By the time the sun had reached the top of the tallest guard tower the yard in front of Klink's office was full of yawning, shuffling and complaining men. There were three obvious gaps in the ranks, all of them in front of Barrack 2. A new guard had been assigned to count the men that remained in the NCO barrack. Once his numbers matched the clipboard in his hand he made no attempt to communicate with the POWs and they likewise ignored the guard.

Falling into a comfortable trance Carter glanced over to the two men standing in front the cooler. LeBeau and Newkirk stood shifting from foot to foot trying to stay warm, the Brit on occasion bending his ear toward the Frenchman. Every man in the compound had made note of the two staff cars parked in front of Klink's office.

The men who had done work for Colonel Hogan better understood the significance of the insignia on the cars but none of them knew for sure who had arrived in the camp that morning, or what it would mean.

The first man to leave the kommandant's office was Corporal Langenscheidt. The the corporal looked worn and rumpled. Exactly like he should have looked after spending the entire night commanding a road block and chasing down teenaged SS impersonators.

Judging by the relaxed pace of his journey to the guard's barracks, and by the piece of paper sticking up out of the breast pocket of his uniform coat, Kinch assumed that the corporal had been given a 24-hour pass for his trouble.

The second man to leave the office was dressed in black, sinister yet non-descript clothing. The sort of clothing that the secret police preferred. The figure would have been cause for alarm if Carter hadn't recognized the face of Max, the underground agent who ran a grocery in the town of Hammelburg. He stepped out of Klink's office with General Burkhalter and the kommandant right behind him. A ceremony of salutes, heel slaps and Heil Hitlers went back and forth between the three before Max tripped down the stairs and ducked into his car.

Burkhalter and Klink watched the "gestapo man" leave, bearing the same look that most Germans had after dealing with the secret police. A mix of indigestion, terror and overwhelming relief. The look was easier to spot on Klink's face, than the general's and as he saluted Klink and turned to step into his own vehicle, Burkhalter looked like he might have been more perturbed at the colonel than the Gestapo.

Carter flashed a glance to Kinch to guage his response to the scene and wasn't surprised to see the slightest hint of a smile on the man's bearded face. A quick glance to LeBeau and Newkirk told him that neither corporal was in on the plan, whatever "the plan" was.

Klink held a stiff salute to his brow until the general's car had cleared the gates, then turned his attention to the prisoners still waiting for dismissal. "Repooort."

"All prisoners present and accounted for."

"Very good." Klink said before his customary dramatic pause. "As some of you prisoners may already be aware, Sergeant Schultz suffered a severe heart attack yesterday while on duty. I am pleased to tell you that as a result of his superior German breeding, and our excellent health care system, the sergeant is recovering and will soon be well."

This announcement was met with a mild chorus of celebrations from the men in the compound that served to relieve some of the tension in Klink's shoulders.

"I would also like to announce that your wayward Colonel Hogan has been captured by the Gestapo and-" The rest of his statement was lost in a cacophony of boo's from around the compound that far outweighed the strength of the cheers. The only men that did not participate in the rebellious noise were the guards and Hogan's men. Carter now religiously watching Kinch every time the men reacted, had found that Newkirk and LeBeau had taken his lead, also watching the tall staff sergeant closely.

Kinch hadn't been surprised at all by the news about Schultz. He also wasn't surprised or concerned about their leader being in the hands of the Gestapo. Carter did his best to hide the smile, making eye contact with Louie across the compound.

"Silence! Let this serve as a warning to you all. Escapes bring trouble. The Gestapo is always watching," Klink said, pointing in the direction that the two staff cars had disappeared."...and they will not treat you as humanely as I do."

The men were even more displeased with this announcement and this time even Klink's shouts for quiet were ignored.

In fact the noise in the compound reached near riotous volumes until a familiar figure stepped out of Klink's office, leaning heavily on a single crutch. He'd been allowed to retrieve his crush-cap (completing the uniform that he had hastily changed back into) and had been given the chance to clean up. A white plaster cast circled his left foot, and to Kinch's eye the colonel looked ten times better than he'd expected.

Klink might have been right about the German health care system.

"Pipe down, pipe down!" Hogan called into the compound, and those that hadn't seen the man yet responded to the command automatically, growing silent before a second round of surprised exclamations filled the air. "I said pipe down!" Hogan shouted, his voice stern. "Show some respect for the kommandant."

"Thank you, Hogan." Klink said, an awkward look of relief crossing his face.

"You're welcome, Kommandant." Hogan responded, still standing just behind the colonel's shoulder.

"Now, as a result of information that has recently come to light..." Klink paused again. This time all of Hogan's men recognized the look of reluctant acceptance that their kommandant adopted any time he bought most, but not all, of one of Hogan's scams. "...all previous punishments will be reprieved. However.." Klink's fist rose, his finger extended and shaking in admonishment. "One wrong move from any of you, and all punishments will be doubled. Dismissed!"

Klink whirled on one foot, his coat flapping behind him, and brushed past the colonel without another word.

Hogan had made it down the steps and across fifteen feet of ground before he was swarmed by half the men in the compound. Most were there to get a good look at whatever damage the Gestapo might have done, or offer a polite welcome back. The group coalesced and scattered in ocean waves for a few minutes before the numbers solidified, and only four men moved with the colonel toward the barracks.

As they entered Barrack 2 Hogan quickly put an end to the chatter following him and led the way into his office. The men arranged themselves in the room once Hogan had lowered himself carefully onto the surface of the bottom bunk. A steaming cup of coffee found it's way into Hogan's hand, and he fought the temptation to drool as LeBeau promised him a gourmet meal.

"I don't know how you did it, sir. Klink's been a right ol' bear all night long. I thought me and Louie would be stuck in the cooler til the end of the war."

"As soon as I saw Max come out of the kommandant's office, mon Colonel, I knew that everything would be alright."

"I just kept my eye on Kinch. Boy he didn't react at all, and I just knew somethin' was goin' on. See Kinch always-"

"You should'a seen my face last night. The alarm on the emergency tunnel went off and I thought for sure we were goners."

"Emergency tunnel! Of course! Then-"

"-like to know how he got that spiffy new cast on his-"

"-have seen Klink's face when Max went in there. Betya Burkhalter just blew up at him."

"Hey guys.."

"-explains why he looked such a grump. Too early in the mornin' for that sort of nonsense-"

"-wonder how the colonel managed to swing-"

"Guys!" Kinch repeated, more insistent but still keeping his voice down. "Look."

Each of the four men refocused on the main topic of conversation, surprised to find that the colonel was dead to the world, asleep on the bottom bunk.

Quietly the four men covered the colonel with blankets, placed his crush cap on the door of his standing locker where it belonged and filed out of the room, whispering excitedly, and picking up the conversation precisely where they had left it.

A week after Schultz returned to the stalag the final clean up mission took place, for once, without a hitch. The following morning the men were exhausted but finally able to breathe. The last of the loose ends had been cleared up surrounding the information leak in their underground network caused by the teenaged SS brigade and their would be Mata Hari, and London had promised them a break from missions, to the best of their ability, for a few days.

Mail and red cross packages had arrived, delivered by Schultz's own hand once more. The men in Barrack 2 had been perfect angels, forgoing the usual crush mob and sitting patiently as the guard happily passed out each parcel.

Later that afternoon Schultz settled weary bones on a stack of crates next to Sergeant Carter, who was sunning himself with two dinted hubcaps and Sergeant Kinchloe who was focused on the book he had received in his red cross package. Both men greeted the sergeant of the guard then fell into companionable silence for a few seconds before Carter said, "Hey Schultz, would you like some of the candy I got in my red cross package?"

In response to the question Schultz grinned and shook his finger and his head, no. "Nein Carter, Danke." He responded with exaggerated etiquette.

"Hey, you're doin' pretty good with that, Schultz." Kinch praised. "You didn't lick your lips this time."

"Pretty soon he won't even wait for me to ask." Carter added, smirking at the guard who, up until the day before, had been rattling around loose in his uniform.

Schultz had lost weight during his convalescence, some of which he would be gaining back, but the doctor's admonitions about diet and exercise had been strict. Newkirk had finally had the time to do something about the shoddy tailoring that had been done by Schultz' wife, and Carter had to admit that it made a big difference.

As soon as Hogan got wind of Schultz's new health regimen he had ordered his own men to keep an eye out for the sergeant, and keep him honest about the diet portion in particular. Carter had taken to tempting Schultz with goodies once or twice a day, to get him into the practice of saying, "No."

LeBeau had begun making healthier rewards for Schultz to offset the detriment to his taste buds and Hogan, under the auspices of maintaining his own physical fitness despite the cast still circling his foot, had begun taking evening walks with Schultz around the camp just before curfew.

"It warms my heart to know that, even though we are enemies, you boys care about your fellow human beings." Schultz said, closing his eyes and enjoying the sunlight on his face.

"You're an important guy, Schultz." Kinch said, marking his place in the book with a finger. "Without you around, this place would fall apart."

Schultz gave a sarcastic laugh at that, but kept his eyes closed, content.

"You know, that's true." Carter said, shifting as he spoke and unintentionally blinding Kinch with reflected sunlight. "Klink was beside himself the whole time you were gone. Things just weren't the same without ya."

This time Schultz shrugged a little but accepted Carter's words with a prim smile. "It is good to be back."

"We're sorry we didn't get to visit you in the hospital." Carter added. "But we sent you all those cards and flowers and things."

Their failure to visit hadn't been for lack of trying. There had been enough trips out of camp in the past few months for each of the men to have visited Schultz twice, but the colonel had been insistent. No side trips, and nothing that would upset Schultz or complicate his recovery.

"Ah, that's alright, Carter. As the kommandant says, "Escapes bring trouble." Even if you are running into the woods to save the life of a helpless young girl, the Gestapo don't care."

"Even if all you wanted to do was go hunting for mushrooms?" Kinch asked, smirking.

"Right." Schultz agreed, sincerely.

"Even if you were just trying to make sure that your colonel didn't fall down and get hurt?" Carter asked.

"Even if!" Schultz agreed, then smiled with a chuckle. "You know..that reminds me of something I heard in the sergeant's club the other day."

"Schultz...were you snitchin' beer?" Carter began but the big man waved away his concern.

"Nein, nein, nein. I was only there to speak to the new guard. He's a very interesting man."

"Oh sure..." Kinch said sarcastically.

"A likely story!" Carter said, grinning despite himself at the simple pleasure of teasing the sergeant.

"It's true! And any way that's not the point. The point is...he told me a story about a commanding officer of his-" Schultz cut himself off, already chuckling about it.

From where he stood near the door of Barracks 2, Hogan smirked at LeBeau and Newkirk and the group quietly leaned in to hear the tale.