Soap Dish: These 'Days,' Daniel's in danger & denial
By CAROLYN HINSEY

Daniel splits with Kate next week on "Days of Our Lives" and goes
right for Chloe -- who is engaged to Kate's son, Lucas.

"It's something he just can't seem to control," says Shawn Christian,
who plays the devilish doctor. "He had her in his arms at midnight
on New Year's and a phone call stopped them. Either that or a twitch
of morality."

There's not much "morality" at the engagement party Kate throws for
Lucas and Chloe later in the week.

"Lucas decks Daniel at the party because he thinks Daniel dumped
Kate," says Christian. "Daniel probably deserves it on many levels,
but it's actually Kate who breaks up with Daniel. She wants to focus
on her family and her health."

After being dumped and decked, Daniel courts danger.

"He goes upstairs after he gets decked by Lucas and he finds Chloe,"
says Christian. "Her dress happens to be unzipped. Gentleman that
he is, he helps her. Then he expresses his feelings, and she
expresses her feelings."

After all these months of denial, Daniel and Chloe finally admit they
care about each other.

"Everything explodes in this room," says Christian. "It's raw,
honest emotion. Once the feelings are out, she starts slapping him
and hitting him. She tells him, 'I hate you!' Rather than just jump
each other's bones, they resist. He genuinely says it's not just
about sex. It would be easier on both of them if it was just sex."

In the course of all that slapping and denying, things eventually go
where they insist they don't want them to.

"If you've seen the fantasies Daniel has been having, then you know
what's been going on in his head. Actually, he has shown remarkable
restraint up to this party."

Clothes start coming off, but then the third corner of their triangle
comes looking for her.

"Lucas finds them before anything serious happens," says
Christian. "He knocks on the door and they scamper to their
respective corners in complete denial."

No one is the wiser at the party, and the two vow to keep things
strictly platonic.

"But the next day Chloe goes to Daniel's apartment to confront him on
this very issue. The scene opens with, 'This will never happen
again!'"

Yeah, right.

"Now that they've laid their cards on the table, so to speak, it's
going to get really interesting," says Christian. "That zipper works
the other way, too!"