For the sake of keeping the setting the way it was in both the movie and the TV show, I'm not gonna change the location of the hospital or the "incident". Also, for convenience, Dr. L drove to Utah; which would be about a two-day trip (its plausible cause he's pretty angry in this fic). I haven't really seen the Mindy Project, except for that one episode (season 2, episode 1) and the pilot, so I'm not too sure about everyone's attitudes; hopefully I get the gist of it. I haven't read "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" either, but I'm planning on it. I guess I just came up with this idea cause I saw a commercial for the Mindy Project, and that one episode seemed kind of interesting, if not a bit exaggerated. So, this story will be set in New York and everything that takes place occurs after 127 Hours , obviously if you've seen the movie you'll know what I'm talking about, but if not, you should watch it

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or TV shows or movies, this is a story created purely for the fun of it.


Have you ever thought that there are certain things put on earth just to cause you pain? Like from the very moment you were born, there that object was, just waiting to hurt you?

Well that's what Mindy was thinking as she slammed on the snooze button of her alarm clock. She'd just gotten the thing a week ago; it was supposed to say things to boost your self-esteem when the alarm when off and already it was getting on her nerves. From the moment she'd bought it she knew it was a mistake; the box it came in had given her a paper cut on the way to check out.

Not that she hadn't already annoyed this week; the alarm clock just added to her list of problems. For the past month she'd been competing against Dr. Paul Leotard (she thought that was a weird name too), to get her job back. It hadn't helped that she'd been gone for several months in Haiti, and to add flame to the fire; she was the one who had requested a leave.

She really had no right to barge in all of a sudden, but she couldn't help it, she was naturally competitive and she really wanted her job back.

It has all sort of started when the clinic staff called him Doctor L; naturally she was hurt, and after all, everyone knew that was her nickname. She had to admit that he was a good doctor and good-looking too, but the temptation had been just too much, and now she found herself carrying the weight of the world on her back.

She hadn't meant to get him fired, sure she'd had a long talk with Jeremy, who was a good friend of hers and managing partner of the clinic, and she'd gone in there with Danny to back her up (who for some reason seemed to have a vendetta against Paul).

Afterwards, she'd been told that Paul had two months to get his affairs in order. She tried to talk to him, but when she confronted him in the break room, he pushed past her muttering something about Canyon Lands, Utah.

He'd been gone for about two weeks now, which she felt somewhat bad about. Not that it was her fault, he should obviously show up to work on time, even when he's gonna be out of a job in a few months. So, that's how she found herself here, in this situation.

She felt bad about Paul, but she also needed her job, it was the only thing she knew how to do, besides, he was charming enough to get a job anywhere he wanted to, he'd probably do better than her at finding one.

The thing was, she'd been dreading his return to work. She knew it was awful, but she'd been relived when he hadn't shown up at work at all last week. When Marc had started talking about filing a missing persons report, she quickly assured him that Paul was probably just cooling off some steam; after all he'd just been fired.

She was even more worried today, because maybe, just maybe, today might be the day that he returned to work and she had no idea what she would say to him "I'm sorry I got you fired" Wanna talk about it over some coffee?".

She told Betsy to tell her if he came in today, she figured she'd start off their conversation by avoiding him at first sight and maybe getting him some flowers or one of those cool cars that guys like.

She wasn't sure what she would do.


Mindy had just gotten out of the shower when her phone rang. For a minute she was tempted to throw the thing in a fish tank, but then she remembered that she didn't have one and, she had a pretty nice phone that deserved better than that. Her phone continued buzzing on the counter and playing that annoying song that she chose specifically for Betsy, until eventually, she reached over and picked it up.

"Hello?"

" The fox is in the house!" came the whispering answer on the other line

"What?!"

"The chickens have flown the coop!"

Mindy sighed "Betsy! I just told you to tell me whether or not he came into work! You don't have to be all ninja about it!"

"Sorry Mindy! I just thought since we were being all secretive, I should make things a little more real."

"Well it wasn't working!" Mindy reached down slightly annoyed and grabbed at her nail polish

" Did he say anything?' Mindy asked, curiosity getting to the better of her

"No, it was pretty weird" Betsy continued to a whisper "he was all quiet. You know how he's usually all talkative and sexy looking? Well he looked awful, with these big dark circles under his eyes and his clothes were all wrinkled, he didn't say much either."

Mindy didn't answer, all she could think about was if it was all her fault?

" Danny had to help him pour a cup of coffee, and Danny was actually the one who offered."

" What! Why?" she dropped the tiny nail polish paint brush

" It looks like he broke his arm on his hiking trip, he had it a sling and all."

Mindy felt the blood rushing to her head " So, he's gonna play the pity card huh? No wonder it took him a week to come back to work; he had to gather up the balls to actually do it."

" I don't know Mindy" Betsy answered "It didn't seem like he was faking it. He looked like he was in a lot of pain to be honest".

"Well if he's not, he will be! I didn't spend a month out-competing the guy in everything, just so he could have my office after a two-week vacation! I already took all his stuff out of there anyway and no one helped me!"

"Okay Mindy, but don't say I told you so" Betsy whispered before hanging up

Mindy picked up her nail polish brush and sighed, sure she was pretty pissed, but she was also relieved that the guy was actually okay. She would've felt bad if something had happened to him.

Now all she had to do was come up with an idea to make amends, she'd hadn't meant to be the job wrecker, she just couldn't stand the thought of being replaced.

If he was faking it, and she was almost positive that he was, then maybe she could get away with ignoring him and buying him a box of chocolates. Sure it might come off as a bit mean, but she'd been in a pretty horrible mood lately; with Casey in Haiti and all.

Who knows? Maybe he'd apologize to her for being such a big jerk and stealing her office, as well as refusing to negotiate with her those first few days back at work from Haiti. He should have been more understanding, she had just had her gallbladder removed.

Mindy glanced at her nails, they looked awful. She hadn't really been paying attention on the phone and obviously her nails demonstrated the consequences. There was no way in hell she was going to work looking like this, she had to show everyone there that she was way more professional than Dr. Faking Fake (Paul). Besides, it was about time that she fixed her hair and all.


When Mindy stepped out of the elevator, she thought she looked pretty damn sexy. That is until, she tripped over a stapler lying on the floor. She got up almost immediately (mind you, after thoroughly checking her new outfit for any rips or stains) and started cursing at whoever left the offensive office item lying on the floor.

Then she remembered. It had been her.

Last week, when she finally decided she couldn't take having all of Paul's stuff in her office, she threw it out in the hall. Of course, there had been some complaining from Morgan and Jeremy that she was making the place look like a trash pit, but honestly she couldn't care any less, besides she had no idea where she would put his stuff (maybe in that smaller office next to hers) and she wasn't feeling very helpful that day.

Instead of feeling bad about shoving his stuff into the hall, all she could feel was enraged. After all, he had the opportunity to move his stuff today. It was probably lowering their clientele, no one wanted to give birth in a crowded gross-looking doctors office. They'd probably all clicked the button for the second floor as soon as the elevator door opened.

Stupid midwives upstairs.

Stupid office supplies.

Most of all stupid Paul.

She wanted to cry. Why did her life have to be so complicated? She was sick of having to Skype Casey every night, and she was sick of feeling bad for having gotten her job back. She almost sat down against the elevator doors to begin her pity session, when Jeremy stepped out of his office.

"Where have you been? I love the hair by the way, you don't look as manly as you did before".

"No need to boost my self-esteem Jer, my clock already does that for me!"

"Sorry Mindy, I just thought it needed to be said, God knows everyone around the office was thinking it!"

"Uggh Never mind! Though, I do think that it looks much better now too. What is all this stuff still doing here Jeremy! I removed it from my office last week!"

" Well Mindy, obviously Paul can't do it cause his arm is broken" Jeremy sighed "someone else is gonna have to move it"

Mindy pushed past him irritated "It's not gonna be me!"

She felt like she needed some coffee right now, and maybe about 200 hundred pounds of whipped cream with one of those chocolate covered biscotti. She pushed open the door to the break room and slammed into someone. Mindy reached out and grabbed the side of the door to regain her balance, while the person she had run into wobbled a bit and then crashed onto the floor.

Mindy almost reached out apologetically before realizing who it was; Dr. Faking it

When she looked up she couldn't believe what she saw, obviously there had been no doubt in her mind before when she had thought that Paul was playing hooky, but now, he looked pretty damn horrible. It was evident that there was something seriously wrong with the guy, before he had impeccable fashion sense and now he couldn't even button his shirt right (they were all mismatched).

When Mindy had seen him the first time she had bet that he was a man who didn't own a single slip-on shoe, clearly she was correct in this assumption cause his shoes weren't even tied.

What struck her the most, was the fact that where his hair had once been perfectly done, he looked like he had just rolled out of bed after hibernating for a week (except without the sleeping part), and then forgot to shave.

Maybe she'd better consider buying that sports car.