"Morgan go HOME! I'm not going to get robbed again. I don't have anything left..." Mindy's voice faltered as she stormed toward the door.
The knocking got more insistent, and as she threw open the door Danny rushed her. He wove his hands into her hair, but she managed to catch his lips with her hand before they reached her lips. He drew back again with a hurt look and that's all it took to set her off. "What the hell are you doing, Danny? You just dumped me. Get out, and you can take that puppy dog hurt look with you."
"Mindy I'm sorry," Danny began.
"You're sorry. You're sorry. I've heard that so many times tonight. It doesn't mean anything."
"I AM sorry. I got scared."
Mindy's lips drew into a grim line. "And what happens when you get scared again?"
"I...I don't know. I can't promise I won't get scared again."
"Then don't start this again. Just leave me alone." She waved at him to go.
"Listen, I can't promise I won't get scared again, but I meant what I said. I have to have you in my life. I tried to walk away just now and it felt...it felt like I'm fucking dying."
"Danny, please don't do this. I have no willpower and I'll give in, and you'll just hurt me all over again the next time you get spooked."
"I'm not gonna get spooked." He reached out and put his hands on her shoulders.
Mindy shrugged him off. "Yeah? Because you couldn't even tell our closest friends that we were dating, but you were awfully quick to let Brooke think that this was a date in front of everyone."
"Brooke?"
"Yeah, Brooke. Pretty, skinny Brooke. You were happy to flirt with her in front of a whole room."
"No, no, no. Screw Brooke!"
"You already did that."
"Hey!" He looked genuinely affronted.
"You don't get to hey me. You ask me to sneak around for weeks because you don't want anyone to ruin it. You said you weren't embarrassed of me, but I don't remember you hiding Christina. Or Eyepatch. And now Brooke. I see a pattern here and I don't want to be your chubster on the downlow."
"What?"
"That's what Peter calls the girl he screws in secret. And let's be honest that's all this is."
"That's not... how could you think that?"
"How could I think that you only want me when no one else knows about us? Oh, let me think..."
"Mindy, I'm not embarrassed of you!" he interrupted.
She shook her head. "Well, Danny you don't have to be embarrassed of me. You let me go. I'd like you to leave."
"I'm not leaving until you talk to me."
"You want to talk now? Now you want to talk? Where was this Danny 20 minutes ago?"
"I want to talk. It was a mistake to walk away. I can change things. I can do it, for you. I want to do it for you."
"Danny, you couldn't even bend enough to go public with us. How are you going to change enough to stick around for 20 years? I'm too old for this. I can't just hang around waiting for the other shoe to drop."
"What other shoe? I get scared, you know that about me."
"You flake. I did that before, with Casey, waiting for a man to choose me first. He loved me and he asked me to marry him. If I wouldn't wait for him, why would I wait for you?"
"I... You're right. I flaked. But it's not because I don't... I feel..." Danny paced, hands in pocket.
"Beautiful speech, Danny. I'm totally convinced. Let's get back together."
"Really?"
"No, not really!"
"Listen, I'm just asking you to have a little faith in me. I want this. I want us." He gestured between the two of them.
"But not as much as you want my friendship. You were very clear about that."
"I'm not clear about anything." He grabbed her hands. "Except this. I was stupid about it, but I just wanted to find a way to keep you in my life. And when I walked away I realized that's not what I want. I know what it's like to love you now, and I can't go back. I can't go back to being friends."
"Love me?" Her eyebrows raised, forcing the tears that had been gathering to finally fall.
"You asked me why I started this. I started this, I kissed you because I had no other choice. I fell in love with you, a day at a time and when I kissed you it was because I couldn't just be the friend who helps you write love letters or the friend who drags you to meet his estranged father. I wanted you by my side for that, and I realized as I sat there telling you what to write to Cliff that I want you by my side for everything. You think I hid us from everyone because I was embarrassed, but I'm not. I hid us because nothing, NOTHING in my entire life has meant as much to me as this. Not my family, not my marriage, not becoming a doctor, and definitely not someone like Brooke. Nothing. And I wanted that all to myself for just a little while."
Tears trickled gently down her cheeks, retracing the pain from their discussion earlier. "Why didn't you just say that?"
"We haven't been together long enough. We still fight too much. We were just coworkers up until weeks ago. I don't know how to tell you that I want more already. That I want a future with you. That I want forever with you."
"Haven't been together long enough?" Mindy shook her head incredulously. "You said it yourself, we'd been on hundreds of dates. You weren't the only one in this, Danny. I don't know that I'd put it the same way, but I was there with you, the whole time, learning to love things you love, trying to understand you, trying to find a way to be with you. You were never alone in that, and it hurts that you didn't know that."
He pulled her into his arms. "You're right. You're right. I was so afraid of messing it up, I thought I could prevent a lot of pain by calling it off now. I didn't even think that you might be in as deep as me. I'm sorry. I was stupid and reckless with your heart."
Mindy pulled away a little and smiled through the tears. "You absolutely cannot recycle that line, Danny. It worked on Cliff, but it won't work on me. I'm going to need more than that."
"Okay. How about this? Mindy Lahiri, I love you. I love you like I've never loved anyone before. You are my best friend, and I want you in my life. But I want you in every part of my life. I want to go to sleep with you and I want wake up next to you. I want to make all my mistakes with you. Especially this one. Because if you can get over this mistake, we can get through anything. I was stupid, and I'm going to be stupid again." He wiped her tears away and kissed her hair. She sniffled softly and he smiled. "Just have faith in me that at the end of the day I want to be with you, more than I want anything else in this world."
She kissed him softy. "Danny, I want that too. How are we going to do this, though? We've just survived a humiliating party. Peter's probably never going to forgive you, by the way. Everyone thinks I'm a sex freak..."
Danny chuckled. "You're my sex freak."
"And Betsy's in love with you."
"Yeah...I don't know what to do about that."
"Waiting to tell them about us has made it a million times worse."
"It's my fault, I'll fix it. Tell me who you want me to call first."
"By all means, give them a call. Call them."
Danny smiled. "Can it wait?"
"Excuse me?" Mindy pushed him.
Danny scooped her up and started toward the bedroom. "I owe you a proper apology."
"Danny! You perv." She giggled into his neck as he laid her down on the bed.
He kissed her with a wicked grin. "And pancakes."
Mindy sighed happily. "Sex AND pancakes? Deal."
Notes: I actually loved the breakup. It was organic and the timing is appropriate and I can see how people are mad at having this yanked away so quickly, but I have faith in the storytelling that exists in the show so far, so let's double down and see how this plays out, right?