Author's Note: Warning, incoming rant that may possibly be worthy of Danny Williams:

Like many fans, I had major issues with 9.11. An episode that was supposed to focus on Steve getting vengeance for Joe's murder turned into an episode about Steve, Catherine, and Greer, and how their relationships intersected throughout the years. That's a fine episode to have, just not in an episode that was billed and promoted as being the episode where Steve goes after Joe's killers. However, if I'm being honest, I likely would've rolled my eyes at an episode focused on Steve, Cath, and Greer if only because I, as are many fans, am beyond exhausted with the Steve/Catherine saga of this show. It really is time to let that ship die and allow Steve and Catherine to move forward in their relationship as friends and comrades; nothing more. Seriously: How many times does AOL have to say that as far as he's concerned, Steve and Cath are done?

I really did not like that Danny was left completely in the dark about what was going to go down in Laos. I do believe that Steve specifically and purposely kept Danny out of the mission because he didn't want Danny involved and didn't want to risk losing him, but the fact that Junior was called in and Danny still knew nothing about it really, really bothered me. Once again, we had such an important episode, a pivotal mark for the season and for Steve, and Scott Caan was relegated to a guest role status to make room for Michelle Borth, who was the actual guest star in that episode, along with two others. Not only that, the writers substituted conversations that Danny should have had with Steve, for Catherine.

And then, of course, the 'under cover married' scene. There was no reason for it – it's not like the casino had a 'married couples only' policy. It was purely to throw a bone to McRoll fans, many of whom only tune in during Borth's once a season episode, and then (after some are done trolling and antagonizing the actual fans of the entire show) leave until the next time Borth guest stars. That aggravated me so much because those who are on the McDanno side of things, who watch every single episode from start to finish, who keep this show going, are waiting for even the barest acknowledgement that there could be something more with Steve and Danny to be explored. It's not like Scott Caan hasn't floated the idea himself. It has been acknowledged by both AOL and Caan that the McDanno relationship is like the main character of the show, so it boggles my mind why the writers thought that throwing in a 'let's have Steve and Cath go undercover married w/o coming up with a legitimate reason' was a good idea. It was actually insulting to me as a viewer, a writer, and a character creator to so blatantly toss that out there with no reason other than 'let's give the McRoll shippers something to watch'.

I take no joy in flaming that episode. I was so looking forward to it. I love the show, I love the cast, I love the crew, Scott Caan is my favorite actor, and to their credit, the writers and producers have put together some absolutely stellar stores this season, but this episode left so much to be desired, and there were so many opportunities that were missed, and, quite frankly, lines and discussions that should have gone to Scott/Danny that were given to Michelle/Catherine, that this episode will go down as one of the worst of Season 9 in my book. When 700K viewers choose to not even tune in for the first episode after hiatus when all other return from hiatus episodes received a huge rating bump in previous years, and the only difference is that Michelle Borth is guest starring which means more Steve/Cath saga drama? That should be a huge red flag to the writers/producers of this show that the fan base has had enough of romantic McRoll.

Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-O, as well as the characters found within the series, are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions.

Hawaii Five-0

Danny felt sick as Catherine closed the old and rickety wooden door, shutting him off from seeing what was happening behind it, shutting him off from the man bloodied and tied to the chair.

Shutting him off from Steve.

Catherine offered him a look of understanding, like she knew exactly what was going through his mind at that very moment. Her voice was quiet when she asked, "Do you remember Steve ever mentioning a man by the name of Mangosta?"

Danny tilted his head, searching his thoughts while trying to wash away the image he'd just seen. "A guy that was after Doris a while ago, right?" He saw her nod, watched her move towards the picnic table on the porch, and that was when the first screams of agony came from behind the door. Danny moved forward. Catherine stepped in front of him, between him and where he needed to be, between him and Steve. "Don't," she cautioned. "He won't listen, not when he's like this. You know that." She pursed her lips, placed what Danny supposed she thought was a comforting hand on his forearm. "Come walk with me." And she stepped off the porch and into the grass, heading away from the cabin, away from the screams.

Away from Steve.

Danny took a shuddering breath and rubbed the back of his neck before turning and doing the same, following the woman past the water basin towards his rented car. Catherine stopped and turned around, hands in the pockets of her jacket as she waited for Danny to catch up. "Years ago, shortly after Steve brought Doris back to the island, she disappeared again. You remember?"

Danny did remember. His mind took him back to a private hangar on an airstrip, the sun setting large and bright in the sky as he drove up to park right in front of Steve, hopped out to share the surprising news that when she'd had the chance to kill Wo Fat, Doris hadn't. In fact, she'd put three rounds from the gun Catherine had given her right in the floor. And that news started a chain of events that had led Steve McGarrett down a path that could only be described as hell.

Danny realized Catherine was still waiting for an answer, so he gave a mute nod. "After she disappeared, Steve asked me to help find her, and I did. Actually, she popped in on us one morning, making breakfast. Everything was going well until I found out that one of Doris's old marks was also on the island, hunting her."

"Mangosta," Danny nodded along. "This is the time you didn't tell Steve that a crazy man was trying to kill his mother, right?" He didn't mean to, he really didn't, but maybe he did, just a little bit. Maybe Danny did mean to drive that point home again. This was the first time he'd seen Catherine in almost three years, and the last time they'd been together, she'd assured him she was staying in Hawaii. She wanted nothing more, she'd said, than to stay on Oahu with Steve, making little kick ass SEAL babies. He clenched his jaw and looked away. She did the same. "Yea," she finally breathed out, letting the jab go. "Steve wanted me to look after her one day and when Agent Channing and I got back to the house, Doris was gone, and I knew she'd gone looking for Mangosta. When I found her in a warehouse, she had Mangosta tied to a chair, and she was torturing him with cables."

Just like Steve is now was the unfinished part of that little tale, Danny knew. "So, when you found her, what did you do?"

"I told her to stop, told her she'd kill him if she kept it up," Catherine shifted against the hood of the car, looking over Danny's shoulder at the house behind him.

"And you're not telling Steve to do the same because?" Danny took a step forward, hands in his pockets, mirroring the woman in front of him. "You brought Thomsen here, you knew he was going to lose his shit-"

"I didn't know he'd do this," Catherine swallowed. "I didn't, Danny. That's the truth. I knew Steve would interrogate him, that he'd probably beat the hell out of him, but I didn't see this coming, not… not the cold numbness of it, of what he's doing."

"Then why didn't you stop him?!" Danny's calm demeanor finally broke, his voice carrying across the lush Montana meadow. "Jesus, Cath! Do you know how long it took for Steve to actually become half way normal? To work through his emotions even just a little bit, to ask for help in situations like this?! To not go to that dark place that lets him do this kind of stuff but doesn't let him live with it afterwards?! And by the way, why wasn't I called? Why didn't he call me? He's been up here for a month, you've been up here for how long?"

"A few days."

"A few days, and not once did either of you think to call me?" Danny flung his arms out, frustrated. "Did you not think I'd get on a plane as soon as I could?"

"I did, actually," Catherine pursed her lips. "I asked Steve where you were and he just said he didn't want you here for this, that he didn't want you involved."

Danny gaped at her like a fish.

"Think about it, Danny," Cath looked at him, still calm, cool, and collected. "You're the most important person in his life. You have children. He cares so much about Grace and Charlie." She took a breath. "And you'd try stop him from doing this. He knows that, knows that you'd appeal to his 'better angels', and you know him when he gets like this. He has one active mission right now, and that is to find the people that ordered Joe's murder, his team's murder."

Logically, Danny understood that. He got what Catherine was saying. But…

"At what cost, Cath?" He looked at her miserably. "He'll never forget this. Weeks, months from now, when this is all over and he goes to sleep at night, he's going to wake up hearing those screams he's creating right now!"

"And you'll be there." Catherine said it as if it were gospel truth. Danny looked at her, at a loss for words as a loud and piercing stomach-churning scream echoed behind him. Less than a minute later, a tall, bearded figure emerged from the cabin carrying a bucket, and Danny immediately started for Steve, meeting him at the water basin.

"You have to stop."

Steve didn't acknowledge him, merely filled the bucket with water again and turned to head back inside, to continue his questioning of Thomsen.

"Steve, listen to me – please, please listen to me, okay? If you never listen to me about anything else ever again, just listen to me this one time, please!"

That seemed to get the man's attention. He paused, waiting. Danny took advantage of that to move in front of his partner, hands up.

"You have to stop, babe." Danny was practically begging. He knew it. He didn't care. "I know this guy knows things that you want to know. I know that you want to get the people who killed Joe, killed your friends, I understand, believe me, I get it. You know that I do. But if you keep this up, Steve, if you keep doing this, you are going to lose a part of yourself that you cannot get back. Trust me. I speak from experience on this."

For a second, fleeting as it was, Danny saw his Steve in the gaze reflected back at him, saw the hurt and unbearable pain his partner was feeling – from Joe's death, from those of his friends, from what he was doing to the man yards away bloodied and broken and stinking of charred skin.

Then, just as quickly as it was there, it was gone, leaving Danny looking at a man hell bent on revenge without a care in the world for the consequences. Helpless, Danny watched Steve walk away from him, back towards the cabin, and close the door behind him. He didn't notice Catherine walking up from behind until she was standing right next to him.

"I know this is killing you, but you have to let him do this. He won't stop, not until it's over. The only way that happens is if he gets the information he needs."

Danny hated the logic in her voice, absolutely despised the cool reason and sense emanating from her body, her lips.

But he stayed where he was.

Hawaii Five-0

"I left because I had to."

Danny blinked and looked away from the scenery of the mountains in front of him. Catherine had taken him to wear Steve had buried Joe to pay his final respects. "What?"

"Come on, I know you've been dying to ask me since the second you saw me here." Cath offered him a small smile. "When I was in Afghanistan, the CIA found out I was there. They recruited me. They knew my history with Naval Intelligence, and my run in with Agent Channing from WIT/SEC made it's way up the ladder." She stretched her arms out a little before crossing them over her chest. "As pissed as he was with me once he'd found out what I'd done, stealing his password to hack into the system to find Doris, apparently he'd given me a pretty good reference."

"Uh-huh." Danny didn't care.

"When I came back to Hawaii for Kono's wedding, I thought I'd have more time with Steve, more time to tell him, but I…" she cleared her throat. "And then the call came for a mission and my cover was aid work in Nepal, and that's what I was told to tell everyone."

"Okay." Danny leveled a half glare at her. "That doesn't explain why you lied to me."

"I didn't lie."

"You did."

"I didn't-"

"Yes, Cath, you did. You did." Danny turned fully towards her. "When I asked you to stick around, to stay for him, you told me there was nothing you wanted more, okay? Your exact words. But you did want something more, you needed something more and I don't understand why you need a job more than you needed the guy you'd been seeing for years, but you did. And he was destroyed Cath, okay?" He was glad to see some shred of shame in the woman's face as he looked her over. "But the way you did it? Telling him you were going on a humanitarian mission when you'd really joined the CIA as a covert field agent – the kind of job his mother had before his life went to shit, that made her fake her death for 20 years, that was the reason for his father's murder and for him and Mary being sent away when they were kids? Cath…" Danny was at a loss. He was looking at a woman that he had, at one point in time, considered a close friend, who he'd entrusted his daughter to on occasion, who he was looking forward to seeing marry his best friend because that was what Steve had wanted at the time.

"I know," Cath breathed, contrite. "I know. Believe me, I know what I did. I was wrong. And I know I'm lucky to even have him in my life still. I should have told him."

"Yea, you should've." Danny looked back towards the mountain. "I told you, Cath, I told you how wrecked he was the first time, when you stayed in Afghanistan, how much that hurt him. I just… how could you do that to him?"

Catherine didn't have an answer, and Danny likely wouldn't accept any that she gave. Except…

"I don't think we would've ever worked in the end," Catherine gave him a side long glance. "I was flailing after I left the Navy, Danny. I missed the work, the comradery, the intelligence gathering. And I was given a chance to do all of that again and more when the CIA offered me a job; a job, as it turns out that I really love, and that I'm very good at. And if Steve would've asked me to marry him, I would have said yes. And if the CIA had still recruited me, I'd have said yes to that too. And where would that have left us?"

"At least he'd have known, at least you two would've had the chance to talk about it!"

"You said it yourself, Danny. Steve has no love lost for the CIA, not after all the run in's he's had with them, his mother's connection to the Agency notwithstanding." He heard her take a breath and looked over at her once more, seeing true remorse and regret written on her face. "I've never been the wife and mother type, you know? I mean, the idea sounds nice; get married, have children, have a family. I think it's something I thought I wanted at one point, but I never wanted to leave the Navy, and then when I did, I just… didn't feel as fulfilled as I had when I was serving. Taking the job with Billy's company was good, but we all know how that ended." She cleared her throat. "I told Steve when I left the last time that I needed to be needed. I needed to be a part of something larger than myself. And he got that. He understood that. He needs the same thing."

Danny quietly took in everything she said. "Do you know how he found out?" He asked. Catherine shook her head. "A guy stole a flash drive that had classified national security information downloaded onto it by an employee of a contracted security firm. The firm had ties to NSA, other agencies. So, out of an abundance of caution –"

"They recalled all their field agents," Cath looked at him, as if she suddenly realized. "That was… God, that wasn't long after I went under. I was in the Ukraine."

"Yea, we know." Danny scratched at his neck. "They couldn't locate you and they came to Steve asking if he knew where you were. And of course, he had to tell them 'no' while trying to understand why you kept it from him in the first place." His hand fell to his side and he shoved both into his pockets before walking away, back towards the cabin. In the distance, he saw Steve walking towards the water basin, bucket in hand, shoulders as stiff and tense as they were when Danny had arrived.

Hawaii Five-0

The screaming had died down about 15 minutes ago. As Danny and Catherine sat on the picnic table, the only thing they could hear occasionally was Steve's voice, asking the same questions over and over and over again, and the pained moans and choked sounds of his prey. Danny had zoned out again, closing his eyes as he came up with an ops plan on how to get Steve back to his normal levels of crazy after this entire ordeal, how to pull him back from the ledge that Danny had spent the first few years of their relationship identifying and fortifying so that Steve would never get close to it again. Unfortunately, Danny had never been able to see this possibility, that Joe would be slaughtered so brutally, under Steve's watch, right before his eyes.

In hindsight, Danny thought, perhaps he should have prepared for that too.

"Danny?"

"Hm."

"Mind if I ask you a question?"

Danny didn't have an opinion on it one way or the other. He gave a non-committal shrug.

"I know you love Steve, that you guys have been close almost since the moment you met-"

"We drew down on each other, I wanted to be the reason a bus was called for him, and he got me shot and I punched him in the jaw, all in the first 24 hours we knew each other, but sure, you can call that 'being close' if you want."

She laughed. Danny found the corner of his mouth tugging upward ever so slightly at the sound. He was still pissed; there really was nothing she'd ever be able to say to him to excuse what she'd done, but he had to admit Catherine laughing was miles better than the other noises that surrounded them currently.

"When Steve and I were dating, I'd always have a chuckle at your 'bromance' with each other," she continued quietly, fingers of either hand playing together. "I always wondered how the two of you, being so different, could be so attached at the hip, but the more and more I saw you both, hung out with both of you, I began to see it."

"Yea, well, he has a way of growing on you, you know?"

"I do," she smiled up at him from her perch on the table bench. Danny, rebel that he was, preferred the table top to sit. "And I'll admit, there were times when I wondered if maybe there was something else other than a close friendship. Sometimes the way he would talk about you to me, how he would talk about Grace, like he wished you and she were there all the time with him…I was almost jealous, even though I never said anything of course. That would've been silly."

Danny shifted slightly, ass numb from the hard wood, the chill in the air. "You had a question?"

"I get the feeling it wouldn't be so out of the realm of possibilities now if I asked if there was something more going on than friendship."

Danny sat up a little more and stuck his hands back in his pockets. "That a statement or a question?"

"A question."

He looked down at her. "Why do you ask?"

"You've always been protective of him, but you're so angry for him." Her eyes studied him quietly. "Steve rarely loses his temper. You lose it all the time, no offense." Danny chuckled. True. "All the things you've said to me today are things I'm sure Steve asked you at one point, or several points. He's always tried to understand, though. Getting angry, showing fury, that's never been who he is, not with people he considers family. You do that for him, did do that for him today."

"Just looking out for my boy, Catherine."

"Yea," she bit her lip, "I don't think that's all it is anymore. It was three years ago when we talked before I left, but now it's something else."

Danny shook his head and slid off the table. "You're imagining things."

"You're angry for him. You're hurt for him. I saw your face when you got a look inside at Thomsen, when you realized what Steve's been doing here, when you realized exactly what he's capable of. You were crushed, Danny." Catherine watched him pace slowly back and forth like a caged tiger. "Steve can't hate anyone he considers ohana, not even his mother, not even me – you do that for him so that he doesn't have to."

"I don't hate you, Cath," Danny cut in, looking at her sharply.

"But you did for a while because of what I did, how I did it. Because it hurt Steve so much and you had to see that, deal with it, be there while he worked through it." She shrugged a shoulder. "I get it."

Danny didn't think there was ever anyway Catherine could truly 'get it' unless she'd been in his shoes, but he swallowed that comment in favor of remaining quiet.

"Do you know the real reason I think Steve didn't call you here?"

"I thought we'd been over that already," Danny looked at her, exasperated.

"Surface reasons, not the one true one."

"Is this reason one that he gave you himself or one that you're pulling out of thin air?"

"More like one I've managed to figure out on my own. Call it woman's intuition." Her eyes followed Danny back and forth until he stopped and turned, hands on his hips, huffy and impatient just as she remembered. She smiled. "Like I said, you're the most important person to him. When he gets the information he needs to find Hassan, we're going after him. That's going to be a very dangerous, very illegal mission, Danny. You, Grace, Charlie, the three of you are his family. He'd do anything to keep all of you safe, including leaving you out of this. The way he talks about you? You're his life, Danny. If you think he's bad now after losing Joe, imagine how insane he'd go if something happened to you because you were helping him with this?"

"What are you saying to me, huh? What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that what started as a love/hate relationship and then turned into a friendship has turned into something much, much more. You two are stupid in love with each other, and you don't even know it."

Danny found himself doing his best impression of a fish. "Okay. I know you've been gone for a while, but-"

"He didn't call me because he wanted me here more than he wanted you, Danny." Catherine stood up. "He called me because he knew I could get him Thomsen, and when it comes down to it, if he has to make the choice, he'd rather risk losing me than losing you, or having to tell your kids that their father didn't make it home because he was helping their Uncle Steve with a personal mission."

"I usually find myself saying this to him, but you are 100 percent out of your mind," Danny pointed at her. Catherine merely lifted an eyebrow. "No, no. No, do not give me that little witchy, all knowing look." It was ludicrous, patently absurd what Cath was suggesting. "I am a very happy, very straight alpha male. Steve is a very hap – well not so much right now, but usually a very happy, very straight alpha male. We have both dated women our entire lives and if either one of us had the slightest inclination to play on the same team, that would be something we'd definitely know about each other. That's not something he'd keep from me or I'd keep from him."

"All true," Catherine nodded. "Unless you both were in denial and didn't know it."

"Your ex-boyfriend, the guy who was going to ask you to marry him, and my best friend is a couple of feet away playing positive charge meet negative charge with what is likely by now, if the decreased screaming is any indication, a dead suspect in the murder of his surrogate father, and you want to talk about me and Steve playing the dating game with each other?!" Danny looked like a rather indignant peacock, all ruffled feathers and outraged expression.

"You'd be surprised what agency members talk about to kill time in the field."

"I'm sure I would be," Danny sighed, slumping back against the picnic table.

"He stayed with you when you were in danger of being caught in an explosion while the bomb was disarmed," Cath held up a finger, "you stayed in Hawaii to clear his name when you had the chance to get your ex-wife back; Steve moved heaven and earth the day Grace was kidnapped by your ex-partner; you flew to Afghanistan of all places with a SEAL strike team to get him back when he was taken by the Taliban; Steve put his own life at risk when he helped you with Marco Reyes – yes, I know about that," she nodded at Danny's shocked expression. "The CIA is just like any other agency on the inside, we all love a good bit of gossip. Let me tell you, that story got several agents through what would have otherwise been very mundane, boring missions." She sidled over to stand in front of him and placed a light hand on his shoulder. "You guys cuddled together on the couch one Halloween for God's sake!" Danny laughed. She did too. It felt good, both of them laughing together for a little bit under the circumstances.

"When I came back last year to get Steve's help, he told me about the team catching that virus, how you all had to go into quarantine. The look on his face when he was telling me that you'd been saved only to get shot by some crazed guy with a misplaced vendetta – Danny, it was like he was contemplating what facing his biggest fear would be like; his biggest fear, by the way, is losing you. Whether that means you dying or you leaving Hawaii, him just not being able to be near you anymore, touch you, talk to you face to face, see you every day… that's his own personal hell." She stood straight again. "It's no different for you. He told me about the restaurant too." She snickered. "I mean, in what world could you ever see Steve willingly wanting to own and manage a restaurant, have a normal life?"

"We're not doing that anymore," Danny grumbled.

"Oh no?"

"Yea, he – long story short, he had this crazy dream after meeting his grandfather's best friend and solved a case in his sleep that his grandfather had been working on before Pearl Harbor and that's what made him realize he didn't want to really be in the restaurant business anymore" Danny shook his head; he still couldn't believe Steve had solved a 70 year old case while he snoozed away. Typical. "My realization was merely based in self-preservation and not wanting to die from a stroke or a heart attack trying to run that place."

"So, really what you're saying is that when Steve gave you an out, you took it and ran with it rather than stick it out because you didn't want to manage or own that place without him."

"I… yes, that's partially it, I mean – Cath, have you ever tried to get a restaurant up and running? Believe me, you'll yearn for bullets flying past your head and interrogating low lives, anything that will keep you away from electrical contractors and dry wall construction and paint and type face choosing, oh, and the thousands of dollars you sink into the damn thing!"

"And when Steve didn't want to do that anymore, you didn't want to either." Cath shrugged, leaning comfortably against a post column. "What made you want to run a restaurant anyway?"

Danny sighed. Loudly. 20 Questions was getting boring, and he could feel himself getting twitchy, though for the life of him, he didn't know why. "I was thinking about retiring and was looking to do something after Five-0 and Steve…" Danny blinked. "Steve, uh… he wanted me to name the restaurant after him, and…"

"Argy-bargy?" Steve, having never been married to a British National before, had no idea what that term meant. Danny, however, had heard the term a fair amount during his marriage to Rachel.

"You know, an argument, the constant bickering you two engage in," Harry clarified. "Don't get me wrong, it clearly comes from a place of love, that's why you're going into the restaurant trade together," Harry looked between Danny and Steve. "You can't bear to be apart, right?"

Danny heard his name being called and looked up, seeing Catherine still looking at him, a soft expression on her face. "Yea," was the only answer she was given. She seemed to have realized that something clicked in Danny's brain. Instead of pushing him further, Cath merely reclaimed her seat on the bench while he did the same on top of the table. It wasn't long before the door opened again and Steve emerged, carrying a pail and a towel. Danny watched him closely, saw the single-minded focus on his partner's features. Everything – his mind, his sight, his body, his hands – everything was working in consort towards one goal right now.

Danny just hoped Steve didn't get lost in it.

"You uh, you done?" Danny watched Steve dip his hands into the water bucket, washing the blood from them. "With that? Because taking in this fresh mountain air is a little difficult with the screaming and the crying."

Steve just looked at him and went on about his business. "Hassan's in Vientiane, in Laos."

"That's good, so you just tell somebody at the CIA, they do what they gotta do, and problem solved right?" Danny looked up at him, hoping, pleading that it could end here, but no such luck. And deep down, he knew that and Catherine just giving a barely there shake of her head confirmed it. "What, were you just gonna go to Laos? We, we're gonna go to Laos, you want me to go to Laos? Is that what this is?" And damn right he was throwing himself into this. Steve didn't have a choice, not in this. The man had kept Danny at arm's length for far too long and the results of that were not good, to say the least. Steve was washing off all the evidence of that in the bucket.

"Uh, we are going to Laos," Catherine stated, looking up at him. And wonderful, chalk that up to one more thing she hadn't bothered to mention while they'd been ambling about nature's waiting room.

"It's ten thousand miles away, and I assume your guy has like, a real security team, like a good one?" Danny was happy to paint a dire picture of obstacles if it would get Steve to stand down. Unlikely that he would, but Danny had to try. "There's three of us, and I don't even have a passport, so I can't go."

"Oh, we're not flying commercial," Catherine ever so helpfully pointed out. Danny glanced down at her, realizing just how busy they'd been while they'd been here, and he'd been in Hawaii. If he needed anymore confirmation, Steve's assurance that there would be more than just the three of them involved in this little excursion sealed the deal. God, it hurt. He understood the reasons as Catherine had told him, but it hadn't stopped Steve from depending on him before. Would Danny have ever found out before now? Would he have ever received even so much as a phone call letting him know what was going down?

No, his mind supplied, you wouldn't have.