I watched (July 2nd) Friday's and (July 5th) Monday's show numerous times. I love to watch and rewatch and I noticed all the same things you did. And we have had our disappointments for sure, but I think we almost had to get Michelle's character on the same wavelength with Danny's spiritually before we finally move on to the real passion of their new union.

Everyone agrees that they have had great chemistry from the start, and that there almost attempts at lovemaking have been verrrryyyy hhhooott!!! I agree totally! It seems that all these earlier encounters have had some type of quiet desperation born out of either uncertainty on Manny's part, pain of loss and longing for that which has been missing from both their lives (one who unconditionally loves the other). I believe that the push/pull of this attraction has been driving them forward to what I think was this final meeting of the souls in the July 5th show.

I believe, like most of you that Danny has always known intuitively that Michelle is his soul mate. He is emphatic in his statements pertaining to his love for Michelle. Even in earlier scenes we have seen his angst when confronted with the truth of their situation (like in "Millennium" when Michelle is with Jesse, they leave and he gives us the viewer that devastating "I do love you" ... which by the way broke my heart.) On many levels he has persistently reached out in attempts to connect with her soul. We only have to look at some of his statements to see this.

The most telling one to me is the "I saw your soul" comment in the shower scenes. WOW! If that wasn't putting it out there in plain view then I don't know what else would have. He's connected! We also had, in the "Millennium" drunk Michelle scenes, the "I know you" in response to Michelle's "you never knew me." Bingo again! Also, in the shower scenes, that small moment when Michelle is egging Danny on about sex and he say's "it wouldn't just be sex." He didn't want to have sex for sex itself. He was trying to connect with her on a much higher level. Then, in the company scenes before the attempted renewal of vows he tells Michelle, "I want to stand before God and say that I will always love you," and he also mentions "I will love you for forever."

Now, that seems a bit hard to digest for most people because what is forever? For some it's until the next best thing comes along. But, not for Danny. He's been sent on a true journey to find his soul mate, and it's Michelle. So, forever to him is for all time, without ever coming to an end. That leads me to Monday and his comment in the afterglow of love when in response to Michelle he says "I know I've always loved you." He's always known that this pull, this attraction was mystical. She has not, but she certainly finally understood and accepted it in this episode.

We know that Michelle has not been so trusting of this attraction. Hey, at first he was going to kill her. But, even from the beginning the viewer was drawn to these two because even we saw this instinctual pull towards each other. So many times she has denied him access to her inner light with statements like "I could never love you," or "I will never love you." Even as cutting as these remarks are there is a plea in them that seems to cry, 'I am not worthy of your love,' or 'I can never give that much love' or 'I will lose my soul.'

She's afraid of losing her soul, and he only wants to connect with it. If we look at Michelle's background we have such great loss (her mother Claire, her real mother Maureen, her father, etc. ...). With each of those losses came the breaking of her soul, with little bits here and there falling away. No wonder that she became so guarded. Even with Jesse it was more about him having her mother's heart than anything else. For her to give in to the type of love that Danny has so achingly wanted was in her mind to have more of her soul taken away.

But, over time even though she has been very hesitant in her acceptance of Danny's love something wonderful has been happening. From the very powerful scenes at the lighthouse after Danny's confession of the Drew debacle we visibly see the depth of her pain, even if she may not have truly understood where it came from. Then we move to "Millennium" where we have the "you never knew me" scene, on to the shower scene and it's aftermath. I think it's here that her soul got a real jolt in that this man would change his whole existence for her!

Who else in her life has really ever done it to this extent before. It is here that their souls begin to come together. Before their attempted vow renewals we see a transformed Michelle. One who has hope again for a nurturing love. And in Danny she sees that nurture. Then the bomb blows everyone else's lives apart except hers and Danny's. She knows she is where she belongs ... with this man who completes her.

How does this tie into Friday and Monday's show? They, I believe are the culmination of Michelle's "Aha" moment. During their vows Michelle say's "Danny you know I wasn't looking for love when I met you, but by the grace of God it found me." This was a huge defining moment. She realized that she had finally connected with Danny's soul. Our souls are the sum total of all the goodness and light that we contain, and she has been transformed by her knowledge that that which she has fought so hard to hold onto (a sense of self) has just been given back to her by a man who has always known her soul.

Michelle still has to accept a lot of these new revelations in her heart and soul. She is not as emphatic as Danny yet in her declarations, but she is getting stronger in her belief of their destiny. She tells him "I feel like I've always loved you, and "don't you feel that there is a plan for us?" She also wants to live in the moment, not thinking of the past or the future. Her soul is becoming nurtured and illuminated.

This is why I don't think we had the huge fireworks we wanted on Monday. I feel the writers (and I may be giving way too much credit here) wanted us to come full circle with the coming together of these two souls, his true knowledge and her final understanding and acceptance of their souls becoming one. Danny is proceeding very tenderly with Michelle. Of course we've been drawn into his fabulous "I am in control" lovemaking, but that wasn't what Monday was about. It was about finally fitting the pieces of her "dream," her need to feel wholly nourished. Danny has been nourishing her soul in these scenes on Friday and Monday, and I, for one, feel really good about that.

Tah