Author's note: Really sorry for the delayed update! Thank you to all those who liked my story and bothered to review! I'm trying to get more action into the story for future chapters, haha, things have been moving a bit too slowly so far, I feel. ^^"

Chapter 6

A polite knock on the door woke Gabby up from her sleep the next morning. She jerked out of bed without even thinking about it, flying towards the door and opening it in one fluid motion despite her eyes only being half-opened. It was only when she had the door opened and found herself looking at two surprised faces that she realised she probably looked like a mess right now, but it was already too late.

Gabby smiled sheepishly as she quickly ran a hand through her messy hair in a futile effort to tame them. "Hi, I'm Gabby. You're going to be my roommates, are you? Nice to meet you."

"…hi, I'm Nancy Gordon. Call me Nancy." The pretty-looking blonde with sparkling blue eyes on the right reacted first, and she extended a hand to shake Gabby's warmly. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm Hazel Wood." The shy-looking girl on the left bobbed her head as she offered an awkward smile. Like her name, she had hazel eyes which went well with her full head of thick brown curls, which fell to her shoulders.

Gabby took a liking to her new roommates almost instantly. It was refreshing to finally meet other girls who shared her love for flying, and having volunteered to be trained as pilots, these girls definitely fit her "friends" criteria. "Come on in, you guys should get unpacked. It's almost time for breakfast."

As the day went by, Gabby almost felt sorry for her new roommates as they got swept into their first class by a strict-looking flight instructor straight after breakfast. She had had a day to relax and get herself prepared. Well, right, half a day, but still, that was better than these poor girls who'd only just arrived that morning. Gabby could only imagine what would be waiting for their last roommate, who was to arrive next week.

Trying to keep a straight face as she watched her fellow classmates' eyes glaze over, the instructor's droning voice soon faded into the back of her mind as she gave up feigning interest in the boring class. Gabby chewed on her lip as her mind drifted towards Danny and how he was going.

Did he get a break after he arrived? Or was he pushed straight into action like these poor girls here? How was the weather like? Did he pack enough clothes?

"Connor!" A brisk voice interrupted her thoughts, and Gabby's head shot up instinctively. "Yes?"

"Pay attention, please." The instructor gave her a very disapproving look. "What I'm teaching you girls is going to be very important once you start flying."

Gabby ducked her head apologetically. "Sorry, sir."

He was right. Knowing where the controls were and how to read the flight meters were very important parts of their jobs as pilots. The only problem was, she knew all these already.

Gabby sighed as she leaned back into her chair, determinedly keeping her eyes trained on the chalk in the instructor's hand as he enthusiastically drew diagrams and models of planes on the blackboard. He was trying his best to teach them, and she felt bad for not paying attention, but oh, this was boring her to death!

That night, the girls got together in their room and started sharing stories about each other. Gabby listened with interest as Nancy talked about how her father, a humble baker working in a small town, had seen news reports of military action during the Great War, and how he'd idolised pilots ever since, dreaming of the day when he could have a son flying one of those powerful machines and be out there protecting the country and the people. All his children turned out to be girls, which was a huge disappointment to him. Girls weren't allowed in the air force, not until recently, when this female squadron was established. Her father had been thrilled when she told him she wanted to enlist as a pilot.

Gabby pressed her lips together slightly as she sighed inwardly. Nancy's father's impression of war was very much what it was portrayed in the media to be. Glorious, brave, patriotic…she knew better than anyone else how far that was from reality, but she refrained from saying anything. The way Nancy's eyes shone as she spoke of her decision to enlist in the army, it was obvious she shared her father's ideals, and she was undoubtedly glad to finally have the chance to be part of the action. It was not her place then, as a new acquaintance, to correct something which Nancy had grown up believing.

Hazel though, had a very different story. She'd come looking for someone, almost like how Gabby had joined the army for Danny all those years ago, and her story struck a chord in Gabby's heart. Hazel's brother, who had joined the army four years ago, had not been in contact ever since. She wrote countless letters to him, but they all went unanswered. Her only hope was that since her family had not been informed of him being killed in action, he was still alive somewhere.

"Why don't you just write to the army and ask them for his whereabouts?" Gabby couldn't help asking.

"…he doesn't like me." Hazel said softly, a sorrowful look in her eyes as she stared out the window. "I am from my father's second marriage, and.…let's just say my brother has always hated me for that. He never told anyone he had a sister, and I can imagine how furious he would be if I wrote in asking about him, so I never dared to. I never expected him to reply to any of my letters anyway, but ever since the war started…I got worried, and I couldn't just sit around waiting anymore. I just wanted to know if he's safe."

The room was quiet for a short while, then Gabby reached out and laid a comforting hand on Hazel's shoulder. "I'm sure you'll find him."

"Thanks." Hazel smiled gratefully at her, then wrapped her arms around her knees as she tilted her head towards Gabby. "What's your story?"

"Mine?" Gabby chuckled. "I don't have much of a story, compared to you two. I met a perfect guy, grew up with him and though we lost contact for a while, I've had a crush on him since forever, and thankfully, I found him two years ago. We've been together ever since. He's the kindest, sweetest and the most charming man I'll ever meet." Gabby's eyes shone as she pictured Danny's smiling face in her mind, and her mouth curved into a happy smile. "He's a pilot, so that's why I'm here."

Nancy raised her eyebrows. "Just like that?"

Yeah, and I also pretended to be a man and joined the army for five years, and might still be in there if not for the Doolittle Raid where I got discovered. These were words she couldn't say to anyone though, not unless she wanted to land herself in jail.

Smiling, she turned to her roommates. "Yeah, I wanted to share in his dream and, you know, understand a bit about what he's going through every time he leaves on these missions. Besides, these missions keep him away for such long periods of time, I'm thinking it might be better if I join the army so that there is a higher chance of us getting to see one another." Well, she wasn't exactly lying, these were some of the many reasons she had for wanting to fly again.

Nancy shook her head as she gave Gabby a knowing smile. "Boy trouble, eh?" Nudging Gabby playfully in the side, she teased. "Do we get to see a picture of this wonder boy of yours?"

Gabby pursed her lips at that question. For the first time, she realised she did not have a photo of Danny. The two of them never had a photo taken together! How could she have missed such an important detail? Sticking her tongue out sheepishly at her roommates, Gabby quickly made a mental note to rectify this oversight the next time she saw Danny.

Rafe and Danny arrived at the gates of the British air base close to night time, and by the time they finished settling in and unpacking, it was already dark outside. Neither of them felt like sleeping though, so they began on a slow stroll around the base, taking the opportunity to acquaint themselves with their new surroundings. This was to be their home for a good eighteen months, they might as well start getting used to it now.

There was a tense silence in the cold night air which almost felt uncomfortable. Rafe smiled wryly as he remembered the many sleepless nights he had when he was with the Eagle Squadron all those years ago, lying awake in his bed keeping an ear out for the sound of sirens. The Germans could spring an attack on them at any time, and the pilots were always on alert so that they could be combat ready within the shortest time possible. Some things haven't changed a bit. He's still got that feeling that they could be attacked any time, which was probably true. They were in England now, after all, and everyone knows the intense fighting that occurred on a daily basis between the British and the Germans nowadays.

The soft crunch of stones beneath their feet seemed uncharacteristically loud in this silence. Looking over at his friend beside him, Rafe smiled as he saw Danny cautiously sizing up the air base, feeling all the tension melting away. This time, he had his best friend with him. He was not alone.

It was somewhat disturbing to see graze marks along the walls of all the buildings in the base, and even holes in some places where the bullets went right through. Danny shuddered slightly at the thought of what happened in those incidences when the bullets did pierce through the walls. It wasn't a pleasant thought, and he quickly pushed it to the back of his mind.

It seemed like this was a very "active" base, and attracted a fair bit of attention from the Germans. There were also some huge hangars which sat in a corner of the air base all by themselves. There ought to be close to fifty planes housed in those hangars, and the huge maintenance shed right beside it was equally, if not more, impressive. The British took the maintenance of their fleet very seriously indeed.

"This is a much bigger place than the one I was at last time." Rafe commented lightly.

Danny hesitated slightly. "…how was it like?"

Rafe blinked, then realised Danny was asking about the time he spent in England before the United States joined in the war. This was the first time Danny asked about his life with the Eagle Squadron. Before he could answer, however, a loud, blaring sound ripped through the silent night air. Suddenly, the entire base lit up in lights and the sound of running feet and shouting came from above them as the pilots in the barracks scrambled to get ready.

Rafe and Danny looked at each other, then sighed unanimously. They'd thought they would at least get the night off before they got into the heat of things tomorrow morning. Was that too much to ask?

Someone came flying down the narrow flight of metal stairs at the side of the hangars, spewing expletives as he headed straight for the huge doors and begun hauling them open, completely ignoring the two of them who were standing a short distance away. They wanted to help, but they had no idea how to, and in the end, Rafe and Danny ended up just trying to keep themselves out of the way as much as possible. There was a limit to what they could do to help when they had no planes assigned to them and couldn't even help get ammunition ready since they had no idea where things were stored.

Soon, the quiet air base became a whirl of activity as pilots swarmed out of the barracks and flooded the hangars, but though everything quickly became disorganized in the way things became when there were too many people squeezed into a small space, it was an ordered state of chaos. Danny did a quick count of the fleet. Forty-eight. It wasn't huge, but hopefully it was sufficient. Even with the threat of an impending air raid staring them right in the face, none of the pilots wavered. Looking around at the calm, grim faces of his soon-to-be combat mates as they strapped themselves into their cockpits, Danny felt a strange sense of reassurance. These were not young, innocent pilots fresh out of flight school. They were weathered men of war, and they knew what they needed to do. He could trust them to watch his back.

Like all combat-ready bases, the planes were already fuelled, and only a few needed to be armed before the entire fleet was ready. It did not take long before the first plane cruised onto the runway and took off, just as the wailing sound of engines became audible over the blaring sirens. One after the other, the planes raced down the runway and took off with such fluid ease that could only come with familiarity. They were just in time.

Fighter jets painted in the colours of the German army descended on the base, but it was too dark to make out their numbers. The British pilots sent volleys of bullets into the German fleet, forcing the planes to split up and veer off in various directions before descending on their tails and trying their best to shoot their enemy out of the sky. The Germans didn't sit around waiting to be shot at either, as the entire fleet quickly regrouped and turned around to take on the British in earnest.

The sounds of engines roaring past were deafening, but Danny and Rafe could hardly tear their eyes away from the battle scene unfolding in front of their eyes. It was frustrating that they could only watch from the relative safety of the hangars, wishing they could be up there to do their part in driving the Germans away but unable to do any more than pray for the victory of their new teammates. If only they had planes assigned to them…

"Aren't you two pilots? Why aren't you getting into your planes? Wait a minute, have I seen you guys before?" It was the guy who opened the doors of the hangars earlier. His sand-coloured hair was in a tousled mess, as if he'd just jumped out of bed, which was probably true. There was a grim expression in those startling green eyes as he eyed the two of them suspiciously. He was not in uniform, but there was this unmistakeable aura of authority around him that Danny was willing to bet he was someone of a high rank, perhaps on par with Doolittle. It seemed as if Mr Important Person had only just realised that he did not recognise them at all.

"We're from the States…" Rafe started to explain.

"Oh, so you're those two?" The man's eyes suddenly lit up, and the look in his eyes became much friendlier.

"You know about us?" Danny asked in surprise. They had only just reported to the administrative office a little more than two hours ago, and the clerk had told them to come back again in the morning as Colonel Shelly wasn't around. How did this guy know about them?

"Of course, I know everything that goes on in this place." The man broke into a grin, but the sound of an explosion from above wiped it off his face instantly. Walking towards where Rafe and Danny were standing, he looked up at the night sky and was just in time to catch sight of the diminishing fireball disappearing under the cover of some trees in the distance. He cursed softly, then ran back to the rear of the hangars and grabbed a mobile radio set hanging off a hook on the wall. Slightly distorted voices could be heard coming out of the old radio as the pilots updated each other on what was happening.

By now, Danny had a rough idea who this man was, but he still felt he should ask just to make sure. "You are Colonel Shelly?"

He waved impatiently, his eyes still glued on the sky. "Just Fred would do. I wish I could put you guys into planes and get you up there right now, but my baby and a couple of the rest are under maintenance and won't be ready until tomorrow, so we don't have any more planes you guys could use."

"Sir, we…" Rafe begun, but Colonel Shelly raised a hand to stop him.

"Fred, please. Go somewhere under cover for now, this will be the only day I let you guys off easy. Enjoy it while you can. I need to make sure my men don't get themselves blown up just because I'm not up there with them."

With that, he strode out of the hangar with the radio in hand, occasionally barking commands into it in response to something that was said. It was clear their conversation was over.

Rafe and Danny looked at each other.

"You think he's serious about this?" Rafe asked.

Danny frowned slightly. "About what?"

"Calling him Fred."

Danny blinked, then sighed. "I don't think that's our biggest concern right now, Rafe." They were in the middle of a battleground, and even as they speak, stray bullets were whizzing through the air. While their new commander had given them permission to lie low tonight, finding a safe place to do just that might not be easy either.

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