"You look like hell if you don't mind me saying, excuse me Padre." I dragged myself into Colonel Potter's office looking, and feeling, as he said, like hell.

"Not at all Colonel, might I say child, you aren't looking well." I was a pleasant shade of grey, matching whatever breakfast it was that I had just skipped in the Mess Tent.

"I'm really nauseous." I replied, holding my stomach. "I'd go to BJ or Charles, but they're asleep." Father Mulcahy took my arm and helped me into the nearest chair.

"If you'll excuse us Father, I'd like to examine the Captain privately." Potter asked politely.

"Of course, never fear my child, the Lord will help you recover." He rose, smiled and left.

"Thankyou Father." I called. The Colonel bent down and after listening to my chest motioned to my stomach.

"May I?" I nodded and the Colonel lifted my shirt and placed the cold stethoscope on my stomach. He let go of the stethoscope to probe my abdomen. "Feel anything?" He queried as he probed lower down near my bladder.

"Aside from the urge to go to the latrine nothing." I muttered, still feeling awful.

"Well, I'll see you in the hospital then okay? I'm not sure what's up, I want to give you a better once-over, oh and tell Houlihan I want her assistance."

"Yes sir." I stood up wearily and staggered a little.

"On second thoughts, you might need a hand." Colonel Potter helped me over to the latrine. I went in headfirst and threw up violently. Reappearing, I felt a lot better.

"I was just starting to worry." Colonel Potter remarked as he and Margaret waited by the door. "If you didn't come out I was going to send the Major in."

"It's nice to know that you care Colonel, Margaret. Thankyou, I feel better now."

"Someone who spent as long as you did vomiting is sick, you're staying out of the nurses' tents and going into Post-Op, and you're not getting out till I say so!"

"I sleep in the Swamp, can I stay there?" I didn't protest as Margaret's face was set.

"That's fine, Major arrange for shift changes. I'm stopping by the Swamp in 5 and if you're out of bed, I'll kick your rear so hard you'll have to sleep on your stomach!"

"Yes sir." I said and went to the Swamp. Charles had gotten up and was holding BJ over a bucket. I took over, holding BJ's head, so Charles could get his robe on.

"Food poisoning." Charles explained, as BJ also threw up like I had been earlier.

"Bingo." It was Colonel Potter, coming to make sure I was in bed. BJ was still vomiting as he knelt on the floor. Margaret, five other nurses, Klinger and Rizzo all took ill the same day. Charles followed, probably being in the same tent as BJ and I. However, two days later, most of us were recovered and working again, I wasn't.

"Annie, Colonel Potter's putting it down to stress why you're throwing up so often, but I think you've got something more than that, you've got your simple case of pregnancy-induced morning-sickness."

"BJ, you better be damned serious about it!" BJ pushed the bucket under my mouth again. Everyone had been rostered to look after me, even Charles was unusually nice, holding my hand, wiping my face and making sure I was comfortable before thinking about himself, one might have said he was almost considerate of me.

After a few days of non-stop illness, BJ twigged that I was only sick until about 10 or 11 am, after which, I was a-ok and ready for a little meal and a shift. Now, as he watched me throw up again, he was questioning me.

"Well Anne-girl, I'll give you a poke, and then we'll work out what it really is. Lie back now, or keep throwing up, it's all the same to me." I lay back once my stomach was empty and he felt my abdomen cautiously.

"Well?" I queried after he'd had a good long poke, his face thoughtful.

"You're pregnant, just feel that." I knew what to feel for and I was pregnant. "I'd say you're about two months along, means you're due roughly Chrstmas-New-Year-ish."

"Wait, Beej? That's not possible, two months ago I was at the POW camp." I said.

"But Anne, you could have been pregnant before." BJ explained, taking my hand.

"Beej, I seriously doubt that the baby would have survived being kicked, falling down stairs, constant rape and starvation. After that jeep accident I miscarried, if I was pregnant I almost certainly would have lost it then."

"Good point Anne," BJ's hands massaged my own as I was beginning to get a little worked up. Suddenly the light dawned on his face "Wait, Anne, rape?"

"Beej, you know that." I said confused.

"Yeah, I do know. Honey, listen to me, when was the last time before you were taken were you with Hawkeye?"

"9, 10 days, our shifts clashed. Beej, don't go thinking I'm pregnant from being raped. I couldn't have conceived, I was on my right side then, and I was sick, I doubt I could've conceived even if I was 100% intact."

"Okay babe, when were you last on your left side?"

"When we went to Seoul, a month ago now. And Hawkeye and I were together, lots."

"Hmm, well that seems plausible, umm, Anne O'mine, just lie down and give me one or two sit ups." I obeyed, BJ watching how my stomach moved and contracted.

"There's a fair bit of muscle there. It's just deceptively firm. So, that means you're having Hawkeye's baby, March next year." I threw my arms around BJ's neck.

"What in the name of Beelzebub is going on here?" Colonel Potter asked, BJ and I were hugging, thrilled.

"I'm pregnant!" I shrieked in BJ's ear. He pulled back, tears watering in his eyes.

"Hot dog! That is good news!" The Colonel cried, reaching down to shake my hand. BJ was still rubbing his ear, my yell having been extremely loud and directly into it.

"Anne, you ready to go have a shift, we're on together?" BJ asked, his ear feeling better.

"Yeah, gimme a hand up." The Colonel and BJ took an arm each and hauled me up.

"That's really good Annie, I'm happy for you." It was Margaret; apparently my cry had been audible across the compound and most of the camp knew I was expecting. Klinger announced it over the PA and now they all knew.

"Thankyou!" I threw my arms around her neck, and she hugged me in return. Feeling better I went to my shift.

Just knowing I was pregnant made me feel better and my morning sickness almost disappeared. I was bouncy, my eyes shone and I was constantly singing. However Potter's starting to fill out the discharge forms brought a downer on the occasion.

"Colonel, you're not really going to send me home are you? I can't just run out on Hawkeye, he'd go mad to think that I just up and left while he was in a Psych Hospital!" I protested, leaning on the edge of his desk.

"Well a woman of your situation can't stay here." Potter argued. "And you can stop by and tell Hawkeye on the way through."

"And have him get worse? No, it's something about the baby that was on the bus, I couldn't tell him that I'm having a baby and then just go. He wouldn't take it well."

"Klinger, get Sidney on the phone!" Colonel Potter called, a grunt from the outer office told us he had heard.

"Colonel, this baby is a surprise to me," But as much of a nice surprise as it was, it couldn't have come at a worse time, with the fighting getting worse as the peace talks got more intense, my husband in a psychiatric hospital and me in Korea.

"Sidney's on!" Klinger shouted. Colonel Potter picked up the phone and had a short word before handing it to me.

"What?" I asked, taking the phone.

"Tell him." Potter had put me on the spot before, but as usual he had a point, and as usual it was a good one.

"Hi Sidney."

"Annie, how are you?" Sidney's voice was expectant; as Potter had told him there was something I had to tell him.

"Pregnant." I replied shortly.

"Congratulations! Well this is a nice new development, does Hawkeye know?"

"No, that's why I'm telling you I don't know if he'll appreciate it."

"Don't tell him yet, I haven't found what's on his mind and judging by how irritated he is it's not something he needs to know."

"Thanks Sidney, have you got anywhere?" I replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"No, It's still all chickens and buses in his mind, but he doesn't care to elaborate."

"There was a baby on the bus, have you tried getting anywhere with that?"

"No, I think it's better if he gets around to it himself. Bringing it up himself is the best thing to help him really get over it, if it's fed to him on a plate, it's not the same."

"Makes sense," I reasoned, and it did.

"I'd better go. Our two General Macarthur's are fighting over who's the real deal. Congratulations, but it's not the right time to tell him." I stifled a small laugh.

"Okay and thanks Sidney."

"Anytime." We hung up the phone and I found Colonel Potter watching, waiting.

"Well?" He asked the second the phone was down.

"He said not to tell him yet, there's a lot on his mind and a surprise like that would be too much. Colonel I can't go." I was on the verge of begging with him.

"This is just Jim-dandy." The Colonel said sarcastically, he was very annoyed by now.

"I'm barely a month along, and the whole camp will keep quiet. How about I wait out the talks in Panmunjon?" I was trying to stay calm and the Colonel looked up at me.

"You'll go then?" He asked.

"Promise." I replied and he put the papers in his drawer for then. The talks in Panmunjon were getting more serious and there we had real hope of getting home.

"It's July 1 now, you can stay until August first. If he's not back, or we're not home, you're headed Stateside no ifs ands or buts." I smiled and agreed with him.

"Thankyou Colonel. I'll go then if nothing happens." Nurse Baker rushed in.

"There's a patient loose, he's confused and disoriented no one can get through to him." Colonel Potter and I were outside by the time she'd finished talking.

BJ was trying to talk to him, but confused and scared the man was pushing him away. He was dazed and trying to escape the camp. I decided to approach him.

"Hi honey, what's your name?" I touched him on the shoulder after he'd forcibly pushed BJ away. "My name is Amy-Jane, what about you?" I was talking to him like a child and it reached into his concussed mind.

"I'm Thomas James Anderson." He said slowly. "People call me TJ."

"Okay TJ you can call me AJ. Now TJ honey, where are you meant to be?"

"Home, with mummy and daddy." We kept up the babyish tone as it relaxed him.

"Where's home?" I asked, taking his hand and steering him back towards the hospital.

"56 Harlequin Road Portland, Oregon. Where am I AJ?"

"Well honey, you're in a hospital in Korea. You'll be okay we'll look after you." I entered Post-Op where Potter roared at Charles for not watching the man I rescued. Charles spluttered excuses hopelessly, with a scarlet face.

"TJ, how about we lie down, and put your drip back in your arm, and I'll sit right next to you until you fall asleep?" I lay him down and inserted the needle into a vein.

"Can I have milk and cookies when I'm better AJ?" He asked. I was aware of Charles watching me with an awed expression as I softly stroked the 'little boy's' face.

"If you're good, now close your eyes and sleep TJ." He asked me to sing and with a shrug I softly crooned a lullaby and before I'd finished he was sound asleep.

"You're really something." BJ said a little later as I got up, tucking his hand under the blanket. The patient murmured a little and rolled over.

"Thanks BJ." I smiled, as we left the hospital, Charles running to catch us up.

"Annabelle, may I have a word with you?" He enquired breathlessly. "I was wondering if you'd like an escort to the movies tonight, that is of course, if no one else is taking you?" I smiled, conscious of the blush in my cheeks.

"Well, Charles that would be lovely." My eyes met Charles's with my whole- hearted honesty. He appeared to be flustered, choking on his words and looking away.

"I'll pick you up at seven?" He stammered finally.

"I'll be at the Swamp." I replied with a grin. "See you then." We parted and I returned to the Swamp, searching out my letters from home that I had only read twice.

"You've got Charles in a tizz." BJ remarked casually.

"Hmm?" I put my letter down.

"He's getting all flustered when he talks to you and he's almost blushing. And the way he treats you, you'd even say he considers you a friend." BJ teased.

"Oh, come on BJ." I scoffed.

"Just wait Annie, you'll see." BJ said knowingly. I ignored him and kept reading my letter until it was time I got dressed for the movie.

I blew lazily on a wet fingernail as I applied a final scarlet coat of polish. "Nice colour." BJ said from his bed.

"Thanks, want to try some?" I offered with a grin. BJ laughed and checked his watch.

"You ready? Charles is coming in ten?" I was lounging on Hawkeye's bed in my robe.

"Yeah, I just gotta drag on my fatigues." I did so, BJ turning his eyes to a letter from home. I searched out the black boots from under the bed and slipped them on just as Charles arrived.

"Annabelle, if you'll allow me a minute, we can go." Charles smiled.

"Sure, I need a minute to do my face." I replied, pulling out some lipstick, soon my lips were the same shade as my nails. "Ready?"

"Of course." Charles replied offering me his arm. I went to the movie that night and had a wonderful time. I really let my hair down, all the way to the middle of my back, and spent the evening feeling great about myself.

"Captain, what in the name of Cupid's Bow inspired your behaviour?" Colonel Potter demanded the next day.

"I just needed a change. My world's just been turned upside down, this is my way of rebelling."

"I think the whole camp would prefer you rebelling quieter." He hinted. At 2am I had gone out to clear my head, by shouting and throwing things, I woke most of the camp and BJ dragged me into the Swamp and lay with me on Hawkeye's bunk, where I cried my heart out the rest of the night.

"I'm sorry sir, I'm a little . . . confused right now." And I was too, mood-swings came at the drop of a hat.

"I appreciate that fact Mrs Pierce, what with your husband being where he is, but next time you feel the urge to go for a walk in the middle of the night, do it a little quieter."

"Yes sir. Now if you'll excuse me I'm due to help clean the OR." I was dismissed immediately.

I was good that day, but then I spent most of the night crying and Colonel Potter decided that Hawkeye wasn't the only one who needed to have a word or two to Sidney and Sidney came down for a day on my birthday and left my husband to his own devices.

"Hey, happy birthday. Can I cut in?" It was Sidney, we were having a celebratory dance up at the O-Club and Charles graciously stepped aside.

"Hi Sidney, any news from Hawkeye?" I asked, as he steered me to a quieter spot.

"He sends his love and birthday wishes, he thought about a big kiss, but then decided against it." I gave chuckle and Sidney continued. "He also needed some time off, so can we talk about you?"

"I'm a married woman!" I cracked and he smiled. "What's there to talk about Sidney?" I turned nonchalant.

"The fact that last night and the night before, you've woken everyone up with your crying. Poor BJ doesn't look like he's slept a wink. Potter told me that he was sitting up with you both nights after working 12 hour shifts."

"Sidney, if Hawkeye doesn't want the baby, I don't want the baby. I can't deal with a surprise like this right now." I said, we'd stopped dancing, and I was looking up at Sidney, my eyes shining, and not with joy.

"Annabelle Felicity Amy-Jane Pierce, listen to me." We sat down at a nearby able and he cupped my chin firmly so I met his dark eyes. He was serious, but not psychiatrist-serious, but I-just-care-serious.

"I'm not going to bother with you as a patient, it's not what you need, besides I can't make physical contact with you then and you need to look at me!" I'd dropped my eyes again and he put one hand on either cheek, lifting my head, it's firm but caring at the same time.

"But I am going to bother with you as a friend, because I would like to consider you my friend. If you don't want that, I'll understand and treat you professionally, but I think you and I could get on much better if we were just friends. What do you say, friends?"

"Yeah Sidney, we're friends." I agreed with a smile. He returned the smile warmly.

"That's wonderful Annie. Now you just listen to me, I've seen you with patients, and you are meant to care for people, you don't just treat them medically, you let them feel loved and I know just from that you can handle Hawkeye not matter what. I've seen you with the local kids, and you were meant to be a mother. This baby will be the best thing that ever happened to you. Ever. So just trust me, you're meant to have children, you're gonna be okay." The tears spill immediately, falling onto Sidney's hands. He wipes them gently away with his fingers. His hands are harder, a little more calloused than a surgeons', but they still have the sympathy and caring that BJ or Hawkeye's touch emitted.

"Oh god Sidney, I hope for your sake . . . and mine . . . and Hawkeye's . . . and especially the baby's you're right, that this baby really is the best thing that happened to me."

"Trust me, it's a surprise, an unplanned one, but trust me, this surprise for you, is wonderful!" I could do nothing more than pray that he was right.