Ch. 5
I woke up about 9 the next morning. The sun was shining through the curtains. It gave just the right amount of light to the room. Danny's arms were wrapped around my waist. I could hear him lightly snoring. I knew he was out.
I made to move out of the bed. I knew we had to go see Emily today. I wanted to introduce them, and she had some information to tell us. I didn't want to deal with that today, but the longer I put it off, the more I would be like that.
I went to take a shower and get dressed. I had decided on jeans, a pink polo shirt, and some flip flops. It was spring, and the weather was perfect.
While I was in the shower, Danny had decided to join me. Nothing happened, but it was just a moment for us.
Danny had decided to wear faded jeans, and a black t-shirt. He looked good.
After we had eaten some breakfast, I went to call Emily. Just as soon as I dialed the number, there was a knock on my door. Danny gave me a confused look. I just shrugged my shoulders. I wasn't expecting anybody. It was only 10:30. We weren't supposed to meet Emily until noon.
I answered the door, and sure enough, it was Emily. I was a little shocked. She walked right past me into the kitchen. She took a look at Danny, turned back to look at me, and raised an eyebrow.
"So, Ally. Are you going to introduce me to your friend?"
Danny came walking over to me, and put a protective arm around my waist. I could tell he was put off by the sudden company. I was too.
I just smiled at the both of them. I was anxious for Emily to meet Danny, anyway.
"Emily, this is Danny, my fiancé. Danny, this is Emily, my best friend."
I introduced them the best I could. I was a little nervous. I had straight up said that Danny was my fiancé. I didn't know how he would feel about me saying that. I mean, it was true, in a way. We just never really established if that's what we still wanted. He didn't go to correct me, either, though.
The shook hands, all the while Emily had her eye brows raised at me.
"Fiancé? Ya'll sure do move fast, don't you?"
She giggled some. She knew how long we were together. She also knew everything about how we got engaged. It was just her way of joking, and breaking the tension.
"It's very nice to meet you, Danny. I heard a lot about you."
"Likewise."
Now that all that was out of the way, we could get to why she was really here. It must have been, either, really good news, or bad news. Something she didn't want to say on the phone.
"Alright, guys, kitchen or living room? Wherever ya'll are comfortable."
Danny and I looked at her with confused expressions on our faces. Emily laughed again. I was kind of mad. Why would she laugh at us being confused?
"Ya'll, I need a camera. I can tell you two are close. Your facial expressions are exactly the same."
Danny and I both chuckled. She was right. We were perfectly in sync with each other.
"Wouldn't the table be better? I mean, you did have stacks of notes when we left yesterday."
"Well, Ally, you must have lost a lot of sense while you were 'away'. You have heard of technology, haven't you?"
I don't know how I forgot. She probably rewrote her notes on her laptop.
"Yes I have, smart ass. Fine, I'll make some more coffee, and we'll go sit on the couch."
Danny and Emily headed to the living room. They were talking the whole way. It was mostly Emily grilling him, but he took it in stride. He knew I didn't have any family, so he probably figured she was like family to me. He seemed grateful that I had someone to look out for me. Besides him, of course.
When I went in the living room, Emily's laptop was already sitting on the coffee table. She was on one end of the couch watching Danny's amazement. He must not have seen anything like it before.
I giggled a little as I walked up to them. I sat down right in between the two, after I handed them their coffee.
As soon as I sat down, Danny's arm went right behind me, on the back of the couch.
"Okay, Emily, what do you got?"
She smiled and pulled up a government website.
"Okay. So this is a complete, 100%, list of all military personal involved in Pearl Harbor and the Doolittle mission. All in alphabetical order. Do you notice anything wrong?"
I looked over the list. I started with the nurses first. I saw Betty's, Barbara's, and the other nurse's names. The only one I didn't see, was Evelyn's. I was confused. Why wasn't her name on the list? I immediately showed Danny. He was just as confused as I was.
"Evelyn's name isn't here. How is that even possible? She was there! I was there."
I sat back on the couch. Something wasn't right at all. I noticed Danny had kind of a smirk on his face, but I didn't say anything. He knew something already.
"Okay. That's not just it, though. Danny and Rafe were in the army, right? Look at that list."
I went through the names of the soldiers. I saw Gooze's and Anthony's names. I didn't see Danny's, Rafe's, or Red's. They were the ones who did all the flying that day. Emily also pointed to the list of the Doolittle raid. Their names weren't there, either. I was so confused. I showed Danny. It was like relief was written all over his face. It was like he was thankful their names had disappeared from history. This time, I couldn't keep my mouth shut.
"What the hell is going on? Danny do you know something? Why aren't your names on any of these lists?"
Emily just smiled. She seemed to know something. Well, she seemed to at least have a clue. Danny was a little taken aback by my sudden outburst. He was so caught off guard, that he had backed up from me some. I couldn't blame him. He spoke first.
"This is where the story continues, Alyssa. Right before I saw the bright, white light, I saw someone else standing there with Rafe. I didn't recognize him. It was almost as if he wasn't there at all. When I came to, I was in a hospital. I had my wallet on me. They knew my name, where I lived, everything. I didn't recognize the place at all."
I was shocked. Why did that happen? How did that happen? Why was he in a hospital? I looked at him with a confused expression.
"They said I was in an accident of some sort. That I had been in a coma for a month. I came to about 2 months before your incident. I'm glad I paid attention to when you said you had first come to my time. If I hadn't, I would have been trying to get ahold of you before you even met me."
I was even more confused. Danny had been in my time for about 2 months now? How was that possible? None of this made any sense.
"Okay. How did that happen? How were you here 2 months before I even knew you really existed?"
That's when Emily stepped in with answers. She could tell Danny knew just as much as I did about all this.
She pulled up some notes she had taken.
"I talked to a professor at Oxford, yesterday. He said, that time travel isn't possible, but there is a lot of folklore. Especially, indigenous to this area. He said there is a family around here known for witchcraft. Not necessarily in a bad way, though. He said they can look at people, and tell who they were meant for, and who was meant to be in their lives. When they figured it out, they would cast a spell to make things like that possible. I know it sounds completely unreal, but this is a real lead."
I was dumbfounded. One minute I'm dwelling in science fiction, the next I'm in witchcraft. How was this even possible? I wasn't handling this situation very well. I felt like I was about to pass out. This was too much.
Danny must have noticed, because he had gotten up to get me some water. I was glad when he finally came back. I needed him now more than ever.
"So, what do we know about this family then? Did they exist in 1941? Is that how I got here? Are they able to give someone a new identity in some way? Who are they? Are they still around?"
Emily just laughed. She was just as surprised as I was with all the questions coming from Danny's mouth. He didn't normally talk that easily to strangers. It must have just been something about Emily. I always found her easy to talk to, so he must have, too.
"Yes, they existed then. There was actually a man in the military from this family at the time. I know you and Rafe were the only ones from Shelby on that Doolittle mission, but this man, he had moved from Shelby before he joined the military. His family had moved back after he died."
Danny and I looked at each other in confusion. I was the first one to speak up.
"So, who was it?"
She held the suspense. Danny and I were both anxious to find out.
"Anthony Fusco."
We were shocked. Was Anthony really the one who sent Danny back to me? How was that possible? I thought he had died. Maybe he died for this particular reason.
"He had a daughter before he left for the military. She moved here to Shelby after she found out her dad died. Her grandmother took her in. You won't believe who his daughter is."
I was still waiting anxiously. I needed to know. I needed to know now.
"Well, who is it?"
"Of course, she won't have the same last name as her father, but her last name, is Bowers."
I was in complete shock. Emily didn't have to come out and say who it was now. I knew exactly who it was.
"Alyssa, do you know her?"
Danny was the one asking me. He could tell I knew her. My face had instantly paled.
Emily and Danny both were anxiously waiting on me to answer. Emily was waiting on me to put the pieces together.
"Yes, Danny, I know her."
He was waiting expectantly for me to blurt out the name. I took a drink of water before I could finally answer.
"It's Ms. Leslie."