A/N: Soooo. I'm crazy amazed at the reviews/comments that last chapter got. Thank you all so much. I really don't know how to explain how much it means to me when people have the urge to comment on the stuff that I've written. I'm really liking this fic right now. Here's one more chapter. I typically write with an omniscient voice, and not from one specific character's point of view, but I do try to either focus on either Mindy or Danny's thoughts and feelings per chapter. This one is a Danny chapter... the next one will be a Mindy one I think. I'm going to be away for the next two days (eating a ton of turkey and arguing with my family), so there won't be a chapter until (at the very earliest) Friday night. As always, please feel free to leave comments. I adore hearing what you have to say.

Danny was happy. In the back of his mind he knew it was ridiculous. It wasn't real, but somewhere along the line he had decided to take what he could get. He could lose himself in the imaginary for one night. He wasn't risking anything doing it this way. The possibilities of the night stretched out before him in an endless array.

He glanced at Mindy out of the corner of his eye, surreptitiously gaging her reaction to the kiss. She looked thoughtful as she touched her lips with her free hand before she downed the rest of her wine. So, she wasn't unaffected. Danny felt himself smiling as he devoured the food on his plate with gusto, occasionally turning and chatting with Mindy's uncle about baseball, while Mindy interrogated Rishi about various things.

As dinner wound down, Danny felt her staring at him again. It was a warm tingling sensation on the back of his neck, one that he'd been experiencing for months now every time she walked into a room. He turned to her, glancing down at her plate. Her food was basically untouched. "Are you ok?"

She toyed with the glass of wine, recently refilled by an attentive waiter. "Yeah, um, I'm fine." She picked it up and took a swing. "Perfect actually. You've charmed my family. They no longer thing I'm a hopeless spinster. They have hope for grandchildren. False hope, but whatever." She absentmindedly swished around the wine in the glass before shrugging and gulping the rest of it down.

She leaned back in her chair, waiving her arm in the air, trying to get the waiter's attention again. She'd already had several glasses by now, and was feeling strangely melancholic, yet also uninhibited. "Yoo hoo. Waiter person." She picked up her glass and gestured to the wait staff with it.

Danny put his hand on the flailing arm, drawing her back toward himself. "I think maybe more wine is a bad idea. You really want to make a scene at your parents' anniversary party?"

Mindy did her best impression of a sober person, sitting ramrod straight with her shoulders squared to Danny. "Who said anything about making a scene?" She blinked at him, her face the embodiment of innocence.

The waiter had made his way back over to their table, holding the bottle of wine like a baby. Danny waived him off. Mindy frowned at Danny, but didn't call out. He looked at her knowingly. "I don't know. You plus copious amounts of alcohol in a public venue usually ends in a scene." He smiled at her, reaching over and squeezing her shoulder, hoping to elicit a similar response.

She raised her head slightly, looking up at him through slightly hooded eyes, a little twitch at the corner of her mouth the only sign of her slight shift in mood. "Danny, that's literally the most apt description of my social life I've ever heard. You should be a writer." She flipped her hair back over her shoulder. "But when you write me, I need to be six inches taller and married to a senator, or maybe Anderson Cooper… Although there are just some liberties a memoirist shouldn't take. Oprah might call you out on that one."

She drifted off, and Danny laughed. He was glad she snapped back so quickly. He didn't like a melancholy Mindy. He hated it when she began to sound hopeless about her future, and he certainly didn't know how to reassure her. He could only tell her she would eventually find some great guy. He could tell she only half believed him when he said it. Each time, he found it more difficult not to shake her. He was right here.

Somewhere in the hall music struck up. Mindy perked up, her eyes sparkling as a bright smile spread across her face. Danny felt a pain in his chest as his heart constricted. He felt a lump in his throat, and breathing suddenly seemed like an impossibility. He'd had no idea he was this far gone.

She scooted her chair away from the table, grabbing Danny's hand. "Oh, this is where you can shine. Show my relatives what a catch I have. Distract them with your moves so I don't have to hear about my cousin Vera's pretentiously perfect husband, and their irritatingly flawless children."

She almost bounced along, excitedly bobbing to the music already, dragging him behind her to the dance floor. There were already a few other couples dancing along the edges of the open area, but Mindy pulled Danny all the way out to the center.

She pulled him close to her, attempting that awkward middle school dancing she always did when she was slightly tipsy. "Oh, god, Danny. Let's hope your dance skills are contagious. I'm just tipsy enough to be fighting the urge to do the hustle." She laughed up at him.

He was still feeling overwhelmed by his realization, but Mindy's enthusiasm relaxed him. He looked down at her. Yeah, they weren't together, not really, and tomorrow she'd probably be texting him about some 'hot' guy she met in line at the deli, but right now she was encircled in his arms, with a huge smile across her face. It is what it is. He'd take that, for now.

He quickly rearranged their limbs into a semblance of proper dance positions, and ran his hand down her side, letting it rest on her hip. He pulled her along, leading her in the steps, resulting in a semi-coordinated pattern.

The music picked up pace and so did they. Hips swinging, shoulders dipping, they traversed the dance floor. Danny spun her once, and Mindy, a bit dizzy, clung to him when she returned, nearly breathless. She laid her head on his shoulder. "I think I may have had too much wine for this. My head is spinning. Can we slow down for a second?"

Danny complied, guiding her over to the corner, not letting go though. As if on cue, the music changed. A slow piano melody tinkled over the air. Mindy relaxed, still breathing slightly heavily. She sighed into Danny's shoulder where her head still rested. "This was a good night. I can't remember when spending time with my family ever went this well."

Danny closed his eyes, and swayed with her. "Your family loves you. They just want you to be happy." His arms wrapped around her waist, holding her close. "I do too, Min."

Mindy pulled back from him, giving him a serious look, her eyes questioning. "You do too… what?"

Danny frowned slightly. "Want you to be happy." He was confused. He didn't understand what had prompted her strange look. He quickly went back over their conversation in his head. Suddenly it hit him. It had sounded like he was telling her he loved her. That's what she'd heard.

He swallowed, deciding to pretend he had no clue why she was looking at him like he had antlers growing out of his head. "Why wouldn't I want you to be happy?"

Mindy's face relaxed a little, a fleeting look of disappointment chasing across it, gone so quickly Danny wasn't sure if it had actually ever been there. "Oh." She laid her head back on his shoulder.

Danny was kicking himself. He was so inept at saying what he felt. He sighed. "I'm glad you had a good time tonight."