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Chapter 25

Rafe's own breaths were coming in ragged gasps as Danny's weight took its toll on him. Red and the other pilots offered a couple of times to take over, but he refused.

He wasn't letting his brother go.

He tried not to think about the warm, moist feeling that was seeping into his back. Danny was still bleeding, and they needed to find him medical help quickly. The only comfort was Danny's soft, painful breaths coming from behind his head, and though it pained him to know that Danny was suffering so much, it was the only indication he had that his friend was still alive, and...he'd rather be hearing that than total silence.

There was a small grunt from behind them. Gabby looked back and was surprised to see Gooz struggling a small distance away with someone on his back. She hadn't even realised when he fell behind. As he got closer, she recognized the person on his back as Anthony.

Gooz smiled at her sadly. "Couldn't leave him behind, either."

Gabby's eyes filled with tears as she nodded. "We'll go home together." She said softly.

Gooz tilted his chin towards Rafe. "Go stay with Danny, I'll be fine."

She paused for a while, then nodded. Jogging back to Rafe's side, Gabby felt a brief moment of panic when she saw that Danny's eyes had closed. Tentatively, she reached out and gently touched Danny's cheek, and was relieved when he slowly opened his eyes in response. "Just a bit more, Danny."

"Rafe!" Red hissed urgently from the front. "There's someone coming, right ahead."

Sure enough, it looked like a couple more soldiers were coming their way, but it was too dark for them to see if they were Japanese or allies. Almost automatically, the other pilots fanned out and formed a protective circle around Rafe and Gooz, just in case they had to resort to defending themselves.

But all of them knew that if it came down to that, the odds of them coming out alive were extremely small.

"Shit..." Rafe swore under his breath. He was grateful for his friends' courage and protection, but there was no way they could put up a fight in this state. He didn't want to lose any more friends today. Anthony was already one too many. "We've got to find cover."

"This way." Gabby pointed towards some short bushes at the side. It wasn't the greatest place, but it was their best shot. Besides, the sky was dark by now, if they were quiet enough, they might manage to go undetected.

As quietly as they could, the pilots made their way over to the bushes, still on constant alert with their hands on the hilts of their guns. Rafe grunted as he crouched behind the bushes, straining to keep Danny on his back. His senses perked up slightly as he felt Danny move. "You alright, Danny?" He whispered.

"Put...me down, Rafe." Danny struggled to get his words out between painful gasps of air, and was immediately rejected by a determined Rafe. "Don't get me started, Danny. Now's not the time for this."

He couldn't afford to get into an argument with Danny about this right now, and Danny knew it. He could hear the breathlessness in Rafe's voice, and though he wasn't sure how much time had passed, he knew Rafe couldn't continue like this for long. With a pang of regret, Danny remembered how he'd pleaded Rafe to bring him home. He hadn't realised that request could cost Rafe his life...If only he could go back and shut his own big mouth. If he survived this, there was no way he was going to ask Rafe for something like that ever again...

Almost as if Rafe could read his mind, Danny felt Rafe's hold on him tighten as he whispered fiercely. "Don't go thinking too much about this, Danny. It has nothing to do with what you told me last night. Whether you said it or not, I wouldn't have done this any other way. Rather than wasting your energy thinking about useless things, just concentrate on breathing, and leave the rest to me."

Danny knew he couldn't change Rafe's mind, but amidst the frustration and anxiety, there was a growing sense of warmth coming from the bottom of his heart that overrode the coldness in his entire body. In this moment, he knew for certain that Evelyn no longer stood between them. He had his brother back, well and truly. With a small smile on his face, he laid his head back on Rafe's shoulder, weakly closing his eyes as he gave in. "Fine..."

"Shh, guys!" Red hissed urgently. The group ahead was coming closer, and Rafe immediately shut up, though he was still fuming silently. How could Danny think he could leave him behind to save his own life? Rafe wanted to knock the sense back into his head, but now, with Danny in this state and the incoming group still unidentified, he could only suppress the urge. Instead, he settled on comforting himself with the thoughts of what he could do to Danny when all this was over.

"That looks like the American flag, Rafe." Gabby whispered in surprise. Rafe frowned, then stole a look himself. "Bloody hell, you're right, Gabby!"

Unable to contain his excitement, Red shot up from his hiding place and waved his arms frantically. "Help! Over here!"

"Who's that?" came the prompt reply as the group turned towards them.

Rafe could have cried in relief as he recognized the voice of Colonel Doolittle. Struggling to stand up with Danny on his back, he made his way over with the other pilots behind him. Doolittle's eyes widened at the sight of them, and there was obvious relief in his voice as he smiled. "McCawley? And the whole bunch of you..."

Then, his eyes fell on the semi-conscious Danny on Rafe's back.

"We'll get you guys out of here." He said curtly, gesturing for someone from behind to bring out a makeshift stretcher they'd prepared earlier. There will be time to find out what happened afterwards.

Rafe hesitated. He didn't want to let Danny off his back, but his legs and arms were indeed too tired and could barely hold out much longer...

Gooz came up to him, having deposited Anthony on another stretcher. "Come on, Rafe. We'll be able to move faster this way."

Rafe had to admit Gooz had a point. They needed to get Danny to the base as soon as possible, and he wasn't exactly Danny's fastest mode of transport at the moment.

Reluctantly, he allowed the two Chinese soldiers to ease Danny off his back, then hurriedly grabbed his friend's hand tightly as they lifted the stretcher and started walking. "Danny...we've got help. The colonel is here, everything's going to be alright..."

Damn...Danny's hand was so cold. Rafe's spirits lifted when he felt Danny's fingers tighten slightly around his hand, and he squeezed back encouragingly. "That's it, Danny, stay with me."

Danny's eyelids fluttered in his effort to keep them open, and he smiled vaguely at Rafe. His friends were safe...they were going home.

With the relief came an overwhelming sense of fatigue. Rafe sensed the loosening hold of Danny's fingers on his hand, and he tightened his grip. "Danny?"

It was completely limp, and no matter how hard Rafe squeezed, there was no response. Rafe froze. For a while, he could only walk alongside the stretcher, his hand tight around Danny's, not daring to check if his friend was still breathing. He had no idea what he would do if he wasn't. Fear and grief gripped his heart as tears flowed down his face. His hand shaking as he gripped Danny's tightly, he pleaded. "Please, Danny..."

Don't do this...not after we've gone through so much to get here...

Doolittle looked straight ahead as his heart broke silently. His small procession crossed the gates of the Chinese base, and the medical team which had been awaiting them came up to greet them. Doolittle waved them over to the two stretchers bearing his fallen pilots, unable to look away as the doctors examined them.

The nurses held the grieved pilots back as the doctors approached their friends. Gooz saw Gabby's shoulders trembling as she bit down hard on her lip, trying to stop herself from crying out loud, and his own eyes moistened as he bowed his head.

Danny...his fun-loving, cheerful buddy, the only one who would take over his shifts so he could enjoy his surfing with a peace of mind, the only one who'd put up with his lame jokes all the time...he couldn't imagine all that was gone...

Reaching over, he put a hand on Gabby's shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. Danny was a good friend of his, but as his roommate, the loss was going to be even more painful for Gabby. It was the least he could do to offer some support.

Doolittle didn't understand Chinese much, but he could understand the shaking of heads as the doctors moved away from Anthony. His heart died a little.

He subconsciously held his breath as the doctors approached Danny. Then, the doctors conversed in hushed, urgent tones, and signaled for the two Chinese soldiers to help carry Danny inside.

Rafe could barely contain himself as he followed close behind, grabbing the nurse in front of him. "What are they doing? What did they say?"

The nurse shook her head. She didn't understand English either, but she could guess this American pilot was asking about the one they're moving. She patted his shoulder encouragingly, then pointed towards the operating theatre.

Rafe understood, and hope welled up in his heart. "Danny's alive...Danny's still alive." He muttered under his breath, almost smiling in relief at the thought that his friend was still with him. They wouldn't be operating on him if he wasn't.

Doolittle placed a hand on his shoulder before he could barge into the operating theatre. "Easy, McCawley. You don't belong in there."

"But sir..."

"No buts, McCawley." Doolittle said sternly, then his tone softened as he gave Rafe's shoulder an encouraging squeeze. "You've done your best. There's nothing more you can do."

Looking at the tired faces of his pilots, he smiled at them. "You've all done great, and I'm very proud of each and every one of you. The Chinese have kindly allowed us to use the rooms on the second floor of the building beside this one, so make yourselves comfortable."

The pilots looked at each other, then back at the colonel. Gabby stood forward. "Thank you, sir, but I think we'll be more comfortable after we find out that Danny's going to be alright."

Doolittle raised his eyebrows. "You guys are going to wait around in the corridor?"

There was determination in their faces as the pilots nodded in unison. Doolittle opened his mouth to say something, then decided against it. "Suit yourselves. I'm going out there to see if I can find any more of our own people. I'll come check on you guys when I get back, so you better behave yourselves."

The pilots straightened and saluted their commander. "Yes sir."

After Doolittle left, they resigned themselves to the long, extended torture of waiting. A short while later, another group of doctors came, and after a series of hand gestures, the pilots understood that these doctors were here to tend to their injuries. Rafe's mind was focused on the set of closed doors behind which Danny was being operated on, and he didn't really register whatever the doctors were doing to him. He just sat there quietly, allowing them to put a bandage on his head where he had been hit by the Japanese. They did something to his right arm as well, but he couldn't be bothered to find out what it was. His injuries were minor compared to Danny's, and he didn't see a need to make a fuss of them when all he wanted was for his friend to be alright..

Tired as they were, once the doctors left, a couple of them soon fell asleep on the chairs along the corridor, but Rafe couldn't sleep. He sat there motionless, still in his blood-soaked jacket as he waited for news of Danny. Then, slowly, he took his jacket off, gripping it tightly in his hands as he looked at the blood on it.

Danny's blood...

He hadn't been able to see clearly out there in the darkness, but here in the well-lit corridor, even the dark colour of the jacket couldn't hide the darker stains of blood on it, and he finally saw just how much blood Danny had lost.

The sight scared him, but he couldn't bring himself to let go of his jacket. Crumpling it in one hand, he buried his head in the other. Minutes stretched into hours. Gabby paced along the corridor, absently holding an ice pack to her forehead where she was developing a bruise from the rough landing they had. She'd been lucky enough to escape with just that bruise and a few other scratches on her arms and legs, but there was this gaping hole in her heart that was threatening to reopen...Unable to keep still, she eyed the doors of the operating theatre anxiously.

The last few minutes she spent in the cockpit with Danny kept replaying itself in her mind. She'd steeled herself for the impact that was to come, then she'd heard Danny say something she never expected.

I love you, Rielle.

That was what he said, she was certain of it. He had a sad smile on his face, and the love and pain in his eyes were unmistakeable.

At that moment, if she had to die, she would have died a very happy woman.

But now Danny was in there, fighting for his life, and it seemed as if she was going to lose him again.

If those were going to be the last words he ever said to her...

Tears welled up in her eyes as her heart tightened painfully.

After all she'd been through, to finally win his love and have him say it to her...only to watch in horror minutes later as he got shot right before her eyes...

What if she never got the chance to hear those words again?

The trek across those fields in the dark with him bleeding all over Rafe's back was one of the hardest things she'd ever done. The fear, anxiety and worry could have driven her mad if she hadn't been so focused on talking to him and trying to keep him awake.

Gabby closed her eyes and prayed hard.

Just then, the doors of the operating theatre opened. The other pilots jerked awake, and the nurses coming out found themselves surrounded by anxious faces as they bombarded them with questions about their friend. The nurses tried to explain themselves to the pilots, but none of them could understand each other.

Frustrated, one of the nurses pointed towards a blood-soaked bandage on a tray, and Rafe's breath caught in his throat. She then pointed to an empty blood bag beside it, and Rafe understood. They needed blood.

Scrambling to roll up his sleeves, Rafe thrust his arm at her urgently. "Take mine." He didn't care if they had to bleed him dry, as long as it meant Danny could be saved...

Gabby blinked, then followed suit. She had no idea whether their blood types matched, but she could always try...

The others followed, and the nurses found themselves swarmed by eager volunteers as everyone thrust their arms at them.

The sight of his pilots falling over each other in an effort to donate blood was the first thing that greeted Doolittle when he returned. He stood for a while in the corridor, deeply touched by what he was witnessing. If it hadn't been such a grim situation, he might even have found it amusing.

To think that this was the same bunch of boys who'd complained for days on end when they had to receive vaccination shots...

Turning around, Doolittle quietly left his pilots in the hands of the flustered nurses. He still had to submit his report on how his mission went. From the looks of it, none of his planes were coming back. McCawley and Walker had lost theirs, and he hadn't found anyone besides these two groups.

It was going to be a sleepless night.

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