M*A*S*H 4077 By Taylor Froelich and Sammi Simonar

Day 3: M*A*S*H Compound, Swamp, 1900 Hours

Day 3: M*A*S*H Compound, Swamp, 1900 Hours

By the time the next round of wounded soldiers came that afternoon, Jess was settled in the Swamp, even though she spent all of her time in post-op, still watching her cousin for any signs of her waking up.

That night Jess was talking to Captain's Pierce and Hunnicutt when Major Winchester walked in.

"Jess, you're a little quiet around Winchester. You still holding that grudge against him?"

"Yep," she replied curtly with a nod of her head.

"Pierce, Hunnicutt, what is she doing in here? Isn't she supposed to be with the other girls?" Winchester demanded snootily.

B.J. looked at Hawkeye, Hawkeye looked at Jess, and Jess looked at B.J.

"The other girls are in the nurses' tents and there's no more room for Jess," Hunnicutt answered.

"Let the girl speak for herself," Winchester retorted.

"Why should she?" Pierce demanded, glaring at Winchester.

"I want to know why she's in with us, from her," Winchester stated, looking at Jess expectantly.

Jess defiantly stood up and headed for the door of the Swamp, but Winchester grabbed her shoulder.

"Get your hand off my shoulder," Jess said, trying to keep her cool. "Now."

"For being fourteen, you sure have some nerve," Winchester sneered.

"She said to get your hand off her shoulder," Hunnicutt cut in.

"Stay out of this, Hunnicutt," Winchester barked at him.

"I'm in here because this is where Colonel Potter put me," Jess said, pulling free of Winchester's grasp, and then she accidentally bumped into Father Mulcahy, who was coming in.

"I'm sorry," Jess said, turning around.

"It's okay," Mulcahy replied.

Jess sat back down on her cot as a few more people walked into the Swamp.

"Hey Hawk, B.J., who is that and why's she in here?" someone asked. He appeared to be wearing some kind of dress with a mink coat over it along with gloves and a string of pearls around his neck.

"That's Jess. Colonel Potter put her in here since all the other girls from the orphanage filled up the nurses' tents," Hawkeye said.

"Radar, Klinger, this is Jess. She's fourteen years old and her cousin is Dalli," Father Mulcahy said.

"Nice to meet you," Radar said, shaking Jess's hand.

"Dalli, isn't she the girl in post-op with the concussion?" Klinger asked.

Jess nodded, not trusting herself to speak because she might start crying just thinking of her cousin.

"Poor girl. She looks pretty banged up," Klinger said sympathetically.

"Excuse me for ruining your little gab-fest, but would you care to tell me what Radar, Klinger, and Father Mulcahy are doing here, Pierce?" Winchester addressed Hawkeye, sounding annoyed.

"We're having a poker tournament," B.J. said. "Come on Jess, you can watch if you don't want to play. Maybe Father Mulcahy will finally tell someone his secret to winning every time," B.J. joked, because that all knew that Father Mulcahy almost always won by luck, rather than skill like Captain Pierce.

Jess had never really watched a poker game before, so she was happy to watch, it helped keep her mind off of Dalli, and Winchester left the minute B.J. said 'poker' so Jess didn't have to worry about him irritating her.