Twenty hours of surgery followed. Body after body had been carted into the OR. Blood stained the ground as pressure bandages and gauze were stripped from the wounded and replaced, then stripped again. Exhaustion gained a whole new meaning. Nellie, Hawkeye, and BJ were last out of the operating room. None of them spoke as they split to their changing rooms.

As Nellie dragged herself past the curtain, she found Judy Able and Jan Baker finishing changing their clothes. Silence reigned. Only the scuffing of tired feet across the wooden floor and the rubbing of fabrics made any noise. After changing, Nellie allowed herself to sit on the wooden bench. If her knees could talk, they would've thanked her profusely. She'd only taken a two hour nap two thirds of the way through and her legs hated her for it.

When she closed her eyes, head back against the wall, she let herself breathe. Nellie knew that as soon as she stood up to walk to her tent, the pain in her legs would triple. Her fingers still refused to bend, but she managed to pull her hair out of the updo and let it fall across her left chest. 

She couldn't make herself move. Even off the ground, her legs burned. The minutes passed and she fell more and more comfortable in her place on the bench. Without thinking about it, Nellie laid herself down and covered her eyes with crossed arms. The hardwood against her skull didn't even bother her. It hurt a lot more to stand.

What a way to start your birthday, she mused. Though all the patients had survived their trip through the 4077th, she found herself worried about a Sergeant she'd operated on. She'd been forced to amputate his leg.

Nellie realized she had fallen asleep only when she woke up to find BJ standing over her. He waved with a smirk and then walked past the curtain to the other side. "I found her."

Groaning, she sat up. A sharp pang shot up her neck. Rotating her neck as best she could, she tried to stretch. "What time is it?"

"Twelve-thirty." With a shake of his head, BJ shrugged at her shock. "We ended surgery at six."

"Oh God. I must've passed out here."

Hawkeye passed the curtain and nodded. Laughing at her disheveled state, he just smiled. "Colonel wondered what happened to you."

"Why?"

"Who wouldn't be looking for you?"

"Your flattery won't get you anywhere, Hawkeye." But she smirked. Taking a deep breath, she sighed. "I guess I should get up."

"I'm sure Hawk would be happy to join you."

"Not sure there's room for me on the bench though-"

"Oh quit." Nellie stood. As all pressure went to her feet, she hissed, her breath hitching. "How does it still hurt after six hours!"

BJ just laughed and gestured to the door. Together they wandered outside. Her hand went to shade her eyes at the sun. Though as she looked out in the distance, dark clouds looked to be heading their way. Perhaps rain was on the way?

Nellie headed towards Colonel Potter's office. What could he need of her? She hadn't the faintest idea. When she walked in the door, Klinger entered his office from Post Op.

"Ay, major, Colonel was looking for you."

"So I've heard."

"He's in Post Op. I'll go grab him."

She nodded her thanks. While the other two surgeons stood to her right, she drummed her fingers on her arm. The clock read almost 1300 hours.

Moments later, Potter, Klinger, and Margaret came back in. The presence of the head nurse just served to confuse her further. But she followed them into the Colonel's office. 

"Holy hemostat!" 

Nellie jumped at the Colonel's exclamation. Behind her, BJ, Hawkeye, and Margaret groaned to varying degrees. But most surprising of all, a well-tanned, muscular man she'd never seen had propped his legs up on Potter's desk and surveyed a file.

"Flagg! What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, I thought we put you out of commission, permanently!" Hawkeye pushed past Nellie, hands on his hips. "Didn't the brass finally get tired of your stupid shenanigans?"

"I told you I'd be back, Pierce. Like the wind I may disappear, but I'm never gone." Flagg stood from the Colonel's desk. 

"Yeah, well make like the wind and blow over."

"Major Nellie O'Hara." Flagg sidled around the desk like a snake. He leaned against the front and stared down at the file again. "Name, rank."

Her gaze rested on the Colonel's eagles pinned to his collar. "Um. Nellie O'Hara, Major?" With a quick glance around them, she suddenly realized paper decorations had been hung around the walls. 

"Says here your name is Nellie Katherine O'Hara?"

"That's right sir."

"So not Nellie?"

"Uh, Katherine's my middle name, sir."

Colonel Potter shook his head. "What in the name of Rita Hayworth is this about, Flagg?"

"Intelligence business."

"Not if you're in charge, it's not," Hawkeye muttered.

"Careful, Pierce. I may not have been able to prove your little spy ring with Potter, but I will. I will."

Nellie's eyes widened. As she looked between the others, she saw just how absolutely done Margaret and Klinger seemed, and BJ and Hawkeye looked even angrier. She mouthed 'spy ring' in the latter's direction.

"I'm here to meet your woman surgeon, if she really is a surgeon."

"I assure you, I went to medical school." Nellie's arms crossed her chest again as she refocused in Colonel Flagg. Stepping past Hawkeye she stood resolute.

"So this claims. It also says you were born April 6, 1923. Your brother, Captain Jackson O'Hara received an honorable discharge from the 101st Airborne Division after the Siege of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge due to injuries sustained in battle. Received the purple heart and went on to spend time in Honolulu with the Army."

"Yes, sir." She gritted her teeth. Why did he need to announce all this?

"Recently he's been working in the State Department under General George Hanover." Flagg paused in reading from his file folder. "How'd you get this job, O'Hara?"

"It was offered to me."

Flagg peered at her from under his green military cap. "Do you deny your brother abused his position and relationship with General Hanover to secure you a post here?"

"What?" Nellie took a step forward. She felt someone grab her shirt and pull her back. Probably Hawkeye.

Potter just shook his head. "Take your conspiracy bull someplace else, Flagg. We don't want to hear it."

"Well Washington does!" Flagg stood from leaning against the desk and made his way to stand in front of Nellie. She stood a good half foot shorter, and he stared down at her. "What's your brother hiding, O'Hara?"

Nellie bit her lip to keep from yelling at him. It took a lot to get her this angry, but she would defend Jack to the bitter end.

"Is it true that your brother had to seek medical help from a psychologist after the war?"

"That is none of your business. Sir."

"Woah there, Flagg. If you don't have that magic wand of yours to make us cooperate, you're going to have to leave. You don't speak to one of my officers without written permission."

"You're damn lucky, Potter. You managed to trick Washington into taking that away thanks to your spy ring. I'll be back, O'Hara." He sneered at all of them. Then he looked around. "I'm the wind-"

"Right!" Hawkeye shouted. "Everybody close your eyes!"

Nellie looked at him like he was crazy. After he shrugged, she just did as he said. They heard the door bang and then the door to the outside did the same. The collective breath of the room was released. 

"Who the hell was that?" Nellie uncovered her eyes, thoroughly confused. 

BJ's expression didn't change. He turned to see through the hazy plastic window panes in the office doors. No shape of Flagg couple be seen. "The wind."

"I prefer Gone with the Wind." Hawkeye struggled to suppress a smirk at his own joke. 

Colonel Potter just sighed. He picked up the file Flagg had been reading. Its contents lay strewn about the floor, dropped unceremoniously. "I'm sorrier than a hen in a fox den."

"We were trying to throw you a surprise party," BJ explained. 

"Until our resident bag of wind invaded camp." 

This time both Hawkeye and BJ laughed at the former's pun. Glares from Margaret and the Colonel shut them up. 

"Sorry, sorry. It won't happen again." Hawkeye nodded to himself. But his lips turned up into a smile. "They're just such a breeze to make."

"That one really blew me away, Hawk."

"I'm just a huge fan." Hawkeye's exaggerated cackling started up again. 

"Pierce!"

"Sorry."

Her gaze wandered around to the decorations. Someone had strung cut out snowflakes and toilet paper around the office. Nellie put a hand on her right hip. "Thanks. I appreciate the effort. But you didn't have to."

"Wait, wait! We have a gift!" Hawkeye pushed forward as they all moved further into the office. Ducking behind the desk, he pulled out a bottle of vodka with a tied ribbon. 

"We promise this is the real thing," BJ said.

Nellie laughed. "Thank you. All of you."

They all made small talk for a few minutes. But Colonel Potter and Margaret were due back in Post Op quickly, leaving the others to celebrate alone. As they meandered into Klinger's office, a Jeep could be heard outside.

"That's gotta be the mail!"

Even as Klinger spoke, a large, burly man with brown hair covered by a green uniform cap came striding in. A white sack hung over his shoulder. 

"Hey, Edwards! Right on time!"

"Heard y'all wanted some mail." Edwards grinned as he dropped the mail bag down. About a third of the sack looked full, and he released a deep breath as he dropped it. "Sirs, ma'am."

Klinger signed for it, and introduced them. "Captains Pierce and Hunnicutt. Major O'Hara." Then he turned to the surgeons. "This is Sergeant Jerry Edwards, new mailman for us and the 8063rd."

"A pleasure," BJ said.

"Pleasure's mine. I like knowing the people I'll be helping!" Edwards turned to leave. He paused and turned back around as he remembered something. "There's gonna be more tomorrow. They just hadn't finished sorting it."

"Right, thanks, man. Catch you 'round the 38th Parallel!" Klinger turned back around as the door shut behind Edwards. The white mail bag lay on the floor, slumped. He picked it up. "First thing I'm doing when this is over is taking another nap."

"Anything for me?" BJ huddled near Klinger. He tried to peer into the bag alongside Hawkeye.

"Keep your hands off!" Klinger swatted them with a letter. "This is official!" He dumped the bag onto his desk and pushed them away. "Go away, go away, go away."

"Klinger! It's mail!"

"That, I know. I may be dumb, but I'm not blind. You'll get yours when you get it."

Nellie watched them in amusement. As they fought over the bag, she snuck out of the office. The rain clouds she had spotted earlier on the horizon now loomed ominously close. She held her vodka close as she hurried across camp. Most of the people she saw hurried to do the same and hide out of the whipping wind and rapidly approaching rainstorm.