Danny and Rafe were playing in Rafe's father's plane, "You spelt Ruder wrong Rafe" Danny said, standing up and correcting the spelling for him, "Its two DD's" Danny said. "Thanks Danny" Rafe replied as he went back to shooting down, imaginary German planes. "Land of the Free" Rafe said, "Home of the Brave" Danny repeated.
"Great flying dad" Danny shouted, as his father climbed out of the plane, He just smiled at the boys, as they climbed out of the old plane and into the real working plane, since they could remember, flying is all they both wanted to do. Once they climbed into the plane, Rafe, being the oldest wanted to teach Danny how to fly, while playing around, they accidentally started the plane. After that there dreams grew and grew they wanted more then anything, to be a pilot. Later that afternoon, Danny's father found out they were playing with the plane, and started shouting at Danny, Rafe didn't like that, so he got a plank, and hit Danny's father on the back with it. "Leave him alone, you dirty German" Rafe screamed, "What did you call me?" Danny's father asked, stunned, "I fought against the Germans in the trenches, and I pray no-one will have to see some of the stuff that I saw" he said quietly, as he got up and walked away "You're my best friend" Danny replied looking at Rafe, before he turned and run up to his father.
Since they started Kindergarten, they had become the best of friends, always there for each other no-matter what. If someone picked on the other one, they would stand up for each other. Their classmates often mistook them as REAL brothers. No one believed there were just BEST FRIENDS.
Rafe sat there thinking, imagining how Danny must of felt when news got back to them, that Rafe had been "killed in action" because, Rafe now knew what it was like, to be on the verge of losing his best friend. And he didn't blame Danny for going to Evelyn for comfort, after all that's who he had just turned to. Danny and Rafe, realized that fighting with each other over a girl was just pointless and stupid, nothing had ever come between there friendship, and they weren't about to allow a girl to break up their life long friendship. It was hard for Rafe, as Evelyn was the love of his life, she was the reason that he was still alive, that he hadn't given up hope of ever seeing her again. After the Doolittle Raid, they had thought that Danny died, but, by miracle, he had just lost consciousness. And now they were in the hospital waiting for the Doctor to finish surgery. Rafe had made one more pact with God that he would totally support Danny's and Evelyn's marriage, and promised always to be there for their baby no matter what, as long as Danny made it through this.
Rafe turned to look in the direction on Evelyn, he saw sitting there with Red and Goose. It was hard on everyone, Betty had died in the Pearl Harbor Attack, leaving behind her loving fiancé and dearest friends, Evelyn, Sandra, Martha and Barbra had just started to get over their best friends death, when Evelyn was told, that the father of her baby, was almost dead too. Rafe couldn't even begin to imagine the pain she must be going through. Evelyn sat there thinking about the night they conceived her baby, "Evelyn" Danny shouted, "Yes" she said nervously as she turned to face him, "Have you ever seen Pearl Harbor at sunset" he asked shyly, "Of course" she replied with a smile, "no, I mean from the air" he said grinning. "I can get kicked out the Air Force for this" he said with a grin, as Evelyn sat on his lap in the plane, "Really" she asked back shocked, "Yeah, so stay down" He whispered smiling. They were talking when she said "my dad used to take me out a lot, just don't do what he did, when you flip the plane over" she said watching the sunset and not taking notice of the grin on his face. "Oh a barrel roll" he said normally, "yea that" she whispered. "Of course not" he said back grinning ear to ear, as he flipped the plane over, causing Evelyn to scream out from fright. As they landed the plane that night, they heard someone shout, "Hey, that plane was supposed to be back 3 hours ago." "Quick, hide in the parachute hanger," Danny whispered, running after her, he found her in one of the parachutes, and smiled. That turned out to be one of the best nights of her life. She had already decided on a name for the baby, if it was a boy she was going to name him Daniel Jr Rafe, and if it was a little girl, she was going to be named Daniela, which ever way it was going to be after its brave Daddy. She was still trying to come up with a second name for the baby, if she is a girl. She wanted the child to know what a good father its daddy was.
Evelyn sighed again, No matter what, she whispered to her unborn baby, "no one will EVER take your daddies place in my heart." Don't get her wrong, she loved Rafe, but she and Rafe hadn't shared that intimacy like her and Danny had, they hadn't got to the stage where they had slept together.
Rafe walked up to Evelyn, and put his jacket around her shoulders, "Danny would want you to keep this," Rafe replied, with tears glistening in his eyes, just at the thought that Danny might not make it through the surgery. He put up a fight, coz he wanted to be holding Danny's hand incases he didn't make it. But the doctors refused to let Rafe in, now it was killing him more and more every minute. "Don't talk like that" Evelyn said with tears streaming down her face. "Just don't'" she cried, falling into the chair underneath her, and wrapping her arms around Rafe's neck, as she cried into his shirt. Just then the doctor came through the door. "Mr. McCauley" the doctor asked walking up to Rafe. Everyone in the room jumped up and went to stand with their best friends. "Yeah, Doctor" Rafe replied, pulling a shaking Evelyn into his arms. "I'm Doctor Stein, Your friend, Mr. Walker's surgery went well" the doctor said with a smile that said don't worry. Everyone in the room jumped around screaming. Tears just fell from Rafe and Evelyn's eyes. It was such a relief. "But" Doctor Stein started, with a serious face. "His still very weak, and can hardly talk, he also may seem very out of it, that is the pain drug that we have given him, as you all know the injury was very serious, I'm not promising he will fully recover, but, for now we're really happy. you can go visit him, try not to get to upset as it will cause him to get upset, and then he will start getting sore" with that the doctor turned and lead the friends to his room.
Danny could hear people talking, but he couldn't see them, everything seemed so dark and lonely. Yet he heard a girl crying. He tried to find her. He had to find her, nothing broke his heart more, then hearing a young girls cry for help. The closer he got the louder her cries got, that's when he realized it was Evelyn, he jumped off the bed and run to her side, he saw Rafe comforting her, and saw the tears running down Rafe's face, he had never seen Rafe cry before, that's when he noticed Goose, Red, Sandra, Barbra, and Martha in the room, everyone was crying. He kept asking them, what was wrong. Then he heard a loud beeping sound. He turned in the direction when he noticed Evelyn get up and walk to the bed, he walked next to her, and peeked under the covers, doctors and nurses run to the bed, and pulled the covers to his feet, he gasped, "Omg" he whispered to himself as he saw a mirror-reflection of him self lying on the bed, white as snow and ice cold. "It can't be" he whispered, he tried talking to Rafe and Evelyn, then the others, but no-one even seemed to look up, except when he touched Evelyn's arms, she jumped, and wrapped Danny's Air Force jacket around her tightly. "Please give us a minute" a nurse asked Rafe, "Sure" the guys smiled sadly, while pulling the crying girls, into the hallway. "Its okay" a voice replied, startled Danny jumped and when he turned around he jumped again. "DAD" he whispered, shock evident on his face. "But you're.you're.you're dead" he stated more to him self then his father. "And evidently so are you" he father replied chuckling at his son. "You mean" his sentence stopped as he watched and listened to the nurse telling the group that they had lost him. He turned to his father. "omg" he whispered, watching Evelyn cry as she rubbed her tummy. "I'm going to be a father" Danny replied excitement showing in his eyes when the thought suddenly hit him. "Rafe's going to be a father" he said, as the tears spilled from his face. "I should of listened to him' Danny shouted trying to hit anything, but when ever he touched something, his had just went straight threw it. "I can't believe what an idiot I was. And Rafe probably hates me for it, so does Evelyn," Danny broke down, and fell on the floor, surprising himself, by not falling through it. "Omg, I don't want the girl of my dreams, and my best friend to hate me" Danny cried as his father came up to comfort him. "Son" his father started, but he stopped his father in mid sentence, he wanted to hear what Rafe would say. "Everyone, can I have your attention' Rafe shouted, to everyone who could hear him, whether they knew him or not. "I just want everyone to know what a horrible friend I am" Rafe shouted, with tears pouring down his face. The people, who didn't know him, looked on with tears in their eyes, and sympathetic looks on their faces. "Rafe" Goose said, trying to get his friend to calm down. "No Goose" Rafe shouted. "it was supposed to be me, I was meant to die, not him, I was such A son of a Bitch to him," Rafe couldn't take it anymore, he broke down, and fell onto the floor, pass-a-buyers who didn't even know him, tried to calm him down, saying that even though they didn't know him, Danny probably didn't hate him, or he wouldn't have saved their lives. Evelyn couldn't take it either, watching the man who had the rest of her heart breaks down. "OW" she cried in pain, Rafe looked up and instantly stopped crying. Everyone ran to her side, "Evelyn" Sandra shouted, "OMG" Rafe, Martha screamed, I think Evelyn has just gone into labor." "Doctor.Doctor" Rafe shouted, trying to find someone, "What is it" A nurse asked walking up to the gang, "our friend she's.she's.she's going to have a baby" Sandra stuttered. As the nurse called for a doctor and got her up to the delivery ward.
Danny was watching all this, and couldn't hold the tears any more, as the tears streamed down his face, he turned to his dad and said "I'm supposed to be there for her" He whispered, then he turned to see Rafe in the room, Rafe had looked 20 years older, and it was only 1 day. He heard Rafe whisper "Land of the free, Danny" he said as once again that day, the tears started. "Home of the Brave" Danny said trying to hug Rafe one last time. Rafe shivered and pulled his coat closer, Danny sighed. He'd watched ghost before, but never thought it was this difficult.
Danny's father just stood there, watching the pain his son was in, that's when he decided to tell him, it hurt, coz he missed his son like crazy, but, he knew that by telling his son, he was saving his son from more heart ache, he smiled sadly. "Danny" he said quietly, "We have to talk," Danny looked at his father, "What dad" he asked curiously. Just then this bright light shone through the ceiling, "Son" his dad started, "You have a choice, you can come with me to heaven, or you can go back to Evelyn," Danny's eyes clouded, it was one of the hardest things he's had to do, but he knew he owed it to his little baby, Evelyn and especially his Best Friend. Rafe. "Dad" Danny started with tears glistening in his eyes, "Its okay son' his father replied, walking up to hug him. "I've missed you," his father replied, walking back to the light, "I love you Daniel Walker" was the last thing that he remember his dad saying.
Evelyn went into the Delivery room, while everyone stood around her, she wanted Rafe with her, but he was saying his last goodbye to Danny, so Sandra went in with her instead.
Rafe felt cold, all of a sudden, Matches my mood, he thought, he was sitting there, next to his best friend. He couldn't get the thought out of his head, the way Danny grabbed his arm and whispered his name when he'd been shot, . Every time he thought about it, his heart broke into millions of pieces again. He grabbed Danny's hand, wanting to hold it just one last time, when all of a sudden, he grabbed Rafe's hand, Rafe started shouting 'Doctor" Rafe screamed, the doctors and nurses ran into the room, to see what was wrong, Rafe now crying tears of joy, "He.He.He squeezed my hand" Rafe replied, hardly being able to breath. The doctors and nurse examined Danny, while still letting Rafe stand next to him. "He's alive" Dr. Stein announced surprised. Rafe couldn't wait till he told the others about it. He sat with Danny for a while, talking to him, but Danny still hadn't opened his eyes. Goose came in to tell Rafe that Evelyn had a healthy baby boy, named Daniel Jr. after his brave Daddy.
Just then, they both heard a very faint cough, and looked down at Danny, "Rafe" Danny said in what was just under a whisper, "Danny" Both Goose and Rafe exclaimed at the same time. Goose ran to the other side of Danny, and held his hand. "I want to see my baby" he said with a big grin on his face. After a few minutes Danny got tired again, and Rafe promised to be back when he woke up, he went to find Evelyn and Daniel Jr. "Evelyn" Rafe screamed, "Guess what, Danny's still alive" he said. "WHAT" Evelyn asked, "W.w.w.what are you talking about" she asked again close to tears. She thought her tears had run out when she heard Danny had died. And now again a few hours later she still had enough tears to shed. Rafe explained what had happened when he went to say his finial goodbye to Danny, and how Danny had squeezed his hand, and then the shocking news. That Danny had asked if could see Daniel Jr. "But how did he know" Evelyn asked stunned. "I don't know" Rafe said in a distant voice, but seconds later he was beaming. He hugged Evelyn, "Congratulations", he said as he came in to hug her, "mind if I take Jr. over here to see his Daddy" Rafe asked as Evelyn passed him to her. Just then the nurse came in. And Evelyn asked "Hi, do you mind if he takes the baby to see its daddy, he is another ward." The nurse looked skeptical at Rafe and Evelyn "Fine" she said sternly, "but only for ten minutes" Rafe smiled happily "Thanks" he said practically dancing down the hall to Danny's room. When he got in there Danny was awake and talking to Red. Danny's eyes lit up the room, the minute Rafe put Daniel Jr. in his arms. "He's beautiful" Danny whispered. He looked up to see Rafe with tears in his eyes. "Sorry, Dan" Rafe said smiling sadly. "But we got to get Dan over here back to the nursery" Danny smiled sadly. "Mind taking him for me" Danny asked Goose, "I need to talk to Rafe" he said lying back down. "We'll see ya later," Red said walking with Goose to the nursery" we going to leave you two here for a while" Red replied patting Rafe on the back. They walked out of the room, and left Danny and Rafe in complete silence. They both smiled at each other, "Rafe" Danny whispered. "I don't know if I ever told you this, but, I'm sorry. And I don't want you to hate me for taking Evelyn; we never meant to hurt you. I.I was just so mad at you for leaving me. I've never lived without you there, no matter what, you've always and will always be my best friend, I just hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me" Danny said and turned away so that Rafe couldn't see the tears falling from his eyes. Rafe had always been Danny's role model and Danny would rather die then know that Rafe hated him. Rafe smiled to himself, "Danny" he whispered. "Of course I forgive you; I just hope you can forgive me for being such a jerk" Danny finally turned to face Rafe. "Friends" he asked with a grin. Rafe looked serious, "only if you promise me one thing" He said with glistening eyes" "Anything" Danny replied. "Never do this to me again, I was so scared that we lost you, you're my best friend to, and never forget that" he said sadly, as a smile appeared on his face, he bent down and hugged his friend. "So how does it feel to be a daddy" Rafe asked smiling. "it feels good" Danny replied, and with that Danny went to sleep.
Rafe went to visit Evelyn, and smiled. He stayed there talking for ages. "life's so good he thought".
WEEKS FLEW 3 months had already passed, and finally they were letting Danny out of the hospital, Danny had been getting stronger, he had his days were he was so weak he wouldn't get up, but when Evelyn, Rafe and Daniel Jr. came he found the strength to get up. Now they were finally letting him go home.
Rafe stayed with them for a while, to help around the house, He looked after Daniel Jr. and was there for Danny and Evelyn too. Things were going back to normal. And Rafe liked that. One day, Evelyn and Danny came back from their everyday walk that the doctor had told Danny to take, and Evelyn had been crying. The first thing that came to mind was Danny, but then Danny walked in with a HUGE grin. They didn't know how Rafe was going to handle it, but they wanted him to be the first to know. "We're getting married" Danny replied with a grin. They same one Rafe had seen when he first held Daniel Jr. in his arms. Rafe jumped up, throwing baby Danny in the air, he grinned and hugged his friends. They smiled, knowing that Rafe was okay with them together.
~~~AT THE WEDDING~~~
"You may now kiss the bride" the pastor said looking at the loving couple. Everyone in the room cheered. Rafe stood next to Danny (he was the best man) and smiled, happy and Sad at the same time, he never realized how sad wedding really were. He was happy coz His best friends were finally a family and his God Son had a loving family to grow up with. But sad, coz he didn't want to lose his best friend. They went and had photos and finally went to the reception, were all there friends stood, smiling and laughing, but something in Rafe couldn't be happy, so he steeped out side for fresh air.
"You okay" Danny asked, he could tell something was wrong, he'd been best friends with Rafe for, 24 years, and had learnt to read him like a book. He had to admit that he loved his wife and son with all his heart, but the reason he was the person he is now, and in the place he was now, was thanks to he's best friend Rafe. "I'm fine" Rafe replied looking up at the moon and stars. They both laughed lightly, and then sighed, thinking the same thing. "Damn, it's been awhile" Danny sighed happily. "To long" Rafe agreed, then started laughing. They sat outside for a while talking about memories about their child hood. Evelyn saw them, but, decided to leave them for a while. She knew they had been through so much and needed to just spend some time together. They were talking and laughing about the things they'd gotten up to when they were small. When out of the blue Rafe said "Land of the free" "Home of the brave" Danny repeated as 'There you'll be' by Faith Hill came on.
When I think back on these times, And the dreams we left behind, I'll be glad coz I was blessed, To get, to have you in my life, When I look back on these days, I look and see your face, You were right there for me,
In my dreams I'll always see you, Sore above the sky, In my heart there'll always, Be a place for you, for all my life.
I'll keep a part of you with me, And everywhere I am there you'll be, And everywhere I am there you'll be.
You showed me how it feels, To feel the sky within my reach, And I always will remember all, The strength you gave to me,
You're love made me make it through, Oh I owe so much to you, You were right there for me.
In my dreams I'll always see you, Sore above the sky, In my heart there'll always, Be a place for you, for all my life.
I'll keep a part of you with me, And everywhere I am there you'll be,
Coz I always saw in you my light, my strength And I wanna thank you know, for all the ways, You were right there for me, you were right there for me, You were right there for me. ALWAYS,
In my dreams I'll always see you, Sore above the sky, In my heart there'll always, Be a place for you, for all my life.
I'll keep a part of you with me, And everywhere I am there you'll be, And everywhere I am there you'll be, There you'll be.
Danny and Evelyn danced and as soon as it was over, Danny walked up to Rafe, "never forget Friends for life" Danny said giving Rafe a hug. "I love you man' Rafe replied, hugging Danny back. "Thanks for everything" Evelyn said with tears in her eyes. "You really are one in a million" and with that, they walked out the reception. And Rafe knew he'd never lose his friendship with Danny no matter what.
"There you'll be" sung by Faith Hill, a sound check from Pearl Harbor