A/N. I have read many people question why they would introduce a new character so perfect for Danny and then take her away in the same episode. My answer is simple - because Scott Caan is so exceptional at his craft that they like to give him some really unique material to work with sometimes. They knew that he could "knock this one out of the park" (to use a baseball analogy that Danny Williams would love.)

I have also read many questioning the final scene. While it wasn't the way I would have written it, I did like the contrast of traumatized Danny walking down the street alone as a counterpoint to the beginning of the episode where traumatized Eddie was running across a busy highway with a loving Steve in close pursuit.

This is very short but it's the way the muse presented it to me. I wrote it Sunday and it's been sitting on my pc as life kept me away. I figured I should post it before the next episode, so here goes. All mistakes are mine.

H50 H50 H50

This morning, Danny was grieving the loss of what he had finally admitted was the complete and utter end to his marriage with Rachel, the woman he had vowed to love, honor and cherish all the days of his life.

A few hours ago, Danny was dreaming of a happy life with the woman of his dreams, the woman he knew was truly "the one."

Now, Danny released his grip on the woman's hand and pulled his arm back through the broken car window, his heart filling with a level of grief so deep he could barely comprehend it. Fighting the tears, he wiped his eyes and glanced at her before looking away again. He didn't even know her name. He had no right to feel so devastated at the loss of a woman he didn't even know.

But he did know her, didn't he? She was the woman of his dreams. He may not know her name but he knew that she had filled his heart with a love and a joy and, most surprisingly, a peace that he had never known before. He looked at her again, as if he could somehow learn her name just by looking at her. It didn't work.

As the sound of the sirens reached his ears, a name popped into his head - Grace. Not his daughter Grace but her namesake - his partner back in Newark.

This woman wasn't Grace.

But she was dead like Grace.

Dead because he hadn't saved her, like he hadn't saved Grace.

But she wasn't Grace.

No, she wasn't Grace. She wasn't Rachel. She wasn't Gabby or Melissa or any of the other women he had dated or loved over the years. Loved? Where had that come from? He didn't even know her name. How could he love her? Yet, he did.

The sirens grew louder and again, the name Grace came to him. Grace with this woman's face. Both dead. Both dead because he hadn't saved them.

Danny pushed himself to his feet, every fiber of his being aching, his ribs and ankle begging for respite. Forcing the pain aside, he turned and headed back to the hill. The hill he had climbed up and slid down so many times that day that he had lost count.

He trudged up again. As he reached the top the sirens and lights were right there. Help was right there. But they were too late - again. He had failed - again.

He had exacted justice to the DeAngeles crime family whose violent and vengeful members, Billy and Ray, had so callously killed Grace.

He vowed he would do the same to the driver who, phone in hand, texting away, had carelessly driven them off the road today in a dark gray sedan with a license plate ending in 724.

His mind whirling with grief and guilt, with memories and pain, with love and loss, Danny staggered into the road as the ambulance, the rescue truck and the police car sped past just as they had on September 11th, 2001. This time, his mind did not even register their existence.

This morning, Danny had been grieving.

A few hours ago, Danny had been happily planning the rest of his life.

Now, Danny was mourning a woman whose name he didn't know, missing a life with her he would never have, limping down the road - alone. He would find "724" and he would exact justice.