A/N: Forgot to put this as the header in chapter one! Huge shout out to my friend, who beta worked this entire story! You the real MVP! Alright, I'm gonna be quiet now. Enjoy! :D
Chapter 2:
Carter's face paled as soon as the man said his name. He looked like he had just seen a banshee pass by and threatened to take his soul. Kinch noticed the discomfort his friend seemed to be suffering from.
"Carter, are you alright, kid?" Kinch asked, worried.
The young sergeant simply swallowed a knot forming in his throat and continued looking fixed in the direction he was facing.
Newkirk and LeBeau looked and now grew concerned themselves.
"Andrew, what's wrong, mate?" Newkirk questioned.
"You look like you just saw un fantôme," LeBeau said.
Hogan walked over to Carter's side and put a hand gently on his arm, right after kneeling down to be eye level with the young man.
"Carter, what's wrong?" Hogan asked.
Carter turned to Hogan with his eyes pleading for mercy.
"Colonel...tell me they didn't say what they just said!"
"You know the bloke, Andrew?" Newkirk asked, surprised.
"He was my old commanding officer, before I was captured and taken here to Stalag 13." Carter answered.
"Why do you look so terrified, then? You should be glad to see your old commanding officer again," Hogan said softly.
"Colonel, I don't wanna see him! I don't ever wanna see him! Don't let him stay here, Colonel, please!" Carter practically begged.
"Carter...what's wrong?" Hogan looked directly into Carter's eyes. They were filled with true terror and horror just thinking of the man. "What did he do that you're so terrified of him for?"
Carter did not answer. He simply just shook his head, as if he could not come to accept what was happening.
Hogan turned to look at Kinch, Newkirk, and LeBeau.
"Kinch, keep listening in with Newkirk and LeBeau. Let me know if anything important comes up," Hogan ordered.
"Yes, sir," Kinch said.
Hogan helped Carter to his feet, escorted the young sergeant out of his quarters, and to the table in the main area. Both sat down and neither one said anything for a minute. Hogan sighed and finally looked at Carter. He saw the fear evident in his eyes. He had never seen his demolitions expert so frightened before in his life besides the times Hogan had gotten sick or hurt.
"Carter, what's going on here? You can tell me. I won't judge," Hogan said, caring.
"Colonel, make him go away. Please make him go away." Carter quivered, fighting back from crying.
"What did he do to you, Carter? I need to know to help you."
Carter was silent for a moment. He looked both ways, then behind him, and finally back to Hogan.
"Colonel...he's a bad man...a very bad man. He's made fun of me time and time again...I was always terrified to tell him to knock it off...he's hit several of his men in command." He began.
"He's hit his own men?" Hogan gasped.
"That's only part of it, Colonel...he...Colonel, he's killed people...people in his own command. Sometimes he doesn't even have a reason for doing it. He just does."
"He's killed his own men!"
"Colonel, what if he tries to kill you? What if he hurts Kinch? Louis! Newkirk!"
Hogan put a hand on his shoulder.
"No one's gonna get hurt and no one's gonna get killed. I promise, Carter," he said. Hogan's blood was beginning to boil. He was disgusted with such a man. What kinda man killed, hit, and verbally abused the ones in his own command? Hogan would never, ever, try to hurt one of his men: verbally or physically. He did not believe in violence unless it was in self defense to protect one's self or another person with them. It was one of the many things he hated about Adolf Hitler and his dictatorship of the Third Reich. He could not stand violence. It made him ill just to think of such cruel acts. "Carter, I promise, I won't let that man lay a single hand on you, Kinch, Newkirk, LeBeau, or anyone else. He'll have hell to pay before doing so."
"What about you, Colonel?" Carter worried.
"I'll be alright. I can protect myself," Hogan said, reassuring.
"Colonel, no! He'll kill you, please! I can't live with myself if something happens to you!"
Hogan smiled and patted Carter's shoulder.
"Nothing's gonna happen to me. I promise, Carter," he said.
"You promise?"
Hogan nodded.
"I do," he said.
Carter gave a small smile and nodded. If anyone could help him, without a doubt, it was Colonel Hogan.
The door to the American officer's quarters opened, and Kinch, Newkirk, and LeBeau walked over to Hogan and Carter.
"Is he all right, Colonel?" LeBeau asked, worried.
Hogan grinned at the little Frenchman.
"He'll be just fine, LeBeau." He then sighed. "Just that this old commanding officer of Carter's is not exactly someone of sunshine and rainbows."
"By the look Carter had on his face, I'm surprised he doesn't have nightmares about the man," Newkirk remarked.
"What did he do to you anyways, Carter?" Kinch asked, crossing his arms.
Carter looked at Hogan, then back to his friends.
"I don't really wanna talk about it...it kinda gives me nightmares still." The young sergeant answered meekly.
Kinch, Newkirk, and LeBeau turned to look at one another, then back at Hogan and Carter.
"Well...we don't have much good news for you two," Kinch said, sighing.
Hogan got to his feet and looked at Kinch incredulously.
"Why is that?" Hogan asked.
As if on cue, the door to barracks two opened. Hochstetter with his two men, Klink, and Walters walked into the main area.
"That's why," Kinch softly said, pointing behind the colonel.
Hogan and Carter turned around to see who was there. Seeing his late commanding officer, Carter leaped from his seat and latched onto Hogan's arm tightly. Hogan turned to look at Carter for a moment, patted his arm gently, then returned his gaze to that of Walters's.
"Kommandant, don't you think it's a little too early for visitors?" Hogan asked, giving a slight grin.
"Hogan, this is the newest edition to Stalag 13. A lieutenant from your own army, might I say." Klink answered, displaying his new prisoner.
Hogan looked him up and down, then back up again and nodded.
"He seems alright, what do you guys think?" He asked, turning to his men.
"Meh," Kinch, Newkirk, and LeBeau all said in response.
Carter held Hogan's arm a bit tighter. He felt letting go of his commanding officer for a moment would put him right back into his old commander's harm within an instant.
Walters looked at the three behind Hogan, then at the commanding officer himself, and finally set his eyes on Carter. He gave an evil smile to him, making the young sergeant wilt under his eyes.
"Well hey, Rat! How's it going?" Walters called.
Carter shivered and hid his face in Hogan's arm. Hogan glanced with his eyes quick at Carter, then returned and fixed them on Walters. He did not like this man at all. He refused to let him get as so much as one finger on one of his men. He would kill before that happened.
"I hope you will welcome him and treat him as anyone else in this camp," Klink continued.
"Just as long as he remembers who's in charge around here, there shouldn't be any problems." Hogan answered. He stared at the lieutenant, giving him a silent warning.
Walters ground his jaw while looking back into Hogan's eyes. He strongly disapproved of the man and would let him know to back off, when they finally got to be alone.
"Lieutenant Walters, Colonel Hogan is the Senior POW Officer, so any complaints will go to him and then to me. If you have any questions, just ask him," Klink said.
"No questions, Kommandant...just a few things to say," Walters said coldly.
Hogan stared him down, showing he was not afraid of him or his cheap threats.
Klink and Hochstetter left the barracks with Hochstetter's two men following him. It left the six men to themselves. At first, no words were exchanged between any of them. The other men were watching in silence, wondering what was about to take place. It was then that Hogan lightly shoved Carter off of him, pushed him to be behind him, then approached closer to the lieutenant with a cold look in his eyes.
"I don't know what you did to Carter, but you better keep your dirty hands off of him- and that goes for all of my men, got it?" Hogan snarled.
"You don't scare me, weakling," Walters bit back harshly.
"Why you no good…" Newkirk was stopped by Kinch's arm and a firm look from the sergeant that told him to stay put.
Carter hid behind Newkirk's left side, trying to keep out of his old commanding officer's sight. The last thing he wanted was for a confrontation between the two of them to occur.
Walters glared back at Newkirk, then again at Hogan.
"Your Englander know what a thing called manners are, or does he always butt into everyone else's business?" The lieutenant hissed.
"What my men do and act like is my responsibility, not yours," Hogan shot back.
"Well, they better not act like that around me. Unlike you, my men will treat me with respect!"
"They're my men, and you better remember that piece of information carefully! I'll have Klink put you in the cooler, if you refuse to follow my direct orders otherwise!"
"Ha! That man couldn't scare me if you made his eyes glow red! He's as stupid as that Gestapo major that was with him!"
"Major Hochstetter isn't someone to mess with, Lieutenant. He's not as stupid as you think he is. He will find a way to punish you severely regards to anyone's orders, if you go around and mess with him."
"None of those Nazi pigs scare me and neither do you!"
Hogan grit his teeth and exhaled to keep himself from losing his temper in front of his men.
"Now where do I sleep?" Walters finally asked coldly.
"How about in Gestapo Headquarters?" Suggested LeBeau, softly to Kinch.
Kinch nodded, glaring at the man. None of Hogan's men were growing fond of the idea of sharing a barracks with Carter's old commander.
"You'll sleep in that vacant bunk in the back. Gives you a nice view of camp. Private Jones sleeps on top." Hogan answered, smug. He wrapped his arms around himself and watched Walters carefully.
"Fine," Walters replied in the same tone. He stormed over to his bunk, after pushing Hogan lightly to the side walking past him. The American colonel brushed his left shoulder off, as if Walters had left dirt on his leather jacket.
Carter hung his head and walked sadly into Hogan's room.
Hogan looked over to where Carter had disappeared and followed after him. Newkirk, LeBeau, and Kinch followed Hogan from behind into the small room. When the colonel entered his quarters, he found Carter sitting in his chair and looking down in his lap. His face looked depressed and saddened.
"Carter," Hogan said softly. "What's wrong?"
"It's all my fault, Colonel. Had it not been for me, Lieutenant Walters wouldn't even be here," Carter sadly said.
"Andrew, that miserable bloke isn't here because of you. He wants you to think that to give him some personal gain around here." Newkirk answered, crossing his arms.
"Oui, mon ami. He's just looking for ways to knock you off your feet." LeBeau added.
"What do we do, Colonel? We've gotta get rid of him." Carter pleaded.
"I know, Carter. I'm thinking of something," Hogan gently said. He wanted the man as far away from Carter and the rest of his men as possible. He was a threat to them, the camp, the operation, even to Klink. He could not allow some psycho who harmed men on occasion for no apparent reason walk around this camp. He had to get rid of him, but how?
"What if you reported what Carter told you to the Kommandant, Colonel?" LeBeau asked.
"NO!" Carter yelped.
Hogan shot his head around and made his way to the young man. He gently put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him concerned.
"What do you mean 'no', Carter? Klink could help us somehow," Hogan said.
"No, you can't! He'll find out, please, Colonel, no!" Carter pleaded.
"What do you mean 'he'll find out'?" Newkirk asked.
"Mon Colonel's right, André. Klink can get rid of him, if he knows of your past with Monsieur Bosche," LeBeau said.
"No, no, no! You can't, Colonel! Please, sir, don't tell Klink! Please, Colonel!" Carter practically begged. He was grabbing onto both of Hogan's arms tightly, like he was terrified of letting him go.
"Carter...what did he do to you? You're acting like I'll die if I try confronting him," Hogan said, shocked.
"You will die, Colonel! I can't let you die for me! If you tell Klink, he'll find out, and you'll die!" Carter whimpered.
"How's the Gov'nor gonna die, Andrew? He can get help and make sure that bastard never hurts you again," Newkirk said.
Carter did not answer. He just shook his head and looked back at Hogan with tears falling down his face.
"Please, Colonel...please don't tell Klink...I don't want you to die."
Hogan nodded softly and patted Carter on the shoulder.
"Alright, Carter. I won't tell Klink...we'll just have to find another way to get rid of him, then."