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After their run, they were allowed a 5 minute shower, shown their bunks and then fed at the mess hall.

Danny looked at the green mass, that was slapped onto his tray. He couldn't help but wonder. This was just like basic training. Danny shot a glance at the 'cooks' unfriendly expression, before he carefully asked: "Excuse me, sir. Do you have some ice?"

"What ya need ice for?" the cook mumbled.

"I wanna put it on my foot." Danny tried to explain as friendly as he could considering that the guy in front of him obviously was a jerk.

"Go see a medic." was the sloppy advice.

"Thanks." Danny mumbled before he turned around and joined the others.

Rafe, Red and Anthony sat together. One could tell they were in a bad mood. Rafe had already finished his 'meal' leaving most of the stuff on the tray.

He pushed it away:"What do these guys here think they are doing?"

"Maybe they don't understand military ranks." Anthony said sarcastically.

"Or maybe they don't understand anything at all." Rafe threw in.

"We're here to fly, not crawl in the mud!"

Anthony grinned: "Well, maybe you should tell them."

"Yeah, you go ahead and tell them, McCawley." Mitch remarked as he sat down uncomfortably close to Danny, who didn't look up at him but kept staring straight at his plate and scooted away from him. He just wanted to eat, not get into another fight with this idiot.

Rafe, on the contrary, could use a good fight. He looked Mitch straight in the eye. "Couldn't you find another table?"

Danny stopped chewing but kept looking at his plate until he heard Rafe say:" Oh right, probably not, because your blind as a bat. Ah, now I understand why you never hit a target. So no danger that you might be flying one of th..."

He didn't get any further because Mitch had reached for him, pushing Danny away. While Danny still struggled to jump instead of fall off the bench, Rafe and Mitch had already gotten involved in what appeared to be a heavy word fight with some occasional clothes pulling. Before they could throw the first punch Red jumped in and separated them: "Hold it! Ssstto..ppp. Whhaatt ttt do you think you're doing? This way none of you gets to fly a plane. They'll kick you out." He looked at both of them while Danny got on his feet and admired Red's courage.

Rafe kept staring at his opponent, who didn't seem to have any intention of backing of either. Everybody knew that none of them would give up, so Anthony finally jumped in and said: "We gotta go back to the barracks." "Yeah, it's almost 19.45h." Danny grabbed his tray and left them standing there. He knew his friend would follow him.

Rafe watched him walk away out of the corner of his eye, then he smirked at Mitch and said in a very calm voice: "You heard it. Too bad."

Mitch nodded: "Yeah, I would have loved to kick your ass."

Instead of paying any further attention to his remark, Rafe followed his friends to the barracks.

They were already getting undressed.

Danny sat down on the lower bunk in his boxers and wife beater waiting for Rafe to come in. When his friend finally did, he mumbled: "Knew you'd come."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, cause you're not stupid and you want to fly these suckers more than anything else."

Rafe took his shoes off and thought about what Danny had said.

After he had taken off his clothes as well, he mumbled: "Maybe."

Danny got up and now stood face to face with him: "Maybe? Is there something you want more?"

Rafe looked at him and searched his face. His friends boyish face reminded him of the old days back in Tennessee when they were both just careless young lads, who biggest worries were how long the could stay down at the river or play around in the old plane. Then his thoughts jumped 20 years.

As if he could read his mind, Danny smirked: "Evelyn?"

Rafe pulled up the corner of his mouth and acted very humble: "Well,..maybe?"

"What maybe?" Danny shook his head.

"Maybe.I can have both!" Rafe said sheepishly.

Danny gave him a broad smile and nodded: "Yeah, maybe."

Then he laid down on the bed followed closely by Rafe, who found a corner to sit on and explained excitedly: "Danny, you can't imagine how this feels! I never knew what it was like to be in love. That's.just great." His eyes beamed.

The younger guy couldn't help but grin: "Yeah, yeah.safe that for her, Rafe!"

"No, Danny. You have to experience that, too. I want you to have a girlfriend, too. We could go out together and.What about Sandra?" he leaned forward.

For a second Danny stared at him, he didn't know what to say. Then he blinked. What should he say? So he asked the next best question: "What about her?"

Rafe raised an eyebrow: " Didn't you and her have a , let's say, very friendly conversation, last night?"

"She checked my foot." he defended himself.

"On your bed?"

"She checked my foot." From one second to the next Danny decided that this wasn't the kind of conversation he wanted right now.

"Did she check anything else?"

Then again this was his best friend he was talking to: "Maybe."

"I see. I hope she liked what she checked.." at that moment Danny grabbed him and wrestled him just to end this conversation, which was becoming a little too personal, while he pressed out: "I'm pretty sure."

The very next second the lights went out and somebody yelled: "Wake up call at 5.45 hrs tomorrow morning." The two sighed and while Rafe crawled onto the top bunk, he whispered: "Checked your foot, right."

"Night!" his friend hissed from the lower bunk.

He lay there for a while in the dark thinking about what Rafe had just mentioned. Never had he been in love like Rafe was with Evelyn. Not that he missed it or was jealous but he wondered what it would be like. He hadn't thought much about Sandra with everything that's been going on that day. Sure enough the night before had been crazy and she had had a few drinks. Was it just the alcohol? He didn't even know where they stood. Silently he asked himself whether he was ready for a relationship and whether it would be with her. He had felt attracted to her, still did. But he barely knew her. That night he planned to ask her out the next time he saw her and maybe..