That night, Alex didn't eat dinner with her friends like she usually did. When they went out after trying to talk her into it for almost an hour, she put on a long skirt and a sleeved button up shirt and went out barefoot to walk on the beach and think about Rafe, out there somewhere without his friends by his side. She remembered a line from his latest letter.

"It's not easy making friends around here. I had a beer with a couple guys the other night. Both of them were shot down and killed yesterday…"

All she could think was, either one of those shot down planes could've held you, Rafe. You could be dead.

She hated herself for her thoughts, but she knew she wasn't the only one thinking them. Evelyn had broken down crying once more after the girls had returned from the beach, and she'd admitted before going to dinner that she still felt lousy but she needed something to do.

For Alex, things were different. She didn't want anything to do. She wanted to see her brother. She wanted him to be safe here with them, where she could hug him and hear him laugh and watch him make a sweet fool out of himself as he fell deeper in love with Evelyn. It was strange, to think that she'd gone years without seeing him before. Now it had been only months, but it felt so much longer.

She wandered the beach for hours in the moonlight, wondering if Rafe could feel how loved and missed he was by the people he'd left behind. She hoped so, hoped that maybe he could feel it and that it gave him strength.

Alex didn't know how it happened, but she somehow found herself walking to the men's barracks. All she could focus on was seeing Danny, who shared so many of her memories of her brother. Not caring that it was late, she found his housing and knocked.

After a minute, Danny opened the door, dressed for bed in boxers and a wife beater and looking confused. "Alex? What are you doin' here?" he asked softly, closing the door so he wouldn't wake up the other guys. The last thing he needed was to get an earful from everyone about going after Rafe's kid sister.

"I… I don't know," she mumbled. Now that she saw him, she honestly didn't know why she'd come.

"Are you okay?" he questioned, looking her over. After a moment's hesitation, she nodded. "What's wrong, Alex? You should be in bed."

"I'm not a child," she snapped.

He looked surprised; even when they were kids, Alex had never been easily riled. "I… I didn't mean that. I just meant—"

She sighed, shaking her head at her own bad mood. "I'm sorry, Danny. I don't know what's wrong with me. After listening to that radio bulletin earlier, hearing about all those planes that were shot down, I guess I'm just out of sorts. What if Rafe's was one of them? What if his is the next to go down? I hate that we're here and we can't do a thing to help him."

"I know," he assured her. "I feel just as helpless. And when I was listening to the radio announcement… well, my heart just about stopped. I don't want to lose my best friend any more than you want to lose your brother. But I think he's coming back. He didn't want to leave you, you know."

"I know. I just don't think I can take it. Can I… would it be okay if I stayed here tonight?" she asked quietly before hurrying on, "I don't want to be alone and the girls are sympathetic, but they don't know how I feel. You love him like a brother. You love him the same way I do. Can I just… can I stay with you?"

Danny looked back at the house and ran a hand over his head, knowing even as he did so that he wasn't going to turn her away. He probably should send her back to her own bed, and if anyone saw her in his they'd never let him live it down, but how could he possibly tell her no? She looked like a lost little girl, hurting and in need of comfort. "Of course, yeah. The guys are asleep already, so…"

"I'll keep it down." She didn't want to run into Danny's friends, either. "If they're all asleep, what are you doing up?"

He smiled wryly. "You're not the only one who couldn't take it," he said, opening the door for her.

She smiled back and entered the men's barracks ahead of him, grateful that he understood. The big room was dark and still, and filled with the sound of Anthony's snoring. When Alex's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she headed toward the only empty bed in the room, against the far wall.

Danny stopped a step behind her. "You go ahead and take the bed. I'll take the floor."

"I don't want to kick you off your bed," she protested in a whisper. "Danny, we can share. I won't take up the whole thing."

He hesitated, uncertain. It didn't seem proper, sharing a bed with a girl—especially in a room full of other men—but this was Alex, not some random nurse he'd brought home. She needed him. "Okay. You get in, I'll be right there." A little embarrassed, he grabbed up some of the clothes littering the floor and tossed them into the corner.

When he turned back to the bed, Alex was sitting at the edge of the mattress, staring at the pictures he'd taped up on the wall. The one that seemed to have grabbed her attention showed him and Rafe together by a practice plane the summer before. They were both smiling at the camera, and Danny remembered that Rafe had just told a stupid joke before their friend took the picture.

"I miss him," she whispered, slipping off her shoes and laying down.

He eased down next to her, trying to keep some distance between them on the small bed. "Me too, Alex," he replied softly. "Me too."

She offered him a sad smile across the pillow before closing her eyes, soothed by the fact that someone else who loved Rafe like a brother was with her. She was asleep within minutes, and after pulling the blanket up over her, Danny didn't take long to follow.

Alex woke up the next morning feeling warm, comfortable, and safe. It took her a moment to realize where she was—not locked in her little yellow bedroom in Massachusetts, not in the room she shared with Evelyn in the nurses' quarters, but in Danny's bed. In Danny's arms. It felt better, and more natural, than she'd figured it would have.

The morning was silent—Anthony must have stopped snoring sometime during the night—and Alex blinked away the just-awake haze to examine Danny's face. He looked different while he slept, more peaceful. Danny was a thinker, a planner, and even though he didn't always speak what was on his mind, she knew a lot was going on in there. Lately a good portion of that had been worrying.

But not right now. His face was relaxed, turning his boyish features innocent, and his hair was in even worse disarray than usual. For some reason she couldn't explain, his messy hair had always pulled at her heartstrings. Danny was a really good guy, and how he remained single was a mystery to her.

It probably wasn't a good direction for her thoughts to wander, she knew that. She'd spent years nursing a crush on Danny before she'd had to move away, and moving on from that hadn't been easy. It would be pointless to fall back into those old feelings. He looked at her as just Rafe's little sister.

She sighed, wondering why such a beloved part of who she was didn't seem like it was enough when it came to this one man.

Feeling her move against him, Danny slowly came awake. He took in the way she was tucked up against him, then focused on the quiet of the room and smiled. No one else was awake yet. It made him feel a little like a kid who'd gotten away with something sneaky. "Mornin'. Sleep well?"

His voice was a little gruff from sleep and the sound of it sent something—a shiver, or maybe a ripple of pleasure—through her. Alex mentally ordered herself not to act like a fool. "Morning," she replied in a quiet tone. "And actually yes, I did. I hope I didn't bother you too much."

He shook his head. "Nah. It was kind of helpful, you know?"

She smiled and stretched. "Yeah, I know. I better go before the guys wake up."

"Yeah, I guess so," he agreed, dragging himself out of bed. They silently went over to the door, which Danny opened for Alex. "Do you want me to walk you home?" He regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. This hadn't been a date, for Christ's sakes! How stupid could you sound?

It was so Danny—thoughtful, kind—that she couldn't help smiling. "That's all right. I'll be fine."

"Yeah. Yeah, of course."

"Thank you, Danny," Alex told him. "You really helped me out last night. You helped me more than you could ever know."

"I'm glad I could do something," he replied. "Anytime you need anything—to talk about Rafe or just be with someone—you know I'll do whatever I can."

"I know." She smiled and kissed his cheek. "I have to go. I'll see you later." With a small wave, she began walking back to her house. If any of the girls had noticed that she'd been gone all night, they would be waiting for her with a thousand questions. It would be hard to dodge them, but she would manage.

After all, she'd just had her first decent night's sleep since Rafe left for war. She felt up for a challenge.

Alex tried to sleep in her own bed that night, she really did. She laid in the darkness and closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep, but she couldn't do it. It was like she couldn't turn off the rotation of the wheels inside her head long enough to slip under.

Finally, frustrated, she slid out of bed, grabbed her coat from the rack by the door, and crept out of the house. The door creaked as it shut behind her and she waited on the front porch on pins and needles, straining to hear if any of the other girls had woken up, but everything was silent inside and she tip-toed her way onto the grass before she could relax.

When she tapped softly on his door and Danny met her with a knowing smile, it felt strangely like coming home. She didn't ask if she could come back the next day, and he didn't ask if she would. Somehow, they both just knew.

It became a routine for them, spending the night together in Danny's bed. Alex always came late, after all of their roommates had gone to sleep, and left early. It calmed them both down, especially on the days when they heard horror stories about the war.

They started spending more time together outside of the men's barracks, too. At night they gave each other comfort; in the daytime, when they were free to talk and laugh without worrying about being caught, they provided each other with companionship. Whenever they both had a free afternoon, it was common to see them at a booth in the diner or walking along the beach.

Sometimes the guys teased Danny about how often he saw Alex—most of them were convinced that there had to be something more than friendship going on between the two of them for Danny to commit so much free time to one girl—but he ignored the good-natured ribbing.

The women exchanged a lot of silent looks among themselves, but didn't say much. Evelyn felt that one comment could send Alex retreating—away from Danny and away from them—and the others agreed it was best to just stand back and watch as their friend became more and more attached to the cute flyer.

Saturday afternoons off usually meant a trip to the movie theatre for most of their friends. For Danny and Alex, movies weren't quite the escape from reality that they seemed to be for everyone else. The pictures themselves were entertaining, sure, but the news clips leading into the main show—clips highlighting the brave Americans who'd gone off to fight the war—were too difficult to watch. Hearing about it on the radio was bad enough.

So instead of joining everyone at the movies, Alex and Danny found a grassy spot in the sun where they could just relax together. She supplied the food and he brought the blanket, and they ate listening to the rustle of leaves as a soft breeze blew through the trees. Afterward, they both lay back to soak up the warmth of the sun.

"What do you think Rafe's doing right now?" Alex asked curiously.

Danny didn't even need to think about it. "Sitting in a plane somewhere, if he has anything to say about it."

She was quiet for a moment before admitting, "You're probably right. Is it awful of me to hope that he isn't?"

"Why would you hope that?"

"Because, if he's in a plane then he's probably in danger," she answered. "Chasing some murderous German. Being chased." She tried to imagine how that must feel, knowing you were being stalked through the air and that just one lucky shot could kill you, and shuddered. "I want him to be safe. I want him to feel safe."

"You want to know something about flyers?"

Alex looked over at him and nodded.

"We're crazy. No, don't laugh, I mean it." But he chuckled right along with her, relieved to see the light in her eyes. "Most people think flying's scary. Being up in the sky in a metal can… I guess it does sound like it shouldn't be possible. But for flyers—especially for Rafe—being in the air does feel safe. He knows exactly what to do up there, Alex, always has. If he's gonna be in a fight, I'd rather have him in the sky than on land any day."

"He's never been much good in a fist fight," she recalled. Rafe's height and the muscles developed from working to rebuild planes gave him the look of a fighter, but she'd always known better.

"He can hold his own," Danny replied, feeling the need to defend his absent friend.

"Not like you." She said the words with such a simple knowledge that it made him glance away, feeling a heat in his cheeks. "But I guess when the two of you are together, he doesn't really need to, does he? You always have each other's backs."

He was silent, mostly because he didn't know what to say to that. It was true, had been since he and Rafe were about six years old. Theirs was the kind of bond that few people understood, but Alex did.

She leaned back on the blanket and watched the clouds that drifted lazily above them and went on, "I've never felt as safe as I did when I was a kid, following you and Rafe around."

"Really? Even when we took you up in your dad's plane and didn't know how to fly or land the damn thing?" he asked, laughter in his voice.

She smiled as she remembered the odd thrill that had gone through her when she'd heard Rafe yell out over the sound of the engine that they were going to crash. Nestled in the cockpit behind her older brother, she hadn't seen his fumbling hands gripping the controls or Danny's huge eyes as they sped toward the ground. She'd just known that whatever happened, they'd take care of her. "Even then. I just couldn't imagine a problem so big that Rafe or you or my parents couldn't fix it."

"Hey." Concerned by the tone of her voice, he nudged her playfully with his shoulder. "You know there still aren't many problems that big, right?"

"Maybe not," she murmured with a ghost of a smile, "but there are still enough to scare me. It's just the price of growing up, I guess."

"It's hard to be involved in the army some way right now and not be scared for someone. But just wait, when this war's over, Rafe'll be back and we'll all go home and things will be normal again," he told her. "Well, except maybe we'll have to make sure to see you more often."

"You'd better."

"You like it there, right? I mean, where you live now."

Alex opened her mouth to reply, thought about it, and sighed. "Sometimes."

He lifted himself onto one elbow so that he could look at her as he asked curiously, "Why only sometimes?"

She glanced at him—at the worry written across his face—and forced a smile. "No reason. I just wonder what things would be like if my parents had never gotten divorced, and mom and I had stayed with dad and Rafe and you. I suppose I spend too much time thinking over what-ifs."

Danny studied her face and said the words neither of them wanted to speak. "Like what if he doesn't come back?"

Her eyes bright, she could only nod.

"I like to think about the other side of the coin—what if he does?"

She laughed, close enough to tears that the sound was a little choked. "Then everything would be okay," she replied, scooting over on the blanket so that she could rest her head on his shoulder.

"So let's think about that. Everything's going to be okay."

When Danny got the order to report to Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, he had the feeling that something bad was coming. Doolittle was a man he respected, an almost legendary pilot who'd trained a lot of good flyers—Rafe and himself included. He wasn't the kind of man to engage in small talk, and usually the only reason he called men into his office was to chew them out for something.

Since he hadn't done anything wrong that he could think of—and since Doolittle had been the one to give Rafe the news of his acceptance into the Eagle Squadron—Danny couldn't help the sinking feeling in his gut as he entered and saluted.

"Walker, have a seat."

Silently ordering himself to keep it together and not vomit right there on the floor, Danny sat.

"You're listed as McCawley's contact," Doolittle said without preamble.

Danny's heart sank. But he stayed tall in his chair. "Yes, sir. Along with his father."

The older man nodded, having seen the Tennessee address clear in Rafe's file. "The men from the mission in Britain are on their way home," he announced. "We lost contact with them, so we can't say who's made it and who hasn't. We lost quite a few of our boys, some of them great pilots, but if McCawley is still alive, he should be here in about a week."

Danny felt like a sentenced prisoner who had suddenly gotten a stay of execution. He let out a sigh of relief, putting off all the horrible thoughts that had flashed through his mind—telling Alex and Evelyn, going home without his best friend, never flying on Rafe's right side again, never knowing with certainty that someone had his back.

"Thank you, sir," he breathed, hoping with all his heart that Rafe would be walking off the plane whenever it got to Pearl Harbor.

Doolittle gave him a nod and dismissed him, and Danny left the office feeling numb. He didn't even realize where he was going until he found himself walking up the steps of the nurses' house. Of course, he realized, that made sense; his relief that he wouldn't have to break Alex's heart by telling her Rafe as gone was almost as strong as his relief that he might still get his friend back.

It was Evelyn who answered his knock on the door. "Hello, Danny," she greeted, but something about the look on his face worried her, and she clutched anxiously at the doorframe. "Is something wrong? Is it Rafe?"

"Nothing's wrong," he told her. It had been weeks since her last letter from Rafe, and the fear was starting to eat at her, making her quick to jump to conclusions and very sensitive to news. "Well, not that we know of. They're coming back."

Pure joy replaced any bit of fear in her eyes and for the first time in weeks, she looked completely young and alive again. "Really?" she cried. "It's over?"

"The ones that are still alive are coming back," he corrected. "Evelyn, we don't know who's gonna be on that plane when it gets here. I don't want to get your hopes up, just in case something happened…"

"No! He has to be okay," she stated firmly. "He has to be." It was another first in weeks: she actually sounded sure that he was coming back to her.

He smiled at her. "You're probably right." I hope you're right, he added silently. "Is Alex here? I want her to know, too."

"I think she went out for a walk on the beach," Evelyn answered. "She goes there all the time, even at night. I guess it helps her think."

Danny coughed softly at the news that Alex wasn't getting out of the house without being noticed. "Well it is a nice beach," he commented awkwardly. "I'll go find her."

"Danny, wait!"

He turned around to look at Evelyn. "Yes?"

"Thank you, for telling me," she said. "It means a lot to me to know they're coming back and the waiting's going to be over."

"You're welcome." The fact that Evelyn had accepted the news, or lack of it, so calmly somehow made him feel more confident, and he found himself smiling as he walked down to the beach to tell Alex.

Knowing her as well as he did, it wasn't hard to find her. She was in one of her favorite spots, sitting on a brightly colored beach towel that she'd draped over the rocks at the water's edge. Those rocks had cut her legs before, he knew, but she kept going back there anyway. Right now her head was bent over a piece of paper as she wrote out a letter in her clear, elegant script.

"Hi, Alex."

She spared him a quick glance from her letter, even drummed up a semblance of a smile, but the pen in her hand barely slowed. "Hey, Danny."

He nodded toward the paper. "You writing to Rafe?"

"Yes," she answered. "I woke up this morning with this strange feeling that something's happened. So as soon as my shift was done, I came out here and started to write… like if I tell Rafe about everything that's going on here, if I get the words on paper quickly enough, it'll keep him safe." She frowned, her hand clenching around the pen and crinkling the corner of one page. "But I still can't shake the feeling that he's never going to get this letter."

"When did you become psychic?" he teased, climbing the few rocks until he could take a seat at her side.

Instead of laughing, Alex looked as though she'd just been hit. Her face paled, her expression freezing in horror. "So he's… oh, God…"

"No! Shit, no, Alex," he declared firmly, wondering how he always managed to stick his foot in his mouth when it mattered. "Well, we don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"We lost a lot of guys from the Eagle Squadron, but the ones that made it are coming back—coming here," he rushed to explain. "The thing is, they lost contact before we could find out who survived. But if Rafe got through it, he'll be on that plane."

She closed her eyes and let out a relieved breath, leaning against him like all her strength had simply evaporated. "So there's a chance that he's fine."

He put a comforting arm around her and felt like an ass. He hadn't expecting telling Evelyn to go so much smoother than telling Alex. "Yes. I'm sorry I scared you, it just came out wrong."

She shook her head. "It's all right. I'm just a little on edge because of everything. And now the talk of war with Japan…" She sighed. The rumors about the possible war with Japan were making everyone jumpy, but the U.S. was working on peace with them and she had to hope it would be successful. "The only thing I'm sure of is that I want it to end. Did you tell Ev?"

"Yeah, I saw her at the house. She took it surprisingly well," he declared. "She's surer than I am that Rafe's coming back. She also knows something else… that you 'go to the beach a lot at night.'"

Alex laughed guiltily. "Um, Hayley saw me leaving the other night when Levi dropped her off. I had to come up with something, so I said I was going to the beach to think."

"She bought that?"

She shrugged. "I do it often enough during the day to make it believable. Besides, I think her mind was still on Levi and their date. She didn't ask as many questions as she normally would."

"Guess it's lucky for us that they're crazy about each other."

She murmured her agreement.

"Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be as in love as Levi and Hayley or Evelyn and Rafe?" Danny inquired.

"Sure," Alex answered without hesitation. She looked over at him, her eyes flirting with his for only a moment before flitting away, and felt her cheeks heat with color. Despite what her friends might think, she wasn't completely ignorant of her own feelings. She knew that the way she felt for Danny had changed, evolving into something more than simple friendship. Maybe it was stupid and maybe it was entirely one-sided, but she couldn't help it any more than she could stop the war. "I look at Evelyn and I see how much she's suffering because Rafe's not here, and a small part of me feels almost jealous because I know that passion like that is something special."

"Have you ever felt that way before?"

"There weren't any guys in Massachusetts that held my attention."

"That's not really an answer."

Alex silently cursed his brain as she looked at the water. "I don't know, Danny. Maybe. But I guess the important part is, no one's ever felt that way about me."

"Now that can't be true. You've had guys following you around with puppy-dog eyes since you got here," he pointed out, a little reluctantly. The line of men wanting to take her out didn't exactly thrill him, even if it was expected. She was a beautiful girl, and women were severely outnumbered by men on the island. She may not have paid any of them much attention, but Danny sure as hell had; he could probably pick each one out of a lineup.

"It's not the same thing. They don't even know me, and I'm not convinced they really want to."

There was an easiness about the way she dismissed her potential suitors that caused him to relax. "Then they're missing out."

Butterflies took flight in her stomach and she smiled at him, unable not to. Had it been anyone else, she would have said he was flirting with her, but with Danny she couldn't be sure.

And if anyone else had been flirting with her, she would know exactly what to say—how to deflect, to laugh it off, to get away. She'd been doing that for years. But Danny was the first guy she had ever wanted to encourage rather than turn away, and all her composed replies seemed to vanish into thin air.

So she did the only thing she could think of, which was get to her feet and jump over Danny into the sand, at the base of the rocks. "When was the last time you went swimming, Danny?"

He chuckled as he watched her trail her foot through the sand, a tall vision in her red bathing suit. "I don't know. It's been a while, I guess."

She was already heading into the water. "Then what are you waiting for?"

Grinning, he got up and jumped off the rocks, tossing his shirt into the sand and chasing after her. She squealed as she dove into the beautiful warm water, her heart pounding hard in her chest. Even though she was a decent swimmer, it didn't take long for Danny to catch up with her, snaking a hand around one ankle and tugging her back. When they surfaced, they were both laughing.

Danny reached up and pushed back a wet strand of hair that was clinging to Alex's face. Her eyes shone as she looked up at him, very aware that his hands had come to rest on her waist, bare between where her suit top ended and bottom began. "Alex…"

"Danny…" She giggled nervously, her eyes searching his, and he pulled her closer. Tentatively, giving her every opportunity to pull away if this wasn't what she wanted, he leaned down and kissed her.

The feeling of his lips against hers was like fireworks exploding inside her. She lifted her arms around his neck, pressing closer, and nearly melted when she felt his arms wrap firmly around her waist. In the clear blue ocean, under the bright Hawaiian sun, they lost themselves in each other.

They came back to shore when they heard other people talking and laughing further up the beach. Alex watched her feet as they climbed out of the water, but she glanced up from under her lashes when Danny reached out to take her hand in his. They were both smiling.

"Danny, what are we doing?" she asked softly, staring up into his eyes.

"I'm not sure," he confessed. "But… it feels right. It feels like we've been building up to this for months. My heart's pounding and I've never felt this way before."

She felt herself blushing. "Me neither."

They went back to the rocks to get his shirt and her towel, and Alex's mood was dampened a little when she realized that her letter to Rafe was missing and her pen was lying in the water. She spared a quick glance around for the paper before accepting that it was gone.

Behind her, Danny brushed off the towel before wrapping it around her shoulders. "You'll see him soon," he reminded her. "You don't need to write letters anymore."

She looked up at him and nodded, and the two of them walked back to her house, their fingers entwined.

"Alex?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you think about this… about us?"

She bit her bottom lip lightly, thinking it over. "Well, I think we should tell everyone or they'll get on our cases when they find out," she decided. "And I think things are going to be very different—better—from now on."

He grinned. "I think so, too."

Danny couldn't stay at the house for long because he was de on the runway, but the new couple did give the girls a chance to see that they were together. He and Alex didn't say anything at first, they just waited for someone to notice that they were holding hands and keeping close.

Amy saw it immediately. "You two are… I knew it!" she cried triumphantly, her brown eyes wide. "I saw it coming!"

Alex laughed, for once perfectly fine to be proven wrong, while Danny looked at her and raised his eyebrows. She supposed that she'd have to tell him sooner or later that Amy had thought right from the start that there was something between them.

"That's great, guys," Evelyn told them, but her voice was soft and both Danny and Alex could tell she was thinking of Rafe.

"I'm so happy for you guys," Betty squealed, rushing over to pull Alex into a hug. "You're adorable together."

Alex laughed, aware that her face was probably bright red. "Okay, enough. He has to go, we just wanted to see your reactions and let you guys know." She looked up at Danny. "We'll see you at dinner?" she asked softly.

"Of course," he replied, leaning down to kiss her once before, a little self-conscious, he smiled at the girls. "Ladies."

The women pounced on Alex before the door even shut behind him.

"You two just got together?" Hayley, spread out across the couch, asked.

"You weren't hiding this from us, were you?" Amy frowned.

"She wouldn't do that," Evelyn berated.

"How did it happen?" Wanda inquired.

"I bet it was romantic," Betty breathed dreamily.

Alex looked around as the questions and comments were thrown out and nudged Hayley playfully to get her to share the couch. The other woman pouted until Alex just lifted her head and let it rest in her lap, running her fingers absently through Hayley's hair in a way that always seemed relaxing. "Yes, it just happened. No, we weren't hiding it. It just sort of… happened, you know, on the beach. He came to tell me about Rafe and then somehow we were talking about love—"

Betty sighed, no doubt working up a beautiful mental picture of it all in her head.

"Then I went into the water and he followed me, and things just… changed," she struggled to explain. "I had a horrible crush on him when I was a teenager, but I never thought he'd look at me as anything but Rafe's little sister. But we were standing there, looking at each other, and suddenly I just knew."

"Knew what?" Wanda prodded, on the edge of her seat.

Alex shrugged. "That maybe my feelings weren't so one-sided after all."

"How cute," Betty cooed.

They spent the rest of the afternoon asking questions about Danny that Alex, glowing over the new changes in her life, was all too happy to answer. And for that period of time, they all forgot the potential dangers that surrounded them.