Once again thank you so much to everyone that has been reviewing this story, each comment means so much to me. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I do :)

October 15th. It was the day that Jane had been dreading ever since she found out her father had been taken away. Normally Jane was one of the first to come down for breakfast (excluding the short period of time when she had been putting serious effort into avoiding Mike). Nightmares usually woke her up bright and early. But when her eyes opened that morning she immediately pulled the covers over her head and tried to fall back to sleep. It was a Sunday which meant the whole family would be home to wonder when she was getting up.

If she had her way she wouldn't get out of bed the whole day. Once she was up and awake it made the day real.

Her dad had been promising her for months that he would take her to the jewelry store in town and buy her the locket she had seen once in a magazine. It was gold and had small leaves engraved in the front. Jane already knew what picture she was going to put inside. A shot from her parents wedding when they were cutting the cake. They both looked so happy and it was the perfect size to fit inside a locket.

But it seemed that plan had fallen through. Not only was her dad not there with her but the shop, owned by a Jewish family, had probably been trashed and shut down by then. So she hid underneath the covers and didn't intend on coming out.

She didn't hear any movement on the third floor until after noon. Jane heard footsteps coming inside the nursery and a soft knock on her door. It didn't seem to matter that she didn't have the energy to reply because moments later she heard the door open and shut. The edge of her bed sunk down next to her shins. Curiosity got the better of her and she pulled down the blankets just enough to see who came in. A smile spread on Mike's face when she peeked out at him.

"So you are awake?" he asked

She groaned. "Sadly." Jane was tempted to pull the blankets up again but settled for keeping them just underneath her eyes. "What are you doing?"

Mike shrugged. "Well you always come down so early. We were starting to wonder if you were sick." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you sick?"

"No."

"Okay." He put his hand down on the bed on the other side of her legs to prop himself up. She could feel worry radiating off of him. "So what's wrong?"

Mike was probably the last person she wanted to tell about what was wrong. If she knew him as well as she thought she did he would end up doing something really sweet and thoughtful and completely Mike-like. She didn't know if she could handle that. Jane already felt like enough of an emotional wreck and she was worried she would totally beak down if he did something thoughtful for her. But at the same time she hated the idea of lying to him. Especially when he looked so worried and cute.

She pushed the covers down to her waist and sat up. She immediately wondered if her hair looked like a total rats nest. Even when they were sitting he was still taller than her, but thankfully not by much. "Promise me you won't make it a big deal if I tell you?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Okay." He said suspiciously.

Jane let out a sigh and rubbed her eyes. Even though he agreed she had a feeling he would still end up making it into a big deal. God she really didn't want to tell him. "Today's my birthday." She finally mumbled.

"What?" She watched his eyes go wide and his mouth drop open, which almost made her smile. "Jane why didn't you tell me?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm telling you now."

Mike rolled his eyes. "I mean like a week ago." He said. "I would have gotten you something."

"Yeah, I know." She told him. "That's why I didn't bring it up."

His eyebrows came together. "Are you one of those people that hates their birthday?"

"I am now." Jane said. She could already feel her throat starting to burn and she hadn't even said much. "I just… never thought I would have to spend a birthday without both my parents."

Almost immediately Mike moved closer to her on the bed and reached for her hand. She didn't think she could work at his sympathetic and worried expression without crying so instead she looked down at their hands. He even had freckles on her hands. "Okay, I promise I won't make a big deal about it." He said as he rubbed circles on the back of her hand. "But please just let me get you something small. And there's a bakery in town that has really good cupcakes. Just those two things, okay?"

She groaned and rested the back of her head against the wall behind her. "I don't want you spending money on me."

"Yeah, well, I'm going to anyway." Mike said. It was funny how he always talked about her being stubborn when he was just as bad as she was. "I'm not going to let you be sad on your… seventeenth birthday?"

Jane let herself smile. "No, I'm twenty five." She replied sarcastically.

Mike rolled his eyes at her once more. "I would tell you to shut up if you weren't upset looking." He told her. "We're going to have lunch soon so you should come down, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." Jane pulled the blankets off of her and, while still holding onto Mike's hand, touched her feet to the ground. The wooden floor of her room was colder than usual. Though it may have just been her mind imagining it. Despite the fact that she was going to change her clothes she was tempted to ask Mike to stay with her. She was even more nervous about being alone with her thoughts than normal. Jane glanced up at him when he stood back up. "Can you, um, just wait for me outside?"

"Okay."

The Wheelers were like a miracle. Anytime she asked for something that might make things easier for her (like looking through the photo album with Nancy or spending the night in Mike's room that one time) they agreed without a seconds hesitation. Mike's hand slipped from hers as he headed over to the door. He looked back at her just before ducking back out into the closet. "Do you want me to leave it open a little?"

"Yeah."

Once he was outside he left the door open by just about three inches. She pulled out a pair of jeans and t-shirt before throwing them on. Had it been a normal birthday she might have gotten a little more dressed up. But she wanted the day to be as normal as possible. Jane was thankful her hair had once again grown out just enough for her to tie it up because she really did not feel like brushing it out. It was just one of those days.

When she emerged from her room she immediately spotted Mike sitting in the old rocking chair in the nursery. He perked up the way he always seemed to do when she came into a room. It was the little things he probably wasn't even conscious of that made her feel just a little bit of how he saw her. Mike never had to tell her how much he cared about her. Things he did every day made her fully aware. Like how he seemed incapable of being in a room with her and not be sitting next to her, or how she was constantly catching him staring at her, or how he was constantly brushing her hand against hers when he thought no one was looking.

His hand once again found hers once she reached him. She put her hand on his shoulder and gently tugged on his collar the way she always did when she wanted to kiss him. He was still just a bit too tall for her to reach even when she stood on her toes. A smile spread on his face before he leaned down to her height and pressed his lips against hers. After almost a month of stealing kisses in the hallway when no one was around Jane still felt just as electric when their lips met. Mike was a sensational human being. Everything about him seemed too good to be true.

Jane felt her heart start to pound when he pulled away and looked at her like she was truly amazing. It was hard not to feel a little bit amazing.

They only let go of one another when they reached the first floor. Her hand felt cold almost the second his left. Mike practically ran over to his parents who sat on the couch and whispered in their ears. Jane didn't need three guesses to figure out what he was telling them. She did her best to ignore the way they looked over at her with slightly wide eyes. Down the hall she spotted Nancy in the kitchen and she quickly made her escape to help her with whatever she was doing.

She leaned on the counter next to Nancy and watched her peel a small pile of carrots. "What are you making?" she asked curiously.

"A salad." Nancy answered. "Our neighbor gave us a bunch of vegetables from her garden. They look pretty good so I figured we'd eat them before they go bad."

"Can I help with anything?"

A small smile spread on Nancy's face. "Still remember how to make that dressing I showed you?"

About 90% of what she knew about cooking had come from either Karen or Nancy. For years her and her father had been limited to the simplest of dishes since she knew even less about cooking than he did. Her mother had been the cook of the family. If only the two of them could see her now; making a salad dressing strictly from memory. Mike came into the kitchen only a few minutes later and took a seat at the kitchen table behind them just as he did for every meal that he was home for. He was their entertainment while they worked.

"Are you going to the football game tonight?" Nancy asked over her shoulder.

Behind her Jane could hear Mike snorting. She figured she already knew the answer since he hadn't once mentioned a football came coming up. "No." he answered shortly. "Did you seriously think I would?"

Nancy shrugged. "I don't know. I figured you and your friends would be hang out since Lucas is out of the hospital."

She heard the chair scrape against the floor as Mike stood up. "We're going to the movies on Tuesday." He said as he walked over. Once he was leaning on the counter on the other side of Nancy he quickly swiped one of the carrots she had finished peeling. "Besides," he said while he ignored the glare she shot at him, "I have much more important plans tonight."

"Oh yeah?" Nancy asked suspiciously, "What plans, then?"

Jane glanced up from the garlic clove she was working on for the dressing. He took her lack of a sour expression as an 'okay'. "Today's Jane's birthday."

Nancy practically dropped both the peeler and carrot she was holding before she turned sharply to face her. "Today's your birthday?" she asked. "Why didn't you say anything?"

With her eyes fixed on the garlic on the cutting board in front of her Jane shrugged. It had been ten minutes and she already hated all the attention. She couldn't help but feel a bit of regret for telling him. "It's not a big deal."

"Your seventeenth birthday is absolutely a big deal." She argued.

Jane looked up and over at Mike with a small smile. "Your sister knows how old I am."

She figured her attempt at changing the subject was successful when Nancy shook her head and looked over at him. "Did you seriously not know how old your girlfriend was?"

Despite the fact that they had never specifically discussed the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing neither of them corrected Nancy whenever she teased them about it. Jane had broken down a couple days after the bombing and told her most of what happened between them. She left out the part where she ended up sleeping in his room that night.

"Well I was pretty sure." He said defensively. "But she never told me so I wasn't 100% positive." Mike bit off the end of the carrot. "At least I knew she wasn't, like, fourteen."

"Mike, ew, I don't even want to imagine you guys if she was fourteen." Nancy put her hands on his arm and shoved him back over to the table behind them. "Get out of here, nasty."

Jane remembered back in school with her friends when they thought Senior Boys were some sort of mythical creature that was so unattainable. She was dying to tell them all about the cute senior boy she was with. Sometimes the fact that he was in his senior year freaked her out since the last time she'd been in school she had still been a sophomore. It was easy to forget that she would have been a junior if everything was normal.

As they ate lunch Jane could feel everyone casting her occasional glances. Although Mike had promised not to make a big deal about her birthday she wondered if they had different definitions of a 'big deal'. The fact that he was already going to be spending money on here was a bit too much for her liking. Jane just didn't have the heart to try and convince him not to.

Mere minutes after they all finished eating Jane spotted Ted and Mike heading out the front door from where she stood in the kitchen. She pretended not to know where they were going as she washed the dishes that she had brought in from the dining room.

The rest of the day was mostly normal. She played with Holly and read in the living room. Mike was a bit more cheerful than he already was every other day. Not much else was different. That is until she went to help with dinner and Nancy and Karen quickly shoed her back out and insisted that she take the night off of being so helpful. She didn't offer up much protest and headed up the stairs to Mike's room.

Jane didn't have to wait too long after knocking for his door to open. He closed it behind her once she was inside and reached for her hand. "Okay," Mike said as he sat down next to her on his bed. "You know how I said that I was going to do those two things and that was it?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes." She already didn't like the direction the conversation was going in.

"Well two things turned into three." He said. "We picked up something that's from all of us but I got something that's just from me."

"Mike." Jane whined after she gave his shoulder a light shove. "I told you I didn't want you spending money on me."

He pushed himself up and headed over to his dresser. "I know, I know. I couldn't help myself." He said. "I didn't wrap it if that makes you feel better."

She spotted a small box sitting on top of his dresser just before he picked it up. It looked suspiciously like a jewelry box. Mike came back over and sat facing her on the bed. Her hands felt heavy when he placed the box in his hand. She didn't need to open it to know that she could never afford something as nice to give to him. The thought made her heart clench.

Mike must have read something in her face because he put his hand on her knee. "Jane, don't do that guilty self-deprecating thing you always do, okay?" he said. "I wanted to get you something. I tried to pick out something little because I know you said you didn't want me to make a big deal about it but you're kind of a big deal to me."

Jane looked up from the box at him. She could feel the smile he wore transfer onto her own face despite the guilt that still nagged at her. But it didn't take much to see that he was practically itching for her to open it he was so excited. So she looked back down at the box and pulled the top off. Her mouth fell open when her eyes landed on a silver chained bracelet with small opal beads. It was, by far, the nicest piece of jewelry she had ever owned in her life. Jane had never been much of a jewelry person in general but she already knew she would probably never take the bracelet off.

Once she had it on her wrist she set the box aside and tightly wrapped her arms around his neck. Jane was constantly going back and forth between being terrified of how quickly she was falling for Mike and offering up no protests and letting herself fall. It was so easy to forget that some people in the world wanted her dead when Mike simply adored her. She felt as close as she could to normal when she was with him.

She pulled away and rested her hands on his cheeks. Her thumbs gently rubbed across the freckles scattered across his face. Anyone who hated freckles hadn't met Mike. Every last detail about him was perfect. Jane could have easily spent a whole day staring at him. If only they had the time.

"I love it." She said with a wide smile on her face. Her throat felt tight with happy tears but she choked them down. "I don't know what I did to deserve you."

"I was thinking the same thing." He told her.

Jane closed the distance between them and pressed her lips against his. She hadn't been so happy in a long time. The longer Mike continued to spend as much time with her as he could the less worried Jane became that he was eventually going to get sick of her. If he felt just a little bit of what she felt for him she had a hell of a long time before she had to worry about him getting tired of her.

His lips moved against hers in a way that made her feel as if she could float away. Kissing Mike and looking at Mike had quickly become her two favorite hobbies. In that order. She felt antsy when she eagerly awaited him to come home every day. When he did she had to hold herself back from grabbing onto his hand and dragging him straight up the stairs.

She had never imagined she could be so happy during the war. While she felt guilty that others were suffering while she was cuddled up with a cute boy she didn't think she could stop. As much as part of her brain told her that the best thing to do would have been to push him away she knew she couldn't. It would hurt him too much and she knew she didn't have it in her to do that to him or herself.