Disclaimer: Inglourious Basterds are of course the property of the one and only Mr. Tarantino.

Enjoy also what is my invention.

1. Surprise

The child held out her hand and just a moment later Sophie felt little fingers clenching around her wrist with all the strength the little girl found at that moment. All was included in this forceful grip: fear, desperation, uncertainty. There was nothing unusual in them, as Sophie felt most of these emotions each time she was there, in a small, dimly lit basement room of a little tavern on the outskirts of Paris, her contact point for the last 11 months.

The grip on her wrist suddenly increased even more and Sophie squatted down in an instant. She had seen too many strange reactions from people who waited for her in this room to learn to counteract quickly. It was Tuesday evening and normally the tavern was not crowded on weekdays, but still the girl's scream could have been heard upstairs. She could not risk that.

But the girl did not scream, did not even start to cry. Sophie's eyes were almost at same level as two wary brown eyes that seemed almost too big in a small, dirty face with tears and mud both smudged in a strange pattern. She did not even know how old the girl was, but the stare she was receiving was hard and sharp and it definitely did not match the child that was standing in front of her.

'What's your name, darling?', she asked in French.

The girl flinched, but said nothing.

Sophie sighed and smiled encouragingly at the same time, but the girl did not return the smile and was staring at her in silence. Sophie sighed again. Time to start it properly.

'My name's Sophie. I will take you to a safe place.'

'How?', the sound that finally came out of the girl's mouth was as sharp as her glances.

'We will get out of here soon. Don't be afraid. But there is something really important you must remember, OK?'

The girl nodded once.

'Now your name is Julie Benoit. You must memorize it before we go out. There might be German soldiers outside asking questions, you must answer them right.'

She watched the girl repeat her new name several times, first with hesitation, but then with some kind of pleasure as if she was exploring a new taste. She even gave a faint smile.

'Listen, we must play family now. It's very important. I am your aunt Sophie, you are my niece. You are 5. My sister Anne married your father Pierre, remember this. Your parents went away and never came back. Please call me auntie.'

The girl nodded again, this time without tension. Sophie smiled again. Not that she expected the girl to remember all of this, but she wanted to give her some background, some cover story to confirm if they were unlucky enough to come across an exceptionally inquisitive German partol.

'Good. Now it is time to clean your face a bit. I refuse walking around with such a dirty niece.'

She took a handkerchief out of her pocket, moistened it under the tap in the corner and started wiping dirt away from the child's face.

'What a beautiful girl is hiding under this black mask', she mused.

'Auntie Sophie?'

'Yes?'

'I'm seven.'

'OK, but if we meet any soldiers, let us pretend you are five. The younger you are, the better. They won't ask too many questions. Especially when you are shy and sleepy. Trust me, that's better.'

'And my name's Sarah.'

'It's a beautiful name, sweetheart, but please don't say it again. You are Julie now', she noticed tears in the girl's eyes and hugged her before they could flow down the little face in uncontrollable streams. The girl clung to her with all her might.

The loud footsteps on the stairs alarmed the child, but Sophie knew them too well to even bother to turn around, as the door open and a bald, middle-aged man entered the basement.

'What's going on, Paul? You must have been running all your way down here', she said in mock horror while stroking the girl's hair.

Paul wiped his forehead.

'Glad you're here today. You must do something before you go out.'

Sophie winced.

'We really must leave soon. It's late. Frank won't wait forever. He will think something's gone wrong.'

'I know, but this is something special. No kidding. Hugo Stiglitz is upstairs'.

'What?!', Sophie turned out so rapidly that the child gave out a muffled sound of protest. Paul laughed.

'I am surprised as well. But you must get him out of here quickly. There are some Kraut soldiers drinking in the corner. They might not have recognized him yet, but it's only a matter of time. They had a really nice conversation about bloody cowards and traitors half an hour ago and Stiglitz's name happened to be mentioned several times. So imagine my surprise when he made a personal appearance shortly after they had decided to change the subject to girls. Perfect timing, I should say.'

'Is he alone?'

'No, there is a man with him in a German officer uniform as well. Suppose he's the other German in the Basterds' squad and luckily this man was the first to enter the room, so probably the Krauts did not manage to watch Stiglitz carefully. But you better get him out of there quickly. I can't really send Marie to do the job. She's too much afraid, she won't do this right.'

'Suppose I'll do?', she asked, wincing again.

'You're a much better actress. And you look really nice in this Nazi-slut disguise', he whispered meaningfully touching her platinum blonde hair and a sleeve of her red velvet dress before he dodged a mock punch. 'But hurry up, sweetie. The Krauts are in the main room under the wall. Stiglitz and his friend are sitting across the room, not so much exposed, but it's enough that one of the shitty soldiers would like to fraternize with officers and they might recognize him.'

Sophie hesitated.

'What?', Paul asked in almost genuine surprise, 'you know what to do. The same good job you did once to lead the Parisian courier out of here safely.'

'I couldn't get rid of him then', she groaned.

'I am sure Hugo will be different', he smiled.

'Unless he shoots me dead outside', she snorted.

'Not a chance. You will be convincing enough.'

'All right', she turned to the door, but was stopped dead in her tracks by a sudden movement behind.

'Don't leave me!', the little girl gave out a yelp and caught her hand.

Paul leaned over the child with an encouraging smile.

'Don't worry, little one. You will join Sophie soon enough. But now you must stay here for a while. It's very important.'

He reached inside his pocket, took a small rag doll out of it and gave it to the girl. She eyed it carefully before accepting the gift.

'It's Claire', he informed the child, 'Will wait with you, OK?'

The girl nodded with hesitation, shifting her gaze to Sophie who mimicked the nod.

'OK, Sophie and me must leave for a while. Stay here, don't make too much noise. And don't worry. I will come and fetch you soon', with these last words he took Sophie's hand and led her towards the stairs only after she managed to send the last reassuring smile to the child. He carefully closed the door behind him and they went upstairs to a large kitchen where an elderly plump woman, Paul's mother and cook, paid them no attention while she was stirring some sauce in a large pot.

Sophie caught Paul's sleeve.

'I hope you're not wrong and it's really him', she whispered.

'My visual memory is great. And if it's not', he smiled mockingly, 'you will get yourself a nice German boyfriend.'

She grimaced, but removed creases from her dress and smoothed down her hair before taking a lipstick out of her sequin purse. Paul watched her in amusement.

'You know, you really should find yourself a boyfriend.'

The faint smile was wiped off her face in an instant.

'I had a boyfriend once', she said, her eyes dark for a while.

Paul touched her shoulder apologetically.

'I'm sorry, babe. I just…'

'I know', she interrupted. 'I must go now or your favourite will be in trouble.'

'Be careful', he said letting her go. 'you can take him to…'

'I know where', she cut in.

'Right. Wait for me. I'll take the girl there as soon as it's safe.'

She went out of the kitchen into the back room that led to the entrance corridor and she gracefully stepped into a large room filled with cigarette smoke and soft music. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Paul's presence behind the counter and she greeted him with a reserved smile as if she actually was a frequenter here, not however too willing to be over familiar with the bartender. And then she looked around the room with a studied air of self-confidence.

Fortunately, the audience was neither too small, which could have drawn too much unnecessary attention to her actions, nor too big, which might have caused some logistic problems if something went wrong. There were four Kraut soldiers across the room, now too busy ordering beer and irritating Marie, a young waitress, in the process. There were also three old men, undoubtedly French, sitting at a smaller table in the middle of the room and talking. Her gaze, however, was immediately drawn to two men in Nazi officer uniforms who were sitting on the right.

She recognized Stiglitz at once, although his photograph in a newspaper Paul had shown to her several weeks before was a bit vague. He faced the entrance with his back to the soldiers from under the opposite wall, which was lucky for her. He looked at her when she entered and his eyes practically never left her figure while she was walking towards him with an encouraging smile, swinging her hips, fully aware of her feminine attributes in this game. He, however, was watching her with no emotion, tensed, as she could assess, ready to strike. His companion seemed slightly confused.

One of the soldiers made a drunken attempt to stand up and even mumbled something in her direction, but his friend pulled him down at once. She was evidently the type of girl that goes with officers, not with ordinary soldiers. She did not even glance at them, fully concentrated on the task in hand, ready to play it well, as she had already known it would not be as easy as Paul had thought it to be. Stiglitz was not a horny rookie taking his first steps in conspiracy; one mistake, one hesitation, and she would see a death sentence in his otherwise impassive expression.

The several steps she had to walk from the entrance took both too little and too much time and she stopped in front of him with well-masked uncertainty. He stood up, which was good, whether he did it out of idle curiosity or because it was easier to stab her from that position.

'Rudi! What a nice surprise!, she exclaimed while putting her arms around his neck. 'I missed you so much!'

He stiffened, quite reasonably in fact, but there were only seconds before she moved her mouth close to his ear.

'Pretend that you know me', she whispered with insistence.

He must have heard her well, as he somewhat relaxed, but only a moment later she felt his hands clenching around her waist. There was no retreat now.

She leaned backward as much as she could and saw dark amusement in his eyes.

'I thought you had left', she twittered joyfully, aware of several pairs of eyes watching them at the moment. 'I'm so glad you are staying.'

To her surprise he grinned at her and before she had time to think what was hidden behind this grin his mouth assaulted hers in a more than passionate kiss. She froze. She had expected rejection, a stab in the back in the worst possible scenario, but not his lips on her mouth, frenzied, possessive, fiery hot. She heard some wolf-whistles coming from the soldiers' table and that woke her up. She composed her face and succumbed to the kiss. Yet everything she started to feel, his smell, his warmth, a taste of whisky on his lips, suddenly came to an end, as he slowly retreated.

He chuckled at her confusion, which was irritating in itself.

'You have asked for that', he said and his voice suddenly evoked some memories, but she had no time to ponder over them now. She smiled her most charming smile for the bystanders' sake, before speaking again in a low voice.

'We must go out immediately. It's not safe here. The soldiers may recognize you at any time.'

'And you, doll, are so sensitive to my fate', his irony was almost touchable.

'They talked about you half an hour ago.'

His smile was close to a smirk, but he made his decision before she had time to insist more.

'Let's go then', his arm moved around her waist, but before leading her out he said something to his companion, which made the other stand up and follow them just after throwing some coins on the table.

She only managed to have a furtive glance at Paul and they went out, first into a half-dark corridor, and then into an even darker street.