Ned is tempted to merely shrug, to tell Daneel that he has no more authority to speak about ideal relationships than Daneel does. But he decides not to. He might not feel comfortable pretending he knows what is best in terms of romance, but the fact is that he does have more experience with it than Daneel does, even if his experience mostly has come in the form of how not to go about things.

"I don't think it does." He leans against Daneel, tries to think of the most perfectly logical way to phrase what is, to him, intuitive, intangible, an obvious emotional truth. "There's a lot more to it than caretaking. I know that's what those books focused on, and what I was just talking about, but it's more than just that. No human's quite as self-sufficient as you are, maybe, but there are plenty of people who don't like being taken care of. In theory you could have two very independent types like that in a relationship and they could still be very happy together."

That's it; he needs to frame this in terms of happiness. "It's a lot simpler than you're making it out to be. There's no set pattern or single definition that everyone follows. It's up to the two of us to decide what we want, and what makes us happy." He sighs heavily, feels the need to add, "I'm not an expert on this stuff, Daneel. I never really had anyone around to teach me. I've dated people who wanted to take care of me, and I wasn't happy. I've dated people who wanted me to take care of them, and I wasn't happy. But being around you... hearing that I've pleased you, knowing that you'd go and try to research human relationships for my sake- it makes me happier than I've been in a long, long time. I don't see how there could possibly be a problem with that."