Danny knew he'd come close to dying, closer than he ever thought he would and he'd survived. If it hadn't been for Rafe killing the two Jap soldiers who'd tied him to an oxen yoke, he would have come back to Pearl Harbor in a box.

The Chinese had found them and the piece of metal from the plane that had lodged itself in his neck when he'd crashed had been removed. Rafe had suffered a severe concussion when his plane had crashed and aggravated when he'd been clocked by the Japs with a two by four and was disoriented for days. Of course it wasn't his best friend who had told him that, it was Red. He'd found that out from one of the Chinese doctors who spoke fluent English and had told Red how everyone was doing.

With the ordeal behind them though Danny and Rafe, Red and Gooz were on their way back to Pearl. Colonel Doolittle had met them in Chung King and had flown back with them, feeling that his mission had failed. Not one of the B-25's that had bombed the different targets in Japan had returned and many of the crews had not either.

The pilots although relieved that they had come through the mission alive were traveling with their Air Corps brethren who had not. It was with particular sadness that Anthony Fusco had been among those who had not made it back. It haunted Danny that Anthony seemed to sense that he was not going to come back and had made his peace with Sandra. His coffin, along with several others had been loaded into the transport that was bringing them back to Oahu and he didn't know how he was going to tell Sandra that Anthony had not survived.

He sat next to Rafe who was sitting by the window looking out at what, Danny didn't know. Rafe had not talked much since they had boarded the transport taking them home and Danny was starting to worry. It wasn't like him to keep silent. The truth was, though, that none of the men were talking because there was really nothing to say. It was hard to be glad that you were alive when many of your buddies weren't.

"Hey Rafe, you all right?" Danny finally asked him, quietly.

"I proposed to her before we left." Was all he said, his gaze never shifting away from the window.

"She said yes didn't she?"

"Yea."

Danny wanted to smile and give his friend a punch in the arm for not telling him, but it didn't seem right. "Why didn't you say somethin' before?"

"You were so happy about Sandra that I didn't want to spoil it for you."

Danny frowned. "Hell Rafe, that would have made me happier knowin' that."

"I want to marry her Danny."

He must still have a concussion, Danny thought because what he said made no sense. "That's why you proposed to her Rafe." He said logically.

His comment got Rafe to turn from the window and look at him. "You don't understand Danny. I want to marry her as soon as we get back to Pearl, as soon as she can arrange somethin'."

"Are you sure about this? Don't you think it would be better to wait until the war is over?"

"Hell no! After everythin' we've been through in the last few months waitin' is the last damn thing I want to do!" Rafe told him quietly, but he was angry. "We're goin' back with another friend in a box and I don't want to go through another day wishin' that I'd done somethin' about Evelyn. If I get killed I don't want my last thought to be that I wished I'd married her."

Danny sighed. "I do understand how you feel Rafe, but do you think it's fair to Evelyn? What if somethin' did happen to you, what do you think that would do to her?"

Rafe turned back to look out the window. "I know what it would do to her."

Danny knew that further discussion was out of the question so he sighed, sat back and closed his eyes. They were still a long way from home.

Sandra could see that Evelyn was not well. She'd been sick for the last few weeks and had been talking with Barbara a lot. That in itself was not unusual because she and Barbara had always talked about everything. But Barbara seemed worried and would not say why. But as the weeks passed, it became increasingly obvious that Evelyn was going to have a baby.

Evelyn had told Sandra that the Army officer she'd worked on during the attack had contacted her to tell her the crews were coming home and she was planning on meeting the transport if Sandra wanted to come with her. So on a late Saturday morning, Sandra stood with a blossoming Evelyn and watched as the transport came to a rolling stop. Evelyn hadn't told her if Danny was among the passengers because she didn't know if Rafe was among them either.

They stood close together holding the others hand waiting to see who would step off the plane. When the door finally opened, Colonel Doolittle was the first off and he walked toward a woman they assumed was his wife. Red was next and then Gooz.

Sandra wasn't aware that she'd been holding her breath until she saw Danny. She was immediately aware that he'd sustained an injury to his neck and let go of Evelyn's hand to run to him. She didn't care how it might look because the man she loved was home. She felt Evelyn grab her hand to stop her and said softly, "Wait."

As Danny stepped off the transport he saw Sandra standing at the gate and as happy as he was to see her there, he sighed. He waited for Anthony's coffin to be passed to him and as Rafe held one end Danny, Red and Gooz helped to carry it off. His jacket lay on top, faded and worn from the constant wear and Danny knew how proud Anthony had been to have it.

An honor guard waited to take not only Anthony's coffin, but also the others that were taken off after him. When Danny looked back toward the gate Sandra was running toward him and he grabbed her as she reached him and held her in a tight embrace. How would he tell her? He decided to wait because all he wanted was to do now was get back to the barracks, take a hot shower and then take his girl out to dinner.

When he let her go, tears were rolling down her cheeks and he kissed her. She put her arms around his neck and held him to her, not wanting to let him go. "I'm all right honey." He told her.

Sandra stood back and frowned. "You most certainly are not. What happened to your neck?"

He glanced at Rafe because he didn't know how much he wanted Evelyn to know.

It didn't really matter because he had his arms around Evelyn and she was crying. "Come with me?" He asked her and she nodded.

That takes care of that. Danny grinned for a moment before looking at Sandra. "Have dinner with me and I'll tell you about it."

Sandra nodded and after they collected their travel bags, she and Danny, Evelyn and Rafe walked through the gate.