Chapter Text
Hold on.
That was what Mom had told her when she called to tearfully announce that Al was MIA. Her mother had been surprised at how vehemently Beth felt the loss, since only a week before she had talked of filing for divorce when Al came home. But by the end of the night, Beth had admitted that she was still in love with the daredevil pilot. So Mom told her to hold on. Hold on to that hope, that love, and it will bring him home.
"But it didn't bring Dan Merril home," Beth accused the empty silence around her in their bungalow. "Anne loved him more than anything, and he still died out there. How could you do this to me, Al? If you loved me as much as you said you did, how could you leave me?"
Naturally, her absent husband did not respond, but still, to Beth it felt like another betrayal--one of a long list. Already the memories that kept her holding on had begun to seem insignificant.
"I can't hold on any longer!"
There was still no reply. Both the lawyer and the cop who had seemed to be courting her the past few days had left long ago. Dirk chased away by the over-persistent Jake, who had then mysteriously departed with muttered apologies. Now, the solitude closed in around her.
Then, there was a change in the room. Nothing looked different, but the feeling of loneliness had vanished, as if Al had just walked through that door.
If he does come back, she wondered, what will he be like? Will he still be my Al?
He would advance in rank, no doubt. She smiled, thinking of how he had once told her that anyone with a rank above lieutenant was a horse's ass!
Beth laughed softly, and the room seemed to hold its breath at the sound. On impulse, she stood and walked to the record player, for some reason putting on their song--"Georgia On My Mind." She closed her eyes and Al's presence suddenly seemed almost tangible.
Slowly she began to dance the same familiar steps they had danced together so many times before--even the first dance at their wedding. With her eyes closed, she was dancing with him again. She could feel him close to her, their hands almost touching, but for some strange reason, not quite.
And she heard his voice--that rich, rough voice that could still make her shiver. He was asking her to hold on, but in the moments of silence between his words, he was also saying goodbye.
I want you to wait for me, Beth. Don't give up, honey. 'Cause I'm alive out there. And the only reason I'm alive is because of our love. And someday...Oh, Beth...someday, I'm gonna come back home to you.
He kissed her, and the sensation was more real than anything else that had happened that night. She felt his lips press against her forehead, and then he was gone. Beth opened her eyes once again to the empty house.
"Al..."
Her hopes faded with that whisper, the echo of his goodbye still ringing in her thoughts.
"Beth?"
Startled, she turned. There was a man standing in her house, a man she had never seen before. Amazingly, she was not afraid. Wary, but not afraid.
"Who are you? How did you get in here?"
"I'm not going to harm you," he promised, honesty and something else she couldn't quite identify gleaming in his green-gold eyes. "I'm here to help you. Help you, and help Al."
"Al?" She stared at him, this strange man who looked so young but old, naive but also wise, all at the same time. A streak of silver in the front of his hair caught the light, and as his eyes met hers once again, she realized her lack of fear was because she...recognized...him. She tried to shake the thought out of her mind because she KNEW she had never seen this person before in her life, but the evening had been so full of strange impressions that defied her senses that she couldn't shake the sense of familiarity. He had said he was here to help her and Al...maybe he knew Al, and she was sensing that mutuality. She had always been able to understand her husband on some level she couldn't explain.
The stranger nodded.
"You're a friend of Al's?" she continued.
"Yeah, I'm a friend of Al's." There was a deep sense of loss, of separation in his voice, causing it to break as he pronounced her husband's name. He sounds like he thinks he'll never see him again. She fought to hold back tears. I know that feeling all too well. Oh, God, please don't let that be what he has to say!
"Do you think we could sit?" he asked hesitantly.
Beth nodded, noticing for the first time how tired her visitor looked--as if he'd been carrying the world on his shoulders for years, without any chance to set it down and rest. They sank into the couch, facing each other. She tried not to let him see in her face the fear that was executing a victory dance right that moment in her heart.
"I'm gonna tell you a story, Beth. A story with a happy ending, but only if you believe me."
Beth blinked, startled by the unexpected beginning. "And if I don't?" she asked curiously.
"You will. I swear you will," he promised. "But instead of starting with 'Once Upon a Time,' let's start with the happy ending." He hesitated, and Beth realized that she was holding her breath.
"Al's alive. And he's coming home."
Tears welled up in her eyes at the unexpected news and a wave of astonishment swept over her. I believe him!
She didn't question how he knew, just believed. And in that moment the power to keep hoping, to keep holding on, returned. Her visitor turned to look over his shoulder at something behind him, as if he had heard a sound. Just as she had earlier that evening, Beth could have sworn Al was in the room, though there was no way he could be.
Suddenly, the stranger's form seemed to explode into a brilliant flare of blue-white light, and he disappeared. Stunned, Beth just stared through the thin film of tears at the place where he had been, wondering if it had been a dream or a vision.
Her mother's words came back to her--"Hold on"--and with them the words she had prayed earlier that day: "Give me a reason to hold on. Give me some reason to believe he's still alive out there."