Auhtor's note: thanks so much for the reviews, it really makes me happy to make people happy with what I write! :D

Sascha had just gathered all his courage to wake up Fritz when Herzog got in the bigger hollow of the cave, shaking some show off his officer cap:

"It's snowing, can you believe this country? Down there the weather is good, up here it's snowing!" the Standartenführer commented, carefully avoiding stepping on an abandoned uniform jacket that had to be Fritz's, judging by the bullet holes in the chest and back:

"What are you doing here?" Sascha hissed and widened his eyes, and looked around to look for something to cover his bare chest. Herzog chuckled:

"I live here, remember?"

"Can you please let me wake him up, this time?" the blond-haired zombie asked as he dressed his shirt, or tried to; it was with the inside out. Herzog put the officer cap back on his head:

"You two can move to the «room next door» for tonight. I miss the outdoors," he said. Sascha stopped fighting with the shirt and frowned, narrowing his eyes. He took a quick look at Fritz, making sure he was still sleeping, and then looked back at the Standartenführer:

"I can't tell if you're being generous, a good fellow or a flatterer," he replied. Herzog rolled his eyes and started to walk back and forth; he had just discovered how that was, falling asleep and waking up with that someone. And he was still feeling guilty for waking up Fritz that other time, and he knew his two soldiers hadn't repeated the little adventure again. He shrugged and stopped, looking at the torch on the wall, above Sascha and Fritz:

"I just thought it would be nice," he finally said. Sascha moved away from Fritz, stood up and dressed his shirt correctly:

"I wonder what happened between you and Agnes," the younger soldier said with a smile. "To make you think like that."

"I have feelings, you know? I even had them before I met her!"

"Jawohl, Herr Standartenführer!" Trying to be serious, Sascha seized Fritz carefully and took him to the other hollow, then came back to pick up his uniform jacket and helmet and Fritz's shirt, jacket and helmet. Herzog rolled his eyes and went outside, right on time to see his troops gathering at the entrance to get in the cave. The Standartenführer counted and watched them getting in the cave. He was about to sit outside, on a small rock, when someone called him:

"Herr Standartenführer, bitte!" (Colonel, sir, please!) And the Doctor wriggled a little against the rock he had been tied to. Herzog raised both eyebrows; he had completely forgotten about him. He withdrew his SS dagger and made his way to the Doctor:

"It's twice Sascha ties you outside, you should really stop doing whatever you do to annoy him this much," Herzog suggested as he cut the ropes. Guts. Rope-guts. The Doctor stumbled a little before he regained his balance:

"Jawohl, Herr Standartenführer..." he grumbled under his breath and got in the cave.

Herzog sat near the entrance of the cave and looked up, to the dark sky, and frowned when a snowflake landed on his nose. He shook his head, snarling, and crossed his arms and looked ahead, thinking; all the recent happenings had diverted him from his initial plan that was find the missing loot, avenge his men and find his missing Mauser. Well, next time he met Agnes, he would remind her about the loot, and ask her about important structures that could be destroyed. While waiting for such vital information, Herzog and his men would go hunt for possible threats, also known as frozen Soviets, and destroy them, and maybe find his Mauser.

That sounded like a good way to pass the time without Agnes.

But then Herzog frowned; imagining Agnes would have time for him at least once a week, time that they could spent together at her place...that would imply leaving his men. And even if it was just for a short period of time, that could compromise his main objective; avenge them. Which meant he was going to fail them... again!

Which meant he couldn't afford staying with Agnes every week.

Herzog howled lowly and sadly, and wrapped his arms around himself, feeling sick like he had never felt before. He spent the whole night outside, lost in sorrowful thoughts and torturing himself again with impossible 'ifs', and he was so focused on that he only noticed Sascha when the younger soldier placed a hand on his shoulder. Herzog nearly jumped out of his skin, lost balance and slipped from the rock where he was sitting on to the ground. Sascha laughed and clapped his hands:

"Let's do it again!" he suggested. Herzog growled something and managed to sit on the rock again, with a lopsided officer cap on his head:

"It's not even dawn, what are you doing here?" the Standartenführer asked. Sascha shrugged, sitting in the snow in front of him:

"Fritz woke up and was a little... snappy... I told him you'd been a good fellow and let us stay in your place, but seems he got some kind of trauma with you... knowing about us," Sascha wiped to the back of his hand the excess of blood that came out of his mouth as he spoke. "He's planning to come out among the others and expect you won't see him."

"I didn't mean to cause you troubles..." Herzog mumbled disappointedly; seemed every time he tried to help, things would come out exactly as the opposite of his initial intentions... Sascha just shrugged again:

"Fritz is walking sass, but he can be shy too. That's one of the things that make him so lovable. A lovable idiot." He smiled. "Enough of talking about me. I have something for you... but as soon as I give it to you, you have to tell me what you were thinking about."

Herzog frowned, but nodded, and watched as Sascha slipped a hand into a pocket of his jacket and showed him a Mauser with remains of black paint. The Standartenführer smiled and stretched out his hand, and the younger soldier gave him his pistol:

"Dietrich's stick found it," Sascha informed. "Now that you have something to play with, I want to know what was keeping you so busy to notice me coming."

"You do are annoying, do you know that?" Herzog asked, examining his old Mauser and aiming an invisible target at his right. It would be amazing if it still worked!:

"I'm not letting you walk alone again. Now, spit it out."

"Fine..." Herzog grumbled and kept aiming at invisible targets, feeling like a young recruit again, holding a firearm for the very first time. "Fräulein Agnes suggested we should be quiet for a while before attacking again. In the meantime, we can look for some frozen Bolsheviks in the mountains and make sure they won't bother us anymore."

"Einfach toll!" (Just great!) Sascha exclaimed and started to rock himself back and forth:

"Then I thought the next time we met, I could ask her about important structures that we could destroy. But spending time with her might affect our missions to destroy the peasants, which means I can't spent that much time with her and-"

"Waitwaitwaitwait..." Sascha stopped rocking himself and widened his blue eyes. "What do you mean with that? Won't you two have more romantic vacations?"

"It was not a romantic vacation, it was... mutual helping!" Herzog straightened his tie, embarrassed. "And no, I can not afford the luxury of staying at her house and leave my men alone in a cold cave to face the foe."

"Herzog, do you have a problem with being happy?" Sascha pulled off his helmet and then pulled his own hair in frustration. "Do you?" But Herzog just smiled sadly:

"Sascha, if you were a little older and a little more experienced, you would know about the importance of responsibility and priorities..."

"Well, I might not have half of the experience on the battlefield you have... but I know fucking more than you when it comes to relationships," The younger soldier grumbled and crossed his arms. Herzog frowned. "And I know that when you like someone, even if it's just a friend, you better spend some quality time with them... otherwise you'll lose them. Tell me Herzog, do you want to lose Agnes, too?"

The Standartenführer just looked at his Ordonnanz, silently, and felt his frozen blood heat up a little:

"Fräulein Agnes is a decent young lady with moral values and principles," he stated, because Erika clearly hadn't had those. Sascha facepalmed:

"How would you feel if it was Agnes not wanting to spend time with you?" he asked patiently. Herzog blinked his eyes, slowly:

"Very sad...?"

"That's how she'll feel. Do you want her to grow tired of your absence and let some douchebag take your place? Bergen, for example," And before this Herzog frowned; Agnes was his, that wasn't going to happen!:

"Fräulein Agnes would never-"

"Not everybody is apparently made of Krupp steel, like you. And in case you didn't notice she's a human being, a woman, and those are cuddly creatures. So don't be stupid and don't make the same mistake again," And Sascha added slowly, like he was talking to a particularly dumb child. "Cherish those who are close to you, be them friends, or comrades, or lovers, whatever... Verstehen Sie mich, Herr Standartenführer?" (Do you understand me, colonel sir?)

Herzog nodded shyly, feeling utterly embarrassed and ridiculously stupid. But maybe Sascha was right... and afterall, he deserved that, didn't he? Some little quality time with Agnes, watching British comedy in her laptop while sitting next to her on the inflatable mattress... He sighed:

"But... how will everybody react?" he mumbled, fiddling his fingers nervously. "I mean... I'm your Standartenführer, I shouldn't..."

"There's more life besides the army, you know that?"

"We are dead, Sascha!"

"I move, I talk, I think, I'm not dead!" Sascha smiled widely. "I exist, therefore I think!"

"I think, therefore I am..." Herzog corrected with a chuckle. "'Cogito ergo sum'."

"Whatever, Herr Encyclopedia," The younger soldier laughed and shook his head. "Goddammit, you're worse than Dietrich!"

"No I'm not..." Herzog mumbled, looking at his hands. "I just... if feels wrong, going to a comfortable house and leave you all in this place... and it's odd imagining that everybody might suspect Fräulein Agnes is a dear friend, and not only a subordinate anymore..."

"You've done enough for us, it's time for you to do something for yourself. And believe me, the thought of you and Agnes is really amusing, no one would make fun of you. In fact, the more time you spend you her, the more time I boss around!"

Herzog smiled a little and shook his head.

Agnes had plenty of bureaucratic work to do; inventories to check the missing weapons and if they were replaceable, inventories on the deactivated weapons and on those that were still functional (Herzog would be really pleased if he knew about these) and planning activities. The first two weeks were hell; Agnes' professional formation was about finding buried objects and bring them to the surface, and then contextualize them in a pre, proto or Historical period. She knew nothing of museology, but the director of the local museum didn't mind about that. The third and fourth weeks were a little better and Agnes was really pleased with the new exhibition she put together all by herself. I just hope Hein won't take anything else from here... And if he dares to, he's soooo going to clean the mess..., the young woman thought at the end of the day, watching the exhibition room with every thing in place, like a zombie razzia had never happened.

At the end of the fifth week she was finally given a new schedule and presented to a colleague who would stay at the museum during her days-off. That day Agnes drove home happily and on the next morning, a Saturday, she dressed her winter clothing and made her way up the snowy mountain. She found no one outside the cave, so she got in and managed to reach Herzog's little private chamber without going face-first into a stalagmite. He wasn't there. Agnes frowned and made her way outside, and was about to call him (because what could possibly go wrong by yelling someone's name on a snowy mountain?) when a big, cold and heavy gloved hand grabbed her shoulder:

"Are you lost?" Herzog asked with a smile that he hoped wasn't silly, or stupid, or too big and obvious. Agnes turned around to face him and she smiled back, hoping it wasn't silly, or stupid, or too big and obvious. She thought about hugging him because damn!, she had missed him so much! But she suddenly had the feeling that they were being observed, and Herzog had made it clear he wasn't fond of public demonstrations of affection. So she crossed her arms:

"No, I just found exactly what I was looking for."

"Gut," Herzog nodded politely, hands behind his back, before he couldn't stop himself from hugging Agnes. His Agnes, very his; his archaeologist, his subordinate, his friend. "I am most pleased in seeing you again. Is your knee fine?"

"And you'll be most pleased with the news!" She clapped her hands excitedly, giving little happy jumps. Herzog had a hard time trying to stop himself from smiling. "I have the weekends free and at Mondays the museum is closed, which means I have at least three days to take you home and do all the archaeological work you want. And yeah, knee's fine."

Home, the word echoed painfully in Herzog's mind, and his smile became bitter; he had no home, but a freezing grave. Yet he shook his head, allowing Agnes' happiness to infect him again:

"I might need some intelligence work as well, Fräulein."

"I have everything at home, I even have a really cool idea for your next appearance in public! And I really need your cooking skills, I'm so sick of sandwiches, I haven't have the time for proper food..." Agnes said, bouncing and gesturing. The Standartenführer just looked at her with amusement; all that happiness because of him! He nodded, but walked away, to a cliff at the other side of the cave:

"I have to talk with Sascha first, it won't take long," he excused. Agnes shrugged and looked around, to the snowy mountains around her.

Herzog stopped a few meters away from the border of the cliff and frowned, looking at the snow at his feet:

"Did you really think you could fool me?" he asked. Sascha's head popped out of the snow, leaving a small bloody trail behind. Sascha smiled innocently and licked away the blood on his lower lip. It was useless, though:

"How did you know I was watching?"

"Because I know you, Sascha Ritter!" Herzog sighed. "Well, I believe you know what you have to do."

"Jawohl, Herr Standartenführer!" And Sascha saluted enthusiastically. "Now go, lovebird."

Herzog growled and hurried to walk away from his Ordonnanz.

Agnes was so excited she was mixing Norwegian with German and talking way too fast and way too loud. Herzog ended up slipping a small apple into her mouth, making her shut up:

"There, eat and calm down a little," he said with a smirk. They were in the kitchen; the way home had been silent, Herzog had taken a shower and changed to a training suit and then had gone to the kitchen to help her with her lunch... and that was when Hell broke loose and Agnes started to talk excitedly about her first weeks at the museum.

And it turned out that an hyperactive Agnes was more stressing than bombs exploding not far from Herzog.

He sighed, pleased with the sudden silence, and went back to his task of cutting vegetables. Agnes chewed the apple furiously and was done with it in a few minutes:

"As I was saying," she started again, this time a little calmer and checking the beef in the frying pan. "...among the many inventories I had to make, there is one of functional weapons that are stored in the basement," Herzog looked at her, raising both eyebrows. "And the cool part is that I have the inventory in my laptop. Just like the forthcoming activities, and one of them might include someone you know," And this time Herzog frowned and stopped cutting the vegetables. Agnes smiled widely. "In August, in your birthday, there's going to be a special activity to celebrate the end of the Nazi power in this part of Norway. And the elderly people, those who decades ago attacked you and your guys, are going to gather at the museum and tell their story to the younger generations."

Herzog just stared at her while her words sank deep in his mind. Revenge! The perfect opportunity for revenge! Revenge on the murderers and on their families! What was left of his lips curved into an evil grin and Agnes couldn't help but feel a shiver run down her spine, even though she didn't know what caused that; if Herzog's grin, if the sudden fierce shine on his blue eyes, if the realisation that she had signed someone else's death sentence. Slowly, Herzog went back to his task, this time cutting the remaining vegetables slower:

"You do are a little box of surprises, Agnes; an archaeologist, a fighter, a spy... I wonder what else will I find out," he said in a deep growl. Agnes felt absolutely satisfied; there was someone who finally appreciated her qualities!:

"You flatter me," she replied. "And Hein, it was supposed to be cubes of vegetables, not... crumbs..." Herzog smiled innocently and handed her the cutting board and the knife, and she scraped what was left of the vegetables to another frying pan. "Didn't your mother teach you not to play with the food?"

The Standartenführer chuckled and washed his hands:

"I wasn't playing with the food."

"Just look at them, the poor veggies! Cut into oblivion by someone who imaged them as elderly partisans!"

"You're a mind reader too?"

"No, you're just obvious..."

"Fine, I mistook your eggplant for a peasant," Herzog allowed himself to laugh and Agnes rolled her eyes, a smile dancing on her lips. She left the cutting board and the knife aside and crossed her arms:

"I don't have the details yet," she said. Herzog shrugged:

"I have time for that."

"And I need you to teach me a few things about firearms and artillery pieces, because I don't remember much."

"With pleasure," He nodded and watched as she checked the food in the frying pans again. "Now, let me tell you about my most glorious and fruitless hunt for Bolsheviks!"

That night it was Agnes' turn to have a difficult time at falling asleep; part of her wanted to sleep, because Herzog was finally there, next to her, filling the kind of weird and scary empty space on the mattress (and basically in the entire hourse) that Agnes didn't like at all... but there was a smaller part of her screaming that she was an assassin for telling Herzog about the event with the elderly people. Afterall, that's what they were... elderly, undefended and fragile. She let out an annoyed sigh and crossed her arms out her blanket cocoon:

"Can't you sleep?" he suddenly asked, startling her:

"Don't scare me like that!"

"Can't you sleep? I told you not to eat all that chocolate for dessert..."

"It's not that..." She looked at his face, his eyes shiny in the dimness of the room, and then looked up to ceiling again, feeling suddenly angry; she had dared to feel sorry for someone she didn't even know, someone who wouldn't help her if she needed. Because that was what people did; they walked past someone else's problems and grief, they ignored. Someone would pretend to care, because that was their job, but they really didn't. Like the people at the orphanage, doing nothing to stop all the other kids for teasing Agnes about her dead brother and how she would be just like them, confined to the large building of the orphanage.

Agnes felt sick and changed to a sitting position, old and forgotten emotions that had been kept at bay gnawing her with dagger-like teeth.

Herzog frowned and reached out for the flashlight besides his half of the mattress. He switched it on, pointing to the ceiling, and studied Agnes for some silent minutes. Then he raised a hairless eyebrow:

"Heavy conscience?" he asked calmly, and supposed there would be something else, but maybe it would be rude to ask. Agnes looked at him, smiling nervously:

"It's stupid, I know..." she replied. Herzog frowned; a subordinate with second thoughts was never a good thing!

But of course she would feel guilty sooner or later; she was a woman! And that was why women couldn't rule anything, they were driven by their feelings. All those years past and the Führer was still right, that was quite comforting to know. Herzog sighed; all he had to do was to carefully remind her none of the peasants deserved her pity, that she was part of the company and, most important, she was his. And the Standartenführer wouldn't allow such a pitiful feeling to stand between him and what was his; his own musings on self-sacrifice for the greater good of his men were enough, he didn't need anything else.

He changed to a sitting position too and gently grabbed Agnes' chin, forcing her to look at him:

"Tell me; do the people who did this to you," And using his other hand, he grabbed her wrist and touched the beginning of a scar that hadn't been hidden by the barbed wire tattoos that crawled up her arms. He traced the full length of the scar. "...deserve your sentiments?"

Just as he expected, she looked down:

"No..."

"Do the people who looked aside at you deserve your sentiments?"

"No..."

"So, why is that heavy conscience?"

"I don't know..." She looked back at him; he had a comprehensive smile:

"You are doing the right thing. Imagine how happy your friends, my soldiers, will be when they lay their hands on those murderers..."

Agnes bit her lower lip; Herzog was right. She shook her head, dismissing the annoying feelings and voice, and laid down again, arms out of her blanket cocoon. Herzog did the same and switched off the flashlight. Then, after a moment of hesitation, cradled Agnes against his large chest:

"Sleep, shall we?" he asked. Agnes nodded, closing her eyes with a smile.

"I have a brilliant idea!" Agnes exclaimed as she took a mouthful of pancakes with honey. Herzog, sitting at the table across her, raised his eyes from the laptop, where he was checking the functional weapons:

"Bad omen..." he grumbled. The young woman pretended not to listen to him:

"I could dye a couple of blue locks in my hair again! I had some when I went to college, but when I started working... you know, some field work would take weeks, the colour would fade away and I simply stopped dying my hair. But now that I won't need to spend weeks away from home I-"

"You are beautiful like that, you need no colorful cosmetics," the Standartenführer grumbled. He then noticed what he had just said and hurried to look down again to the laptop screen and read that most interesting inventory. Agnes just stared at him for a couple of moments, digesting what she had just been told. A discreet smile grew on her lips.

So, apparently she didn't need to do much to get Herzog's attention.

In the following day Agnes tried to teach Herzog how to play a FPS game but gave up when he went on an endless rambling about how the entire thing clearly had been created by someone who had never shot someone, or been shot, or been in a theater of operations. The Standartenführer then asked her about things he could destroy, so Agnes helped him to make a list:

-the local market

-the supermarket

-the gas station

-the power plant

-the roads

When the list was done, they both carefully planned an operation to take from the museum a few functional weapons, especially grenades.

Herzog already knew he wasn't going to feel good when he had to leave again, and he was more than irritated when he discovered he was right. He told himself that he didn't need to be like that because in a few days he would be with Agnes again, but he just couldn't help it. He wondered if she felt like this too, and wished she did. And wondered if, being just friends, he should feel like that, because that clearly seemed a bit too much.

Back to the top of the mountain, Herzog found Sascha standing at the entrance of the cave, hands behind his back and looking ahead. A huge smile grew on the younger soldier's lips and he saluted:

"Heil Hitler, lovebird!"

"I'm considering cutting off your tongue, my little bastard..." Herzog replied and saluted. Sascha shrugged:

"Then how am I supposed to give you advice?"

"You might have a point..." The Standartenführer smiled. "Everything alright?"

"Jawohl, Herr Standartenführer!"

"Gut."

"What's our next move?"

"I'm working on that. In fact... Fräulein Agnes and I are working on that."

"When are you two going to marry?"

"Dismissed..."

"Aw, come on!" Sascha laughed. Herzog rolled his eyes and sighed:

"Is Fritz still upset with you?" he asked. Sascha's smile died instantly and Herzog frowned lightly. "Is he, Sascha?"

"The little sadistic idiot... He doesn't even let me hug him. How can he deny me a hug, I'm adorable!"

"Well, instead of nosing around my private life you could be trying to redeem yourself..."

"Ha, you said 'life'!" Sascha exclaimed and started to run to the eastern slope.

Fritz was perfectly camouflaged among the dead trees, no one would ever notice him. But Sascha wasn't 'no one', so he easily spotted his comrade and went to sit next to him:

"Herzog's back," he announced, taking off his helmet. "Acney's fine."

"Toll," (Great.) Fritz replied. Sascha frowned and unbuckled the chinstrap of Fritz's helmet, then pulled it off his head:

"Why are you still grumpy? Didn't it feel good to sleep a little longer with me? Why don't you hug me, leave alone look at me!" Fritz looked at him, annoyed. "What did I do wrong this time?"

The brown-eyed zombie sighed and looked down, to his hands resting on his knees. He didn't move away when Sascha took hold of his hands and squeezed them affectionately:

"I just... I... I know you and Herzog are very close, but... sometimes I'd like you and I had our own secrets. I'd like to look at Herzog without having to feel embarassed because you just tell him right away what's going on between us. And that sucks," Fritz finally moved his hands away and made a big snowball. "It was good to sleep with you and wake up with you, but damn, did he really had to know about that? Couldn't it have been just a moment for the two of us?"

And to show all of his frustration, Fritz smashed the snowball against Sascha's face. The blue-eyed zombie just sighed, but as he felt the freezing snow going to his lungs he started to cough and to shake the snow off his face. Fritz was already making another snowball:

"And I know you're not the most brilliant guy in the company, and you can't even be serious for some fucking five minutes! And of all people in the world I had to fall for you, you fucker!" He threw the new snowball at Sascha, still coughing snow off his lungs. "And you promised me that once the war was over we'd move in together, just the two of us! Now I'm stuck in a fucking cave full of fucking people, and you let Herzog stick his nose into the only bloody moment we had for ourselves!"

"Don't you fucking raise your fucking voice, and let me fucking tell you again that it was Herzog who allowed us to spend the rest of the fucking night like that!" Sascha's turn to grab a handful of snow and press it over Fritz's face. "That was fucking super from him, I can't picture anyone else doing that for us! I can't picture anyone else not fucking judging us! And if you're so worried about what our Standartenführer might think of us you shouldn't have let me kiss you in the first place! I didn't force you to anything!"

"Why can't you just fucking understand I just want some fucking five minutes ALONE with you?" Fritz grabbed two handfuls of snow, but Sascha held his wrists before he could do anything else. The smaller zombie struggled a little, and they ended up rolling down the slope, their legs tangled and cat-fighting each other furiously:

"Why didn't you just fucking say that? I'm a fucking simpleton, I'm no brilliant and poetic and romantic sould that reads can read your fucking mind and guess exactly WHAT I did wrong!" Sascha yelled as they rolled:

"And why do I always have to fucking say stuff, why can't you fucking think about that? You don't need to be a fucking genius to know you fucking messed up!"

"I fucking messed up?"

"You fucking messed up!"

They rolled to a small cliff and fell. The cliff wasn't very high and luckily the snow at its base was deep enough to protect them from the rocks. They let go each other during the fall and they fell a few meters apart from each other. Sascha was the first one to crawl out of the hole he made in the snow when he landed, taking useless deep and desperate breaths, and looking around with wide blue eyes:

"Holy shit, Fritz? Fritz, are you fine? Where the fuck are you?" he asked, stumbling out of the hole and searching for his comrade. He found the place where Fritz had fallen and jumped into the hole, to find the younger soldier huddled at the bottom. Sascha pulled Fritz to a comforting embrace and kissed the top of his head. "Did you break anything?"

"No..."

"Are you fine?"

"I guess so..."

They looked at each other. Sascha's worried expression slowly faded away and he sighed, relieved, and Fritz nestled against his chest. A few minutes went by, until Fritz broke the silence:

"Now, that was stupid..."

"It feels so fucking good to be right once in a lifetime!" Sascha smiled, running his fingers through Fritz's blond hair. The smaller zombie chuckled:

"We're dead, Sascha..."

"Shut up, do not question greatness."

Weeeeeeeeee, review? :D