This idea came to me as I was actually working on my other story. I don't know if people outside of Germany know about it, but Monday is the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. This story has sprang from that excitement, and is from Hogan's POV if he were there (in 1989). (I know he would be really, really old then...so bear with me on that part of the story). I hope you guys enjoy it! And I dedicate it to all the "Berliners" (smile if you get that joke). "Berlin, Berlin wir sind getrennt; Berlin, Berlin wir sind ein Land!"

My Work Here Is Done or Free At Last

Dedicated to the people of Berlin: Nochmal ein Land und "ein Volk"

Hogan stood in what used to be the American sector of Berlin. He started walking back to his hotel from a meeting he had attended near Check Point Charlie. The meeting had lasted a lot longer than usual, and it was already 10 o'clock at night…so much for just dinner and a quick discussion. He pulled his jacket closer to his skin, and was thinking that he was getting too old for this, when he spotted a young boy running. Smiling at the youth, he continued walking, deciding to take a stroll instead of heading straight back to his room, and go back and visit the Brandenburgertor. It was a bit of a walk, but the night air was doing him good.

He continued to walk, feeling a bit old as his bones chilled in the November night air, when he saw more people running. Hogan noted that there was an usual number of people out, and he could hear the sound of yelling and commotion. That's odd, he commented to himself. As he turned onto a new street he saw there were more people, and yet still more people, in fact he could see a very large crowd had gathered at the wall near the famous gate. Confused, he pulled a teenager to him.

"'Schuldigen. Aber was ist hier los? Warum gibt's so viele Leute?(1)"

„Haben Sie ‚s nicht gehört?! Die Mauer! Die Mauer kommt herunter!(2)" The boy ran off to find his friends. Hogan couldn't believe it! Was all his hard work finally paying off?

„'Die Mauer kommt herunter?' The wall is coming down? Is it really coming down?! I heard that the checkpoints were opened…but…the wall coming down?" Hogan questioned aloud, hoping that indeed it was true. He joined the other people at the wall. The people were shouting chants, singing, and protesting. The West side was chanting: Open it! Open it! While the answer on the East side was answering with: Let us go! Let us go!

Hogan couldn't believe his eyes, there were thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people. All demanding on both sides to open the checkpoints. There were guards, physically holding people back as they threatened to overwhelm them. Some people from the West side were able to climb up on the wall and sit, in direct defiance of the guards still trying to keep a handle on the situation.

The night went on, and finally, finally the Soviets relented. A small chain of people started to emerge from the East. There was cheering, crying, from both sides. As the people entered the West, they received handshakes, and pats on the back, congratulating them. In front of Hogan's eyes, he saw the wall that had divided this city since he was a young colonel, finally start to come down. His eyes started to mist, when he remember those of his friends who were stuck on the other side. He wondered how Klink was doing, trapped in the East. And Langenscheidt, who was living in East Berlin.

The crowd starting singing Ode To Joy, and people were hacking at the wall. The stream of people emerging from the East turned into a waterfall during flood season as the guards who were holding back the floodwaters throw away their guns in defeat. The West side was climbing up on the wall. They began to dance, and pick away at the wall.

It was a beautiful sight to Hogan. He soaked it in. He never thought that he would see the wall come down, that this country that he tried so hard to free of its dictator, would be whole again. That these people whom he had helped free during his time in the war, could live in peace again, not separated or divided, not living in constant fear, felt to Hogan that he had finally finished his job, a job that started back in the 1940s.

Hogan stayed all night with the people of Berlin. He watched the celebrate, and celebrated with them. He also watched them finally start to heal the wounds left from the end of the war. And Hogan knew finally, finally his job was done. That the people he helped free would at last, finally be free.

Translations:

1 Excuse me. But what's going on here? Why are there so many people?

2 Haven't you heard?! The wall! The wall is coming down!