Summary: Carter and Alyse declare their love for each other.

Author's Note: See Part 1 

Disclaimer: See Part 1

Copyright: July 2002

****

Star-Crossed

By Syl Francis

**** Sunday 14 FEB 1943/2200hrs local Balcony Overlooking the Castle Gardens

Schloss Hammelburg

We are out of our minds!

****

"What are you doing here?" Alyse gasped, startled at Carter's appearance. "If the guards see you, you could be shot!"

"Don't worry," Carter reassured her. "They've already passed through here. They won't return for awhile yet." He knelt next to her, and tentatively, ran the back of his hand down her cheek. "What's the matter? Why are you crying?" She sniffled and quickly turned her head away.

"I'm not crying," she sobbed.

"Tell me," he insisted. "Maybe I can help." Looking up suddenly, Alyse's tearful eyes alighted with hope for an instant, only to be quickly dampened.

"No...no one can help me," she said, eyes cast down.

"Well, I gotta admit that I'm not the smartest guy around," Carter said gamely, "but even Col. Hogan says that when the chips are down, I'm the kind of guy the others can always depend on." He paused. "Well, maybe most of the time..." He thought about it. "No...more like some of the time..." He shook his head. "Okay...maybe when the chips aren't quite all the way down--!"

Raising her chin proudly, Alyse got to her feet. "I am the daughter of an SS-Oberstgruppenfuhrer. I must do my duty as a loyal German for the Fatherland." This last was spat out bitterly.

"What do you mean?" Carter asked. "What duty?"

At his question, her inner strength abruptly crumbled, and Alyse threw herself into his arms, sobbing quietly once again. "You can't help me, Andrew! No one can!" Carter held her closely, unsure about what he should do. She came to just below his chin, and without conscious thought, he rested his cheek on her head.

"Alyse, I-I know that this is crazy--but I feel like I've known you all my life. I don't know why, but it's how I feel. I know that you're the daughter of some big-shot Kraut general--um, no offense--but I don't care. You're just a nice girl in trouble. And I want to help you. Please, Alyse. Let me help?"

At Carter's soft, pleading tone, Alyse gradually quieted down until at last, she stopped crying altogether. As she looked up at him, her tear-filled eyes glistened in the moonlight. Again, Carter felt like he had been kicked in the stomach and could not seem able to catch his breath.

"Andrew...?" She slowly reached up and touched his cheek, looking at him as if seeing him for the first time. "Do you mean that?" He nodded. The next moment, she was leaning forward on tiptoes, her lips parted slightly. Carter bent down until their lips met in a tentative kiss. Instinctively, his arms tightened about her small waist, and their kiss deepened. As he kissed her, Carter realized why Alyse seemed so familiar to him.

Because I've loved her all my life. Or since he had first laid eyes on her--and in Carter's mind, his life began the moment he saw her. At last they broke apart, hearts hammering, eyes wide at their mutual discovery.

"Is such a thing possible?" Alyse whispered. "I thought it only happened in fairy stories."

"Only in the best stories." Caressing her cheek, Carter smiled down at her, wondering if everyone felt this way when they fell in love. A shadow suddenly crossed her face, and she shook her head.

"We are out of our minds!" she declared. "This cannot be. We cannot be. You are an American prisoner of war, and I am the daughter--"

"--Of some SS bigwig! Yeah, I know!" Carter cut in. "Tell me something I don't know. Like why were you crying? And do you really love me?"

"Of course I love you. I think I must have loved you from the moment I heard you whistling that silly tune."

"Really?" Carter looked pleased. He took her hands in his. "I guess I loved you the moment I saw you. I was just too dumb to know it, though. It's hard to think clearly around pretty girls...and almost impossible around the really beautiful ones."

"You think I'm beautiful?" It was Alyse's turn to look pleased.

"Well, heck yeah! I mean look at you!" He raked her admiringly with his eyes, and then pointed at the sky. "Even the stars don't stand a chance when you're around. And the moon--gosh, I don't think the moonlight has ever looked so good!"

"Andrew, what lovely words! I do believe that you are a romantic."

"Romantic? Me? Nah!" Carter said, looking down and shuffling his feet in embarrassment. "I'm just reporting the facts--like the colonel would say."

She smiled sadly. "If only we could love each other, but--" She shook her head.

"But what?" Carter held her by the upper arms. "What's wrong, Alyse? Please, won't you tell me?" At last, she nodded mutely and began to tell Carter what her father had said in the study.

"So you see...it is my duty as a good little Aryan girl to marry this pig--Karl Braun and bear his beautiful Aryan children. Oh, I hate him! I hate what he stands for!" She stopped, deflated. "Sometimes, I think I could hate my own father." She walked to the railing and leaning on her elbows, looked out on the lovely, silver-drenched garden.

"I know now what my father is," she said. Her words were spoken so softly that Carter moved in closer to hear. "Oh, I've always known that he was an SS officer, but until recently, I did not really know exactly what that meant." She looked up at Carter, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "He sent me away to a convent school in Bavaria when I was very little, shortly after my mother's death. The sisters there are very strict but wonderful. They have tried to protect us all from the war--and from some very ugly truths. But they couldn't protect us forever. I saw...in the small hamlet one day, I saw..."

Her voice caught, and she did not continue for a long time; instead, she just stared silently out at nothing. Finally, she spoke.

"My friend Magda and I slipped out of the convent grounds one Saturday afternoon and went to town on holiday. We thought ourselves very clever for having done so. We knew that we did not have much time before we would be missed, so we hurried to all the places we wanted to visit as fast as possible. We were laughing and having a wonderful time, when we saw them. Men in Gestapo and SS uniforms were hauling these poor people out of a building. They were shouting, 'dirty Jews!' and other vile things. They began to beat them with their rifles, and when they fell on the street, they kicked them."

Alyse brought her hands up to her ears. "It was horrible! They just kept kicking them and kicking them--! Magda and I were so terrified. We ran back to the convent and told Mother Superior. She tried to comfort us, but we were much too upset. I begged her to contact my father--that he would make sure that those responsible would be punished." Alyse gave a short sigh. "Mother Superior looked at me for a long time. Something in her eyes...like that of someone who is suddenly in pain. I didn't understand it. Before I could ask her about it, she sent Magda to her room and asked me to stay."

Alyse raised her chin, almost as an act of defiance. In the soft moonlight, Carter glimpsed a single tear coursing down her chin. 

"That's when she told me about the SS and Gestapo. And about our 'beloved' Fuehrer's insane hatred for the Jews and...others." She looked up at Carter. "That's why I came home when father wrote to tell me that he was returning from the Eastern Front on R and R. I wanted to speak to him. I wanted to give him the chance to tell me his side. I wanted him to tell me that it wasn't true..."

She turned away and Carter saw her shoulders shake slightly. "Instead, he showed me tonight just how true it was. He ordered me to marry Karl Braun. If I don't, then Karl will simply force me to live as his--" She gave a small cry, unable to finish.

Angrier than he believed it would ever be possible for him to be, Carter grabbed Alyse and spun her around to face him. "No! You're not going to marry him! Your father can't make you, y'hear? I won't let him. You said you loved me." He gave her a little shake. "Well, do you?"

"Yes, of course I do!"

"Then we'll find a way." Carter thought a moment, then snapped his fingers. "The colonel! He'll know what to do! Look, Alyse, I know the situation looks pretty hopeless, but you can't give up. The best thing for you to do is go back inside and tell your dad that you'll marry this guy--"

"Never--!" she protested. "I did not tell you...! But one of the men I saw that day was Karl Braun. I will never consent to--!

"Simmer down! You're only agreeing to do it in order to buy time. I mean, a girl's gotta have a big wedding and everything, doesn't she? There's gonna have to be weeks of planning...you've gotta reserve the church, there's the reception--" At Carter's words, a dim smile of hope slowly began to light Alyse's features.

"Of course! And there are the dress fittings--lots of dress fittings!" She pecked Carter lightly on the cheek. "You are truly wonderful! Brilliant!" Smiling demurely, she added, "I guess you were correct earlier when you said that I needed protecting."

Taking her into his arms, Carter felt happier than he ever had in his life. "Don't forget to pick the prettiest gown, though. 'Cause when you walk down the aisle, I'll be waiting for you." Without hesitation this time, he sealed his promise with a reverent kiss.

****

Sunday 14 FEB 1943/2300hrs local Kitchens

Schloss Hammelburg

Playin' with all those explosives has finally rattled his poor old head...!

****

"Where have you been?" LeBeau shouted, shoving a tray of drinks into Carter's hands before he had a chance to reply. "Even Newkirk's returned! Now, hurry up and take these out there. As soon as you're done, I've got a few other things for you to do here in the kitchen." Carter opened his mouth to speak, but LeBeau beat him to it. "Well?? What are you waiting for? Go!"

Shrugging and nodding at the same time, Carter made his way out to the grand ballroom, carefully balancing the tray on his shoulder. On his way out, he saw Newkirk returning with an empty tray.

"Carter, where have you--?"

"No time for that!" Carter interrupted. "Look, I'm getting married, and I need you to be my Best Man. Meet me outside in the garden after midnight." Not waiting for a reply, Carter disappeared into the thinning crowds.

"After midnight?" Newkirk almost shouted. "But we'll be back at Stalag 13 by then--!?" A shocked look suddenly dawned on him. "Gettin' married? Andrew? Blimey! Playin' with all those explosives has finally rattled his poor old head...!"

****

Sunday 14 FEB 1943/2310hrs local Grand Ballroom

Schloss Hammelburg

You are a dangerous man...!

****

"Colonel?" Carter said tentatively. He had spotted Hogan standing off by himself in the grand ballroom, quietly observing the crowd. Knowing his CO, Carter reasoned that Hogan was probably studying each dancer as they twirled by, attempting to match faces to the names on the guest list. "I've really gotta talk to you, sir...about something really important."

"Carter..." Hogan spoke from behind the façade of a smile. "This place is crawling with enough Gestapo and SS to start another Front. Whatever's on your mind, unless it has a direct impact on tonight's mission, it'll have to wait until we get back to Stalag 13." He took a sip of the water that on Klink's orders his men had been passing him since his 'drunken' episode. "Got it?"

Crestfallen, Carter nodded. "Yes, sir...I understand, sir. But--"

"Hold it! I've got in-coming," Hogan said sharply. Carter saw that Mueller was headed towards them. "Make yourself scarce," Hogan ordered with a slight jerk of his head.

Dismissed, Carter nodded in disappointment and turned to go. Not watching where he was going, he promptly tripped over a flowerpot. Thrown forward, Carter went flying through a set of heavy brocade curtains into another, darkened hallway. Desperately fighting to maintain his balance, he clumsily shuffled his feet, while juggling the tray this way and that. To his pleasant surprise, he managed to stay upright, drinks and all.

Rolling his eyes at his clumsiness, the young sergeant bent down to right the flowerpot that had somehow sneaked up on him unawares. He set the tray down, and quickly took a look around to see if anyone had observed him make a fool of himself. To his relief, he saw that because he had inadvertently fallen through the heavy curtains, his pratfall had gone unseen. Smiling happily, he was about to step out into the open and continue his rounds when he heard Mueller on the other side.

"So, my dear, Col. Hogan!" Mueller said.

"My dear, Gruppenfuhrer Mueller!"

"I see that you are still here," Mueller said. "Tell me...what ever became of that lovely young woman you were speaking with earlier--Anna, I believe?"

Realizing how suspicious it would look for him to appear suddenly from behind the curtains, Carter immediately withdrew and peeked through a slitted opening. Mueller was standing almost directly in front of him, his back to Carter.

"I'm not sure, Herr Gruppenfuhrer," Hogan said blandly. "The last time I saw her, she seemed to be suffering from a headache." From his vantage point, Carter saw Hogan's eyes twinkle briefly, before his head shook in mock distress. "Probably comes from not having tortured anyone tonight. You know how these Gestapo agents are."

"Gestapo?" Mueller spat out. "How did you--?" Hogan gave Mueller a smug look.

"I forced it out of her," Hogan said straight-faced. A beat passed, and then Mueller began chuckling in appreciation.

"I was right, Col. Hogan. You are a dangerous man--dangerous around women!" He raised his glass in mock salute. Hogan nodded in acknowledgement. "I take it that she did not offer much resistance?" Smiling, Hogan shook his head.

"But then you know how women are..." he said with a shrug. "They just can't be trusted to keep a secret. As my father used to say...'Son, there are three ways of delivering a message today: telephone, telegraph, and tell a woman!'"

"Oh, no sir! That can't be true!" Carter broke in excitedly. Before Hogan realized what he was doing, Carter walked out from behind the heavy drapes, this time carefully sidestepping the flowerpot. Luckily, Mueller's back was to him, but Hogan gave him a look that usually stopped men dead in their tracks.

"Carter...!" Hogan murmured with a brief, warning shake of the head. However, in his eagerness to further explain, Carter completely missed it. Surprised, Mueller turned at the interruption.

"I mean, back home--my Mom--"

"Carter--!" Hogan repeated sharply, but Carter kept blithely on. Mueller glanced at Hogan, a single eyebrow raised.

"--She could never get a message straight!"

"Carter--!" Hogan's silky tone carried a dangerous undercurrent. Mueller made a strange noise, sounding suspiciously like laughter. Hogan glanced quickly at him, but Mueller quickly brought his hand up to cover his mouth and coughed weakly.

"Why, ask Mom to stop by the store on the way home to get some eggs, and she'd bring home bacon, lettuce, tomato, but sure enough she'd forget the eggs!"

"Carter--!" This time Hogan's tone chilled even Mueller, but still Carter's dissertation continued unabated.

"Heck, I remember one time, Mom--"

"Carter!" Hogan yelled.

"What?" Carter blinked at the interruption. Unnoticed by either man, Mueller jumped at Hogan's commanding tone. Scowling, the embarrassed SS general quickly looked around to see if anyone had witnessed his discomfiture. If so, he would have to be executed--tonight!

The guests danced on, quite oblivious to him. Recovering, Mueller turned back to Hogan who was hinting coldly between clenched teeth, "Carter, aren't you needed in the kitchen?"

"Oh, um, uh--I'm sorry, sirs," Carter said, nervously looking from Hogan to Mueller. "I guess I sorta got carried away. I mean...you know, talking about my Mom--"

"Carter--!" Hogan snapped.

"Yes, sir! I know, sir! I'm needed in the kitchen, sir!" Carter spun around and quickly headed back to the kitchens. As he skidded around a corner, he spotted a Gestapo officer entering the ballroom through the garden entrance. He was about to shrug it off, when something in the man's demeanor made him duck back behind the corner. The officer looked carefully right and left, then quickly moved towards the ornate staircase that led to the second floor.

Before he started climbing, the Gestapo officer took one last furtive glance around, giving Carter a clear look at his face. Alyse's cousin, Wolfgang!

****

Sunday 14 FEB 1943/2330hrs local Kitchens

Schloss Hammelburg

'Married,' indeed!

****

"The boy's gone completely daft," Newkirk murmured to himself. Shrugging, he stacked the empty glasses, cups, and dinner plates on the gleaming aluminum counters. "'Best Man,' he said..." He shook his head and started filling the large sink with soapy water. As he waited for it to fill, he found an apron and put it on. "'I'm getting married,' he said..." Newkirk grabbed a sponge and started on the first plate when he stopped in mid-wash.

"'Married'! Andrew said, 'I'm getting married'!" Newkirk's eyes narrowed suddenly. "Blimey! I've got to find him. The boy's probably hooked up with some female barracuda who's tryin' to pump him for information." He threw the sponge in the dishwater with a resounding splash and quickly removed the apron.

Looking around for LeBeau, he spotted him on the far side of the vast kitchens. The diminutive French corporal was directing the small army of cooks' helpers on the final touches for his piece d'resistance, the flaming dessert. Standing on a step stool in order to be seen by the others, he looked like Napoleon conducting the order of battle.

Newkirk made a face. There would be no disturbing LeBeau for several minutes, he knew. LeBeau might be a hotheaded Frenchman who hated the 'dirty Bosche' with all his heart, but he was also a gourmet chef who took great personal pride in his craft.

Checking his watch, Newkirk realized that Carter was overdue. Making up his mind, the British corporal grabbed a tray filled with empty glasses and headed out in search of his friend. "And when I get my hands on that lad, I'm going to have a nice long with him! 'Married,' indeed!"

****

Sunday 14 FEB 1943/2345hrs local Grand Ballroom

Schloss Hammelburg

Okay...it's not tomorrow, yet!

****

Not stopping to think about what he was doing, Carter abandoned his tray and quickly followed Wolfgang up the stairs. Alyse had told him that her father had ordered both her cousin and Karl out of the house. They were not to return before tomorrow. Carter checked his watch. It was a quarter of midnight.

Okay...it's not tomorrow, yet! Feeling justified in his actions, Carter paused at the top of the second story landing, and then ducked back when he spotted Wolfgang knocking quietly at a door further down the hall. Alyse opened the door.

"Wolfgang, what are you doing here?" Alyse hissed. "Father said that you--!"

"I know what he said, Cousin! But I must talk to you. Please, may I come in?" Nodding reluctantly, Alyse admitted him into her room.

Carter heard voices coming up the stairs at that moment, and not knowing exactly what to do, he sprinted down the corridor, trying several doors. At last, one opened easily, and he hurriedly went inside. Outside, he heard feminine laughter heading his way. Looking around for a place to hide, he suddenly realized he was in the Ladies Room!

The doorknob started turning. Desperately, Carter ducked into one of the two stalls. Stepping up on the toilet seat, he crouched low so as not to be seen from below or above. The women entered the Ladies Room, still laughing.

"But Dagmar, you can do so much better! He is only a lieutenant. What you need to do is set your cap for no less than a major!"

"I care not for his rank, Trude...it is his 'decorations' that interest me!"

"Decorations? I don't remember seeing any--?"

"That is because you did not look in the right place!" At her suggestive tone, the two women burst into further peals of laughter.

Carter heard the door to the neighboring stall open and close. To his dismay he saw that the lock to the one he was hiding in was broken. Having no other choice, he grabbed the mechanism and prayed. Luckily, he need not have worried.

"Oh, will you look at my hair? Trude, hurry up and come help me! I do not know what that old hag at the beauty salon was thinking when she arranged this mess!"

"Oh, stop fussing, Dagmar! Your hair looks deliciously wonderful, and you know it!" Carter heard a loud flush from the next stall, which was quickly followed by the door opening and closing once again. Light footsteps hurried in the direction that the other voice was coming from.

"Are you sure, Trude?" Dagmar asked. "You're not just saying that because I never told you of that time your dress rode up your back?"

"My dress did what?! Dagmar what are you talking about--?"

"Oh, nothing! Nothing!" Dagmar quickly said, backtracking. "I didn't say anything! Quick! We must be heading back! My 'decorated' war hero will be waiting for me!" Carter heard the main door suddenly open.

"Dagmar Ritter! You better tell me what you meant--!" The voices disappeared into the hallway as the main door closed behind them. Breathing a sigh of relief, Carter stepped off the toilet seat, carefully checked to make sure they were gone, and then hurried out again, heading towards Alyse's room.

****

Sunday 14 FEB 1943/2350hrs local Alyse Mueller's private chambers

Schloss Hammelburg

You don't understand because you refuse to see!

****

Inexplicably nervous around her cousin, Alyse walked towards the open French doors and stood just inside, her back to him. A chill breeze suddenly blew in from the outside, bringing with it the smell of rain. As if to prove its point, a cloud passed over the moon and the garden was quickly shrouded in darkness. Alyse shivered slightly and brought her wrap up closer about her.

"Cousin, you shall catch your death!" Wolfgang scolded and promptly closed the French doors. "Really, Alyse...Sometimes you act as if you are still ten years old." He shook his head affectionately. "Perhaps that is why I am so fond of you. You always remind me of how it used to be...before..."

"Before...?" she asked.

"Before Aunt Wilhelmina passed away," he said softly. Alyse gasped at the mention of her mother and looked up at him quickly. However, he had his back to her and was pensively looking out the windows. "It was all so different then. You and I the best of playmates--like brother and sister. Auntie and Uncle more mother and father to me than mere guardians. Then she died and everything changed. You went away to the convent school, and I--I was suddenly alone."

"Alone? But you were here with Father!" she protested. "Oh, how I envied you. Your letters were always so gay about the many rallies you attended together. About your HJ club meetings...everything! While I was stuck in a convent school...no wireless, no music...I felt as if I'd been dropped on the other side of the moon!"

"Maybe you were, Alyse," Wolfgang said. "You haven't changed at all, did you know that? Oh...you are much bigger," he teased, moving his hand from about waist high to chest high. Alyse giggled in spite of herself. "And much more beautiful--you were such a chubby little girl!"

"Ooh! You take that back! I was not chubby!"

"You most certainly were. But you've lost all that baby fat." He looked at her critically. "Or, at least, it's been redistributed--?" He made a shape of an hourglass figure in the air. Alyse blushed furiously.

"You are incorrigible, Wolfgang!" she snapped and turned her back to him, crossing her arms.

"And you are a German," he said softly. Her back stiffened. Slowly, she dropped her arms and faced him.

"What do mean, Cousin?" she asked fearfully.

"That you are no longer a child, Alyse. And that it is time for you to take your rightful place with the rest of the Mueller family."

"I don't understand--"

"Bah! You are not naïve, Alyse!" Wolfgang snapped. "You know--or you must know--what is happening! We are losing the war, Cousin!" He held up his hand to forestall interruption. "Yes...we are. Or we will eventually. Things are going badly for us in the East, and since the Americans joined the fight, North Africa has suddenly started going against us as well. Logically, they will invade Italy, and not long after that France."

"But what does that have to do with me? With us?" she asked.

"Uncle Emil has had many setbacks in the East," Wolfgang explained. "Things have been going very badly, in fact. That is why he was brought back--not on R and R, as you believed, but to personally brief his plans to the General Staff of his next counteroffensive, and to hopefully gain approval. Should his latest campaign fail, he will probably be relieved of his command and--" He did not need to finish.

Alyse went suddenly white. "But they cannot do that! Father has given them everything! He is a loyal German!"

"He is an obedient soldier," Wolfgang corrected. At her look of incomprehension, he added, "He will perform his duty as ordered, because he is a soldier. If ordered to take his own life to avoid any embarrassment to the Fuehrer, he will do so."

"Take his own life--?" Alyse gasped, tears welling of their own accord. Wolfgang nodded grimly.

"However, there may be an alternative," he said quietly.

"What is it? Whatever it is...how can I help?"

"By agreeing to marry Karl and having his children," Wolfgang said bluntly. Alyse shook her head in bewilderment.

"But how would that help father?" she asked.

"It would prove to the General Staff and the Fuehrer, himself, that the Mueller family is One--united in blood as well as in spirit! It would show them that while your father fights bitterly in the Eastern Front, you and I work in the Home Front for a better Germany. I, in the Gestapo, ferreting out disloyal criminals who would work to bring the downfall of the Fatherland from within, while you--!" He smiled down at her, and affectionately placed his hands on her shoulders. "While you, dearest Cousin, work towards the betterment of the future of Germany! Bearing the children who will one day become our nation's leaders!"

Alyse shook her head in dismay, and knocked his hands from her shoulders. She backed away from him as the tears began to fall unabated. "No..." she whispered, then louder, "No--! You cannot mean that! You said that the war goes badly, that it is inevitable that we will lose--? I don't understand!"

"You don't understand because you refuse to see!" Wolfgang's expression hardened. His blue eyes, so like her own, had suddenly become cold and flat. "If we lose the war, then those of us who are loyal to the Cause will have to go underground--deep underground. In the open, we will have to live as if we have accepted defeat, and drudge out our lives under the yoke of occupation." A maniacal light had suddenly appeared in his usually mild eyes, frightening her further. "But we will be training in secret, preparing for the day when an army comprised of a new generation of pure-blooded Aryans is ready to rise up and retake the country in the name of Adolph Hitler!"

"No...You're mad," she whispered.

"And you, Cousin--and other young women like you of pure Aryan stock--shall be the vanguard for others who shall follow in the future. Others who shall give their bodies to the Cause in order to produce hundreds, maybe thousands, of blond, blue-eyed children who will grow up to be--!"

"No!" Alyse shouted, covering her ears in agitation. "Stop it! Stop it! You are mad! I will never consent! Never!"

"It is too late, my dear Cousin," Wolfgang said with a chilling smile. Alyse's eyes widened at the sight of a pistol in his hand. It was pointed directly at her. "I have already consented for you. Now be a good little girl and keep quiet. After the guests leave and Uncle Emil goes to bed, you and I will take a little ride to Gestapo Headquarters, where your groom awaits you."

"I wouldn't be too sure 'bout that, Bub!"

****

Continued in Part 4