Rachel Gatina

"Look, I - I've got to figure out how I'm going to tell him about this, but I'm going to tell him. Sooner or later," he promises, looking over at her. "I don't want you to have to keep this secret, either."

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"I've got the reel," she says, pulling it out of her bag and handing it over. "I didn't want anyone else to find it. Do you think he'll be pissed I didn't go to him first?"

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"Honestly? I can't say for sure. I know there's no way he'll be happy about it," Steve admits, turning the reel over in his hands. There's a long beat where he just considers burning the damn thing, but he doesn't know that won't make it pop up again, possibly for Danny to find.

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"I can deal with Danny mad at me," she says with a nod. "I just hope he understands why I did it. Eventually."

She leans back with a sigh, pushing her damp hair out of her face. "I'm sorry. I know it's hard on both of you that Grace isn't here."

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"Harder on Danny," Steve replies, almost instantly. He knows that he and Grace have somehow fostered a closer connection - at least, the version of himself that's back home has - but it's nothing compared to the love Danny has for his daughter. Not even close.

"He might be mad, at first, but maybe once we tell him? Once we tell him it's all okay now? It might be hard to gauge just how far into the future this happens, but maybe, judging by the timeline - " He glances down at the reel. He's going to have to watch it now.

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"Do you want to tell him by yourself or do you want me there?" she asks, biting her nail before plowing forwards. It's not like Steve's not gonna find out. "There's something in there about Rachel having another kid? A baby. And...like maybe they didn't know who the dad was at first?"

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"Do you want to be there?" he asks, looking over at her as he sets the reel aside, down next to his boot.

"Yeah. Danny already knows about that part. We, uh, sort of found that out through another one of these reels, a couple months back." He'd had good intentions at the time, trying to show Danny that things were alright, and then the bomb had dropped right when they were least expecting it.

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"If he's mad I don't want him to think I'm hiding from him," she says, blowing out a short breath. "But seriously, Steve, if you want to do this privately, I'm fine with that. It's your call. No one knows Danny as well as you do."

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"I don't want that either, Rach, or for him to think that we in any way deliberately tried to hide this," he replies, scrubbing a hand over his jaw.

"Maybe I can figure out a way to approach him about it."

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"You'll need to watch it first, and do it pretty quickly," she advises, resting a hand on her belly. All the excitement has the kid stirred up.

"I can't lie for shit to Danny and he'll know something's up if he talks to me. I think you should go watch it, and then let me what you're gonna do."

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"Okay," Steve agrees, glancing from her face to her belly, his jaw tensing visibly. The last thing he'd wanted was for her to get dragged into all of this.

"I'd ask if you wanted to come with me, but I think you might've had enough excitement for one day," he points out, nodding towards her hand.

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Rachel offers up a small smile, patting her stomach once before sitting up. "I'm fine," she assures him. "But I think you'll want some privacy." She knows Steve is a lot like Raylan in many regards, including their distaste for other people watching them get emotional. "I'm so glad he has you here, Steve. Really glad."

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"Hey, that makes two of us where you're concerned, alright?" Steve asks, reaching out to take both of her hands in his own, giving them a small squeeze.

"Thank you. For bringing this to me. For caring enough about him to want to protect him from this."

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Danny's starting to wonder where the hell Steve wandered off to. He rubs his fingers through his shorn hair, checking all the usual places, but he doesn't find him until he gets to the rec room. "Hey! There you are, what the hell are you doing, why aren't you home, I made dinner for us," he says, jutting a thumb over his shoulder.

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Rachel's been sort of hanging around the compound like a creeper for a while now. She was pretty sure Steve was going straight to watch the reel and is across the way in the kitchen, fiddling with a half cup of coffee and waiting for...something.

She knows this isn't her fault, but she can't help but feel shitty about the whole thing. Poor Danny.

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Steve's sitting on the couch in front of the screen as the reel comes to a close, leaning forward to prop his elbows on his knees before he runs his hands over his face. When Danny enters all of a sudden, he quickly rises to his feet, turning around to block the screen from view, one hand notching at his hip as the other scratches at the back of his neck.

"Yeah, sorry, sort of lost track of time," he admits, barely meeting Danny's gaze before glancing away.

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Danny juts a finger in Rachel's direction, staring at Steve warily as he steps forward, pressing a kiss to Steve's lips briefly before easing away. "...okay, what'd you do?" he demands. "You've got guilty-Steve face on and that's never a good thing."

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"Me? Nothing," Steve replies, and even as he says the words he knows they're too quick to be anything remotely convincing, reaching down to lightly grasp Danny's wrist and give it a small squeeze. "Let's go have dinner."

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Danny gives Steve a confused look, but shrugs, dismissing it as just him being Steve and not being in the right place at the right time. "What got you so held up, huh? You watching SEAL documentaries or something?" he jokes. "Can't escape the life that easily?"

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"Yeah, well." Steve chuckles, but it's a hollow sound, and he spots Rachel in the background over Danny's shoulder and presses his lips together firmly. He can't hide this. He shouldn't have even fooled himself into thinking he could.

"It was another reel," he finally says, dropping his hand to his side. "From home."

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Rachel carefully sets down her coffee and stands up, taking a deep breath. She can't let all this fall on Steve.

"I found it," she says, crossing the room to stand next to Steve. "I wanted Steve to watch it first, so he could talk to you about it."

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Danny's brows furrow as he looks from Steve to Rachel, confused as to why they're acting like this. He's got a sick feeling starting to build in his stomach, because..."The last time you found a reel, you were so excited, you couldn't wait to drag me away to watch it," Danny accuses Steve quietly, his chin tucked to his chest. "But you don't look happy this time."

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"Danny, I just want to preface this by saying that everything's fine, alright?" Steve murmurs, his voice low and even, trying to keep the situation from escalating before it even starts.

"Look, just - what do you remember about a guy named Rick Peterson?"

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Rachel bites her lip and keep silent, eyes darting back and forth between them, so fucking glad Steve's taking the lead on this. And that Danny doesn't seem pissed at her, yet.

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