Jack freezes.

Lily backs away, her face filled with panic.

LILY: "You're taking your bag!"

Jack looks down at the duffel in his left hand.

He finally understands.

Every time Lily has seen him in the past, it has been in photographs or on a screen.

Every story about her father ended with him leaving.

And now, standing in an airport, she sees the uniform.

The bag.

The departure signs.

To her, it means another goodbye.

Jack gently places the bag on the floor.

JACK: "I'm not going anywhere, Lily."

LILY: "That's what Daddy always says."

Jack kneels again.

JACK: "I know."

Sarah puts a hand over her heart.

SARAH: "Sweetheart, we have something important to tell you."

She takes a folded paper from her handbag.

Jack's official retirement paperwork, issued after his medical separation from the Army.

SARAH: "Daddy isn't going back on another deployment."

Lily looks confused.

LILY: "Ever?"

Jack shakes his head.

JACK: "No more deployments."

LILY: "You'll sleep at our house?"

JACK: "Every night I'm home."

LILY: "You'll eat pancakes with us?"

JACK: "I might eat more pancakes than both of you."

Lily almost smiles.

LILY: "You'll come to my school?"

Jack's voice catches.

JACK: "If you'll let me."

Lily looks at his empty sleeve.

LILY: "What if the other kids stare at your arm?"

Jack takes a moment before answering.

JACK: "They might. We can tell them I was hurt, and that I'm still me."

Lily thinks about Robert's missing leg.

About the paper airplane.

About the song.

About the three stars.

About the man who never grew angry when she called him a stranger.

Then she looks down at the old photograph.

LILY: "Daddy in this picture could pick me up really high."

Jack smiles.

JACK: "I know."

LILY: "Can you still hold me?"

JACK: "Yes. We might need to find a new way, and Mommy can help us."

Lily takes a tiny step forward.

LILY: "Can I try?"

Jack opens his left arm.

JACK: "Whenever you're ready."

Lily moves closer.

And then, just inches from his chest, she stops.

She looks into his eyes.

LILY: "One more question."

Jack nods.

LILY: "Did you miss me… even after you lost your arm?"

Jack's face crumples.

JACK: "Sweetheart, there wasn't a single day I didn't miss you."

Lily begins to cry.

CHAPTER END HOOK: For the first time in five years, Lily reaches both arms toward the man she has been waiting for.