Chapter 2:
Morning came by soon enough, and Hogan and his men were surprised to see how soundly Gracie slept through her first night in Stalag 13. It was as if she never had been brought back to camp to begin with. It still did not mean that they were out of the danger zone. If one of the guards heard her crying or caught sight of her, an instantaneous red flag would go up before the five of them knew it.
Hogan, Newkirk, Carter, LeBeau, Kinch, and the rest of the men made lines of two and stood in their spots as Schultz counted them one by one. After the big guard was finished, he turned around and waited for Kommandant Wilhelm Klink to appear outside in his cap, black gloves, and gray trench coat carrying his swagger stick with him. As they continued to stand there and silently wait, Newkirk leaned over to Hogan and spoke quietly with him.
"Gov'nor, how's Gracie doing this morning? She doing alright?" He asked, worried.
"Was sound asleep when I left her," the colonel remarked.
"Do you think she'll cause us any trouble while we're out here, Sir?"
"No, I'm not too worried. We'll be back in the barracks before Gracie even wakes up...unless Klink here decides to wait till next year to show up."
As if on command, the German colonel himself finally appeared on the porch of the Kommandantur's, slammed the door behind him, then made his way to Schultz with his arms behind his back.
"Schultz!" He bellowed. "Reeeeeepoooooooorrrrrrt!"
"All prisoners present and accounted for, Herr Kommandant!" Schultz replied, with a salute and childish smile.
Klink nodded.
"Excellent, Sergeant Schultz," The kommandant turned to face the prisoners with a serious expression to his face. "I have just been informed that General Burkhalter will be arriving sometime this week for a camp inspection, and I expect all prisoners to be in top behavior during his visit, understood?"
Hogan was about to nod, when a faint cry came from inside the barracks. His face remained the same, but on the inside, he was freaking out immensely. 'Gracie, not now please,' he thought to himself.
Klink snapped his head immediately towards the Senior POW.
"What was that?" He demanded to know.
"What was what, Kommandant?" Hogan asked innocently.
"Hogan, enough with your shenanigans, now what was that noise?"
"What did it sound like, Sir?" Newkirk asked.
"Like crying. I know I heard someone crying, and I know it came from somewhere in this camp," Klink answered, growing extremely irritated.
"That's just Carter; he gets a little sensitive when he's tired." Hogan replied.
Taking a cue from his commander, the technical sergeant began to fake cry.
"I just wanna go back to sleep, Kommandant." Carter whimpered, wiping invisible tears away from his eyes.
Klink narrowed his eyes at Carter.
"Sergeant Carter, be a man. This is a prisoner of war camp, not a day care center," He finally spoke.
"Yes, Sir," Carter sniffled.
"Diiiiiissssssmiiiiiisssssssed," the kommandant said, giving the men a salute. Klink turned sharply on his boots and left back for his office with Schultz following from behind.
The minute the coast was clear of all Germans, Hogan hurried back inside the barracks with his men not far behind him. He opened his office door and picked up the crying baby. He held her tight in his arms and started swaying back and forth while hushing her.
"Oh, did Mean Old Klink wake you up? Yeah...I know, I know." He cooed softly.
Gracie continued crying, but it gradually got softer. The American colonel continued rocking and hushing her until she had fallen back to sleep. Hogan smiled and swayed her from side to side, when Newkirk, Carter, Kinch, and LeBeau entered the room.
"She alright, Gov'nor?" Newkirk asked.
"She's just fine...looks like we're not the only ones who don't like Klink's morning roll calls...right." Hogan spoke, cooing the last word to Gracie.
"Boy, Colonel; you sure got an act for this," Carter said, smiling.
Hogan chuckled slightly in response.
"I don't know, Carter. I'm just doing what I've seen other parents do," he said.
"Ah, Colonel; don't be so humble. You're a natural at this. You'll make a fine le papa someday." LeBeau said, holding his thumb and pointer finger together.
Hogan smiled small, then looked back down at Gracie. He leaned forward and gave the baby a kiss on her tiny forehead. She yawned and stretched a bit to make herself comfortable, making the colonel smirk in response.
"You hungry, Gov'nor? LeBeau's about to make breakfast," the English corporal said, pointing behind him.
"Oh, just give me my usual scrambled eggs and bacon, LeBeau. Nothing too fancy," Hogan answered, swaying back and forth.
"Oui, mon Colonel," LeBeau answered, then quickly made his way out of the room and into the main area.
"Come on, Andrew, Kinch. Let's play a round of gin before Louis gets our meals ready," the English corporal said, turning the two sergeants.
"I'm in," Carter said.
"Sure, why not," Kinch remarked.
The three of them left Hogan's quarters, he and the baby now to themselves for a little while. The colonel continued rocking side to side while holding Gracie in his arms. He sat down in his desk chair and looked down at her. She was fast asleep and did not make a single sound.
"You sure are a tiny little thing, aren't you," Hogan said.
Gracie squirmed a little bit, making a few soft grunts, then eventually stopped moving again.
"Littler than LeBeau," he chuckled. He just sat there, watching in amazement at the little baby. Something inside him felt different, but he was not exactly sure what that something was. Is was as if a little place inside him had a hole filled that he never knew existed. He smiled down at Gracie and continued talking to her. "You'll like my men, I know you will. They can be a little silly sometimes, but they mean well. I'll just have to make sure Carter doesn't expose you to any of his explosives. He tends to get a bit on the excited end regarding them."
Gracie opened her little eyes and scanned around the room at everything. She then turned her eyes to the man holding her and looking down at her. She smiled and started making soft coo noises at Hogan. The American colonel softly chuckled then got up, walked over to his footlocker, and grabbed a bottle with formula. He started feeding Gracie the bottle and walked out of his quarters to the table. When he got out there, he saw Newkirk, Carter, and Kinch were in the midst of their card game.
Newkirk thought for a little while before laying down a card and grabbing another one from the deck. He studied it carefully as he planned his next move.
"Boy, I think I'm gonna win this one." Carter cheered, putting down a card.
"Game's not over yet, Andrew," Kinch answered, with a wink.
The staff sergeant made his move, and again it went back to Newkirk. The corporal thought for a minute before making a move. He saw his road to victory, laid three cards on the table, then the rest of them in front of him.
"Gin," he said, with a grin.
Carter threw his cards in while wearing a long frown.
"Boy...beating Newkirk sure is near impossible," he said.
"Don't worry, kid; one of us beat Newkirk one of these days," Kinch said.
"Not if I have anything to do with it," the Englishman remarked.
Hogan walked out further and sat down in his usual spot holding Gracie as he continued feeding her her bottle. He looked down and smiled at her again.
"You're such a good girl...yes, you are." He cooed.
Gracie made little suckling noises while she drank her milk. She kept looking up at the man holding her and talking to her. She liked him and found him safe and nice. His warmth and soothing voice made it easy for the little one to be fond of him.
"Is Old Gov'nor here giving you a bottle, huh?" Newkirk asked, with a grin.
Gracie continued drinking her bottle quietly as Hogan rocked her gently.
"Sure is a tiny little person to add to the operation," Carter said.
"You know we can't keep her here, Carter. It's too dangerous for us, and her most of all," Hogan answered, looking up from Gracie.
"Are yah sure, Colonel? I mean, we'd all pitch in to help and take care of her."
"It's not us I'm worried about; it's the Krauts and the Gestapo. If Hochstetter or Burkhalter found out about Gracie, we'd all be in for a world full of trouble. The operation would be exposed, and we'd all end up facing a firing squad. Not to mention Klink and Schultz would be sent to the Russian Front for incompetence."
The sergeant sighed sadly.
"Yes, Colonel," he softly said.
The officer turned his attention to Kinch.
"Kinch, send this message to London: Baby found, in Papa Bear's care. Send plane or submarine to retrieve for her and get her out of Germany ASAP. Look for people willing to adopt, too," he ordered.
"Yes, Colonel," Kinch answered. He rose from the table, made his way to the fake bunk, banged the hidden mechanism, and went down into the tunnels to send the message.
"Carter, get down there and make more of those sound proof pads to put on my door. The two we put on my windows aren't gonna be enough after what happened this morning." Hogan continued.
"Right, Sir," the technical sergeant answered, with a nod, then made his way in the same direction Kinch had gone in.
LeBeau finished making breakfast and put a plate down in front of everybody. The Frenchman sat down on his commander's right after double checking everyone had a plate and socialized with his friends.
"Are you sure we can't keep her, Colonel?" LeBeau asked.
Hogan sighed.
"Look, I don't wanna send Gracie off, either. Having her with us means that we know she's safe and being cared for. It's too dangerous though with the Gestapo on our hinds all the time. She needs to get to London with two parents who will love her and care for her. To give her a happy, safe, normal life. What we do here in Stalag 13 is no place for a baby to be raised and care for. What if something happened to us? There's no way Klink would take her under his care." He explained.
LeBeau sadly nodded.
"Oui, mon Colonel," he answered.
Kinch came back up, closed the bunk behind him, then he sat down besides LeBeau and picked up his fork.
"Message sent and received, Colonel. Orders will be sent sometime later today," he reported.
"Good," Hogan replied. "The sooner we get Gracie to London, the sooner she can be adopted by two loving parents."
"What do we do in the meanwhile, Gov'nor?" Newkirk asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
Hogan looked down at Gracie and smiled.
"Well...there's nothing much else we can do at the moment. We're officially parents until further notice," he said.
The three other men gathered around Hogan and cooed at the little baby.