Hey! Thanks for all your encouragement and kind words… I was afraid I'd lost the grip on this story, and then reading that you still like it really helped me. I'll try to stop abusing the A/N from now on, though, being that almost every time I write something about chapters left to come, next time I change the plan. So to this chapter – I just remembered a request form earlier on: sick Jamie!

"Hey, guys, how're you doing?" Danny took a deep breath as the line got connected. Four months done. It got harder with every week to keep his voice steady when he called his family, but he had to be strong. He still was the big brother, though Joe was trying hard to do his job. And he wanted his parents to be proud of him.

"Hey, Danny!" Erin had a hard time keeping her voice steady, too. And it was not only because she missed her brother, which actually she did more than she had expected. "How are you?"
Danny didn't hear the strain in her voice, it was too loud around him. By now shots were fired even at night sometimes, and though they were far away enough not to be in immediate danger – he had lost the feeling of security. Some kind of fear was with him wherever he went, fear of every step, fear of being blown away or, worse, of letting down his comrades and seeing them killed. They were allowed two home calls per week, ten minutes each, and one of them was spent with Linda. She was the only one Danny allowed himself to be honest with – so he cried every now and then when he was talking to her. Linda had promised to be there for him wherever he would go, but he had never hoped for this. If he ever would come back the second way he would go was to her, and fall down on his knees before her and ask her to marry him. Of course, the first way would be straight home to his family. He owed Jamie to take him with him when he went to Linda.

"Danny?" Erin clasped the phone. "You're here?"
"Of course I am." He had to be strong. "Everything's fine so far. Well… as fine as it can be, I guess. I miss you."
"We miss you, too." Erin smiled sadly. In the past three weeks their talking had been almost the same, just mentioning the obvious. But what should she tell him? You don't waste your two minutes with your brother with complaining about school.
"How about Andrew?" Or boys. Erin bit her lips. "He's an idiot."
"Is he? I knew it." Danny did his best to force a grin onto his lips, even though Erin wouldn't see it. He didn't want to lose the connection to his family, and he wanted to smash that idiot's head for whatever he had done to Erin, but… it all was kind of unrealistic.

"So…"
"Jamie's sick!" Erin blurted out, ignoring her mother's reproachful look. "He caught fever last week in school, and it didn't go down, and then he didn't wake up anymore and we got him to hospital and…"
"Hey, hey, wait! What do you mean?" Fear. Here it was again, the same feeling he had every time they drove through a destroyed city. Danny leant to the desk heavily. "Where is he now? Where are you?"
"We're home, we're all home again." Erin swallowed but forced herself to speak on, "mom or dad are keeping watch over him. Sometimes grandma stays up, too. The doctors say it's pneumonia with something bacterial, I don't know what. We've just come home from hospital, they checked him out again…"
"Okay" Danny interrupted quickly, trying to keep his thoughts in order. "How about Joe?"
"Joe?" Now Erin sounded confused. "He's… I'm sorry, Danny, he's asleep, he stayed up with Dad and Jamie last night and... mom said he should sleep. We thought you'd call later, you know, we…"
"It's okay, Erin, it's okay." Danny checked his watch. Already six minutes done. "Can I talk to Jamie? Please?"
"I… I don't know." Erin shot a quick glance to the closed door. "Maybe he's sleeping."
"Could you please just go and look? Erin!"
"Yeah… on my way." Erin sighed. "He didn't even want you to know, Danny. He doesn't want you to worry."
"Appreciated" Danny bit out, his eyes burning and his stomach still twisted, "now can you please get him on the phone? I got three minutes left."
"Sure. Jamie, get up!"

"Hi…"
"Jamie!" Danny couldn`t say which feeling was stronger: relief to hear Jamie's voice or shock at the weakness of it. He swallowed. "How are you, little one?"
"I'm good, Danny. How are you? Is it cold in Afghanistan? Are…" A painful cough stopped the questions and Danny felt the knot in his stomach tightening. "Jamie?"
"I'm okay." The brave words were alleviated, however, by the hoarse voice. "I'm a bit sick, but…"
"A bit? Jamie, didn't you promise not to lie to me? What the hell are you doing?" He regretted his words as soon as he'd said them.
"Sorry, Danny." He could almost see the younger one wince at the harsh tone. "I just don't want you worrying `bout me when you're over there." The voice got weaker with every second. "You need to watch out!"
"I know, Jamie. I know." Danny closed his eyes. He missed his whole family, but with Jamie it was the worst. The thought of his baby brother suffering made him choke. He had sworn to protect Jamie and be there, and now he was thousands of miles away and couldn't even comfort him.
"Sorry I yelled at you" he said softly, "but you can't make me stop worrying about you guys, you hear me? It's my job to worry about you." He sighed. "You get healthy, okay? Next week I want to hear you're in school again."
"Promise" Jamie whispered sleepily. Talking was exhausting.

Danny fought against the tears that were threatening to roll down his cheeks. He didn't want Jamie to be brave! Yes, he had wished him to be stronger in summer, but… that had been bullshit. He didn't want his brother to be strong and hard, he wanted him to be happy. And healthy. And he wanted to be with him again, he wanted to be with his family again. God, he wanted to come home! Where was the sense behind it all if he was trapped here while Jamie… his knuckles went white as he clung to the phone.

"C'mon, Reagan!" He was running out of time. Danny sighed. He fought with his comrades, ate and slept with them. They were brothers in every way but one – and though they had sworn to die for each other, none of them would share their family time. He wouldn't, either.
"Jamie, I gotta go!" He could barely fight the tears anymore. "Just get better, right? And say hello to mom and dad and Joe."
"… and grandma and grandpa?" Jamie offered weakly. "Okay. Come back soon."
"I will." He wouldn't. But right now this was the least he was going to tell Jamie. "Take care."
"Love you, Danny."
Jamie hung up, leaving Danny with tears in his eyes and a curse on his lips. And even more prayers to be whispered at night.

"Hey, honey!"
"Hi, babe." Danny didn't know how she did it – but Linda always made him smile. It was so good to hear her voice. "How are you?"
"I'm fine. Life's not too exciting round here. Especially without you." Linda smiled, too, but it didn't last long. Waiting for your loved ones to come home was a long process, especially when you basically were proud of them. And she was. But she felt wearier every day, and sounding light-headed wouldn't do for longer. "I miss you, Danny."
"I miss you, too. But I… I promise, i…"
"You'll come back soon? That's what your little brother told me today." Linda shook her head. "I hope so, Danny. But you better give "soon" a date."
"You've talked to Jamie? How is he?" Danny was alarmed again and Linda felt her heart melting towards him at the love he bore for his little brother. "Yes, I did. And he's… wait a second." Filled with a new surge of love she turned sat down on the sofa next to the little boy wrapped in a blanket and handed him the phone. "Ask him yourself! I love you!"

"Danny?"
"Jamie! Hey, you're sounding great!" Danny sighed in relief. "How you're doing, uh? What you're doing at Linda's?"
"I'm not at Linda's home, she's with us! I'm still not allowed to go out." Danny smiled as he heard the sulking in the boy's still weak voice. At least his breathing didn't sound so labored anymore. The noise had haunted his nightmares.
"Sorry, Danny. I know I shoulda be back in school now."
"No, it's okay, Jamie, it's okay. The most important thing is you're getting better. I'll teach you reading when I come back."
"I can read!" Danny heard Linda laughing softly at the protest and smiled even more.
"Danny? When will you come back?" The laughter died, and Danny closed his eyes. "Soon, Jamie."

"But when is soon?" Jamie closed his eyes, too, and Linda gently wrapped her arm around the child. "I… sorry, Jamie. I don't know. It will last… a bit." Linda and Jamie grumbled in unison.
"Till… easter?"
Danny shook his head. "Longer than that."
"Longer? But you already missed Christmas!"
"I know, Jamie. I know. And I'm so sorry. I miss you. Hey, don't – don't cry, okay? Don't…" Danny's eyes watered as he heard the low sobbing. He needed to be home and hold his brother now, what the hell was he doing here? "Jamie, it's okay, it's okay, please just don't cry! If you cry I'll cry, too, and that's.. embarrassing. Please don't, it's gonna be okay!"

"As if you cared what people think about you!" Linda had taken the phone again, gently rocking Jamie and trying to make the boys smile again. "We'll wait for you, Danny. Don't you worry. We'll be here and watch out for each other. I promise."
"I know, babe." Danny's body ached with longing but his voice was steady and warm again. "I love you. Every day more."
"Love you too, Danny."
Jamie swallowed down the last tears. "Love you too, Danny! And Joe and Erin and mom and dad, too! Don't get hurt, okay?"
"I'll try."