A/n: thank you to everyone who reviewed! Late merry christmas… yeah I'm a little slow. Okay, here's the story…

When Alex arrived back at the guys' barracks, she was disturbed to find Danny packing his bags. She stood there for a minute, just watching him—trying to memorize every little detail that made him who he was visually, from the way his hair stood up slightly to his exact height and his strong, broad shoulders. The thought that after the next day she might never see him again ate at her heart.

"Hey," she softly greeted as she walked up and hugged him from behind. She closed her eyes as she pressed her face gently into his back, breathing in the scent that was purely Danny and praying that he would always be around.

"Hi," he whispered in response, relaxing against her and playing with their fingers, lacing them together. "How'd it go with Rafe?"

"Fine," she murmured, not wanting to talk about her brother. "Almost done packing?"

He sighed deeply and released her hands. "Almost, yeah. But that can wait because I have something really important that I want to talk to you about." He turned around in her arms and his dark, intense eyes settled on hers before he lead her towards his bed.

"Danny, if this is about tomorrow I really would rather not talk about it," she began tiredly, running a hand through her hair as she sat down.

"I know, but Alex… we need to face facts," Danny gently pointed out, causing her to look away. He gently guided her face so that she had to look him in the eye. "Tomorrow I'm going away and I don't know if I'm ever going to see you again. I wish I could just say that I love you and want to spend my life with you and that would be enough to make it all come true, but it isn't. I honestly have no clue what's going to happen in these next few weeks."

Alex didn't like the serious expression on Danny's face—she knew what he was telling her, she really did, but it was just so much harder to hear it from him. She felt like she was drowning—she needed to lighten up the situation. "Are you trying to seduce me, Mr. Walker?" she asked lightly, remembering what the other nurses had said about pilots using the risks of their dangerous positions in the military as pick up lines. "Trust me, Danny, you don't need to do it. I'm yours no matter what. I love you."

Danny grinned at her confession and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her lips. "I love you too. Alex, I want to be with you forever. Lately, since we've been together, I've been the happiest I've ever been in my life—no matter what's happening. I'm happy because of you." He took a deep, nervous breath and kneeled before her, causing her eyes to widen as she realized what he was about to do—what a huge step he was about to make.

"Danny…"

"Alex," he began uncertainly, "will you marry me?" He looked up at her hopefully, his eyes shining with love. Still, it was obvious that he was frightened of rejection. He was putting himself in a very vulnerable situation, something he rarely did.

Alex stared at the wishful, boyish expression on Danny's face and thought about what he was offering her. A life with the man of her dreams—the man who she had fought to be with, who had put up with her when she was about to go crazy, who had proved his bravery and loyalty, who had loved her when she needed it most. He wasn't rich and couldn't offer her a fancy, luxurious lifestyle and that was just fine with her. She loved him.

She grinned at him and a small giggle escaped from her throat. "Yes… yes, Danny," she whispered before launching herself into his arms. The action caused him to lose his balance and they tumbled onto the floor in a joyous bundle of laughing and kissing.

"Yes?" Danny repeated against her lips.

Alex nodded, pressing her forehead against his lightly. "Yes. Of course yes, Danny." She leaned down to kiss him again and was surprised when he pulled back. She looked down at him inquisitively and allowed him to sit up, taking her with him. His eyes were once again nervous, maybe even a little embarrassed, and Alex had no clue as to why. "What's wrong?"

"I… I don't have a nice ring for you," he softly admitted, not meeting her eyes. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a small box, quickly opening it and hesitantly showing it to her. "This will have to be it for now, but I'll get you a better one eventually."

Alex didn't even glance at the ring, she merely reached up and used her hands to gently guide his face back to hers for another kiss. "Danny, the ring doesn't matter to me. You matter to me. As long as I get you, I'm happy."

"But Alex—"

"No buts," she cut him off, looking down at the ring. She smiled when she saw it—it was a simple silver band. Nothing special to anyone who just sort of saw it; not normally something that a person would go crazy over. But to Alex it was different. It was the ring that Danny proposed with—the symbol of the start of their lives together. She loved it—it was perfect. "And I love it, Danny."

"You deserve more," he told her. "I'm going to get you a better one when all this is done with."

"No you're not," she argued as he slipped the ring onto her finger.

"Yes I am," he stated firmly.

"No," she laughed, finding the way he was acting amusing. When she thought about it, she really shouldn't have expected anything different from Danny. He only loved her, wanted the best for her. She felt the same way towards him. "I'm not going to let you take my ring, Danny."

"We'll see about that," he replied in a voice that let her know that he was plotting playfully in that complicated mind of his.

"Yes, we will," she agreed softly. "I wonder what Rafe's gonna say about this…"

Danny laughed, covering his face with his hands. "Oh God, Rafe… shit, he's gonna kill me."

Alex gently pulled his hands away. "No, he won't," she whispered. "If he was okay with us being together, he should be okay with this… and even if he isn't, we'll deal with it. We love each other, Danny. He'll see that." She looked at him and tried to smile. "What am I going to do when you're gone?" she asked softly.

"Think about what'll happen when I get back?" he suggested, trying to lighten her mood even the littlest bit. If he could get her to be happy, he was sure he could take his mind off of the possibility of never seeing her again to concentrate on her smile, her laugh, her everything.

She couldn't help but smile at the thought of their future. Ideas were already swirling around in her head—what their house would look like once she got done adding her own touches to it, what their wedding would be like, what their kids would be like. She and Danny settled down by each other and began idle chatter about what their lives together would hold, but the events of the next day still hung over them like a black cloud.

~*~

The sunrise the next morning was not a welcome occurrence. Alex, who was nestled against Danny's chest on the bed, saw the first rays of sunshine peaking in through the window and her eyes slowly closed, wishing that when she opened them she would see that it was still dark outside and that she still had time before her love would be pulled away from her.

Unfortunately, the light was only becoming stronger when she opened her eyes. She wrapped her arms around Danny tighter and he immediately knew why. "I need to go soon, Alex." He had to force himself to say the hated words.

"Not yet, please, not yet," she whimpered, mentally cursing the Japanese for what they had done, for making Danny and Rafe need to go away, for killing so many people… She listened to the strong, even beating of his heart and thought about their night together, which they'd spent talking about everything that could keep them feeling lighthearted. Now she felt anything but lighthearted.

The constant lull of the room was calming, but soon Danny knew he had to get up and get ready to leave. "It's time, Alex," he whispered to her, making himself untangle his body from hers and get up from the bed, putting some space between them so he wouldn't give in to her and back out. Every time he looked at her he wanted to, but he knew he would never be able to do it. He needed to go on the mission.

Alex watched him, not wanting to move from the bed. His things were basically packed already, so she knew that they had very little time together before he would get on a plane and fly away from her. She didn't say anything else until he was dressed in his uniform, looking amazingly handsome and serious and also ready for anything.

"Danny… I don't know how long you'll be gone," she started in a very quiet voice, "but I'll wait for you forever. My life is with you. So when you get up there, doing whatever you're going to do, don't worry about anything here, don't worry about me, don't worry about Evelyn. Just worry about getting back safely."

Danny crossed the room to her in two quick strides and sat down next to her, their hands finding each other and their fingers threading together. "I'm coming back for you, Alex. I promise," he swore seriously. "I don't even want to leave you. There's no way I'm letting anybody keep me away from you."

She smiled bravely and nodded, finally forcing herself to get up. "Then I guess we better go because you have a flight to catch," she stated, going to get ready.

The two walked to spot that the plane was departing from and saw that many of the other men going were there either saying goodbye to loved ones or getting onto the plane. They quickly scanned the crowd to find Evelyn and Rafe and went over to the hugging couple.

"Be careful, Rafe," Evelyn was saying quietly. "Just be careful."

"You better listen to her," Alex advised, announcing her presence to the couple before her eyes went over to Danny. "Both of you."

"Of course we will be," Rafe tried to assure them, but they both were so used to him that they knew he was only saying it for their sakes. They were all aware that sometimes no amount of safety or awareness could prevent disaster from entering a person's life.

"You boys better go," Evelyn softly told them, knowing that everything was hard enough on all of them without adding a long, drawn-out farewell to the mix. She pulled Rafe back into her arms as Danny did the same to Alex. "I love you, Rafe."

"I love you, too," he whispered back.

The couples broke apart and Alex hugged her brother, leaving Evelyn to hug Danny. "You better come back for her, Daniel Walker," Evelyn softly warned him. "She needs you."

"Yeah, almost as much as I need her," Danny laughed. "You take care of yourself, all right? And try to watch out for Alex for me?"

"Of course." Evelyn nodded firmly.

Alex stared up at her brother, seeing the worry in his eyes even as he tried to mask it. She'd said all she really needed to the day before, so there was really very little to be said. "Thank you."

He looked at her in confusion. "For what?" he asked.

"Everything," she replied simply. "Advice with Danny, for accepting us, for being yourself with me. Something happened last night that I hope you will be happy about, but I'm going to let your best friend tell you what it is."

Rafe still looked confused, but he nodded anyway. "Okay…"

"Go on," she urged, trying to keep herself from crying in front of them. She knew the tears would come, but she didn't want to worry Danny and Rafe. "Go get the mission over with and get your butt back here."

He smiled at her. "Yes, ma'am."

"You know I hate it when you say that to me, Rafe," she laughed, her eyes watering despite her hardest try to keep the tears back.

"I know," he replied easily. "I'll be seeing you."

"You better."

The couples had another moment together before Danny and Rafe knew that they had to go. They pulled back, whispered their love to their girls, and walked to the plane. Alex and Evelyn could only watch as the two got on the plane, their hearts with them.

"Oh Ev, I've got a really bad feeling about this," Alex sobbed softly, a few tears making their way down her face.

"They'll be all right, Alex," Evelyn declared, hoping she didn't sound as uncertain as she felt.

Alex looked at the plane which held just about everything she lived for and couldn't stop the feeling of dread from settling in her stomach. "I hope so, Ev. I really hope so."

~*~Please review to let me know what you think! Thanks! =)