"Are you pregnant?"
Mindy had gotten used to that question over the last few weeks; when you suddenly up and married a coworker, people tended to gossip about it ad nauseum. Looking up from the file she was perusing, she pulled off the thick rimmed glasses she was wearing. "I'm sorry, Tom, I didn't realize that was any of your business." Digging into the pockets of her lab coat, she searched for her pen only to find Tom offering his fountain pen to her. "Thanks…"
Tom folded his arms, "I guess we're both married now, huh? I suppose that means we can be friends again…so as your friend I can tell you that I'm concerned for your well being."
Furrowing her eyebrows, she looked up at him. "Friends? We were never friends…we were dating, quite seriously, I believed, until you dumped me three hours after meeting my parents. You can forgot all about my well being, thanks."
"Come on, not that again…it had nothing to do with that. You can't keep taking it so personally?"
Staring at him as if he had twelve heads, she scoffed. "Excuse me? I can't take the fact that you dumped me and married the Serbian bagel girl three months later PERSONALLY?" She put her hands up in defeat. "Nope, you know what? I don't care anymore. I'm married, Tom, see?" She waved her hand at him, showing off the wedding rings she was wearing. "Danny and I are very happy together." Grabbing up her charts, she headed to the doctor's lounge.
"Mindy!" Tom huffed and followed after her, "Come on, I wasn't trying to start a fight, I was just…offering my congratulations." He sat down beside her on the couch. "I never figured you and Danny…" He shook his head. "Honestly I thought he hated you."
"Why would you say that to me? Danny is my HUSBAND!" She snapped. Anger boiled up inside her, "Why are you even here anyway? There's literally no reason that someone would need their teeth fixed at this time of night…why don't you go home to your wife the war criminal."
Tom stood, dusting himself. "I wish Danny luck…he's going to need it putting up with you." Storming out, he let the door to the lounge slam behind him.
Mindy lay back on the couch, rolling her eyes as she stared up at the grey ceiling. It didn't matter what Tom said. Checking her cell phone, she had two texts…a part of her secretly hoped that one of them was from Danny. Then again, he hated texting. He said that people had lost the art of communication and preferred to talk on the phone. Seriously who preferred to talk on the phone in this day and age!?
Typing in her password, she opened up her texts. One was from Gwen…invitation to the annual Christmas Eve party. She had to talk to Danny about it, he had been talking about driving out to East Hills a couple days before Christmas and helping Billy decorate the house. Mindy wasn't so sure that was a good idea…Danny was putting on a big front but he hadn't talked to Billy since the blowup at Thanksgiving and she wasn't looking for a repeat performance. Besides, Greenwich wasn't that far from East Hills…
The second text was from Danny's mother…she'd taken it upon herself to Google search all the houses for sale in the immediate area and sent the addresses to Mindy to look at. She really wanted her son and daughter in law nearby…hitting delete, she rolled onto her side. She wasn't sold on the idea of giving up her city life just yet. Most of the time she slept at Danny's place but she still kept her apartment just in case. Buying a house together seemed so…permanent.
She must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing she knew, a gentle hand was brushing the mussed hair from her face. "Rise and shine," He said, "I got you one of those chai things you like."
Rolling over slightly, Mindy yawned. "What are you doing here?" She asked. "You're not on call tonight…"
"Mrs. Menken went into labor..." He said, leaning back in the chair.
Nodding, she sipped the chai latte he'd bought her. She was pretty well detoxed from coffee now, thanks to Danny. "You could have called me you know, I could have handled it. It was a ghost town around here…" She frowned. "The highlight of my evening was being harassed by Tom."
Danny's hand inadvertently tightened around his mug of coffee. "What are you talking about?"
Putting her legs up on the coffee table, she shook her head. "I really don't know what I ever saw in him…he's a creep." A creep with a huge…ego. "He took it upon himself to tell me that he was concerned for me…"
"Concerned about what?" He replied hotly, his temper began to flare.
"He just said he couldn't believe I married you because…you hated me." Mindy shrugged. "It was stupid, Danny, don't get all Italian on me." She took another sip of her chair. "The guy fixes teeth for a living and was hanging around the hospital in the middle of the night…clearly his life isn't as happy as he thought it would be."
"I'm going to kick his ass!"
"WOAH! Danny, no!" Mindy stood up, "No come on, we can watch that shark show you like. You know the one where they get super into catching fish and almost kill themselves. What's it called again? Biggest fish loser?"
Danny's lips quirked up in half a smile. Damn if she didn't know how to make him laugh when he was ready to blow a fuse. "It's called Deadliest Catch…"
"That's what I said…" She grabbed the controller. Flipping through the channels, she sighed. "Well the Perfect Storm is on, isn't that kind of the same thing?" Turning, she found that Danny was standing right beside her. His arms wrapped around her and he kissed her softly and tenderly. When he finished she felt like her legs were jelly. "What was that for?"
"For being you…" He replied and sat down on the couch, tugging her down next to him. Resting his arm behind her, he grabbed the remote and flicked until Real Housewives came on.
Mindy beamed as she looked up at him. He even picked Miami…she'd gotten him hooked. Yeah, he'd been really angry when she deleted 60 Minutes from his DVR. But once they started watching the drama, he seemed to settle into it. He still pretended to protest but she knew he secretly loved it. They watched for a little while before she looked up at him, "My best friend from college texted me…she invited me to her house in Greenwich for a Christmas Eve party. It's kind of a tradition."
Danny cleared his throat, "Well I always spend Christmas at my mom's…"
"Well we can still spend Christmas there. I figured we'd spend Christmas Eve in Greenwich and then head on to your mom's." She smiled. "I'm sure there will be lasagna left over, Danny. I really want you to meet my friends…Gwen is like a sister to me. Her husband is a total creep…but her kid is pretty okay, Riley. She's my goddaughter…"
Hesitating a moment, he nodded, "Yeah, sure. I mean, I guess I should get to know some of your friends." It seemed intimate for a marriage that was meant to be purely for the production of a child. He supposed that it was his own fault for insisting that they get married. "You don't want to spend any time with your parents?"
"My parents are Hindu… they don't really celebrate the traditional holidays. I used to go to Gwen's parents' house for Winter Break every year. That's the first time I ever really experienced a family Christmas." She shrugged. "But I'd like for our kids to have that experience of warm family holidays."
Kids? Danny swallowed hard. As far as he knew, they'd agreed to have one baby. Now it seemed like she had designs on a bunch; it unnerved him. "Me too…" He smiled, "I'll call my mom and let her know that our plans have changed." He stood up, "I'm going to get started on rounds. Why don't you go home and take a shower? I can check in on your post-ops."
"Really? Ugh, Danny you're the best." She pecked him on the lips. She decided to skip the subway and take a cab back to the condo. Slipping inside, she kicked off her shoes. The house was immaculately kept, thanks to her. Danny was a little bit messy but she loved everything in its place. He was an excellent cook though, something she hadn't known about him. Kicking off her shoes, she headed into the bedroom. After a hot shower, she slipped into the bed they shared. It smelled like him…musky, masculine and unmistakably Danny.
That afternoon she dreamed of their life…their family. He'd have been annoyed that she pictured three little girls chasing after daddy, tackling him and begging him for piggy back rides. Of course, she knew it was a dream because she had baked something without burning the house down. She awoke warm and content.
This was going to work…she was growing, evolving, changing…and so was Danny. Six months ago she could have never pictured herself here, completely happy in his arms. They'd made their peace with each other, come to terms with themselves as partners and friends; all that was missing now was a baby. And if the fact that her period was three weeks late was any indication, they would have something extra special to celebrate this holiday season.
That wasn't so bad of a wait, was it? Thanks for the reviews everyone, they REALLY help! :)
