Major Catherine O'Brien never imagined herself joining a MASH unit in the middle of the Korean War, but one day she finds herself apart of the 4077 and her life is changed.
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If there was one thing about Catherine O'Brien, it's that she had no idea how she got to where she was. Well, she kind-of knew. She knew it was her convictions about helping others that led her to become a nurse and then to enlist in the Army. It wasn't Catherine's idea for America to start a police action in North and South Korea, which turned into an all-out war. So, Catherine found herself being shipped across the world and stationed in Tokyo General Hospital in Tokyo, Japan. Catherine quickly became friends with one of her coworkers, a surgeon in the hospital, who requested she assist him at his operating table whenever he was there. The tall, pompous surgeon found himself not only enjoying Catherine's energetic, yet calming personality, but also her hard work ethic and compassion as a nurse.
Days turned into weeks and then months and soon, Catherine had another unexpected thing happen: she fell in love. It wasn't the tall surgeon that caught Catherine's eye, but one of their patients. Alexander Black was far too down-to-earth to be a Lieutenant Colonel. He was too rugged, not keeping a clean shaven face, even if regulations dictated he do so. His light brown hair and green eyes pulled Catherine into a crush, allowing Alex to quickly woo her. Catherine had never fallen in love before, but the feelings she had for the Lieutenant Colonel were all-consuming. When Alexander asked Catherine to be his wife, to move home with him to his family's ranch in Texas, it was met with a tearful and resounding "yes!" Even Catherine's surgical coworker approved of the match and commented that despite the Lieutenant Colonel being a "cowboy", his "good breeding" would make for a very decent family and generations to come.
Catherine pulled herself out of the memories and looked at the young Korean woman walking, well more like waddling, next to her. Sung-Lee was under Catherine's charge and almost at full-term for her pregnancy. Catherine had estimated that Sung-Lee would be giving birth within the next couple of weeks.
"Sung-Lee are you okay?" Catherine asked her softly. They were trying to be as quiet as possible. Dirt, country roads in a seemingly deserted part of the Korean countryside were not to be taken lightly, especially in the dead of night. Sung-Lee rubbed her protruding belly and nodded, smiling. The two women had just been to visit Sung-Lee's in-laws after the orphanage where she worked as a translator and Catherine was a nurse, had started being shelled the previous day. It was thirty miles from the orphanage to the nearest M*A*S*H, so travel had been slow and had taken most of the day. The shelling and the bombs and the shootings were no longer shocking to Catherine. She had been in Korea for a couple of months now, helping Nurse Meg Cratty with the orphanage. It hadn't been easy to leave Tokyo, to leave the memory of her beloved fiance, but Catherine knew she couldn't stay. If Catherine had stayed in Tokyo, she would have continued drinking and arguing with her surgical friend, who only wanted her to go back to her "normal" self. The bombs and shellfire weren't shocking anymore because they had been what killed Catherine's fiance.
A gunshot rang out and Sung-Lee gasped, jumping closer to Catherine. The nurse grabbed a hold of her friend and attempted to get them behind some trees for cover, but not before more shots rang out and Catherine felt a hot sting hit her arm as a bullet *thwipped* past her. Sung-Lee faltered and Catherine knew she wasn't the only one who had been hit.
