Hundreds of stars shined down on them from the clear sky. A few people still roamed to and from various tents. As Nellie took the lead strolling through the compound, she stayed quiet. Her legs knew where to take her while her mind strayed far away.

"You've been stressed all day."

Nellie jumped out of her skin. She tried to calm her rapid heartbeat back down. With a forced smile, she turned to him. "Don't worry about me. Seriously."

He shrugged and moved quickly forward to match her stride. "Two naps in one day? Missing a meal?"

"Hawkeye, what was the party really for?"

"We wanted to boost morale!" He straightened more at the use of his name. She didn't seem to use names often. When he saw the skeptical look she shot him, he relented. "Klinger was concerned about you. He said you woke him up to call home."

"I did."

They reached the bottom of the ramp to the chopper pad. Her breathing had finally slowed back to normal. With only a small pause, she started up.

"Look, I know you have a dim view of me-"

Nellie cut him off. "I don't." His statement made her halt. "I don't."

"You're not going to survive here long, not sane at least, if you don't talk."

"I talk!" Her objection came harsher and quicker than she'd intended. Taking a seat at the top step to the pad, she sighed.

The camp had settled down. She could see one of the sentries making his way past the Pre-Op entrance. In the light of the spotlights, his shadow stretched on in various directions as he walked. The world had quieted as well. She couldn't hear much other than their own breathing and the gentle hum of insects.

"You talk a lot but you don't say much," Hawkeye said.

She countered him quickly. "And why should you be the one I tell my problems to?"

"I'm probably not." Hawkeye sat down next to her on the step. His gaze stayed on the camp below as well. "Father Mulcahy is good at stuff like this."

Silence reigned. A gentle breeze cooled them down. The weather late at night was a pleasant change to the heat of the day. Finally, Nellie broke the silence.

"You know, I think this is the first time I've heard you go ten minutes without cracking a joke." Then she turned to him. "Why are you so concerned?"

The abruptness caught him off guard. "I'm a doctor."

"You're not a head shrink."

"I treated a woman surgeon poorly once. I don't want to make the same mistake," he admitted. "Besides, Beej and I have a bet going-" At her sharp glare, he cracked a smile. He held up his hands. "A joke! A joke. After all it had been ten minutes."

Nellie found herself smiling along with him. Turning back to the camp, she shook her head. "You are unbelievable."

"I try my best."

Silence fell around them again. Nellie found herself rubbing her hands together. The slow massage of her palms was a small attempt at calming down. A raucous laughter sounded from down the road. Rosie's, she guessed.

"So, how's your brother?" 

"He's fine."

"Right."

A minute later, Nellie looked at him. Her fists balled, and she could feel her clenched jaw. Slowly she released her breath and tried to relax. "I've not even been here a week."

"Already feels like hell?"

She shrugged. "The food I can handle. The bugs and rats I can manage. I can even deal with the heat. But the disrespect…"

Hawkeye sat straighter. "The Lieutenant again?" A small rock found its way into his hand and he threw it down the stairs into camp.

"I just forgot. I forgot about all of it. I'd been working with the same people for so long, I'd mostly gotten used to it."

"Charles likes you."

She looked at him in confusion. "Okay?"

"Chaalls generally has a poor view of everyone. But then you said Johns Hopkins." He sat straight again, puffing out how chest. In his best Charles Emerson Winchester III impersonation, he added, "'She reminds me of my sister Honoria. Intelligent, driven. If such a prestigious University accepted her, we can only assume she is a more than capable surgeon."

Nellie found herself smiling at his antics. A few strands of her dark hair fell into her face and she just shook her head to get them away. Then she took a deep breath. "I don't talk to people really-"

"Trust me, we've noticed."

"We?"

Hawkeye just shrugged. "Oh you know, the entire medical staff, and Klinger."

"Glad my lack of trust is well known," she snapped.

"Oh come on. A joke!"

Nellie scoffed. "Your jokes are gonna get you into trouble."

"You should see the complaint box already."

Her laughter cut through the quiet. A small smirk crept onto her face as she turned back to Hawkeye. "So, have you decided how you're going to get me back?"

"You'll just have to wait to find out."

On the edge of hearing, noise of whirling chopper blades made its way towards them. Nellie and Hawkeye exchanged a quick glance. They stood up.

"Attention all personnel! Incoming wounded! Choppers inbound and ambulances in the compound. Places everyone. It's gonna be a long night!"

With her heart racing, Nellie hid behind a stack of crates. Hawkeye ducked down next to her. Behind the increasing pulsing of choppers coming closer, the roar of army jeeps filled the air. From the left, orderlies and nurses scrambled up the steps behind the laundry area. Shouts went up from all sides.

"You take left I'll take right!"

She nodded. As the choppers landed, they all braced themselves against the wind. The blades whipped dirt and grit up into the air. Breathing through the nose became the only option as her vision was tainted with sandy fog. 

As soon as the chopper touched down, Hawkeye sped out hunched over. She followed. So loud were the blades pulsing above her that she almost couldn't think. But when Klinger, Kellye, and Goldman followed her, she forced herself to concentrate.

Goldman and Klinger wordlessly showed her how to take the chopper's stretcher cover off. Once that was done, she stood over the wounded man. The first thing she noticed as Goldman pointed his flashlight was the blood. His pressure bandage was soaked through on his left leg. Another on the left of his belly was bloodied around the edges. She checked under the bandages.

She thanked God she hadn't eaten dinner because she was sure she'd have lost it there. His leg, probably the tibia, had a compound fracture, with a good inch of white bone protruding out of the skin. She tightened the bandage. His stomach wound looked to be from shrapnel, and didn't seem nearly as bad.

"Right, let's go!" 

Klinger and Goldman grabbed either end of the litter. With as much speed as they could muster, the group made its way to the jeeps. Hawkeye grabbed her arm and hoisted her up beside the litters in the Jeep.

"What's he got?"

"Compound fracture of the tibia, shrapnel in the abdomen. Leg looks bad. About an inch protrusion."

"Right. This one's a chest case." Hawkeye adjusted his squat in the Jeep and turned to the nurses near them. "Kellye, tell Charles what we've got. Bigelow!"

"Yes!"

"Get bottles of A negative and…" He quickly checked Nellie's patient's dog tags. "...B negative ready. They're going to need more than plasma."

The two nurses took off down the short road to the compound. Nellie watched them go. When they entered the compound after them, it was to the sight of two dozen litters lying on the ground, wounded men groaning in anguish. Nurses ran to and fro with flashlights for BJ, Charles, and the Colonel. 

Hawkeye leapt off the jeep, and hurried to where Charles stood with a clipboard. She moved herself off as well, quickly as she could. To her right she saw Margaret. Nellie hurried over. Moans followed her every step.

"Calm down, we're going to help you," said Margaret. 

She crouched next to the soldier, a young man with blonde hair caked in dirt, and brown eyes. He thrashed, trying to sit himself up. "Get away from me! I wan' a doctor not some stupid nurse!"

"Listen, corporal. This nurse is your best option right now," Margaret bit back. "Now, calm down and I can help you."

As Nellie heard his words, she paused. She knew the type. He wouldn't want a female doctor, and he'd be vocal about it. But she saw little choice, as BJ and Hawkeye had gone to scrub up, and Colonel Potter and Charles were on the other side of the litters.

"I'm a doctor," Nellie said with a smile. She knelt next to him. "What's your name, Corporal?"

"Corporal Henry Flemming." He glanced at her up and down. "You ain't a doctor. You're a woman. Now you trying to lie to me!"

Nellie just went to peak under his pressure bandage on her right thigh. She could see shrapnel, a lot of it. But most of it hadn't gone very deep. 

"This woman is a doctor," Margaret said. "And a damn good one. So rest easy, Flemming."

Margaret and Nellie both moved away from him. The former went to another patient, and Nellie found Charles. "Corporal Flemming, thigh wound with shrapnel cluster. Probably a two."

"Right. We've only got two more out here. Go wash with Pierce and Hunnicutt."

Nellie nodded. Leaving the groaning outside, she ran to the scrub room. Nurses Shari and Davis were changing in the room when she hurried inside. Once she was into an undershirt and white scrub pants, she went to the basin.

While she scrubbed her arms and hands raw, BJ and Hawkeye traded quips. They had just finished. Now a nurse fastened their masks.

"So much for uninterrupted sleep," moaned BJ. "Next time, someone needs to let the North Koreans know we're on break."

"Yeah well now we're on a break from our break!"

They disappeared into the OR, leaving Nellie in the scrub room. The only sounds were muffled voices from the other room and the rushing stream of water from the faucet. Two minutes later she finished. Margaret, Charles, and Colonel Potter entered moments later and the quiet was broken.

Margaret tied Nellie's mask up over her white hat. With that, she ducked into the OR. The smell of rubbing alcohol hit her like a truck. Nellie paused briefly before hurrying over to a table. "Gloves!"

Nurse Davis hurried over and slipped a pair on her hands. They snapped into place. With the latex gloves to protect her hands and the patient, she nodded. Her breath hitched as a patient was brought to her. It was the young boy from the chopper.

"Ready doctor?" 

Margaret stood across from her, and Nurse Shari was on instruments. As she looked in Margaret's eyes, she tried to force her stomach to calm down. "Let's go."