It was an unexpected visit and Danny got the feeling that he was in some trouble with his father because Dad stood at the front door of his quarters looking none to pleased with his eldest son and didn't hesitate to tell him so. "You've been makin' yourself scarce around home son and while your mama would never say anythin', I'd sure as hell like to know why."

He never did mince words and Mama was always asking him to be more diplomatic. But Dad was like Gramps, blunt.

"I've been logging in hours on the P-40 just to be able to fly again." Danny explained as his father walked inside without waiting for an invitation and tried not to be defensive about it, even though he knew there was reason to be. "The doctor's only cleared me for that and until I get the clearance from him to get back to combat flying I have to be content with the old fighter."

Dad nodded as he took off his cap and sat down on the sofa. "That's what I've been tellin' your mama but we both know there's a little more to it, don't we?"

"Would you like a beer?" He asked before heading to the kitchen.

"Sure." Dad answered as Danny opened the refrigerator and pulled out a couple of bottles. He pried the caps off with the opener he kept on the counter and walked back out to the living room. He handed one of the bottles to his father before sitting down next to him on the sofa.

"So how is the leg? You said the doctor won't clear you to fly combat; is there somethin' you haven't told Mama or me?" He asked as he took a pull on the bottle. "She worries about that you know, your goin' back into combat."

"I know she does." Danny nodded. "She's never really said as much to me, but it's in what she doesn't say."

"Which brings me back to why I'm here." He came back around to the point of his visit. "Ever since we told you about the baby, you haven't been around to see her as much and she's startin' to think that you might not be too happy about it. Is she right? And don't give me that line about flight hours because I won't buy it."

He was cornered again and just as he'd had to answer to Ann, he needed to answer to his father. "The truth is Dad; I don't exactly know how I feel. I thought that I was okay with it and then I started to think that this is a time in your life when you and Mama should be thinking about grandkids, not more kids."

"Are you sayin' that we're too old to be doin' this?" He put the bottle down on the coffee table with a force that startled Danny and he frowned.

"I won't lie and say that it didn't cross my mind because it did. But Mrs. O'Connell seems to think that if Mama can still get pregnant then she's obviously not too old to have another baby."

"You still haven't answered my question." His frown got deeper.

"I know, I'm getting to that." Danny took a breath and sighed. "I think what's thrown me about this whole thing is that because Mama is going to have a baby, it means that you and she still." He stopped short because he couldn't bring himself to say it. Make love. "It's just not something that I gave much thought to because you're my parents and I forget that you weren't always." He admitted.

"Mama and I may have gotten some gray in our hair and have three grown kids, but I love her as much as the day I married her. When you look at her you see your mama, as you should. When I look at her I still see the beautiful nurse she was when she poked me in the backside because I was bein' a little fresh with her." His smile was one of reminiscence. "I broke my nose and lost my heart that day.

"We still make love because we have the desire to be as close to each other as possible and I know it makes you uncomfortable to hear that, but it's how we feel. The truth is Danny, the last thing that we expected was a baby especially when we thought our parentin' days were behind us. We were lookin' ahead to bein' grandparents but we also knew that wouldn't happen for a few more years. So instead we have a new baby on the way."

"It's just so much." He sighed again.

Dad laughed and took another pull on his beer. "Think about how we feel. But you know somethin' son, we wouldn't change this for anythin'. We've been given the chance to bring one last life into the world and maybe this time your brother or sister won't have to face a country at war. You've been through three already and ain't twenty-four years old yet, your sister too. Joe's been through two and he's in a position to be drafted if it comes to that."

"He could get a college deferment if he gets called up and then he wouldn't have to go." Danny explained. "And since we're already in the Air Force, that might help him too."

"We'll cross that bridge if we have to." His father let out a sigh of his own. "I would just prefer that both of my boys not be in the service."

"I know Dad; we'll just have to see what happens." He replied as he took a pull on his own bottle. "It sure would be nice though if the baby wouldn't have to deal with any of this and just live a normal life."

"He or she might be doin' just that if I still decide to take retirement in a few years. That's what your mother and I planned on doin' before this happened, but I'll probably stay in beyond that now. The Air Force has been good to me by lettin' me stay here for all these years. It's unusual for a man in the service to stay in one place for long and we always expected to be transferred somewhere else at any given time. And I don't expect that they'll be sendin' me anywhere now."

"Would you consider going back to Tennessee?" Danny wondered and wasn't sure why.

"No I wouldn't." Dad was matter of fact about it. "All you kids were born here and your baby brother or sister will be born here, too. I want this child to have the chance to grow up the way you kids did and have the opportunities that you had."

"Times are different than when we were growing up, though." He knew he was stating the obvious. "People don't seem to be looking at the world in the same way we did."

"That's because the world ain't the same as it was when you were a boy Danny. This war we're in now is for the right reasons, but the wrong people are involved in fightin' it. Instead of lettin' the men who are trained for it do their jobs, the fellows in Washington think that they know better and want to fight it their way. As a fellow who's flown in two other wars I can tell you that there are better ways to do it. Now that's my opinion but it won't stop me from doin' my duty and servin' my country the best way that I can."

"This isn't going to be simple, is it?"

"I'm afraid not son and it's hard to tell how long this thing is goin' to take." His father admitted frankly. "Things aren't as clear cut for the boys in Vietnam as it was for us. We had the Japs and the Germans while they have the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong. It's got to be a hard thing when you've got enemy soldiers and fellows who look like civilians shootin' at you; I sure don't envy them."

Danny understood what it was his father was saying because in the weeks after he'd been shot down, he knew that he couldn't trust anyone he even thought might be South Vietnamese because they might not be. And he wasn't going to take the risk.

"Well I don't know how in the hell we ended up goin' down this road when I came to talk to you about your mama. I would surely appreciate it if you would start comin' around like you always have and let her know that she's got your support. It's real important to her that you three are all right with this even though it's goin' to take some gettin' used to."

"Is she all right Dad? I mean, is there something that you aren't telling us?" He asked.

"You're mama is fine and the baby is fine. She just had a check up a couple of days ago and the doctor said that everythin' is on schedule." He sighed before he ran a hand through his hair and Danny couldn't remember the last time his father looked so frustrated. "What I'm talkin' about are the looks she's goin' to get when she starts showin'."

Danny frowned for a moment because he didn't understand what Dad was getting at, at first. When it finally dawned on him what he meant, it irritated him. "Why would she be getting looks from anyone?"

"Because we have some busybodies on this base who think women Mama's age shouldn't be havin' babies anymore and they won't hesitate to make her feel that way." He fumed. "It reminds me when she was goin' to have you. I'd asked her to marry me before I left on the Doolittle mission, not knowin' that she was goin' to end up pregnant.

"We got married as soon as possible after I got back, but before we were able to do that she was startin' to show and because she wasn't wearin' my weddin' ring yet, she wasn't treated very kindly by some. And while she accepted it, it made me damn mad. I just don't want to see her go through that again."

It shouldn't have surprised him to see how much his father still loved his mother, but it did. It was the fierce, protective love of a man who didn't want to see the woman he cherished hurt by anything. It was the kind of love he didn't quite understand because it was rare. Maybe it came from the years of their being together but Danny suspected that this love his father had for his mother was the kind of love that would always continue to grow.

And with a new baby on the way he knew it would deepen too.

"So have you heard when Annie's gettin' home?" Dad's voice broke into his thoughts. "Danny said he was goin' to call you when she was headin' back to Hawaii."

He stood up and picked up his father's empty bottle, as well as his own and started toward the kitchen. "He called me before you came over. Ann left San Francisco a few hours ago and he figures it's going to be a few more. He said he'd call back when he and Mrs. Walker headed for the airport so I could meet them there if I wanted to."

His father followed him into the small kitchen and leaned against the counter. "I don't suppose there's any reason you wouldn't want to." He grinned.

Danny grinned back and felt his face flush. "I would like to. But I was thinking that she hasn't seen her family for a few weeks and they should have that time with her. I can call her when she settles in."

"I imagine that she wants to see you too."

"We've got time Dad." He tried to reassure his father.

"Danny, are you talkin' a lifetime?" Dad's expression became serious.

"I'm thinking about it." Was all he said.

"Well then I want you to keep one thing in mind. Annie is still very young and while she is mature for her age it don't change the fact that she's just eighteen. And while her daddy can't say yes or no anymore, he might not like the idea of you pursuin' his girl with the idea of marriage."

"You and Mama weren't too much older."

Danny's father frowned at him. "We sure as hell were! I was twenty-five and she was twenty-four. I was already a pilot and she was a nurse. We were on our own and old enough to know our own minds."

He proceeded cautiously. "Gramps wasn't eighteen yet when he and Grams got married."

"Times were different Danny and people got married sooner." Dad told him. "Young people started their lives together earlier because men needed helpmates to work their farms. It also didn't hurt that Daddy knew he wanted to marry Mama when he was still so young."

"I'm nearly as old as you were when you met Mama and I have something of an advantage. I've known Ann for most of her life and it seems to me that it should count for something." He was sounding defensive again, which his father seemed to pick up on because he crossed his arms across his chest and looked very annoyed.

"It's apples and oranges Danny and you damn well know that! You are nearly as old as I was; I'll give you that. But you barely gave Annie the time of day when you were growin' up because you rarely saw her. You've only just gotten to know her in the last year and a half and I know for a fact that there has been a time or two where you nearly got to know her a little too well."

How did he do that?

"Mama told me about a conversation you had a while back and that she had to scold you like you were a five-year-old child." He answered Danny's unasked question with a sigh. "I never thought I'd have to have this conversation with either of my sons, but especially you Danny. After all the hard work you put in to get to the Air Force Academy, you've made some real bone-headed decisions since you got home."

"I know." What else could he say because his father was right.

"Well I can see that you don't need another lecture, so I won't say any more about it. Just keep in mind that there are certain things that you can't undo once you do them. Am I makin' myself clear?" He was so serious.

"Yes Sir, you are. And we won't do anything that we can't undo; you have my word on that." Danny promised and meant what he said.

"All right then." Dad nodded his approval before he pushed himself away from the counter. "Your mama doesn't know that I was goin' to stop by so we'll just keep this conversation between ourselves."

"Sure Dad." He answered as he followed his father to the front door. "I'll be over for breakfast tomorrow."

"That's fine son, your mama will like that." Dad smiled and then opened the door. "So you're all right with this now?"

Danny nodded. "It was just such a surprise."

"We know Danny, believe me." He laughed as he walked out the door and Danny watched as his father walked to his car. He raised a hand in farewell, which Dad answered before he closed the door.

He headed back into the kitchen to rinse out the bottles and cap them before he threw them away. While he did that he couldn't help but think about what Ann said when he'd called her and accused him, rightly so about making his mother's surprise pregnancy about him and how it would effect him.

Danny didn't want to be like some his mother would undoubtedly encounter in the next few months and look disapprovingly at her because she was going to have a baby when many women her age were already becoming grandmothers. She and Dad were bringing another life into the world and Ann was right when she said he'd been selfish and self-centered about the whole thing.

He was going to have a little baby brother or sister.

The idea was slowly beginning to grow on him even though it was going to be odd to be so much older. He'd told Ann that he was at an age where he could be a father and maybe this was all meant to be, as a sort of dress rehearsal when his time came to welcome a little McCawley of his own into the world.

He'd already imagined it once, when his family and the Walker's were in Tennessee for Thanksgiving. He'd gotten an unexpected glance into the future and wasn't ready for it then.

Maybe this baby was supposed to help him.