CHAPTER SEVEN - Outlook Doesn't Look Good

He had a daughter. The thought kept playing over and over in his mind as he began to make his way towards the exit. Nothing could have readied him for the news that Mindy just shared with him. Never in a million years would he have thought that this was part of the reason for her leaving. Everything within him told him he should keep walking, leave the coffee shop and not look back. But he couldn't. If he were to leave, he wouldn't come back. His anger and pain would keep him from coming back. It had happened when he found Christina in bed with another man. So with as much strength that he could muster, he made his way back to where Mindy sat.

He remained standing as he reached the table. He placed both hands on either side and slightly leaned forward so that he was at eye level with Mindy.

He could barely make eye contact with her. Her leaving, he could have forgiven, but not this. How dare she make such a decision for them both. To keep the knowledge of her...their child to herself. He had a right to know. He had a right to be a part of their daughter's life. And she did it for what? Because she didn't want to ruin this hypothetical happy ending he and Christina were supposed to have. How dare she!

He closed his eyes tightly taking in a few deep breaths before opening them. His brown eyes met her own. He couldn't read her face, not as if he cared at this moment. He opened his mouth as if to say something but quickly closed it. He did this twice more before finally speaking. "How could you even think that any of the decision you made was in any way okay?" He clenched his teeth together, inhaling sharply trying to compose himself. The question had come out a little louder than he'd expected.

"You of all people knew how I felt about family and children. You were the only person, other than my family and Christina that knew what my father did." He paused briefly, the memory of his dad walking out on them was still painful. The day his dad walked out, he vowed that he would never be like him. He would never leave his kids the way his father had left them.

Pushing the memory into the back of his mind, he continued. "And then you sit here and justify what you did by making it seem like it was some heroic duty to preserve love, on your part. I didn't ask you to play match maker. And had you stuck around long enough you would have found out that Christina and I were done." That thought made all of this news more painful. Had she just waited, had she just answered the door when all those times he had come by, they wouldn't be in this mess and he wouldn't have missed over three years of their daughter's life.

"Y-You're just unbelievable!" he stuttered shaking his head as he plopped down in the seat he previously sat in.

Danny wasn't even sure what he expected from her. Her reasoning for all this would probably never make sense. Any excuse of doing what she did would probably clarify nothing. That's how Mindy was. She did things that absolutely made no sense and people just went with it. He just went with it. But not this time. This was too big! Any other secret he was sure they could move past, but not this. He was unsure if he would ever forgive her of this...betrayal. Her keeping this from him was worse. It was worse than finding Christina in bed with another man. Even worse than realizing that Mindy was gone.


Mindy was numb. She had taken in the truth of his words. She couldn't look him in the eyes. What had she done? All this time wasted and for what? She knew the answer. She finally had her answer. She didn't leave because of his words. She left because of fear. Fear that he'd chosen Christina. Fear that he would resent her for having to give up his happiness if she told him. She couldn't live with that. She couldn't live with the thought that he would stay with her out of duty. What a silly way to think. This wasn't her. Who was she? Who had she become?

Mindy hadn't even realized the tears that were beginning to escape her eyes. The confrontation of what she had done, had taken its toll on her. She'd been lying for so long that now that she had to face the truth, it was overwhelming. Quickly wiping at her eyes, she met Danny's. His face showed some internal struggle as if he wanted to comfort her but was entirely too upset with all that happened to even try. She couldn't blame him. She'd just told him a secret that betrayed any trust that he ever had in her or would ever have in her again.

His words stung. He was right. She knew how he felt about family. She knew it all and yet she'd still made that decision four years ago to run and keep this all for him. It all seemed so much clearer then and made so much more sense. Now she just felt like a complete...jerk. She cared about Danny and had never wanted to hurt him in this way.

"Danny, I-I can't put into words how sorry I am for keeping this from you. For running." she said finally speaking. "I was just-I was scared Danny, alright?" There she'd said it. She admitted to him that her decision came out of fear. Fear makes you do stupid things, he could understand that right?

"No, it's not alright Mindy." Was his response. "You can't just make decisions like this on your own. This didn't just involve you!"

He was right of course. She should never have done it. Her thought at the time was, "she would never run into him again, this could possibly not hurt or affect him in any way." She was selfish. Don't get me wrong, Mindy had always been selfish, but she'd always had the best interest of others in her thoughts as well. She thought she had his best interest in mind when leaving. She couldn't have been more wrong.

"Damnit girl, you have to really start thinking things through clearly, before you do them." She thought to herself. Funny how you always think of these things in hindsight, when it no longer does you any good. Stupid brain!

She let out a sigh before speaking. "Look man, I don't know what you want me to say. This was stupid. I know that. Trust me. I've lived with this decision for four years. But there's nothing I can do about it. What's done is done." She looked down at her hands that were nervously placed in her lap. "I know that no matter how many times I say, I'm sorry, it wont fix things. It wont make this right. But I am sorry." She looked back up at him, her eyes sincere. Still holding a trace of the previous tears she shed.

"Are you sorry Mindy? Are you sorry for what you did or are you sorry for the fact that I ran into you and you had to come forward?" Those words surprised her. Could he honestly believe that she was only sorry because now he knew. Did he think she was that awful of a person. She was somewhat offended at his thinking.

"Of course I'm sorry for what I did. How could you think otherwise. Danny, you should know I wouldn't do anything to purposely hurt you. But obviously, you don't know me well enough." His words had hurt her. Why couldn't he just understand that she didn't do this to hurt him. She did this for him. So he could have his happiness. Granted that it turns out that his happiness was with her this was all in vain, but how was she supposed to know that he had come to some epiphany during his getaway with Christina. "You would have known, had you answered the door when he came by." Voiced the nagging voice in the back of her mind. "Oh shut it, no one asked you." Was her response to her inner self.

"This is such a mess. Where are we supposed to go from here Danny?" She wasn't sure if she had meant it as a question. She wasn't even sure she wanted an answer to it. In a movie, they would find a way to get through this climax of the story and find their happy ever after. He'd forgive her for everything, he would meet Cecilia and see what a wonderful job Mindy had done raising her. They would fall in love all over again and live happily ever after. But this was no movie. This was life. Mindy's life and if her past was any indicator of how things would go...the outlook, wasn't so good.


AN:

Sorry for the delay folks, been pretty busy this week. Been On call all week and weekend for work. But here is the new chapter. I know it's short, please don't murder me! lol

As always thank you all for the reviews/reading this story. Your support/kind words mean the world!

yazraz: Thanks for your kind words. Here is an update. Sorry for the wait :) I hope you like it!

Kiwiflea: Thank you! I agree about the Gwen thing. She does seem to give out good advice (reminds me of the time that her and Mindy were in her office during "Danny Castellano is my Gynecologist" and Morgan gives the advice about the warrior. Loved that episode. But again thanks for your reviews!

Rawr Olivia Grace: Thanks as always for reviewing and hope you like this chapter :)

Joy Booth: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Glad I am getting the characterization right :). I feel that since it has been 4 years and Mindy is a mom now, she's not as much of a hot mess as she is on the show. So glad they are still staying in character even with their...growth I guess you could say.

Eire sky: Thanks so much for taking the time to read and review. I hope you like this one :)

Patricia: Thank you! Hope you like this one as well!

quisinart4: Thank you! So glad you loved the whole danny/mafia hiring someone to kill her bit. haha it was one of my favorite parts to right. Kind of lighten the chapter a bit. This one unfortunately, had to be a bit more somber of a chapter, so no "funny-inappropriate" things to say in this chapter. Hope you like it!