M*A*S*H 4077th: Nurse Pierce

Chapter 6: Bug-Out: Part 2

Everyone was moving out except for Hawkeye and Margaret who were back in O.R. with their spinal patient. Margaret had left briefly to get some coffee for Hawkeye and herself.

"Kitchen's down," she said handing Hawkeye his cup.

"Well, that's good news," he replied.

"That's it for the coffee," she said before leaning against the bedpost.

Nobody liked the cooking at this camp from the food that was provided to the coffee, orange juice, and even the water, so it didn't come as a surprise to Margaret when Hawkeye said the coffee was vile to the last drop.

Hawkeye got up to his feet to check on the I.V. solution before saying, "I'll be back in ten minutes. Then you can leave with the others and help BJ with Arrow."

"He can set up my tent and put Arrow in there. I'm staying," she told him.

"You finally realized I have a beautiful body," he joked.

"Let's keep our relationship medical."

"You wanna play doctor?" was Hawkeye's typical response before he turned around to continue talking. "Look, Margaret, I can handle this. Get on the truck and get out of here. If you need me, I'll be packing up my troubles in my old kit bag."

Hawkeye left the building to do just what he said he was going to do. 

~***~***~

Arrow sat in the lead jeep with Father Mulcahy and BJ who was following Potter on his horse. She would have looked for Hawkeye whose face she would recognize from pictures if it didn't hurt to open her eyes.

"Do you mind if I ask you something BJ," Arrow inquired.

"Ask away?" BJ replied as the convoy drove along.

"What are some tell-tale signs that a memory, or memories, are returning?" she asked hoping she didn't sound like she was giving too much away.

"Well, that depends."

"On what?"

"On what you remember. An example would be if you could tell us why you're here in Korea, what your given name is, your last name included, and your serial number if you are in the military," he replied.

"I enlisted to be a nurse. I'm eighteen. My given name is Maxine, but don't call me that," she answered, purposely leaving out her last name. She'd hoped that wasn't noticed, though if it was, it wasn't mentioned. "My serial number is 7346501785. And I was one of eight nurses on our way to the 4077th camp the day my bus was hit by a mortar shell. I was the only survivor."

BJ and Mulcahy looked astonished. 

"Arrow, you've been a patient here for a while now. We've been concerned that you might never regain your memory. Now you're rattling off your information like it wasn't locked away for weeks," BJ said. His words were those of amazement, but his voice suggested doubt was present. "Oh-ho. Hawk is gonna be thrilled when he hears about this. But he's also gonna wish he was present when you remembered all this."

Arrow could have panicked when BJ said that, but she decided the best thing to do was to remain silent. If I've learned anything about Hawkeye in the last few months, he'll be pissed that I'm over here she thought.

~***~***~

Hawkeye was concerned for his patient, but he was even more worried about Arrow who wasn't with him. He would rather have had her to stay, but that would have been selfish of him to put her in danger by not sending her away with the unit.

He went from being worried about Arrow and his patient to needing a drink from the still which was torn down during the bug-out.

"Rosie's Bar's still there," Radar, the company clerk, said about the popular off-campus saloon which was also packing up to move south.

Hawkeye took Radar up on the suggestion and brought the younger man with him while Margaret told him she was going to stay with the patient.

~***~***~

"BJ, can you keep a secret?" Arrow asked, wanting to tell someone what she had told Father Mulcahy.

"Only if it doesn't have to do with you since you're still listed as a patient. That means I can share your patient history with other doctors who would be treating your injuries," BJ answered.

"Never mind," Arrow said after mulling over what BJ told her. "It's not the best time to ask about that."

A few moments went by before BJ said, "If it has anything to do with Hawk, I think I already know."

~***~***~

Night fell upon the old 4077th site as inside, Hawkeye dozed against the wall of the medical structure and Margaret watched over the patient. Explosions didn't allow for either of them to get much, if any, sleep.

"What's his blood pressure?" he asked.

"116 over 80," she replied. "I thought you were asleep."

"I always wake up when a lady pumps her sphygmomanometer," he said. "Besides, I don't sleep well on a soft wall."

"Or when you're thinking about Arrow," Margaret said as if reading him like a book.

"Yeah. I just hope we survive this so I can tell her in person and not through a bunch of letters I never sent," he said, his voice was laced with regret for not telling Arrow sooner now that it was probably too late.

"You wrote letters to her and never sent them?" Margaret asked out of curiosity.

"Ever since my dad wrote to tell me about her last year, I've been writing her letters. I probably wrote a letter a day when I had the time between surgeries. Dad told me I should let her get settled into her new life in Crabapple Cove before I bombard her with them and that he'd let me know if and when she was ready to hear from me. I guess it took a long time for her to adjust because I was never told that she was ready. One of the letters he'd sent about her said she went through some life-changing events before her move, but he didn't want to write them out. He thought it'd be better if one of them could tell me about it in person. I'm still waiting to find out what happened before she entered his custody," he said. "Now she's here, looking for me. And she doesn't even know we've met because she doesn't remember the past year."

Hawkeye got up to his feet and moved to check on the patient who was improving

"The weather's clear," Radar said as he started coming into the room. "I can see the stars. That chopper ought to be here just after dawn." He moved to a window to look outside for anything suspicious.

~***~***~

A wire came to the much larger portion of the 4077th unit telling them it was safe to return to the old site. It annoyed Arrow because she wasn't allowed to do anything to help take the tents down except sit in whatever jeep BJ put her in for the trip back home.