Chapter 16:

While waiting for his little family to arrive, Hogan made casual conversation with Bossler as the medic checked his vitals. The colonel was watching Bossler write something down on his clipboard, when the duo were brought out of their thoughts by the sound of loud arguing. As the voices got closer, Hogan could not help the smile that came across his face. His boys. His family. They were finally here, and of course they were arguing over who got to see him first.

When they were standing beside the doorway, the argument between Newkirk, LeBeau, and Carter erupted into the three of them shouting over one another, no one able to make out what they were saying anymore. Knowing that they were in a hospital and not able to take much more of his ears hurting, Kinch held up his hands and spoke out over them.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" He called out. He waited for the arguing to die down, then resumed speaking. "Let Kalina go in first."

An excited grin spread across the little teenager's face, her blue eyes twinkling with unshed tears. Kalina quickly made her way inside the room, leaving Hogan's men in the hall to wait for their reunion.

With the colonel's cap in one hand, Kalina stopped in the threshold and gave a soft gasp at the sight. Sight of someone she thought she would never see again. He was pretty banged up and hooked up to a bunch of wires and IVs, but it was him without a doubt. Her friend. Her other papa. Her Colonel Hogan.

Sensing someone new in the room, Hogan turned his head towards the left, spotted Kalina standing there, and gave her a tired smile, a faint twinkle glistening in his chocolate brown eyes.

At that point, Kalina could not control herself anymore. With tears streaming down her face, she sprinted for Hogan's bedside, slowed as she got closer, then carefully wrapped her arms around her second father and began crying hysterically. And as Hogan held her close and gently hushed her, her sobs only became louder. She felt the man give her a soft kiss on the forehead, then rub her back to soothe her.

"Colonel Hogan," she cried. "Colonel Hogan!"

Hogan again hushed her. "I'm here, hon," he said. "I'm right here...I've got you, sweetheart."

Kalina nuzzled her face against Hogan's chest, her sobs gradually dying out. She got another kiss on the forehead as she looked up at the colonel, making sure that this was not some wild dream she was having. Seeing that it was truly him, she rested her head again on his chest and buried her face into him, sniffles and soft crying coming and going.

Bossler watched the sweet reunion from near the sink, his face brightening as each second went by. Dallwitz stood behind him sniffling and crying himself, but he opened a tube of menthol to make it appear that it was the strong order stinging his eyes making him cry instead.

Hogan continued to gently rub Kalina's back and gave her a third kiss on the head, smiling down at her as she rested her aching eyes, never letting him go for a single second. They were brought out of their moment as the sound of footsteps entered the room. Hogan looked over to his left again to see his men surrounding his bedside, wide grins stretching from one side of their face to the other.

"Hey, Colonel," Kinch said. "Long time, no see, huh."

Hogan smirked faintly, his arms still wrapped around Kalina. "You could say something like that, couldn't you," he answered.

"I thought we would never see you again, mon Colonel," LeBeau said, his voice breaking a bit.

"You have no bloomin' idea how glad we are to have you back again, Sir." Newkirk added, stuffing his hands into his jacket pocket.

Hogan's smile grew in size as he looked down at Kalina and resumed rubbing her back. "I think I've got an idea," he answered.

Kalina, who had her eyes open again, gazed up at her second father and felt a grin of her own come to her face. She lay her head back on Hogan's chest and nuzzled her face into him.

Carter looked over at the bed and spotted his commander's abandoned crush cap lying beside his legs. It brought an idea to his head. "Oh, Colonel," he said, reaching over to grab the hat and spinning it around in his hands. "We brought you something to make you feel better."

Hogan briefly closed his eyes and swallowed to moisten his dry throat. "My hat," he answered.

LeBeau took the cap from Carter's hands and carefully placed it on Hogan's head, tilting it up a bit the way he always wore it. They all watched as Hogan's eyes momentarily looked up at his hat and smiled with contentment.

Newkirk cleared his throat and stood as straight as he could. "Attention!" He barked, and he and the others stood just as straight, giving Hogan the best salute they possibly could. It brought unshed tears to the colonel's eyes, deeply touched at the gesture. He looked down at Kalina and felt his heart brighten more as she smiled at him and gave him a salute with her left hand before wrapping it back around Hogan's belly.

Hogan gently petted the top of the little girl's head, beaming at her with a loving gaze before making his sight back to his men. Wearing his cap again did make him feel a bit better, but it was the five people around him that made him feel strong enough to fight again. Strong enough to come back from his near fatal injuries and case of bronchitis. And watching them show just how much he meant to all of them and how much they had missed him, it made him count his blessings. Sure he was a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany and currently in the hospital with major injuries, but he had the best of friends with him to help him get through it. A family. A family he would not give up for the entire world.

"I don't...I don't know how I got lucky enough...to have you guys as friends," he said, his breathing a bit labored again.

"We wonder the same thing every day about you, Sir." Kinch replied.

"I love you, Colonel Hogan," Kalina said. "Forever and ever and ever."

Hogan cocked his head a bit to the left and ran his thumb across the little teenager's cheek. "I love you, too," he answered, then made his gaze to all of them. "All of you."

As the group of six continued to enjoy their little reunion, a new set of footsteps could be heard storming inside of the room. They made their eyes to the doorway and saw Hochstetter stop a few feet in front of them, his dark eyes ablaze and face as red as a fire engine. "WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE?!" He bellowed, shaking his fist angrily in the air. "I go to park the car, come back, and all of you are nowhere to be found!"

"We wanted to see Colonel Hogan," Carter said innocently.

"I don't care what you wanted; you realize what kind of trouble I would be in if I called General Burkhalter and reported a mass escape while under my supervision?!"

Kalina furrowed her eyebrows together quizzically. "Why would we leave without Colonel Hogan?" She asked.

Hochstetter put a hand to the side of his head, growling in frustration as a severe migraine began to form inside his skull. "I think I need the highest dose of paracetamol that exists," he grumbled to himself. "I'm stuck babysitting a bunch of prisoners and a child, losing all my money to get hotel rooms, forced to rescue my arch-nemesis or be sent to the Russian Front, what else could ruin my time here?"

"Give yah one guess, Major," a familiar, frightening voice said from behind all of them.

Everyone turned their eyes to the threshold of the room, and while the flyers surrounded their commander protectively, Kalina wrapped her arms around Hogan as tight as she could without hurting him.

Standing before them in a black trench coat and fedora, two men standing behind him in the same uniform, was the man they had been searching high and low for. A man that not only infuriated them, but utterly terrified them. Sergeant Jack Williams silently stood in the doorway, holding a loaded pistol at all of them.