It shouldn't have unnerved him when he made the decision to talk to his godfather, but Danny McCawley was unnerved.

Their relationship was a good one and Danny didn't see why that would change except for the small detail of the Major's daughter. But he also figured that if his Grandpa McCawley could see that things had changed between them, Major Walker more than likely would have too.

He didn't tell his father what he was going to do because that would mean he would have to explain what already transpired between he and Ann. And it was only fair that Ann's parents know what his intentions were before he told his dad.

As luck would have it, the briefing room wasn't being used and as Danny requested earlier that day his godfather met him outside. "You looked pretty serious this mornin' and it bein' the end of the day don't seem to have changed that much." He commented. "What could have you so serious?"

"Ann." He said without explanation.

"My daughter Ann." Major Walker confirmed.

"Yes Sir, your daughter Ann."

The Major opened the door and waited for Danny to precede him into the room before he closed it behind them. "Do I need to ask you if you've done anythin' with her that you shouldn't have?"

"No Major, you don't." And he wondered what his godfather would think about the fact that he had his hands on Ann's bare skin. But he seemed satisfied with Danny's answer and he nodded before he sat down.

"How long has this been goin' on? Since the dance last month?"

Danny sat across from him and was as straightforward as possible. "Since Thanksgiving, but probably earlier. We're still trying to figure that out."

He frowned and Danny was concerned because it sounded to his own ears like he was trying to hide something. "So if that's true why are you runnin' around with that other girl?"

"I was just as surprised to see Evelyn here as Ann was and I tried to explain to her that we were never anything more than friends. She isn't interested in marrying into the service and she let me know that when we were in Colorado. Besides, I was still going with Caroline and it wasn't right that I gave any thought to another girl."

The Major smiled. "You may look like your daddy, but you've got your mama's good sense."

"Thank you Sir." Danny answered and wasn't exactly sure what he meant.

He turned serious again. "So how exactly do you feel about her?"

That was easy. "I care about her very much."

He shook his head in what Danny could only guess was disbelief. "Her Mama was right."

"Sir?"

"I thought at the time it was because of Barbara's weddin'. Sandra had just had Thomas and was tryin' to help Evelyn with all the details. I thought she'd worn herself to a frazzle because of a dream she had about Annie and you."

"With all due respect Sir, what are you talking about?" Would that explain the look he got from Mrs. Walker the first time he walked Ann home from the beach?

"The plain fact is Annie's mama and I had dreams about you when she was just a little thing. My Sandra don't believe in dreams and she still don't, but I always thought it was odd that it would happen to the both of us." The Major explained.

Danny was more than a little confused. "So this isn't really a surprise?"

His godfather did look surprised. "Now I didn't say that. All I did say was that Annie's mama and I dreamed about the two of you when you were still young but that don't mean that we thought it would actually happen. I guess the next logical question would be is what are your intentions as far as my daughter goes?"

"I want the chance to get to know her and I want her to get the chance to know me." He said simply.

Major Walker frowned. "I don't need to ask you how well that might be, do I?"

"Not in the way you appear to be thinking Sir." Danny told him.

"You know why I'm askin', don't you?" His frown seemed to get deeper.

Danny knew he meant the different paths his parents and Ann's took in their respective courtship's. He didn't want what happened to Major and Mrs. McCawley to happen to his own daughter, no matter how strongly they might feel about the other. "Yes Sir I can. And I give you my word that I'll never let anything happen that shouldn't."

"Don't misunderstand me now. I know how much your folks love each other and they haven't regretted a day that they've been married. And maybe Annie's mama and I were more cautious then we needed to be, but we had good reason." He seemed to feel the need to explain.

"Well seeing as how I was the reason they got married, I do understand your concern."

"All right then. Have you talked to your daddy about this?"

Danny shook his head. "No Sir. I thought that I should talk to you first because it didn't seem right that Dad would know about this before you."

His honesty made the Major smile. "Thank you son, I appreciate that very much. If you would give me some time to talk to Sandra about this and let me talk to Ann as well, you can mention it to your daddy."

"I think that's fair."

"That's very decent of you." He smiled. "Do you have somethin' in mind?"

"Yes Sir. I've already told her that I want to take her to the Royal Hawaiian for dinner." He said and wasn't sure what the Major would think of his choice.

"That hotel has significance to both of our families."

"Yes Sir, I know that and it's why I want to take her there. It seems like the right place to start."

His godfather smiled at him and stood up. "That it is. Sandra and I started our marriage there and it's where your mama got a proper proposal. It's a fittin' place for you and Annie to start too."

"I appreciate that Sir." Danny stood up next to his godfather and followed him as he walked to the door.

"Does she know anythin' about your combat status?" The Major asked him.

"She knows pretty much what I know and I've promised to tell her what I can or not tell her anything, if that's what she wants."

"Just spend as much time with her as you can, especially after you get into the rotation. She puts on a brave face like her mama, but she'll worry somethin' fierce." And he grinned. "Just don't tell her I told you that."

"I won't."

"I also want you to remember somethin'; she's only seventeen. I know she grew up a lot while you were away and it took you by surprise but your growin' up surprised her just as much. You've already told me that nothin' would happen that shouldn't and I believe you. But I also remember what it felt like to be a young man in love and how difficult it got for us sometimes. If this thing with you and Ann gets serious and you find yourself fallin' for her just think about where certain consequences could lead you. When we were young and livin' here we didn't have our folks around as you know, but you and my daughter do and I don't think your daddy or your mama would cotton too much to you and Ann endin' up in the situation they did. Am I makin' myself clear?"

Major Walker didn't mince words. He was telling Danny in no uncertain terms that he expected his godson not to let what he felt for his daughter to cloud his judgment. He felt the weight of responsibility that was imparted to him and promised himself not to disappoint Ann's father. "You've made yourself very clear Sir."

"Danny, times are different now and I understand that. Things ain't the way they were when your daddy and I were your age. But Ann is my first born child and I always thought of her as a reward for Sandra and I havin' decided to wait to be together until after we got married. The fact of the matter is Sandra and I wouldn't be too happy either if the two of you had to push things up faster than you wanted because you didn't think a situation through."

"Dad's never made any excuses about what happened with him and Mama before I was born. And I understand how different it is with Ann and me because we're all here together. I give you my word that nothing will happen that shouldn't." He tried to assure the older man. "Ann means a lot to me and I know how much you love her. Besides, if anything did happen Hank would make me wish it hadn't."

That made his godfather smile. "Ann ain't too sure how she feels about havin' someone else actin' like an older brother. She used to chaff when you would do it and I don't think she appreciates him doin' it either."

"He's a good guy Major." Danny told him. "She really made an impression on him when you came back for graduation and for some reason he decided she needed someone to look after her."

"Would you know what that reason is?" He seemed curious.

"I don't have a clue." He admitted.

The Major sighed. "Well it seems that I have two young men lookin' after my daughter for two very different reasons and I can't think of two finer young men that I would trust her with. You've given me your word and I accept it, so if it's my blessin' you're lookin' for you have it."

"I appreciate that very much Sir." And he put his hand out which his godfather grasped firmly in his own and shook.

"I need to be gettin' home now. I told Sandra I'd be a little late because I needed to talk to one of the new pilots. I didn't tell her it was you because I didn't know exactly what it was that you wanted to talk to me about. But when we get through with supper tonight I'll tell her about this." He shook his head. "She just ain't goin' to believe this."

"Would it be all right if I call Ann and set a date for dinner?"

"If you could wait until later this evenin', that would be fine." He requested.

"I can wait."

"Thank you son." He opened the door before he looked back at Danny. "Sandra just ain't goin' to believe this." And he was gone.

Danny sat down on the edge of the desk. His heart was racing and he started to tremble. All at once it was easier than he expected and hard as all hell to talk to him because the Major made it very clear that things were not to get out of hand and Danny understood why.

He also thought he understood what his godfather meant when he said Danny looked like his father but had Mama's good sense. In his bachelor days Dad was impulsive and oftentimes didn't think things through before he did them, he just acted.

Mama was just the opposite and Danny had always been more like her in that he always thought things through. His failing was that he thought things through so much that sometimes he was slow to act. Caroline was the perfect example of that.

"So how did it go?" Danny heard the voice of his friend and looked toward the door. Hank looked little anxious as he stepped into the room and closed the door. "Did the Major let you have it?"

He grinned. "The Major did not let me have it. In fact, what he did tell me was that when Ann was little he and Mrs. Walker both had dreams about her and me."

"What kind of dreams?"

Danny shook his head. "He didn't say, but my feeling is we weren't kids in those dreams."

"So it shouldn't have been a surprise then." Hank said logically.

"It sure as hell was a surprise. He said they each had a dream but I think it was only that one time. And it probably wasn't something either of them thought about until the first time that I walked her home from the beach."

"So now that you've talked to her dad where is the big date going to be?" He grinned.

"The Royal Hawaiian." Danny answered and felt his neck warm.

Hank raised his eyebrows. "Isn't that something that you work up to Dan? Sarah told me about the history of that place for your families and it seems to me that the Black Cat Cafe is the place to start."

"The Black Cat? I don't even know if that place is still open."

"Are you kidding? Being so close to the base, of course it's open. And who ever runs it has it looking the same way it did when your parents hung out there."

"Why?"

"Who the hell knows? It could be that there are still people around here who remember it and go there for nostalgic reasons."

"How would you know about that cafe?" Danny was suddenly curious because the Black Cat Cafe wasn't a well-known spot except for those who had been on Oahu for a few years. Sarah must have told him about it.

"Sarah took me there for lunch not long after I got here and she told me that Ann's father proposed to her mother there." He laughed. "What a place to propose to your girlfriend."

"But he did give her a week at the Royal Hawaiian for their honeymoon so I think it evened out."

"It must have because they're still happily married from what I can see." Hank added. "So what's on your itinerary tonight?"

"I hadn't given it much thought. I have to wait before I can call Ann because the Major wants to talk to Ann's mother and to her before I talk to her. We're not scheduled to fly so I might just go back to my quarters."

"Your quarters? Are you kidding?"

"I'm not kidding. I don't get a lot of time to myself because if I'm not flying I'm usually with my family. But since they don't know anything about this yet it's going to be too hard to be with them and not be able to say anything."

"I read you." He relented.

"I thought you would." He grinned back. "Besides, what are you so concerned about? You should be out with my sister having a good time somewhere."

Hank sighed. "Your sister isn't talking to me at the moment. She knows there's something going on with you and Ann and she knows that you've been talking to me about it. She also knows that I would never tell her anything if it wasn't all right with you and that's why she's mad."

"I'm sorry Hank. I thought for sure Ann would have talked to her about this."

He shook his head. "She doesn't strike me as the kind of girl that would talk about something like this, not even to Sarah. Of course it doesn't help matters that Evelyn knows more about this than she does."

"And Ann was spending some time talking with her." Danny agreed. "This got a lot more complicated than it needed to didn't it?"

"Not complicated Dan. Ever since we got here she's been pushing the idea of you and Ann and I think that because she knows deep down that things have changed between the two of you, she feels left out. That's another reason why she's mad."

"Then I think it's time that I talk to her." He said as he reached for the telephone and picked up the receiver. He dialed his parent's house and Joe was on the other end of the line. "Hey Joe it's me, is Sarah around?"

"She's finishing up some homework I think. I'll get her for you." His younger brother answered and Danny heard the receiver as Joe put it down on the table.

"Is she home?" Hank asked as Danny waited.

"She's home and in the middle of homework." He answered and wondered what was taking Sarah so long. She was probably mad at him too.

"Hi." He heard his sister's voice. "What's the big event? You never call me."

"Has Mama started dinner yet?"

"Not yet, why? Do you want her to set a place for you?" He heard the amusement in her voice.

"No I don't want her to set a place for me." She could be a real smart aleck and he smiled. "If you have some time, would you meet me over at my quarters? There are some things that have been happening that I'd like you to know about."

"I think that'll be all right. I'll just tell Mama and I'll be over in a few minutes."

"There's no hurry. I'm not home yet and it'll take me a few minutes to get to my car. Give me ten minutes and I'll meet you there." He requested.

"Ten minutes, I'll see you then." She confirmed and she hung up.

He put the receiver down. "She's going to meet me and I'll talk to her."

"I heard that. Did she sound mad?"

Danny shook his head. "She didn't sound mad but she did sound a little tired. Mid-terms must be getting to her."

"Well, let's get out of here then so you can get home."

"Thanks." And he stood up and followed Hank to the door. "I'll put in a good word for you if you want."

"You don't need to do that Dan. If we can't figure out a way to get through something small like this, we won't be able to work through the big stuff." He said as they made their way down the hall.

"That's a smart way of looking at it. So other than the fact that she's not talking to you right now, how are things going?" Danny didn't have the right to ask, but he was curious nonetheless.

"Things are going great. She's been taking me to all the places that you hung out when you were kids and telling me the stories about your family and the Walker's. It's kind of funny when she talks about all of you because it's as though you're one family instead of two. I've never seen anything like it."

He'd never really thought about it. "I guess to someone who didn't grow up around us would think it a little odd, but I guess in some ways we always have been one family because Dad and Major Walker grew up in the same house together."

"It's a good thing he had your dad and his parents from what Sarah tells me." Hank commented as he opened the outside door and the two pilots walked to the parking lot.

"A very good thing." He agreed.

"There's one thing that I don't quite get."

Danny pulled his car keys out of his flight jacket as he and Hank approached his car. "What's that?"

"If you were named for Ann's dad, why wasn't Tom named for your dad?"

"They wanted to, but Dad asked them not to. He got teased in school because of his name and might have felt that Ann's brother might go through the same thing. My understanding about that was that the Major didn't really want his son named after his father so they named him after Gramps and his middle name is his mother's father." He explained as he unlocked the passenger door before he walked around to the driver's side.

"I met the O'Connell's when I came back from Thanksgiving leave. They seem like really nice people." He said as he opened the door and got in. "Ann doesn't really favor them though."

Danny sat down next to him and put his key in the ignition. "Grams says she favors Major Walker's mother. I've never seen a picture of her though."

"She must have been a pretty lady." He said as they drove out of the lot and headed toward the Bachelor Officer's Quarters.

"I'm sure she was." Danny answered him as they drove toward home.

When he parked his car in front of their quarters a few minutes later Hank got out. "She may not like seeing me right now so I'm going to get out of here. I'll talk to you later."

Danny got out of the car and called to his friend. "Hank, you have to talk to her sometime."

"But you need to talk to her first." Hank called back as he opened his front door and walked inside.

Danny couldn't remember when he'd met someone as stubborn as his former roommate, but he also knew that to try and talk anymore would be useless. He closed his car door before he walked to his own quarters and unlocked the front door. His first impulse was to call Ann to tell her that he'd talked to her father but he'd told the Major he would wait.

As he walked inside and dropped the keys on the side table he thought about what Hank said about building up to a place like the Royal Hawaiian. That was a place you took your girlfriend to propose to her or your bride for your honeymoon. Would she mind a place like the Black Cat or would she be disappointed that he had changed his mind? He knew that there was only one way to find out and he was going to have to wait.

"Danny?" He turned around and saw his sister in the doorway. "I can't stay too long because Mama wants me to help with dinner."

"Come on in." He motioned to her with a smile. "Would you like a coke or something? You look a little out of breath."

"No thanks, it's too close to dinner. You're welcome to come back with me you know, Dad and Mama would love to have you." She smiled back at him.

"I know they would but Mama says that I have to learn to cook if I'm going to live on my own. And I'm most definitely alone at the moment."

She sat down on the military issue sofa that was so much like the one at his parent's house. "But it won't be forever."

He dove in. "Not if everything works out with Ann, it won't." And he waited for his sister's reaction.

It didn't take her more than a moment and she jumped up from his lumpy sofa and threw her arms around her neck. "It's about time you big dope. I didn't know what else I was going to have to do to get the two of you alone."

Danny laughed and hugged her back.

Just as quickly though she punched his arm. "And Hank knew about this before I did you jerk! How is that?"

He frowned as he rubbed his sore arm. What was it about Ann and Sarah that they punched him when they were annoyed? "Because he would have put me in a headlock until I told him what was going on. I didn't mean to keep this a secret from you, I just assumed that Ann talked to you about this."

"Annie can be a real clam when she wants to be and you should know that." And she sighed. "I can see where she didn't want to though, because I am your sister after all."

"Lucky for you." He grinned at her.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "That depends on your point of view."

"I love you too Sarah." He hugged her and felt her arms around him. "Please don't be too mad at Hank. I never asked him to keep this from you but you should know him well enough by now to know that he would never repeat anything we talk about unless I let him know that it's all right."

"I know that and you're right. I just feel like I'm being left out." She admitted.

"Sarah, you haven't been left out. I just talked to Major Walker today and Dad and Mama still don't know what's going on. Give Ann the chance to talk to you."

"She's been talking to Evelyn." And Danny tried not to smile because his usually mature sister sounded petulant.

"But she hasn't known Evelyn for most of her life has she?" He reasoned with her. "You've always been like a big sister to her and she could probably stand a good talk with you about all of this. The truth is I don't know who's more surprised by this, her or me."

"I did what I could." She smiled.

"Don't give yourself so much credit." He grinned. "If it wasn't meant to be for us, no amount of prodding from you would have made any difference."

"I don't know about that. You know how stubborn I can be."

"And you don't know how stubborn Ann can be." Danny countered.

"Yes I do. But if things with you and Ann have changed, how does Evelyn fit into this?"

"She doesn't anymore." He told her. "Ann misunderstood my friendship with her as something more than what it was. She thought I had passed on a relationship with Evelyn because of Caroline and no matter how much I told her that Evelyn didn't mean anything to me she wanted me to spend time with her. So we did and what ever it was that Evelyn talked to her about she was able to get Ann to see that there wasn't anything for her to worry about."

"So you're going to go on a date now?" She smiled.

"As soon as Major Walker talks to Mrs. Walker and to Ann, that's my plan."

"What do you have in mind?"

He honestly wasn't sure anymore. "I haven't decided yet."

"Well, whatever you decide to do I know she'll like it." She reassured him.

"I hope so."

Sarah was serious. "You really care about her, don't you? I mean, this isn't a passing thing?"

"I've never felt this way about any other girl and I don't know exactly what that means. I just want to take the time to get to know her as more than the daughter of a family friend."

"And you told the Major this?"

"I told him that and he told me that he didn't want us to end up in the same situation that Dad and Mama did when she found out she was going to have me."

"Can you blame him?" She asked.

"Of course not because I don't want that to happen either. I know how disappointed they would be if it happened again." He frowned. "She's so young and she trusts me and if I let something happen that shouldn't happen it would break the trust that the Major has in me. And that trust means a lot."

"She's a lucky girl Danny." She hugged him again before she let him go and walked to the front door. "And you're a lucky guy."

"Don't I know it."

"Are you sure you don't want to come home with me? You know there'll be plenty to eat."

"Thanks Sarah but I'm going to stay here. I don't get a lot of time to myself these days and I'd like to take the chance while I can." He said as he followed her to the door.

"Fair enough."

He opened the door and stepped out on the porch with her. The sun was beginning to go down and Danny wondered if he shouldn't drive her home.

"It's not that far, so don't worry. It doesn't take me long to get home."

"Okay."

"I'll see you later." And she headed toward the sidewalk.

"Tell everyone hello for me." He said as he raised a hand in farewell.

"I will." And she turned up the street and walked away. He watched her until she disappeared and looked at his watch. It should only take her five minutes to get back to his parent's house.

"So was she really mad?" Hank asked from his porch next door.

"She's not mad Hank, she just felt left out." Danny explained. "If you want to come over and subject yourself to my lack of culinary talents, I'll fill you in."

"Give me a beer and you've got yourself a deal." He grinned as he walked across the short yard and stepped up on Danny's porch.

"You know where they are, so come on in." He grinned back and waited for his friend to walk in the house before he closed the door.