A/N This contains mature subject matter. Anyone who has a problem with the fact that some priests, no matter how good they are, have the ability to slip at least once and break their vows…don't read it. In all reality, the chapter itself has a rating of a soft M….I hope. All I know is I've done my best with it.

Chapter Five

Father Mulcahy and Sherman Potter were once again sitting in the good priest's tent. And, as before, Colonel Potter simply let Father Mulcahy talk. After all, Sherman T. Potter knew there was nothing else he could do for his friend but listen. Though, truth be told, he found himself sitting on the edge of his seat.

Flashback

Father Mulcahy stood on the hill overlooking M.A.S.H. 4077. He'd woke up that morning after having a most vivid dream. If the dream hadn't been about himself and Ellen, it wouldn't have been so bad. As it was, he'd woke up very much out of shape and unsettled. Now, with the evening drawing to a close, he found himself thinking about the dream again. What was wrong with him? He was a priest for goodness sake! He'd taken vows; ones he held sacred. He sincerely cared about those he served. His head knew all this and yet, in his sleep, he desired the one thing he could not have…the love of a good woman, not just any woman either. No, he was starting to have more and more dreams about Ellen. It was because of the dreams that he had left his tent and slipped out of camp.

Father Mulcahy looked around at the grass, as it moved back and forth in the wind that had begun to blow, along with the leaves on the nearby trees. He had been sure, sure enough of his calling in life to have served as a priest for well over twenty years. As far as he knew, he'd done the best he could. He never thought he'd find himself in spot where he'd be questioning if he'd made the right choice.

From where she stood, Ellen saw Francis Mulcahy standing on the hill with his hands behind his back. The moment she had seen the good priest walk out of camp, she figured she figured she was pretty sure she knew where he was going. She was also equally as sure she knew why. After all, it didn't take a blind man to see the struggle that was going on inside him. Everyone had noticed the turmoil in his eyes but, having no clue to as what had transpired between Ellen and their priest, none dare question him.

Ellen wanted to help but didn't know how. She had been fighting her own feelings for Francis Mulcahy. Like Father Mulcahy, she'd begun to have her own dreams. Seeing how they kept side skirting the issue, maybe she should just approach him and get things out in the open, even if it meant she got a broken heart out of it. As she came to that conclusion, Ellen started up the hill towards the good priest.

Out of the corner of his eye Francis Mulcahy saw Ellen coming towards him. His heart skipped and he almost ran down the hill in front of him in order to get back to camp before she made it up to him; she was coming up the side. Only he didn't. Like Ellen, he thought staying and talking where they had no ears to over hear their conversation would help put an end to the dreams.

"I thought I'd find you here." Ellen stopped next to him. Then, without even thinking, she blurted out, "I know I'm making it difficult on you being here, in the unit. I can ask for a transfer." She'd do anything to help him be happy, even leaving to go to another unit if need be.

Father Mulcahy whirled around, horror written on all over his face. "No!" He threw out the objection faster, and louder, than he meant to. He quickly lowered his voice. "You're too good of a nurse; they need you here."

Ellen gave him a sad smile and shook her head. "They need me; you don't. I'm not blind." She sighed as she remembered how it felt to be kissed by the man and the thoughts she'd been plagued with since. "You're having a hard time, and the fault is mine."

"No," Father Mulcahy lifted his hand and ran his fingers down her face. "It's not your fault; it has never been your fault. You can't be blamed for being a talented, intelligent, woman who happens to have more compassion in her little finger," he said as he remembered the many times she'd helped out in the Post Op or O.R., "than many have in their whole beings." While he had only meant to assure Ellen she'd done nothing wrong, Father Mulcahy found himself moving his face forward as he spoke. By the time he was finished speaking their faces were again inches away from each other; an action Ellen did not fight.

The birds in the trees started singing loudly as Father Mulcahy and Ellen again began holding onto each other and kissing; one even flew down from the tree and flew close to their heads. Only problem was, neither one of them noticed.

With Ellen in his arms once more, and his mouth over hers, Father Mulcahy found the fire rising inside him once more. Only this time, when his tongue slid into her mouth, it ravished it the same as a man out in the dry desert would drink up water. And, when his hands began moving up and down, there was no outside voice yelling in his ear.

"Ellen." Francis whispered as his lips trailed her cheeks down to the side of her neck. "You're not making it hard on me. You didn't make me fall in love with you; I did that on my own. I shouldn't have; my vows forbid it, only I can't help it." He then spoke words he'd never dreamt would ever come out of his mouth. "I want you; I need you."

Ellen felt as if the world was spinning round as she let her fingers run up and down Father Mulcahy's back. "What are you doing, girl! Pull back! He won't stop you! He won't force himself on you!" She heard the thoughts only problem was, right or wrong, she loved and needed him too. "Love me, Francis." She whispered as she nipped at his ear. It was a request, and action, that made it so his hands found their way under the back of her shirt and up her back.

Before either one was really aware of anything, Ellen lay on the ground and Father Mulcahy was exploring her upper half which was as bare as the day she was born. More than one moan and groan escaped her lips as Father Mulcahy kissed and caressed every inch of her exposed skin as he confessed dreaming about this very thing more than once over the past few months. By the time he was finished Ellen had his upper half just as bare and was doing her own exploring. "Francis." She murmured as he lay on his back while her lips and hands wander over him which caused Father Mulcahy to let out a few groans of his own.

As they continued their explorations, along with strained filled declarations of forbidden love and need, it seemed as if someone took the volume button in that part of Korea and turned all other sounds completely down. By the time Ellen lay gasping for air, her chest rising and falling so rapidly that the nurse was sure she would have cardiac arrest if something was done, there was no turning back for either the good priest or the woman he'd fallen in love with. "Francis!" Ellen's cried out his name as he came to her while her hands flew up and around his back while they rode the wave of passion that was now between them.

End of Flashback

Father Mulcahy sat on the edge of his bed and his head hung slightly downwards. While Colonel Potter was shocked to learn that Father Mulcahy had lain with one of the nurses that had served at the 4077, he did not judge the good priest harshly. Why should he? Francis Mulcahy was only a man, just like many other priests he had known through the years. Okay, maybe a man doing his best to fulfill his calling; still, he had strengths and weaknesses just like any other man. True, he would need to talk someone in the church to "make things right" in their eyes, so what? Francis Mulcahy was still a good one.

"What happened? I mean, there has never been an Ellen Chapin in this camp since I've been here." Colonel Potter asked as he stretched his legs out a bit.

Father Mulcahy's shoulders slumped a bit. "I don't know. It's like this…" He took another deep breath and continued.