"I was gonna go get a breath of fresh air."
"Yeah. I'm gonna stay. I gotta, I gotta clean up this mess."
"Okay."
Danny watches as Mindy walks out restraining himself to go after her and stop her from leaving. What just happened? Were they about to kiss? Would she have kissed him back or was this like the break room all over again? For all the heart-on-her-sleeve wearing she does, Mindy Lahiri can be impossible to read sometimes. And what if he had kissed her and she had kissed him back? What then? Would they date? Would he be her boyfriend? Lover? Husband one day? The thought has Danny reeling. He steps around his desk and sits down with a sigh, pulling out a bottle of whiskey hidden in his desk- no need telling Mindy about his secret stash when she's having so much fun with her wine bra- and pours a finger of the amber liquid into his waiting tumbler. The old wind-up clock on his desk chimes eleven o'clock.
But rather then taking a sip he stares absentmindedly at his glass as he swirls the whiskey around several times watching it coat the perimeter then streak back down to the base. He feels frustration boiling up inside of him and a twinge of regret. What was the matter with him? He had come to the unsettling realization that he had feelings for Mindy, deep feelings for her, a few weeks ago. He had even, almost, come to the decision that he was going to act on them, because really, who watches an Aaliyah video from 13 years ago again and again learning the choreography for a woman they aren't crazy about? And then she is standing there right in front of him, so close he can feel her body heat even through his clothing, and looking at him with something he's never seen from her before. And what does he do? Nothing. She was using step three of the mantrap…on him! God, he's an idiot.
Danny crosses the room to the office window to peek out into the courtyard. She is standing with her back to him. He thinks she may be fighting with a pigeon, a ridiculous scenario that is so Mindy that it brings a smile to his face. The sight makes him feel lighter. This isn't some scary stranger he's fallen in love with. This is Mindy. Before any of the butterflies, or jackhammers really, started burgeoning in his stomach at the sight of her, she was his friend, his best friend, and whether she returns them or not, she isn't going to mock his feelings.
Feeling a new resolve and a burst of courage he makes to turn around and head out to the courtyard when movement catches his eye. A figure he soon identifies as Cliff is making his way to Mindy. They are talking together and the look on Mindy's face makes him feel as if he's been sucker-punched. It's not quite the look she'd given him minutes before, but he's seen it on her face enough times before when she's looked at Josh, Casey or any countless other number of jamokes. It's manic and radiant all at once and clearly shows she's smitten. His suspicions are confirmed the next moment when the two begin to kiss. He looks away up at the falling snow and wonders why he thought this time would be any different.
Sitting back at his desk, Danny tosses back the still full tumbler of whiskey in one go. This isn't the first time Danny's been disappointed in love. Even before the disaster that was his marriage he'd been getting his heart broken seemingly by everyone he'd ever given it to. God, he's been idiot. Mindy isn't into him. Just yesterday she told him all about her plan to seduce another man, one she was currently tonguing in the courtyard, to use her own colorful phrasing. How for even a second could he have deluded himself into believing that she wanted him? 'When are you going to learn, Castellano?' he chastises himself.
"Mindy's not for you. Maybe no one is." He whispers the words aloud in the hope the truth will penetrate his thick skull this time and save him any future embarrassment. He spends the next hour drinking more and more and planning his future dealings with Mindy. No more personal chats or shoulder bumps, just good old professional civility. It hurts to think of their close friendship slipping further and further away, but he reminds himself that seeing her with Cliff or anyone else for that matter will hurt more while he's walking around with these feelings eating him up inside. He's just finishing off his third double and is rallying himself to head home for the night when his clock chimes midnight.
The sound of a knock at his door causes him to sit up in his seat where he'd been slumping. In the next moment he rises to his feet as the door is swung open and a figure stands looming in the darkened common area beyond the threshold where everyone's long since gone home. As it moves forward into the office illuminated by the warm glow of the desk lamp, Danny can make out the features of his old boss. "Dr. Shulman?" Danny stutters feeling inexplicably like a schoolboy being caught at something, "What are you doing here? I thought you retired to Florida?"
If Dr. Shulman hears him he doesn't show it, just wanders into the office rather aimlessly and begins to fiddle with the things on Danny's desk. Just as Danny thinks his old senior partner must be senile or drunk and begins to reach for his phone to call someone for help, the older man looks up and pierces him with a sober and alert stare. "Do you know me, Danny? Do you know who I was?"
"You're Dr. Shulman," Danny says in a wary voice beginning to feel seriously freaked out. "My old boss," he continues as he makes his way around the older man towards the door. Maybe if he makes a break for the staircase, this nutjob won't be able to keep up. Being murdered by his recently insane old colleague would be a kinda fitting end to this terrible Christmas, he thinks to himself morosely all the while edging toward the door.
"I was like you," Dr. Shulman continues taking no note of Danny's obvious discomfort. "Buried in the job, closed off from others, loveless. It was too late for me, Danny," he looks up again and this time whether due to fright or curiosity Danny finds he can't move from his spot or tear his eyes away. "But it doesn't need to be for you." He takes the snow globe from Danny's desk that he had been idly juggling from hand to hand, a Secret Santa gift from Tamra, and suddenly throws it to the ground in front of Danny.
The globe cracks making a piercing sound much louder than it should as a snowy mist rises up from the broken glass filling the office and obscuring Danny's view of the apparition standing at his desk. He hears his voice though rising above the roar of wind and moans coming from the broken snow globe, "You'll be visited by three ghosts tonight, Danny. Heed their warning! A life without love is no life at all!"
Danny stumbles forward reaching his hands out in front of himself aimlessly grabbing for the office door, but finds himself tripping and falling into his armchair instead. He closes his eyes and brings his hands to cover his ears to protect himself from the onslaught of noise and snowy mist that are now overwhelming the office. Her hears the muffled cry of Dr. Shulman once more, "Heed their warning!" before falling into unconsciousness.