Another relatively light chapter.

Much, much thanks to Krows, Serilia, R-the-R, Symphony, NYG, Anime, Mary and Hyper( for finally beginning to catch up though I have no idea whom you were not intending to offend :p). It was great to see SEVEN (plus three) reviews. I hope you guys keep doing that.

Enjoy reading!

Chapter 78

"Why is he in your cot?" A muffled sound.

"I don't know Colonel." A muffled reply.

"When did he lie down here?" Stage whispering continues.

"Radar..." And the loud bang.

"Shushhh..."

"Don't you... Oh, he is sleeping here." From loud to high pitch, low volume whisper.

"Why?" Same muffled voice.

"Crazy oaf!" Low volume, high pitch.

"Keep your voice low, Major!" Muffled squeak.

"But why is he...?" I decided I had enough of this.

"Mornin' people!" I opened one eye to see three of them standing in a row looking down at me. I stretched as I sat up in the bed. Why was Radar's cot better than mine?

"You were awake!" Whined Margaret.

"Yeah." I flashed a smile before standing up, ignoring Potter, "Now tell me how is the kid doing?"

"His pressure has improved and his urine output is at a steady rate too. Pulse is a little high."

"Care to fill in the blanks? With figures? And thanks Radar. I am thinking of swapping my cot for yours." He looked at me and then at Potter and I could imagine what was going through his head. Papa Potter and Daddy Hawkeye were not on speaking terms and he was feeling caught up in the middle. I started moving towards post-op leaving those three behind. Margaret hadn't given me figures and I was hungry for figures right now.

"What's going on with Colonel, Pierce? What did you do to piss that sweet man?" Margaret came after me with a pitchfork of anger and disappointment.

"All I did was save that kid's life. Now can you tell me the figures before I fall asleep again?" I asked her, somewhat annoyed by her quick judgment though I would probably think the same if I were a third person.

"Pulse is 120, BP is stable at ninety five systolic and mediastinal drain is turning mixed serous. Urine output is between twenty five and forty mils per hour for last three hours. Anything else doctor?"

"How about a nice smile? And what's his respiratory rate?" I picked my steth to do the honors of listening to his heart, lungs and only as a reflex, his gut too. Everything checked out.

"Its twenty four right now and has been in or around this range since you left."

"Then why did you come to wake me?" I failed to see why I was suffering from sleepus interruptus if everything was fine and dandy.

"I did not come to wake you. I came to tell Radar to wake you." Came the heated reply. What was she mad about, not that she needed any good reason.

"Yeah. I got that. Why?" And cut to the chase, please!

"So you could go eat lunch." She sounded exasperated with my questioning.

"You know you are my favorite Major in the whole...4077, especially when you wear that black number!" I paused in the middle for dramatic effect before grinning. Barring any infection, this kid was gonna make it. I could not afford to feel good just right now but it still felt good. This kid had some of my best work in him and I wanted him to make it home on his feet, not in any other position!

"Go eat before you start drooling here. Then come back so I can go too." Margaret smiled this time.

"Aye aye Major!" I mock-saluted her with my left hand before retrieving my jacket so I could leave for mess tent.

"Radar! Any news on BJ?" I should have asked earlier but I wanted info on the little BJ first before I started worrying about the bigger version.

"He is on his way. Hawkeye! Can I ask you something?"

"Mommy and daddy love you very much, my son. Don't you worry about a thing." I used my best parental tone mimicking the one parents reserved to deliver BS.

"Aww Hawkeyeee. Cummon. Quit horsin' around, willya? Why are you mad at Colonel Potter?" I never understood Radar's penchant for mending the fences.

"Kid, you got it wrong. He is mad at me, not the other way round." Another line in the same tone.

"But why would he be mad at you? You saved Cpl. Johnson's life, didn't you?" He was surprised.

Welcome to the club, kiddo!

"Well, thats one way of putting it, Radar. And I have no clue why myself. I just roll with the punches! Did you eat lunch?" It was time to change the topic. I still had no idea where Potter was when I paged him earlier and knew that if Frank continues his current actions, Potter would be in trouble as well, even if temporary and more akin to nuisance than the troubling kinda trouble Frank was cooking up for me.

"Yeah. Its good."

Of course, it's good! And tell me again why did I even bother asking Radar about mess food?

"Its always good for you, Radar. Tell me once when it wasn't good?"

There!

"Sausages in the morning. Hah!" He declared sarcastically and I chuckled. They could have been used to play horse shoes had they any curves in the middle.

"Oh yeah. Now that I remember. I'm going to mess tent but if Margaret needs me, holler on PA System and I will be here before you can sneeze!" And with that, I left a grinning Radar to get some lunch.

If regular gastronomic calamities served in the mess in the name of food meant my early return to work, I would do just that and consequences be damned.

Food was not the usual 'four-letter-stuff' and I ate even with no appetite. I knew that to be able to sustain even small stretches of standing and working on a patient, I needed energy reserves and however distasteful-detestable-bordering-on-calamitous-debauchery I found the mess food, I had no choice but to stick it out.

And that was a very clever wordplay, ladies and germs!

Finishing lunch in record time, I almost sprinted back to post-op. Johnson was holding his own which was pretty good, all things considered.

"What's his temp and respiratory rate?" I asked Harris who had taken over for Margaret. Good nurse with smart instincts. I wondered who would be here for the evening hoping for at least one crack nurse in the whole bunch I could depend on.

"Temp is 99.4 and respiratory rate is twenty two." That was fair but only just. I did not like his temp which had risen from the previous absolute normal though it was still within normal range even if only just. Wondering how long I would last in post-op, I tried to figure out when BJ was expected to be back. After much cranking and swearing in the cute way that only Radar could swear, I was finally informed that he was on his way and that we were expected to not end up behind enemy lines any time soon either, meaning no bug out, thanks to the cavalier actions of some commanders the night before. I could imagine those cavalier actions, specimens of which were now adorning our post-op even as I spoke.

I wondered if there was going to be another of those madhouse schemes at the start of next year like they had this year when we went through some five thousand patients in one month. The scarier thought yet was, there was a bigger conglomeration of morons in DC and Pentagon than in Tokyo and they endorsed all harebrained schemes these people cooked up and added some touches of their own. Only in Army could a man like Flagg get a gainful employment and get promoted.

Thinking about that piece of work, I returned to post-op and sat next to Billy Johnson, taking his temp every five minutes.

God help me if one of my own kids falls sick!

PS: SEVEN reviews. Muchas gracias, fellas. Its good to know you guys are out there really reading and its not just the network messing with my mind. Keep reading and reviewing!