A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed this and encouraged me. You guys are awesome and I hope you continue to enjoy it!

~Lauren

It was almost a month before any of the men began being sent away. Rafe, Alex, Danny, and Evelyn grew to be extremely close, since they spent most of their free time together. Rafe and Evelyn were romantically involved, starting the first day that they'd met when she'd passed him at the eye exam and had let him keep his wings.

Alex and Danny, on the other hand, remained single. Many of the soldiers had tried their luck hitting on Alex, but Rafe always kept an eye on her and made sure he kept good to his promise of chasing away her suitors. He warned a couple guys that if they ever hurt his sister, he would hurt them, and though they usually chuckled, most of them backed off. Danny was shy around the ladies, even the ones who did their best to pry him out of his shell.

One night while the four of them were out at dinner, the women noticed that Rafe was behaving a little strangely. It was almost as if he was nervous, but there was no reason for him to be—he was with his friends, enjoying good food.

When, as they were walking back from the restaurant, his weird behavior continued, Evelyn decided to just get to the bottom of it. "What's wrong, Rafe?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong." He shook his head, clearly intending to change the subject, but Alex looked up at him questioningly as well.

"Evelyn's right, Rafe. There's something going on with you. What is it?" Had he found out where they were going to be stationed?

"I gotta go away," Rafe replied after taking a deep breath.

It was his tone more than the words that made Alex's heart drop with sudden terror. She shot a look at Danny to see if he'd known, and the way he avoided her gaze was all the answer she needed.

Maybe it was because she hadn't known Rafe as long or as well, but Evelyn didn't understand as quickly. "We're all going away," she stated with a confused smile. "Probably to Pearl Harbor. They're going to send a lot of us there, people say."

"I'm going away tomorrow," Rafe amended, forcing himself to look straight into her eyes even when her confusion and fear hurt him like a physical pain. He needed her to know, to understand. "Not with you, and not to Pearl Harbor. To Britain."

Alex froze and stared at her brother, bringing their procession down the sidewalk to a halt. "What? Rafe, why… what?" she stuttered softly.

"It's… there's a real war going on over there, Rafe," Evelyn added, her voice shaking slightly. "You… you could be killed!"

"I have a duty to do this," he mumbled. "You have to understand. I don't want to stay here and not know what it's like to battle. I need to make a difference, and here I can't do that."

Alex let out a low breath, then silently shook her head and started walking away.

"Alex. Alex, wait!" he called after her, but she didn't slow down. He watched her go, wanting to go after her and wanting to comfort Evelyn. It felt like he was being torn apart.

"I'll talk to her," Danny offered, already following the younger woman. He wasn't thrilled about Rafe's new assignment, either, so he figured he could relate to her.

"I don't understand. You're a member of the US Army. How can they assign you to a British squadron?" Evelyn asked softly.

He'd been dreading this, knowing that it was coming, but he wouldn't be a coward. He'd tell the truth and deal with whatever she felt in response to it. "I… I volunteered."

She gasped, her face contorted in pain. "What? Rafe, why would you do something like that? Why would you want to go there and leave us all here?"

Rafe was desperate to make her understand—to make sure she wasn't mad at him when he left. "I can't wait around to do something about the war… I'm a good pilot, Evelyn. Flying's the only thing I've ever wanted to do. I can make a difference there."

"You could get hurt there, too," Evelyn muttered, her eyes downcast.

"Hey, don't be that way," he coaxed gently, raising her face with his thumb so he could look her in the eye. "I'll come back for you. I love you." She looked at him in surprise, a single tear tracing its way down her face, and he kissed her gently, wiping away the tear with his finger. "I do love you. And I'll go to Pearl Harbor for you when it's over in Britain."

"Rafe, I'm just worried…"

"Don't worry about anything. I'll come back for you, I promise." He smiled and kissed her again. "But I need to ask you to do something for me."

"Anything," she replied instantly.

"Don't come see me off tomorrow," he pleaded softly. "Saying goodbye to you once tonight is going to be hard enough."

Evelyn thought it over for a moment, hating the idea. If he was leaving, she wanted every second that she could have with him before then. She wanted her face to be the last one he saw as his train pulled away, the freshest in his mind. But if he didn't want her to go, then maybe she should just respect his wishes. Finally, she nodded. "If that's really what you want, Rafe…"

"It is, thank you," he whispered, putting his arms around her. "Come on, we better go on back…"

She nodded silently and they began to walk, her in his arms, wondering whether or not she would ever see him again after he left. She had an aching knowledge in her heart that hinted that she might not, and she hated it.

Far ahead of them, Danny was trying to coax Alex out of her silence but nothing he said was working. He could tell how much she was hurting, and he hated to see her this way. "Alex, please talk to me. Please? Come on, this isn't helping anything."

Finally she whirled to look at him, her emerald eyes flashing. "Why didn't you tell me, Danny? You knew. I know you knew. But you let us go on acting like everything was going to be all right when we don't know if my brother is even going to come back from this mission alive! It's war over there, and you knew he was going and you didn't tell me!"

"It wasn't what he wanted," Danny stated firmly. "He knew you wouldn't be happy. He knew Evelyn wouldn't be happy. So he made me swear I wouldn't tell either of you. He loves you both and wanted to tell you himself, and not until tonight so it wouldn't ruin your day."

"What about you, Danny? What did you think about this?"

He stared at her angry face, but saw something more in her eyes. She wasn't just mad, she was scared for her brother, just like he was scared for Rafe. "Alex, you know I don't like it any more than you do," he told her in a gentle tone. "But you know Rafe. He wasn't going to listen to me about it. I talked to him this morning when he was told, but… he's stubborn."

"It's just… what if he doesn't come back?" Alex asked, her voice soft and scared. Her eyes were focused on the ground as they walked, and Danny could tell she was holding back her tears. He prayed that she didn't start crying; he'd never really been comfortable with a crying female, and didn't know what to do with one.

"He'll come back," he declared firmly. "Do you think he could leave you? And Evelyn? And me. Come on, we all know he needs me."

Alex laughed, brushing away the traces of wetness in her eyes and silently thanking him for pulling the laugh out of her—she'd needed it. "Yeah, I guess so. I just… I hate this. Everything. If people could talk their problems out—"

"Then we wouldn't need any of this," he supplied. "I know. I don't like it either. But we have to get through it. There's no other choice."

Alex nodded, and they walked in silence a few minutes before she broke the quiet of the night. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For making me realize that Rafe isn't to blame here, and that I shouldn't be mad at him," she answered. "And I'm not as scared as I was before. I just don't want him hurt, but I overreacted." She smiled slightly.

"You would've come to your senses sooner or later," he told her. "I know you can't stay mad at each other over something like this."

She smiled at him courageously. "So, Rafe knows where he's off to. Did anyone tell you where we'll be going? Do we have any clue?"

Danny looked down at her and nodded, deciding that he might as well tell her. "Yeah. Doolittle told me we're going to Pearl Harbor in two days."

"Hawaii. Should be nice."

"Yeah. It should be."

The next morning, Danny took Rafe to the train station. Alex stayed behind because she was on duty at the clinic, but she'd had a long talk with her brother before he left. They parted on good terms, exchanging promises to stay safe.

They'd barely stepped into the train station when Danny noticed the way Rafe kept glancing around. Amused, he smiled. "You told her not to come, didn't you?"

"Yeah," he admitted.

"Then why are you looking for her?"

"Because if she comes when I asked her not to come, it means she loves me," Rafe answered. He was going to be boarding the train in less than two minutes; he had his tickets and everything ready to go, so he knew he should just stop searching for her, but he needed to see if she loved him.

The conductor gave the call to board the train, and Rafe and Danny stopped, putting Rafe's bags down. "That's a way of deciding if she loves you or not."

"It works. Listen, I need you to do something for me," Rafe began. "If anything happens to me, I want you to be the one to tell Alex and Evelyn. Make sure they're okay. I know they're both strong but… I worry about them anyway."

"You just make sure to come home for her. For Alex. For all of us."

"I will," Rafe told his best friend. "Just tell me you'll do it if you have to."

"Of course I will," Danny promised. "But you better not put me in that position, you hear? Just get it done and get back here."

Rafe smiled. "Those Germans don't have a chance when I want to get back to all of you. You'll be in Pearl Harbor tomorrow, right?"

"Right," Danny affirmed. "I'll watch out for them. Don't worry about a thing but getting back alive." The two hugged in a brotherly fashion. "Take care of yourself."

"You do the same," Rafe replied. He picked up his bags and climbed onto the train, easily finding his seat. He put his things away and sat down at the window, feeling the strange mix of anticipation and anxiety that came at the start of a dangerous journey.

That was when he saw Evelyn. She was standing just off the tracks, looking beautiful and scared as she looked around the station for him. His heart leapt at the sight of her. "Evelyn! Evelyn!" he yelled, banging his fist against the window. She didn't hear him. "Evelyn!"

With a saddened, helpless expression on her face, Evelyn turned away. She'd missed Rafe's train. Even though he'd told her to stay away, she couldn't. A tear rolled down her face as she realized what she'd missed—possibly the last chance she would ever have to see him.

"Evelyn!" Rafe tried once more, but she didn't hear him and she walked away. In any case, he'd seen her. He smiled to himself, and noticed the old man across the aisle watching him. "She loves me," he stated simply, leaning back to rest. His sister wasn't mad at him, his girlfriend loved him, and his best friend was watching out for them both. He didn't have anything to worry about except the war.