Author's Note: I feel like I start off each of these updates with an apology. I started this chapter at least a dozen times, unsure of how I wanted to go about it. So, I'm sorry that it took so long for me to put this up, but here it is. Read through it and let me know what you think!
Thanks!
CHANGE
Chapter 5
Five weeks into her time at the 4077th, it was as if Elizabeth Lawrence had been there since Day One. She became fast friends with Margaret – they were having girl talk and painting each other's nails almost immediately. She became running buddies with BJ, even if most of their runs only lasted for a bit and they ended up chatting while the sun came up. Elizabeth was able to get Radar a date and she coached him through it, so he didn't pass out – there was even a rumor of a second date with the girl. Klinger made her a dress and the two of them were ordering patterns and fabrics from Tokyo and Seoul each week. Colonel Potter was teaching her to ride Sophie, the horse, and even Frank Burns was enjoying her company. He'd found she had a great love of classical composers and she was able to get her hands on some very nice wine on a fairly regular basis.
Hawkeye was still on the fence about the woman; even the nurses had decided to forgive her. Elizabeth was smart and beautiful, but he was able to recognize or at least convince himself that what he thought was love was either indigestion from the awful food they were served on a regular basis, or a brief, but temporary mental breakdown. Either way, he'd decided to move on and was inching along at becoming her friend.
This is what led to Hawkeye and BJ having a few people at the Swamp for a semi-friendly game of poker. Semi-friendly because she, Elizabeth, had just won fifty dollars of the men's money and despite her best efforts not to gloat at her winning, she wore a huge victory smile.
A couple of the men had already left; embarrassed that they had been beaten so badly by a woman. This left Hawkeye, BJ, Father Mulcahy and Elizabeth while Frank Burns was doing his overnight in post-op.
"Where did you learn to play poker?" BJ laughed as she counted her cash.
"I grew up on army bases. I used to go play with the guys after school," Elizabeth laughed. "I even earned a Girl Scout badge."
"Yeah? There a badge for fleecing unsuspecting army doctors?" Hawkeye asked with a grin on his face.
Elizabeth wore a look of mock horror. "For selling the most cookies, of course! I bet the fellas they had to buy 'em if I won," Elizabeth said. "I didn't have money to bet when I was 13, but cookies go over real well on an army base."
Father Mulcahy even laughed at that.
Elizabeth yawned. "Well, my friends, I believe it is time for me to turn in."
"What do you turn into?" BJ asked.
"My fairy godmother wasn't very forthcoming about that, but I was told I had to be home by midnight and I don't want to risk it," Elizabeth smiled.
"I wouldn't, around here she might make you into an army doctor," Hawkeye said.
"Father, please take this for the orphanage," She said as she extended her hand to him with the money she'd just won.
"Major Lawrence, that's so generous!" Father Mulcahy told her. "Are you sure?"
"Elizabeth," she corrected him. "And of course, they need it more than I do." She looked down at her watch. "Oh dear, if I am going to get any sleep at all I need to get a move on. You boys don't stay up too late."
She smiled at all of them in turn and with a wave of her hand, she was gone from the tent.
Father Mulcahy couldn't contain his joy and wore a huge smile. He was astonished at the act of kindness. "The sisters at the orphanage will be able to buy boots for all the kids for the winter."
BJ and Hawkeye nodded, their eyelids were beginning to droop in exhaustion, but neither wanted to admit it.
"Yes, Father, that woman certainly has a decent streak in her," BJ said.
"Give it a few more weeks; I'm sure the army will march it outta her," Hawkeye pointed out.
Clearly Father Mulcahy didn't want to believe that. He stood from his chair. "Well, gentlemen, I do believe it is time for me to say my prayers and go to sleep as well."
Hawkeye began to protest. "Father, you aren't going to let us try to win our money back?"
"Hawkeye, the money is for the children," the Father said.
Hawkeye protested no more.
"Good night, men," the Father said with a smile.
"Good night," BJ and Hawkeye said together.
…
Elizabeth yawned again as she walked back to her own tent. All was quiet except for her feet on the ground until she reached the nurses' tents. A commotion was heard and suddenly one woman burst from the tent and ran smack dab into Elizabeth.
Instead of apologizing, the woman started to tussle with Elizabeth and it was all she could do to dodge the fists and feet coming at her.
Elizabeth stepped back and was able to recognize the nurse. She was short, petite. Her blond hair was trimmed in a neat pixie cut, but was currently wild. By looking into the woman's eyes, Elizabeth was able to see that the nurse was drunk.
"Judith," Elizabeth hissed quietly, trying to get her attention, but it seemed that Judith was suffering from blind rage in her drunkenness. She was still swinging and kicking in Elizabeth's general direction.
The other of the tent's inhabitants filed out just in time to see Elizabeth receive a slap across the face. The other women emitted sharp gasps as they waited for the Major's reaction.
But before Elizabeth could react, Judith passed out into Elizabeth's arms. Despite her small frame, it was all Elizabeth could do to keep the two of them upright and out of the dirt.
"Someone want to let me know what just happened?" Elizabeth asked the other women standing around her.
Nurse Kellye stepped up. "She got into a bottle of wine and just kept drinking. We didn't realized she'd had a whole bottle until it was too late."
"Let's get her back inside before someone sees her," Elizabeth said.
The nurses and Elizabeth managed to get Judith back into her tent and into her cot.
"She's supposed to have a shift in post-op in an hour," Nurse Able pointed out.
"We all are," Kellye said.
"You all are?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes," Baker told her. "Major Houlihan usually schedules us like that so we keep on rest together."
Elizabeth nodded. That made total sense.
"Okay, well…"
"Are you going to report her? Major Houlihan always hates it if we get drunk and has told us that we'll do time in the stockade if we do," Kellye said. "And she said she'd make it part of our official record."
Elizabeth was quiet for a minute while she thought. "No, I'm not going to say anything, but we all have to agree on this: no one says anything to anyone."
They all nodded.
"If anyone asks, Judith was taken ill and I've confined her to bed rest for the day. One of you can come check on her every so often. When she's awake, I want to talk to her. Why the hell was she drinking so heavily?"
"She received a Dear Jane letter yesterday. Her fiancé broke up with her; he's marrying someone else," Able told Elizabeth.
"Oh dear," Elizabeth replied. She knew how that felt. "Okay, is everyone clear on how we're handling this? When you all go on duty, I'll check on her every so often and make sure…"
The blacked out woman, Judith, started to vomit, stopping Elizabeth mid-sentence. Elizabeth rushed to the woman's side and Kellye followed her.
"We need to turn her on her side so she doesn't aspirate the vomit into her lungs," Elizabeth told Kellye. The two women started to move in sync, turning her over. The vomit, a bright purple color, fell onto the floor. "New plan: we need to get her hooked up to an IV to make sure she doesn't dehydrate," Elizabeth said when the action of vomiting didn't wake Judith up. "Able, will you run over to the OR and grab a banana bag and a large bore IV. Uh, and a gown; we can't leave her in a vomit-covered uniform. Be as discreet as you can."
Able nodded and headed out of the tent.
"Did she only drink wine? And only one bottle?" Elizabeth asked the other two women that were still in the tent with her.
Kellye brought over the empty bottle that was on the table. "This is the only one we saw. And it was almost empty when we got back from the movie."
Elizabeth shook her head in confusion. Maybe it was possible for such a petite women to be this sick from a bottle of wine, but it was highly suspicious.
"We'll keep an eye on her here, but we might have to move her to post-op so she can be put on some monitors. And we can keep her away from any other alcohol," Elizabeth said.
"But Major Houlihan…"
"I don't want to lie about this to anyone, but we have a duty to take care of each other. And if anyone finds out about her…condition…I'll talk to Colonel Potter myself. It's not a crime to be drunk; Prohibition ended a long while ago. We'll put her in post-op and say that we think she has food poisoning, but if directly asked, we will not lie."
The women nodded at her instructions.
All eyes turned to the door as it opened and Able walked in the door, followed by Hawkeye.
"I couldn't shake him," she said to the women who were clearly waiting for her explanation. "And all I could grab was a gown; Major Burns was pacing in post-op."
"What's going on here?" he said to Elizabeth. "And do you have a black eye?" he looked at her face.
She turned away quickly, focusing on the woman in the cot again.
"Nurse Renner is sick…"
Hawkeye spotted the wine bottle. "I'm familiar with that kind of sick. Too much alcohol in too short of a time doesn't do a body good," Hawkeye said. "What's the plan here?"
"I originally thought that she should sleep it off in her own bed, but she vomited and I don't want her to be left alone when these ladies head off to post-op duty in a little bit," Elizabeth explained.
"You all can get her changed, I'll wait outside. When that's finished, you and I can take her to post-op and get her set up in a bed," Hawkeye said.
"I was going to tell anyone who asked that it was…"
"Food poisoning," they said together.
They were on the same page. He nodded to her and tucked his toothbrush in his chest pocket before heading out of the tent to wait while the ladies got Judith Renner changed out of her vomit-covered clothes.
It didn't take them long to get the petite woman changed into a gown. Kellye took the nurse's soiled clothing and threw them in a laundry bag. It was hard to say whether or not they would be usable again, considering the color of the stain. Elizabeth poked her head out of the tent and got Hawkeye's attention.
"Make sure that bottle gets to the trash where no prying eyes see you," Elizabeth said. "And this is all between us, all right? I'll take the heat if something comes from it," she said to the nurses. She wanted to assure them that they weren't going to feel Major Houlihan's wrath if the real story came about.
The other three ladies smiled and nodded positively at Elizabeth. She had most definitely earned their respect. Now she just had to make sure Hawkeye wasn't going to spill.
Hawkeye picked up the still-unconscious Judith Renner and Elizabeth held the door open for him to walk through it. They walked in silence to the OR where Elizabeth grabbed the door again and Hawkeye filed through with the woman in his arms. The two of them went immediately post-op where Frank Burns and Margaret Houlihan were on them.
"What's going on with my nurse? What did you do to her?" Margaret demanded.
"Margaret, he didn't do anything. We think she has food poisoning," Elizabeth lied.
"Right," Hawkeye said. "Don't shoot the ambulance."
He laid her down in the bed and Elizabeth checked her vitals again.
"Margaret, I don't want her to dehydrate. She vomited once before, about ten minutes ago; I would like to hook her up to a banana bag and bring up her electrolytes," Elizabeth explained.
"Of course," Margaret said. She headed for the supplies.
Frank didn't look like he was going to believe them as easily.
"Food poisoning? And what happened to your eye?" he asked Elizabeth.
Elizabeth straightened her shoulders. "Yes, food poisoning. And my eye is fine – I didn't turn on the light in my tent and I ran right into something."
Frank narrowed his eyes at her explanation, but didn't question her any further.
Margaret returned a minute later with an IV and a yellow bag. She was also carrying gloves and a tray.
"Pulse is normal, but she has a fever," Elizabeth said. "Maybe it's the stomach flu."
Hawkeye nodded. He admired the way she was deflecting their questions and suspicions.
Elizabeth got to work on the IV and Hawkeye started a chart for the nurse in the bed.
"I'll be back to check on her in a little while. If there are any changes, let me know, please," Elizabeth told Margaret.
"There is a staff change in about a half an hour, but I'll let the nurses coming on duty to get you if she wakes up," Margaret said.
Elizabeth nodded. "That would be lovely. Thank you, Margaret," she said.
Hawkeye and Elizabeth exited post-op, but he stopped her before they were out of the building. He inspected the bruise that was darkening under her eye.
"What really happened to your eye?" he said, gingerly touching the area. She winced and he removed his hand. "We should really take care of it while we're here," he said to her.
She shook her head. "I'm fine."
He said nothing, but he gave her a knowing side-eye look.
"Okay, the only reason I found out about Nurse Renner was because I was walking back to my tent and she was running out. She and I collided and she was pretty violent before she passed out. I tried to calm her down and she slapped me. But I'm fine."
"Let's go get you some ice. I'd say a steak, but what they keep here isn't fit to be worn on the face either."
Elizabeth nodded. "Don't you need to sleep? I can get my own ice," she said.
"I'll be fine. Too much sleep isn't good for the body either," Hawkeye smiled.
They walked in silence over to the mess tent and Hawkeye led her into the kitchen in the back. There was ice in the final freezer he checked and he found a semi-clean towel to wrap it in. He gingerly pressed it to the bruise on her face and she winced again.
"Sorry," he said.
"I always thought I'd be able to take a punch," Elizabeth said. "Don't tell anyone that Renner hit me; I'd probably die of embarrassment."
Hawkeye let out a bark of laughter.
"I gotta tell ya, what you're doing for Renner is really great," Hawkeye told her. He was leaning against the kitchen counter as he watched her pick through a fruit basket and attempt to find a piece that wasn't offensive to the senses. She picked out a couple grapes and popped one and then another into her mouth.
She chewed and swallowed before she answered.
"Do you promise not to tell anyone?" she asked.
He smiled. "Cross my heart and hope to get out of here alive," he said. "Scout's honor."
"You were never a Scout," she accused.
"No, but like I always tell folks, I'm always prepared."
She shook her head, but wore a smile.
"In all seriousness, Renner got a Dear Jane letter. Her boyfriend back home dumped her in a letter for a new girl," Elizabeth said. "And I know how that feels."
"You do?"
"Well, he did it to my face, not in a letter, but I have to tell you, it feels exactly the same. In all actuality, it probably feels worse to have to read the letter; to have the words in front of you."
"You were engaged? And some idiot dumped you? Is he locked up in an asylum now?" Hawkeye asked.
He caught the faintest of a blush creep up her cheeks.
"No, he's very much assisting my best friend plan their wedding back home now," Elizabeth said. "It's all right, he is an idiot and I would have broken up with him when I got back anyway."
"Well, what you're doing for Renner is real great," Hawkeye said. "You're full of surprises, Bets. Can I call you Bets?"
She nodded. "Sure," she smiled.
"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," Hawkeye said. And he meant it. The decent streak that they talked about earlier ran deep in Elizabeth and she would fit just great into their group. And she would have the pleasure of being the first woman accepted as a real friend to Hawkeye. He just wished he didn't feel that tightening in his chest each time she smiled at him.
Getting over it, he put his arm around her shoulders. "Let's go catch some shut eye. But only a little. I don't want to be too prepared for the day."
Elizabeth laughed and allowed herself to be walked out of the kitchen. It felt good to finally tell someone what happened before she'd come out here. And Hawkeye hadn't reacted with the sympathetic puppy dog eyes that everyone else did. She was grateful for a friend like Hawkeye.
…
Author's note: So? What did you think? I love reviews, so everyone should send me their opinion! Good or bad! Thank you!
PS. I borrowed the line about Hawkeye and the Scouts from the show, so please don't sue me. I just figured he'd probably say it more than once, especially when he had a different audience.