Thanks to Krows, Serilia and last but not the least, The Girl From NY! Rest of you...

Just for the record, I will repeat my previous statements about not doing anything that couldn't have happened in the show which means no deaths of main characters, no love entanglements and no wedges between the friends.

Happy reading!

Chapter 80

"What's going on here?" BJ sat next to me at the table where I was sitting, thinking and doodling to get an idea of what to do. It all came down to stabilizing his circulation so I could first get a film and then maybe go in his belly and chest again. He was just as dead without surgery as with it but I knew surgery would probably have a better chance than no surgery.

"Hello Captain Hunnicut! You look good."

"And you look the same, Captain Hawkeye Pierce. Why can't I have a day of peace without you doing something completely drastic to disrupt the fine fabric of this unit?" BJ asked humorously which meant he had probably met Frank and was amused because Frank was irked.

"Talking to Frank?"

"Actually listened to him for all of five minutes. He is pissed and is more of a pain than his usual agonizing self. What happened?"

"Why didn't you rest a little before coming here?" I ignored his question. Answers could wait.

"I'm rested. Start talking." He seemed all business and I hoped he had mended fences with his wife over the weekend. I could not even imagine the other possibility knowing that if he had done something he wouldn't normally do, he would be guilty and not cheerful like right now. I briefly gave him the fifty word version of the whole story.

"What are you waiting for then?" He asked me when I told him of the possibility of shrapnel still in his body.

"Nothing! I was hoping he did not develop fever but things took all of two hours to start going downhill again. I was waiting for you. We may have to go in and I need you with me when I open him!" I made up my mind finally before telling Margaret to get the X-Rays.

"What about the pulse and pressure."

"That's not gonna get better with all that junkyard still in him. Get the films and then take him into the OR straight. BJ and I will scrub up. Get the gas passer and you scrub up with us! And make sure we have eight units of cross matched blood." With that, I completely returned to my surgeon mode. Why I was stalling until now was something I decided to look into at a leisure time. Right now, action was what was needed and I was here to deliver.

"Where's Col. Potter?" BJ asked me.

"I don't know. His office maybe."

"He was here to see the kid and wanted to know what the plan was. I'll let him know you are taking him to surgery." Margaret informed us both.

"No. You stay with him and get him to OR fast. I will go tell him. Beej, you go scrub up!" And with that, I about faced and went to Potter's office. All this time, the thought hadn't crossed my mind why he wasn't anywhere near the kid since I operated on him. Where the hell had he been?

I walked past Radar without so much as a glance and barged in Potter's office unannounced.

"How can I help you, Pierce?" He raised his head as the door swung behind me.

"BJ is back. I am taking Johnson to the OR after I get his chest and abdomen films."

"Why do you wanna operate..."

"Because Frank was the surgeon, not you, not BJ and not me. He must have left some shrapnel in there and for all I know, there might be a few perforations built up in there not to mention the thoracic cavity and its secrets. Kid is spiking a fever and I cannot wait for his white count to come if he does have shrapnel in there."

"Alright. Bring him home, Hawkeye!" And with that, I was summarily dismissed.

"Colonel!"

"Yes, Pierce?"

"Where were you when I paged you in the morning?"

"I was taking Sophie out for a ride."

"You were riding a horse leaving Frank Burns incharge here?" I asked him incredulously, not hiding my surprise and anger.

"Yes. Your patient is waiting!"

"How could you do that? That kid would have been fine if you were here."

"You think you didn't do a good enough job? Is that why you have been waiting for Hunnicut's return before you reopened him?"

"NO. That's not what I... No. I did a fine job. I could have used another hand though."

"I know. Tend to your patient. We'll have plenty of time assigning the blame once the dust settles." And with that, he again started reading whatever he was reading.

He was never like that. I could hardly remember him looking this serious. And what was that about assigning blame. He knew me better than that. Hoping it was just me in trouble and not him too, I returned to post-op and then OR. I started scrubbing up alongside BJ and thought about my options with my patient.

"You been up all this time?"

"No. Slept today. Can you believe Radar's cot is more comfortable?" BJ chuckled at this.

"I think I can. Look at the surface area he takes on that cot. And no thrashing around either." Both done with scrubbing, we entered the OR and got all dressed up for the surgery.

"I don't thrash around."

"Sure you don't. Hey Hawk!"

"Yeah?"

"Don't worry about Frank. Ya know him and his whims."

"Its not him I'm worried about. You know Potter was out of camp when I paged him earlier in the morning when this kid went into tamponade."

"Oh... Frank would come after him as well. His way of a coup de tat."

"Uh huh. Beej!"

"Yeah?"

"You don't think its a mistake going in again so soon? I mean, its his third major surgery in less than twelve hours."

"You aren't second guessing yourself, Hawk, are you?" BJ looked at me seriously.

"I dunno Beej. I screwed up. And my mistake is costing this kid third surgery and he still may not make it."

"It wasn't your fault. And make sure Frank doesn't hear you say that."

"I should've gone and checked on him in pre-op."

"Hawk! What's done is done. Just focus on 'now'."

"Where are the X-Rays?" I asked as two guys brought in our patient.

"Coming." Margaret informed us, all scrubbed up now.

"Put him under." I ordered the gas passer.

"You aren't gonna open him before seeing the X-Rays, are you?" Margaret asked me and I just shook my head. Just then, the wet films arrived. First was the chest film. No shrapnel. I took a long sigh of relief before putting up the abdomen films. Two pieces. He had bowel sounds present so probably peritonitis hadn't set in fully and hopefully, no gut perforations either as the gut loops looked normal but still, those pieces needed to be removed. They were in there and were causing plenty of ruckus for my comfort.

Silently and quickly, I opened his earlier laparotomy incision. His pressure fluctuated dangerously all the time we were in his belly. There was only one perforation which was a relief but there was some spillage of gut contents in the abdomen and there was also a small laceration on liver which was bleeding. After stitching the laceration and perforation, I looked for the pieces of shrapnel. It took me a little while as one was embedded in the retroperitoneal wall after nicking the outer layer of colon and other in the omentum. After washing his belly, I closed him in record time, knowing in my heart that this kid was in one big trouble.

This was one of the most silent surgeries I had ever done and it felt strange and scary.

Finally, he was extubated and shifted to post-op with Margaret in tow while I stood there in the OR, silently, watching the now vacant table and wondering how he was gonna make it.

PS: This is the last chapter for the foreseeable future. Work is killing me right now and I know what I wanna write but writing it is a pain in the unholy ass. You guys aren't helping all that much either. Will try to write more over the weekend but next two weeks are murder weeks so give me inspiration and soon or the dry spell starts now!