For all that Ethan is dark and twisted and awful, Danny is not.
Danny is blue, but not like Stephen was blue. Stephen was cool Prussian blue, full of secrets and hidden things. Danny is the blue of the sea, almost-but-not-quite the same changeable colour as his eyes, that can seem bluer than anything one moment but can then shift to a greenish hue. And that sea colour is vibrant, full of life and energy. Danny isn't very good at keeping his feelings under wraps; if he was, he wouldn't be Danny. Connor can watch them all spin and spiral across the sea, salmon pink and butter yellow and quicksilver grey, spring green and pale teal and pastel white. And always, there is that playful fizz of honey around the edges that shows itself in his friendly ribbing and jokes.
At first, Connor didn't think too much of Danny Quinn. But then again, he'd only ever seen him calm and steady and in a more-or-less good mood. But when Danny got mad, actually angry, then it was an entirely different kettle of onions. Then the sea would be roiling and frothing, with shades of burnt amber and scarlet and acid green sparking thought it. Danny in a mood is not nearly so pleasant. But no matter how scary he might be, Danny is still Danny and will soon enough be back to teasing Becker about his hair and Connor about his crush on Abby and trying his hand at flirting with Jenny. So close after losing Cutter, the presence of the copper was one of the things that allowed them to heal the way that they had. They had all been hurting and miserable, blanketed with the storm-grey and crimson of sorrow and pain, but Danny had been the one to bring them back out of it. He'd held them up and got them moving again, had brought the life and the colour back to them. And he had become one of them, a part of their little group.
Of everyone on the team, he thinks he might have missed Danny second-most – first-most always being Abby. And tea. Because Danny was more like Cutter than he would ever think was possible. They had never met, but Connor can still see it. They would have never gotten along. Never. They were too alike to get along, actually. That was what made it so bloody amusing. But beneath it all, he knows they still carry the same steadfast russet loyalty, the hard violet stubbornness and willfulness, the amethyst unorthodox-if-effective brilliance, same hunter green protectiveness of the team. Danny would do anything for them, and come down to it, Connor is glad that Danny Quinn is with them. When he comes back, Danny is still missing, still lost somewhere in the ages. He finds that he isn't overly worried.
Connor knows Danny wouldn't leave them behind.