"Danny, last night was wrong." Ugh, that doesn't sound right. But that could only prove one thing. If I couldn't bring myself to say that it was wrong, then it wasn't. Deciding I was just going to have to improv, I began walking toward Danny. That'd give me a few seconds, right? Ok, maybe 2. He saw me and ran. "Evelyn!" I smiled weakly. "Hi." "I didn't sleep a wink last night." I closed my eyes. "Danny, I--" He cut me off. "Last night was crazy, I know. But I'm not sorry," He smiled the biggest grin I'd ever seen him put upon his handsome face. "Are you?" The smiled stayed. I shook my head. "I don't know," The smile sort of fell. Did I really know what I was saying? "Danny, I had a wonderful time last night. But, it's just all too fast." I wasn't making sense to myself, so I doubted very seriously that I was making sense to him. He kind of laughed. "Evelyn, I was out here on the beach this morning, and I saw the sunset," Wow. What did that have to do with anything? "And I knew that everything was going to be different. That this is a start of something new," I felt the grin on my face starting to grow. "I mean how could I not feel this way? I mean, I kind of like you." He smiled that heart smile again. I laughed shyly. "Oh, you do?" He didn't say anything, only laughed. I laughed with him. "Here," I reached my hands up to his tie. "Your tie's on crooked." He cupped my hands and held me close to him. I'd kill to stay like that. "Everything's going to be alright." He said, kissing me on the forehead. And out of all the times he had ever said that to me, that was the first time that I believed him.
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I was sitting on the beach, just staring at the water while Danny swam. I swear, he acted like a little kid when he got in the water. But it wasn't bad; it was cute. It had been my goal of the day to not get my hair wet, and so far, I was achieving it. Those past few days had been wonderful. It was me and Danny, and that was it. Nothing else. And I think that's all either of us wanted. Just eachother. So, it was all we got. We hadn't talked about Rafe in a while, and I was having so much fun with Danny that I rarely thought of him. Part of the moving on process, I suppose. But I had already moved on. I loved Danny, and while I still loved Rafe, Danny was the one that was there with me and taking care of me and loving me. Rafe was only in Heaven watching over me. I needed that, but I also needed someone to look after me here. I was so thankful for Danny. Had he not been there, I don't know what would've become of me. It wouldn't have been good, that's for sure. I looked from my place on the rock and noticed that Danny hadn't been splashing any for a while. Looking around the beach area, I didn't see him. Where was he? A bit frightened, I sat up a little bit, looking everywhere I could think of. Then something grabbed me by the ankle and pulled me in. I came up from under the water and screamed, while Danny came up behind me, laughing. "That wasn't funny, Walker." I said, laughing. Yes, I do realized that I did nothing but contradict myself. He turned me around and put his forehead to mine. "Who ever said it was meant to be funny?" I didn't say anything, only looked into his brown eyes. Getting rid of the silence, he kissed me. And I kissed back, as I always did.
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The 2 of us laid head-to-head with our feet hanging out of the side of the car. I was just looking at sky, thinking. I suppose Danny was doing the same, for he was not saying anything. This was the one truly good thing that came out of Rafe's death; me and Danny. While I had often longed for Rafe to come back and us to grow old together, those thoughts were gone. He wouldn't come back, and we wouldn't grow old together. But, Danny was there. He was right there, right then. I wanted to lay with him like that for the rest of my life, but I now know why I couldn't. At that moment, I decided Danny was the one I would grow old with. He would be the one to take me to Tennessee; he would father my children; he would also fight in the war. The war. Was America going? At that point, no one knew. I cleared my throat. "What's on your mind?" Danny asked me. "Do you think the war will catch up to us?" He sighed. "I don't know." "Well, every minute we're not together you're up there training for it." He smiled. "Yeah, well I'm not trained for moments like these," I laughed. "Cause I have no idea how I'm going to get this car out of the sand." I laughed even harder. Although, I didn't really care how he got the car out of the sand. All I cared about at that moment was him, and I showed him that. I turned my face to the side and kissed him. Passionately.
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I paced around the small bathroom. No. The answer was no. How would it come to this? It couldn't. "Evelyn, would you get out of that bathroom? You've been in there for an hour. What are you trying to do, look like me?" Barbara could be such a smart ass. I hadn't been in there for an hour. Well, maybe I had. I don't know. Since I was doing nothing but pacing and sitting down on the floor with my head in my hands crying every now and then, I respected her wishes. I walked out, with her instantly looking at me strangely. I guess she was astonished that I was in my night clothes, my hair was a wreck, and my face was makeup-less and tearstained. "You ok?" I nodded. "Yeah." I have a feeling that wasn't very convincing, but I didn't care. I just ran out to the back porch, breathing in the fresh air. I needed it.