She does this thing when she says goodbye.

He first noticed it on a Thursday evening in Lima when he was over at her house pretending to study. They'd actually spent most of that night their sophomore year making out in the innocently reckless way teenagers do, but he knew that tomorrow they'd end up parting ways.

The next time he saw it was at the train station when Finn sent her to New York. He could still remember her smile through the foggy window, how he'd made a heart with his hands and cried a little in his truck on the ride home.

The worst it had ever been had been the funeral, when she had been tucked between Kurt and her father, the one she called Daddy, in the front pew of the church that Finn himself had never even stepped foot inside. He had glanced around Carole to watch her, not wanting to see but somehow afraid he'd miss it.

And then there was now, the two of them in the busy airport terminal, with her dressed in a patriotic sundress of red and navy and him in his freshly pressed dress blues. Rachel always tried to be brave when she said goodbye.

"You are the prettiest girl I've still ever seen," he whispered softly as he tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. "Even when you're biting down on your lip so hard not to cry, you will always take my breath away."

"You're going to be safe, right? I mean it, Noah, don't you go playing the hero," she admonished him quietly. There were a few other military families nearby saying goodbye, and that's what the two of them were – a family. It might not be official but they knew they belonged to each other. This gentle reminder was her way of reiterating it to him during their final moments together. "I need you to come home to me. California is going to get awfully lonely without you."

"Six months and I'm done for good," he promised. This was the end of the thing he had felt like he had needed to for Finn and the beginning of the thing he knew he needed to do for Rachel. "And then I am going to have a whole bunch of babies with you and be an awesome stay-at-home dad while you make movies or albums or whatever to support me, my little sugar mama."

She grinned even as she elbowed him sharply. "I love you, Noah," she declared seriously, suddenly. It was always like that with her, completely random whenever it would pop into her mind. It used to bother him a little that she said it so much, but he understood it more now. They both learned not to take things for granted when they had lost Finn. "Just so you know, in case you forget."

"Never, babe," he promised before leaning in to press his lips to her. He could hear the sergeant calling somewhere behind him and then the sigh and pause of her pulling away. He closed his eyes tightly, pushing town the tears.

She nodded a little as he picked up his bag and slung it over his broad shoulder. He walked backward toward the line of airmen all waiting to board the plane that would take them to war. She smiled through the tears streaming down her face, this big brave grin that could have so easily rang false but didn't. It was the same every time but this time he knew that it was different because it wasn't really permanent. This wasn't goodbye and he wouldn't leave her with those words. Instead, he blew her a kiss and called out:

"I love you too, Rach."