^I tend to agree with that, except that even if Danny's father did abuse him, that doesn't mean Danny doesn't love his father/have conflicted feelings for him. I think his feelings are probably very complicated and confused if it was his father abusing him.
I agree that Danny having some attachment to his father doesn't mean he didn't abuse Danny. I saw a program ages ago, that secretly recorded mothers who were suspected of abusing their children. It showed one mother hit and yell at her baby. The baby sat there crying for a moment and then held up her arms to be picked up, even though she was asking comfort from the person who had just hit her.
Also, when faced with a stranger a child will generally turn to the parent. Sort of a case of better the devil yoiu know. The abuser could also say things like ' you made me do it' or 'I'm trying to make you a better person'. This could make the child think it was their fault or they deserved the abuse and not place the blame where it should be, and that's on the abuser. To an outsider, seeing the child seek comfort from the parent and not accuse them of anything, it could be perceived as love.
And look at how Danny related to Mac, a father figure--he wants his approval, while at the same time he's constantly disobeying Mac. That alone suggests that Danny is pretty confused about how to relate to/deal with father figures.
There was another mother on the program who was more neglecting than abusing, though you could argue there's a fine line between those points. The baby kept on glancing at the mother and edging towards her, she obviously wanted some comfort, or at least some interaction with her mother, but wasn't sure of the response she'd get, if any at all.
Whatever the relationship between Danny and his father, I'd say it's far from perfect. It's like Danny wants a father/son relationship with Mac but doesn't know how to handle it, or perhaps really even understand how it works, because he has no experience with that sort of thing.
I think your theory is realistic and do-able,
Top41. Danny mentioned an uncle in 'The Dove Commission'. I thought it a bit odd that he corrected Sheldon on the canopy name. It didn't matter to Sheldon and I don't think it's something Danny would really care about. However, if Danny had to stay with said uncle when he was little and the man thought that was something a child should be 'corrected' on, so much so that he repeats such a banal detail in adult life, think what an arse that man would be.
