Author's note: Sorry for the delay! It took a while for me to figure out how I want the story to go from here, and I didn't want to rush out a chapter for the sake of uploading, haha. ^^" Enjoy reading!


Chapter 28

Gabby walked back towards the ward with a steaming cup of coffee in her hand, humming happily to herself. The kiss she just stole from Danny still lingered on her mouth, and she was almost reluctant to drink her coffee as she savoured the feeling of his lips on hers…Its been so long. It felt slightly wrong to be in such a good mood just days after she'd seen Danny shot and Anthony dead before her eyes, but she couldn't help herself.

It was almost too good to be true. Two days ago, she'd come so close to having her world crash around her, and now she felt like she was on top of the world…

Smiling, she looked up from her coffee as she neared the ward, then stopped abruptly when she saw Rafe standing outside the door. The door was left ajar, and the curtains around Danny's bed were drawn…A sudden irrational fear gripped her heart, and she almost dropped her coffee. It didn't matter that Danny had been smiling and talking to her just minutes before. It didn't matter that Rafe wasn't displaying any signs of grief on his face, which would have been a sure indication of her worst fears coming true. The only thing she could think about was that she was going to lose Danny again…

Rafe gripped her arm before she could barge into the room. "Easy, its just the doctors checking on him."

She sagged in relief, then grinned sheepishly at Rafe. "Sorry, I was overreacting."

Rafe waved her apology away. "Nah, I don't blame you. You've been wound up too tight these past few days, losing sleep every night, jumping at every small sound in the room thinking it was Danny waking up…" He was partly to blame as well. He hadn't been looking out for her as much as he should.

Gesturing down the corridor, he tugged on her arm gently. "Come, take a walk with me." It was about time the two of them had a good talk. Gabby blinked, then nodded, falling in step beside him as she sipped lightly from her coffee. It wasn't like she had anything else to do anyway.

"Don't you think you should be getting some sleep?" Rafe glanced at the newly minted coffee addict next to him, then shook his head in exasperation.

The coffee addict took a long drink from her coffee, face scrunching up in appreciation as the warm, bitter liquid made its way down her throat. "I'm not tired."

Rafe snorted. "Of course you're not tired. You're exhausted. Face it, Gabby, you'll break down in no time if you continue like this. If that happens, how are you going to look after Danny?"

"I'm fine." She insisted. Rafe rolled his eyes, then stepped in front of her, blocking her path and forcing her to look at him. "Look, I know you care a lot about Danny, maybe even as much as I do, but even I've been sensible enough to get enough rest, because I want to be there for Danny in case he needs me. If you continue this way, he's going to start worrying about you instead of looking after himself, and that's not going to help him get better."

Gabby blinked. Was Rafe suggesting that she was getting in Danny's way and preventing him from recovering? How dare he…her dark eyes flashed in anger as she turned to glare at him, but Rafe held his ground. "Its the truth, Gabby. You would be worried too, if Danny was sticking by your side, hardly sleeping or eating anything, wouldn't you?"

The anger left Gabby's eyes as she saw where Rafe was coming from. She knew he meant well, and deep down, she was touched by his concern. He had to be going through the same things as her, but yet he'd taken the time to think about her needs. She certainly hadn't been looking out for him at all. However, that didn't mean she appreciated having her weaknesses pointed out so bluntly. If he could cope with caring for both Danny and himself, so could she.

"I do sleep, on and off, and I've been eating at the same time you guys do." She pointed out.

Rafe crossed his arms. "You're always awake when I fall asleep, and you're still awake when I wake up. Granted, you could have had some sleep in between, but its definitely not going to be enough. And playing around with your food on the plate does not count as eating."

Gabby turned away, grudgingly admitting he had a point. It was true that she wasn't getting as much sleep as she should. But somehow, she just couldn't go to sleep…since the night Danny came out of the operating theatre, everything still felt so unreal. Whenever she closed her eyes, she could see her hands covered in his blood…and even though he was there in front of her, she couldn't hold him, couldn't doing anything besides hold his hand…

During the night, she'd dozed off every now and then, only to jerk awake after a few minutes to frantically check if Danny was still breathing. It wasn't as if she didn't want to sleep. She just couldn't…

Still, there was no way he was backing down unless he got what he wanted, and that was for her to acknowledge his point.

"Alright, I promise I would catch up on some sleep today." She conceded reluctantly.

Rafe sighed inwardly. He recognised that tone. He'd used it himself too many times, when his mother tried to get him to do his homework over the holidays, or when Danny tried to make him practise reading…It was obvious she wasn't going to do it.

Rafe wasn't entirely sure why he was doing this actually. He had promised Danny he would look out for her, but that didn't involve him chasing after her to take care of herself. It only meant he would do his best to keep her safe…so why was he bothered about her not getting enough sleep?

Never mind, he could sort that out later. First things first, he needed to settle this stubborn girl in front of him. Taking her by the shoulders, Rafe said gently. "I think it might be good for you to take Doolittle's advice and get some rest in those rooms the Chinese lent us. Put some space between you and Danny, and let yourself calm down for a while. You might be able to rest better this way. I'll be with Danny, so you don't have to worry about him."

Rafe stopped her before she could protest. "If you don't start taking care of yourself, I'm not letting you anywhere near Danny either. There's no way I'm trusting you to take care of him when you're living off caffeine. Not happening on my watch, lady."

Gabby tried to glare at him, but Rafe didn't budge. It might have worked on Danny, but it certainly wasn't going to work on him, and Gabby soon realised that as well. Grumbling under her breath, she nodded her head reluctantly. "Just for today, then…you better take good care of him, alright?"

Rafe smirked. "I've been doing that for the past twenty odd years, miss, I don't need you to teach me how to do it."

Watching her leave, Rafe couldn't help but smile. Just for today? He was willing to bet his entire salary that she wasn't going to wake up until until the next morning. Hopefully, this would show her just how much she'd neglected her own needs, and she would thank him for this.

Rafe found it rather amusing that he was chasing after a grown-up woman like Gabby to take care of herself. He'd never thought he would be doing that for anyone besides Danny. He'd always looked after his best friend as much as he could, and now this sense of responsibility seemed to have extended to include Gabby as well…

Perhaps, he was starting to see her like the sister he never had, just like he treated Danny like the brother he always wanted…

Damn…with those two grown up kids, he'd never get to retire at this stage.


During his searches over the past two days, Doolittle had managed to find three other crews hiding out in civilian homes during his searches, or rather, they had found him. He'd been walking through the villages with a group of armed Chinese soldiers, holding the American flag, and they just burst through the doors of the houses. He'd been so startled when it first happened he almost shot one of them. Finding his pilots after so many days of searching, and seeing them run towards him brought such happiness and relief to his heart that Doolittle might have cried if he wasn't the uptight man he'd always been.

With the help of the Chinese military based in the area, he'd received news of a few more groups who'd made contact with the Chinese, and they were on their way to meet up with them. That meant he'd gotten most of his pilots back, missing three groups. It was already better than he thought was possible. He wished he could have stayed longer to find all of his pilots, but the longer they stayed, the more dangerous it was going to be, both for them and the Chinese. They had to leave as soon as possible, even if that meant leaving those three groups behind.

When he returned that afternoon, he went straight to Danny's ward, where he knew all his pilots would be. He'd long since given up on getting them to use the rooms the Chinese offered. It seemed they felt more comfortable being near Danny, and he wasn't going to be unreasonable and force them to move. Danny was asleep, as usual. He slept so much nowadays that if Doolittle hadn't seen him awake yesterday morning, he wouldn't have believed he'd woken up. It just goes to show how much the poor boy needed to recuperate, and Doolittle could foresee the long road he was going to have to take to recover. When the time comes, he would gladly sign their requests for leave. They'd done more than earn their rights to a break.

He nodded his head as he acknowledged the greetings from his men, then raised an eyebrow when he saw that Connor wasn't there. Connor had been practically glued to Danny's side, much like McCawley was, and it was a sight he had gotten used to. It was quite a surprise to see that he wasn't there.

Rafe guessed from the way Doolittle looked around the room that he was looking for Gabby, and he raised his hand. "Sir, Gabby's upstairs in the rooms getting a rest. Should I go get him?"

Doolittle blinked, surprised that someone was actually using the rooms, then shook his head. "No need for that, let him rest. You can update him afterwards." He tilted his head towards the door. "Our transport home will be arriving tomorrow afternoon, and there's just a couple of things I wanted to let you guys know so you can get yourselves ready. Come to my office in five minutes." He didn't want to be standing around talking when Danny's asleep. The boy needed all the rest he could get.

Smiles broke out on their faces as the pilots registered what Doolittle just said. They were going home, finally! Rafe could hardly contain himself. He wanted to see Evelyn again, he missed her so much…Bending down, he whispered softly to Danny. "Doolittle's going to talk to us, we'll just be a while, alright?"

Then, he followed his friends out of the ward, closing the door softly behind him.

The room became quiet. Then, Danny slowly opened his eyes.

He'd woken to the sound of Doolittle's voice, just in time to catch the part about their transport arriving tomorrow afternoon. Though it felt good knowing that he would get to go home soon, there was still something he needed to do before that, which was why he chose to stay quiet and pretend to still be sleeping while his friends left the room.

Anthony. He had to see him. If he waited until they were on the flight back to America, his friend would be covered in a coffin draped with the national flag, and it wouldn't be the same. There were some things he had to say to Anthony, face to face…

Now that he was finally alone, he wasn't about to let this opportunity pass him by. He'd spent a lot of time gesturing to the doctors this morning before they finally understood he was asking about Anthony, and they'd pointed to the room just across the corridor from his.

That was where Anthony was. It wasn't even that far, just a few steps from the door…

Danny closed his eyes, taking a couple of breaths to get himself mentally prepared, then with some effort, he pushed himself into a sitting position. Alright, that wasn't too bad…Gingerly, he swung his legs over the side of his bed, and grabbed onto the edge of the side table for support as he slowly stood up. The feeling of lightheadedness was coming back, and Danny gritted his teeth as he forced himself to straighten, then promptly stopped when he felt a muted sense of pain coming from his chest.

He stopped for a while in that slightly bent position, giving himself some time to get used to being upright, and soon, his vision cleared and his head started feeling normal again. Good, that would make things easier. He shuffled slowly towards the door, holding on to pieces of furniture along the way, all the while bending over slightly to avoid aggravating the pain in his chest. This was his first attempt at walking since he'd crashed, and for the first time, Danny realised how much effort was involved in that simple action of moving his feet. He swore he would never take walking for granted again.

By the time he reached the door, beads of sweat were forming on his forehead and he was feeling somewhat breathless already. Still, he refused to give up. Determined, Danny pushed the door open, peeking cautiously into the hallway to see if any nurses were around.

All clear.

Slowly but steadily, Danny walked towards the room where Anthony was. He wasn't going to have much time if he wanted to get back unnoticed. He didn't even know how long Doolittle's briefing was going to be. His friends could already be on their way back. He needed to make this quick.

Taking a deep breath, Danny pushed the door open, and let himself into the dimly lit room. The silence rang in his ears, punctuated only by his own breath sounds, and the slow shuffling of his feet as he made his way towards the lone stretcher placed against the side of the wall, covered with a white sheet. Swallowing nervously, Danny raised a trembling hand and lifted the sheet, his breath catching in his throat as Anthony's cold, lifeless face was revealed.

Anthony…

Fresh tears sprung to his eyes, blurring his vision, but Danny was unable to look away. His friend looked as if he was asleep…did that mean it had been quick? Danny had seen his fair share of faces contorted in fear and agony when he passed by fallen bodies during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and it would have hurt even more if he'd seen that on Anthony's face, knowing his friend had suffered a painful death.

He didn't know what Anthony had died of, but there weren't any obvious signs of injury just by looking at his face. Danny didn't have the courage to lift up the sheet and look at the rest of the body.

Taking in a shaky breath, Danny murmured softly. "Hey Anthony…I'm sorry I took so long to come see you. I wanted to come earlier, but…I got caught up."

A tear fell as he remembered Anthony's last few words with them in the cabin. He had promised his parents he would visit them in New York when he got back…

Soft sobs escaped from his throat as Danny bowed his head in grief. "I'm sorry, Anthony…I wanted to bring all of us back alive, but I couldn't. If I didn't turn back, things wouldn't have happened this way, but…its killing me, knowing that you had to pay the price. And, what's worse, I'm not sure I would have done differently if I got to choose again…I'm not sure how I'm going to face you because of that, Anthony. You're an important friend to me, but Rafe…"

Tears were pouring down his face by now, but Danny didn't bother to wipe them away. The guilt at choosing to sacrifice Anthony for Rafe's sake weighed heavily on his conscience, and Danny loathed himself for it, but he couldn't lie to himself. He couldn't have sat by and watched Rafe get captured by the Japanese…"I just wish it could have been me instead of you…"

He let himself lean there by the side of the stretcher, sobbing quietly as he relished all the grief and guilt he'd felt since he heard of Anthony's death. It wasn't the first time he'd lost a friend, but somehow, this was different. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, he hadn't been able to do anything to save Billy and Joe. This time, he couldn't help thinking he had played an active role in causing Anthony's death, and it just destroyed him inside.

Finally, the tears stopped, and Danny was able to look Anthony in the face again as he whispered his last words. "Forgive me."

It felt good, to have finally said what he wanted to say for so long. He didn't know how long he'd been here, but he should probably go. At least they were going home tomorrow. Anthony would want to see his parents as soon as possible…

And he'll be there with him. Danny made a silent promise as he looked at his friend's still face. He would escort Anthony's body back to his parents…it was the least he could do.

Slowly, he replaced the sheet over Anthony's face, then turned around to make his way back to his ward, wiping the tears from his face as he went. It wouldn't do to let Rafe see him like this, he was bound to ask questions which he didn't feel like answering at the moment…


There was a spring in Rafe's steps as he walked back down the corridor towards Danny's room, his heart soaring at the thought of being able to see Evelyn again very soon. His friends had all gone for breakfast, but he wanted to go check on Danny before he joined them. He pushed open the door to Danny's ward, then froze when his eyes fell on the empty bed where his friend was supposed to be.

Where did Danny go? Wasn't he supposed to be asleep?

Confused, Rafe went around the ward, but there was no sign of Danny. Maybe Danny had gone out for a walk…he couldn't have gone far. Trying to suppress his panic, Rafe went out into the corridor, just as Danny emerged from the room opposite. Rafe sighed in relief, and was about to go up and nag at Danny for running around when his mind registered where Danny had just came out from, and he understood.

Danny had gone to see Anthony. He'd only just woken up yesterday, and had just been able to sit up in bed today, and now he was pushing himself to walk across the corridor, just to see Anthony.

Rafe didn't know if he should be mad at Danny's reckless disregard of his body's need to rest, or happy to see Danny able to walk again. He could only stand there and watch as his friend slowly made his way back across the corridor with his head bowed. He wasn't even looking at where he was going…

Seeing Danny wipe at tears on his face made his heart break. He knew how much Anthony's death must have hurt Danny, and he was frustrated that there wasn't much he could do to make things easier…

Danny's head jerked up when he bumped into something in front of him, and he yelped in surprise when he saw Rafe's face right in front of his. "What the…"

Damn, Rafe must have seen him coming out from the room…

His friend just looked at him with his lips pressed into a thin line, and Danny lowered his head guiltily as he tried to think of ways to explain himself. "Rafe, I…" Rafe drew him into a tight hug before he could say anything more.

Danny blinked. He'd thought Rafe would be mad…

Rafe just patted his back comfortingly. "Its ok, Danny. Its ok."

Danny pressed his lips together as he tried to stop himself from crying all over again, but Rafe's understanding made it harder for him to hold back, and he found himself tearing as he returned the hug.

In that moment, it was as if they were back in their childhood days, in that place where nothing in the world was able to harm them, as long as they had each other. And for the first time in a long while, Danny felt truly at peace.


As the rays of the evening sun washed over the hospital, Evelyn smiled at the newspaper peddler as she bought her usual copy on her way back home. Ever since the two of them left on that mission, she'd developed this habit of buying the papers every day, just so she could know what happened, and when they were coming home. They weren't able to tell her much in their letters to her, since the mission was top secret, and the suspense was nearly driving her crazy.

She wanted to know whether they made it…that was all.

The headlines on the first page caught her eye, and she felt her pulse quickening as she read the words.

Doolittle Raid on Tokyo a Success.

That was them, wasn't it?

Eagerly, she scanned the following paragraphs, and the initial happiness died down as certain words stood out against the others.

All planes lost…3 dead, 16 missing.

The paper almost fell from her numb fingers as she stood in the middle of the road, her mind a sudden blank. No names had been mentioned, she still had no idea if they were coming back to her.

All planes lost…

3 dead, 16 missing…

If anything happened to either one of them…

Evelyn's eyes blazed as she made up her mind. That was it. The frustration of not knowing finally boiled over, and she strode towards the nurses' quarters with renewed determination. There was no way she was sitting around here, waiting for them to come back to her. Whether they made it back or not, she wanted to be there when they come back and find out for herself.

She was going on the next flight to New York, and nothing was stopping her.


Reviews? :D