Chapter 10 - Epilogue:

Here it is: The last chapter.

Beta-read by Tiny1217, any remaining mistakes are my own. Thanks for your help, Tiny! Without you this story would have been a lot harder to read.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own either Hogan's Heroes or the A-Team and I am making no money with this story.

As the sun was beginning to rise on the outside Colonel Hogan was pacing in his office. Roll call was only a few minutes away and Murdock, Face and Newkirk had yet to show up.

Hannibal was with the men in the barracks projecting confidence and wearing a wide grin. He was giving the younger colonel some much needed time to work off the nervous energy. Around his men, Colonel Hogan always had to project unwavering confidence. He had to uphold morale and couldn't let his men see his nervousness. With little to no privacy it had to be very stressful.

Hannibal had come to like the younger colonel and respected his competence. He would even go as far as to say they were becoming friends. And because of that he decided to give Hogan some time alone, so he wouldn't have to hide his feelings. After all, there was a lot at stake. The men around him seemed to draw strength from Hannibal's confident stance. They were all afraid that the three men wouldn't make there before roll call. Klink might not be smart enough to link three prisoners turning up suddenly after roll call to the missing scientists, but there were people out there who would.

Still, the lieutenant colonel wasn't really worried yet. His boys, and especially Murdock, had a knack of turning up when they were needed. There was no doubt in his mind that they would be back in time.

Just as he thought this, there was a knock on the bunk. When Kinch opened it quickly, Murdock, Newkirk and Face stumbled out. All of them out of breath from running. They had already dressed in their normal uniforms again.

Only a second later Schultz came in to get them for roll call. They may all have looked a little worse for the wear from stumbling around in the woods and dead on their feet, but thankfully nobody seemed to notice. Well, and if he found Hannibal and Face in the wrong barracks, Schultz was determined to see nothing.

Roll call was a quiet and thankfully short affair that morning. When it was finally over, the men all practically fell into their beds.

Hogan couldn't help but smile at his men. Newkirk was sprawled unceremoniously on his bunk, snoring lightly, while Carter had rolled up in a fetal position also fast asleep.
The men of the A-Team weren't faring much better. BA was sleeping, facing the wall. Face hadn't even made it back to his barracks. He had joined Murdock on his bunk. Face was lying on his stomach, while Murdock managed to use his best friend's back as a pillow, his long legs hanging to the floor. The blanket lay abandoned on the lower end of the bed.
Hannibal grinned at the sight. Carefully he covered his boys with the blanket, neither of them waking up.
When he saw Hogan watching him, he just shrugged. As a team they had to look out for each other.

"Let's go to sleep, too," Hogan suggested. "You can have the bottom bunk."

Hannibal agreed and soon the two colonels joined their teams in the land of dreams.

They all slept peacefully till the smell of lunch woke them. LeBeau had outdone himself with his celebratory meal and the tired soldiers woke with minimal grumbling.

The meal started out quiet and sleepy, but soon, the soldiers were joking around and teasing like they had known each other for ages. Hannibal and Hogan shared a grin, when Murdock proudly showed off the watch he had managed to filch from Newkirk. Face laughed so hard, he almost fell from his chair. At least until Murdock produced the conman's watch from his pocket, resulting in a chase around the barracks. Even BA had to grin at their antics.

Hannibal had the suspicion that the only reason Murdock had managed to filch those two was because they were so tired.

Finally Face caught up to Murdock, tackling him onto a bed and getting his and Newkirk's watch back. It was amazing how close the teams had gotten in the short amount of time.

Still, Hogan knew, there was only space for one Colonel and CO in this Stalag. And actually – as if he had read the colonel's mind – Kinch reported: "London called. They congratulate us for a job well done. They want to have their Carthaginians back now."

"Seems like your holidays are over," Hogan teased.

"Well, I guess some of us have to work," Hannibal shot back without missing a beat.

The colonels grinned at one another.

"I will book your ride home, then," Hogan told them and left for the radio. Hannibal trailed after him, curious to see what Hogan would do. The younger colonel was the expert in this field.

In the end it turned out rather anticlimactic: Hogan called the Underground and arranged for the A-Team to be picked up the next day. A German soldier, who was secretly on their side, would let it slip that the team had secret information and was to be brought in for questioning. He would join the pick-up team and see to it that Hannibal and his friends had a way to escape. In case something went wrong, the Underground would follow the truck and bail them out.

15 Minutes later the A-Team had their way out and the colonels went to tell their teams.

Their boys took the news with mixed feelings. While BA, Face and Murdock were eager to get out again and onto new missions, they had enjoyed to work with Hogan and his men.

Even if the feeling was mutual, the barracks were starting to get a bit crowded.

They had all known the day to say good bye would come sooner rather than later, but now that it was upon them neither knew what to say. Silence reigned Barracks Two for a long moment.

Then Colonel Hogan decided to put a stop to the brooding. "You never told us how you ended up here," he stated.

The reaction was instantaneous: Hannibal grinned, Face rolled his eyes and BA shouted, "That fool crashed our chopper and almost got us killed!"

Murdock spluttered indignantly, but Face replied, before he could. "Give the man a break, BA. He was shot in the leg and the gas tank was leaking."

"Yeah, BA. Gimme a break!" Murdock groused. "I would have liked to see you fly that bird under the circumstances. And I don't crash! I made an unplanned landing on unsuitable ground."

"Murdock is right, BA," Hannibal tried to appease the angry Sergeant. "He did the best he could under the circumstances, by landing in that clearing."

"You shut up, Hannibal!" BA growled. "You weren't there. You had to get yourself caught and got us into this mess in the first place. But no more! I ain't flying with this fool anymore, he crashed us enough times."

Murdock got up, entering the Sergeants personal space until their noses were almost touching. "I told you, you mean, angry mudsucker. I never crash. If you crash, you don't get to walk away from it and do it again," the lanky pilot was speaking very fast. "You won't fly with me again? Fine, have it your way, but I don't want to hear you complaining when your boots get all dirty, the soles coming off and your feet start to sweat because of all the walking. I don't care! But know that your lack of faith in me is really bad for my fragile confidence. It hurts my feelings, man! And I thought you cared, when you were sobbing over my weak body, out there in the forest, my life's fluids leaking through my leg wound…"

"Shut up, fool!" BA ground out, gripping the pilots arm harshly. A lesser man would have yielded under the threatening glare sent Murdock's way.

The Captain only grinned. "I knew you cared, big guy."

Hannibal chuckled at the familiar display. This mission had shaken them all up and brought up some things better forgotten. It was good to see them all getting back to normal. Murdock, especially, had worried him. He had been a bit off the last few days.

Hogan and his men were visibly confused, by now. Face finally took pity on them.

"Better let me do the talking," he told his friends. "Hannibal was trying to contact the underground for information about the scientists, when he stumbled over a German patrol and got caught. They brought him to a military base for questioning. The three of us 'loaned' a chopper to rescue him. Unfortunately someone noticed us at take-off. Let's just say, they weren't very pleased. Anyway, Murdock got hit in the leg and the fuel tank was leaking, so he had to perform an emergency landing," here Face glanced cautiously at the scowling Sergeant, "in the forest. We treated Murdock's leg wound with the supplies from the chopper and then I went to scout the area, while BA stayed with Murdock. Unfortunately I was caught. They found BA and Murdock soon after and brought us in for questioning. At least we got to Hannibal this way. Finally we managed to convince them we had just gotten lost and were acting alone, by playing dumb. They decided there were no information to get from us and shipped us off to Stalag 13. The rest you know," he finished.

"Well, in the end everything turned out rather nicely, I would say," Hannibal smiled, breaking the solemn mood that had befallen everyone.

Soon the barracks were filled with the sound of laugher and talking again, as both teams made the most of the time they had left with each other.

The next day after roll call it was time to say goodbye. It wasn't hard to say goodbye per se. After all, they were used to this kind of thing. Still, they were going to miss each other.

Carter gifted Murdock with a new leash for Billy. The pilot tackled his friend in a hug and made a show of putting the leash on. BA growled.

In turn Murdock gave Carter one of his baseball caps. Hogan's youngest team member smiled broadly and put it on immediately.

Face gave Newkirk back his pack of cigarettes. The Corporal smirked and pulled out the lighter Face carried around for his Colonel. Both things made their way back to their rightful owner.

Meanwhile Hannibal watched Hogan carefully. He was measuring up the younger man, to see if it would be okay to leave him here. Hannibal could only imagine the strain the other colonel was under, running an operation like this. John Smith may only be a colonel, but he was good at what he did and the higher ups listened to his judgement. If he had the feeling things were getting too much for Hogan to handle, he could get him help back in London. Hannibal knew Hogan would never ask for such a thing. But as the older colonel looked at the younger man he saw a certain twinkle in his eyes. And he understood that Hogan loved messing with Klink, as much as Hannibal loved the jazz.

Lieutenant Colonel John Smith gave the younger colonel a big grin and saluted. For a moment Hogan looked shocked. Then he grinned and saluted back.

They had all just finished shaking hands and saying good bye, when Schultz waltzed in to get the A-Team.

"Seems like our taxi arrived," Hannibal grinned. His three subordinates groaned at the look in his eyes. "See you, Hogan."

A few minutes later a truck arrived and the A-Team got aboard. But of course Hannibal couldn't go before teasing Klink one more time. He told the German Colonel he would complain about the accommodations to General Burkhalter and enjoyed the shade of red Klink turned.

That was the last Hogan and his men saw of the A-Team.

A week later Hogan and his men were playing a round of gin, when Carter spoke up: "Colonel? Do you think they got to London safely?" The rest of his team looked at him curiously, too.

Hogan contemplated his answer for a moment. There was no need to ask who "they" were. Everyone knew Carter was talking about Hannibal Smith and his team.

"Don't worry, Carter," Hogan finally spoke. "I am sure they are fine. There is not much that could stand in the way of that team."

Carter nodded. "I guess you are right. Still would be nice to know for sure! Maybe we could radio London and ask?"

Hogan was just about to reply, when Kinch interrupted him: "Colonel, we got a message from London."

The colonel was up in an instant: "What does it say, Kinch?"

Kinch grinned. "It says: I love it when a plan comes together."

Hogan chuckled; seems like they got their answer.

The end

Thanks to all of you, who stuck with this story till now. You guys are amazing. It's been a lot of fun writing this, even if it took me a lot longer than planned.

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Have a nice day.

FM