I don't own M*A*S*H. Hope you enjoy!
It wasn't long before Michelle realized that her brother's reach was much farther than she originally thought it was. Nearly everyone she had to interact with on a daily basis remembered her brother, none of them with fond memories.
She had worked with all the doctors over the night shift in the month that she had been with the 4077th, her longest post to date. It seemed that, although her name still made them wary of her, her skills as a nurse gave her some value.
Dr. Hunnicutt was polite, but reserved. She had seen him interact with the patients and some of the other nurses and doctors. He had a sense of humor and seemed to make others laugh, but he never shared it with her.
Colonel Potter was a good doctor and took care to treat her as he did all the other nurses. She knew that although he acted similar to her, she could tell that he was keeping a close eye on her at all times. She would expect nothing less of a commanding officer when it was possible she could end up creating problems.
Dr. Pierce was formal with her, the complete opposite of how he was with everyone else. His flirty attitude would always be left at the door when they worked together and he was completely professional with her. She knew that he wasn't always like that based on how she saw him interact with nurses in OR and off-duty. It was just her he was like that with. Although, it wasn't like he was straight up ignoring her.
That was reserved for Dr. Winchester.
Out of all the doctors, Dr. Winchester's attitude towards her hurt the worst. Even Major Houlihan spoke to her from time to time, even if she looked angry about it. Dr. Winchester straight up pretended she didn't exist most of the time, unless he had no choice but to acknowledge her.
Although he was an attractive man, all the doctors were actually, Michelle couldn't help but feel like his attitude was ugly. From all her previous posts to now she could honestly say that Charles Winchester the 3rd was her least favorite person.
At least the majority of the nurses were nice to her, some even offering to switch shifts occasionally to get her off the night shift. She always thanked them for the offer and stayed on the shift. She was assigned a job and she would do it, even if it was a way to keep her out of trouble.
Michelle walked the Post-OP ward checking on the few wounded they had come in the last few days. Luckily the men they had from the big battle nearby had mostly already been shipped off to the bigger hospitals, leaving a few men to check on, making it an easy night.
Still, Michelle kept moving around, checking on all the men and making sure each was being taken care of correctly. It was hard because tonight was another Winchester silent evening as she liked to call her shifts with the Major.
While Winchester was able to ignore her easily, Michelle found that she was unable to do the same, despite always trying.
Something about him drew her attention in a way no other man had ever done. Perhaps it was the complete lack of attention he gave her or the air of superiority he held that she wanted to remove, but something made her pay attention.
Didn't stop her from trying to ignore him as she made her rounds.
What she didn't realize was that Charles, despite all appearances, had the same problem.
Upon learning that the new nurse was Colonel Flagg's younger sister, Charles had made the decision to ignore her as best he could until she was eventually transferred out. He didn't care what she looked like or what her work ethic was, because if she was anything like her brother then it wouldn't be too long before she was sent out of the unit. This was her 9th assignment in 7 months after all.
However, he didn't expect to find such a smart, caring and beautiful woman as Flagg's sister when he was introduced to her for the first time. The complete opposite of her brother in almost every way.
She had the same coloring as her brother, with the darker hair and light eyes. Hers were a bright hazel with flecks of green in them, enchanting in many ways. She also had an enticing figure that drew his eyes more times than he wanted to count.
She was also very dedicated to her job, taking time with each patient and making sure all her notes were correct. She made rounds constantly while on duty and spent no time on frivolous chit-chat as the other nurses sometimes did. While she was on duty, she was working.
She was proficient in the OR, organized and on point at all times. He didn't understand why, outside of her connection to Flagg, that she was being constantly transferred.
He watched as she tended to one of the newer patients, Private Dan Boone. He had come in with the last large batch of wounded with severe stomach injuries that he had worked on with Michelle. She was checking his vitals and making sure his stitches were clean and showed no signs of infection. Private Boone hadn't regained consciousness yet, which worried Charles, but his vitals were showing signs of improvement. While he trusted his abilities as a surgeon, Charles was still concerned that the man hadn't awoken yet.
He looked back down at the file in his hand when he heard it, the soft melody of someone singing.
It wasn't really singing, more like articulating a melody, but it was beautiful nonetheless. He lowered the file and just listened as he would one of his records.
It was soft but the notes were strong, he could feel the music wash over him and he nearly closed his eyes when he realized where it was coming from.
Lt. Flagg was the one making the music he was enjoying, Colonel Flagg's younger sister.
Charles felt disgusted with himself for falling under such a spell and resolved to ignore her better in the future, although his eyes were already trying to drift to her as the melody stopped.
Michelle stood and looked down at Private Boone. Although she had seen several men injured in her short time in Korea, the was the first time she had worked on one of the more seriously injured one. Usually her posts were out of the way, as if she didn't actually have an skills to help out. This was the first time she had actually been in the OR with the doctors and helping out. She wanted to do a good job and focused her attention on being firmly on task.
Dr. Winchester hadn't seemed to notice her attention to detail at the time, not that she was trying to impress him or anything.
She always made sure to keep the wounds clean to keep infection from taking the man. She wanted him to wake up and return home. She wanted to know that, despite everything she had gone through here, her being in Korea would mean something to someone. Even if she never did find her way out from under her brother's shadow.
She had tried harmonizing the melody for one of her favorite songs, hoping that it would start to bring him back. She had been trying this for a week now and then was never any response.
Still, she couldn't help but try. His vitals were improving so Michelle was hopeful that he would wake up soon.
She turned to move on to her next patient, careful to avoid Dr. Winchester who, for some reason, was still standing reading the patient charts for the next bed. She thought that was strange, as that patient was nearly recovered and would be leaving the next morning back to his unit, but maybe Dr. Winchester saw something she didn't.
She didn't dwell on it and continued on with her work, never noticing the pair of eyes that kept darting to her and then away the rest of the night.