And then it hit me. I mentioned a while back that I thought part one of this story could have ended at Millennium the night Michelle walked out the door with Jesse and a drunk Danny whispered "I do love you." It would have been a good way to end the story of a junior mobster who was a temporary obstacle to the Michelle/Jesse storyline -- someone who wants her, but, in the end -- when he recognizes that she is not in love with him -- lets her go.

Well, we know that might have been a storyline once upon a time, but it turned out not to be this storyline. However, in a way, it was -- for Danny -- the end of his story with Michelle, Part I.

Part II may have been the agony of letting her go -- his emotional breakdown, as Mamie so wisely put it. It almost killed him, or should I say, he was willing to let it kill him. He lost control, put everything and everyone around him in jeopardy -- but giving up Michelle was what he thought he had to do. And then she changed her mind. No annulment, let's work on it, she pleaded. But Danny is made of stronger stuff -- once he decided he had to let Michelle go, he was willing to suffer the consequences. Even when she appeared before him in that nightgown at the Lighthouse ... even when she tore up the annulment papers at Millennium.

I think Danny put up those walls around his heart and it was driving him nuts. But the offer to get away -- to start a new life probably seemed to him an answer to his emotional turmoil. And, to me, that's what the scene was all about. A Danny at peace with the decision he had made. Thrown off-guard by seeing Michelle again, but this time, it didn't throw him into a tailspin emotionally. The pain is still there, but the agony appeared over. The flashback showed he still cares and wishes it could have been different, but the fact that he wouldn't even hug her goodbye showed that he had accepted never seeing her again.

So, to me, this was The End, Part II. This relationship was over for both of them. They were willing -- albeit reluctantly -- to move on. They said goodbye without any outward passion (think the Bauer Kitchen Goodbye) -- just a bittersweet wish that it could have been different. So maybe, just maybe, the angst in their feelings towards each other is finally out of their relationship ... and now that Danny's agony is over, we can start Part III, please.

Liz M