A/N: yet another continuation of "the sound of your voice" and "the feel of your skin"... At some point I should probably just make this a story by itself. I've totally lost control of it (in the best way possible I think). Smut, yet again. Oh well. Thanks so much for the reviews on the previous chapter, they made my cold heart grow three sizes :P.

It was quiet. The sound of an owl hooting somewhere in the distance the only thing filtering through the mesh screens of Alan Castellano's guest bedroom, riding on a gust of cool night air. If anyone were to ever ask Mindy what an acceptable form of camping would be, this would be her answer. Going to stay in a fully furnished house in the middle of nowhere, nature at your fingertips if you wanted it, a soft mattress and fluffy pillows equally accessible.

There wasn't a light glowing in the entire house, not a streetlamp for miles, and yet every single thing around her was illuminated, bathed in the glow of a full moon. It was a strange sight to her, seeing everything in stark detail, and yet not being able to discern any colors. Her mind played tricks on her, telling her what the colors of things were, simply from memory, but in reality everything was just varying shades of blue.

She turned slightly, to look at the face of her bedmate, jostling him slightly as she angled herself for a better view. He was practically glowing in the moonlight, dark lashes fanned out against the illusion of alabaster skin, his equally sooty hair falling across his forehead. If not for the faint rattle at his chest, she would have thought he was a wax figure, perfectly sculpted by the hurts thrust upon hi.

Today had been tough for him, tougher than she'd really expected. She'd always known his bravado was an act of sorts, that beneath the sometimes suffocating machismo, there were hurts that even he dare not delve into. But it had been years since this particular wound had been inflicted, and she'd assumed, wrongfully, that he'd been able to put it behind him.

She lifted her finger, carefully tracing the seam of his lips, a puff of air rushing from his nose tickling her. The heat radiating from him contradicted his moon bathed pallor. She snuggled into that heat, finding her place in the crook of his arm, head nestled against his chest.

It would have been easy to hate Alan Castellano on Danny's behalf. It had torn at her insides seeing him stand shellshocked in the doorway, staring down the man he'd spent so many years trying not to miss. She'd seen the pent up anger immediately slough away, disintegrating in the face of bald faced need.

Suddenly Danny had been thirteen again, rendered speechless at the feet of his father. She'd never seen him so vulnerable. An overwhelming urge to step between him and someone who had the power to crush him with a single word swept over her. She wasn't the protective type, usually preferring to let people deal with things themselves, but this had been too much for her.

So she'd stepped between father and son, under the guise of introducing herself, her heart unclenching just a little as she heard Danny catch his breath at her back. Things had gone a little better from that point on, although it wasn't entirely smooth sailing. All in all, she thought it had been good for him, emotionally draining, but necessary. There had been a few moments where she'd thought things were stretching him a little too far, a rubber band pulled far past the point of elasticity.

There was one thing even she hadn't expected, a surprise that totally threw Danny for a loop. He had a little sister, not even the age Danny himself was when his father walked away. Little Daniela. Mindy wouldn't call her Danni, it didn't seem fair somehow, a constant reminder that Alan had started over, hit the reset button on his life seemingly without a care for those he'd left behind.

Danny had a soft spot for children, she'd seen it with Riley, and again in the awed gaze he gave his little sister. Daniela had possibly been the only reason he hadn't gone through with his plan to sock his father in the jaw, some hairbrained scheme to show him the man he'd become without him. Instead of fisticuffs, or angrily hurled insults, Danny took a lot of walks, dragging Mindy out into the desert, yelling his frustrations out at the open sky, his voice cracking at the most telling moments, taking his frustrations out on the plant life.

She burrowed in closer, suddenly feeling the need to envelope him. The memory of the last little walk of the evening making her heart swell for him.

It was dusk, the nocturnal creatures already beginning to make themselves known, crickets chirping, and the occasionally super eerie coyote howl as the sky slowly became a conflagration of color, pale blue somehow morphing into fiery red.

They walked in silence, making their way to what was quickly becoming a very familiar joshua tree. He whirled on her, and in another time it might have scared her, his jaw clenched so hard she could see the muscle working in his temple. "Do you know what the worst part is?"

She shook her head. Clearly this was unfamiliar territory for her, and while she could sympathize, she couldn't pretend to know what it was like.

"I don't hate him. I never did." She'd never heard such simple sentences infused with such anguish. "How pathetic is that?"

"Danny… he is your father… it's understandable."

"No. It's not." He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans, turning away from her. "I didn't hate him, Mindy, because I didn't blame him. I thought, we must have done something wrong, and I spent a lot of time blaming my mother for something she didn't do." This time his voice did more than crack. She could hear his throat close up as the tears pooling in his eyes threatened to spill over. "Then I realized that was stupid. She worked so hard. It couldn't have been her fault, and Rich was just a baby, so that left him out of the blame game too."

He laughed bitterly, dashing away the moisture spilling onto his cheeks. "I spent an entire year making lists, lists of things to change so he would come back. If I wasn't a pudgy little loser, maybe he'd come back. If hit a home run, maybe he'd come back. If I made straight A's, maybe he'd come back."

She didn't like the way he was standing away from her, shoulders hunched protectively against the outside world, but she was almost afraid to invade his little bubble, so she just let him continue.

"Eventually, there was nothing left to change, and he still hadn't come back, and I realized that I would always be me." Finally he turned back to her, eyes so full of pain it sent a dagger through her heart. "I'm not stupid. I know it wasn't my fault, that I was just a kid, and eventually I was able to see that, logically, but there's always been this part of me that thinks I'm not good enough for anyone to stay." He took a deep breath, pulling his hand out of his pocket to gesture angrily back toward Alan's home. "And that, that just feels like a fucking confirmation. I know it's not logical, but I still feel replaced." He let out a long shuddering breath. "Tell me I'm an idiot for feeling this way. Tell me that a sweet little girl has nothing to do with this shit."

His stance had changed once again, the coiled of tension inside of his muscles slowly unwinding, his shoulders slumping as he let out a long breath. She took the opportunity to slide up next to him, arms threading around his torso as her head tucked up under his chin. "You are an idiot. You will always be you, and no one can replace you." Biting her bottom lip, she weighed her next words carefully. "Trust me, I tried so hard to find someone to fill this weird Danny shaped space inside of me, and it never worked."

"What?"

She blushed, grateful for burnishing glow of the slowly setting sun. "Danny, this isn't some spur of the moment thing, okay? I just…" For a second it felt like she was on the edge of a cliff, her toes peeking out over the precipice. Her stomach dropped, but she plunged forward anyway. "I've liked you for a really long time… all of you, even the grumpy sometimes mean parts. I mean, physically, there was always an attraction there, but you instantly pushed me away, so I sort of… compartmentalized that and just tried to be your friend, because I thought you really needed one."

"I did… still do."

She nodded. "But I each time we inched closer to one another, it made it harder for me to accept the fact that I was going to end up with someone that wasn't you. I mean, I pursued a lot of guys, I mean a lot. We're talking-"

He interrupted her. "Alright, alright, I get it."

"And none of them were you." She swallowed, tucking her head back down again, afraid to look at his face. "Don't ever think that people can just go out and find a replacement, let alone something better."

"Thank you." He hugged her close, tilting her chin up slightly so he could reach her lips. It was a different kind of kiss for them, gentle, like plucking the strings of a harp. Mindy felt the chords resonate within her, the vibrations drawn up from the tips of her toes, singing through her.

They walked back to the house in silence, this time companionable, a weight having been lifted off Danny's shoulders.

Tracing circles on his chest with the tip of her finger, Mindy frowned at the thin cotton shirt keeping her from his skin, unconsciously making a soft little whine. She didn't want to wake him, but a part of her still basked in the novelty of it all, hating every moment she spent waiting to touch him again.

Her fingers traveled up to his chin, relishing the tickling sensation of his stubble against the delicate pads of her fingers. She wanted to memorize the lines of his face like this, peaceful in sleep, the ever present wrinkle between his brows smoothed out.

"That tickles." The words croaked out, still soaked in sleep, causing her to abruptly pull back, but not quickly enough. He caught her hand, pulling it back to his lips, this time pressing a gentle kiss to the pads of her fingers. "I like it."

For a minute, she didn't know how to react, simply staring into the dark depths of his eyes, irises black in the pale moonlight, an impish smile playing at his lips. She could feel him against her leg, tangled in the sheets as they were. He shifted to pull her closer, his hand slipping down between her legs.

She sucked in a surprised breath, whispering harshly at him. "Jesus, Danny, we're at your dad's house."

"We'll be quiet."

She shook her head, undermining her denial by pressing against him, her own lips seeking out the heat of his skin. Nipping at his earlobe, she whispered to him again. "I get to be on top then."

He groaned, but she captured it with her lips, withdrawing only as long as it took to shimmy off her silk shorts, encouraging him to do the same. She climbed on top of him carefully. The last thing she wanted to do was fall off the tiny bed.

Danny chuckled softly at her cautious movements, hands reaching up to bracket her waist. She reached down, putting a finger against his lips, mouthing 'quiet.' He obliged, eyes fluttering shut as she took hold of him, guiding him into her.

They went slowly, Mindy staring down at him in the moonlight, leaning back as his hands roved over her. When they stopped to palm her breasts, she slipped her own over them, brushing his knuckles as her nipples pebbled under his touch. Her lips pursed in an effort to be quiet as she rose and fell over him, resulting in a low chorus of hums.

It had never been like this before, not with him, not with anyone really. If, no when, she told Gwen about it later, she would definitely call it making love, his gentle touch coaxing her closer and closer to the edge.

She wasn't going to be able to keep quiet. In a desperate move she jerked Danny's hand away from her breast, pressing the heel of it against her mouth. As the stars exploded behind her eyes, she involuntarily sunk her teeth into the fleshy part of his palm, hearing a sharp intake of breath as he bucked beneath her one last time.

She leaned forward, stretching languidly against him, the aftermath of her pleasure making her as limp as a noodle. His hands found their way to their favorite place, slipping through the silk of her hair before traveling down her back and resting on the gentle curve of her bottom. She moved to roll off of him, but his grip tightened. "Stay."

"Danny, I'm crushing you."

He shook his head, eyes already drifting shut. "You fit perfectly."