June 1944

Allied HQ, London

Kinch looked around the small room that was his temporary home. He knew London would be sending him somewhere far from Stalag 13… probably even far from Germany, but he had no clue where yet, or what his duties would be. He was a superb radioman. That had been his job before his capture… he had been a radioman on a B-17 that had been shot down over Hamburg.

He sighed as he sat at the small desk in his quarters. He missed the guys back in camp. He had played a vital role in Papa Bear's operation…and he did not want to go back to being just another cog in the wheel. He wanted to make a real difference. And he was not stupid. Col. Hogan and the others in the operation had been colorblind. The real world was not. Most especially, not the United States Army. Europe was better about the race issue, but not much. Chances were good he would end up in a "coloreds only" unit somewhere. It would be too much to hope that he would be in any sort of leadership position like that he had enjoyed at Stalag 13.

The years he had spent there were not what he would ever term "enjoyable," by any stretch of the imagination, but he could honestly say he did not regret them. He had made lifelong friends, and had known that every operation he had been a part of had made a difference. Life had been hard there, but in many ways, it had been good, because he had been treated as an equal by the core team. He had belonged.

A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts, and he stood up quickly and answered it. A young private silently handed him a message and left as soon as he had taken it. Kinch opened the message and read it. It told him to be ready at 0700 the following morning to head to his new post. So…it was time. He sat deep in thought for a while, and then made his decision. He grabbed his jacket and cap, and headed to the hospital to visit Leticia. He dodged his escort and went alone. He knew it was likely the last time he would see her for a long while. He would then see if he could meet Mavis and Helga somewhere before he left. At the least, Leticia could get a message to them for him. With these plans in mind, Kinch left his quarters, and headed to St. Anne's.

~HH~

Stalag 13

Hogan and Carter made it back to Barracks 2 with no problems, although they had to change very quickly in order to make roll call. There was no time for talk with anyone although a grinning Baker did manage to hand Hogan a message that had arrived just as they entered the tunnel. Hogan read it and handed it to Carter, who for once kept quiet, but grinned as well. Hogan knew he had something important to do right after roll call. They made it into their customary places in line with only a couple of minutes to spare. Unfortunately, Klink was feeling rather expansive for some reason, and so he droned on for almost an hour. The men were all bored silly, but Carter was too distracted to contribute his usual wisecracks, and remained quiet. Eventually, Klink ran out of steam, and dismissed them. They trooped back inside the barracks, and Newkirk immediately began dealing out a game of gin while they waited for LeBeau to serve breakfast. The attitude towards Carter was still a bit chilly, but because Newkirk had forgiven him, things were on the way back to normal…as normal as they ever got, anyway.

Hogan went immediately to his quarters, and brought out the box of cigars from London, and placed them in front of Newkirk. Everyone remembered the last time he had done this, and it took Newkirk exactly five seconds to make the connection. His eyes got wide and he looked at Hogan. Carter could contain himself no longer, and he grinned at his best friend. "Hi, Daddy!"

Newkirk looked back at Carter. "Seriously?" Carter nodded happily, and Hogan pulled out the message that Leticia and the baby were doing well and handed it to the Brit. Newkirk scanned it quickly and looked around at the others. "A boy! I 'ave a son!"

Hogan grinned. "That's right, Newkirk…I guess this means there are officially TWO Papa Bears now!"

Olsen piped up, "So, do you guys have a name picked out yet?"

Newkirk smiled. "Yeah, we picked it out a long time ago. He looked at his best friend. "We named 'im for me brother Jamie and for…well, me other brother, too. His name is James Andrew."

Carter's jaw dropped, and for once, he was completely speechless.

~HH~

Two days after the birth of Jamie Newkirk, it happened. They had known it was coming, had even helped make it happen. They just didn't know exactly when it would actually take place. Very few people did. And later, they could honestly say they knew when it happened, because London went completely silent. And then, the Germans went into a panic. Because the Allies staged a massive invasion on the beaches of Normandy. The naval portion of the invasion was called NEPTUNE. The overall invasion was called OVERLORD. The world would come to remember 6 June 44 as D-Day. * The men of Stalag 13 would come to remember 6 June 44 as the beginning of the end.

A/N: An interesting side note for those unfamiliar with military designations is that the "D" in D-Day did not stand for anything. It is simply a "place-holder" designation for the date of the beginning of a mission or operation. Similarly, H-Hour, also used that day, is used to designate the beginning hour of a mission or operation.