I had a bit of writer's block, so the wonderful alittlenutjob suggested this prompt:

How about Danny following Mindy around holding her purse as she shops all day. It's the opposite of anything he'd want in life but I can only see him doing it with a giant smile. (once this fucking breakup is fixed of course.)
And the equally wonderful tvnut added this part:
OR what if they were still broken up during all this. Danny is just willing to do anything to be able to spend time with Mindy.

So that's what I rolled with!

If you had asked Danny Castellano, a few months ago, how he would feel about spending an entire Saturday shopping with Mindy Lahiri? Well, he would have probably laughed in your face and told you that would never happen. Ever.

But apparently, a few months could do a lot of things to a person. Or more specifically: a few months of first dating then dumping his best friend, could do a lot to a person.

Since the break-up, everything had pretty much been horrible. The reason he had done it in the first place was to keep her in his life, but that had… Well, that had backfired to say the least. He knew he had made the right decision, or at least the decision that seemed right at the moment. But if he had known how it would really affect their relationship, how Mindy would seek out Peter's company instead of his… Then he would probably have gone about it in a different way.

There was also the whole love-situation, which, as it turns out, a break-up did not fix. He still loved her. Desperately. Even more than when he had actually had her. He was so sure it would just be like before. Like before he kissed her. When he just pined from a distance, and watched her throw herself into relationships with jerks who didn't deserve her. But now, knowing how she felt in his arms, how her lips felt against his? Well, that made pining from a distance a lot harder.

Needless to say, his thoughts were pretty preoccupied with thoughts of her lips on his throat those few mornings she'd stayed over, the feel of her hands on his stomach. Actually, his thoughts were just pretty preoccupied with her.

So, when she finally came to him, voluntarily, asking what he was doing that Saturday? Well, he jumped at the opportunity, without really thinking about what he was doing.

"Come on, Danny! The sale at Macy's will be over in 15 minutes. There's this dress that I absolutely HAVE to have, and your old-man legs are slowing us down!" she shouted, as she was practically running away in her high heels.

"Easy for you to say, I'm carrying all your crap!" he yelled after her, trying to pick up his pace.

Mindy stopped dead in her tracks, and turned towards him, pushing a finger to his chest. "You agreed to come with me, Castellano. And besides, I've see the way you keep on smiling. You're totally loving this." She shot him a smirk, and turned around, half-running again.

He just shook his head and followed suit. If he was honest with himself, he really was kind of loving this. It was almost like the good old days. When he hadn't screwed up everything, and he was the person Mindy went to for her drama.

Yeah, he even missed the drama.

Especially the drama, actually.

He tightened his hold on the multiple plastic bags, and tried not to feel too embarrassed about the pink bag slung over his shoulder.

When he finally reached Macy's, Mindy was already carrying several hangers. One of her shoes was off, and she was trying on a pair of incredibly sparkly heels, that Danny had to admit looked great on her. Well, everything looked great on her, so that maybe wasn't so weird, but it was still a valid point.

"Here, hold these." She said, and threw the hangers over his shoulder. She went back to fiddling with the sparkly shoe, and almost fell over. "Danny!" she whined, and he moved to her side, and let her hold onto his hand. When she was finally satisfied with the fit, she stood up, her hand still in his.

"So?" she said.

"So what?" he found it hard to focus when her hand was still in his.

"SO! What do you think?" she waved her foot in front of him, and looked expectantly up at him.

He gulped, and met her eyes. "I… My opinion matters?"

"Yeah." She said quietly, and looked down to her foot again. "It always did."

"Then I… It's a great shoe. You should get it. I… It looks great on you." he finished lamely.

"Thank you, Danny." She slipped her hand from his grip, and he realized how tightly he'd been holding onto her.

"I'll just go try on these dresses." She said, a weird note to her voice, that Danny couldn't quite place.

She quickly pulled the dresses she had draped over his shoulders, and bounced towards the dressing room.

Half an hour later she emerged, looking a bit perplexed.

"Hey, what's up?" Danny said, as he walked towards her.

"Do I look fat to you?" she said bluntly.

"What?! No! Why?!" He let go of the bags, and moved to her side, grabbing her hand. He led her to the bench he'd been occupying while she was in the dressing room.

"I couldn't fit into any of the dresses, and they were all the size I usually wear. I don't know, I just… I think I may have gained weight, and by the way," she turned to him, "I blame you! I always put on weight when I'm going through a break-up."

He gaped at her. "Mindy, are you kidding me? You look amazing. You always do."

"Well, thank you Danny, but you made it very clear that you didn't want to be with me, so your opinion is kind of wasted on me right now."

"I thought you said my opinion mattered." He said, kind of disappointed.

"Ugh, screw you Castellano." She said, with a hint of a smile. "Yes, your opinion matters. Stop being such a baby. I'm just saying that I think I've gained weight, and you have to go and make it all about you, you selfish bastard." She was smiling, but there was something about what she said, that made him feel horrible.

"I'm sorry."

"Whatever, it's fine. I know I'm hot, even if I end up looking like one of those women from The Biggest Loser. Oh god, Danny. Stop me before I reach that level. I do not have the self-discipline to go through what those people go through. I can't do that!" she doubled over, breathing quickly.

"You won't ever be like that, Mindy. You're a… A beautiful, curvy woman. And… That's good! And even if you, uhm… Gained more weight? You'd look beautiful. Hotter than those people… You are… Talking about?"

"You don't even know what The Biggest Loser is, do you?" she sat up, and shot him an amused smile.

"… Maybe?"

"Oh god, you're so old. But thank you. It means a lot." She squeezed his hand.

"Now come on, I have to pay for these shoes. And then you're buying us ice cream." She winked at him and went to pay.

5 scoops of ice cream later – 3 of which were Mindy begging to just try this other one too – they were strolling towards Mindy's apartment. Danny was still carrying all of her bags, and he honestly couldn't even get himself to care.

Especially because he'd noticed how other men shot him pitiful looks, as if they recognized how whipped he was. (Which, let's face it, he was.) It made him feel good that other people thought Mindy was his girlfriend.

He did realize how freaking ridiculous that was, considering the fact that he had broken up with her.

"So, thanks for today." Mindy said, when they reached her building. "I had a great time." She smiled sweetly at him, and reached for her bags.

"No, wait. I'll bring them up." He said, and walked towards the lobby. He heard Mindy sigh behind him, but she did nothing to stop him.

When they reached her door, he put down the bags, and turned towards her. "So yeah, I had a good time too." He swallowed and moved a bit closer to her.

"Listen, Min. I'm… About this, uhm."

"Don't Danny, it's okay. I get it. I understand." She shot him a quick smile, and looked to the floor. "Doesn't mean I have to agree with it though." She said quietly.

"No, that's… I'm glad you said that."

She looked up at him with a puzzled expression.

"It's just. I've been thinking a lot, and I think maybe I made a huge fucking mistake." He moved his hand to the back of his neck. "I've been so used to fucking up every good thing in my life, and I couldn't stand it if that happened to us. I meant what I said that night, Min. I can't live without you. I have to have you. I need to have you. I got scared. I fucked up again. But I… yeah…"

He searched her face, but found nothing. "Okay, I shouldn't have. I'll just." He pointed towards the elevator, and started walking. "Forget about this! I'll just… I'll see you Monday!"

He was halfway to the elevator, when he heard her fragile voice. "Don't you dare walk away again." He was back in front of her in seconds, and she practically jumped into his arms. "You fucking idiot." She said, tears staining his shirt.

He held her close, and kissed everywhere he could reach. Her hair, her cheek, the tip of her nose as she pulled back to look at him. "Never do that again, you hear me?" he nodded vigorously, afraid to say anything.

"You said in the desert, that guys don't break up with girls they really want to be with. And then you go and do this?" she gestured to the two of them. "That's not cool, Danny. That's not fucking cool!"

"I'm sorry."

"Well, you better show me just how fucking sorry you are, because I've spent the past month practically crying myself to sleep every single night because my best friend was a fucking idiot." She smiled through her tears, and he pulled her tightly against him again.

"You have no idea how much I regret doing that to you, but if it's any consolation I've been pretty miserable myself. Believe me, there's been a lot of drunken calls to Richie, and a lot of crying to my ma. Just a whole lot of misery over the line, actually." He whispered into her hair, and she giggled against his shoulder.

"You're an idiot." She said again, and he kissed her hair.

"I really am."

She drew back and looked at him again. "So?" she said quietly.

"So what?"

"SO! Will you just kiss me already?"

He quickly darted forward to claim her lips in a bruising and long-awaited kiss. She moved her hands to his shoulders, and drew him closer.

When they had to come up for air, Mindy smiled at him and said "And don't, for a second, think this is the last time you're carrying all my bags." He chuckled, kissed her quickly and drew back to retrieve all her stuff. "Whatever you say, milady."

"Weirdo" she said, as she unlocked the apartment.

"But you like it."

"Oh yes I do."