The summer days of July and August soon changed to the autumn of September and things were swiftly changing for me, much as I enjoyed scrounging and searching for a life amongst the orphans of Korea. My careless days were quickly coming to an end at Sister Theresa's. Soon enough, by the middle of September, I was ordered back to the 4077th, where the Army would leave me for medical treatment and the resumption of my duties after the baby was born. The baby would presumably be sent to the States, awaiting me for when I finished up my duty in the war, whenever that would end.

Despite moving a few times in the summer, coming upon friendly and enemy fire many times over and working with shortages, Henry and the gang were the same as ever and working harder than ever before. I could hardly wait to see everyone again (even Frank and Margaret). There was dread about the future though, mine, theirs and the baby's, and it still hung onto my mind like a cloudy day, even if things were settled down and everything was on paper. However, I needed them as they needed me and it wasn't just for the pranks either.

Being away from the 4077th would not help my cause, even if the Army could have sent me more south and away from the action. There was no medical help for miles around the orphanage and the good sisters depended upon me to help the children, as was originally suggested by Father Mulcahy, the creator of all things (and helper in getting me there to the orphanage). However, I was soon to give birth and I needed my own medical help, help that nobody there could give to me. The 4077th made sense of course and I was ordered back, bringing back words in Korean from the children, hope and faith and the faces of all of the children I could never see again without wanting to cry.

However, ahead of me was the 4077th, where there was Hawkeye, Trapper, Henry and the love I so desperately craved. I needed the love and support of others around me and not many little ones underfoot and asking me for this and that. Would I help them with their schoolwork? Did I find any food for lunch? Was Father Mulcahy coming to visit soon? Was the garden coming along? Why could they not play in the fields? Were there mines there? Could they farm when they grew up too? When and where was I having the baby? Can they see the baby after he or she is born? Can they hold the baby? Could I possibly bring the baby with me next time I saw them?

So many questions and I had no time to answer them all!

I looked forward to seeing everybody back in Uijongbu again, even Dean, who I feared for, as he was fighting at the front again and was going to miss out on his niece or nephew. I had a letter from him, delivered by Father Mulcahy, just before I left the orphanage for good. In there, he writes of how much he misses me, when he'll probably be back, his new second-in-command and how sorry he was to miss the baby. He knew that I was heading back north again and was hoping to catch me later on, when he was back in town and wanting to drink to the health of the newest family member.

You know, little sister, you have a penchant for being into all sorts of mischief, he wrote, his own sense of sarcasm clear on the page. I only hope that my little niece or nephew doesn't have the same issues you did.

On the way back to the camp, I reread the letter many times over and thought. My thoughts were conflicted, losing one and gaining another in either direction. To see the 4077th again was to be torn away from the orphans, who gave me their own kind of love, even Hee Young. To stay with the orphans was to leave behind love, friendship and even some safety. I was tore by so many loyalties while duty had called me to another place. I only had to follow orders and stay clean, hoping to get out of the war alive before Flagg got to me again.

The camp was some miles away. With Father Mulcahy driving me back, there was no time to talk, even with the tears that mingled with the dirt on my face. As I pictured my own child growing up and mostly likely without me, I thought of others' too, those who had lost their family when they had been killed by this forsaken war. Even without help, the children at the orphanage helped me to understand her culture and language, helping me to appreciate it more. However, with it came sadness, deeper than my tears. Their own country was coming apart at the seams and their lives were coming apart along with it.

~00~

"Oh, Jeanie, I am so glad to see you again!"

Henry greeted me when I came back into the camp some hours later, Father Mulcahy driving me to his tent personally after a long drive talking about everything, despite the tears on my face. He comforted me in every way. I felt at ease finally, although the conflicted feelings remained in my heart, even as Henry saw me. Father Mulcahy was a good guy and meant well in every way, but to have been consoled from a priest confused me, an agnostic (almost an atheist) in every way.

Was I changing? And is it for the good…or the bad?

I struggled to get out of the jeep upon seeing Henry and, slipping out carefully enough, waddled my poor, fattening behind to him. The gallant CO stood next to Hawkeye and Trapper, the two pranksters only pleased to see me. Father Mulcahy yelled that he would drop my bags back at the nurses' tent and drove off, leaving a bubble of dust between me and the men who held me together for so long now. My father, my love and my brother were all there before me as I struggled to keep my eyes from tearing up again and my body from sobbing with happiness and joy.

"Hey, Love, I've missed you." Hawkeye had his turn when Henry was done holding me and was whispering about how much he still loved and missed me before voicing himself louder. "Petite Jeanie has turned into a hippo. What will Major Baby think?"

"She's in Tokyo, thank God," Trapper added, laughing.

"And Frank's as obnoxious as ever before." Hawkeye laughed as well.

"Clucking like a chicken and tearing his pillow apart."

"Shedding tears on a picture of Hot Lips while writing to his wife."

"Going through her tent and sniffing her sheets."

"More like, sweating on them!"

"Men, men, men, we also have much work to do, when there is work to be done," Henry tried to tell the two, but it went over their heads as they laughed harder as they recited Frank's antics with Margaret gone. "After last night, I don't think Frank wants to hear about you two other than working on your shifts, which seemed to have been cancelled due to today's happiest event."

"What did you two do?" I asked, eager to have another laugh and be happy once more, despite my heavy load (the baby and the orphans), all of it breaking my back and my spirits sometimes. At the moment, I was in fear sometimes, wishing for some female guidance, but knew that there was none. I had to be on my own.

"Jeanie, as you can see, the latrine is being shared by both male and female personnel, officers and enlisted men and animals in this camp alike, right over there," Henry began in a lecture-like tone (the same when he does the sex lectures) as I saw the long line on the other side of the camp. "As of last night, there will only be one latrine until the enlisted personnel manage to…to, umm, fix the other one, like digging a hole and building on top of it. And Radar's animals are doing their, umm, thing behind the same building, shared by one and all."

"Dropping the walls to the male latrine was worth it." Trapper laughed again.

"With Frank Burns inside," Hawkeye added with another twinkle in his eyes.

I stifled my giggles when I saw Frank coming up behind me immediately after the prank's secret contents were revealed to me. I was trying to imagine the scene from the night before, as I've always done when being described yet another one I missed, and could not help but see my own life they missed. Images of the orphanage and the children giving me a farewell party, something I had forgotten casually on the ride back, came before them. Tears threatened me again, but I would not let any unwanted ones come down. I couldn't afford it, especially with so much ahead of me.

I could not! I have no regrets. I could never have them!

"Colonel Blake, this woman should not be here!" Frank saw us and then saluted Henry.

Henry saluted back, ignoring Hawkeye and Trapper's mirth and their pathetic attempts at saluting Frank, which were nonexistent. Hawkeye wiggled his fingers as he waved something akin to a jaunty greeting and Trapper only honked his nose, putting up his middle finger in the process. Frank did not see what Trapper did, but ignored him and Hawkeye both. I would rightfully assume that Frank would have put the two on report had he seen their behavior.

"Captain Morrison has been ordered here, Frank," Henry reminded him. "You know this. She can't go home just yet, remember?"

"Still, Sir," Frank whined back, "she should be anywhere but a war zone!"

"If you haven't noticed, Frank, this whole country is a war zone," I pointed out.

"Fi!" Frank yelled. "There is a little station outside of the country you can be, Captain. You've acted the –"

"Don't you dare say it, Frank!" I screamed in anger and resentment, aware of what he was going to say, as almost everybody else in the camp as called me (save for Father Mulcahy, Henry, Kellye, Hawkeye, Radar and Trapper). "I can't leave this damned country on orders and it's killing me already. Damn you and –"

"That's fine and dandy now, Jeanie," Henry interrupted me. "Frank, go to my office and we'll talk it over so you can get it all off of your chest. I have the paperwork somewhere. Just ask Radar for it and we can review it together to your satisfaction, just before Margaret gets back from Tokyo and signs it too. Is that hunky dory for you now?"

"Yes, Sir," Frank replied, humbled finally and saluting again. "Sir, and one more thing. It's September twentieth, twelve hundred hours. Shouldn't Pierce and McIntyre be on shift today?"

"We have two wounded soldiers in there, Frank, and we're free." Hawkeye grinned like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. "They're going to Tokyo and then home soon enough. Would you like us to smother them in the fire? I have some barbeque sauce left over in the Swamp."

"Har, har, har," I heard Frank say, suddenly walking away to Henry's office with our courteous commanding officer right after him, jogging to keep up with Frank's fast pace and yelling orders to us behind him. "Go jump in a lake, Pierce!"

What Henry said to us, I could not hear nor did I care to, since Frank's last endearment was much funnier. I was keener on ignoring that as well, hilarious as it was to think about it and how silly his insults really sounded. And what we didn't hear, we can say we couldn't follow through on. Selective hearing was a wonderful thing, I'd say.

I turned back to Trapper and Hawkeye instead, smiling broadly and not feeling flushed and angry anymore. "I take it that it's been boring here?" I asked. "I seem to have missed out on a lot of things while I've been away."

Trapper smiled right back at me. "Not with Frank around. You didn't miss much, if you think about it."

"Think about what?" I tilted my head to one side, curious.

"How easy it is to get him."

"Well, how easy is it?"

"There is one person you can ask."

"Hmm, I think I can guess who."

"Hot Lips doesn't kiss and tell about those lipless wonders," Hawkeye snickered, answering for Trapper as we all laughed together, walking towards the Swamp.