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It had been a particularly hard mission and Andrew felt drained, both physically and emotionally. He slumped into his bunk, completely unaware of any eyes that might have been watching him, hoping he could find dreamless sleep before the nightmares came.
Peter was doing something very similar: Solitaire by candlelight in order to stave off any bad memories that might try to attach themselves to him while he was off his guard.
Louis wasn't much better than his bunkmates, softly reciting recipes to himself as he tried not to let the image of their botched rescue take over his mind.
Slightly different from the others, James was down in the tunnels. Good old Kinch never slept, but sometimes James preferred it that way. If he was always deciphering messages from London he never had time to think about the future. Or the past. Or - worst of all - the present.
Robert was wide awake. Every time he laid down on his bunk to try and catch a wink of sleep the faces of innocent people killed for no reason other than war appeared in his mind's eye.
At some point, they all gave up trying to stave off their nightmares and visions. Each man trudged to the table at about the same time.
"Deal me in," Robert said to Peter.
Peter gave him an odd look. "Colonel, I'm playin' Solitaire."
"Then switch."
"And then deal us all in," James said, sitting down next to Robert.
Louis watched them with interest. "I am going to make something to eat. What do you want?"
"Good American coffee," James said.
"A hamburger," Andrew wished.
Robert sighed. "How about some of that good old fashioned Stalag 13 sludge?"
"Oui, I can do that."
After a few moments of silence Andrew said, "Boy, if this is what it's like now, I don't want to be in the spy business in ten years. I'd like to have forgotten it by then."
"Unfortunately, Carter, I don't think we'll be able to forget all this in just ten years," Robert said, somewhat gratefully taking his cup of coffee from Louis.
"If we're lucky, we'll forget it by 1994," James said. "Deal me in, Peter."
Peter dealt the cards and they all played for about five hours. Until Schultz barged in the door, utterly surprised to see them awake and dressed.
