Lindsay was sobbing by the time her cab reached her apartment. "I'm sorry," she managed to say as she handed the cabbie a wad of cash.

"It's ok, honey," the driver, an older man around his 50's, said.

Sniffing, she slid out of the cab and entered her building. She cried all the way up two flights of stairs, down the hall and into her apartment. Upon entering, she slid to the ground, leaning up against the closed door. After several minutes of crying her sobs began to die down, but then she glanced down at her left hand and saw her bare finger, causing her to dissolve into tears once more.

After 30 minutes of pure tears, she had a horrible headache and was desperate to talk to someone – anyone. With a quivering chin, she hit speed dial 2 on her cell phone. It rang and rang and she was terrified that it would go to voice mail. Finally someone answered.

"Hello?"

"Stella…" Lindsay wailed.

Stella knocked on Lindsay's door 15 minutes later, armed with a box of tissues and a carton of Triple Chocolate Chunk ice cream. Lindsay let her in, still sniffling, and retreated to the living room, where she curled up on the couch and cocooned herself in blankets.

"Linds…. Do you want to tell me what's going on?"

In response, Lindsay pulled her left arm out of the warm protection of her blankets and thrust it in Stella's face.

"What? I don't get- " She stopped abruptly, seeing that Danny's diamond engagement ring no longer adorned her finger.

"Barbie won."

"Lindsay, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. He's an idiot." She broke out into a fresh set of tears. "I should have known this would happen! Who was I kidding? I'm just a stupid farm girl from Montana!"

"Lindsay, that's not true!"

"Yes, it is!" she insisted, tears flowing down her face.

Stella held out the box of tissues out to Lindsay, who snatched it out of her hands and pulled out one to wipe away her tears. She then spotted the carton of ice cream lying on her coffee table, untangled herself from the blankets and padded into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Stella asked.

"Spoon," was her one word answer. She retrieved the spoon and returned to her cocoon on the couch, this time digging into the carton of ice cream.

Stella let her eat for a moment, but then decided that she needed to know the whole story. "Linds, what happened?"

"I gave the ring back," Lindsay said through a mouthful of ice cream.

"I know that, but why?"

"Barbie."

"Care to be more specific?"

Lindsay sighed. "Fine…."

Flashback

"Lindsay!" Danny called her name as she left work and began to walk towards the subway. She ignored him. He ran after her, pushing people out of the way. "Lindsay!" he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into a little side alley. "We need to talk."

"I have nothing to say to you." She informed him, struggling against his firm grip on her upper arm.

"Seriously, Linds? Are ya gonna throw this all away over nothin'?"

"Nothing? You call what you did last night nothing? What you've been doing for the last 3 weeks? That's 'nothing' to you?"

"Please enlighten me, O Informed One," he said sarcastically, "what have I been doing for the last 3 weeks?"

"You've been spending twice as much time with that Barbie Doll than you have with me. That's what you've been doing for the last 3 weeks!"

"Barbie doll?" he repeated blankly. "You mean Leila?"

"No, Danny, I mean Stella!" she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"She's an old friend! We had catching up to do!"

"We're engaged! We have a wedding to plan!" she shot back.

"Linds, you're gettin' all worked up for no reason!"

"I can't believe you!" Lindsay's eyes welled up with tears.

"Linds, don't cry!" Danny pleaded, a tortured expression on his face.

"Oh, so now you care about my emotions. You're a little late for that!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you always said that I'm your number one priority, and really, I wouldn't mind if I wasn't. But you're EX GIRLFRIEND seems to be more important to you than I am. You've lied to me, you've ignored me, you've basically shut me out of your life!"

"Lied to you? When did I ever lie to you?"

"Oh, I dunno, try maybe YESTERDAY! I believe your exact words were 'I think I'm gonna have a guy's night tonight.' Instead, I find you watching a movie at home with your ex girlfriend practically sitting on your lap. I let her make fun of me. I let her tell me that I'm not good enough for you. I let her be cruel and rude to me, and I still tried to give her a chance. But this? I don't think that I can let this go." By now tears were streaming down her face and her voice kept catching in her throat. "Marriage is about trust and loyalty. How can I marry somebody that I'm not even sure I can trust?"

"What – what are you saying?" Danny's face was stricken with fear.

Lindsay slid the ring off of her left ring finger and dropped it into Danny's palm. "Why don't you go give that to Leila?" she asked bitterly and walked away, leaving a stunned Danny standing all alone.

End Flashback

"Lindsay! I'm so sorry!" Stella exclaimed when Lindsay had finished the story.

Lindsay shrugged. "Maybe I'll go back to Montana and milk a cow," she said, echoing the words of Leila.

"No! You've got to stay and fight! You've got to show that piece of plastic that you're stronger than she is!"

"It's too late, Stella. The battle's over. Barbie won."

It began to rain as Danny walked to the subway. He kept fingering the ring – Lindsay's ring – in his pocket, wishing that he could turn back time and make things better. He managed to keep all of his tears in until he reached home when they all came gushing out at once. Normally he'd feel ashamed to cry. As a child his father always said 'Real Messer men don't cry, Danny. It's a sign of weakness.' He didn't feel ashamed now, or weak for that matter. He felt empty, alone.

There was a knock at the door. Lindsay? Danny took off his glasses and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, replaced his glasses on his nose and opened the door. His heart sank. It wasn't Lindsay. It was the last person on the face of the planet he wanted to see right now. It was Leila.

"Danny! What's wrong? Have you been crying?" She asked in a rush.

"Go away," he told her.

She ignored him and tried to push her way inside, but he blocked the doorway.

"Danny!" she persisted. "What's wrong?"

He fished around din his pocket and pulled out the ring. "This is what's wrong!" he roared. "I lost the only girl I ever loved and it's all because of you!"

"You got rid of her? Finally! Now she can go back to Farmer Land where she belongs and I can stay here with you where I belong.

"Don't you talk about her like that!" By now the neighbors had begun to come out of their apartments and peer down the hall to see what was going on. "Lindsay was right! You're a shallow, self-centered, conceited Barbie doll! Now go away! And if you ever come back or you ever even speak to Lindsay again, I swear I will break every bone in your body!" he hissed through clenched teeth. With that, Danny went back into his apartment and slammed the door in Leila's perfect Barbie doll face.

A/N Holy Crapola! I was gonna make you guys wait for this chapter, just out of pure meanness on my part, but you guys were so good w/ reviewing (like 8 in an hour...yeah, wonderful) so i gave to ya! And, before you all get mad at me, ik that "Please enlighten me, O Informed One," line isn't something that Danny would really say...but I really wanted to say it! lol. so there. i'm the author i can do what i want. mwahahaha. ok..next chapter up soon, yes?

xoxo

lia