Mindy glanced down at her phone. Disappointment again. Despite Cliff's declaration at the office Christmas party in early December, she had found their 3-week relationship to be less than ideal. It may be silly of her, but she thought when he said he wanted to be with her, he would actually be with her. They had seen each other only 2 ½ times since then. She understood that it's a busy time of year for everyone, but the lack of phone calls and text messages, especially when he didn't respond to her own, was frustrating. And now, the day after Christmas, she was sending out invitations for her New Year's Eve party and considered telling him to not even bother coming.

She was explaining the situation to Gwen during their weekly coffee date and was shocked at her response when she finally paused at the

"OK, Min, you're clearly not happy with him so I think you should move on."

"Yea, I guess…"

Gwen feigned casualness as she "What about Danny?"

Um, what about Danny?

"Seriously, Mindy? I've been wanting to ask you this for months now and it just seems like the right time now that you're in another dissatisfying relationship. Are you legitimately trying to tell me that you don't know that Danny Castellano is hopelessly in love with you?"

Mindy grabbed Gwen's glass and sniffed. "What are you drinking?"

"Mindy, please. Get serious. The man learned the choreography to a song he hates for you. It's like the absolute perfect present."

"OK, that was adorable. But then he didn't want to get air!"

"Excuse me?"

Mindy had not been as forthcoming with details to Gwen about various situations she had shared with Danny. "OK, fine, there's some stuff I haven't told you but only because I knew you would make a big deal out of it. On the plane ride back from the conference, we kind of held hands on a plane during turbulence but it wasn't a thing…even though it was right after Josh told m he thought there was something between me and Danny. Then right before I left for Haiti, we had this sort-of moment where I think he would have kissed me but then I told him I got back together with Casey. And then after the dance, we hugged and it felt slightly more than platonic but then the guys busted into the office and interrupted. And then I told him I was going to the terrace for air, which was totally a code and he knew it, and he decided to stay inside."

"OK, so there is so much you have not been telling me! He's definitely in love with you."

"But he didn't come outside!"

"This happened at the party that you specifically threw in order to get together with Cliff, right?"

"Well, yes…"

"Of course Danny didn't come outside. He would basically be the consolation prize. That doesn't feel good at all."

"Yea, I guess you're right. What does it matter anyway if Danny likes me? It's not like I have feelings for him."

"Really? I'm not so sure about that."

"I mean sure, his weird body is kind-of attractive and he's really nice and supportive…when he's not being an ass, anyway. And fine, I guess I would kissed him back if he kissed me."

"Do me a favor," Gwen said. Mindy lifted an eyebrow with doubt but complied when Gwen insisted.

"OK, so picture yourself being with Danny like in a relationship. How do you feel about it? Does it feel normal? Natural? Picture holding hands with him and spending evenings sitting around watching TV. How about getting older? Any kids there in the background?"

Mindy sighed for a moment before giving in to the fantasy Gwen created with her questions. Suddenly, her eyes popped open.

"Holy crap!"

"See, I knew it," Gwen crowed. "You totally love Danny Castellano."

"Well, what the hell am I supposed to do with this information?!"

"Go big, Min. You're throwing a New Year's Eve party. Just kiss him at midnight."

"What if Danny doesn't show up? He will probably think Cliff will be there."

"He'll be there."

Mindy nervously walked into the office on the following Monday. She hadn't seen or spoken to Danny since her conversation with Gwen. He hadn't responded to her invitation, which made her question Gwen's certainty. They were both busy with appointments, though that tends to happen after being out for a few days because all of the women close to their due dates need weekly appointments. She finally worked up the courage and perfected her look of casual indifference before strolling into his office.

"Hey Danny. Are you coming to my party tomorrow night?"

"Oh, um, I'm not sure," Danny mumbled. "I might stay in or go to bed early or something..."

"I hope you'll come. It'll just be people from the office, Gwen and Carl, and some of my neighbors."

"Hmm…", Danny responded, glancing down at his paperwork.

"Yea…I um invited Heather too, which might be weird since we both have history with the same guy…well two guys actually."

She noticed hurt flash across Danny's face and realized that her attempts at making a subtle point were clearly not getting across.

"Cliff won't be there of course. Things didn't work out."

Danny glanced up with surprise. "Oh…sorry to hear that."

"It's OK. I'm not. Cliff wasn't the right person for me."

A long pause followed, so long in fact that Mindy began to wonder if Danny wasn't going to say anything else. She made her way to the door to his office.

She was startled as Danny spoke again. "I think I'll come to the party. After all, if I stay home, you'll have ammunition for the entire year of 2014 for calling me an old man."

Mindy looked back and smiled at him as she walked across the threshold. "Looking forward to midnight, Dr. Castellano."

She was a nervous wreck the entire next day, which wasn't entirely helpful while preparing her apartment and food for the party. She tried on about 17 different dresses. Guests started arriving at 9:00 PM. Mindy anxiously glanced at the door whenever a new person arrived. Danny still hadn't arrived at 11:00 PM. Then a new neighbor approached her after stepping out to get something from her own apartment.

"Um, Mindy, there's some guy pacing around in the hallway."

Mindy opened the door and caught Danny off-guard. He stumbled back a couple of steps before nervously greeting her and walking into the apartment. She noticed sweat on his brow and that he looked uncomfortable, but wasn't able to talk with him because people kept pulling her into conversations. She noticed him talking with people but also noticed that each time she glanced at him, he was already looking at her. With a few minutes to midnight, she managed to extricate herself from her conversation with Morgan and situated herself near Danny as the one-minute countdown began. She shifted nervously, realizing that the middle of a crowded room was not exactly ideal for her next step. As the clock hit midnight and everyone started to cheer and hug, she pulled a confused Danny into her bedroom.

"I'm sorry to grab you like that. I just wanted to say something. Or do something. Or, I don't know. Ah screw it."

With that declaration, she grabbed Danny's face and pulled him into a kiss. He began to respond immediately. It was passionate, but gentle at the same time. They broke apart when air became necessary and Danny rested his forehead on Mindy's forehead as he struggled to stabilize his breath. She could feel a shift in his body as he pulled back and opened his mouth to speak. She interrupted him.

"I'm not drunk. I know that's what you're thinking but I'm not. I don't want you to chalk this up to the champagne or me being lonely at midnight or convenience or anything else. It's me seizing the moment because something always gets in the way of our moments. And most of the time it's been me. I was afraid, but not anymore. Because you're awesome and I want to be awesome with you."

Danny looked down to the floor, his brief silence hitting Mindy like a wave of devastation.

"And you are saying nothing. Crap, did I just make this all up? Can we just pretend this didn't happen? Drunk…yep, I'm really dru…"

Danny interrupted her. "I don't know if this is right, but here it goes anyway. He sighed. "It's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

"Oh my God. You memorized and repeated a quote from 'When Harry Met Sally' to me. Danny freakin' Castellano!"

Danny shrugged, a bit bashfully. "Yea, whatever, I just figured I'd get something prepared for tonight… just in case."

"Mm hmm, nah, it's totally not whatever. You totally like me."

"Yea, Min," he said as her pulled her closer and stared into her eyes intensely. "I totally do."

Mindy smiled as Danny gently pulled to his own and initiated the second of many toe-curling kisses of the first day of the New Year. And so, as in all good romantic stories, Mindy and Danny ended 2013 as friends and began 2014 as something more.