The surgery tent was chaos as usual, however with a noticeably icy feel to the air. Hawkeye, BJ and Margaret all kept to one side of the tent while Frank worked merrily with Sarah at his side. Despite the fact she was a qualified neurosurgeon and far excelled Frank's abilities, she was only assisting.
BJ raised his hands and nodded to the triage personnel. "Done. Next!" He looked up at Hawkeye who was gazing sadly across the tent at Sarah and Frank. He growled at his best friend. "Don't do this to yourself, Hawk. She's nothing but a liar and a phony."
Margaret, who was assisting Hawkeye nodded her agreement. "Sarah fooled all of us with the lost little girl routine." She shrugged a little. "Too bad. I was really starting to like her. It would have been refreshing to have another intelligent and strong woman on the staff."
Klinger strode past in a nurses uniform and paused briefly. "My ears are burning!" He grinned cheekily at Margaret.
The tension broke as Margaret laughed and shook her head. "YOU especially don't count. Not if you have more chest hair than King Kong."
BJ smiled at the pair as they good naturedly ribbed each other. He looked up at Hawkeye who was still staring at the pair across the tent. "Hawk, really…"
Hawkeye barely listened to his friend as he continued his rant about Frank and Sarah. He was so sure he felt something real with this girl. There had to be more to Sarah than just her being a fickle bitch. As he watched her and Frank work, he started noticing small things. If they hadn't been in surgery, he wouldn't have seen it at all. Her eyes. The standard issue facemask only allowed the eyes to be seen, covering the mouth and nose to protect the patient from harmful germs.
Every time Frank spoke to Sarah, Hawkeye noticed the fear and sorrow in her eyes. She caught him looking at her at one point and the two just stared at each other, for what seemed like an eternity. He wished he could just stride over to her, grab her and force her to admit she loved him too.
Their silent gaze was broken by Frank who snapped at Sarah and pointed to the tray of instruments. Sarah literally jumped and grabbed at the tray of instruments. In her haste she bumped it off the gurney it was sitting on and the tray clattered to the floor, spilling the contents all over.
Frank yelled in anger as Sarah dropped to her knees, to clear up the instruments on the floor, muttering her apologies.
"No, NO. NO! You idiot!" Frank kicked her out of the way and grabbed Sarah's arm hauling her to her feet. "These are all contaminated now, moron!" Frank snarled as he shoved her out of the way. "AMBER! Get over here!" Frank made sure to call one of the nurses who particularly loathed Sarah. "Get me a fresh tray of instruments and assist me in this. Sarah is obviously incapable of doing even the smallest task correctly." He narrowed his eyes at Sarah and grinned nastily. "Why don't you go and wait for me in your tent? Try not to break anything on the way there."
Amber smirked at Sarah and leaned in. "Looks like you don't have any friends left, do you freak?" She sneered and lowered her voice. "Little miss high and mighty. You're no better than the rest of us." She pulled back and smirked. "Slut!"
Sarah reached back and slapped Amber hard in the face. "Don't you DARE speak to me like that!" She looked at the rest of the doctors and nurses in the surgery who had paused briefly to see what the commotion was. "I don't deserve it." She finished, quieter and a little unsure of her words.
Margaret scoffed at that. "Yea, sure you don't." She glared icily at Sarah and narrowed her eyes. "NEVER manhandle one of my nurses again, Marlowe." She jerked her head to the doors. "Get. Out. Now"
Sarah looked around the room at the sea of accusatory eyes and finally rested on Hawkeye. "I…I just.."
BJ cut her off. "NO. You don't get to talk to him!" He narrowed his eyes at her. "Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough? You've done enough damage here. You are done here."
Sarah felt as though she had been punched in the stomach. She gritted her teeth and held her head high. "Fuck you, all then." She said in a quiet voice. Then turning she left the surgery.
BJ shook his head as Sarah left. "That was just a disgusting display. What a .." He was about to say more when Hawkeye cut him off.
"Beej, you are my best friend but I swear if you call Sarah a freak, I am going to shove my scalpel down your throat." He glared at his best friend. "Just, don't say anything right now, please. I need to concentrate."
Frank grinned widely at Hawkeye, catching his eye before Hawk bent down to finish his work. He had this horrible winning look in his eyes. All Hawk knew was he really needed a drink and a quiet place to think.