"Danny, what the hell was that last night?" Danny was standing in the bullpen looking at his notes from Mrs Gale's last appointment in preparation for her scan today. Apparently they were thinking of naming this girl Dorothy and calling her Dotty. It was really hard for him not to point out that the girl would probably spend her whole life listening to other people sing "Over the Rainbow" to her, but he'd learned the hard way that expectant parents are not always receptive to advice on names.
As Mindy flew through the office door, she flung her purse at the reception desk and both of her palms hit him squarely on the chest before her bag even landed.
"What?" Danny stumbled backwards a few steps before catching himself.
"You replied to like one text all night. And that was to tell me you'd talk to me tomorrow. What the fuck?"
"I told you I don't have the bells and whistles phone plan."
"Well you're getting it today," she said as though that was just the end of the discussion.
"No, I'm not. You're the only person I talk to at night, and we're usually together. It's a waste of money."
"It's not a waste of money. It's called being a good boyfriend. And you can afford it!"
"Just because I can do something doesn't mean it's a good idea." Danny shrugged and picked up the chart where it had fallen when she pushed him.
"How am I going to sext you on boring night calls?"
"You're not gonna do that, we're not sexting, and night call is work."
Mindy raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember you being so regimented about boundaries last week when we were messing around in Jeremy's office."
"Hey!" Danny pulled her into his office. "Not so loud."
She looked around. "There's no one here, dummy."
"You don't know that, you just barged in here and started yelling at me right away." He pushed the door shut and walked around to his chair.
"Because you cut me off last night like I'm someone boring like your Mom."
Okay, he got that she was pissed, but that was too far. "My Ma is not boring."
"HOW WOULD I KNOW, DANNY?"
Danny's eyes flicked to the door nervously. "This again? Why am I getting yelled at for two different things, it's not even 8 o'clock?"
"Why don't you want me to meet your mother, Danny? Are you ashamed of me?" For just a split second the fire that had been driving her flickered behind her eyes, just leaving the haunted look she'd borne for so many weeks after he'd broken her heart. It felt like he'd been struck, and worse it was his own doing.
"No! Not that. Hey, I'm never ashamed of you." He took her hand and much to his relief the fire returned to her face.
"Then what's going on? Richie likes me, doesn't he? Your dad and your sister like me. Do you think your mom won't?"
Danny swallowed hard. "I...I don't know."
Mindy's eyes widened. "Danny! You're 40 years old. You can't be scared of your mom."
"I'm not scared of her. It's just... she hated Christina."
She waved dismissively. "Everyone hates Christina. She's very hateable."
"No, I mean she hated Christina from day one. She told me before I even married Christina that I'd get my heart broken."
"Well it sounds like your mom is smart."
"What if she doesn't like you?" Danny closed his eyes and waited for her to flip out on him, but she surprised him.
"What? Who cares if she doesn't like me?"
"I care. I know how it sounds, but if she doesn't... if she says... Listen, my mom is a big presence in my life. Like she'd been the main woman in my life until now. I don't think she's going to let go of that easy, now that I've got you."
"Okay, I'm gonna blow past how weird that is, but Danny! I'm the main woman in your life?" Smiling brightly she squeezed his hand, causing his heart to flutter.
"Of course you are."
"Then I need to meet the other main woman," she replied.
"You're right. You're right."
"She can be the one who cooks Sunday dinner, 'cause you know I can't."
Danny chuckled at the idea of Mindy making gravy. She'd probably buy a jar of Prego and call it a day. "Okay."
"And I'll be the one who sucks your..." she was interrupted by him literally covering her mouth with his hand.
"Hey! Can you not say that while we're talking about my mom? Gross."
"You didn't think it was gross in Jeremy's office."
"We didn't do that in Jeremy's office!"
"We might have if you hadn't chickened out." Mindy plucked at the buttons of his shirt with her free hand, walked her fingers down his stomach, causing a whole new wave of heart palpitations.
Gesturing toward his office door, he shook his head. "This is a place of business."
"Relax, the office has seen MUCH worse. Jeremy's desk alone..."
Danny dropped her hand. "Don't. Don't talk about that."
Mindy frowned. "Hey, neither of us came into this relationship innocent. So what if my bare ass has been on Jeremy's desk? Half the city has seen your penis. There's no room for judgement here, buddy."
"I'm not judging you, it's not about that. I just think I'd care a lot less if I didn't see one of your exes every single day."
"Jeremy's technically not an ex."
"Doesn't matter. I can't look at him without thinking that he's seen all of you." Danny's voice dropped to a whisper. "Had all of you."
Mindy studied his face carefully. "Jeremy didn't have all of me."
"Whoa, whoa. I don't want to know details." His voice was still low.
"I wasn't offering details." Mindy's hands were cool as she placed them on either side of his face. "I just wanted to be clear. You have all of me. No one else ever has. Not even Casey."
His shoulders fell and it was all he could do not to sigh with relief. Instead he slipped his arm around her, fingers splaying on her back as he pulled her close. "I'm sorry."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. "I'm not going to break your heart."
"I can see that." Her lipstick was smudged and he knew he had to be wearing half of it himself now. With the taste of her lipstick on his tongue and the softness of her hair beneath his fingertips he felt dizzy. Christina never looked at me like that. This is real.
"So you'll call your mom?"
"I'll call Ma."
"Right now?"
He glanced at the clock. "It's daytime minutes, Mindy."
"Danny!"
Author's Note: I never start these without a plan through the end, but the intention is that it is loosely structured like an episode. Sorry if it's slow-going, but hang in there. I'm working on it.
