Her Second Chance
Disclaimer and Note: First of all, I don't own any of the characters from Hogan's Heroes or any of the song lyrics that I have posted. I have merely taken the characters and involved them in a story I had been developing since I was a child watching Hogan's Heroes, a good decade in the making. The songs (which some of you might recognize) are the ones that I liked best and have been my favorites for some time. I do thank those who have created the show and have written the songs, and who have motivated and inspired me to write a strange story.
I always thought about a female, a dominant figure and lover in Colonel Hogan's life and it whirled and was thrown around from there, especially after I saw I Look Better in Basic Black. How did she get to Stalag 13? Who is she and what unique circumstances might have landed her there? These questions bothered me until I finally developed them. Then, more questions popped up: can Hogan be as serious and quick-thinking as he portrays himself to be? And can there be a softer, more protective side to him to the people he loves? Despite Hogan's flirting, I always thought he had that other special person in his life and maybe an argument with that special someone made him go after other women because he felt so lost and lonely without her.
I do warn that this story deals with the serious, dark side of Nazi Germany and World War II (i.e. the Holocaust and constant death and shootings involved with it) and has some historical liberties to it (i.e. Medunits in England, names of real generals, etc., but I think we all took liberties with the latter) but most of it is historically accurate. It's also a bit sappy and serious. Remember, this is the story of a woman who has been the companion of Hogan and she is telling how she came to be, her childhood and meeting with Hogan and how she landed in Stalag 13. This is her story. If you wish to use this character, please email me with permission. Thank you for reading it!
Lt. Colonel Nikola Anna Michalovich sat down at the desk in her quarters at Barracks 2 at Luftstalag 13. She was distraught, worried, thinking about what has happened to her before she met him and her journey to this camp. She tried humming some songs of long ago, she knew that it usually helped her in times of trouble, but it was it was no use to her that morning. She also knew that just writing this down, like all else, would help her much like what her poetry did, but the war had shattered her dignity and destroyed her hopes so far. How can she write this down and tear down whatever demons she had? She had the love of someone, had friends to rely on and a cause that she can rally for. What more does she need?
She looked to the sleeping form on the top bunk. She loved this very being, the person who has saved her so many times, especially this last time. He had been her constant companion, even in the deaths of her family, and had put up with her for so long. He understood her as she understood him. She had argued with him, lost him in the war and had the golden chance of seeing him again in Stalag 13 despite what and who she was to the people here, no matter what side they were on. For now, their storms had passed over them and their comrades for now. They had some hope for the future for themselves, the men and of the camp.
This was her second chance to start anew. She was bestowed upon her and now, she was going to take it and use it.
Drawing a fresh paper in hand, she started to write her long-awaited memoirs: hopes, dreams, memories, dark moments and her own life, love and happiness. To her, there was nothing more she can do.
July 11, 1943, 2200 Hours
Lt. Colonel Nikola Anna Michalovich, U.S. Army Nurse of M*A*S*H 6147: LC8547960
Auschwitz Survivor, Prisoner at Luftstalag 13 and Member of the Allied Underground
I shudder trying to remember who I was and how I ever came to be. I could have met the firing squad or the hangman's noose so many times. I have had close calls with Death and Fate at Auschwitz and even being here at Stalag 13 as a suspected infamous spy. Today, though, it is not to be, and I know it. You'd think that I could even be shot be for I had written so far. It is not so. I am better at playing this game than the Gestapo is. I can keep secrets, hold into information forever and hide anything and not have anybody think about it ever.
It is long story, the journey from there to here. It even started before I even existed. But right at this moment, just thinking about my circumstances and where I am right now, it can just be called a second chance, a lucky break and even a coincidence that I survived the odds and met up with him again because of the conditions of my journey. We had our sad parting in London and very close shaves with Death (and there are so many of them between the both of us and it has been too numerous to keep track of them, so there is no bother). Before that, we had so many years together and careers that tore us apart at times, in which I considered to be an endurance of the love and respect we have for each other. We are life and devotion, a part of the strength of this prison camp's secret operation, and a team that seems almost indestructible, holding together men in order to destroy and defeat a common enemy.
This is the beginning of all things.