A/N: Someone submitted an anon fic prompt to alittlenutjob on tumblr and she suggested someone else do it. This is my attempt. :D
Prompt: a fic where they all have a healthy/weight loss challenge (in an au where Dandy continued in secret after be cool) and Mindy goes a little overboard and passes out at work (a la Kelly) and that's how they all find out she's pregnant, like they do a bloodtest on her after she passes out and find out? But she didn't know either.
She feels strange, like her head is wrapped in cotton, people's voices echoing from miles down a tunnel. She closes her eyes, trying to concentrate on what was being said, but once her lids crash down, there's no reopening them.
She sways, her knees buckling beneath her as she collapses to the floor, her last conscious thought being how lucky it is she's wearing her workout clothes and not one of her favorite short skirts. She's totally wearing her surgery panties today, the wide white ones that usually don't see the light of day.
When she does regain consciousness, it's utter chaos. People yelling around her, a cacophony blocking her attempts to tell everyone she is ok. She gives up, closing her eyes once again, allowing her other senses to relay whatever pertinent information she needs.
She's cradled against someone's chest, her head lolling against his shoulder, a familiar cologne wafting up to her nose, mixed with the distinct yet not unpleasant tang of perspiration. The space they're in is close, and the heat of many bodies slightly jostling against her gives her the slightest feeling of claustrophobia.
She opens her eyes again, this time concentrating on her surroundings, making her brain connect the colors and shapes around her with their meanings. The elevator. She's in the elevator and Danny is holding her, cradling her like an injured child, trying to yell over Morgan. "In or out Morgan. We have to get her to the hospital. Hurry up."
She glances at Morgan, the overly dramatic kicked-puppy expression on his face elicits a giggle, creeping through the fog. The arms encircling her tighten, and suddenly her vision's filled with Danny's face. His worry lined, perspiration streaked, face. So full of questions. "Mindy, are you, ok?"
She tries to nod, head still swimming slightly, but unexpectedly she feels a little sick, a nausea with no explanation causes her to squeeze her eyes shut once again, this time pursing her lips against the urge to gag.
Morgan slips into the elevator, bumping up against Beverly, pushing her into the corner. "Hey, watch it, Sasquatch!" The two begin to bicker, and Betsy at Danny's side, fingers her little golden cross, reciting some prayer. Just as the elevator doors begin to slide shut, a meticulously manicured male hand slips between them, shoving papers in Danny's face.
A sotto British accent adds itself to the discordant sea of voices around them. "Get her to sign these, release the practice of liability."
Danny's patience completely runs out, and he snaps. "God Damn it, Jeremy. My hands are kind of full right now, if you couldn't tell. And it's no time to be thinking of stuff like that right now. Stop blocking the fucking doors so we can get a move on." He looks around the elevator at the rest of his office mates. Tamra and Morgan wearing matching track suits, Betsy in her baby pink yoga pants and matching top, Beverly wearing what suspiciously looks like prison issue sweats while she argues with Morgan about whether or not it's an insult to call someone sasquatch. "And the rest of you, shut the hell up, or get the hell out!"
Jeremy rolls his eyes at Danny's theatrics and shoves the paper work in Betsy's hands before withdrawing to let the doors glide shut, and the rest of the idiot parade quiets down, all silently watching the numbers on the elevator light up as it descends.
Mindy finally opens her eyes again, feeling a little better, the fog in her mind beginning to clear away. She tugs at the collar of Danny's shirt, dipping her finger beneath the material slightly, to brush at the skin in the hollow of his neck. This draws his attention back to her, and he takes in her now clear eyes, and little half smile. Breathing a sigh of relief, he asks, "You ok?"
She nods, feeling a little sheepish. "I just think I overdid it, with the fitness competition thing, you know?" She squeezes his bicep where her hand is resting. "I'll be fine. We really don't need to go to the hospital."
He frowns. The "fitness challenge" she's referring to had been Jeremy's idea. He never truly got back to his normal healthy behavior after descending into stress eating, and thought it would be a good bonding thing for the office to do together, but, as with so many things at Shulman & Associates, the thing quickly devolved into childish competition. Mindy, perhaps, being the primary instigator, ribbing other's about their dedication.
So, yes, there is a distinct possibility that she'd overdone it, jogging too much before work, or not hydrating properly, but Danny is no stranger to dehydration, and this isn't it. Neither had she cut down her caloric intake dramatically. He'd seen her eat a fairly large bowl of oatmeal this morning, negating any of its healthful benefits with the heaps of brown sugar she'd scooped on top. Shaking his head slowly, he continues his train of thought. "No, you're going to the hospital. I don't know what caused you to faint, but if there's any chance there's something serious going on, we need to know."
She looks around her, resigning herself to Danny's plan of action. "Why are they coming anyway?"
Danny frowns, grumbling to himself. "Nosy bastards."
Morgan pushes to the front of the elevator, getting unnecessarily close to Mindy's face, he puts his hands on either side, squeezing her cheeks together like a little child. "Dr. L, don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you. You're too important. You're like the mother I never had."
Danny backs away, shrugging Morgan off, snorting. "You have a mother, Morgan."
The nurse rolls his eyes, doing his best dramatic spin in such cramped quarters, throwing his hands up in the air. "I know that, but she's like the one I didn't have."
Danny sends out a little prayer of thanks when the elevator dings, alerting them to their arrival on the ground floor. He shoves Morgan out of the way and carries Mindy through the lobby, stopping briefly to hail a cab as he leaves his everyone else standing on the curb. They can make their own way to the hospital.
When they arrive, Danny is overly pushy, snapping at nurses until he finally finds an attending to see them. His little assurances of "we're doctors, its ok, nothing to see here" induce a lot of long suffering eye rolls, and Mindy hastily calls out apologies as Danny propels her though the halls in an unnecessary wheelchair.
He pulls the partition closed, giving them some privacy in an obvious attempt to hide from their colleagues, undoubtedly minutes behind them, and they wait. His impatience gets the better of him, and he picks up a little pin light, on the tray beside the bed. "Let me at least check for a concussion, while we wait."
The request seems silly to her, but the worried and anxious expression on his face soften her. He just needs something to do while they wait. She nods, reaching out to touch his wrist. "I really do feel fine now."
He ignores her, taking her chin in his hand as he gently positions her face in front of him, testing the response of her pupils quickly with the light. He feels a little bit relieved, but is still concerned. "I don't understand why you fainted, Mindy, and don't go saying it's the fitness thing. You know you haven't changed your habits that much." He swallows, feeling a little lump in his throat. The worry is starting to get to him. She can't know what it felt like, watching her collapse into the floor, being on the other side of the room, unable to catch her. The panic that seized him when he rushed to her side and she didn't immediately regain consciousness. The memory still plagues him.
The attending finally arrives, Dr. Meredith Price, one of the women on the top of Mindy's "potential colleague buddy" list. She does a quick once over. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, she suggests that they run a few blood tests. Mindy balks. "Ugh, needles? Drawing blood? Really?"
Danny bites his bottom lip, fighting the urge to grab her by the shoulders and insist upon the necessity. Instead he looks at her, openly pleading with his eyes. "Come on, Min. What could it hurt?"
She nods, again surprised by his intensity. She places a hand on his arm, drawing him closer, she lays her head on his chest, and sweeps her hand in soothing circles across his back. "Sure, fine, whatever." Raising her head to the attending, she says, "Bring on the needles."
An hour later, her legs dangle off the edge of the exam table, the tops of her bright pink tennis shoes coming and in out of her line of vision as she swings them and forth. "Danny, I'm fine, this is taking forever." She tugs on his sleeve. "Can we please go? They can call us when they get the results."
Her tone is wheedling, and reminds him of when Richie used to beg him to let him stay up past his bedtime. He smiles, bending down to kiss her slightly pouting mouth. Her fingers thread through the hair at his nape as her lips curve upward. Pulling away reluctantly, he looks down at her. "You know how they are. We might not get a call for days. Just a few more minutes."
As if on cue, Dr. Price slips behind the curtain again, and Danny's stomach drops to his toes. If it were nothing, she would have sent an intern, or a nurse. His fingers curl around her hand, clasped in his, and his palms begin to sweat again. "So?"
Dr. Price smiles, sending out waves of radiating warmth, and Mindy makes a mental note to ask her how she does it. Having this kind of bedside manner would be incredibly useful. She sets the clipboard down at the end of the little exam table, turning her attention to Danny. "Relax. Everything's fine."
The wound up tension seizing his muscles, slowly seeps out of him, and he slumps slightly, feeling a little foolish. A relieved laugh tumbles out of him, half sigh. "Um, so, why did she faint?" The concern is back, but only a whisper of what it was before.
Dr. Price turns her attention back to Mindy, smiling broadly. "Well, you're blood sugar levels were fine, and so was your blood pressure. And I looked at your chart from your recent checkups, and it seems like you have normal cholesterol, too."
"Surprisingly." Danny interjects, and it earns him an elbow lodged in his rib cage.
Dr. Price laughs, and continues. "But, you do have some pretty elevated HCG levels." Her eyes sparkle as she waits for her news to dawn on the pair in front of her.
It only takes a second, they're both OBGYN's for Pete's sake. Danny's eyes widen, and his mouth drops open as he turns to Mindy, his jaw working up and down, soundless words unable to find their way to the surface.
Mindy's reaction is a little different. She looks down, a bit freaked out, and begins counting on her fingers. After running out of fingers, she stills, peeking up at Danny, a little look of apology on her face. She holds back a little, checks the happiness coursing through her veins. She doesn't know how Danny feels about this. They've talked about it before, and she knows he has qualms about fatherhood, fears about not being good enough. She swallows. "Danny, I—"
Her next words are replaced with a little "oomph" as Danny crushes her to him, squeezing her tightly to him. She can feel it, the joy vibrating through his limbs, the wild beating of his heart against her. He pulls back, only slightly, just enough to see her face before he begins raining kisses down on it. There are tears, glistening as they pool in his eyes.
She can hear him audibly swallow, clearing his throat dramatically, trying to regain some composure, but he's so damn happy, he gives up after a second. Blinking as the tears of happiness run down his face, he hugs her to him again, this time running his hands over her shoulders, down her arms, assuring himself that she's real, that he's awake.
Finally, he turns back to Dr. Price, wiping the telling moisture from his face, he lets out an embarrassed chuckle. "You were saying?"
"Well, it looks as though, Dr. Lahiri is pregnant, as I'm sure you've figured out. About…" She looks down at the chart again, but Mindy interrupts her.
"Five weeks." Her eyes find Danny. He is shocked, yet again, this time faintly annoyed.
"Five weeks, Mindy. How did you not notice? I mean, ok. I know you're all over place, but I mean, how?" He runs out of steam, he doesn't care enough to continue this argument, he's too happy. "Well, I mean, how did Morgan not know?" He was smirking now.
The think partition flies open, and it's as if they conjured Morgan by saying his name. He calls out over his shoulder. "Found them!" He rushes to Mindy's side, slowly taking in Danny's tearstained visage, and the tight grip he has on Mindy. A horrifying thought passes through him, and he sinks to his knees, clutching at Mindy's legs. "Oh, God, no! You're dying! Please, God, no. I never got to say, good bye."
Mindy wiggles under his grasp, finally giving up and just kicking him away. "Ugh, Morgan, pipe down. I'm not dying, Jesus!"
He backs away, taking in the scene before him again, this time coming to the correct conclusion. "You're pregnant! I can see the glow! I don't know how I missed it before."
By the time this declaration escapes Morgan's lips, every single one of their colleagues are crowded behind him, and before Mindy and Danny can reply, they are engulfed in overzealous hugs and back pats. As much as she loves them all (maybe love is a strong word), Mindy just wants to be alone, or rather, just with Danny. She wants to talk and cry and eat ice cream and make grandiose plans.
Danny can feel the edginess enveloping her. "Alright, Everyone out. We're going home." He ushers everyone out of the exam area, coming back quickly. "My place?" She nods, and he helps her off the bed. "Ice cream first?"
She laughs. "Oh my god, yes."
He holds her hand as they walk home, sharing a large cup of frozen yogurt. Squeezing her fingers between his own, he finds himself studying her face, an idiotic grin spreading across his own. She looks up at him. "What? Did I get some on my face?" She wipes at her cheeks.
Shaking his head again, he laughs. "I love you."
Leaning into him, she sighs. "I know. I love you, too."