Secret Hobbies-

Chapter 1- Carter

Summary: Shultz stumbles across the Heroes' secret hobbies. How long will he last when sworn to secrecy? Find out the men's secret hobbies.

…

The men were out of the camp on work detail removing the heaps of autumn leaves from the road. The men didn't see why they were the ones who had to rake the leaves. So what if some German officer drove into a heap of leaves causing him to lose control of his car, go off the road, crash and die. The prisoners certainly didn't care. It's not like it was that huge of a loss anyway. But apparently Klink cared, and with a threat of no privileges for two weeks hovering over their heads, they had no choice but to comply.

Shultz was keeping a close eye on the men… or as close as he could, considering he was hungry and was thinking of other things. After straying in his thoughts about liverwurst, strudel, and wiener-schnitzel he finally brought his mind to the present an to reality. He looked around him. All the men were almost finished working. But wait a minute… Where was Carter?

Schultz quickly did a scope. He saw someone in a tree off in the distance out of sight of the other men. Only his legs would really be seen. Shultz went closer. They were picking leaves. It was Carter. He walked up to the tree and saw the young man straddling the branch he was on. His arms were full of leaves; very full of leaves in fact. Good thing he was smart enough to check the trees. (He actually just got lucky).

Shultz looked up at him. "Carter, what are you doing?"

"Hey Shultz, I'm just uh, sight seeing." Carter seemed nervous.

"Were you trying to escape?" Shultz pulled out his gun, suspicious of Carter.

"No." Carter spoke bluntly.

"Then what are you doing?" Shultz lowered his gun.

"Just, uhm, okay if I tell you, you have to promise not to tell the guys!" Carter was so serious that Shultz could only agree.

Carter looked around, the men were still working. Lucky for him the leaves of the tree hid most of him. He was surprised that Shultz had even found him. "Well, I like to collect leaves and press them."

Shultz didn't see the big deal. "Why don't you want the other men to know?"

"Because, that's what grandma's and girls do! They would think I'm some sort of sissy." Carter stopped, looked down at the ground then at his arms. "Hey Shultz, can you help me down? I'm kind of stuck."

Shultz sighed and put his gun against the trunk of the tree then went to help Carter out of the tree. Carter tossed his leg over the branch and Shultz helped him so he didn't fall.

Once he was on the ground he quickly and carefully stuffed the leaves into his jacket. He looked down. "Ooh!" He leaned down and picked up another leaf. He turned and found another; he picked it up.

There was yet another he wants and leaned down to pick it up. He looked over to the men. They hadn't noticed him picking up the leaves.

Shultz laughed when he saw the young American walking around picking up leaves. "You know Carter, raking is easier than picking them up one at a time."

Carter chuckled at that. He could just rake and grab an arm full of leaves, but he didn't wan ugly ones.

When he thought he had enough leaves he turned and went to join the other men. "Thanks Shultz." Then stopped. "And you can't tell anyone!"

Shultz agreed.

Then Carter asked, "Wanna help me find some really pretty leaves?"

Shultz threw his arms at his side. "Carter, we need to be getting back to camp soon. And you're supposed to be raking the leaves off of the road not picking them up." He shooed Carter over to the road and the young man continued his work.

Hogan approached Shultz. "Hey Shultz, what was that all about?"

"What was what all about?" Shultz had made a promise after all.

"Carter. You brought Carter out of the woods. What was he picking up from the ground? I couldn't see what it was." Hogan looked over to the young man who was raking once again, but he kept adjusting something inside his jacket. Hogan looked back at Shultz. "What does he have?" Hogan's voice was like a father who knew his son had another stray kitten that had been picked up on his way home from school that he was hiding from his father. In Carter's case he wouldn't be surprised if it was a stray kitten or an animal of some kind.

Shultz shook his head. "I know nothing!"

Hogan figured as much. "Uh-huh." He wasn't convinced. "Well, I'll find out sooner or later."

Carter looked over to here Shultz was standing and saw Colonel Hogan walk up to him and start talking. He saw the colonel look over to him and he quickly looked down at the ground. 'Shoot!' He knew the colonel saw something. He watched Shultz. Shultz shook his head, he heard him say he 'knew nothing'. That relieved Carter for the time being. But he had to be careful. The colonel was suspicious which meant he'd keep a pretty close eye on him. He'd have to sneak down into the tunnel and put the leaves in a safe spot.

Once the road was cleared of leaves, Carter and the men were led back to camp. Carter waited to go into the barracks to throw the colonel off his trail.

Hogan waited for Carter to come back to the Barracks but when he saw he was hanging around outside he decided to try and get some more information from Shultz. It shouldn't be too hard right? Wrong!

Shultz didn't say anything except that he knew nothing. "Carter said he was just sight seeing and that he was stuck in the tree. I helped him out of the tree and that is all." Shultz hoped the colonel would give up.

"And what was he picking up and putting in his jacket?" Hogan asked knowing Shultz wouldn't be able to make a very good excuse.

Shultz looked at him. "You saw that?" Shultz asked worried.

"Yes." Hogan was getting somewhere.

"Well, I didn't!" Shultz said ending the conversation.

Hogan shook his head. He looked at the barracks and saw Carter go in.

Shultz did also. Shultz decided to distract the colonel before he could get to the barracks. "Ah! Colonel," He ran in front of the officer. "Uh uh. Do you have the time?"

Hogan knew what Shultz was doing. He quickly moved around Shultz who called after him and ran into the barracks startling the men.

"Gov'ner?" Newkirk stood up. "Is something' wrong, sir?"

Hogan looked around. Carter wasn't up there. "Where's Carter?"

"He went down into the tunnel. Why?" Kinch sat at the table with a cup of coffee before him.

Hogan walked to the bunk and was about to open it when it opened on its own. Carter climbed up and greeted the colonel. "Hello, Sir." Carter seemed casual enough.

"Is something wrong sir?" Newkirk asked.

Hogan thought it best not to bring the matter to attention. It probably wasn't anything serious. But if he brought in another lizard to the barracks and it crawled into his bunk again Carter was going to get a serious lecture about bringing in animals without his consent. He Lebeau had a similar problem. He once brought in a dog after all, but Lebeau was nothing compared to Carter. "No nothing is wrong. I just didn't see Carter coming back. I guess I got worried." He lied to bring the men at ease.

He'd drop it for now. He decided to go see Shultz again.

"Shultz just tell me one thing."

"What's that Colonel Hogan?" Shultz asked. He knew the colonel wanted to know about Carter.

"Did Carter bring back an animal of any kind?"

Shultz was relieved. "Oh no, Colonel. I would not allow it!"

Hogan could tell from Shultz's attitude he was telling the truth. "Alright, thanks."

Hogan left relieved he wouldn't find another lizard in his bed again. At least he hoped not.

[AN] My dad actually said once to me while I was collecting leaves, "You know raking them is a lot easier than picking them up one at a time." Dad is so funny! Hope you enjoyed the first chappy! Newkirk is next.