September, when I arrived in Korea was cold, but as autumn became winter, things got worse. It rained, it snowed, it hailed, it was windy and you were afraid to go outside lest you should freeze solid. Instead of patients who were bleeding to death, we had people coming in who were freezing to death, we had people coming in with black digits and having them removed. I stood huddled with a few nurses in front of the bulletin board, arms linked, our breath visible in the icy air. Someone’s arms slipped around my waist.

"Mmm, Hi Hawkeye." I tilted my face up and he kissed me.

"Coffee?" He asked, and we hurried into the Mess Tent, bringing a storm of "Close the door!" from everyone.

I got my coffee, "Hawkeye, how did you know it was me? I could have been Radar, I’m only his height!" I asked teasingly.

"Would Radar have stood that close to a ma’am?" I laughed and poked my tongue out at him.

‘Watch it, your face will freeze like that." He commented as we squeezed on the bench between an annoyed Henry and a thankful nurse.

"Well, I know I can always rely on you to warm me up." I smiled, sipping the coffee.

"Don’t you know it!" He replied, kissing me. "Mmm, Annie I propose we take this meeting into the Swamp." I laughed and stood up.

"Okay, just don’t count on any forms of disrobement in this weather." He stood up and we ran through the compound.

"Close the door!" Trapper hollered, I slammed the door as I got in, and sat on the bunk.

Hawkeye tapped one of the pipes on the Still, "Freezing doesn’t even stop this thing." He commented proudly, pouring himself a drink. "One for you Annie?" I shook my head and removed a layer of clothing.

"You’re brave," Trapper smiled, he was wearing six or seven layers of clothing and a blanket. Hawkeye sat down beside me.

"Annie, shall we pick up where we left off?" He kissed me, and I fought him off good-naturedly.

"Please, Hawkeye, there’s company present." I feigned humiliation, but winking at Trapper. He kissed me again, and this time I kissed him back.

"See," he smiled, "One of these days you’re going to love me!"

I rolled my eyes, "You’re so egotistical!"

Hawk chuckled in a satisfied fashion, "My dad made me take ego lessons," I pushed him away. I stood up and poured myself a drink. I took a sip.

"Trapper, that’s bad, what’d you do to it?" He laughed, he knew it meant I approved.

"A little secret," He smiled mysteriously and went to sit to him.

"I won’t sit next to egotistical people,"

Hawk snorted, "Annie, you my beauty are the queen of ego… I’ve never seen anyone so…" I threw a pillow at him Trapper grinned, and put his arm around my shoulder. Hawkeye was on the verge of a smart comeback when Radar came into the tent

"Annie…" Radar called "Annie, ma’am, there’s a meeting of the nurses, Major Houlihan sent for you." I shrugged, and pulled on my jacket, and ran across to the nurses’ quarters.

"Sorry I’m late Major," I apologised and squeezed onto a bunk.

"Just be aware of meetings next time please Lieutenant. Now, ladies, this is a rather awkward subject… as you know Colonel Blake has requested that we bunk together because of heating restrictions, and as normal, we’ll sleep in the biggest nurse’s tent. However as there have been three new nurses since we last did this, and we only have room for two more people, and that’s going to be extremely squashed anyway, but we’ll have to put one of you in the VIP or the Officer’s Club with the enlisted men. I would have said Post-Op, however all the beds are filled there. I’m looking for a very brave nurse who is willing to spend the next few nights in one of those locations, with the men."

I put my hand up slowly, "Major…" If she wasn’t being Major Houlihan she would’ve smiled.

"Yes Lieutenant, are you volunteering?"

I smiled, "Well, yes, but is there and extra bed in the Swamp?"

Margaret thought briefly. "Why… yes, they would be able to fit an extra body in there."

I smiled, "I’d be prepared to go in there." Someone whistled, silenced hastily by a frosty glare from Margaret.

"Well, Lieutenant, are you sure that’s wise, I mean with those… men?" I gave a laugh and tossed my hair.

"Major, I assure you that I can look after myself, and none of the men in there will touch me, I know that,"

Margaret nodded, "Well, if you can get the approval of the people you’d be sleeping with, that’s okay with me." I smiled, knowing that only Frank would cause any trouble.

"Yes Major, I’ll ask around, but I’m sure that I won’t have any worries." Margaret dismissed the group, and pulled me back as I went to leave as well.

"Annie, thankyou, I knew that I could rely on you and I’ll handle Frank for you."

We settled into our bunks in the Swamp. I was between Trapper and Hawkeye, who were playing Rock, Scissors, Paper, named, Shrapnel, Metz, Minefield over the top of my head. Father Mulcahy was at our feet, Klinger who was supposed to be next to him, but was absent for the time being. Frank was sleeping in a hammock above Radar and Henry, who were making a latrine visit together, to make sure they didn’t freeze to the seat.

I was right in assuming that I would have no trouble in being allowed into the tent. Trapper and Hawkeye had both welcomed me uproariously and Henry had also agreed. Father Mulcahy had been unsure, but when he heard why, "Ah well, my child, desperate times call for desperate measures, if you need to" Radar had shyly agreed, after I promised that I would only enter once I was decent and once he was also. Frank had already had his arm twisted by Margaret and Klinger; bless his hairy Lebanese heart had even found me some warmer nightwear.

"Brr! Henry close that door!" Hawkeye shouted, as Henry and Radar rushed into the room.

"If I couldn’t see, I’d swear that my eyeballs were frozen solid!" Henry hurried into his bunk, while Radar searched for his teddy.

"I can’t sleep without my…" I sat up, interrupting Hawkeye and Trapper’s staring match.

"I saw it on Henry’s desk," Revelation filled Radar’s face.

"Yes, thankyou ma’am I’ll be right back!" He ran out of the tent and appeared in a few seconds with the teddy.

"And now I lay me down to sleep, a bag of peanuts at my feet, and if I die before I wake, give them to my brother Jake," Father Mulcahy said, and everyone laughed, whilst I prayed for my brothers and sisters who were soldiers and nurses somewhere in Korea.

"Goodnight all," Henry called and we all responded, preparing to go to sleep, the two men either side of me cuddled closer, pretending to be shocked when their hands met in the middle of my waist.

Klinger rushed in, "Aww, heck Klinger where have you been?" Henry demanded.

"I was in the nurse’s tent until they realised that I’m not a nurse!" He laughed, crawling into his bunk, stepping on Father Mulcahy as he did so. I chuckled and we settled down again, Trapper and Hawkeye shifting closer, and protectively putting an arm over me.

About an hour later as we were all falling into a deep sleep, Henry started yelling, and woke everyone else up. I woke to find myself squeezed tightly between the Captains, Hawkeye’s arms cuddling me closely to his chest, Trapper’s arm around my waist, his hand resting lightly on my stomach.

"Aww, jeez Radar, what is it?" Henry moaned I had sleepily sat up as we heard the choppers landing. We sleepily yanked on some more clothes and went to revive our frostbitten patients.

"Doctor, look at this foot," A new patient had been brought in; we were dealing with a few serious injuries, and several cases of frostbite. Hawkeye looked at the bluish-black foot.

"Annie, this guy’s still got a chance, I want you to try and rub the circulation back into it, see if you can restore blood flow." I nodded, and rubbed my palms together before applying my hands to the foot.

"Kellye, can you help here?" Hawkeye called, and while I rubbed life back into the foot, he and Kellye worked to keep the rest of his body alive.

"Brilliant, get him into Post-Op, and give him two units of plasma." Hawkeye said, smiling as Nurse Kellye helped carry him out.

"Next victim please!" He called, a patient who had been out on the front, had collapsed vomiting, complaining of severe abdominal pain, "At last," Hawkeye almost smiled, "A routine case it’s a simple appendectomy!"

I sighed, as I pulled off his boots, we had been told to check all extremities for any sign of frostbite, to my dismay three toes were nearly black, "Doctor, hate to break it to you, but these toes…"

Hawkeye groaned, "Let’s see what we can do to keep the rest of those toes. Come on Annie, keep rubbing that foot, you’ve got to keep going," Hawkeye encouraged as my hands rubbed and manipulated the cold foot, willing the blood to flow.

"Come on, can someone lend an extra pair of hands here, preferably as warm as possible?"

Trapper came up, "I’m done, what do you need sis?" He asked.

"Someone else to rub him for a second, my hands are getting tired. Just rub this way, and keep going, try to stimulate the blood." He took over and I stretched my tired palms,.

"Thanks Trapper I’ll pay you back later…" I heard Frank begin to yell.

"He’s dead, get him out of here!" Trapper became instantly awake.

"Move over Frank! Angela, did you check the radial pulse?" She nodded, "And the carotid, and there was none." Trapper pulled out his stethoscope and listened.

"Do you hear a beat Trapp?"

I asked, as he smiled, "Yes, it’s faint, but it’s there. Frostbite means the blood flow to the extremities slows and so the pulses therein stop." Trapper, like many of us recited chunks of textbooks to help his tired brain function.

"Come on Angela, we need to get him warm." The pretty nurse nodded, "Anything you say doctor." I looked down, I had resumed rubbing the foot when Trapper left suddenly and I realised it was now a healthy shade of pink.

"Hawkeye! You have reason to be proud of me!" I smiled, happily.

"Annie, I’m very proud of you, is that our last patient? Oh blessed day! It is!"

Henry yawned and closed his patient; "I think I have a date with my pillow." I sleepily agreed and after cleaning up, we returned to our beds again and soon, shivering and cuddling close for warmth, we fell asleep.

I woke up with a camera held over my face. I had got up at about 4am, to find myself squashed and I had moved to Hawkeye’s bunk as he had nearly taken over mine. I gave a low chuckle to see Hawkeye and Trapper sound asleep, in each other’s arms.

"Ssh, Annie, this is a scoop!" Klinger whispered. I sighed and shut my eyes and looked asleep while Klinger took a few photos. He disappeared and just as I began to drift off again, Hawkeye awoke to find himself holding Trapper and Trapper doing the same thing. His yell startled everyone awake and both men instantly removed their hands. I sat up and laughed, as Frank waved a cap gun around threateningly.

Henry muttered several unsavoury comments in everyone’s direction, "Sorry Father," Mulcahy waved his hand.

"Perfectly alright Colonel, I understand exactly how you feel." Trapper and Hawkeye after shouting insults at each other were now laughing and wrestling, while I hastily removed myself and tripped over Radar.

"Sorry Radar." I apologised as he lifted his pillow and hit me with it. I replied instantly and hit him back, with my pillow. Hawkeye saw the movement and whacked Trapper with his pillow.

Soon we were engaged in an all-out pillow fight, everyone trying to hit everyone else at once. I was sent flying by a particularly hard shot from Henry and nearly into the Still. Our ‘war’ came to an abrupt end then, as Trapper and Hawkeye rushed to defend their favourite roommate and we all settled down, changed as discreetly as was possible and went to breakfast.

"I don’t want new summer fashions! I want blankets, warm winter things!" Henry shouted, "I can stick it up my where… my oh… is that physically possible? Never mind, I sent those damned requisition forms a week ago, why isn’t anything happening?" He put his feet under his desk suddenly and I yelped and dashed out.

"Sorry Annie, now look, dammit, I want those blankets!" He slammed the phone down and smacked his head into his palms. "Ouch!" I giggled and went to free his thumb from the fishhook.

"No luck, they told me…" He proceeded to recite every word of the conversation to me.

"Ouch, that is physically impossible, well, for males anyway." I laughed.

"Anyway, they’re refusing to send us anything, the roads are blocked with snow and fighting… why can’t we all just go home?" he moaned as I soothingly rubbed his neck, barely accessible under his scarves.

"I don’t know Henry, I wish we could but honestly, Maine’s not much better in winter either."

Henry sighed, "Neither is Bloomington, well, it’s about 4 degrees warmer. But I am wearing so many layers of clothing my thighs don’t know each other anymore!" He kept talking and I grimaced, while Hawkeye laughed at Henry’s overly informative descriptions.

We’d spent nearly two weeks sleeping together and as the weather became even more chilled, we were beginning to burn unimportant things just to keep warm.

"Goodnight all," Henry called.

"Goodnight and God Bless" Father Mulcahy replied. We no longer joked as we went to bed, but instead just fell into our bunks. Trapper and Hawkeye had stopped their slapping wars over who’s hand rested where on me, but still more often than not woke up, cuddling each other closely. Whenever I woke, nearly strangled, I’d pry myself from their grip and move to one of their bunks. Only once had I spent the entire night with both of them, and Klinger had taken more photos then too, of our heads peacefully asleep on my pillow.

Another week passed and we were still sharing beds. Everyone was frustrated, and everyone’s sleeping habits, Radar’s talking, Henry’s snoring, and Frank’s calling for his mother were starting to get on everyone’s nerves. We’d squabble now, at the slightest thing, and much yelling from our tent ensued.

"You took my blanket!"

"Colonel Blake sir…"

"Not now Radar!"

"That’s my pillow!"

"Frank, stop whining!"

"Hawkeye, Trapper, for god sakes!"

"Annie, move your foot!"

"Colonel Blake sir!"

"Later Radar, Father Mulcahy, would you get that for me?"

"God help us!"

"Watch the Still!" We kept yelling and suddenly in the middle of our fight, Radar shouted.

"Hey! Colonel Blake sir, there was a phone call, there’s a whole truck of supplies coming down tomorrow, 0400," Henry whooped, and threw his pillow in the air. It was going to be our last night together and we all settled down, and I was even able to bear Hawkeye and Trapper’s over-zealous embraces for a whole night.

"Thank god for that!" Henry murmured as Trapper, Hawkeye, Radar and I gathered in his office for a nightcap. Peace had settled over the camp as everyone was back in the tents where they belonged. Blankets, wood and surplus newspapers from WWII were just some of the supplies we gratefully received.

People were warm again as we had more things to burn and Henry was very happy to have a new desk, someone had hijacked and burnt it during the cold snap. It was growing warmer and we were able to wear fewer clothes, burn less fuel and even more importantly, we were able to function as normal in the OR, without worrying about patients freezing whilst they waited in triage.

Cases of frostbite were becoming rarer and those that did come in were easier to save. I yawned and bid Henry goodnight, and Hawkeye kissed me passionately.

"Annie, can I retire with you?"

I laughed, "Okay but only if you leave later, I’m waiting for a night alone in my own bed." He smiled and as I gave Trapper a hug, Hawkeye slapped me fondly on my rear.

I pulled Trapper’s ear close to my mouth for a second, "Come and get him at 10 if he’s not back okay?" I whispered, and he winked at me as Hawkeye took my hand and led me from the office.

"Good night my dear," Hawkeye kissed me as I opened the door. His kiss was firm, causing me to take two steps backwards, to lean against the doorframe, effectively trapping me. I kissed him back heatedly, allowing his lips and hands to go where they would.

I saw Trapper coming to retrieve Hawkeye, but at the sight of us kissing passionately, he paused, waiting for an instruction. I waved my hand at him and Trapper got the message and turned away, giving me a sly wink as he did so.

"Well, maybe you can stay just a little longer," I said, leading him back into my tent. About an hour later, Hawkeye and I finally parted, and I happily snuggled down into my bed, alone for the first time in three weeks. It was the soundest night’s sleep I’d had in weeks, and I was glad for it.