A/N: I don't own Hogan's Heroes and I don't get paid for this; it is truly a labor of love.
Missing epilogue to "Operation Hannibal".
Fritz Grüber gave his gleaming black boots one final rub with the cloth and considered them critically. It was the best he could do, he decided. New boots were not an option for him, not on an adjutant's pay. Next he inspected his uniform: yes, it was neat and clean and pressed, and the patch on the left elbow hardly showed. He peered into the small mirror above the dresser and ran a comb through his thinning dark hair. Did his mustache need trimming? No, it was fine.
He sighed. It was no use; he would never present the handsome, heroic appearance of one such as Colonel Hogan. Fritz knew all too well that he looked the part of a middle-aged shopkeeper, as indeed he had been prior to the war.
No doubt Fräulein von Behler would look at him as though he had just requested that she please stop squeezing the produce. Still, he knew he had to speak with her, for everyone's sake. So he gathered up his courage and left his quarters.
In the office, he told Fräulein Hilda that he was leaving for his twelve-hour pass, and she gave him a smile.
"Have a pleasant evening, Herr Hauptmann."
"Danke."
The Kommandant had given permission for Fritz to borrow one of the staff cars for his pass, and as he drove through the front gates of Luftstalag 13 Fritz rehearsed his little speech, the one he meant to give Fräulein von Behler. Somehow it didn't sound right, and he thought gloomily that she probably wouldn't even receive him anyway.
But he had to try.
Hedwig von Behler looked over the last paper on her father's desk and set it down with a sigh. Vater had often referred to her as his "commanding officer" and she had always smiled indulgently at the jest. But now...it was all too apparent that her elderly father was failing fast, and all the details of running the house and his estate had fallen on her shoulders.
She lifted her chin. Perhaps it was just as well that her father would not live much longer. He had cocooned himself in his roseate view of Germany under Hitler, and the realization that Hitler was a monster who had dragged his beloved country into ruin would have destroyed him. Better that he live his last days unaware...Hedy would see to that.
And for the past year she had done her utmost to help bring this evil war to an end, for the sake of all well-meaning Germans, and indeed the world. Her privileged upbringing and education abroad had given her a sense of responsibility to others, as well as the clearsighted ability to recognize the Nazi regime for what it was.
However, now that her father's ill-health had abruptly forced him into retirement, she would no longer be privy to military information that she could pass on to Colonel Hogan. But there was still much she could do to support the underground and shield those on the run from the Gestapo, and she was determined to do her part. Especially as she felt sure that her cousin Lili had escaped Germany with the help of the Resistance. (1)
Her public image of loyal German and dutiful daughter of a military hero was unassailable, and her underground connections meant that she was still in a position to help the Resistance. In any case, she would need to occupy herself in the lonely days ahead.
A knock at the study door sounded, and she looked up sharply as the maid Inge came into the room. "Is my father..." Hedy could barely speak the words, her throat was so tight with anxiety.
Inge hastened to reassure her. "No, no, the General is resting quietly, Fräulein. But you have a visitor."
"A visitor?"
"Ja, he says he is Captain Grüber."
Hedy's heart leapt. Perhaps she was not so very alone after all. She had not seen Colonel Hogan since the evening she had enabled him and his men to photograph the plans for Operation Hannibal, here in this very room. Colonel Hogan had played the part of Felix Grüber, adjutant at Luftstalag 13 (and a respectful suitor of her humble self), in order to sneak his men into the von Behlers' tightly guarded home during a recent party she and her father had held. But the Colonel had told her such an impersonation was very dangerous to continue, and she had not thought to see him again using that name. Still...
"Show him in, bitte," she told the maid.
Her heart leapt again as Inge ushered a man into the room, but this time it leapt with fear. This was not Colonel Hogan...it must be the real Captain Grüber! Had Colonel Hogan's impersonation, and her complicity in it, been revealed?
Fritz thanked the maid, and then turned to the lady seated behind the ornate desk. He clicked his heels and gave a very correct bow, and in that instant he formed an impression of an attractive woman in her thirties, whose lovely face was careworn, and even a little anxious.
He cleared his throat. "Fräulein, I am Fritz Grüber, and I would be very grateful if you could spare me a few moments of your time."
Her eyes widened and she gave a sort of relieved gasp. "Fritz Grüber? Not...Felix?"
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose...Hogan could not even be bothered to get his name right? Well, it did not matter. "Ja, Fritz, not Felix. I am adjutant at Luftstalag 13, Colonel Klink's second-in-command."
Her face froze then, and she murmured, "What brings you here, Herr Hauptmann?"
Fritz took a deep breath."I must be frank with you, Fräulein. We have never met before, and yet Colonel Klink has been congratulating me on my relationship with you. At first I denied it, then I realized Colonel Hogan must have used me for one of his schemes, and so I finally admitted to it. But there were those who attended your party who might encounter me and begin to ask questions. This would put you and Colonel Hogan both in great danger."
She was silent, but her eyes searched his with a painful intensity.
He went on doggedly, "I have done my best as adjutant at the Luftstalag. It has been difficult to run the camp efficiently, what with the Kommandant's excessive expenditures on caviar and champagne, and trying to maintain the fiction of an escape-proof camp when there were some very strange things going on. There was the time I had to take over when Klink volunteered for the Russian front...and the time I had to call in the Gestapo when Klink was kidnapped...I knew Hogan had something to do with these occurrences, for he knew far too much about what had happened."
He took a few paces in front of the desk and her eyes followed him, wondering. Then he looked up, and held her gaze unflinchingly. "And now I have returned from leave in Berlin to discover that Klink believes he saw me with you, here at your home. You must understand, my duty has been to assure the well-being of the prisoners under my care, and turning a blind eye to their activities has not been easy. At times I have had to take a stern line with them, for their own good. But this situation is one I cannot ignore."
She whispered, "What do you plan to do?"
Fritz shrugged. "Apply for a transfer. I imagine requesting a post at the Russian front would get me out of Luftstalag 13 quite speedily. Colonel Klink never wanted an adjutant anyway."
Fräulein von Behler hesitated. "That seems a rather drastic solution for a problem not of your making."
"What else can I do? There are three hundred prisoners at the stalag who would be at risk as well, not to mention the investigation of whatever underground members you are involved with." He smiled faintly. "And believe it or not, I wish no harm to Kommandant Klink...an in-depth investigation of the stalag would be fatal for him."
She rose to her feet and walked around the desk to face him. "You could obtain false orders to transfer you to the Russian front...I am certain Hogan's men would assist you with this. And my father would be very happy to know that I have found a competent administrator to help me manage the estate."
Fritz was startled for a moment, and then he smiled again. "I have a feeling, Fräulein, that you could accomplish that yourself with one hand tied behind your back."
She laughed, and suddenly the careworn look vanished from her face. "I could indeed. But unless you wish to go to England as my cousin Lili did, we need to establish an alternate identity for you here. I may not need assistance with my father's estate, but I have other activities I feel sure you would like to take part in."
"The Resistance," Fritz breathed the words.
"Yes. Are you willing?"
He clicked his heels and bowed again. "Fräulein, I am at your service."
She went to the sideboard and poured out two glasses of schnapps. "Please, call me Hedy. You will need a new name, of course. Karl, I think. Karl...Brüner. Yes, I like that. Karl Brüner."
Hedy handed Fritz one of the glasses and raised her own in a toast. "To Germany...and freedom."
"To Germany...and freedom."
(1) A clarification in response to a review: This refers to Baroness Lili von Schlichter, who was featured in the episode "The Flight of the Valkyrie". The actress Louise Troy played several different characters on Hogan's Heroes, and Hedy and Lili were but two of them.