Newkirk, Kinchloe, Carter, and LeBeau arrived to the hospital and ran right through the front lobby. They were anxious to find a doctor to find out who was brought in from Stalag 13 and the condition he was in. If it was someone they knew, they wanted to see them and make sure they were alright. From how Klink acted on the way to the hospital, they were more than positive that it was someone they knew in the gestapo.
"Now the four of you stay here and don't move." Klink ordered.
"What if I have to go to the bathroom, Kommandant?" Carter asked.
"No one leaves the area, until I find the doctor." Klink snarled.
"Kommandant Klink, it's against the Geneva Convention to withhold prisoners from using the restrooms in times of need." Kinchloe said, standing up for the four of them.
"I don't care what the Geneva Convention says; I said to stay here and not move!" Klink ordered.
Newkirk sighed.
"Fine, Klink; we'll stay here." Newkirk moaned.
Klink humphed and shook his fist, then he was gone.
The four men gathered around one another, as Klink tried to locate the doctor caring for the patient who had been brought in by ambulance from Stalag 13. Carter shook standing there not knowing anything regarding who was brought in.
"God, I sure don't hope it's Bluebird; he's my friend and Hochstetter's second in command." Carter whimpered.
Newkirk gently patted his friend on the back.
"It'll be alright, Andrew, no matter what. I promise you." Newkirk spoke, with a friendly smile.
"I can't handle another loss, please God, let it be someone we don't know!" LeBeau pleaded.
Klink came back with a doctor and left him to speak with the men in private.
"Are you the four Kommandant Klink brought in?" The doctor asked, staring down at the four prisoners.
They all nodded, and Kinchloe stepped forward.
"I'm Sergeant James Kinchloe; Senior POW Officer of Stalag 13. The Kommandant sounded like we knew the person brought in." Kinchloe spoke for all of his men and himself.
The doctor sighed taking a deep breath in.
"Yes; the man brought in was on the verge of death and in critical condition. He had lost a lot of blood and fighting an infection from a tremendous gunshot wound. The surgery done was tedious and rushed with what little time we had. Do any of you know of a C…" The doctor was cut off by Carter.
"Oh God, it is Bluebird!" Carter cried.
He buried his head into Newkirk's shoulder, who wrapped his arms around the young sergeant and comforted him.
"Can we see him, Doctor?" LeBeau asked.
"Make it a stress free visit; my patient could take a turn for the worst if presented under so much mental worry and stressful thoughts. He needs as much rest as possible, but I think a visit from you four will make his recovery quick. He's been requesting to see you four since waking up from surgery." The doctor ordered.
"Oui; merci," LeBeau spoke.
The doctor nodded and pointed the way to the room. The four men had to go down a long hallway, until they reached a room near the end of the hall. It was on the right side with the room number being 295. Kinchloe checked quick to see if any of the patient's medical charts were outside in the plastic mailbox attached to the wall, but was sadly disappointed, when he found absolutely nothing.
Carter had his hand on the doorknob standing closely by LeBeau. Both he and the little Frenchman were terrified to enter in and find out what they would possibly see. More of pictures they thought of were less pleasant over the ones not. LeBeau took a deep breath in and let it out.
"I sure hope Bluebird's alright, mon ami." LeBeau spoke, looking at Kinchloe.
"And if something's so severely wrong with him, we'll stand by his side every step of the way." Kinchloe spoke with determination.
"He's right, mate; Old Bluebird's not gonna get rid of us so easily!" Newkirk chimed in, with a smile.
LeBeau returned the Englander's response with a small smile.
Carter softly nodded and after gathering up enough courage, he closed his eyes and opened the door. Carter and LeBeau were the first ones to enter. Opening their eyes, they were greeted with a room painted cream colored. There was a private curtain in the corner and a door to the bathroom in front of it. A table stood next to the bed and behind it was a nightstand with a lamp on it that was turned on, but what made them so shocked was to see who the man was lying in the bed. Both Carter and LeBeau could not believe their eyes and had their breaths held for the fear it was nothing more than a dream. Hogan's eyes were closed wearing his hospital gown and covered up with blankets that stopped at the hips with his right hand lying gently on his belly. The colonel fluttered his eyes open from sleeping and looked at the ceiling. After realizing he had somebody standing in the doorway, he focused his attention on the two in front of him and gave a small, weak smile. To him, it was an absolute joy to see both Carter and LeBeau standing there in front of him. He had missed them very much.
Carter suddenly became overwhelmed with glee and tears started running down his cheeks. Same thing went for LeBeau.
"Colonel," Carter cried, running towards Hogan with a big smile.
"Mon Colonel," LeBeau cheered. He followed Carter to the opposite side of the bed.
Newkirk ran in and gasped, but quickly grew a bold smile on his face.
"Blimey, it's the Gov'nor! He's alive!" Newkirk wailed with glee. He ran into the room to be next to Hogan's bedside.
Kinchloe was the last one to come in and was just as surprised and overfilled with joy as the rest of them were.
"By golly, it's Colonel!" Kinchloe cheered, hurrying to his commanding officer's bedside.
Carter on Hogan's right and LeBeau on Hogan's left both wrapped their arms around their commanding officer hugging him tightly and buried their faces into each of his shoulders.
"Mon Colonel, we missed you!" LeBeau sobbed, happily.
"We thought we'd never see you again!" Carter wept.
Hogan turned to each of them and smiled at them both.
Newkirk sat down on Hogan's left side and grabbed a seat by his left leg to talk with him.
"How yah feeling, Gov'nor?" Newkirk questioned, smiling.
Hogan smiled and gulped.
"Tired...and a little sore, but I'll be alright." Hogan answered, weak.
"Colonel, how did you survive?" LeBeau asked.
"Where did yah go afterwards?" Carter added.
Hogan softly chuckled.
"It's a long story I'll save for when I'm well, again. It'll be a little treat for you guys." Hogan answered, sincere.
"Boy, did we sure miss you, Colonel!" Carter said, cheerful.
"I'm going to cook you the most magnificent meal, when you come home! You'll be begging to eat." LeBeau spoke, mesmerising his perfect meal.
"We'll see how I'm feeling; Doctor said it could be a while before I eat full meals, again." Hogan said.
"What else did he say, sir?" Kinchloe asked.
"Well, my lungs are still a little burned and damaged from smoke inhalation, so it's difficult to breathe. Fortunately, he said that would be all gone in a few more days. As for my gunshot wound, I have a minor infection causing my fever of 100.2 degrees. Their treating it with antibiotics, and it should clear up in about another week and a half. I had several muscles torn and damaged in my abdomen from the gunshot that had to be sewn back together in order to heal properly. Sadly, my entire recovery will take at least a month before I'm feeling back to myself." Hogan answered, friendly. He was too happy to see his four men and friends. He had grown worried sick about them and missed them the entire time he was away.
"How long are you gonna be here, Colonel?" Kinchloe asked.
"If all goes well, I can come home in two weeks. Even then, though, I'll need a lot of rest to get back to feeling like myself, again." Hogan answered.
"Don't you worry about nothing, Gov'nor! We'll take care of everything for yah, while you recover. All yah have to do is focus on getting well again." Newkirk said, with a smile.
"Yah bet 'cha we will, boy...I mean Colonel." Carter added.
Hogan smiled at the four of them.
"Ooooo; Newkirk, tell the Colonel about your new lady." LeBeau swooned.
"Oh yeah; yah gotta, buddy!" Carter said.
Newkirk moaned.
"For the last time it was not a date!" Newkirk exclaimed.
"Newkirk's got a girlfriend, Newkirk's got a girlfriend, Newkirk's got a girlfriend!" LeBeau, Carter, and Kinchloe sung.
Newkirk turned his head to the right and shook it highly irritated.
"Newkirk, I didn't know you got romantically involved with someone, while I was gone." Hogan said, with a smirk.
"Aw, Gov'nor, yah wouldn't." Newkirk pleaded.
Hogan softly chuckled.
"Newkirk's got a girlfriend." Hogan sung, smiling.
Newkirk could not help but smile.
"Welcome back, Colonel." Newkirk spoke, smiling.
Hogan smiled at all of his men and the five of them began talking to one another about how things went while Hogan was away and everything that had happened in and outside of camp.
Hogan returned home to Stalag 13 two weeks later and slept most of the time when first coming home. Klink had told Carter, LeBeau, Newkirk, and Kinchloe the medicine he was on was very strong and made him very tired. It took a couple days before their commanding officer could actually sit up and socialize better with his men and the other prisoners that came to visit him. The first week was filled with nothing more than prisoners coming in and out of Stalag 13 with 'Get Well' cards and flowers that came from Klink's garden.
Three weeks had gone by since the commanding officer returned home from the hospital, and Hogan had made excellent progress. He could get up and walk around the barracks, eat pretty decent sized meals, and was able to hold conversations for as long as he was able to before. Kinchloe even let him do a little paperwork to make time go by. It would still be a while before the strength needed for roll call, going on missions, and going down in the tunnel returned, but the American was hopeful and determined to get back to how things were before this whole incident with the spy began.
Hogan sat in his desk chair facing his four men surrounding him in the colonel's quarters. He was wearing his brown pants and shoes, khaki shirt, bomber jacket, and crush cap with a hand on his belly. Newkirk and Carter sat down on the lower bunk while Kinchloe and LeBeau stood in front of their commanding officer.
"Boy, are we sure gonna be unstoppable, when you get all better again, Colonel!" Carter said, smiling.
"And we weren't unstoppable before?" Newkirk asked, turning his head to the young sergeant.
"Well...yah know what I mean by...I mean you can't have a successful mission without...Colonel Hogan's uh...uh…" Hogan smiled and held up his hand stopping Carter to speak any further.
"I know what you meant, Carter, and thank you. It means a lot to me to know how loyal you guys are to me." Hogan said, with a smile.
"Always and forever, mon Colonel." LeBeau said, proudly.
"I got a great idea; why don't we all go out tonight and celebrate. We buy ourselves a couple of drinks and meet some cute girls." LeBeau said, daydreaming of women.
"We can't do that; Colonel's not nearly ready to travel outside of camp. Besides, Newkirk already has a girlfriend." Kinchloe answered, his last part turning to Newkirk and smiling.
"I told you it was...never mind." Newkirk moaned. It was obvious that no matter what he said, the three of them were still gonna give him grief over Annika.
"On top of that, I wanna show Colonel the new improvements I made with the coffee pot." Kinchloe said, referring to the listening device on Hogan's foot locker.
"Hey, I wanna tell Colonel about the dream I had last night before any of you get a chance to tire him!" Carter whined.
"Nuh uh, not until the Gov'nor plays a game of gin with me." Newkirk answered, smiling mischievously.
"You're forgetting your winning streak has already ended, Newkirk." Kinchloe said, cocky.
Newkirk glared at Kinchloe for bringing up that matter. It was the day before Hogan had come home from the hospital, and LeBeau had beat him in a game of gin that also included Carter, Kinchloe, and Olsen. It was still awful fresh for the Englander and hated to reminded of it.
"I still say LeBeau cheated; I hadn't lost a game in months!" Newkirk shot back.
"What can I say; I have the 'magic fingers'." LeBeau spoke, mocking Newkirk.
Newkirk glared coldly at the Frenchman before turning back to face Hogan.
Hogan chuckled and held up his hands.
"Hold it, hold it there, men; before you start a war over me." Hogan began, smiling. "I think it's only fair if I start with Carter. LeBeau, Kinch, Newkirk, you three have been smothering me to death since coming home. Poor Carter here hasn't even had more than two times getting to spend time with me."
"Yeah," Carter shot back at the three. He quickly became intimidated and grew quiet, again.
LeBeau sighed.
"Fair enough; I can wait." LeBeau answered, giving a small smile.
"The coffee pot still needs some work and finishing up, anyways." Kinchloe said, agreeing.
"And I need to get back my title as Gin Champ, before playing you anyways, Gov'nor." Newkirk said, sadly.
Hogan smiled.
"Hey, don't be upset; I'm not easily tired or worn out, anymore. I'm gonna have enough energy to spend time with all of you. LeBeau, you can be next and socialize with me. I may not be able to travel out of camp yet, but I would like a nice warm cooked meal." The American colonel said, smiling.
LeBeau grew excited and nodded.
"Oui, mon Colonel! I will cook you the most finest cuisine creation that I know!" LeBeau replied, cheerful.
As Hogan gave another smile and smirked at his Frenchman's excitement, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Hogan said, happily.
Olsen walked in and closed the door then handed the piece of paper in his hands to Kinchloe.
"Message from London, Sergeant." Olsen said handing the sheet of paper over.
Kinchloe sighed and nodded.
"Tell London message received and acknowledged." Kinchloe said, sadly.
"Yes, sir," Olsen said, and he left the colonel's quarters.
"What's wrong, Kinch; something the matter?" LeBeau asked, worried.
"Looks like we're all gonna have to wait to spend quality time with Colonel. London says there's a new ball bearing plant being built in Hammelburg. They want us to sabotage the unit, before it becomes a bigger problem." Kinchloe answered.
The four men moaned.
"London's gotta be ruddy crackers! This is the sixth ball bearing plant we've had to blown up this month!" Newkirk moaned.
"What about Colonel?" Carter asked, sadly.
Kinchloe smiled at Carter.
"Don't worry there, kid; Colonel's gonna be right here, when we get back." Kinchloe said looking at his commanding officer fondly.
Hogan nodded with a smile.
"You bet I'll be here." He said, turning to face Carter.
"Hold on a minute; here's an idea. Colonel can't go on missions...but there's nothing against him help us with a mission." Newkirk said, as he stood up and a lightbulb turned on in his head.
"Hey, that's a great idea!" Carter said, shooting up and standing by Newkirk.
"Colonel, give us one of your ingenious ideas!" LeBeau cheered.
"Might I suggest something we haven't tried before." Newkirk suggested.
"Hey; you guys said you were gonna give me a break and recover!" Hogan exclaimed.
The four men hung their heads.
"Sorry, Colonel; we got carried away." Carter answered, sadly.
It was then the colonel gave a small smile.
"And I'm sick and tired of it." Hogan said, smiling.
The four men all beamed with excitement.
"What do you think, Colonel?" Kinchloe asked.
"First we need to know how guarded this place is." Hogan answered.
"We can go out tonight and check it out. Both Louie and I, here." Newkirk said, wrapping an arm around LeBeau.
"Why do I gotta go?!" LeBeau moaned.
Everyone smiled and laughed. Things were finally getting back to normal, and the five of them could not have been any happier.