Sorry, not better yet -.-'

Chapter 5

Gratefulness

Rafe actually had planned to thank the lovely nurse who had prevented the loss of his wings. But he didn't like it that his younger sister seemed to know more about the incident than himself. She hadn't even been there. He had.
He'd loved to know what the nurse had said about him, but he couldn't ask Allie about it. That would make the whole situation even more embarrassing. This brat of a sister already knew too much.

Hell, he wanted to stop calling her a brat in his thoughts. But she was so sassy sometimes. Again and again, it surprised him what had become of the wild child he used to know. A strong woman.
Basically, he had liked her better being wild and unceremonious, that way very few boys had shown interest in his sister (after she had scuffled with them) and he rarely needed to tell someone intimidatingly to look after Allie – that she could do herself – and bring her back on time.
When he had learnt one day – she'd been 15 or 16 years old at that point – that Allie had made out with boys her age, he'd been surprised, even shocked.
"Well, today she only starts fights" Rafe grumbled remembering the fight between Alice and Billy.

He had arrived at the vaccination hub but that only raised new problems. How should he find his heroine? He didn't even know her name. Surely, Allie would know her name.

Hadn't she been told to rotate to station three? Maybe he should begin his search there. And he was lucky, finding her immediately at station three.
"Say, fella, are you enlisted?" he addressed a young man waiting in front of station three.
"Yeah" he answered a little snotty.
"'Yeah'?" Rafe continued mocking his intonation. "Boy, you're talking to an officer."
The enlistee jumped up and saluted. "Yes sir, sorry sir."
"Give me that file" Rafe demanded. He had to get in somehow. He himself had gotten vaccinated already.
"Yes sir." He handed the file over submissively. "Parade rest" Rafe allowed the poor guy to relax a little, then he finally entered the station.

Evelyn looked up in surprise, when Rafe McCawley came over to her. Alice hat told her she'd get him to thank her, but how had she managed that so quickly? Well, for needing a hint she'd tease him a little.
"Drop your skivvies" she told him. He apparently hadn't expected that. But he obeyed even though very bewildered. Evelyn noted that also his butt was very cute, like the rest.
While she filled a syringe, he talked a blue streak about her understanding his motivations. However, the words 'thank' and 'you' didn't pass his lips, the reason for his return. She pointed that out.
"You know, you still haven't said 'thank you'" she interrupted the pilot.
He beamed at her. "Thank you."
"You're welcome" the nurse smiled back.

'Mission accomplished' Rafe thought to himself. Now he was wondering about his heroine's private motives. She told him about her father who had also been a pilot and what it was like to experience at close quarters what it meant if a pilot wasn't allowed to fly any longer.
Instantly, he also made her father his hero and brought forth a dinner invitation, maybe a little unconventionally. He was punished with a stabbing poke.
He tried to ask her cautiously, if she maybe kind of, sort of liked him. But he still was too fresh, she poked him again!

After pulling up his pants and getting up again, Rafe felt a little dizzy. That somehow reflected in his choice of words when he tried to confess to a liking. He apologized directly and tried to invite her out to dinner again. It failed again.
What was wrong with him?

Evelyn was asking herself the same thing and she quickly found the reason.
"This isn't your chart" she called out in surprise and turned to Rafe worriedly. "Have you already had this shot?"
"Yeah well, once already" he admitted mumbling. "I just – can I ask you out?" he tried it one last time, before he fainted.

The next thing Rafe remembered was a sharp pain in his nose. He gave up for the moment. He'll return in the evening and he already had an idea how he'd win Evelyns attention. He had learned her name by now.
Before that he'd rest while his nose was taken care of.

Allie had talked about this and that with Danny and had tried to stifle this weird feeling. It started a few weeks ago and felt like a little tug beneath her belly button every time she saw Danny. Or whenever she smelled his scent. Or when she thought of him. But why had it started after all these years?
She knew this feeling, had felt it once or twice already. With one boy she actually had went out on a date with, but when she came to know him better, he turned out to be a complete idiot. The tug had disappeared over night.
The other guy, well, she had just hit his ass up, what resolved the issue. But she queried whether it'd be a solution to beat Danny up. After all, she'd done that enough times that it had lost its charm.

With a sigh she put these thoughts aside and went to see Evelyn, who told her that Rafe had knocked himself flat out.

He had been very cute, when he had tried to invite her out to dinner, Evelyn admitted to herself. Also, getting a second shot just to be able to talk to her was also exceptional although from a medical point of view very questionable and careless. In the end, when he fell over and hit his nose, she felt so bad for him. Hopefully his nose wasn't broken.

Soon after, Allie had reappeared and asked for her brother.
"You should've seen him staggering and toppling down. It was awful" Evelyn told the airwoman what had happened. "I hope he won't be mad at me."
"Don't worry" Allie calmed her down. "He can stand that, even more. But do you know where he's now probably?"
"At the outpatient care, likely" the nurse responded. "Tell him, I'm very sorry."
"I will." Allie waved goodbye and Evelyn continued to prepare the syringes.

"Somebody's in love" Barbara warbled carrying a tray with sterile hollow needles.
"Oh, knock it off" Evelyn cut in, but the smile on her face told something else.

Alice indeed found Rafe at the outpatient care. He sat with a bandaged nose on a cot and quietly scolded himself.
"Gosh, you look awful" she greeted him. "Was it worth it?"
Rafe just grumbled incomprehensibly. "I wanted to ask her out" he then lamented. "To thank her. And because she's my new heroine. Did you know that? And her name's Evelyn. Did you know her name? Evelyn Johnson, beautiful name, don't you think?"
Misty-eyed Rafe peered into the distance after his flood of words has ended. Only after she'd waved her hands in front of his face he seemed to be back to normal, kind of.
"What did you say?" he looked at her puzzled.
Allie sighed deeply. "Yeah, I knew her name, and no, I didn't know she's your heroine. But are you sure you just hit your nose? Not your head? Or did you get the good painkillers?" She nudged his temple laughing.

"So, whatcha gonna do now?" she asked in a serious tone immediately afterwards. "I mean, it's obvious she's more than your heroine to you."
"I indeed have an idea already" Rafe declared, thankful Allie didn't bug him about what exactly he'd done. "Say, you don't know where I can get some genuine French champagne? By tonight?"
"Well, I don't, but as it happens, I know someone, who does" she winked at him.
"Allie, you're the best sister in the whole wide world" Rafe grinned back at her equally conspiratorially and jumped up to hug her with dash. "I'm so glad, I can always rely on you."

"He, you're not allowed to get up yet!" the nurse on duty called while she came running. "You better leave now", she added addressing Alice.
"See you later" Allie took her leave. "I'll start organizing the thing for you, right?"
Rafe looked at her somewhat puzzled (again) but then nodded hastily. It seemed he was out of practice. In the old days, they communicated in cipher messages whenever someone uninitiated was around. But their coding was lacking in terms of security, 'the thing' was whatever their last topic had been, in this case the 'genuine French champagne'.

Allie waved one last time, and finally left to search for Anthony, who always claimed he'd could get anything done. Today she was searching all the time, it seemed. But where to start this time?

Actually, she didn't need to find Tony now, he couldn't do anything before they where back at the barracks. But she could ask him beforehand. So she continued to wander through the hallways.

Halfway back to the main entrance, she met Red.
"There you are" he greeted her. "You have to collect the file with your t-t-test results. And Rafe's, they wouldn't hand them over to Danny, 'cause he's no relative."
"Thanks, Red" Allie smiled and set out for the administrative office.
"And better be quick, departure is in half an hour" he yelled after her.

So Allie run up the stairs on the double, where the administrative office was. There was quite a crowd in the small room and among the military personnel Allie spotted Anthony. He spotted her the same moment and beckoned her over.
"You have to collect Rafe's file" he told her the second she arrived at his side.
"Yeah, I know, Red told me, but can you do me a favor?" she tried to drown out the crowd. "You always claim, you can get anything done."
He looked at her skeptically. "Anything legal" he then corrected her statement.
Allie laughed. "Tony, what do you think of me? Don't worry, it is legal. And actually, you're doing Rafe a favor."
"Ok, tell me" he went on grinning, "as long as he doesn't need a brand-new panel truck."
"No, it's champagne, but it has to be genuine French" the airwoman explained.
"What for?" Anthony asked with some surprise.
"To impress a nurse, I guess" Allie said over her shoulder, already pushing through the crowd. That way, she missed his sensationalist eyebrow raise, but she could imagine it vividly. Anthony really loved gossip and tittle-tattle.
Before he could ask more questions, she had vanished in the crowd, trying to get to the right desk.

When she finally stood in front of the right desk, she only had twenty minutes left. "Name?" the nurse asked without looking up.
"Warrant Officer Alice McCawley" she panted a little out of breath from shoving. "And could you please also hand me the file for Lieutenant Rafe McCawley?"
The nurse looked at her skeptically, but returned with two envelopes. Allie breathed a sigh of relief; she didn't have the time and patience for more bureaucracy.
"Here you go" the nurse slapped down the envelopes. "And you have to sign here" she pointed to a line on a sheet, "and here that you received the files."
Allie grabbed a pen and scribbled two spidery 'A. McCawley's on the form. "Thanks, have a good day" she smiled at the nurse, who was already attending the next person in line.

The airwoman fought her way back through the crowd and hat only five minutes left, when she finally made it back to the main entrance. When she took herself outside, Billy already awaited her impatiently. "Allie, at last. I hope you have a good excuse; Doolittle is huffed with you for not being there. Come on, we have to go" he continued his railing while dragging her to the parking lot.
"And Rafe?" Allie managed to edge in a short question.
"Came here ten minutes ago" Billy replied and hauled her further, right into the waiting car.

"I hope no one's missing now" Doolittle said with a snarl when everybody had taken a seat. "Let's go."
After they've been driving about half a mile, the Major turned back to them.
"Can't leave you alone for half a day, it seems" he grumbled. "McCawley, whatever you've done to your nose, I don't wanna hear about it. I may expect everybody passed the test and brought the results."
Rafe looked startled at Allie, who passed over the envelope with his name on it.
"Get them in my office later, and then enjoy your evening off" Doolittle resumed, and turned to the front again.

The remaining car ride happened in silence. When they reached the barracks after additional twenty minutes, everyone was glad to escape the oppressive silence in the inside of the car.
Outside the chattering immediately started, to balance out the quiet minutes.
"Don't forget to bring me your results!" Doolittle yelled reminding them, before he vanished into the building.