#im too lazy to proofread this so i apologize for typos and mistakes

[teruel-a-witch]

The thing is, in Italy they're doing a H50 rerun (even if they lost one episode along the road but hey, poor buddy must've been confused after the due sospension to broadcast the swimming European competition or wtf it was), so I'm taking advantage of this to have my nightly mcdanno boost.

All night (hello insomnia my old friend) I couldn't stop thinking how Steve, after witnessing Danny's desperate message in Rachel's voicemail in 2x15, stating that he still loves her (....poor Gabby, is she aware Danny could never love her the way he still loves R. or fall for her the way he fell for Steve?), suddenly in 2x16 feels the need to bring Cath as his pkus one at the auction. Catherine. Even if Kono and Lori were there alone. While Chin definitely didn't bring Malia, nor Danny Gabby (lol I laughed so hard when he remembered about St. Valentine's only after the others pointed it out, and panicked about the present! Talk about performance and facade). But he needed Cath exactly there. As a buffer. As a True, No-Homo, I'm-Definitely-Not-Pining-Over-My-Partner shield.

Poor Steve enters in Panick Mode™ every single time he fears he's lost Danny, either physically or emotionally (see the reckless invasion of the Governor's house in 1x24 after knowing Danny is crawling back to Rachel).

Sorry for the hundreds brackets, my brain is wacked.

I've only seen 2x15 once so forgive me if I'm getting it wrong, but I'm fairly sure the message was from months ago, at least that's how I understood it, it's just that it revealed that Danny didn't care if the baby was his and would have gotten back together with Rachel back in the beginning of S2 anyway.

I don't even think it's as simple as Danny having some ~undying love~ for Rachel, but simply clinging to the past, to this ideal of a nuclear family, because he has always felt like the failed marriage makes him a failure and like he failed Grace specifically because the divorce made her 'a child of a broken home' and the chance to repair it was too tempting to let go.

(Not to mention being back together with Rachel would have meant being a full time father to his precious babygirl instead of shared custody which has probably always been the main draw for him, he hates missing out on a single moment of Grace's life more than anything)

The thing about fantasies is they are hard to let go of even after you have changed and it's not something you want anymore, Danny wasn't the same man that came to Hawai'i 2 years ago and wished he didn't have to, he has changed and grown on a fundamental level and meeting Steve and building the ohana was a major part of that, whether he knew it or not he chose Steve over Rachel at the end of s1, it just took his mind a while to catch up.

His first priority has always been Grace so he had to try, whether that involved raising another man's baby or not. What he didn't know is that it wouldn't have mattered because Rachel took the decision from him. I think she knew he would always put Grace first but that he would never again put Rachel first and she couldn't take it.

Now, of course, Steve being new to the complexities of human relationships, didn't understand all of that, so he absolutely was devastated by the discovery. To him it must have looked like Danny loved Rachel so much he was ready to raise another man's baby as a part of the package. It must have been like being thrust back in time to that hospital room where all his hopes were dashed.

Now the timing of him leaving for weeks of maneuvers/training seems a little too appropriate. Putting a literal distance between them. I never actually thought about the timely coincidence of him bringing Cath to that black tie event, I just thought they were using her for intelligence, but now you made me think it may have served two purposes. Having her as a buffer/feelings dampener helps. Not to mention the return to the familiar/safe/easy, no chance to get his heart broken again because there's no real love there.

And yes I've written before about how having his hopes dashed may have contributed Steve to accelerate his timetable on the whole revenge thing, because he felt like he had nothing to lose, and it's also potentially why he felt like he could just up and leave Danny with nothing but a letter because he simply didn't think Danny would care that much.

(He was wrong, of course, but the entire situation is a big clusterfuck that's definitely hard to untangle. And lol I forgot about the Valentine's day thing, Danny is so used to spending Valentine's day with Steve he forgets about his actual gfs *GG*)