March 28, 1942

The sound of the approaching engine made her take a breath. Surely this would be it. The day the colonel made an example of her. She peered out her window from her bedroom upstairs and saw the glossy black Mercedes pull in front of her house, followed by three motorcycles. Seven green uniforms, and the black one she dreaded seeing above all others.

Colonel Roemheld stepped out of the car, straightening his uniform and searching the exterior of her home with a confident aura about him. He happened to look up and see her, standing dutifully at her window. He took off his hat and inclined his head, before marching up the steps. She noted the way his men stayed back while he let himself in. Not even a courtesy knock, before she heard the door open and shut. The sound of his boots on her stairs made her breathing quicken. She turned to face her bedroom door, thankful that it was shut to buy her a moment longer where she wasn't in his presence.

The thudding of his footfalls halted just outside her door and she swallowed hard at the shadow that loomed in the crack beneath it. She watched with bated breath as the golden knob turned tortuously slow until the door swung open. "Bonjour." He greeted her with a deceivingly chipper attitude. He looked over her form in the sunlight filtering through her closed window. "I see you aren't wearing your robe today. Was it able to be mended? I can send a tailor to fix it, if you'd like." He spoke in German. She chose to follow suit.

"I burned it, so that won't be necessary." She said the words in a respectful tone, not ready to set him off.

"Hmph, no matter. I quite like what you've chosen today." She felt her hands subconsciously rise to cover her cleavage. She had worn a knee length pencil skirt in a deep violet that hugged her figure, paired with a flowy white blouse with long sleeves and a low neckline. She tucked it into the high waistline of her skirt and finished it off with a pair of white strappy heels. Her hair had been braided down her back and tied off with a white ribbon. When she didn't reply the colonel smiled wider. "Don't tell me you've lost that witty tongue of yours, bärchen?"

"Of course not."

"Good. Did you get the gift I sent you?" He leaned casually against her doorjamb.

Genevieve didn't hold back her scorn as she replied, "You mean the brutes that nearly hit me when they barged in the front door?"

Colonel Roemheld frowned. "Brutes? I think you are mistaken, fraulein. I'm sure you didn't mean to refer to my men as brutes."

"No, of course not." She gritted through her teeth.

He smiled triumphantly. "I didn't think so. Regardless of their manners, it would appear that they did an excellent job in tidying up for you. You had mentioned that you were out of help, so I thought it was the perfect time to extend an olive branch, so to speak." She folded her arms and kept her mouth shut. "If you'll accept it, I have another gift for you."

"A gift for what?" She seethed.

The colonel pushed away from the door and stepped closer to her, slowly making his way tactically towards her. He stopped just in front of her and raised his hand. She flinched away from his touch and he chuckled. "It occurred to me that I may have not been the perfect gentleman yesterday. You see, I have two sides. I'm afraid I have shown you the officer, rather than the gentleman. I would like to give you a gift as an apology, if you'll take it."

She swallowed when his eyes flickered down to her lips. She kept them pressed in a firm line, not giving anything away. He leaned in closer, until she could smell his cologne. She stepped back to create space between them, but he pressed forward, walking her back until she hit the sill of her window. She didn't dare say a word as he trapped her between his arms. One hand lifted to rub up her arm, while the other reached out and opened the window. "Private!" He barked, and she heard the startled response from below. "Bring it up!"

He retracted from her personal space and smirked at how flustered she looked. Her chest rose and fell visibly as she fought to calm her nerves. It was easy, effortless at times, to carry out an execution. She hardly broke a sweat. But pretending to be someone she was not, pretending to be an average damsel, stirred anxiety within her. Millions of people were counting on her pulling off the facade. She wanted to slit his throat and wipe the smug look off his face right then and there.

All in due time.

Seconds later she heard the private ascending the staircase. He was carrying a large box, covered with a sheet. "I thought it a fitting gift. Women enjoy these things." He snapped his fingers and the private briskly walked back out, leaving the package on the carpet.

Genevieve stared at the sheet, scrutinizing what could lie beneath. Visions of her comrades heads within flooded her mind's eye. Was he going to expose her? "What is it?"

The colonel sighed and walked around to stand behind her. She shivered when his hands came to rest on her shoulders and his lips grazed the shell of her ear. "That is for you to discover. You gave me quite the present to unwrap yesterday afternoon. I am simply returning the favor." He nudged her forward until she was standing over the box. Slowly, she bent down and tore the sheet off in one tug.

She gawked at the contents. "I don't understand."

The colonel opened the latch on the front of the metal cage and let it fall open. The puppy inside scampered out and began to sniff each of them with a wagging tail and tiny yelps of delight. "My family, back in Berlin, breeds champions. They make a fortune off of German Shepherds. Showing them, breeding them, all that. They make excellent companions, especially for those who find themselves living alone."

"I can't accept this." She shook her head at the gesture. The pup was by far the most adorable thing she had ever seen, but she couldn't take a gift from the likes of him no matter what it was.

"That's a shame." He pulled his Walther out and aimed it at the dog.

"No!" Without thinking, Genevieve threw herself on the ground and covered the pup with her body, pulling it into her arms. It wagged its tail, licking her fingers, oblivious to the threat looming over it. "Please, Colonel, don't." He kept his gun trained on the dog and she thought her heart would beat right out of her chest if he didn't lower it. Her brows shot to her hairline, pinching together in distress as she looked at him pleadingly. "I love my gift, Colonel. I do. Please," her eyes began to water as her voice cracked, lip trembling, "please, don't."

He stared deep into her eyes for what felt like an eternity, before a smile broke out and he lowered his gun. "How can I refuse such beauty? I am pleased that you like your gift."

She blew out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in and relaxed her shoulders some. The pup barked happily, pawing at her shirt and licking her chin. She couldn't stop herself from smiling and laughing at how it tickled. She stopped when she saw the colonel staring at her. "So that's what you look like when you really smile. Beautiful. What will you name him?"

"Its a boy?"

"Of course. Males make the best guard dogs." He stated as though it was the obvious choice.

"A guard dog?" She couldn't figure out what would compel him to give her a guard dog. It seemed to defeat the purpose of what the Germans were trying to accomplish within French homes. He nodded, nonetheless. "I will have to think of a name that suits him. He has beautiful coloring. I've never seen it before."

"Its what is called a sable. They are considered to be the original shepherd dog, closest to their wolf ancestors." He explained, and to her surprise he bent to scratch him behind the ears. A curiously kind action from such a formidable man. "I'm afraid I will have to finish my search today. Once I am finished, that will conclude my investigation into yourself and your property and you may continue your days uninterrupted by soldiers henceforth."

She squinted up at him in disbelief. "After today, I won't have any more Germans banging on my door?"

"Well, you won't be subjected to anymore searches." He shrugged indifferently. "But I'm sure you won't mind a friendly face dropping in for visits occasionally. It keeps the peace between the civilians and the military, don't you agree? When we can exist together in peace and friendship, it makes the occupation go by so much smoother." His eyes narrowed some as he shifted to the other foot.  "There are always consequences for insubordination." She nodded, understanding his meaning. He planned to return on unofficial business. She shuddered to think of how much longer she had to deal with his existence. It wasn't yet the first of April, and already she grew tired of him breathing.

"Would you be so kind as to give me a tour of your out buildings? I understand there are three."

"Oui." She stood, letting the puppy follow her out of the room and out the back door. "There are two over there near the back, and my pool house." She waved her painted nails at the large white building connected to her in ground pool by a cobblestone path lined with white roses.

"How lucky you are to have a pool. It must be nice in the summer months." He commented lightly and crossed the path, opening the thin door and admiring the inside. "One could live comfortably in this alone." It had doubled as a guest house for her aunt and uncle during the twenties, but now it was just a pool house that held some storage. It was still fully furnished, but white sheets had been thrown over everything to protect it from the dust.

"I never use it." She stayed in the doorway, letting him get to it and crossing her fingers he didn't break anything. She had memories of visiting in the summer as a child and jumping on the very sofa he now brushed by.

"You could shelter an entire neighborhood of Jews in here if you wanted to." He said casually as he opened closets and peeked behind shelving, searching for hidden doors and spaces.

"Well I don't." She snapped, regretting it when he stopped moving and glared at her. The dog came over to lay at her feet, tired from whatever feat it had to accomplish on the ride over with the Nazis.

"Everything appears to be in order. Please, mademoiselle, may I see your other outbuildings?" She nodded smally and turned, nearly tripping over the pup. It squealed once and then bounded after her, tail wagging wildly.

"One is a storage shed for tools and such, the other is more of a root cellar I suppose. It has been used for generations to store food for the year. I'm afraid I'm not much of a farmer, myself, so a lot of it is empty or rotten." She admitted. It was a truth she was willing to give him. Dirt beneath her fingernails was unseemly, though the thought seemed peaceful enough. Blood under her nails, on the other hand...

"A lady of your status should not feel bad about that. You are too precious to touch the weeds." His words were like honey when he wanted them to be. "I, myself, however, hail from a small little spit of land in Berlin where I've farmed my entire life. Growing and raising my own food since I was old enough to walk." She feigned interest, though she knew all this already. It was in his file.

"How does a simple farmer become the Standartenführer of the German protection squad forces?" She couldn't resist the little smirk that graced her bare lips.

Colonel Roemheld chortled at her question, pausing before the storage buildings. "By no small feat, I can assure you." He opened the door to the food storage while she hung back. One look inside had him grabbing out a bright red cloth to cover his nose and mouth before he went deeper in. "If you were hiding Jews," came his muffled voice from within, "they would surely regret their time spent in here."

"I suppose its a good thing I'm not hiding any." She looked at her nails in boredom as he poked his head back out. He shut the door and latched it, moving over to the other building just a few meters away. They both froze when a crash came from within. He whirled around and grabbed her by the throat, slamming her head against the side of the building.

She saw stars and gasped for air. "What will I find when I open that door? Hmm?"

"N-no-nothing! I swear!" She felt darkness creeping into the corners of her eyes as he squeezed harder. She couldn't breathe. Her eyes fluttered as she fought to stay alert, but his grip was too much. It was nothing like on the hearth, this was different. It felt more serious.

He brought his face an inch from hers and smiled. It looked positively demonic under the circumstances. "We shall see." He brought his free hand up to his mouth and whistled so loudly that her ears vibrated. In an instant, the seven Nazis that had been waiting by the car had came hustling over the grass. She felt humiliated, pinned against the wall by the colonel as the others watched. "Search the building."

Genevieve watched in horror as the soldiers kicked in the door and rushed inside. She heard things tipping over and the sound of clay pots shattering. "For your sake, I would pray they don't find anything." She felt his grip loosen enough to where she could catch her breath. "However," he got closer to her face, "if you are found to be sheltering enemies of the state, I will have no choice to arrest you. And rest assured, bärchen, I will see to it that I am put in charge of your handling."

She wasn't hiding anyone. It wasn't part of her job at the moment.  Chloe was handling the smuggling on her end for the most part.  The three girls she had hidden had been a special case requested by the order, though they hadn't told her exactly why.

The sound of a gunshot rang out and made her jump. The colonel noticed her movement and eyed her interrogatively. "We found something!"

"Well?" Colonel Roemheld barked. The soldiers came out with grins on their faces. The last to leave was carrying something furry. The colonel laughed at the sight while she felt a lump swell in her throat. He released her and they all joined in his laugh while she sunk to the ground, the puppy curling up on her lap. "It was just a cat."

Her aunt's cat. The soldier held it up like a trophy, the golden collar still dangling off its neck. Red seeped into the pure white fur. "Let's go. There is nothing more for us here." The soldier dropped the cat at her feet on his way out and she pulled her legs to her chest to get away from it. Colonel Roemheld bent down to inspect the collar. "Felix. Perhaps you can name the dog that, since it appears that name has a vacancy."

He patted the dog sweetly, ruffling the fluffy black and tan fur. He stepped over her feet and cast a smile over his shoulder that she looked forward to carving off his face soon.