It was never easy for Danny Castellano to admit when he made mistakes. He was always so determined to show that he was a real man, and real men know their own minds. They follow their heads and make sensible and rational decisions. Not mistakes.

This time it was different. He was more than willing to admit to himself that he had monumentally fucked this up. He had been anything but rational in his decision to end things with Mindy and now the continuous dull ache he felt in the pit of his stomach served as a constant reminder of his idiotic decision.

He finally had her, this magnificent woman he had held at arm's length for so many years. She had seeped into every facet of his life, even accompanying him during his hardest moment. He needed her there when he saw his dad and she made everything feel better. So why did he screw things up? He used the excuse that working together and being together was too much and that he didn't want to ruin their friendship. In reality, he was afraid of how fast she appeared to fall for him once his feelings were out in the open. But surely sooner or later she would remember what an arrogant and grumpy old jerk he was and leave him anyway. Ending things during a heated argument over an ex was impulsive, but it just seemed to happen.

What he hated most about the break up was knowing that he had caused her unnecessary heartbreak. Had he kept his feelings to himself in the first place, never kissing her all those months ago, she would probably still be floating around in that Mindy bubble of hers, blissfully unaware of his attraction to her and getting on with her life. Instead he had blind-sided her with his feelings and swept her up in the excitement of the relationship, only to effectively drop her abruptly from a great height back down to Earth right when she was really, really into him. He knew all of this, and he hated himself for it.

Now he had pushed her away, all of the excuses he used for ending things were the very things he craved now. He had told her that spending all day and all night together was too much. But now he was a desperate man, seeking out as many opportunities to see her as possible. He wanted to touch her at any given opportunity, like giving her a 'friendly' pat on the arm when they chatted. He wanted to make her laugh, cracking desperately lame jokes to make her smile. He wanted to go and find her and talk about all kinds of crappy TV shows during his breaks just to watch her talk animatedly about stuff he didn't really understand. He knew he was acting like a puppy dog but he couldn't help it now.

She had cottoned on to his desperation, though. One evening when he turned up on her doorstep with some lame excuse about borrowing something, she had finally snapped, telling him to cool it. He had been the one to end things after all, so spending so much time together now was too painful for her. It was painful for him too, but he felt he deserved the agony.

They had both worked hard to maintain their friendship after the break-up. During one of their post-delivery TV-watching sessions at the hospital, Mindy had told him that she was going to take a break from dating to concentrate on her work and herself. It stung to know it was a direct result of him breaking her heart, but it sated him to know that she wasn't looking for his replacement any time soon. He had chastised himself inwardly for his selfish reaction to this. After all, he had wasted no time in finding someone new to fill the void left behind by Mindy. This new relationship was nowhere near as significant as the one he shared with Mindy, but he felt determined to prove to everyone that he had moved on. It didn't last of course. The second she realised he still had feelings for his ex, she was out the door.

Now he sat alone in his apartment, drinking Bourbon and tinkling away at his piano. He was trying (rather unsuccessfully) to master yet another Billy Joel classic, but he mind kept drifting back to his ridiculous mistake in losing Mindy. The pain was acute tonight, because he knew she had ended her no-dating phase and agreed to go to dinner with the father of a teen patient. He has advised her against it in his role as 'friend', spitefully suggesting she would be compromising her professional integrity. And all because he felt searing jealousy at the thought of her moving on with her life.

Danny was being unfair and he knew it. He had been a complete ass by letting her go and now that she was moving on, he wanted to pull her right back to where they started on that plane. His heart beat fast as realisation dawned on him. He was done being the puppy dog, done feeling sorry for himself and regretting the mistakes of the past. It was time he fixed them. He stopped playing his tune, rising from his piano stool and heading to the kitchen to pour himself another glass of Bourbon… of Dutch courage. He knocked it back forcefully before picking up his phone. He listened for the ring, fingers tapping impatiently on the counter top.

"Uh…. Morgan? Hey listen man. Did you catch the name of that restaurant Mindy was heading to tonight? I have to see her. Right now."

Mindy sat across the table from this incredibly handsome man. He was slightly older than her usual type (even Danny), but he seemed charming enough. Charming enough to break her dating drought, at least. But not enough, it would seem, to hold her attention long enough to stop her thoughts from drifting to the handsome jerk who had told her not to come on this date. She shuffled uncomfortably in her seat as she felt anger bubble slightly inside her.

How dare he? He had completely eradicated any right to give her dating advice the second he captured her in the passionate embrace that caused her to fall for him so inexplicably quickly. He certainly had no right to dictate how she lived her life after dumping her. She felt a knot in her stomach as the heartache of things ending washed over her for the four millionth time. They had only been together for about six months when he stopped things. But the pain ran so much deeper than other break-ups. When things had ended with Casey, it was awful. But with Danny, it was like a cold hard blow to the back of the head. As quickly as she had realised that she had fallen for her best friend, said friend snatched away the dream.

Recently he had been irritating her beyond belief. He was always there. She wanted to be left alone to grieve for their lost relationship. Not constantly reminded of his gorgeous smile and dorky jokes every ten minutes. She hated it when he was nice to her because it made it so hard to distance herself from him. Remaining friends was so incredibly difficult, but the notion of having less than friendship was even more torturous. So friends it was.

A concerned tone in the voice of the man opposite her dragged her from her sad thoughts. Oh God, what had he been saying? What had he asked? She smiled politely and made some excuse about white wine making her sleepy (lame!) to explain her absence of concentration. She attempted to listen more closely throughout the main course, nodding sweetly along and chipping in with questions in all the right places. She knew she wasn't being her usual self. She hadn't been for months.

She looked curiously at the mouth of the man talking to her. She wondered if his lips were as soft as Danny's. What the hell? Shut up Mindy. She looked into his light blue eyes. Hmm. Cute. But they didn't crinkle in that adorable way that Danny's deep brown ones did. Shit. Shit. Shit. She was pulled from her thoughts once again, but this time it was because she thought she saw Danny shoot past the window. Aw man, now she was imagining him too? She looked back at her date, laughing rather too loudly at something he said about pineapples. He seemed pleased with her response at first, but when the laughing stopped abruptly he turned his head to follow her eye line.

Danny.

"Hey uh… Sorry buddy. I'm sure you're a real nice guy. Well as nice as a guy who hits on his pregnant teenage daughter's OB/GYN can be…"

"DANNY!" Oh boy, she looked mad. But he continued, deciding that what he had to say next would (hopefully) change her expression soon.

"..But I am going to have to ask you to leave, because I really, really need to talk with Mindy and I think you'll probably feel a bit uncomfortable if you're still here when that happens."

Mindy rose from her chair, throwing her napkin on the table with so much force it caused her date to flinch. She stormed towards Danny, eyes blazing. She was standing so close to him that he could feel her heavy breaths on his face.

"You cannot turn up during my date to do this, Danny. Just who do you thing you are?" she hissed.

She was trying to be quiet enough to not alarm her dinner companion, but all hope of that was lost. He was already slipping out of his seat, frowning deeply and muttering something about nut jobs. Mindy watched him march out of the door, quietly impressed that he lasted as long as he did on the date, considering she was blatantly day-dreaming for eighty percent of the meal.

Danny seized her hands, but she pulled them away angrily. His touch was too agonizing. She sat back down, gesturing pointedly at the seat across from her. He was smirking now, and she felt like punching him in the face for being arrogant enough to turn up at the restaurant. He was wearing his blue hooded jersey and dark jeans. He was sweating profusely and had obviously ran to get there. He looked too god damn handsome and she looked down at the flickering flame of the candle to avoid the eyes that she could feel burning into her.

He couldn't help smiling. He was laughing nervously at the situation, knowing how dangerously close to a When Harry Met Sally moment this was. She was looking down, avoiding his stare. She looked vulnerable and he wanted to reach across and hold her hand again, but felt he knew what her reaction to that would be. She was wearing a bright blue dress which complimented her skin tone and made her look radiant. His breath caught at the sight of her when he arrived, and he felt crazily jealous to know she was dressed like this for someone that wasn't him. There was nothing left to do now but speak. That was why he was here.

"Min… I… I'm sorry I ruined your date". He so was not, his irritating grin being the biggest give away.

"Why are you here?" She finally looked up, cautiously. Her voice was soft and slow. Her guards were up and she was frowning. He could see tears glistening in her eyes just as she lowered her head again upon him noticing.

"I just….I can't get you out of my head, Min. I made the biggest mistake of my life ending things with you and I can't stand the pain any more. It's just…. You scare me. You are so wonderful and I am so... I don't know. You are my best friend, I was scared of losing our friendship but instead of building on that I threw it all away. You have every right to walk away right now and tell me that I've had my chance but… I am so in love with you, Mindy." He trailed off quietly, hyper-aware that he had never said those words before. To anyone. Sure he'd said 'I love you' to Christina, but he'd never told anyone that he was in love with them. He couldn't take his eyes off her. Her head rose quickly at these words, that tears that had pooled in her eyes falling silently down her cheeks. He had no idea how she was going to respond.

"You're in love with me? How can that be? I though guys didn't break up with girls they secretly want to be with?!" She didn't mean to sound so bitter in her response, but his own words from the desert had haunted her every time she dared herself to dream they might one day reunite.

"That… That was a mistake too… I have no excuses for saying that now. I just know that I was wrong and all I want is to be with you. Please… please forgive me for being the biggest jerk of all the fucking jerks you've dated."

Her face softened, but she still eyed him carefully through squinted eyes. He had tears in his eyes now too and she could hear the fear in his voice.

"Danny… You're not a jerk. Well not that much… You were the best guy I dated. I loved being with you. I loved you". She fiddled with the hem of her dress as she muttered her acknowledgment of her feelings. Her cheeks burned and her mouth was dry.

"Loved? As in not anymore?" He asked quietly, afraid that speaking any louder would cause her to respond with the answer he was dreading.

"Well um… I could never quite switch off those feelings once I realised them. So I guess. Love, present tense, would be more appropriate." She laughed nervously at these words. His grin widened and he tentatively reached for her hand, pretty sure that she'd take it this time.

"Please tell me we are going to make another go of this, Min. I will spend the rest of my life making this up to you. I don't deserve it, I know but…."

He was cut off by her leaning forward and gently kissing the top of his cheek, just below his left eye. It was tender and full of affection. She leaned back and smiled sweetly at him.

"We all make mistakes, Danny. Don't… don't be so dramatic." She laughed softly, lightly punching his arm to lighten the mood. "Let's get out of here. We've got some lost time to make up, right?"

He watched her raise from her chair and begin to put her coat on. He sat for a few moments, mesmerized by how beautiful she was before remembering that he should be standing up and actually moving. She giggled as she watched his gaping expression. Any anger she had felt previously had now dissipated. She had to admit that gently teasing him about finally admitting to a mistake would be fun.

As soon as they had paid and stepped out of the restaurant, he placed his hands around her waist and gently pressed his lips against hers. Neither of them had forgotten how it felt to be in each other's arms, but now he gripped her preciously as though he feared she would disappear through his fingers if he looked away.

"I am never letting you go again, you understand?" He looked deeply into her eyes, searching them for validation that she truly understood. She responded with a deep kiss and he could feel her smiling into it.

And he never make the same mistake again.