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

Day 7: M*A*S*H Compound, Post-Op, 1300 Hours

Day 7: M*A*S*H Compound, Post-Op, 1300 Hours

On Saturday, Jess was busy playing catch with all of the girl's from the orphanage, and Klinger, Radar, Father Mulcahy, and some of the other corpsman joined in.

Pierce, Hunnicutt, and Major Houlihan were on duty in post-op, but it was mostly quiet, nothing major had happened all day.

Dalli still hadn't moved, it was a week exactly from the day the orphanage burned down.

With a start, all the sudden Dalli bolted upright in the cot, screaming. Pierce rushed over, but the minute he touched her, she jumped out of the bed. Dalli hated doctors, and being touched by other people. Hospitals also freaked her out, and right now all three of those things were happening.

When she had jumped out of the cot, or more like scrambled, she ended up putting weight on her dislocated ankle, and with a cry of pain she fell to the floor.

"Hey, calm down. I'm not going to hurt you," Pierce said, trying to get Dalli to get back on the cot so she wouldn't hurt herself more.

"Don't touch me," she said, glaring at him, her voice hard.

Pierce could tell just how scared she was by the way she was huddled in on herself, and the slightest movement sent an unsuccessfully contained grimace across her face.

"It's all right. Now would you please lay back down, you're still severely injured," Pierce said, trying to grab her by the arm and get her to lay down on the cot.

"Let me go!" Dalli shouted, trying to jerk her arm away.

With all the commotion, Hunnicutt and Houlihan were there in seconds trying to control the upset fifteen-year-old who was thrashing around, trying to get away from the doctors and nurses while trying to get to her feet by herself, and the whole while she was asking if Jess was all right and where she was.

"Your cousin's fine. Now lay back down, you're just hurting yourself more by fighting us," B.J. tried to explain.

But Dalli wouldn't listen and just kept trying to get away until they gave her a sedative, a strong enough dose to knock her out and get her back on the bed. Pierce and Houlihan put restraining straps on her so she couldn't move, and Hunnicutt ran to get Jess, who freaked out herself when she heard what had happened.

B.J. and Jess ran to post-op, but just before entering the building Jess stopped.

B.J. turned to face her and asked, "Jess, are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just that Dalli hates doctors, hospitals, and being touched by other people," Jess explained cautiously, trying to stay calm though she was still freaking out herself.

"Oh," B.J. said in realization and then Pierce called him back into post-op, and Jess followed. As they made their way over to Dalli's cot, Hunnicutt explained to Hawkeye why Dalli had been freaking out earlier.

"Jess?" Houlihan questioned Pierce and Hunnicutt as they stopped by Dalli's cot.

"Yeah, Dalli's cousin," Pierce replied, gesturing to Jess.

Dalli blinked her eyes open because the sedative had worn off quickly.

"Dalli," Jess said slowly as she took a step towards the cot, but Houlihan stepped in front of her, blocking her path to Dalli.

"Please," Jess started to beg, "Let me see my cousin, she needs to know that I'm fine. She won't believe anyone else but me."

"I'm sorry, but you can't see her right now. She's sleeping," Houlihan replied, obviously not having turned around to look at the girl who was allegedly sleeping.