Thanks to Esthermarie for starting reading and reviewing. Yet more to NY Gal, Radar and last but not the least, Serilia.

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Chapter 86

It didn't take me long before I felt the urge to go check on him again. I knew from experience that some of my more insane moments in the past were brought on by this compulsive behavior. I also knew that I was compulsive even before I came here but my symptoms were obscured from the eye of general public. Either that or the insanity was a more recent development. Leaving yet another thought for a more leisure contemplation, I returned to his bedside. He was now sleeping soundly. I felt it was a message from him for me; to leave him alone. Paying heed to this subtle hint, I went to mess tent to get some coffee. There was no point trying to sleep and I knew that much. After the worst of exhaustion was behind me, it felt almost impossible to slide back into lala land without some liquid help. This insomnia was worse than the one I had during my residency. That one lasted five years. I wondered how long this one would last as I entered the mess tent and was relieved it was vacant and quiet.

Coffee stank but there were some fresh rolls which weren't hard or burned and lacked any indication that they were meant for the crowd at 4077 which I took as an omen and snatched a couple before settling near the stove.

Kid was doing better. Life was finally returning to its normal level of chaos and mayhem I had gotten used to over last year and a half. A lot had changed, not the least of which was a loss of two – three – friends. Trapper was like this alter ego. He and I had so much in common, we thought alike, acted alike and somehow, I had learned to depend on him though for what I wasn't so sure of. Trap wasn't exactly the poster boy for dependability. BJ was actually dependable but at times...

What?

Nothing. Nothing. I was just saying...

I still had no idea what would happen once he found out of my intervention. I had to find a foxhole to hide in when he did find out though.

BJ wasn't the only new thing. After losing Henry and sitting there while people talked about how much they missed him and not letting them lose it completely because of Frank, I realized yet again how cruel the war could be. Frank's insanity and GI-philia was the sort of anesthesia that people in the camp needed to shrug off Henry's death as they were absorbed in their own personal misery to feel the loss of a man who got them through a whole year of war. Losing Tommy was very personal and only Henry knew about what happened and how it happened. Nobody knew it and I had sort of buried it under wraps to deal with it at a later time.

Why are you thinking of all the losses right now?

Realizing the coffee had turned into gunk yet again, I emptied the cup on the floor right there before leaving for post-op again when I heard the infamous yell over the PA system.

Attention! Attention!

Attention all personnel. Incoming choppers. Everybody to report to duty stations.

Mine was the triage and so I was supposed to be the first one in and first one out as well.

It was a busy triage. Most were burns this time as some of the soldiers had taken refuge in an empty hut and tried to light a fire. The hut caught fire and burned most of the soldiers.

Utterly disgusted by the pointlessness of this pain and loss, I went through the rituals of assigning priority numbers to patients while relieving tension pneumothorax of one of the soldiers right there and then before transferring him to OR straight away and making sure he did go in as advised, after a while, I was all done.

I went to post-op after that and decided to keep an eye on Frank and the patients in pre-op to avoid any further troubles for them from him. Billy was doing fine and so was his buddy. So were the rest of the patients. I removed a chest tube from one of the earlier patients and advised a chest x-ray before settling next to Billy.

"Hello Billy!" I said in a sing-song voice as I realized the cadence, "Ya know, it has a certain musicality to it. 'Hello Billy'... You ever worked on Broadway?" He gave me an ear to ear grin which offset some of the pallor that occupied his face.

"Petey here told me you were a pretty funny fella, sir."

"What can I say, my young friend. Fame has a way of getting outta my hands." I informed him as I put the dressing back on his wounds, satisfied with their current state.

"What are my chances, Sir?"

"You won't be replacing Eddie Tunnel or Choo Choo Roberts anytime soon, I can tell you that much. Otherwise, you have some of my best embroidery in you and I don't really do that kinda hard work all that often so I would say, you got really bright chances of turning old and wrinkly. Just don't enlist again!" I checked him out and was happy to inform myself that despite all that happened last coupla days, the kid was doing fine. Asking Ginger to get me latest labs and a fresh chest film, I moved on to other patients and after that, a check on pre-op patients.

With Cpl. Johnson doing fine, my thoughts shifted towards Frank's latest scheme or more like scam. I knew he lacked scruples but what about that seemingly delightful Cate? I hadn't seen her doing post-op last couple of days. Figuring her to be in the OR, I decided to wait. There weren't all that many casualties and with BJ back, I figured they would be finished by ten tonight.

Advising nurse to start tapering the pressors, one at a time, I went towards OR. I needed to talk to someone right now, whether it was BJ or Margaret. Or even Potter.

"Everything alright, son?" Potter was the first to notice me and I could see his eyebrows arch behind his glasses as the mask obscured a good part of his worry.

"That kid," I didn't elaborate. These days, everybody knew which kid I was talking about, "His white count is slightly elevated. Well, not so slightly as slightly more than his previously elevated count."

"Can we cut this jibber jabber? Some of us are trying to operate on others here, you know." Frank whined and I ignored him.

"Stuff it, Frank! How's the temp?" BJ asked after chastising Frank and I smiled.

"Its the same. Hovering between 99 and 100. There's nothing else that's out of sorts."

"It could just be a delayed reaction to all the insults he suffered last few days." BJ said pointedly, looking at Frank this time. I suddenly felt he was back in my corner and I smiled at his accusatory tone.

"I think that's what it is myself but still..."

"He had gut anastomoses, right?" Potter chimed in.

"Yeah. One in ileum that I repaired and Frank already had repaired a gastric perf. There was a serosal tear in descending colon as well."

"Make sure somebody's doing active suction regularly." Potter advised me and I wondered for a short second if he really thought I'd turned into a pumpkin during last few weeks

"Yeah. I made sure once I found out about Frank's handiwork." I informed him.

"Pish posh! You're the one who nicked...WHAT?" Frank suddenly yelped, staring at Cate who was assisting him.

"You asked for the clamps, Major!" Cate replied, not quite hiding the pallor or the sudden change of tone.

"Just keep an eye on him. That's all that can be done, Pierce!" Ignoring Frank and Cate, Potter told me, not unsympathetically. So I couldn't find the magical fix to this current non-problem.

"Alright. You want me to turn on the still?" I finally decided to leave.

"No. I got some better alternatives." BJ said in a secretive tone, again made more suspicious because of the mask hiding the smile I could feel erupting from behind.

"OK then. Get me from post-op after you're finished. Frank's got the night shift." I smiled evilly at Frank before exiting the OR, my brainstorming bearing no fruit and yet, making me feel a little relaxed.