Sorry about the long wait, had a lot of personal stuff going on. Please enjoy! I don't own M*A*S*H.
Michelle woke the next morning with a hangover she had expected, but didn't welcome.
She knew that drinking one's self under the table wasn't a wise decision and would come with some consequences, but she didn't expect it would be this bad.
She groaned as she sat up and gently touched her head. A cup of coffee was passed to her and she took it with a soft "thank you."
It was then that she noticed that her three bunk mates were all staring at her. "Good morning," she said softly. She watched as all three had the same smile on their faces, as if surprised and happy at once. She raised an eyebrow. "Is there something on my face?"
"No," Marie said. "Do you remember what happened last night?"
Michelle narrowed her eyes, before turning back to her coffee. "Other than getting drunk, no."
The other nurses chuckled, drawing Michelle's attention back to them. "Did I do something embarrassing?"
Kelley shook her head. "Not really..."
Michelle's eyes widened at those words and Marie was quick to jump in.
"It's not like you ran around the compound naked or anything like that. It's just...well."
Michelle took another gulp of coffee as their words penetrated her foggy memory. "I kinda remember the four of us all together, but I can't really recall what happened."
Kelley grabbed Michelle's left hand. "Well, let's just say that you made a huge life changing decision last night. One that we couldn't talk you out of."
Michelle blinked. "What are you talking about?"
Kelley lifted Michelle's hand and showed it to her. Michelle looked at her hand briefly before looking back up at Kelley confused when she noticed something sparkling there.
Her eyes went back to her own hand.
There, on the ring finger of her left hand, was a ring.
Michelle ripped her hand out of Kelley's and examined the ring carefully. It was a gold ring with three small diamonds on it. If she knew any better, she would think they were real.
"What the hell?"
She looked back up at her bunk mates with wide eyes.
"What happened last night?"
Charles had a splitting head-ache, but he wasn't about to let that get to him. He ate breakfast calmly and drank his coffee, ignoring the chatter of the two buffoons he shared a tent with.
Klinger walked in and grabbed some food before sitting right across from him, glaring at Charles.
"Thanks for the wake-up call this morning, Major," he said sarcastically.
Charles looked up at him confused. "What are you talking about?"
Klinger took a drink of coffee. "You woke me up last night asking me to file paperwork for you. Just mailed it out a few minutes ago."
Charles was really confused now. "Klinger, what paperwork did I ask you to file?"
Klinger looked up at Charles with wide eyes, before he suddenly burst out laughing. He drew the attention of both Hawkeye and BJ at this moment as well.
"Seriously, you don't remember?"
Charles kept his face calm as he regarded Klinger. "Obviously not or I would not have asked."
This only caused Klinger to laugh harder.
It was then that Michelle walked in with her fellow nurses. Charles noticed that she looked pale and her eyes were wide as if in shock. Charles found this odd.
Klinger turned and looked at Michelle before turning back to Charles.
"Looking at the missus?"
Charles' eyes snapped back to Klinger. What did he just say?
"What are you talking about Klinger?" BJ asked, actually curious about the situation.
Klinger smirked. "That paperwork the Major was so desperate for me to file last night. It was his marriage certificate to Lt. Michelle Flagg."
Charles felt his whole body freeze. "What?"
Hawkeye glanced at Charles with a smirk. "Married Flagg's sister? I don't envy you. She's probably as crazy as her brother."
Charles almost opened his mouth to defend her when it finally caught up to him what was going on.
According to Klinger, at some point in the night he and Michelle had gotten married.
He stood and moved out of the mess tent in a rush. He had to get to Father Mulcahy and find out if this was true. He moved quickly and only stopped when he heard a soft voice calling out to him.
"Dr. Winchester."
He turned and found himself looking right at Michelle Flagg, or was she Michelle Winchester now? His head hurt.
She held out her hand. "I believe that this is yours," she said, her face flushed in embarrassment.
Charles was momentarily stunned. She was actually quite pretty when blushing. He mentally shook the thought out of his head and let her place the object in his hand.
He looked down at his grandmother's wedding band. He looked back up at her with wide eyes before reaching out, grabbing her arm, and pulling her into the nearest tent, which just happened to be the Supply Tent.
"Where did you get this?"
Michelle took a deep breath. "I was wearing it when I woke up this morning. I didn't know anything about it until Kelley pointed it out to me."
Charles couldn't believe it. Had they actually gotten married last night?
He looked at Michelle with new eyes. Was she his wife?
She wasn't terrible to look at, actually she was quite pretty. She was also kind-hearted and a hard worker. She never complained about being on the night shift, nor of the terrible treatment she had received from him and the other doctors. She also had a sweet voice and seemed to like music.
But she was still Flagg's younger sister.
"We need to get this verified."
Charles and Michelle walked to Father Mulchay's tent and knocked on the door. The priest opened the door and looked at the couple.
"Good morning," he said in his usual chipper tone.
"Father, we need to discuss something with you right away."
Father Mulchay looked from Michelle's pale face to Charles' shocked one. "Oh dear, this looks serious. Please come in."
Charles lead Michelle into the tent and both sat across from Father Mulchay.
Michelle listened as Charles got right down to business. "Did we...get married last night?"
Michelle could feel her heart pounding her chest as she waited for the answer, praying it was all a bad dream.
"Yes, it was quite early in the morning if I recall."
Charles groaned as he stood and began to pace. Michelle wondered for a moment if these hazy memories of him being kind to her were all a dream as right now he seemed rather agitated at the idea of being married to her.
It was really annoying.
"Well, it's not like any paperwork was filed," she said and then noticed the sudden way that Charles stopped moving. She looked at him with wide eyes. "Right?"
He didn't look at her.
"Dr. Winchester, please tell me nothing was filed?"
He took a deep breath before turning back to her with a stiff expression. "Klinger had just informed me right before you returned the ring that he had just sent off the paperwork."
Michelle groaned before putting her head in her hands. Her headache was getting worse and the nightmare didn't seem like it was going to end.
"I cannot be married to Flagg's sister," she heard Charles say. "What are my options?"
Michelle didn't know if it was the leftover alcohol in her system or the way he said those words, but anger flooded her system and she wasted no time standing up and glaring at him.
"You cannot be married to me?" she said in a rising tone. "How do you think I feel? I'm married to a pompous, arrogant aristocrat."
Charles was taken aback by her words, but that wasn't the only reason.
Michelle was quite good looking when angry. It was enchanting. He felt a desire to kiss her, but felt angry that he felt that way. Instead he focused the anger at her.
"You are probably as nuts as your brother."
A fire in her eyes that he hadn't seen before. It was seductive.
"My brother isn't nuts, he's overly paranoid. Besides I'd rather be nuts than insulting and rude."
"I won't remain married to you, you are not worthy of the Winchester name."
"I don't want the Winchester name. I can do a hell of a lot better than that."
Father Mulchay stood and put a hand on each of their shoulders, stopping the shouting match. "Please stop this," he said firmly. "Regardless, as of this moment you two are married. You can file paperwork for an annulment as long as the wedding hasn't been...consummated."
Michelle felt heat fill her cheeks at those words. Thanks to her brother's overly paranoid ways, she had only been with a guy once, when she was in high school, and it hadn't been enjoyable at all. The thought that Dr. Winchester had seen her in the same way as that boy was embarrassing enough, she didn't want to repeat that terrible experience.
"I would think not!" Charles said firmly. "As if I would have that kind of relationship with...with..."
"Your wife?" Father Mulchay said softly.
Charles blinked at that. She was his wife. Was it possible to believe that he hadn't laid his hands on her with that knowledge? He glanced over at her and noticed the redness of her face.
She was blushing! Now he was even more worried. Had he really slept with her and not remembered?
Father Mulchay spoke then, breaking Charles' train of thought. "Since we cannot be sure that it wasn't consummated, you will have to go through the divorce proceedings instead, which will take more time."
Michelle's eyes flew up then. "I can't stay married," she said firmly. "Do you have any idea what my brother is going to do when he finds out? I can't even imagine!"
Charles almost rolled his eyes, but it wasn't dignified. "Why should we concern ourselves with what your brother may or may not do? We will not be married long enough for him to find out."
Michelle glared at Charles, but secretly prayed he was right.
If Sam found out about this marriage, she seriously doubted he would stay cool about it, or not plan a way to get rid of Dr. Winchester. As much as she was really starting to get angry at him right now, she didn't want anything bad to happen to him. She was just going to have to trust that her brother wouldn't be checking up on her while she was in Korea.
A hope she already knew was extremely unlikely.