Mary sat on the bed feeding Elizabeth as Danny triple checked the locks and windows. He came into the bedroom as Mary was placing Elizabeth softly in her bassinette, carefully tucking her in.

"All secure." Danny announced.

"Shhh." Mary admonished. "I just got her to sleep."

"Sorry," he whispered.

"Come sit with me." Mary sat on the bed as Danny joined her.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm still a little freaked, but that's not what I want to talk about."

"What's up, baby?" Danny turned to face her, concern evident on his face.

"What did you mean before?"

"Before when?"

"When you said that if you had things your way I'd never lose you?" Mary looked down at her hands, twisting them in her lap.

Danny snaked his hand into hers. "You know what I meant. I want to marry you, you know that."

"I never thought you were serious."

"Mary, how could you..."

She turned away. "It's just...it's a long story."

He walked around the bed to face her. "I'm not going anywhere." He whispered.

"If...if it hadn't been for Elizabeth, would you have wanted to be with me the night you came back?"

"Of course. Where else would I have been?"

"I don't know. Where were you last time?"

"Is that what this is about?" Danny stood up in surprise. "Mary, I thought we'd taken care of that in the letters. I love you. I want to be with only you."

"But last time..." Mary started.

"Last time I was a freaked out kid. I came back from the Marines and I didn't know which way I was going."

"But not my way," Mary began crying, remembering how she had felt.

Danny knelt in front of her. "Mary, I knew that I loved you, but I wasn't ready. I was a kid. I wasn't ready for the white picket fence and all that."

"And you are now?"

"Yes, I am." Danny said earnestly.

"How do I know that in a month or two you won't find someone else?"

Danny shook his head. "Because I love you. Because I will always love you. Because over the past year and especially the past day I've seen how quickly life can change. And we can stumble through life alone but I'd much rather be helping you over the bumps and have you guiding me through the valleys."

Mary smiled. "That may be the most beautiful thing you've ever said to me."

"Wait here." Danny hurried to his nightstand, rummaging through the drawer. He returned to Mary's side with a small black box. He knelt back down, opening the box to show a diamond ring. "I meant every word I said. Mary Connell, I love you and I want to be with you forever. Marry me." He added in a whisper, "Please marry me."

"You promise?"

"Yes. And I think I proved today that I keep my promises."

"Then yes." She grabbed Danny and kissed him hard. After a minute he pulled away, taking the ring out of the box and hurriedly sliding it onto her finger. She looked at it a little more closely.

"When did you get this?"

"I bought it with my first paycheck back."

"How did you hide it from me?"

"I moved it every day."

Mary giggled, kissing him again. "When do you want to get married?"

"How about tomorrow?"

She laughed.

"Why not? Everyone we'd invite is close by, any of the stores will give you a deal on a dress, and we could get married at the Montecito."

"You think Ed would give us more time off?"

"I'll sweet talk him."

"What about Elizabeth?"

"My dad can watch her," Danny began crawling across the bed toward Mary, "in a room at the hotel, with Mike standing guard and all the guys on alert. Your father's in jail, no one else is after her...c'mon." He begged.

"Okay."

"Really?"

"Yeah, call Ed when we wake up." She pulled him into another kiss.