Title: Baby, I'm Not Like The Rest
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even Danny, unfortunately.
AN: Okay, this is my first story in English, so please be kind, I'm really nervous about it.
I looked it over a thousand times and so did my lovely friend Haley who I thank, but you never know, and yeah, the title is lame, but I couldn't come up with anything better.
It's based on a few generic spoilers and what I'm hoping is going to happen.
Also, I feel like maybe I went overboard with the movie quotes and the pop culture references. Sorry about that.
I really hope you enjoy.
Danny remembers the moment he realized he was in love with Christina like it was just yesterday.
They were eating that awful pizza from the place they met on his couch, watching a documentary about yet another engineering marvel, when she dropped one of those greasy slices on her white blouse.
He remembers mentally preparing for a breakdown that never came: she just stared at the mess for a few seconds and then started laughing hysterically, more and more, until she couldn't even breathe, and that was it for him.
He was done for.
They got married six months later, and when they swore eternal love to each other, Danny knew, he just knew, that he would have never loved anyone else.
That feeling in his gut only grew stronger when he found her in bed with some random guy she worked with, shattering his entire world in the blink of an eye.
Everything stopped making sense, all the plans they had made, all the hopes and dreams, all gone until one morning, Danny found himself watching Mindy.
Mindy Lahiri of all people, slept peacefully next to him and he realized that even though he didn't know when or how, he'd ended up falling for his crazy, annoying and incredibly loud co-worker.
They had started sleeping together a few months earlier.
It was Morgan's birthday and they'd both had way too much to drink.
"Danny, stop trying to make me laugh with your stupid Charles Brando impression." she said, after everyone else had left the bar to go meet Morgan's grandma.
They'd managed to avoid the awkward situation by giving everyone the day off, including Jeremy.
"I'm heartbroken, okay? I really thought Casey was the one."
"Well, then why didn't you go with him to Haiti?" he asked, genuinely curious. The alcohol in his system made him feel bold.
"I don't know." she replied honestly, running her fingers through her long dark hair: "I guess it just didn't feel right."
Danny only nodded and ordered another round of shots that they both downed without saying a word.
"What about you?" she whispered after a few minutes, as if someone was eavesdropping their conversation: "You never told me what happened with Christina."
"None of your business."
He regretted those harsh words the moment they left his mouth, and the sad look on her face made him visibly wince.
"Whoa, douche Danny. Hadn't seen you in a while..." she slurred, trying to get up, but failing miserably because of her drunken state.
"Hey hey hey, let me help you." he said, taking her hand in his and stopping her from falling on the disgusting floor of the pub.
"I don't need your help, I-" she began, but she was interrupted when he sighed out loud: "I'm sorry, okay? I guess it still stings, or whatever."
"What happened?" she repeated, looking him straight in the eyes with her drunken gaze.
Danny sighed again: "I guess it just didn't feel right."
Before he had time to even realize it was happening, Mindy leaned in and kissed him full on the lips.
"Does this feel right?"
He stared at her in silence for a second too long, and just when she was about to turn around and run away, he reached out to touch her hand again and covered the distance between them with one step, kissing her just like she'd kissed him, and ending the conversation for the rest of the night.
Their first encounter was all he could think about that morning at the office, and after the big realization dawned on him just a few hours earlier, Danny just couldn't seem to concentrate on his work.
He was behind on patient files and in no mood for consultations, so he asked Betsy to clear his schedule for the day to be alone and… think about the Mindy situation.
God, he hated this.
How could he have let this happen?
How could he have fallen in love with the most irritating person he'd ever met in his entire life?
She doesn't even know who Bob Dylan is man, get a grip.
When they had first started sleeping together, they'd agreed to keep it casual.
"That stuff I said last night, about us feeling right, I didn't really mean it. Drunken words, am I right?" she had said the morning after, with an embarassed smile.
Drunken words are sober thoughts, he'd almost wanted to point out, but he just played along and pretended like it had never happened, because there was no way he had actual romantic feelings for Mindy.
No goddamn way.
Of course, they'd both kept dating other people, but they'd never seemed to be able to start a serious relationship with anyone else after their first night together.
"Well, at least we've got each other." she used to repeat after every disastrous date, showing up at his house at ungodly hours, still wearing one of those tight dresses that drove him crazy.
Only they didn't have sex all the time anymore, most times she'd just bring one her stupid romcoms and she'd force him to watch it with her.
Not that he really minded, although he'd never admit it.
It had started feeling weird, not having her around all the time.
It had started feeling wrong, when some guy would show up at the practice to pick her up for a date.
But Danny discarded those thoughts, because there was no way he cared for her more than he cared for any of his other friends.
She thinks that Henry Styles kid is cute, come on now, he's like twelve.
Then the night before, they'd gotten into a huge fight about how apparently he just doesn't understand how much the guy from The Walking Dead loves Keira Knightley in that British movie, and instead of rolling his eyes at her, he had actually started an hour long conversation about a romantic comedy and he had almost enjoyed it.
He knew something was off when they went to bed, and he knew it was because he'd loved her for as long as he could remember.
Sighing, he got up and grabbed his coat, wanting to clear his head with a walk in the park, when Mindy barged into his office, almost panting. "Oh my God, Danny, you've got to see this dude Maggie's hooking up with, he looks just like your friend Stevie and-"
"You're a really great doctor." he declared, interrupting her.
She looked confused. "O..kay, well thank you, Danny."
"You're smart and amusing, for the most part. I mean, I still think that subscribing to four different gossip magazines is insane, but you're pretty amazing. And you're really hot. And not all of the music you listen to is bad."
Mindy was genuinely worried now. "Are you okay man?"
"I just don't want this." he blurted out, gesturing between the two of them, while starting to sweat profusely. "I don't want us to be a thing."
If those words hurt her she covered it up pretty well. "We aren't." she replied, pursing her lips together.
"Yes we are Mindy, it just happened, and I'm not saying it hasn't been nice, I'm saying it needs to stop."
His mind was screaming at him to shut the fuck up, to think this through, to get out of there before he ruined everything.
But he just couldn't stop. "Look, we would just never work out in the long run, so it's better to stop this before someone gets hurt."
Mindy adjusted her glasses nervously before speaking. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll send Morgan to get the stuff I left at your apartment."
"He doesn't know about this, you should-"
"Everyone knows about this." she almost hissed, blinking rapidly, as if she was trying not to cry.
He left the room without saying another word, and when he stepped into the elevator, he was greeted by none other than Brendan Deslaurier. It suddenly dawned on him what had just happened in his office.
He was Brendan Deslaurier.
He treated you badly? He's an idiot for treating you badly, I mean he's an idiot anyway, but...
Danny stormed out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened, and before he knew it he was buying a pack of cigarettes and smoking for the first time in ages.
Who's the fucking idiot now, Castellano?
He walked for miles without a destination, doing what he should've done earlier, before he messed everything up.
He thought about the first time they met, about how much her optimistic attitude and bubbly personality had annoyed him at the time, he thought about how badly Christina had hurt him and how hard it had been to finally let her go when she showed up again earlier that year.
You let her go because of Mindy, though.
He had never asked for any of it, he'd never asked to be her friend, never asked her to care, he had just wanted to be left alone with his pain, and he had been so absorbed in it that he hadn't even realized that she'd been there all along.
And now he had gone and fucked everything up.
Mindy called in sick the next day, and the day after that.
Danny was worried, but he didn't dare try to call her.
"You need to give her time, Danny. She got over it with me after a while." Jeremy said on the first day of Mindy's absence, but Danny couldn't help but feel like even more of a jerk every time he thought about it.
Morgan stopped by that evening to collect Mindy's things.
"So... Did you guys really break up? Like, a 'give me back my chainsaw' kind of breakup?"
"We were never together in the first place, Morgan."
"Really? Well I guess it makes sense since you guys are my best friends and you never officially asked for my blessing. You have it, by the way, so if that's what's keeping you apart, you don't need to worry about it anymore."
After Danny assured him that was not the case for a solid twenty minutes, Morgan finally left, giving him time to finally call Mindy for the first time in two days.
No answer.
He couldn't muster up enough courage to try again.
"Dr. Castellano, is Dr. Lahiri alright?" Betsy asked on Mindy's third day off work.
"I'm sure she is Bets, she's probably just not feeling well or something." he answered quickly, hoping to get away from that conversation as fast as he could.
"Oh. I just thought you'd know, since you two are..."
Danny couldn't take it anymore, he didn't even let her finish. "I'm taking the day off too!" he announced when he was far enough away to avoid any kind of protest.
Later that night his Mom called to check up on him.
"What's going on, sweetheart?" she asked, knowing something was wrong almost immediately. "You sound even more tired than usual."
Danny sighed. "Nothing, Ma. Just people at work."
"Mindy again? I thought you two..."
"Yeah, well, it didn't work out."
"Why?"
Danny almost wanted to scream at her to drop it, but it was his Ma and if he wasn't honest with her, then who else did he have?
"I screwed up, I-I got scared."
She chuckled sadly. "Oh Danny, when are you gonna get it through your head?"
"Get what through my head?"
"That she isn't Christina. Quite the opposite, actually."
And that's all it took for him to snap the fuck out of it.
"I gotta go."
"Hurry up!" was all she said before he hung up and got out of his apartment so fast that he forgot to change out of his pajamas.
He started running, like the kid from that same dumb British movie that ignited the whole thing a few nights before.
He was outside her door in less than fifteen minutes, as sweaty as he'd ever been.
He knocked several times, and then the knocking turned into banging. "Mindy, I know you're in there, the XFactor auditions start airing tonight, you wouldn't miss it for the world!"
The door opened abruptly, with Danny almost falling on his face.
"What do you want, Danny?" she asked, looking away from him, trying to hide her puffy, tired face.
"Have you been crying?"
God, what a stupid question, you're such a dick, no wonder she probably hates you now.
"Yeah, I have. I mean, Britney isn't on the panel anymore and the show is just falling apart!" she lied, wiping away a single tear.
"Ew, you're even sweatier than the usual. And why are you wearing your pajamas? What's going on?"
"Can I come in?"
"Hell no." she shouted, and well, Danny expected as much.
"Fine, then I guess I'll have to do this here." He cracked his neck, shoulders and knuckles, as if he was about to do a somersault.
He looked into her deep brown eyes and then, as corny as it was, let his heart do the talking. "Min, I'm really sorry. I panicked, something wasn't right and I just couldn't wrap my head around it, and when I did, it scared the crap out of me."
"I'm gonna need you to be more specific." she said, still not looking at him.
"The other morning, before I told you all that stuff..." He took a deep breath. "Look, I'm not Reed, and I'm most definitely not Deslaurier, alright? I would never have led you on for so long."
She was looking at him now, more serious than she'd ever been. "What are you trying to say?"
"I'm trying to say that I meant it when I told you that my ex-wife ruined my life. She messed me up so bad that I couldn't even see that I wasn't messed up anymore. And I have you to thank for that."
She smiled briefly, and with that, his heart was pounding so hard that he was sure Mindy's neighbours could hear it.
"Mindy." he started again. "I'm just a boy, standing in front of a girl, asking her to-"
"Don't you dare." she screamed, actually screamed, and tears started to well up in her eyes again. "Don't you dare if you don't mean it."
For the first time that night he tried to touch her, and when his fingers softly caressed her cheek, she didn't pull away.
"I mean it."
"Say it, then."
"But the surprise is ruined now, I mean-"
"Say. It."
Danny tried to hide his amused look. "Alright then. Mindy Lahiri, I'm just a boy, standing in front of a girl, asking her to love him."
Mindy pulled him into a long kiss, like the magical stuff she saw in movies, where the world stops for a while and the camera does a 360 around the couple.
When they pulled away to catch their breaths, Mindy was smiling.
"I love you, Mindy. So much. I'm sorry it took me so long to catch up."
She nodded solemnly, her arms still around his neck. "You just got stuck."
He laughed loudly at that, and he couldn't help but think that only a few months before he would've sighed in annoyance. "Enough movie quotes for tonight, yeah?"
"Okay." she agreed, before kissing him again.
"Am I forgiven, then?"
"Not even close, buddy."
They entered her apartment and she closed the door behind them.
"I'll do whatever you want, but under no circumstances will I watch Honey Boo Boo with you. That's just not happening."
"I was thinking something more along the lines of wild sex, actually."
Danny smirked and took off his t-shirt with a swift movement.
"Ew, gross, take a shower first, man."
He chuckled and started walking towards the bathroom.
"Oh, and Danny?"
"Yeah, babe?"
"I love you too."