AN: Because we ship Michael/Julia here, too. Also just a quick little note, my portrayal of Michael is just how I view him, and, considering how little we know about his character, it will probably be different than literally every other portrayal of him and is probably not accurate.

Julia had been surprised when Michael told her he had enlisted. They usually talked about things like that, and even though Julia had been able to tell that all the posters had been getting to him, she didn't it would've driven him to do something like that without telling her beforehand.

"I leave Monday."

She sat down, trying to process this news. "Where... where are you going?"

Michael shrugged. "Training first, and then wherever they want to send me, I guess."

Julia sat there and looked up at her husband in silence for a moment, as it sunk in. Her husband, the love of her life, the man who made her complete, was leaving to go fight in the worst war the world had ever seen. Men were dying every day. He could be one of them.

Her eyes filled with tears. "Michael..."

He kneeled on the floor in front of her and gripped both of her hands tightly. "Hey, Jules, don't cry yet, we've still got until Monday, that's four days."

She nodded, but still hadn't managed to convince herself, and the tears came anyway. Michael gently pulled her off of her chair and onto the floor into his arms, and she gripped his shirt as tightly as she could.

She was determined not to let go of him until she had to.

oOo

The next Monday found Michael, Julia, her mother, and Michael's parents all at the train station to see him off. After some tearful goodbyes with his parents, and a fond hug with June Adams, he went over to his wife, who was working very hard to keep herself together.

Michael pulled her in for a tight hug, but didn't hold her for too long. Otherwise he might not ever be able to make himself let go. He pulled away and looked at her.

"I'm going to be fine." He told her. "I'm smart, I'm quick on my feet, and I'll do everything I can to make it back."

"I love you." Julia told him, and he gave her a quick, forced grin.

"I love you too." He kissed her, but again, he didn't linger. "This isn't the last time we'll see each other. It can't be."

But it was.

oOo

When the telegram came, Julia clutched it tightly to her chest and fell to the ground the moment the boy delivering it had left. This couldn't be happening, not to her. This was what happened to other people. Those other women whose husbands had died, who had been left alone, who were looked at with nothing but pity from everyone else. She wasn't one of them, until she was.

She didn't know she was sobbing, but she must have been because her mother ran into the room.

"Julia? What's wrong?"

"Ma..." That was all she could say, and June's gaze drifted down to the letter in her hand, and she knew what must've happened.

"Oh, honey."

She got down onto the floor next to her daughter and held her. And they cried, for Michael.