Alrighty now…here's another chapter, I hope that everyone's enjoying it and everything, and I got more reviews than I've gotten in a long time…so here you go…

Chapter XXI--Homecoming

"Don't cry for me when you see that I'm missing,

I'm finally on my way home,

Homecoming day will be worth all the waiting

I am ready now to soar…"

--Homecoming Day

Evelyn's heart thudded in her chest as she watched the plane land, she was surrounded by other people, wives, sisters, brothers, children, all waiting for the same fate as her, would their loved ones step off of that plane?

Evelyn was different, though, because no matter if one or both came back, she had dim news for them, she sent two over there, and she was trying to mentally prepare herself to lose at least one, but as long as she got one of them back, she could survive, but could they? Could they take losing both of their best friends?

That was, of course, if one didn't come home, she looked up and saw that the plane had landed, and the door had opened, her heart beat faster, and she didn't know if she was going to be able to stand, a few pilots quickly got off the plane, and Evelyn's heart dropped, no sign of Rafe or Danny

Her breath quickened though as a leg stepped from the door of the plane, everything seemed to move in slow motion as Evelyn followed the leg up to the face it belonged to, she almost fell when her eyes met with a set of deep brown ones, Rafe's eyes

Then a larger smile spread across her face Rafe wouldn't have let anything happen to Danny, if Rafe's back, Danny's back too she reasoned blindly within her mind, at the same time trying to get her legs to move forward

But her legs wouldn't move, because she saw the look in Rafe's eyes, a dimness, a lack of life, like a piece of him …is missing, Evelyn thought, her smile fading

She looked up, still not able to move, and searched his eyes for an answer, and the answer came, when he turned around and took someone's arm, that someone who limped out of the plane after Rafe, was the honey-haired blue eyed pilot, his upper-midsection wrapped in white gauze with a small orange-red spot on his right rib cage, and a few more bumps and bruises

It was Danny

Evelyn smiled and finally regained her ability to move her legs, and proceeded to run to the three, jumping on Rafe and kissing him, then turning to Danny

"What happened? Are you ok?!" she demanded,

"My plane crashed, nothing major" Danny explained with a light smile

"Nothing major? You almost died!" Rafe said, looking at Evelyn, "Wait, you did die" he reminded himself

"We had to revive you" he was now talking to Evelyn instead of Danny

Danny was now looking around with a confused expression

Evelyn took a deep breath and looked at the ground, knowing what he was looking for

"Where's Beautiful?" he asked, "I can't wait to see her, I missed her so much"

Evelyn couldn't bring herself to look up, mostly because she had tears in her eyes

Rafe was the first to catch on

"Evelyn? Where is Beautiful?" he insisted

Evelyn continued to look at the ground and tried to form a sentence, but it only came out as a series of "Uh"s and "Um"s

"Well, uh, um-" she stammered

"Evelyn. Tell us." Danny said, sounding very urgent

And quite suddenly, Evelyn lost all interest in the sentence she was trying to form, and the English language in general, and continued staring at the ground as if it held all the secrets of the universe

Quickly realizing that something was wrong, Danny and Rafe began to get frantic, they stood there, both contemplating what they should say next

Evelyn took a deep breath, inhaling the tears into her tear ducts and finally regaining the use of her mouth, "Let's go over here" she said, leading them over to a place beside the building

"Evelyn, Beautiful?" Danny said

"Ok, uh-" Evelyn started, taking a deep breath, "Leanna has been severely anemic for most of her life, but she hid it from you both, that was, uh, why she fainted before you left"

Danny and Rafe nodded

"See, she's been controlling it through her eating, but when she got pregnant, it became harder to control, and she was so anemic that she delivered prematurely...3 days ago"

"Then she's already had the baby? She's going to be so mad at me, I promised I'd be here" Danny sighed, running a hand through his hair

Evelyn suppressed a sob and shook her head, "She was so little, she lost so much weight, and she was pregnant with twins, and when she had them, she lost so much blood, she was so tiny and so weak" at this point Evelyn avoided looking at the shocked look in their eyes and she had tears in her own

"She lost so much blood, and we tried so hard, we did, but...she was just to little, we couldn't save her"

At this, she saw Danny's knees buckle, but Rafe caught him, "Oh my god" Danny whispered

"No, Evelyn don't joke like that, she's ok, she wasn't supposed to have the baby until July" Rafe said

"I'm so sorry, but she died, I'm so sorry" Evelyn was fully crying now, "I tried so hard, I tried for an hour, if I had made her take the pills, I should have watched her"

"What?" Rafe asked, finally feeling that Danny had enough strength to stand on his own and going to embrace Evelyn

"I gave her pills, I thought she'd take them, but she didn't, I know she didn't" Evelyn sobbed into Rafe's shoulder

"It was her" Danny whispered suddenly, tears rolling down his cheeks

Both Rafe and Evelyn looked up

"I saw her, when my plane crashed, I was in this...whiteness, and there was a voice, I thought it was my mom, she said that I couldn't stay, and she showed me the way back" he was talking through sobs now, "She said my girls needed me, I thought it was Mom, I thought she meant Leanna and her baby"

"Her girls...the twins, they were both girls" Evelyn said quietly

A moment passed while the three cried on each other

"I can't believe it" Rafe whispered, wiping at the tears rolling down his face, "Our Beautiful, she's gone"

"I should have been here" Danny said, "I should have never left"

"There was nothing you could've done, it was like she knew, and she was ready, and there was nothing that was going to stop her" Evelyn said sadly

"That's Beautiful for you" Danny tried to smile but failed

"She left you with more than memories, you have the twins…" Evelyn added

"They're ok?" Rafe asked, looking up from his hands

Evelyn nodded, forcing a smile

"Can we see them?" Danny asked

Evelyn nodded again, "Of course"

Gently placing herself in between the two boys and putting an arm around them both, she tenderly guided them in the direction of the hospital

A/N: ::sigh:: I know, I know, there's not much to say, except that there's about 1 chapter and an epilogue left, and then I'll probably write a sequel…we've got 2 choices for titles, so in your review, let me know which you would like:

"Emerald"

Or

"Honey in the Rock"

Also, the lyrics at the beginning are from a song that I've been singing in church since…forever, and it's called Homecoming Day and yeah…I thought it fit…until next time…PLEASE REVIEW!!!

Preview for Chapter 22: Danny and Rafe make it to the hospital