A/N: Sorry I'm late again kids but I was on vacation last week. This wasn't any ordinary vacation though. I spent the week on Oahu and it was a little like deja vu. We spent most of our time in Waikiki, but I was able to go into Honolulu to Pearl Harbor, twice. I was also able to take a special tour and see some of the military bases, including Wheeler Field that were hit by the Japanese in 1941. I found the Royal Hawaiian, which was a few blocks up the street from our hotel and it was an odd feeling to be in the place where Danny and Sandra were for their honeymoon. It brought them to life, in a sense because I've been writing about them for so long without ever having been to the actual places where they were.

Now I have.

Five days after Danny took off for Okinawa the Air Force chaplain showed up at the McCawley's house with his squadron commander to tell them that he'd been shot down over North Vietnam.

Ann didn't find that out until her family was asked to come to the McCawley's where Danny's parents, Sarah and Joe were gathered in the living room. When she walked with her own family into the living room she could have heard a pin drop if she'd thought to drop one because no one was talking.

Hank was there as well. He had a hold of Sarah's hand and she was crying.

Mrs. McCawley's face was an ashen gray and Ann got the feeling that she was making a Herculean effort not to cry as her daughter was and the older woman looked at her. "Honey, Danny's been shot down."

Her whole body went numb as she tried to absorb the news that she'd been so afraid of hearing. "Is he still alive?"

"As far as I know he is." Hank let go of Sarah's hand and stepped forward to explain. "I was in communication with him when it happened and we maintained radio contact until he went down."

Her eyes began to flood with tears and tried valiantly to follow Mrs. McCawley's lead. "You saw him go down?"

He nodded. "There wasn't anything he could do Annie and I stayed with him as long as I could."

"We couldn't have asked you to do any more than that Hank." Sarah's voice was shaky and Ann watched her friend dab at her eyes with a handkerchief.

"You're right about that honey." Major McCawley sighed and looked at Hank. "You stayed with my son and radioed his position. It'll make it easier for the Air Force when they head out in the mornin' lookin' for him."

"If the North Vietnamese don't find him first." Hank let out a sigh of his own as he sat down and put his head in his hands. "I'm sorry."

"For what son? You did what you were supposed to do and we know that." Major McCawley sat back down next to Mrs. McCawley and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Yes Sir, I know but it still doesn't change the fact that I couldn't help him." He looked at Danny's parents with a frown and seemed at a loss as to what to do next.

Ann felt a gentle nudge from her father and his voice was low. "Get him out of here. He's had a rough time of it and he could probably use an ear."

She glanced back at her father and nodded as she approached Hank. "I walked into the middle of this so I'd really like to know what happened. So why don't you take me for a walk and fill me in."

He seemed relieved at her request and gave her a tired smile as he stood up. "Sure."

She tucked her arm through his as they headed out the front door. "So what else can you tell me?"

"We started taking fire as we were joining up with another flight from another squadron. We couldn't see where it was coming from and the next thing I heard from Dan was that he'd been hit. It didn't seem too serious at the time and we thought he might be able to make it back to base but he started losing altitude fast and we knew it wasn't going to happen."

"And you stayed with him long enough to fix his position and call it in." She finished.

"The hardest thing for me to do was leave him down there Annie. But he kept telling me to get the hell out of there because he didn't, as he put it, want to see my sorry ass get shot out of the sky."

She couldn't help but laugh. "If his mother heard him talk like that, she'd be very unhappy."

"I hope he's all right." His voice was rough and it sounded to Ann as though he was trying to hold his emotions in check. "We ran this scenario for what seemed a hundred times because we wanted to be ready with a game plan if one of us got shot down over enemy territory. But we always hoped that we'd never have to use it."

"It's a good thing you did that then. You were prepared for a possible situation and knew what to do." Her voice sounded so reasonable to her own ears even though all she wanted to do was cry. But Hank was torn up enough and it wouldn't help him having his best friend's girl crying on his shoulder.

He seemed to notice it too. "You're really something Ann."

"Mama always says that there is a time and a place for things and my falling apart right now isn't the time or the place." She explained as they continued their walk and eventually noticed that they were headed toward the B O Q. "Should I ask where we're going?"

He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know where you're going, but I'm going home. It's been a hell of a couple of days and I have to fly out again in the morning. I was recalled long enough for a debriefing but since we're short a pilot at the moment they need me back there."

"Well, since we're here I should check on things like he asked me to." She tried to appear just as casual as he was.

"I know he'd appreciate that. When you're ready to leave come knock on my door and I'll drive you back if you don't feel like walking." He offered.

"You could have driven to the McCawley's, why didn't you?"

"I was thinking too much and thought it would be smarter to hoof it there instead of being behind the wheel of a car."

"That was good thinking Hank." And she reached up to kiss his cheek. "I wouldn't like it if something happened to you too."

He grinned and to Ann's surprise his ears turned red. In the few months she'd known him Hank didn't strike her as the type of guy that embarrassed easily. "You do that again and Dan might end up with some competition when he gets back."

"Then he'll just have to get back soon." She teased him and it suddenly struck her that they were joking about the situation and it felt odd.

"It's okay Ann." He seemed to realize what she was thinking. "If it helps us to cope with it then that's all right."

"Did Danny tell you that I had a dream that he got shot down and was killed?"

Hank nodded. "He told me and he was worried that you wouldn't be able to sleep while he was gone because of it. And that's why it's good that we can do this and you're not falling into hysterics."

"We don't do hysterics in my family any more than the McCawley's do hysterics in theirs." Ann explained.

He sighed as they reached his quarters and Ann let go of his arm. "Well, if you need me for anything don't hesitate to knock."

"You get some rest and don't worry about me." She reassured him as he walked to his door.

He pulled his keys out of his pocket and put a key into the lock. He opened the door and stopped. "He's going to be all right Ann. I know that dream scared you but I have a hard time believing that he's not okay."

"In spite of that dream I have a hard time believing it too."

"Goodnight." He said and then stepped inside.

When the door closed behind him she found Danny's key on her key ring and unlocked the door. It felt odd to be there without him because it was only six days since she'd been there last and they very nearly made love. They couldn't have gone through with it and both knew it but Ann wondered often since that time how it would have been between them.

She left the front door open to let some fresh air in and opened the window in the living room. She found a glass in the kitchen cabinet and filled it with water so that she could water the two plants she knew that he had, one from his mother and one from her. There wasn't much else that she could do because Danny left everything in order.

But she hadn't checked the bedroom.

There really wasn't any need for Ann to go in there and she didn't think Danny would mind because the window needed be opened to air out his room. It was a weak excuse and she knew it, but she wanted so much to be where they'd been so close together.

She opened the door and peaked in. It was silly because she almost expected him to be there and was disappointed that he wasn't. Everything was as she remembered when she walked into the room except for one small detail.

There were two slightly wilted roses and an envelope on the bed. He had obviously anticipated her coming into his room and left her a reminder of the short time they'd spent there together. It was a romantic gesture that she hoped she'd be able to thank him for.

Ann picked up the roses and carried them out to the kitchen. She filled the glass that she'd watered his plants with, with more water and she put the roses in them before she walked back into his room and sat down at the foot of the bed. She picked up the envelope and could feel her hands shake as she opened it and found a note inside:

Dear Annie,

If you're reading this it means that you found the roses. I thought it was probably a safe bet leaving them on my bed because I didn't think you'd be able to resist the temptation of coming in here.

He knew her so well already.

When I got into bed last night I found myself thinking of the side I've always slept on as yours. We came so close yesterday, much closer than we should have and I must admit that a part of me wishes that we'd gone through with it. But a promise is a promise and even the feel of your skin under my hands couldn't get me to break it. I will think about that afternoon while I'm gone and hope that you will think about it too.

She'd thought about it all right and was wakened in the middle of the night nearly every night afterward because the feel of his hands on her was so real, even though she was only dreaming. But in her dreams they didn't stop where they did that afternoon.

Ann folded his note and put it back in the envelope and then proceeded to curl up on the side of the bed he'd slept his last night before flying out. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't because she was so worried for his safety. She wasn't sure if she'd fallen asleep because the next thing she remembered was a hand on her shoulder, gently shaking her. When she opened her eyes, a worried Hank sat at the edge of the bed.

"You need to call your parents and let them know you're all right." He smiled at her.

She sat up and the first thing she noticed was that the room was nearly dark, Danny's note was still in her hand. She didn't know how to explain her need to be where she was but Hank seemed to understand.

"Your parents called and were getting a little concerned because you hadn't come back. I told them you were probably at the beach and had lost track of the time." He offered. "I didn't know how they would feel about you being here by yourself."

She laughed. "Better by myself then alone with him."

"That is true." He grinned before he continued. "I know what happened here the day before he left and why you were so easy to find."

"That and the fact that I left his front door open."

"That too. I can't imagine that it was easy for either of you to stop what you must have wanted so much, but it was the right thing to do. And it occurs to me that you wouldn't have put yourself in the situation that you did if you didn't care for him a lot. In fact I would venture to say that you're probably in love with him."

Was she that easy to read?

"It hasn't been too hard to figure out Ann." He seemed to answer her thought. "He spends all of his free time with you and when he doesn't have it, he finds it somewhere just so he can see you. He hasn't said as much to me, but I think that he's fallen in love with you too."

It was still too much of a new feeling and when she was ready to say it, she wanted Danny to be the first to hear it.

"You don't have to say anything one way or the other because I'm not trying to be a Spanish Inquisition here. What you and Dan feel for each other is something that needs to be said between the two of you, I'm just giving you my opinions of what I've seen." And he got up from the side of the bed and grinned at her again. "This wouldn't look too good if someone walked in here, so I'm going out to the living room while you straighten up Dan's bed."

He walked out of the room and Ann sighed before she got up off the bed and ran a hand over the spread to smooth out the place where she lay. She closed the window before she left the room and then closed the bedroom door behind her. Hank had already closed the living room window and waited by the open door. "Don't forget your roses."

She shouldn't have been surprised that he knew, but she was.

"He figured that you would more than likely end up in there and wanted you to know he was thinking of you." And he laughed. "You should have seen him running around trying to find two red roses on a Sunday afternoon when everything was closed. But he managed to do it, though he never told me where he found them. What almost happened meant a lot to him."

She held up the envelope and showed it to him. "He said as much."

The roses had perked up in the short time they'd been in water when she took them out of the glass and proceeded to wrap the stems in a damp paper towel. A trick her mother showed her.

"Do you want me to drive you home?" He asked as he waited for her to walk out ahead of him and then closed the door. She locked it and stood with Hank outside.

"No thanks, I'd rather walk. You go ahead and go back inside."

"Are you sure about that?" He looked a little concerned. "How are you going to explain the roses?"

"I'll tell them the truth. That before I went to the beach, which I will, I walked with you to Danny's quarters so I could water his plants, which I did. I won't tell them he left them on the bed, of course but that he left them for me." She explained.

"They'll find him Ann and he'll be all right." He tried to reassure her. "We drilled for this so that if it happened it would be second nature."

"I guess a lot of things become second nature after awhile." She sounded cryptic but her meaning wasn't lost on Hank because he smiled.

"If you do them often enough they do. And I think that it's fair to say that you and Dan have done more than your fair share."

She felt her cheeks begin to warm with a flush. "It's fair. Well, I'm going to the beach before I head home. Take care of yourself and come back safe."

"I'll do my best. Goodnight." He raised his hand in farewell and walked to his quarters next door.

"Goodnight." She smiled back at him and watched as he went inside.

Danny had to come home.