Work Text:
“Colonel Hogan?”
Schultz was unusually serious as he approached Hogan in his office.
“Something wrong, Schultz?”
“…Ja, something is,” the big man admitted. He looked around as he closed the door to Hogan’s office.
“No bugs, Schultz, don’t worry.”
“Ah, good. But… something has been bothering me ever since that night that young American scientist disappeared. Do you remember?”
“How could I forget with all the fuss that Hochstetter made after?” Hogan mused. “As for his disappearance… well, you saw what happened; the staff car he was in blew up. It’s a shame, but the doctor’s been presumed dead.”
“Colonel,” Schultz said, sternly, causing Hogan to look at him in surprise. “I know the doctor is not dead. I went to get him from the cooler, and in his place was a different young man—nein! A boy!”
“Look, Schultz, relax—Hochstetter’s accepted that the doctor is dead, and Klink’s no-escape record is still intact. You’re in no danger of a transfer because of this, so what are you worried about?”
“The boy!” Schultz exclaimed.
Hogan blinked in surprise.
“Schultz—”
“Normally, I keep my mouth shut about your monkey business,” Schultz continued. “But this is too much—that you would send a teenaged boy as a decoy and into such danger!” He shook his head. “I was already upset at how young the doctor was—and then I find the boy in his place…!”
Hogan exhaled; it was times like these, rare as they were, that he remembered that Schultz was a father, and that his paternal instincts didn’t just vanish because he was away from home.
“I wasn’t happy about it, either, Schultz,” Hogan informed him. “How he got here is another matter altogether, but he came here specifically to save the doctor, and he opted to take his place. I gave him a chance to scrap that plan and try something else, but he insisted—”
“Ach du lieber Himmel…! What does someone that young know!? And you let him do this…!?”
Hogan paused, and then crossed to the door, opening it a crack.
“Kinch?” he called. “Can you bring our… guest to my office, please?”
Kinch hesitated, but nodded—he had figured out the gist of what was going on from hearing Schultz’s exclamations through the dor.
“…He is alive, then?” Schultz asked, as Hogan closed the door.
“A little worse for the wear, but yes—alive,” Hogan assured him. “As for why I ‘let’ him do this, perhaps you’d better hear it from him…”
They waited for a few minutes, and Schultz looked relieved when the short teenager he had seen in the cooler now entered Hogan’s office, looking bruised, but, as Hogan had promised, alive.
“Kinch said you wanted to see me…?” the boy trailed off as he noticed Schultz and swore.
“It’s alright—believe it or not, he was worried about you, too,” Hogan said.
The lad blinked and closed the door behind him.
“Why…?” he asked, baffled.
“He may be the Sergeant of the Guard here, but Schultz is actually a decent man. He knows a bit about what goes on here, but has been sworn to secrecy.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Because I wanted to know why Colonel Hogan would put a boy like you in danger—he says you volunteered to take the doctor’s place,” Schultz said.
“Yeah, that’s right,” the boy said, nodding.
“Why…? To protect the information on this… Manhattan Project?” Schultz asked. “You could have been killed…! You were injured!”
“It’s got nothing to do with the Project! Look… Doc’s my best friend and my mentor! We’ve been through too much together for me to just… leave him for dead!” the teen replied, his voice cracking. “And he would’ve died if I hadn't taken his place—he’d have gotten shot during that escape…! Thank God he’s back where he belongs now, but it almost didn’t happen…!” He hastily rubbed his eyes. “Look, you don’t have to chew me out over what happened—Doc already did before he left here. He was so upset…”
“Ja, of course he was, and he had every right to be; you think he would have been alright with you dying in his place?” Schultz tutted
“Well, no, but… I know how Doc wishes I wouldn’t stick my neck out for him, but he also knows that I will—just like he’s done for me,” the boy finished.
“Look, Schultz…” Hogan said now. “I think we can all agree that none of us are happy with what happened. But the doctor is alright and is back doing his classified work, and our friend here is on the mend and will be going home soon, too. I think we’ll take what we can and say the outcome is… better than it could’ve ended.”
“Ja,” Schultz agreed, sighing. He looked to the boy. “You… stay out of trouble. And comfort your friend the next time you see him—he will be unable to forget this, you know.”
The boy looked down at the floor now, realizing that Schultz was right—even if the next time his friend would be seeing him again would be 42 years from now.
“Right…” he managed to say.
“And Colonel Hogan…” Schultz continued. “No more youngsters being brought into your monkey business! Even if they don’t know any better—you do.”
Hogan gave a nod; he was right about that, at any rate.
“Right, Schultz.”
“And now, I shall return to seeing nothing,” Schultz declared, satisfied.
Hogan sighed once he had left.
“You’d better get back down into the tunnel; once Wilson clears you, you can make your way out of here as soon as the coast is clear.”
“Yeah, thanks,” the boy said. He paused, indicating the door. “What was that guy’s deal, anyway?”
“I beg your pardon…?”
“What’s bothering him about what happened to Doc and me?”
“Easy,” Hogan said, unable to keep a wan smile from forming. “He’s a father.”
“Oh…”
Yes. It all made sense now.