Mindy and Danny: You can't start a fire without a spark
"I need a love reaction, come on baby give me just one look/
You can't start a fire, you can't start a fire without a spark/
This gun's for hire, even if we're just dancing in the dark./
….You can't start a fire, worrying' about your little world falling apart/
This gun's for hire, even if we're just dancing in the dark."
-Bruce Springsteen, Dancing in the Dark
Summary: When Mindy and Danny go to a medical conference in Mindy's hometown of Boston, they run into Mindy's old med school friends and end up at an Indian wedding. Sparks fly between these two when they get a taste of what life could be like if they just got swept up in their attraction for each other. Set post season 1.
Disclaimer: TMP characters…so much to explore, so little time. All other names and characters are purely fictional, except for Tom and Gisele, but they almost qualify for being purely fictional.
Author's note: Wrote the character of Mindy's med school friend with Reese Witherspoon in mind as a guest star. Also wanted to give some background from Mindy's past, like family, friends, upbringing. Never wrote one of these before, so I have no idea what I'm doing. Hope it works on some levels. I am not sure where this story ends...
Ch1: Stress barfs are back, and back to work!
6 am, Friday morning. Mindy hadn't yet packed for Boston, but just before going to bed, she had made a mental list of the outfits she would be packing. She was a master procrastinator, something she and Maggie, one of her best friends, honed to perfection. It was a challenge to see how far could they go without having task "x" blow up in their faces. They weren't sloppy about what they did, but they liked to know that they could step up and somehow get it done. They worked well under pressure because of it. Maggie, who was now almost out of her cast from the dodgeball fiasco that occurred while she was running PE drills with her students, wasn't always going to be a teacher. She was actually pre-med, like Mindy, in college. They were in general chemistry and lab partners, and still laugh about the incident when Maggie almost set the lab on fire because she was titrating the chemicals too damn fast over the flame. While Mindy realized that she couldn't really procrastinate on things like her organic chemistry test or her calculus classes, she often did put off her English papers until the last minute. Maggie, on the other hand, could not get to that organic chemistry problem set until she hit the gym and got her head completely cleared. Their procrastinating ways also helped them figure out what was really important to them, and it all worked out for them professionally.
6:15 am Mindy hit the snooze.
6:30 am Mindy hit the snooze.
6:45 am Mindy hit the snooze but decided she should get up in a couple.
6:47 am Mindy stirred out of bed, once her mind made up, and jumped in the shower, ready to get the day started. After showering, she padded over to her amazing walk in closet/room to choose something to wear that day. She shivered, since she only had a towel wrapped around her and she kept her apartment at a cool 70 degrees, even in the fall. Surgeons were like that, they were used to the cool temperatures of the operating room. She glanced around and sighed. Her closet was still in a state of dissarray since the night of the impromptu wedding with Casey that didn't happen. Mindy remembered she was trying to find something suitable to wear after Casey managed to pee all over her white wedding dress, which was actually a beautiful white cocktail dress with a scalloped neckline and laser cut lace detail that was both modern in its silhouette but traditional in its modesty. And, her best friends weren't even there since it was such short notice for the wedding, just her office friends and co-workers, never mind her family, who didn't even know about him….yet. The fashion genius move was lost on this group, as it reflected Mindy's personality perfectly; in contrast, her BFFs would have picked up on it in a second. Her small diamond studs were the perfect accent, not pearls as would have been the obvious choice, 'cause Mindy had to have some bling. She was frustrated, because nothing else in her closet would do, and because as she was trying to find that perfect understudy of a dress ready for its Broadway debut, when she started to get a queasy feeling in her stomach, hence the fresh air on the fire escape. Not that she actually wanted to escape…did she?
"Oh God, not the stress barfs again," Mindy thought. Mindy wrapped up her introspective moment and was looking forward to going back to work now, and chose a killer outfit complete with her favorite black Jimmy Choo pumps.
7:45 am. Mindy expertly packed her weekend suitcase. Not bag, suitcase. She prided herself on her packing skills and was very organized. She had e-bags and packed in 10 minutes, a new record. She'd have to text Maggie about that one. She got the suitcase on the scale…49 lbs. "Damn, I'm good today," she smiled to herself. She took a selfie with her and the suitcase and texted to Maggie "under 10, a new record." Take that, Danny. "There is no such thing as overpacking, just being prepared," she retorts to him in her mind because she can hear his voice in her mind saying, "I told you not to overpack!"
9:06 am. Danny greeted Mindy as she strolled into the office, "Nice of you to show up to work," he said with a smirk. He missed teasing her about always being just a little late to the office. The office felt lighter and brighter with her here again. He was writing some prescription refills on a clinic patient on the counter near Betsy's desk. Danny had already made rounds at the hospital this morning after being post-call. He went for a morning run, showered, shaved and dressed in his standard Wednesday outfit-a grey button down, dark washed jeans and dark belt, with a white doctor's coat, and stethoscope that hung around his neck.
"Good morning, Danny. For your information, I just packed in record time, a new personal best, so it was worth it," she said, and proudly smiled at him.
"Just keep thinking that as you try to lift that monstrosity to the overhead bin," he shot back as he kept writing.
"Yeah, Danny, when it changes four seasons in one afternoon in Boston, we'll see who's laughing then, Caste-lamo," she quipped. She had no plans to lift the giant suitcase to the overhead bin, as she learned her lesson and was going to check the bag, but she was never going to let him know he was right.
"They only have two seasons in Boston, cold, and colder."
"No, you mean cold and 'wicked cold'," Mindy retorted in a faux Boston accent which revealed that she has spent a lot of time in the area.
Making a mock face of horror, Danny replied, "Nooo! Not the accent! That only comes out when you've been drinking heavily or are post-call, or both."
"Hey, it's warded off would-be muggers on multiple occasions. Yeah, you'd be surprised how it throws them off when a dainty Indian woman busts out with an in-your-face-Good-Will-Hunting accent. They don't know what to do with me, so they run away."
"I'm sure the pepper spray helped too."
Mindy had long ditched the backpack, jean shirt and converse she sported when one of the nurses, Tamara, thought she was a little boy trying to sell candy to the staff. Mindy was wearing a colorful and fashion forward outfit-a mix of patterns, textures and jewel-toned colors that somehow seemed to work on her. This didn't go unnoticed by Danny as he couldn't help but run his eyes top to toes on her, stopping at her black Jimmy Choo pumps and smiled. Her hair was still short, but had grown out a little, and she styled it in a way that looked sophisticated and cute at the same time.
"Heeeeyyyyy, Dr. L, er, I mean Big L, good to see you back!" Morgan said enthusiastically and gave her a big brother bear hug while he reached to toulsel her hair. Mindy was still peeved about a developing situation with Dr. Paul Leotard, who was still squatting in her office. He refused to move the hell out and somehow got the staff to call him Dr. L, which was obviously her office nickname.
"Hey Morgan, good to see you, too. Hey man, can you not hug me so tight, and don't mess up my hair!" Mindy hugged him back and then pushed him off her playfully.
"Is Jeremy in the office yet?" Mindy asked Betsey.
"Oh, he's got a C-section scheduled this morning, so he's at the hospital, but he said to say, "Welcome back!" Betsey replied. Mindy still felt badly about pointing out that Jeremy had easily gained 30 pounds due to stress eating, but kinda smiled when he acknowledged he once got to the size of "a small ski chalet while studying for his exams". Maybe she could get Maggie to help him out and do a "boot camp" thing to get him back in shape. She knew as vain as Jeremy was, that to let himself go, he was probably really stressed. Mindy made a mental note to check in on him later to see what was up and if she could help.
Now that she said her hellos and salutations, where was Mindy going to work? She turned her attention to Danny.
"Danny, today is your lucky day. You now have an office roommate, with whom you can now consult with whenever you want when it comes to your tough cases." She smiled coyly and breezed by him. Danny could smell some lingering combination of hair shampoo and a nice perfume in her wake on her way to his office. Mindy sat down opposite to Danny's brown leather mid-century office chair, and took out her laptop from her bag and started to chart in the electronic medical record of one of her clinic patients.
Danny sauntered to the doorway of his office. "Hey, Mindy, this office was not made for two, you know. Can you work in Dr. Schulman's old office for now until we figure out where Paul is going to be?"
"Danny, I can't work in an office that was obviously decorated for a man in his late 60's. Oh, God, I don't want to get a trigger for that horrible day when I wore that ridiculous menswear-inspired suit to work and ran into the old guy on the elevator wearing the exact same suit and instagrammed it. Even more, I'm still so bummed I lost so badly in the 'who wore it better' office poll. You know, Danny, ever since that day, I refuse to wear blazers. Anyways, Dr. Schulman's office seems like it might be a perfect fit for you…so what if you worked there today?" Mindy said sweetly with a knowing smile and couldn't help herself. "I'm willing to work in your office, decorated for a man in his early to mid 50's with the jazz fest posters, Rothko prints, and photo of Yankee stadium decor."
"Mindy, we are both in our 30's you know," Danny reminded her yet again, and threw his hands in the air. He missed this back and forth when she was gone, but he had work to do, and he liked to work in his own space. "Okay," he resigned and settled opposite her across his desk and started typing away on his electronic charts. He let out a Danny-sigh as he sat down. Why does Mindy always seem to get her way with me? Ten minutes went by without them talking, just the sound of typing on their computers.
"Hey Danny, can I run a patient by you?" Mindy asked.
"Sure, what's up, Min?" Danny stopped typing to look at her. She ran the patient case by him, they debated back and forth, pulled up a few journal articles and then formulated a plan together. Mindy felt better, since the patient was coming in later that afternoon for an appointment. They resumed their charting in a comfortable silence.
4:30 pm. Mindy powered down her laptop with satisfaction after a productive day. "Hey, Danny, I'm taking off for Boston a little early to see the parents and visit some med school friends. See you at the conference on Saturday, and can you save me and Lisa a seat next to you in the conference room? I know you'll be there before me since I'm coming in from Concord."
"Sure, no problem. Who's Lisa?" Danny asked.
"Oh, she's one of my really good friends from med school who stayed in Boston for her residency. You''ll like her, she's cool." And with that, Mindy left work a little early and headed to the airport to catch her flight to Boston.
