Title: Hero Heredity
Author: LindsayQ
Summary: Vietnam brings a whole new generation of Heroes together.
Warning: (possible) Swearing
Disclaimer: Hogan and his Heroes are owned by CBS and not me. The rest of the characters though, are mine.
A/N: After reading about the idea about the Heroes children I came up with the idea for this story.

Growing up in Cleveland, Margaret never fathomed she'd ever be in a war, much less become a P.O.W. But unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. Soon after entering nursing school in 1970 she realized there was no way she'd be able to pay for everything and there was no way she'd bother her folks. They were already contending with putting her younger sister, Deborah, through college and surviving on the meagre allowances of her father's G.I. and Social Insurance pensions.

There was no way they'd be able to assist her as well.

Her older brother, Eddy's decision to join the Air Force the day he graduated high school had been met by mixed signals by both parents, there had been smiles tears and even a fist fight – but both her parents had come around to the idea well before he graduated basic training. Right around the time the conflict in Vietnam boiled over into a full-blown war.

He had flat feet, their father said, there was no way he was going to be of any interest to the "bigwigs" for combat. So, weren't they all shocked when he was called to Vietnam not even 7 months after graduating?

"Hazards of wartime," her father had told them at dinner the night Eddy left. "Hazards of wartime, that's all. He'll be fine. He's fine." No one mentioned to warble to the strong man's voice. No one dared.

Hogan luck meant Eddy's group found themselves captured not even 5 months into the turmoil…but again her father stood strong. "He's fine, he'll come home." Again no one dared voice their opinion. Her dad would have easily dismissed them anyway.

5 months passed without a word until Christmas of 1968. The day they finally got a letter from him, a letter that now hung proudly on wall above the mantle between their folks' wedding shot, and a picture of all five of them at a 4th of July picnic in 1961, her father phoned into work for the first time in almost 15 years and sat Deborah and her down in the den and gave them their first, second and third beer. Happily regaling them with stories from Eddy's youth, his youth – meeting their mother. Anything and everything and boy, had they'd been glad to hear it. Eddy's capture had created something they'd never seen in their lives. It had been the first time in their lives that they seen their dad frown. Deborah and she had made a promise to one another that night that they'd both do everything in their power to make sure they never gave their dad a reason to frown. Robert Hogan wasn't supposed to frown.

But Margaret also knew she wanted to be a nurse. She needed to be a nurse. And the only way that was going to happen was if she joined up too.

So, not knowing what else to do, Margaret quickly joined the Air Force reserves as a nurse without telling her folks. For months, she had kept quiet about her sudden disappearances and reappearances despite being grilled quite often by her father. And, she'd done a decent job keeping that secret up until March of 1971.

Due to the recent nursing shortage in North Vietnam, she was being called there to help. She would have to leave 3 weeks later. Telling her parents was like stabbing herself several times in the abdomen with a dull serrated knife. Her mother immediately broke down and quickly excused herself to the bedroom and not only did her father frown – effectively breaking her promise to herself and her sister, her father had gotten mad; madder than she had ever seen him before.

For several tense minutes she sat still on the couch in the family room as he stomped around her yelling at the top of his lungs and pointing an angry finger in her direction every couple seconds as he spoke. Telling her that she was a fool, berating her for not coming to them if she needed money, and asking her if she thought about what she'd do if she was captured? If she knew what would happen to her if she was captured? It wasn't going to be like it was with Eddy, he'd warned. She was just a nurse – not covered by any agreement. They could do awful things to her and no one – he'd froze then and exhaled hard as a hand dragged through his hair.

After a few seconds of absolute silence, he looked to her again and in a voice that showed none of the fury of the past few seconds, asked if she remembered what he told her about his time in the Air Force during the War. She nodded but kept quiet.

The War had always been a tough topic for him; especially his time in a P.O.W. camp, which she had recently learned was called Stalag 13. She'd never asked for anymore information than he offered for fear of upsetting him. It was the only thing she'd ever known that could bring her tough Irish father to tears.

Until the day she told him she was going to Vietnam.

She quickly excused herself to the downstairs toilet after he had calmed a bit, and when she came back to the living room she stopped dead and stared. Her father sat in his chair with tear tracks and red eyes, trying his damndest to suck back on a sob. Not wanting to startle him, Margaret raced back through the kitchen and up the stairs to her old room, suddenly terrified.

If just the idea of war could send such a stoic man into hysterics then just what had she gotten herself into?

On the day she left for Vietnam Deborah and her mother met her at the hanger. Her father had refused to come citing anger. But she knew it was much more like heartache but didn't say a word for fear of upsetting her already distraught mother and just told her to tell him she loved him when she got back to Cleveland. The last time she saw her mother before taking off was from one of the tiny porthole windows of the cargo plane as it readied itself for take off. Her head was buried in sister's shoulder and her tiny frame shook so badly Deborah had her free arm wrapped tightly around her waist to keep her standing.

Margaret quickly pulled the collar of her jacket up around her ears, turned away and closed her eyes.