For those of you who have not read my stories before, I changed some things from the movie. Danny and Evelyn never get involved, she does get pregnant but the baby is Rafe's and Danny does not die in China.

Summary: Rafe and Evelyn get married after the Doolittle Raid.

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Rafe and Danny had come home from China in one piece. Rafe saw the result of the time he and Evelyn had spent together before he'd shipped out and he reacted much the way she thought he would. He was surprised to say the least, but his happiness was plainly evident as he asked her to plan a wedding. He'd had a lot of time to think about things on the trip home, especially with the coffins the transport carried with them and he wanted to make their engagement a marriage as soon as possible.

Death had become an unwelcome part of his life and Evelyn was giving him a new life, in more ways than one.

It had all happened so fast that neither Rafe or Evelyn's parents could make the cross-country trip. Besides, the wartime restrictions on travel made it too difficult to plan something on such short notice. They did promise their parents to send pictures and to come home as soon as they were able.

Evelyn's nerves were getting the better of her, or maybe it was the morning sickness. She'd been sick on and off all morning and she prayed that it would pass by the time she and Rafe repeated their vows early that afternoon. The girls were hovering around worried that this might be too much for her, but both she and Rafe were bound and determined that they were going to be married before he had to leave on another mission.

Rafe had been assigned housing and Colonel Doolittle had made arrangements to have him transferred back to his old squadron. It was in that house that Evelyn had been unpacking for the last week, trying to transform the plain military house into a home for them and their coming child. It was also where she now lay on the bed they would share as she willed her stomach to calm down. This was her wedding day, sudden as it was and she wanted it to be as perfect as possible.

She ran a shaky hand across her forehead and sighed.

Barbara sat down next to her after shooing the other girls out of the room and took the damp hand of her nauseous friend. "Are you sure you want to do this now Ev?"

Evelyn managed a weak smile. "We've already waited too long Barbara. I've been showing for the last month and a half and the looks I've been getting from the married women around this base have been less than kind."

"Who the hell cares what they think!" Barbara said angrily. "You and Rafe love each other."

"Come on Barbara, you know that doesn't matter. And it doesn't matter that I'm wearing his engagement ring either, it's that little gold band that counts." Evelyn was uncharacteristically sarcastic.

Her tone did not go unnoticed by her irate friend. "Hells bells Ev, we should have gotten you a wedding ring to wear! That would have shut those meddling busy bodies up real quick, wouldn't it?"

Evelyn sat up, slowly. "That would have been dishonest and besides, I'm not ashamed of this. We weren't careful and that's obvious, but I'm not sorry I stayed with him."

"You never did tell me what your folks said when you finally told them."

"Mother was really disappointed about it at first. But she seemed to warm to the idea after I told her we were already planning on getting married."

"What about your dad?"

Evelyn sighed. "He said I put the cart before the horse and that he wished we'd waited until after we'd gotten married. But even though we hadn't I was still having his grandchild."

"You're lucky Ev. A lot of girls would have been disowned."

She nodded. "I really disappointed them both and I wondered for a few weeks if they would ever talk to me again, they sounded so hurt."

"Your parents would never have stopped talking to you, no matter how disappointed they were."

"I know that now but I was scared to death to tell them, especially if Rafe hadn't come back."

"And he did, didn't he?"

Evelyn smiled at her friend. "He told me he would, just like he promised when he went to England."

Barbara grinned. "Let's go out to the kitchen and get you a bicarbonate to see if that will settle your stomach."

She laughed. "I don't think a bicarbonate is going to help morning sickness, but maybe it will get me through the rest of the day."

They got off the bed and headed out to the kitchen.

They'd known each other since they were boys and Rafe had always been the more confident of the two. But to look at him trying to tie his own tie and failing miserably Danny could only shake his head. The only time he had seen his best friend more nervous than he was now was during their final physicals when he'd been so worried about passing the eye exam.

Rafe was swearing a blue streak trying to do something he never gave a second thought to because his fingers would not cooperate. "Damn tie!"

"Rafe, if you don't cut that out I'm goin' to have to tell your mama." He tried to calm his friend's nerves by joking with him.

"No you wouldn't."

"If you keep this up, I sure as hell will." And he slapped Rafe's hands away from the tie and finished knotting it himself. "How is it that you could fly a B-25 through flak as thick as fog, but getting married has you with a case of pre-mission jitters?"

"Let's see how well you do when it's your turn."

Danny grinned. "When it is my turn you can remind me about this, but in the meantime today is your weddin' day. Hell Rafe, once you see her you'll forget all about how nervous you are."

"And how would you know that?"

Danny's grin got wider. "Your daddy called me last night and he told me to tell you that. You know that he and your mama really wanted to be here and he said that if there were one thing he could tell you, that would be it."

Rafe was more than a little hurt that his father had talked to Danny and not him. "Daddy called you?"

He saw the hurt look in his friend's eyes. "He also told me to tell you that he would call you before we went over to the chapel. Rafe, he was callin' me back because I wanted to be able to tell you somethin'. As your best man it's part of my job to give you some advice and I needed help."

"Daddy always has a way of puttin' things."

"He is right you know. Once you see Evelyn, you'll forget how nervous you are because you're goin' to share your life with her." He shook his head. "If I were her I'd be scared to death." And he grinned.

"Very funny Danny."

"How is the groom holding up Captain Walker?" Colonel Doolittle stood in the doorway of the barracks in his dress uniform, looking very amused.

Rafe and Danny turned toward the door and saluted their former commander.

"At ease gentlemen." He walked in and approached the two pilots. "Nervous Captain McCawley?"

"Yes sir."

"It's natural to be nervous son because you're about to make a big change in your life. But I can tell you from my own experience that you get used to it very quickly and wonder what you did before you got married. I was also very pleased when your lovely bride asked me to give her away. I was just on my way over to the chapel to see how she was doing, but I wanted to stop by here first."

"Please tell Evelyn that I love her and I can't wait to see her."

Doolittle smiled. "I'll do that. Anything else?"

"No sir, that's it."

"Well then, I'll be on my way. I'll see you in an hour." And he turned and left the barracks.

Surprisingly to Evelyn, the bicarbonate did help to settle her stomach and by the time she and Barbara got to the chapel to dress for the ceremony, she felt better.

Sandra and Martha met the girls there and helped them both get ready.

Evelyn's one regret was that she couldn't wear the wedding dress that she wanted. But Barbara had helped her pick out a dress that she liked almost as much because it camouflaged her blossoming figure.

Barbara was securing the veil to Evelyn's hair when there was a knock at the bride's room door. Martha answered it and Colonel Doolittle stood in the doorway. "How are you doing young lady?"

"I'm fine sir, a little nervous."

"I just left your groom and he's as nervous as you are. But he did want me to tell you that he loves you and he can't wait to see you."

That made Evelyn smile. "The way his mind works." She said quietly.

The Colonel had heard her comment and smiled. "There is still plenty of time before the ceremony, but I wanted to deliver Captain McCawley's message. I'll come back for you when it's time."

"Thank you sir."

"Thank you for letting me have the honor of giving you away." And he turned around and left the room.

They watched him leave before Barbara had Evelyn stand up. "Let's get a look at you Ev."

Evelyn stood up and Barbara had her walk over to the full-length mirror.

She could hardly believe it. It may not have been her first choice, but the dress she wore hid the fact that she was pregnant. And did it with style.

Her eyes filled with tears and her chest tightened because the woman who looked back at her in the mirrors reflection was beautiful. Barbara saw her reaction. "Evelyn Johnson, if you cry and ruin my makeup job I'll never speak to you again." She joked.

Evelyn turned to her and laughed. "I'm not going to cry. I'm just so glad you talked me into buying this because I was so afraid that it wouldn't hide me."

"You look beautiful Ev." Sandra smiled.

"You're going to knock that groom of yours for a loop." Martha commented.

"I hope so."

There was another knock at the door and Sandra went to go answer it. Danny was standing there, his cap tucked under his arm and when he saw Evelyn he grinned. "If he was nervous before now, he's goin' to be a babblin' idiot when he gets a look at you."

Evelyn and Barbara looked at each other. "That was the most backhanded compliment I've ever heard." Barbara said to Evelyn.

She looked at Danny. "Thank you. How is he?"

"He really wants to get married. How are you?"

"The same."

"There's still some time before the weddin' starts, but I thought you'd like to know he's here."

"Thanks Danny."

He looked at Sandra. "Care to go for a walk?"

She nodded before she turned to the other girls. "I won't be too long." And they left the room.

Martha looked at her friends. "Is anybody talking?"

"Let them alone Martha." Evelyn said. "They'll talk when they're ready."

"It better be soon, they're driving me crazy!" She remarked.

"In the meantime, I think we should tell Barbara how nice she looks." Evelyn answered. "You really do look very pretty ."

"Thanks Ev." She looked at a clock that was hanging on the wall. "It's almost time, are you ready?"

"Wait!" Martha said suddenly. "I have to go get your flowers. I'll be right back." And she was out the door.

The two friends looked at each other and smiled. It really was a happy day.