Fraulein Hilda, Klink's under-appreciated-unless-the-kommandant-or-some-other-man-was-trying-to-romance-her secretary, was busily organizing the file cabinets when someone entered the office.

She knew it wasn't Hogan, because A) he would probably have sneaked up and kissed her neck already, and B) whoever it was tripped over the doorway, and had to stagger to regain their balance. Hogan was usually far too graceful for that.

Not Klink or Sergeant Schultz either; even though she could imagine either of them being that clumsy, the step was too light for the latter and too hesitant for the former. But it was definitely someone wearing boots, based on their tread, meaning probably either a POW or one of the soldiers; the kommandant would have told her if anyone new was coming today. So finally she glanced over her shoulder to see who it was.

"Sergeant Carter?"

The young man gave her a shy smile and shuffled his feet a little, hands behind his back.

"Um, hi, Fraulein Hilda."

The secretary looked at him curiously. "Does Colonel Hogan need something?"

"...Not that I know of. I mean, he probably will at some point because we're working on-something I'm not supposed to tell you about yet-" Carter's ears turned a little red- "but that's not really the reason why I came here, or really anything to do with it."

Hilda tried to smother a giggle at how Carter was stumbling over his own words as she closed the cabinet drawer and sauntered in his direction. "Then what are you here for?"

Another nervous little shuffle. "Well...I-I heard it's your birthday today." Shyly Carter pulled a little, elegantly wrapped package from behind his back. "So I got you something."

Hilda couldn't help giving a little delighted gasp.

"Oh, you shouldn't have!" She took the package from him, and sat down at her desk to open it. And she gasped again at the sight of a simple, yet elegant, hair clip decorated with tiny sunflowers.

Anyone else would have been surprised at the fact that a prisoner of war would be able to give her something like this, under the circumstances. Hilda, of course, was used to the occasional gifts of chocolates, nylons, and perfume (not to mention romantic encounters with Hogan)-but this was special. It wasn't trying to get anything from her, or trying to win her affections (not to her knowledge, anyway). It was just because Carter had remembered her birthday.

Still smiling, she carefully slid the clip into the side of one of her pale plaits, before standing up and going to the sergeant.

"Thank you," she told him sincerely, before leaning forward and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

The redness around his ears spread to his cheeks, and Carter giggled a little.

"Careful," he said, "the colonel might think I'm trying to steal you." Realizing how that sounded a second later, he backpedaled, "I'm not-Not that you-I mean-"

Hilda laughed again. "It's all right, Carter. I understand what you mean." She caressed the clip with the tips of her fingers. "Thank you again for this; it's very beautiful."

Carter smiled. "Happy birthday, Fraulein Hilda."

Then he practically skipped out of the kommandantur.

Later, Hogan showed up with a bouquet of long-stemmed red roses and a bottle of champagne (and of course, Hilda asked no questions about where they'd come from, as long as she was allowed to partake). But as they shared a drink while snuggled together on the loveseat, Hogan noticed the sunflowers decorating Hilda's braid.

"That's nice," he commented, running his fingers across them. "Another gift?"

Hilda smiled. "Yes. A friend gave it to me."

Believe it or not, I'm not trying to ship Carter and Hilda. I just like the idea of him being considerate enough to remember her birthday and get her a present. It's exemplified in the title: the way I see it, Carter is an absolute sweetheart.

I also tried to give Hilda more development than in the show; do you like it?