"Geez, I never had a nurse love me so much that she'd do anything for me. And you've been one nurse who goes over the top for little old me."

As I led the way, Hawkeye, ever the jokester, poked and prodded at me all the way to Pre-Op, where we had sections dedicated to quick examinations and such. Trapper had turned the other way and headed outside, so he left me and Hawkeye alone, knowing a private moment when he saw one. He knew that he wasn't needed, but would get in the way and make life miserable for me if teamed up with Hawkeye. After all, one was better than two to handle and I was in no mood for those two ganging up on me.

"Stop teasing this nurse and you'll get your hand looked it," I grumbled, bringing Hawkeye to a place where he could sit down. "I'm sure it's nothing, but I want to make sure. You know the procedure better than I do at this point."

However, Hawkeye was squirmy and I had to keep putting him back to his seat every time I tried getting supplies from the cabinets and closets. After ten minutes of chasing him around the room as he screamed about wanting Band-Aids on his fingers (Hawkeye wanted a chase and I gave him a good one, catching him by his ear a few minutes later), he finally sat down and cooperated. He then squirmed like the child he was acting, making my job a little more miserable than it really should be. It made me think that I was a fool to fall in a love with a man like him, but I erased that thought. It was what made Hawkeye so attractive, to be honest. He would always be a child at heart.

I washed and gloved myself and got everything ready on the table. "Ok, are you ready for me to unwrap that, Hawkeye?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." A grin on Hawkeye's face told me otherwise (another urge to run around and escape me was there, just to be a pain in the ass). He then sat still though, giving me a break for once.

I'm so glad that Trapper decided to leave us alone. Jesus, if he helped Hawkeye escape me, I was going to kill him…after I caught Hawkeye.

I unwrapped my coat from Hawkeye's hand, the old glass bottle still held in-between his fingers in pieces. Gloved, I picked up the loose pieces and threw them into a wastebasket meant for glass pieces and other solid materials that we deemed to be hazardous waste. Then, knowing that I needed to wash his hands, to make sure that the extra blood was off of his hands, I took Hawkeye to the sinks in the next room. I took my gloves off and turned on the warm water, deeming hot to be too harmful, and started the initial rinsing before moving to the soap.

There was silence between us. I mean, I had wasted my breath when cursing Hawkeye as he ran around and tried to delay everything earlier. However, I was also fretting in my mind about the shattered glass and the possible mixture of two blood types. As I scrubbed and then washed Hawkeye's hand carefully, I worried.

What if he had an infection? I doubted it, because his cuts were small, but there was still glass in his fingers that I needed to pull out. Nonetheless, the thought stayed in my mind, nagging at me to be complete and careful in my search.

"I don't see anything serious here, Madam Nurse," Hawkeye commented as we went back to the examination room. "No, wait, you were supposed to tell me that, right?"

"I don't see anything wrong either," I replied quietly as I sat him down and put on a new pair of gloves. I then took out a pair of tweezers, sanitizing it with alcohol in a bowl prepared next to me before proceeding.

"It'll be a few days before I get to use my magic fingers again." Hawkeye's eyes twinkled. "And I'll need a company of a nurse, Love."

I stopped jabbing at Hawkeye's fingers with the tweezers for a minute, looking up at him when hearing this term of endearment. The shock and surprise was obvious on my face and almost took my breath away.

"This is an interesting turn of events." While this was all I could say, I could honestly add that it was true that Hawkeye had never before called me "Love". It seemed like he wanted to tell me something, but calling me that was the best that he could do instead of directly saying something.

"For you, maybe, but for everybody else, it won't be." There was a smile there, although I wasn't sure what Hawkeye meant by it and did not want to get my hopes up.

I just looked up at him again, searching for something in his face, but I found nothing but a shining pair of blue eyes and a silly grin on his face. I didn't know what it meant, other than Hawkeye had something on his mind (and it better not have been escaping me), but I had to find out sooner or later. I was to going to admit the things that bothered me, get all of our issues off of our chest and get the straight answer. It was the best I could do in this instance.

"You chase every nurse in this camp with Trapper, who is supposed to be happily married," I pointed out, going back to work once more. "Then, a few months ago, when you see me in Henry's office, it seems like you've stopped looking up skirts completely. Trapper's been parading girls in and out of the Swamp, and yet, you take an interest in just me…little old me, the dysfunctional one who is scared of her own shadows. Hawkeye, I'm not super attractive. I drink more than I really should. I'm not like the other nurses. Why choose me over all of the others?"

"Because, Love, you're different from the rest and that's attractive enough for me," Hawkeye simply said, the joking out of his voice.

There it was again, the name stuck in my mind. Love. Hawkeye kept calling me that and yet, I didn't know if I was his Love or not. I knew that he was mine if this kept up and this could turn more than the relationship I was seeing it as. I could say that at the time that we were hooked and knew it well, if I could still hold him by the collar and keep the other nurses and magazines at bay. But was I his Love, the one and only now? And if so, would it lead to and how would I be able to handle it?

I quickly finished picking at the glass and was sure there was nothing left, more intent on making sure the small cuts on Hawkeye's hand was not going to be infected (the palm area looked more horrible, to be frank). It didn't look bad in general when I was finished and I could not be sure if I should do more investigating or close it up. However, it was the excuse I also needed to avoid this conversation, one that was going in a different direction that I didn't think was possible.

Am I his Love, like he calls me?

"You're not talkative, aren't you?" Hawkeye took his other hand and pick my head up by the chin. "Oww, you missed a piece."

I could not tell that I did miss anything, since I was not looking at his hand. I didn't say anything still though, not knowing what to say or even what to even explain to Hawkeye. I was enjoying the moment too much, looking into Hawkeye's eyes and trying to find myself in there. I was lost in his eyes again and I could not get out of it. It was such a wonderful feeling and I wanted to stay there forever, if he allowed it.

Then, just when I thought I couldn't be more lost, Hawkeye kissed me again, the same way he did the first night we were together. This time though, it was more persistent, harder and…well, it had more sparks to it than the last one, something that held me in its grip and would not let go. It felt so right to me too, as if it all came true and I was always going to be the one.

Our kiss was long (a minute or so), but it ended suddenly when we heard someone clearing their throats outside of the door. It was as if the person was watching and wanted our kissing to stop. And it was not Trapper or Henry being the Peeping Tom, for sure. I was certain two other people had been watching the scene with interest and would be willing to report it to the right people…for a price of course.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I finally said softly when Hawkeye finally let me go, allowing me to go back to work. "I'm almost done. Let me get the last pieces out and sanitize, clean and bandage it."

"As you were then." Hawkeye looked at the doors and seeing somebody leave, a few shadows out of the corner of my eye almost. So, I followed his eyes and saw Frank and Margaret leaving just before they could disappear completely.

I laughed. "They're never going to leave us alone."

I picked the last of the glass up (ouch, his palm still looked awful) and cleaned his hand with alcohol nearby. Then, after bandaging the palm and placing Band-Aids on his fingers (which was what Hawkeye wanted, child that he is), I added, "This is going to cost you."

"Yeah, but it won't hurt me." Hawkeye tried to wiggle his fingers with all those Band-Aids on, wanting to giggle. Then, after playing with his fingers, he gave me my payment, the one he knew I wanted. It was another kiss, but it was a quick one.

"Will I see you in the Supply Room later on?" Hawkeye then asked, getting up.

I could not believe the words, unsure of what to say except for something lame. "Sure. Just say when."

By then, I was thinking that my luck was…well, so unreal, that I had to be dreaming about it. However, I wasn't. It was so surreal, I had to admit. It surely had to be a dream! This could not have happened to me, not just after those horrible things that happened in West Germany, with so many promises broken and hopes dashed. I could not find love so quickly after the heartbreak of the one I truly loved. God, I could not see how it was happening!

"Oh hundred hours," Hawkeye whispered in my ear as he leaned in for another kiss near my ear. "Make sure to lose Dad, Colonel Insanity and Majors Baby and Malpractice. I'll lose Captain Courageous and Major Bastard."

And then, he was gone. It happened so quickly that I had no idea that Hawkeye was gone until an hour later, when I was still dreaming about those kisses.