"Please don't walk away from me right now."
Danny's voice hitches on the first word and it almost makes him stop.
Almost.
Striding out of the kitchen he heads for the front door, not wanting to hear what else Danny has to say. His mind doesn't let him off that easily though, replaying the scene in a continuous, vicious loop. Danny's plea. The begging. The way his partner's face had crumbled as he'd turned away, how he'd coldly dismissed him with a wave of his hand.
Climbing into his truck he slams it into drive and guns it down the driveway. The rear swings out hard as he turns onto the highway and he corrects, swearing under his breath as the drivers around him show their displeasure with their car horns.
Fuck Danny. Fuck his worrying and his nagging and the way he was always there, no matter which way he turned.
Learning to trust people again was supposed to make things easier. Dropping his personal barriers, handing his heart to his Ohana and trusting that they would treat it with love and respect: that was supposed to give him a better life than he'd had with the SEAL teams. That's what the partnership counsellor had been trying to teach him. He understood that.
So he'd tried. He'd tried so, so hard.
Watching Danny struggling to hold their partnership together as he'd felt himself slowly start to come apart though, that was a million times harder.
He doesn't realise he's crying until a drop of liquid slides down a knuckle on his left hand. Looking down he sees his fists clenched tightly around the wheel, so tight the skin on his hands is bloodless and pale. With a start he realises he doesn't know where he's going or even where he is.
Slamming on the brakes he pulls over, earning him more horns from upset drivers. He's only dimly aware though, the panic that's been bubbling up inside his chest for weeks taking over again, robbing him of his breath, making his vision dim around the edges.
It's a natural reaction to what happened to you. You survived an extremely difficult situation and it's your body's way of dealing with the stress.
That's what Danny had been telling him before he'd walked out. And he'd ignored him. Because of course he fucking knows what this is.
He's been here before. And he'd dealt with it fine on his own. What he can't deal with is how this is affecting Danny.
He can't do this to the man he calls his brother.