It's starting to work on him; there's a spot ahead in the middle distance somewhere that he's focusing on, and he's driving with a little more deliberation, and she gets it. This loyalty Steve's got for the people on his team, his people, who he'd go to bat for again and again, whenever's necessary, whatever's needed. And Five-0, the people on it, they're hand-picked. Tighter than tight. Backing each other up on everything, aside from being there at the other door at work.

And Danny's Steve's partner. The first one picked up for Five-0, and the fact that it was more than half by accident doesn't make a difference. The two of them bicker and argue like an old married couple, but Danny's always got Steve in his sights and Steve's always got Danny in his, and half the time at that fundraiser it looked like whatever words they were using to prod at each other weren't even the ones that were the real conversation.

It made her laugh, at the time. It was good to see Steve like that, if faintly surprising.

So the idea of anyone going after Danny, even an ex-wife, is bound to hit hard, to rub the wrong way against that loyalty and the thick streak of determination that turns the impossible into 'probable, if you know what you're doing.'

Steve's team got thrown to the sharks this week, didn't it.

"Then I'm sure he's grateful to have her this weekend. Maybe it'll be a push in the right direction."

Or maybe not. She doesn't know, but she knows Steve would be miserable if some outside force he couldn't attack managed to take one of his people away. No criminal to hunt down, no revenge to exact or mission to rescue -- courts are insidious and tough to work around.

It really is a mess, everywhere, here.