Tessa and Daniel have grown closer on Young and Restless as she helped him learn to play the guitar to move on from Heather’s death, and he’s supported her as she deals with being shut out by her wife, the troubled Mariah. Still, Cait Fairbanks (Tessa) has told “Teriah” fans not to worry about Daniel inserting himself between Tessa and Mariah because while he’s obviously developed feelings for Tessa, she’s solely focused on helping Mariah and repairing their marriage.
Connect Two
Viewers picked up on Daniel’s growing feelings for Tessa even before he confessed them to his father, Danny. But given Tessa’s current marital strife, she hasn’t really picked up on any shift in their friendship to indicate his feelings have deepened, at least not consciously.
“They’ve created such a strong connection with each other,” Fairbanks tells Soap Opera Digest. “They’ve been supporting each other through extremely hard things. And I think, no matter what, when you have that kind of connection, you can feel people’s feelings.
“I think Tessa wants connection,” she adds. “She doesn’t want to be alone in this, but also really cares for Daniel as well. I wouldn’t say he’s inserting himself. I think that they are coming together to support each other through two things that are just really hard. They’re basically both grieving, and grief is really powerful and it can connect you to people. So I’m not sure if it’s something that she would explore right now, being so in that grief, but they definitely are equally connected to each other.”
Deeper and Deeper
Daniel and Tessa started out as friends, but they’ve been there for each other as they cope with their respective drama, and his feelings aren’t the only ones that have changed as they’ve grown closer. “The only other person she’s been that close to is Mariah,” Fairbanks notes. “The beginning of Mariah and Tessa’s friendship was all about them coming together. Obviously, being attracted to each other [was part of it], but also they had both had very hard upbringings that made them connected. I think that Tessa really hasn’t had the opportunity to make connections and friendships that much — like, deep friendships — in her story on the show, but I think that this is one of those moments.”
Daniel’s feelings have clearly turned romantic, but right now, Tessa is so distracted by figuring out what happened to Mariah and helping her wife through her trauma that she can’t take the time to look at how she really feels about him.
“I think that there’s something there,” Fairbanks allows, “but I’m not even sure she’s as conscious of it as he would be, you know? We’ve all been through really hard things and then met and had connections with people, whether it be romantic or friendship, or something. And I think that she’s still exploring that herself.”
