One part of Katherines week that was moderately annoying was being mentored by the CO, one Colonel Henry Blake. To his credit, he had always been exceedingly patient with Katherine, and was pleased that she was finally making connections.

"Having a solid network is crucial to being a good doctor, whether it be friends, family or coworkers." Henry said one day as they sat in his office, going over some of what had been happening in OR. "I see you're starting to branch out, and I'm glad."

"Thank you sir." Katherine said, not really sure if she was up to trusting Henry or not. He WAS one of the camp slimeballs after all.

Then again one of those slimeballs HAD given her Swordy…

"I guess I'm just worried about being mistreated again…" Katherine decided to give the CO a try. Unlike Hawkeye and Trapper, he had never tried to come on to her.

"I know, and trust me as a father it really sickens me how you've been treated by your own family. Especially as a father to daughters. Boy, if anyone treated MY kids like that…" Henry started getting angry. He then remembered where he was and calmed down, much to Katherines amusement. "Look, we know you have trauma, and it's bad, but we also know that under that trauma is a really swell doctor who's ready to show the world that girl surgeons are the best surgeons."

Katherine giggled. "That feels like something a Dad would say."

"Well, it is. And if you need a Dad I'm right here. I might not be the most GI but I'll look after you like you were my own." Henry told her.

Just then Radar burst in. "Two letters from your wife sir." He handed Henry two envelopes. "And Sis, brothers carving it up at the front and you should go back to Tokyo and make your stepfather happy. Letter is in the fire."

"Thanks Kiddo." Katherine replied. Radar left.

"Well, now you have a Dad and a baby brother. Not bad for half an hours work." Henry smiled. "Y'know, go take the afternoon off, weather's too nice for mentoring sessions."

"Thank you Sir! I'll go see if Maggie is free to go for walk." Katherine decided.

"Maggie?" Henry frowned. "As in, Margaret Maggie? As in, Margaret Houlihan Maggie?"

"Yes Sir, we've become rather good friends." Katherine said.

"As in Margaret Houlihan the Major who with the other Major keeps going over my head?" Henry questioned.

"She's really not that bad once you get to know her." Katherine protested.

"I'll trust you on that one. You have a good afternoon now-," Henry started, when the sound of a chopper descended upon them. "Or you can get to work."

"Not the Cowboy again?" Father Mulcahy asked in OR.

"Same Cowboy, different shoulder. I'm thinking of having Katherine put in zippers. Lovely work by the way, Doctor." Hawkeye replied, supervising Katherine fixing up the Cowboy, one of the chopper pilots of the 4077th.

"Thanks Pierce." Katherine smiled beneath her mask. "It's not that hard though, the shoulder."

"Still, there's any million things that can go wrong with the simplest of operations." Hawkeye told her. "And stop calling me Pierce, call me Hawkeye."

"Okay…Hawkeye." Katherine concentrated on fixing up the Cowboy.

The next day Katherine told Margaret about the operation while they went for a walk. She then told Margaret how the mentoring was going, something that Margaret raised an eyebrow at.

"I don't know Maggie, sometimes I feel like being friends with you and seeing Henry as a father figure is like walking a tightrope." Katherine told her. "I know you're not fond of him."

"He's a fantastic doctor, that's no lie, but he's a lousy CO." Margaret told her. "I don't know how he got a command."

"Is being all GI really necessary though?" Katherine asked. "I mean, isn't our main goal saving lives?"

"Kath, you grew up in high society right?" Margaret asked.

"Yeah, that comparison isn't going to work with me, considering I am the Henry Blake of high society. I have some of the qualifications but no one knows how I got there." Katherine sighed.

Margaret laughed. "The Henry Blake of high society!"

Katherine saw the funny side and laughed too. "You're terrible!"

Both of them continued to laugh as they walked past Henry's office, when Hawkeye stormed out, stopping the laughter in its tracks.

"What's all that about?" Katherine asked.

"I don't know, it must be serious to make Hawkeye angry." Margaret looked concerned.

"It's the Cowboy. Henry knocked back a request to go home, apparently the Cowboy is having problems with his wife." Radar popped up.

"Well, looks like Henry is GI after all." Katherine mused while Margaret looked impressed.

They continued walking through the camp when they came across the motor pool, where Frank was harassing Trapper who was parking a Jeep.

"I told you! I TOLD you! Now make sure you park that STRAIGHT!" Frank barked angrily.

"What happened?" Katherine asked Trapper.

"Henry put the kibosh on my date and will you go bug off?!" Trapper yelled back at Frank.

"You shouldn't have had this Jeep out anyway!" Frank fired back.

"Get off my back Frank." Trapper said in a warning tone.

"Or you'll what?!" Frank snapped.

"I'll write to your wife!" Trapper threatened.

"Oh yeah?! Well I'll write to yours!" Frank fired back.

"FRANK!" Margaret looked horrified.

Katherine remembered what Kellye had told her and winced. Oh Maggie, what are you DOING with this creep?!

Frank looked suitably abashed. He stalked off in a huff.

"I'll see you later Kathy." Margaret quickly took off after Frank.

"Why are you hanging out with old Hot Lips anyway, surely you have better things to do?" Trapper got out of the Jeep.

"Maggie's my friend." Katherine said loyally. "Besides, once she gets away from that Frank character she's lovely."

"If you say so." Trapper frowned.

"Come on, you know Frank could turn fresh milk sour by just walking in the room." Katherine joked.

"I'll take your word for it. How about you and I take a nice little wander over to my place and talk shop?" Trapper put on his charm.

Nope. Too far again.

"I'm gonna go check on the Cowboy. See you around." Katherine scooted off quickly. Trapper groaned. He'd overstepped AGAIN.

"You looked stressed out. That's not going to help you heal up." Katherine checked the chart of the Cowboy as the wounded pilot lay in Post-Op, his arm over his eyes.

"It's nothing a little lady like yourself needs to worry about." Cowboy replied.

"Can I help at all?" Katherine sat down next to the bed.

"Honestly, with how I feel the nicest thing you could do for me is to stab me with that there blade of yours." Cowboy sighed.

"Now don't talk like that. Whatever it is, you're a strong man and you can withstand it." Katherine told him off. "Besides, Swordy is NOT for the use of hurting people. He's purely for self-defence."

"Fair enough. It's just sometimes my thoughts get black when I think about my wife not writing me…" Cowboy trailed off.

Katherine took Cowboys hand. "It'll work out. No matter what happens you have friends and family who love you, and they'll stand by you and help you up."

Cowboy lifted his arm up. "You don't know nothing." He turned over, pulling his hand away.

"I know that these people never gave up on me, no matter how mean I was, how angry I was. They know I'm…that I don't know my father, and they still love me anyway." Katherine told him. "You will get through it all."

"If only I could go HOME!" Cowboy punched his pillow and buried his face into it. "But that dumb Colonel won't let me. Not even for a week."

"Yeah, that is kinda rough…" Katherine admitted. "But I'm sure once you're rested up you'll see things in a new light. You're just feeling rough right now because of your shoulder."

"Rough. Right. I'd like to rest now Captain if you don't mind." Cowboy dismissed Katherine, who felt slapped. She walked to the doctors station and sat down.

"Don't worry about him Doctor, you did your best." Kellye patted Katherine on the back. "You're actually really nice now you have that sword."

"Thanks." Katherine tried to smile at her, but she couldn't.

Katherine thought about it more the next day. She spent most of her day off in her tent, listening to the Wreckers and pretending Swordy was a conductor's baton - until she nearly cut a hole in the roof of the tent, then she sheathed the sword and enjoyed a book while listening to the music.

She decided to go to the Mess that night without Swordy to see how she felt.

She stepped out of her tent and suddenly felt very naked. She walked tentatively towards the Mess, when Radar approached her.

"Hey Sis, wow, you're not wearing Swordy." He noticed.

"Bug off pipsqueak." Katherine snapped

"Whoa, hey, what did I do?" Radar exclaimed in shock as Katherine stormed off.

She made it to the Mess, feeling exposed. She grabbed a tray and stood in line.

"No sword?" Lieutenant Baker asked.

"None of your business." Katherine growled.

"Sorry!" Baker looked affronted.

Igor quickly dished up Katherine's dinner as to avoid her ire, and she stalked off to find a table in the corner by herself. She was angry and upset, this wasn't going the way she wanted at all.

"Hey Kathy, are you okay?" Margaret walked over and sat next to her, making her feel even more unsafe. "Where's Swordy?"

Katherine scowled and dug into her food.

"Uh-huh." Margaret nodded. She got up and went over to where Hawkeye was trying to chat up Lieutenant Dish. "Hawkeye, can I get you to come with me?"

"Oooh, tantalising. I'll be right back sweetheart!" Hawkeye winked at Dish while Margaret groaned. The two headed out of the Mess tent.

"We need to get Swordy." Margaret said.

"You want to get Kathy's sword from her, are you insane?" Hawkeye asked, incredulous.

"She's not wearing it and she's biting everyone's head off. She's clearly scared without it." Margaret told him.

"She's - why isn't she wearing it?" Hawkeye groaned. "She trying to be brave or something?"

"I don't know what happened but she's hiding in the corner and it needs to be you who gives it back to her." Margaret told him. "I don't think she'd accept anyone else touching it, seeing as you're the one who gave it to her."

"Okay, let's go." Hawkeye looked worried.

They retrieved the blade and brought it back to the Mess tent, where Katherine grabbed her sword greedily and strapped it back on.

"There, is that better?" Margaret asked as Katherine gasped down breaths.

"I..I'm sorry…" Katherine began to cry. Margaret gripped her friend tightly.

"I'm gonna put in a call to Sidney Freedman, this is his area." Hawkeye said, looking sadly at the poor girl sobbing in front of him. "I just hope she talks to him this time."

"I think this time I'll be able to talk to Sidney." Katherine wiped her eyes back in her tent, clutching Swordy for dear life.

"I hope you can too. What made you go outside without Swordy?" Margaret asked, sitting on a chair backwards.

"Everyone kept saying how much nicer I was with him, and I thought…" Katherine gulped back another sob. "I just wanted to prove to everyone that I'm nice without him."

"Kathy, no one judges you for needing your weapon." Margaret got up and hugged her friend. "Also…him?"

"Yes. I've decided Swordy is a he." Katherine wiped her eyes again. "I just…you were all so nice to me."

"It's okay. I promise." Margaret stroked her head. "All of us know what you've been through."

Suddenly the tears were forgotten when the sound of a Jeep crashing into a nearby tent jolted the pair up. Katherine rushed to the door. "COLONEL!" She cried at the same time Radar did from his office. The pair rushed to help their father-figure, most of the camp coming to see what had happened.

"Tent. Jeep. Boom." Was the most that could be gotten out of Henry. Radar took the CO back to his office to get a drink, and Katherine quickly organised everyone to get the tent back in shape.

They had just gotten the tent back up when they heard another explosion. Everyone bolted to the latrine where poor Henry had been blown up.

"Boom." Was all he could say.

"Sidney will be here soon. How are you feeling?" Hawkeye sat next to Katherine (who had Swordy firmly attached to her back) the next morning in the Mess tent for breakfast. "Ugh, what IS this stuff?!"

"I think mine moved." Katherine stabbed at her eggs dryly. "I kinda feel miserable to be honest, and the food isn't helping."

"You tried to swim without your floaties, we've all done it. Doesn't mean you're a bad person, it just means you need help, that's all." Hawkeye started ripping up his toast. "And trust me, you're not the only one around here who needs help."

"Thanks Hawkeye." Katherine smiled at him. "That's the second time you've pulled me up."

"Well, you're a good surgeon, and you were nice to Ho-Jon, so I figured you deserved a chance." Hawkeye blushed slightly.

"I just don't want anyone to suffer what I have. It's not right to hurt people for something they can't control, like how they were born." Katherine stabbed her bacon, the fork doing absolutely nothing to the overcooked rasher. She stabbed it again to try and get it on her fork, before giving up and using her fingers.

Hawkeye smiled. "And that's how I know I was right to give you a chance."

The pair smiled at each other, an understanding between them. They did their best to eat the breakfast while Hawkeye told Katherine all about Crabapple Cove and how his Mom died when he was young, and how he'd had a baby sister who had died before that.

"So many people I've spoken to at camp have at least one stillborn or dead sibling. I guess I'm a bit lucky in that respect." Katherine said.

"I dunno from what Radar tells me you'd be better off without brothers." Hawkeye forced down his last bit of egg.

"Well, he's my one good little brother." Katherine grinned.

Just then, Sidney Freedman walked in. "Why now, I don't believe my eyes! Katherine Miller, smiling and sitting with a friend!"

Katherine went pink. "Hi Sidney. It's nice to see you again."

"Well, I'm gonna go find a driver, we're getting Henry outta here until we can find out who's trying to kill him." Hawkeye picked up his tray. "You two have fun now."

"Thanks Hawkeye." Katherine said. Hawkeye winked at her before taking off. "Boy do I owe him." She said softly.

"I notice you have some weaponry on you." Sidney said, sitting down in the spot Hawkeye had vacated.

"This is Swordy, Hawkeye gave him to me for self-defence." Katherine told him. "He makes me feel safe, and when I feel safe, I don't feel angry."

"He?" Sidney asked.

"Yes, Swordy is a he." Katherine said.

"Well then. How about we grab some coffee and go for a walk?" Sidney suggested.

"I'd like that." Katherine got up.

The pair walked around camp, Katherine telling Sidney all about her childhood. Being treated as a live-in maid from the time Keith Jr was born when she was five. Being beaten not only for her own mistakes but those of her brothers. Her stepfather touching her inappropriately from the age of 14. Other families who could have helped turning a blind eye.

"The Winchesters were very much about keeping up appearances and wouldn't have helped me either, but their son Charles was always kind to me." Katherine said. "He gave me my first record, the Wreckers by Ethel Smyth, and when my family left me behind to go to concerts and to the opera he would invite me along with him." Katherine sighed. "Unfortunately he wasn't there very often as he was so much older than me and in college and then in medical school and residency, but he did write me a letter of reference to get into college."

"You would have had it stacked against you, because I doubt you had much schooling." Sidney ventured.

"Oh, I had to be educated so I could help my brothers with their education." Katherine said. "I was the live-in tutor as well, not that it helped much with them not even bothering. I got beaten when Royston had to repeat 5th grade."

"And this Charles, he's the reason you got into medicine?" Sidney asked.

"Yes. I was originally just going to be a Nurse, because that would have been enough for me to survive on my own, but the Professor at the medical school said I had talent to be a surgeon, and to ignore all the noise about me being a woman." Katherine smiled. "I owe Professor Warren a lot too. He ran a lot of interference for me."

"You're aggressive when you're scared. It's perfectly natural, and it makes sense that you would be fearful given you've had to protect yourself from a young age." Sidney told her. "Swordy makes you feel safe, and that's okay too. We all have something we hang onto to make us feel safe. For most of us though it's family, but you don't have that, and that is 100 percent not your fault."

"It's not anyone here's fault either." Katherine pointed out.

"No, but you've been conditioned from a young age to see people as threats." Sidney put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe one day you won't need Swordy anymore, but don't beat yourself up if that day never comes. Just remember that Swordy was given to you by people who care and who want to protect you."

Katherine thought about this for a few seconds. "Thank you Sidney."

"Any time." Sidney smiled as Trapper came rushing over. "Hey Sidney, we have another patient for you. We just talked the Cowboy out of killing our CO."

"It was the Cowboy?!" Katherine was shocked.

"I'll see him now. Sorry to cut our session short Captain, but I think you're doing wonderfully." Sidney said to Katherine.

"It's fine Sidney, and thank you." Katherine smiled. Sidney and Trapper headed off to talk to the Cowboy while Katherine wandered around camp.

"Hey Sis, you feeling better?" Radar bumped into her as she walked past the Mess.

"Sure am Kiddo. Sorry about snapping at you last night." Katherine apologised.

"Oh it's fine. Did you hear about the Cowboy? We had to talk him down over the radio, he was gonna throw the Colonel out of a chopper!" Radar told her.

"I didn't hear THAT part!" Katherine gasped.

So Radar told her all about it as they walked to his office. As they talked, Katherine thought about how she could have ended up doing something silly like the Cowboy nearly did. Both of them were acting out of fear, and both of them could have ended badly.