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"Danny?"
Danny dropped the shirt he'd been looking at and whirled around. "Gabby?"
Just as he'd feared when he heard the voice, it was Gabby. She had a slightly uncertain smile on her face, but at least it was a smile. "It's good to see you," she said, taking half a step forward as if she was going for a hug, then pulling back. "How have you been?"
"Not bad," Danny said, leaning on the rack of shirts. "You?"
"I'm okay." She was still smiling, which was good. He hadn't seen her since he'd ended things, citing the uncertainty of his custody battle and the fact that he might be moving a couple thousand miles away. "How's Grace? Any news on the custody hearing?"
The rack he was leaning on tipped forward, and he barely managed not to fall over with it. He caught it before it hit the ground, almost a clean save, except for the shirts. She'd said to call if he ended up staying, but circumstances had changed since then. "Um, yeah, actually, the judge ruled in my favor," he said, picking up the fallen shirts to avoid looking directly at her.
"So you're staying in Hawaii, then?"
He straightened, shirts forgotten as Gabby's smile became more certain. "Yeah, Rachel and I are sharing custody."
"That's great," she said, putting her hand on his arm. "I'm so happy for you and Grace." She licked her lips, and he took a step back, running into the rack. "So now that you're staying," she said quietly, "maybe--"
"Out celebrating?" a cold voice cut her off.
Danny cursed the gods of Neiman Marcus for whatever they had against him. "Rachel," he said on a sigh. He turned his head to see his ex-wife standing on the other side of the rack, alone. "I'm shopping, not celebrating."
"Really? I thought you'd be having a party to celebrate forcing me to stay on the other side of the Pacific Ocean from my husband."
"That party was last week, after the hearing. I'd have invited you, but I thought it might be a little awkward."
He recognized that flash in her eyes from too many arguments over too many years. She glanced down, clearly saw Gabby's hand on his arm, and the flash burned brighter. "I guess I see why you wanted to stay so badly," Rachel said, hands on her hips. If she started tapping her toe he was going to start worrying he'd forgotten to take out the trash.
"I don't believe we've met," Gabby said, her voice set to sweetness overkill. "I'm Dr. Gabrielle Asano." She put her right hand out, keeping her left on Danny's arm.
Rachel stuck one hand out, barely shaking Gabby's hand before yanking her own back. "Nice to meet you."
Danny knew that clipped, tight tone. That was a tone of which nothing good could come. "I think it might be time to--"
"Daniel," Rachel said, her eyes cutting to him. "I thought Grace told me you weren't seeing her anymore."
Before he could answer, Gabby jumped in. "Danny and I weren't seeing each other because he thought someone might force him to uproot his entire life and move thousands of miles," Gabby said, just as sweetly as before. "Again."
The last word held an edge, and Danny could see Rachel take it as a challenge. "Really? It seems the only one he won't uproot himself for is me, since when I tried to get him to go back to his beloved New Jersey he couldn't tear himself away from here."
Danny raised his eyebrows. "You really want to bring that up?" he said, but Gabby talked right over him.
"Perhaps you should've taken that as a hint," Gabby said, her hand tightening on Danny's arm.
"Well, dear," Rachel said, looking down her nose at Gabby, "I did notice that he didn't have a problem leaving you even before he knew if he was going to be leaving Hawaii."
"And yet now he's staying," Gabby said, stepping even closer to Danny, "and I'm here," she added, nodding at Danny, so close beside her, "and you're over there."
Rachel's nostrils flared--really, Danny had thought that was something that only happened in books until the first time she'd been truly pissed at him. "I'm married," Rachel said coldly.
"From what I hear that doesn't stop you."
Rachel's eyes grew huge, and Danny felt an instinct to duck before objects started flying. "You...you..."
"Hey, Danno, I found you a shirt," said the most welcome voice Danny had heard in the last five minutes.
He turned to see Steve standing a couple of feet away, holding a bag, eyes warm as they met Danny's. "Uh, thanks," Danny said, wondering how to gracefully extricate himself.
Steve looked down at Gabby's hand where it lay on Danny's arm, then raised an eyebrow at Danny. Danny knew that look, and he swore if Steve actually started laughing, he would be sleeping on the couch.
Or at least be threatened with it until he made it up to Danny, preferably on his knees.
"Rachel," Steve said, doing an even more impressive job of looking down his nose at her than Rachel had ever managed at anyone. "Nice to see you. We missed you at the courthouse last week."
"My lawyer was there," she said.
"Yes, well, I'm sure your lawyer always had Grace's best interests at heart." He turned his attention to Gabby. "Hi, Gabby," he said, and Danny heard the way his voice softened. "It's nice to see you."
He sounded far more sincere, despite having found Gabby holding onto Danny, but then Gabby hadn't ever actually done anything to upset Steve, or threatened to take Danny away. And Steve might be possessive, but he certainly wasn't afraid of anyone taking Danny away now.
"You, too," Gabby said.
"We'd love to stay and chat," Steve said, magically maneuvering himself between Danny and Gabby and gently pulling Danny's arm out of Gabby's grasp. He gave her what almost looked like an apologetic smile, but he also slid his hand down to Danny's, lacing their fingers together as he tugged Danny to his side. "Unfortunately we have some paint to buy for Grace's room. Have a nice day."
He pulled Danny away, hand holding a little tighter than probably necessary, but Danny didn't mind. He glanced over his shoulder to see Rachel and Gabby both staring at them, mouths open, looking alarmingly alike, and threw them a little wave with his free hand before turning away.
"I can't leave you alone for a minute," Steve said, shaking his head in mock sadness.
"Glad you didn't leave me alone any longer," Danny replied. "I think that was about to get ugly."
"Can't blame them," Steve said, carefully not looking at Danny. "You're not an easy person to lose."
Danny frowned. "I can't decide if that was a compliment or an insult."
"Trust me," Steve said, looking at Danny now, eyes warm. "It was a compliment. I've been doing everything I can to keep you for a while now."
"Oh." Considering they'd only been together for a week, Danny started wondering just what Steve had done to keep him there in the past. Then he decided it didn't matter, as they walked out into the hot, humid air.
Why bother complaining about being stuck somewhere when there was nowhere else you'd rather be?
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