. He looked back at Frank and twitched a smile, though it lacked the emotions usually conveyed in a smile. "Fine, Frank. We're about to put a young woman face-to-face with her rapist but everything's dandy."
"He really- Oh, I don't like this. I don't like this at all." He walked away mumbling to himself.
Hawkeye and Margaret shared a look, and she shrugged in a you know Frank gesture.
The door opened and three men entered. "And here's out Post-Op ward," Potter was saying. He sounded as cheerful as a spring day, but Hawkeye could here how forced it was, although he didn't think Donald could. Hawkeye simply knew from experience.
The stranger was almost as tall as Father Mulcahy, with muddy brown eyes, and if that wasn't a toupee Hawkeye would go and eat BJ's argyle socks as soon as he left.
"We get mostly American boys here, although we do see a Korean now and then. We have one right now." The ice crept across his voice, and by the time he finished the sentence the buds had withered and the robins were in hiding.
Hawkeye walked casually across to stand at the foot of Mi-Sun's bed, just a bit into the aisle on the opposite side of where Margaret was sitting. He picked up her chart and pretended to read it, as he twitched her a reassuring smile.
Footsteps approached and Hawkeye turned as they stopped by the end of the bed.
"Real strange case here," Potter was saying. "Wasn't it, Dr. Pierce?"
"Yes, Colonel. Symmetrical cuts on the breasts and belly, looked like they were made with a surgical instrument. Torture."
"Yeah." Potter was watching Doc Donald closely and as he looked down at Mi-Sun his face registered shock.
Margaret's hand crept over her pocket. Earlier, she'd shown Hawkeye the pistol she had slipped in it that morning. Hawkeye didn't like guns, but he was glad it was in there.
Donald pinned his composure back into place quickly but everyone had seen his reaction.
"Mi-Sun, here, speaks wonderful English. Told us just what happened to her." He looked at Margaret. "Didn't she?"
"Yes, Doctor."
Donald was considering his recourse when Frank came back in. He was no longer muttering, and he stopped a few feet away, apparently checking on another patient.
Donald laughed. "You believe everything a Geisha tells you? God, when one tells you you're the best she had, do you believe her then too?"
"Those cuts didn't-" Hawkeye began but Frank cut him off.
"I'm as regular army-GI as you, but I saw that girl's wounds and what you did was wrong." He turned and scurried out the door.
Donald barked another laugh. "You never spanked a woman during sex?"
Hawkeye mouth dropped open. "This isn't exactly your run-of-the-mill swat on the rear. This is sadism." Margaret could see him shaking.
Off a bit to the side, Father Mulcahy was looking distinctly uncomfortable. Donald rounded on him and said, "That's why you brought me here. You had a priest lie for you. How shameful is that?"
Mulcahy looked like he wanted to hang Donald up by the collar and use him as a new punching bag. "As shameful as anything I've done may be, I've never cut into a woman's flesh for sexual pleasure."
Donald looked at them all, blew Mi-Sun a kiss and stalked out.
Margaret laid her hand on Mi-Sun's shoulder, and then looked at her. She was shaking so bad the sheets were rustling.
"Rest easy, he's gone," Potter said. Mi-Sun nodded but did not stop shaking. Margaret stayed at her bedside until she did.
Radar caught up with Hawkeye and Colonel Potter. "Headquarters said they can't arrest Donald. No witnesses and it didn't happen on a base."
Potter shook his head.
***
A few days later, Radar ran into the mess tent and thrust a note into Potter's hands. Potter read it while Hawkeye, BJ, Margaret, Frank and Father Mulcahy all looked on. The expression on his face was unreadable but Radar's was screaming that something big had happened.
Finally he put the paper down and looked at them all. "'Doctor' Richard Donald was killed by a stray shell on the way home from this hospital."
"What?" Hawkeye and Margaret asked together. Frank began muttering again, and Father Mulcahy crossed himself and said, "'"Vengeance is mine", saith the LORD, "I will repay."'"
***
There you have my latest M*A*S*H fic. Heavier than the others to be sure, but not bad, was it? Please R and R.
