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When Captain John Nicholls wakes up, at first he doesn't know who he is or where he is. The only thing coming to him immediately is the pain of his injuries. Strangely enough however, he remembers a soldier. The image of this man - beautiful, fair-haired with brilliant, stunning blue eyes, in a beautiful black uniform that emphasizes his masculine figure very favorably, seems to have burned itself into his very soul. But something is wrong with this picture. Only that at first he is unable to say what bothers him and why he feels a remorse. And then it hits him hard. Several things at once. The soldier is not an American. He is an enemy, a German, a Nazi above everything else, and the beautiful black uniform is that of an SS officer. Where was the last time I saw him? What do I have to do with him? John wonders. These questions are answered by Colonel Morris without him having to ask them out aloud. And then an avalanche of images and feelings pours out over John.
Morris arrives to inform him, interrogate him, and tells him the parts of the story, which John adds like little puzzle pieces to what he has remembered on his own. That an enemy, a Untersturmführer of the SS, rescues an American officer and risks his own life in the process, has spread a lot of rumors and general unrest on the base. “We have almost shot him on sight,” Morris tells him in a slightly conversational tone, “after that thing in Malmedy, we actually had orders not to take SS dogs like him prisoner but rather execute them immediately, Geneva Convention or not but then we decided we want to find out more about this matter. After all, he is a lieutenant in the SS, so we thought that he might have important information about troop movements and strengths. "
“What did you do to him?” asks John, dreading the answer. His memory has returned in full strength. Hagen sitting on a chair in the interrogation cell, his hands cuffed behind his back, strong body straining, his posture defiant. Hagen in the barn with him, lying under the covers and huddled together, his body pliant. Hagen lying on the bed in their room in the chateau, his thights gripping John tightly, John slowly fucking into him, hips moving in a flawless cadence, the bliss on his lover’s beautiful face ...
“What did you do to him?” he asks again.
“Asked him questions,” replies Morris with a grim smirk, “and when he didn't want to answer, we helped a little. In the end it doesn't matter anyway, he'll be executed when the boys are through with him. If you want, ”and his smile becomes even wider,“ then you can do it personally when you feel better.”
For a few moments John is speechless with horror.
“He saved my life,” he says quietly after a while.
"He is a fucking rabid SS dog," says Morris with a hatred so strong that John shrinks back. “He doesn't deserve to be pityed for. His people carried out a massacre on 90 american prisoners of war in Malmedy. 90 of our countrymen, Captain, who surrendered, who were unarmed, were shot in cold blood. Those who survived the bullets were finished off with a knife. So it is only fair and equitable that the same should happen to him."
My beloved, sweet Hagen, my fierce warrior, thinks John, what have they done to you?
What exactly they did to him, John only finds out later.
**
The main physician at the american base has been taking care of him since he was back from the front. Today, however, Doctor Warner is a little bit distracted. His forehead is furrowed and he keeps dropping things, he's so unfocused. "I couldn't look at it anymore, you know," he says after a while as John looks at him questioningly. “It may be that the better you are, the closer he comes to his execution, but one can't let him wilt away until then. With hardly any food and water, then the loss of blood, and," he hesitates briefly, "it dishonors those who rape him more than this does him, since he cannot defend himself, as drugged as they always make him.” John just looks at him speechless. “I had already thought of quietly giving him one too high a dose so that he wouldn't wake up again, but we have the clear order to wait for you to get better. You should have the honor of finishing it."
“Honor?” says John.
“Or just the right. A life for a life.” It was an open secret that John and Corporal Michael Bennett were a couple. The American military believes that it is better for men to keep to their own and form partnerships rather than rape the native population or go on fraternizing with the enemy. What happens in the Army, stays in the Army and most of them would return to their wives and children after the war anyway.
"Or is that not what you want?"
"I can't decide that anyway."
"But. You can, ”said Doctor Warner, with a thoughtful expression on his face. "There is a new law, hardly practiced so far, because it is actually against the Geneva Convention, but the winners are known to make their own laws. Under certain circumstances you can get a German POW as your property."
“This is slavery. We just got rid of that in our own country," hissed John out between his teeth.
"Do you care about him? Do you want to save him? I got a feeling there was more to it than just saving your life. Or am I wrong? ” And after a while he added: “Nobody will look at you crookedly or question your honor as an officer if you openly say that you want him as your possession. He is an exceptional beautiful man, everyone will understand it. Make a decision, but do it quickly. He doesn't have much time left."
John hesitates.
Just before the doctor leaves the room, he calls after him.
"What do I have to do?"
"I'll bring you the documents you have to sign." John signed them that same evening in the presence of the doctor and several officers.
This ended the matter for the time being, because as the property of an officer, Hagen now received the medical care he needed to survive. And nobody but John is allowed to touch him from now on.
**
"He's going to need psychological counseling when he's fully conscious," says Warner, lifting the covers to show John the extent of the bandaged injuries. They are in the field hospital of the american base. John is in a wheelchair because walking will for a long time be out of question for him.
Bandages, lots of white bandages. On the right thigh, on both wrists. Hagen has bruises and injuries everywhere. So many of them.
"His channel is torn," says the doctor when he sees John's looks. “It will take a while for the bleeding to stop. Until then, it is advisable that you do not make use of the right that you now have."
"I will not take him by force," says John horrified. "Who do you think I am?" The doctor just shrugs his shoulders.
**
Two weeks later, Lieutenant Hagen Friedrich began his long journey to America. He was brought on board the Queen Elizabeth in Calais and spend a few months at the POW Camp Forrest in Tennessee until September 1945. Where they healed his physical wounds, gave him the much needed psychological support and tried to re-educate him politically and teach him how to behave towards his american owner. Most of his fellow prisoners will soon be returning to Germany. They will rebuild their home. They have hope. They have a future. He has the prospect of a life in a golden cage. Never to be free again. An eternal prisoner of war in a foreign land.
But Hagen did the math without John.
**
He was not allowed to study what he wanted, which would have been law. Instead, he could choose something “more harmless”. He opted for history and political science. After he has finished his studies, he got a job at the university in the hometown of his “protector”, as Captain Nicholls is officially called. His focus is on American-German relations before and after the war. Despite his relative youth, he is now a true luminary in this field and sometimes receives inquiries from decision-makers in politics. Because Germany is in the middle of a change, the process will take a long time and the victorious powers are trying to understand how they should behave and proceed.
It sometimes fills him with bitterness that most of the prisoners of war are gradually returning to their old homeland. Some stay in America too. Get married. Become american citizens. All these paths are denied to him.
But nevertheless.
Nevertheless, his luck that he is allowed to openly live his relationship with John couldn't be greater. The love between the two men has grown steadily over the years. They have become a sort of a showcase couple. They have meanwhile adopted 3 orphans from Germany.
Perhaps my lack of freedom is the price I have to pay to make amends for what I did as an SS officer, Hagen sometimes thinks. Perhaps this is the price I have to pay for my happiness. And if that’s the case, so be it.

xsunny Tue 20 Oct 2020 10:27PM UTC
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