-CHAPTER 7-
Potter stood at the door of post op, staring in at his staff. They were all worn down. He had seen the bags under one Major Houlihan's eyes. Hunnicutt had kept his promise to Hawkeye and had not left Sam's side. He had let Margaret take over a few times so he could use the latrine but besides that, he hadn't left post op.
It had been a few hours since Hawkeye had fallen back asleep. Potter was sure that Sam would be waking up soon. The boy was still slightly pale but color was slowly returning. Margaret had taken his vitals a few times and had reported a positive increase in the boy's health.
Potter was pulled from his thoughts by a moan from the bed by Pierce. He quickly stepped to the bed and pulled a stool up.
"Sam?" he called out, leaning on his elbows. Sam turned his head to the side towards the voice. His eyes felt sealed shut but he pushed for them to open.
The light burned as it hit. He let out a rough moan and closed them again.
"Let's keep them peepers open for a few minutes now." Potter advised.
BJ, halfway awake, shifted and sat up with a quick rub of his eyes. Glancing at the colonel, he was up and out of his seat before one could blink.
"Is he awake?" he asked excitedly.
"Please don't talk too loud." Sam whispered. BJ smiled warmly and sat on the side of the bed.
"Boy am I glad to see you awake. I was sure Hawkeye would go crazy if you weren't awake next time he is." he said.
Sam's eyes opened wide and he ignored the pain as he glanced around quickly.
"Where's Hawk?" he demanded.
Potter and BJ put their hands out to keep Sam from pulling any stitches or hurting himself further.
"Calm down Sam. He's right next to BJ. But he's asleep and we don't want him to wake up again before he's ready but he's okay." Potter reassured.
Sam looked passed BJ to see a peacefully sleeping Hawkeye. Calming down considerably, Sam lay back down and took a deep breath, wincing as it pulled on his stitches. His eyes began to droop. Potter smiled warmly and softly patted Sam's shoulder.
"Hawkeye'll have to let you sleep some more. You need it." he said.
"I've got to stay awake. Hawk'll be mad if I don't talk to him when he wakes up." Sam countered.
"Sam, you just had your appendix removed and a knife wound fixed. You need to rest. Pierce will understand." BJ persuaded.
Sam squeezed his eyes shut and sighed. His brain was conflicted. Half wanted him to wait for Hawkeye if only to ease both of their feelings. Yet the other half told him sleep was much more important.
In the end it didn't matter what he thought. His thoughts left him as whatever adrenalin he had been running on wore off. Potter and BJ began fading from his sight as sleep caught up with him.
-4077-
The next time his eyes opened, Sam was greeted with the sight of Hawkeye's brown eyes staring into his. It startled them both. A tired smile crossed Sam's face and a warm one covered Hawkeye's.
"Hey." Hawkeye greeted quietly.
"You're a sight for sore eyes." Sam told him. He shifted in the bed and winced as his side pulled.
Hawkeye put a hand out to stop him.
"You're going to hurt yourself even more. Take it easy." he advised.
Sam settled back with a groan. He noticed that Hawkeye was sitting in a chair by the bed. He wore his classic red robe and his hair was messed up.
"It says here that you've wasted one of your nine lives." Hawkeye joked, looking at Sam's case notes.
But he wasn't fooling Sam. The younger man could see the worry lines on the doctor's forehead.
"You've been being serious again haven't you?" he asked, reaching the hand without the IV in it out and tried to push the wrinkles away.
Hawkeye gently grasped Sam's wrist to pause his movement. He could feel the strong and steady pulse flooding through Sam's veins.
"The past few days have been serious." Hawkeye mentioned quietly.
The tone of voice the surgeon used brought guilt racing through Sam's heart.
"I'm sorry Hawk. I didn't mean to worry you." he apologized.
Hawkeye released Sam's wrist and ran his hand over his eyes. Although his headache had died, his weariness had been resurrected.
"Your appendix was going to burst Sam. Why did you hide it? You're in the middle of Korea in a war. It's winter. Why didn't you tell me? Do you not trust me?" he was hurt.
"Hawkeye, you know I trust you. You're like the older brother I never had. We've just had so many casualties lately that I figured those young lives were more important." Sam tried to explain.
"What about your young life? You have so much to live for. You're 22. You have a whole life to live." There was slight anger in the words and his voice was raised. It was drawing the attention of patients and staff alike. Nurse Kellye quickly disappeared through the doors to find help.
"This cesspool deals with enough as it is. You're just so stubborn Sam!"
"Hawkeye!" BJ snapped as he returned to post op with Kellye.
"Don't you blame me for all this!" Sam started but stopped with a wince. His head collapsed back onto the pillow and he took a deep breath.
Hawkeye wasn't sure what to say. He knew he didn't blame Sam for anything. He was mad at himself for raising his voice.
"Why don't you go for a walk. It's a little warmer out than it was before. I have to check Sam's vitals." BJ suggested, glancing between Captain Pierce and Second Lieutenant Bradley.
Everyone was quiet.
Hawkeye stood gingerly, glancing at BJ.
Sam reached out a hand to Hawkeye.
"Hawk..." Sam said but Hawkeye left the side of the bed and went out of the building. Sam let his hand fall back to the bed.
"Are you going to ream me out too?" he asked BJ who took Hawkeye's place by the bed.
"I think you feel guilty enough." he said gently.
They were quiet as BJ moved the blanket aside and carefully lifted the bottom of Sam's shirt to access the bandages on his abdomen. They were pure white compared to Sam's now healthy looking skin. He was careful as he pulled the medical tape up.
"Incision looks like it's healing nicely. Potter did great with the margins." BJ observed.
Sam looked anywhere but at his exposed side. His heart wanted to beat faster as long as the wound was seeing the light of day. BJ noticed this and raised an eyebrow.
"You okay Sam?" he asked.
"I'm fine." Sam practically snapped. Just the thought of his wound made him want to pass out. It confused him. He watched all the surgeries and it didn't bother him. But the idea of he himself being injured...
It was uncomfortable.
"It's never easy when we're the one that is injured. But you aren't going through it alone Sam. We're all here for you." BJ tried to reassure.
Sam bit the inside of his lip and took a deep breath through his nose.
"How long do you think I'll have to be in here Beej?" he asked.
BJ finished reapplying the bandages and clasped his hands in front of him.
"Well you'll have to let Potter answer that since you're his patient but I'd say a couple days or so." he guessed.
Sam smiled slightly.
"Thanks BJ. Sorry for snapping at you. This whole incident is just unnerving." he said, running a hand over his forehead.
"It'll be an indecent memory before you know it." was his answer.
Sam groaned.
"This whole war has been an indecent memory and I've lost the trust of one fo the people I look up to the most." his voice was full of defeat as he let his eyes wander from BJ.
The doctor knew this was eating up both Sam and Hawkeye. They were both stubborn officers in an inhospitable place.
-TBC-
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