Hey again! Haha two updates in a day! Woo! Haha I hope ya'll like this one, it was fun to write :) I'd like to thank Ber1719 for every review she's submitted to this story, gah she's a godsent. Thanks in advanced to all who review ;) They are really appreciated. Hope you like this chapter!

-Carlene

...

"Now Eugene, you've been sitting around here, moping like a child who didn't get his way." Eugene looked up at his mother, her hands on her hips.

"I haven't had nothing to do mother." He stated simply, leaning his head back against the tree.

"Eugene, you've been avoiding that poor girl for near a week now."

"She said she wanted to be alone."

"Now if I were her, I'd want to be alone for a day maybe. Now it's been a week."

"If she doesn't want to talk to me, I wont talk to her."

"Eugene Bondurant Sledge. Now I know I raised you to treat women better than that. You should know somethings up if she's not talking to you. Maybe she thinks you don't want to talk to her. Maybe she doesn't know what to say!"

"I don't know.." He shrugged.

"Well, you should. I saw that ring box in your room. Now if you were going to plan on marrying her, you should fix this, whatever it is. I know if she were me and you were your father, I'd want to know he still loved me when he left for war."

"Well, she's not you and I'm not dad."

"Eugene! You know better than that." And his mother spoke the truth, he was just mad that she was telling him everything he hadn't wanted to hear. He wanted to think everything was back to normal, that nothing was happening between him and the love of his life. He knew he needed to fix things, but how.

"I'm going for a walk." He stated, standing up and walking away into the woods. When the house he'd thought of as a second home came into view, he saw that their car was gone. He walked up to the door, maybe her parents were just away.

He was about to knock when he saw the note; Left for the beach already, meet you there! written in Katharine curly handwriting. He sighed, this was going to be a longer walk then he thought...

...

"Mom, are you sure you can handle them?"

"Katharine, I've raised you and Sidney, and we've got another one on the way, I'm sure I can handle Cole and Alex. Now go relax, enjoy the beach." Her mother smiled, shooing her away.

"Alright.." Katharine sighed. She turned and began to make her way down the beach, walking into the sand dunes. She took a seat, wrapping her arms around her knees against the chilly breeze.

She still hadn't talked to Eugene, she'd been stuck doing gardening and picking food for the farmers market with her mother over the weekend, then her dad proposed going with Marc and Cindy to the beach for a day or two. Jeeze, she hadn't talked to Eugene in over a week, that's the longest since they'd been dating. And every day they didn't speak it killed her more.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Katharine jumped, her head whipping around to see Michael Hillard standing behind her.

"Maybe a nickle?" He asked, standing besides her.

"My goodness Michael, you scared me."

"I'm sorry." He smiled, a look of amusement glinted in his green eyes.

"I'm sure you are." She sighed, standing and wiping the sand from her white sundress.

"I am. So what were you so lost in thought about?"

"Eh, just me and Eugene."

"Oh, you two lovebirds still going strong?"

"Yeah, as far as I know. It's just he's signing up to ship out."

"Ah, and you don't want him to?"

"No, my brothers already over there, why would I want my boyfriend there too?"

"Well, they'd both be fighting for their country, I've been wanting to sign up. But my mother won't let her 'little boy' sign up, so I'm waiting to be drafted." Michael shrugged, watching Katharine shiver as another breeze came along. "You know if we were moving you'd stay warmer." He stated simply.

"Well then let's go for a walk." Katharine smiled up at him as they started off down the beach. "So what have you been up to? I haven't seen you since school got out last year."

"Eh, same old same old, working with dad on cars, helping mom around the house. I have a new sister."

"Really? What's her name? I'm sure she's adorable."

"Her name is Isabelle. And eh, she's cute but she's still a little ankle biter to me." He laughed, scooting subtly closer to her.

"Eh, every child has their flaws."

"So does everybody else." He reminded her.

"That's very true. SO have you been thinking about college or anything?"

"Katharine, with a whole world war raging around us, your still thinking about college?"

"Maybe.." She blushed, glancing down at her feet.

"You always did have the weirdest priorities." He smiled, poking her in the ribs.

"Micheal- st-stop! I'm ticklish!" She shouted as Michael prodded her repeatedly in the rib, causing laughter to erupt from her chest.

"Awe fine, I'll stop. For now." He smiled a wicked smiled before taking a few steps on his way again.

"So what have you been up to besides sucking face with Eugene that is.." He grinned, nudging her in the side.

"Well, I've been taking care of my cousins, they're my god kids actually, Cindy just told me that. I've been... picking vegtables out of the garden, cleaning the house..."

"Staying in the kitchen I presume."

"Michael Lucas Hillard! You shouldn't make jokes like that!" She shoved him with more force then she'd thought at first, causing him to tumble in the surf. She burst into laughter, watching him stand from the water, soaking wet.

"Oh, you'll pay." He sighed, shaking his hair about.

"Nu-uh!" Katharine stuck her tongue out before tearing off down the beach, Michael following soon after. Katharine loved to run, the sand between her toes, wind in her hair, not a care in the wor-

"Michael!" She shrieked as he tackled her into the water, the waves rushing over the pair.

"Michael Hillard, Look what you've done!" She shouted, pointing down to her dress.

"Oh, I see what I've done." He laughed, helping her up out of the water. Katharine didn't see his eyes travel over the extent of her soaked curves.

"Ugh, I swear Michael, I should kill you right now.." She sighed, wringing out her curls as best she could.

"But you won't." He smiled.

"Oh, I should, believe me." She rolled her eyes.

"Awe, I'm sorry." He giggled, wrapping her in a hug, her small frame shivering against him. "Somebodies cold."

"That wind is cold." She stated.

"Well we can't have that." He shrugged his jacket off, handing it to her.

"Th-thanks." She looked up at him, slipping his jacket over her shoulders.

"Mhm. So, how are you?" Michael asked, at lost for words.

"I'm a bit chilly, just got pushed into the ocean by a certain guy."

"Wow, sounds like a jerk. What kind of guy would push a cute girl like you into the ocean?"

"I don't know, the lame kind." Katharine smiled.

"Hey!" He poked her in the sides, causing laughter to rise from her chest. He continued to tickle her until someone clearing their throat brought them apart.

"Eugene..." Katharine whispered, in shock. She knew this looked bad.

"Hey there Eugene.." Michael waved, rubbing the back of his head in embarassment.

"Hey, Michael, Katharine.." The look on Eugene's face was one of anger and sadness mixed.

"Gene.." Katharine sighed, "This isn't what it looks like, I'm here with my parents, and Alex and Cole, even Cindy and Marc. Michael here just saw me and we decided to catch up..."

"And what? Did he save you from drowning too?" Eugene couldn't keep the anger from raging within his voice.

"No! He was just joking around and he pushed me in, I did it to him so it was only fair.." Katharine's voice came out soft, trying to explain and not break down in tears at the same time, Eugene had never yelled at her before.

"I'm sure.." Eugene said, turning and disappearing behind a dune.

"Michael, I'm sorry about this.." Katharine apologized, handing him back his jack before chasing after Eugene.

"Eugene! Please! Would you listen to me?"

"What? I saw you flirting with him!"

"Eugene! I wasn't! He's a good friend, that's all." Katharine explained, walking closer to him. "I've missed you Eugene.."

"Yeah, really looks like it." He scoffed.

"I have. Eugene, I've been wanting to talk to you."

"To what? To dump me?"

"Eugene! Stop! You're overreacting. Not being sensible."

"No, I'm being perfectly sensible."

"If you were being sensible you would know that I would never cheat on you, you'd know that I love you, and that I've missed you like crazy!" She shouted, her nerves finally exploding, she felt the first tears travel slowly down her cheeks.

"Well, if you were being sensible, you'd know that I love you more than you can ever know, you'd know that I see things and go straight to the conclusion, you'd know that I wanted you to marry me." His voice had trailed off to a whisper towards the end.

"What?" Katharine asked, looking up at him, was she just imagining the last words she'd heard?

"I want you to marry me Katharine..." Eugene stated, waiting for anything from her. He didn't know her heart was racing, although she thought he could hear it. He didn't know the thoughts racing through her head, although she thought he could guess.

"Eugene.." Katharine sighed, she saw his face automatically fall, "I want to marry you." SHe smiled as she saw his eyes light up.

"Oh my God!" He grinned, picking her up in a hug. It was hard to think that no more than a minute or two ago they'd been fighting, it was hard to think that for over a week they hadn't talked. But that week made both of them realize they couldn't live without each other, they were meant to be by eachs others sides forever. But Katharine had forgotten the war, the fact that Eugene hadn't told her he'd recieved his orders and would be leaving in about a month.

...

"God damn, this is almost as good as being home.." Sid sighed, taking another lick of his ice cream.

"You could say that again.." Runner nodded, watching people travel by. But Sid could say that again. Melbourne was heaven compared to what they'd seen on Guadalcanal. Although he would rather be home sleeping in and having a whole lotta nothing to do, Sid was not about to complain about his current situation.

Sid, Runner, Chuckler, and Leckie sat on the curb, eating ice cream, the big church in the distance was resonating with the sound of bells. Sid sat, listening to them ring, while the guys went on about something. Truth was, he was reminded of his small town church back home.

He remembered every Sunday when him and Katharine had to dress up in their Sunday best. The two of them would complain about it all they wanted, but mother insisted. The Phillips were not going to be seen as under dressed, oh no. Katharine wore lacy dresses while Sid had suits and ties. His sister would have her hair pulled up into a fussy do, while Sid was forced to brush his back, or slick it back with oil, that's how he got the nickname greaser from Eugene. He smiled at the memories of home, hoping to see it sometime soon.

...