"Whatcha' up to, Rafe?" Alex asked, resting on the bed above Rafe's spot on the floor, her chin in her hands.

"Just writin' a letter to Evelyn." Rafe mumbled in-between looking up words in the dictionary.

"Wow, Rafe McCawley, writin' a letter. What she do to you?"

Rafe laughed "Nuthin', she's just really something…" he looked up at Alex, a bemused look on his face, "You'll understand some day, kiddo. Onea' these days someone'll steal your heart."

Alex simply shrugged. 'That's likely,' she thought bitterly 'I dress like a boy, what guy would want my heart?'

"Need any help?" she asked aloud.

"Naw, I got it. Thanks anyway man."

Alex nodded and rolled onto her back, staring at the beams supporting the mattress above her head. Trying to pass the time she quietly counted the rungs. Then she counted how many top-bunks there were in the room -fifteen- and multiplied it by the number of rungs -twenty-one. She turned over and hung her head over the side.

"Hey, Rafe, did you know that there are three hundred and fifteen rungs all together in this room? Well…actually six hundred and thirty because the bottom bunks would have them too I guess. But maybe they don't have as many, or more, or maybe-"

"You're really bored, aren't you?" Rafe interrupted, smiling amused at his younger friend. Alex smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, kinda. Sorry…"

"Naw, it's okay. But I'll bet if you go find Danny he'll help you chart some extra flight time."

She nodded and got up, leaving the room with a small wave and a mission.

* * *

Alex sat quietly, having just come back to the barracks after one of her extra flying sessions, watching Rafe gather some belongings and place a suitcase on his bed before jogging out to get on the bus with the other guys. Danny was lying on his bed and Alex was about to follow Rafe when she heard a small sob escape her friend's lips.
"Danny?" she called softly. She vaguely saw him hastily wipe his eyes from his perch on the top bunk. "Are you okay?" she called again, just as softly.

"Yeah, I'm fine Alex…I um, I thought you were going out."

"Well I thought you were already gone. Why are you still here?"

"Why are you?"

"I asked first."

Danny laughed a little. "I'll tell you only if you tell me first."

"Well you drive a hard bargain Walker. Okay, I'm still here because you sounded like someone should be here with you." She sat on Rafe's bunk, which was below Danny's. "Your go."

Danny took a deep breath. "Rafe's leaving…he's going to war…over in England."

"Oh…" Alex trailed off. Then, realizing that probably didn't help matters she quickly amended herself. "Well I'm sure he'll be fine Danny. Rafe's a good pilot, and he's not stupid, he can take care of himself."

"I know that…it's just…" he sighed "Never mind, you don't want to hear me whine. You can go to the party now, I was just going to read anyway."

Alex shook her head. "Walker, get your ass down here where I can actually see you. I hate not being able to see people when I talk to them, it's bad enough being the shortest in the squadron without also being a bunk below you." She ranted until Danny laughed lightly and hopped off the top bunk and onto the bed opposite Rafe's. "Now c'mon. You obviously got a lot to say Walker. I'm just the one to say it to. I'm real good at keeping secrets."

"No really Alex, I'm fine."

"Daniel Joshua Walker, if you don't tell me I'll tell Doolittle about the midnight flight you went on with Paul the other night."

"I thought you said you were good at keeping secrets."

"Only when kept in fresh supply." She grinned. "Now c'mon, tell Alex all about it."

"Alright, well see…the thing is ever since we were little I've watched out for Rafe…and he's watched out for me, you know? We got eachother out of trouble…we got eachother into it but we were still always there to bail eachother out. If he'd get picked on at school for being slow at reading, I'd fight the kid who was teasing him and he'd watch out for me when he knew my daddy was beating on me. And then we joined the army, and we'd be each other's wingman. Now I'm not with him, and I can't watch his back from across an ocean…" He wiped a tear, not realizing it had fallen till he tasted it, and ashamed that it had in front of Alex. It was bad enough when Alex couldn't even see him but now she'd know for sure that he'd been crying.

Alex did notice her friend crying softly and wasn't sure how to handle it. She knew that she was supposed to be a boy…but she'd never been in a situation like this as one. She decided that, in her experience, boys didn't like attention brought to their tears, so she'd wait him out. Soon enough he stopped and cleared his throat.

"I'm sure Rafe'll be fine Danny…he's always made it through before, and he'll come back for you, you'll see." She whispered into the quickly darkening room.

Danny nodded though Alex couldn't really see him. "Yeah, thanks Alex. I mean, you know…for talking to me and stuff."

"Hey, anytime Walker. C'mon, how's about me and you go catch a movie while everyone else is making fools of themselves in front of the nurses?"

Danny laughed and swung his legs over the side of the bed, standing. "Sounds like a plan Carras. Let's go."

The two hailed a cab and went to see Meet John Doe. Gary Cooper had always been Alex's favorite picture star; she'd seen all of his films to date.

As the last scene played out, Alex glanced over at Danny. She noticed he was fighting back tears. Instead of teasing him like she usually would she just smiled secretively and finished her popcorn as the closing credits rolled.

A/N: Hey hey, yeah I know, it's a lot shorter. And it took me a long time to get it out. But the next one will be longer! Can't promise sooner, but longer! Till than, enjoy. --Nova