"So, what do ya think?" Jessie said, twirling around. The above-the-knee, off-white dress felt silky-smooth on her skin as she spun.

Klinger, pins in his mouth, applauded. "I couldn't have pulled it off better myself!"

"It's been so long since I've had so much fun dressing up!" Jessie said, playing with her hair in the mirror. "Never would have thought it would have been in Korea with a section-8 wanna be!"

"Trust me, lady, I would rather be anywhere but here!"

She swept her hair on top of her head. "So what do you think? Up or down?"

"Up. Definitely up."

"You don't think it's too . . . you know?" she asked, pulling at the hem.

"Nah. Plus, it couldn't be any more suggestive than you were this morning."

She blushed.

Klinger huffed. "Hey, if you got it, flaunt it. It's not like he didn't deserve it."

She knew who Klinger was talking about and swallowed at the lump that threatened in her throat. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

She sat at Klinger's vanity and twisted her hair into a mass of heated and curled decoration. Klinger touched it up in places.

"There," he said when he was done. "You'll be the southern belle of the ball."

She jumped up and hugged him, kissing him on the cheek. "I owe you one!"

When she walked into the compound, a whistle stopped her in her tracks. Hawkeye sauntered over. "You look good enough to eat."

"I don't plan on being eaten," she said saucily.

"Well, you better watch out for Jake, then. He can be persuasive."

Jessie squared her shoulders. "Don't worry about me."

Hawkeye laughed. "Oh, I think I'm more worried about him!"

"As you should be!"

"Lieutenant!"

Jessie jumped at the Major's tone as the obviously irate head nurse stomped closer. What have I done now? "Yes ma'am?"

"Well, now I'm worried about you, Jess. Once the Major gets hold of you . . ." Hawkeye made cat hissing noises.

"Oh, shut-up, Captain," Margaret said, annoyed. She turned around and shook a piece of paper at Jessie, who was trying her best to stand at attention dressed in heels and a white party dress.

"This is the supply count you finished this morning. Tell me what's wrong with it, Lieutenant."

Jessie took it and studied it closely. "I-I don't see anything wrong with it, Major."

"Look closer!"

Jessie flipped to the last page. The line where Col. Potter's signature was supposed to be was empty. "B.J., I mean Captain Hunnicutt said he'd take this over to Col. Potter to sign . . ."

"Now, it isn't the Captain's job, is it? Make sure this gets to Col. Potter for his signature, or you won't be leaving this camp tonight! Understood?"

That means facing Radar. Jessie's heart starting pounding at the thought. "Yes, ma'am."

"Dismissed."

Jessie saluted, careful not to muss her hair, and Margaret returned it. She cursed the Major's timing as she walked briskly across the camp towards the Colonel's office.

"You did great," Hawkeye whispered in Margaret's ear.

Margaret rolled her eyes. "I can't believe I'm helping you and B.J. to get her back with an enlisted man! The idea!" She stalked away in the opposite direction.

Jessie paused at the door into Radar's office and chewed on the inside of her lip. He had been angry with her for days now. She pretended to brush it off, acting like she didn't really care that he was treating her so badly. Inside, it was a different story. She missed him terribly. But, with the way he was acting towards her, there was no way she'd give him the satisfaction of knowing it.

Jessie squared her shoulders and pushed through the door. She let out her breath when she saw his empty office.

But, Radar bustled through the door from post-op. He stopped cold when he saw her standing by his desk, paper in hand, looking indecisive.

God, she's beautiful in that dress!

The scent of her perfume hit him next, and it made him weak in the knees. He fought the urge to prop himself on the doorway.

"How can I help you, Lieutenant?" he managed to ask, trying his best to glare. He brushed past her towards his desk.

"I need Colonel Potter to sign something immediately, Corporal," she replied, matching his bitter tone.

He held out his hand, and she slapped the paper into it. He scanned it, looking at the last page.

Without saying a word, he turned on his heel and stomped into the Colonel's office. Within seconds, he returned and thrust the paper at her, avoiding her gaze.

"In such a hurry for your date that you forgot to finish your job?" He couldn't help himself.

She raised an eyebrow. "I think my dating life is none of your business, O'Reilly." Although it used to be.

"Well, it becomes my business and everyone else's when the two of you parade around at breakfast in front of the whole camp!"

She crossed her arms in front of her. "Jealous?"

He snorted. "Far from it! I just feel sorry for the guy. He doesn't know what sort of lies he's in for, does he?"

That stung. "If you'd stop feeling sorry for yourself for one minute, you'd realize I didn't lie to you to hurt you!"

"Well, for not trying to hurt me, you sure did a damn good job of it!"

"What's all this dang blasted noise out here? Don't you know this is a hospital?" Col. Potter bellowed, marching out the door.

He caught Jessie's expression. "Everything alright, Lieutenant?"

"Fine, sir. Everything's just dandy," she mumbled.

Radar barged into Col. Potter's office, letting the door whack the wall.

Jessie flinched. "Thanks for signing this."

"No problem, Lieutenant. Hope you have a good evening."

"Thank you, sir." She saluted and walked out the door, willing herself not to cry.

B.J. and Hawkeye watched Jessie storm out of the office.

"Guess it didn't work, did it?" B.J. asked.

"Yeah. I reckon we need to get out of the cupid business."

********************************

Col. Potter returned to his office and found Radar rubbing his eyes wearily.

"Finish the monthly report?"

"Yes, sir. It's on your desk."

"What about the duty roster?"

"It's already posted." Radar edged towards the door.

"Looks good, doesn't she?"

Radar stopped. "Sir?"

"In that dress. Lieutenant Callahan looks good in that dress."

Boy, did she ever. Radar just shrugged.

Col. Potter studied him closely. "Don't you think you're being hard on her?"

Radar squared his jaw. "No, sir, I don't." She deserves it. Doesn't she?

Col. Potter shook his head.

"Anything else, sir?"

"Nope. Get some sleep, Corporal. You look like you could use it."

"Yes sir." That's not likely, as long as Jessie's out there with that creep.

Radar collapsed on his cot, disgusted with himself. He could have been polite. His mother raised him better than that. He tried to sleep, but kept seeing the hurt look in her eyes. And the idea of that big shot pilot with his hands on her made him nauseous. He lay awake and listened for the sound of her jeep returning from Seoul.

He had a long wait.

************************************

This time when the nightmare started, it was Jake who held the knife to her throat, his normally congenially features contorted in anger. But, the white skirt of the Korean woman still reached around her, pulling her away from him.

The sound of a jeep pulling into the compound woke him before the gun in his nightmare went off, the early morning sun making patterns on the dusty floor.

He knew it was her without even looking out the window.

************************************

"Come in," Jessie said, throwing down her pen in disgust. She was trying to write a cheerful letter home, but it wasn't working. "Oh, hi, Father," she said, not expecting to see the kindly preacher.

"Hello, my child. Mind if I sit down?"

"Sure." She swept the books off a chair in the corner. "What can I help you with?" she asked politely.

He decided to get right to the point. "Don't you think you should try to talk to Radar before he leaves?"

Jessie snorted. Col. Potter had offered her a week in Seoul, but she turned him down. She wasn't surprised to hear that Radar had taken him up on it and was leaving that evening. "Sorry, Father. He won't talk to me. And when he does, it's not pretty." She tried to hide the hurt in her voice and stuck out her chin defiantly.

"I can't say I know much about feelings between a man and woman, but I have watched the two of you. I really don't think it's something to throw away so easily."

"Well, you'll have to talk to O'Reilly because he sure avoids me like the plague." She wiped angrily at a tear that slipped down her cheek. No matter how hard she worked to keep her feelings bottled up inside, when someone made her face them, it hurt.

"Well, I'm sure that little show you and Jake put on didn't help matters any."

She cringed. The date would have been fun if she wasn't so miserable the entire time. Jake seemed like a nice guy and had even tried to get her to go out with him again. But, her heart just wasn't in it.

Father Mulcahy continued slowly. "I have talked to him, and he's hurting just as much as you are." He paused, choosing his words carefully. "I think he feels betrayed."

"Betrayed?" Jessie barked in disbelief.

"Sins of omission are just as hurtful as sins of commissions," he said, making her feel even worse. "When he gets back, just promise me you'll talk to him."

She nodded mutely.

That night, she had a hard time getting to sleep. She kept thinking about what the Father had said. A couple of times during the night, she thought about trying to call him in Tokyo, but always chickened out. She couldn't stand to be hung up on. Plus, whatever had to be said could wait. It wasn't like he was in a hurry to talk to her, anyway.

Around midnight, she was wakened by the sound of buses in the compound. Struggled sleepily into fatigues, she walked aimlessly into the night.

Hawkeye and Jessie were assigned to pre-op. She followed the doctor around and made notes as he chose who desperately needed to go first and who could wait.

"This one can wait, just a superficial wound," he said, looking underneath the bandage and patting the guy on the shoulder. "This one goes first." He inspected the guy next to him who had a head wound.

Jessie studiously made notes and never looked at the soldiers. It made it easier if you didn't make eye contact.

She heard Hawkeye gasp as he inspected another soldier. Jessie thought it was in response to wounds and waited expectantly, catching up on her notes.

"Well?" she said, finally looking up at him as he frantically checked the soldier. The look of fear on his face surprised her, and she finally glanced down.

Radar?

Jessie sucked in a breath. She tried desperately to be objective. It was a chest wound, which had already bled onto the stretcher.

No telling how much blood he's lost. Lying wounded on the side of the road. Alone. Did he even know what happened to him?

Would he ever wake up to find out?

The room started to spin, but she held her ground, clutching the chart to her chest to ground herself in reality before her mind spun out of control.

"He'll go first," Hawkeye said gruffly, and Jessie automatically entered the information on her chart.

"Corpsmen," she called hoarsely, surprised her voice was even working. "Prep . . . this one."

"You OK?" Hawkeye asked, his eyes searching hers.

She tried to hide her shaking hands and nodded. Wounded men won't mend themselves.

They moved on.

***************************************

For the record, this is not any reference to the episode "Fallen Idols." Just wanted you to know.