A/N: This is sort of an interim chapter. It's a necessary stepping stone to the next one. As always, I love your comments, criticisms, and suggestions. They are helping and encouraging.

CH 9

It was Friday. Three days had passed since the "date." That was how Mindy was referring to it. Mentally giving the word quotes when she thought of it. It hadn't really been a date, had it? Danny certainly had played the part there for a little while, but it had all but disappeared once they'd said goodbye at the door.

The next morning at work it had really been business as usual, even though Mindy found it hard to look at him the same way. It turned out it hadn't been so hard to pretend the "date" had never happened. At least not for Danny. Mindy was even a little miffed at how easily he returned to is cantankerous self.

He'd been standing at the secretaries' desk flipping through his mail when she'd stepped through the elevator doors at 9:05. Without even looking up from the papers he'd said, "Late as usual, Dr. Lahiri." Then he'd tucked his mail under his arm and stalked over to his office.

She'd followed after him, not bothering to stop by her office first. "Excuse me? It's 9:05, Danny. Not exactly a crime." He'd already been sitting at his desk when she'd popped her head through the doorway. He'd barely looked up from his correspondence only to give her one of those patented "Danny Castellano has more important things to do" looks.

She'd huffed and started to stomp away from his door, but he'd called after her. "You're late, and you didn't even go running this morning. Not a great way to start the day, that's all."

Rather than respond, she'd just ignored him and continued on to her office. Ignoring him had been what she attempted the rest of the week, but she found herself staring at him sometimes. She'd remember that brief moment on the dance floor pressed up against him, or the touch of his hand brushing against her skin as he toyed with the ends of her hair. For a moment she would forget where she was, snapping back only when someone pointed it out.

Unfortunately, it was usually Danny that snapped her out of it. In the lounge at the hospital she'd found herself staring at him while he was watching TV. She'd assumed he was so engrossed in whatever disgusting man show he was watching that he wouldn't notice. After a couple minutes the pleasantly gravelly sound of his voice cut through her daydreaming. "Why do you keep doing that, you're giving me the creeps. Seriously, Mindy, it's like you're plotting to kill me or something."

She'd blinked and leaned back against the uncomfortable sofa, turning her attention back to the TV. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Alright, she was being weird, but how could he expect anything else. He'd basically displayed a clear case of multiple personality disorder, and now had reverted back to Danny #1.

He'd muted the TV and angled his head toward her. "Oh really? I've caught you doing that like five times today. Is there something wrong with my face?" He raised his hand and touched his cheek in inquiry. She found herself staring again. His eyes widened. "God, Mindy, what is it?"

She'd blinked and turned away from him. "It's just that.. well, nothing really. You're exactly the same as always." She'd grabbed the remote from his hand flipped through the channels until she found something filled with Kardashians.

Not even remotely satisfied with that answer, Danny had turned to fully face her. "Mindy."

No more "Min" huh? She frowned, but had continued to ignore him, and he'd given up and got up off the sofa.

He'd let out an irritated grumble. "I can only assume someone famous has had something truly terrible happen to them, and you're too emotionally shaken to talk about it, so I'm gonna get out of here, and leave you to your 'reality' show."

After that he'd left and she hadn't seen him before her next delivery. This morning he hadn't said a word to her when he'd walked in at 9:00. Not even to comment on her punctuality. He'd just grunted in passing, his nose stuck in a file. It was like the "date" had never happened.

And now she was in a bad mood. There was no helping it, and the fact that it was because of Danny irked her even more. How had he gotten under her skin that night? Right now he was either feigning disinterest, or he'd been faking really well that night.

She let out an irritated whine and slapped the file on her desk shut. She leaned back in her desk chair and placed her hands over her face. Never in a million years did she think hanging out with Danny one damn time could cause her this much irritation. She couldn't even pretend it wasn't about him.

She pulled out her phone for the twentieth time today and pulled up the photo of him from that night. He looked so different. So much less scowly. She felt a little warmth course through her when she looked at it.

Her phone unexpectedly buzzed and Mindy jumped as though she'd been shocked. The phone bounced to the carpet underneath the desk. Her heart was racing in her chest. God, it was like she'd just been caught doing something embarrassing. She glanced toward her door to make sure no one had seen her jumpy behavior.

She crawled under the desk to retrieve it, but couldn't quite reach it. She scooted even further underneath. She'd just brushed it with the tips of her outstretched fingers when she heard someone clearing his distinctly rattley throat. She groaned. Hell.

"Mindy, as tempting as it is, I don't think you can hide from work." He let out a quick laugh. "Besides, that desk of yours isn't really hiding much."

She snatched her phone and scooted out from beneath the desk. "Do you need something, or are you just coming in here to get on my nerves?"

Danny had been briefly confused after entering Mindy's office. He'd seen her come in with a pile of files just twenty minutes earlier, and he knew she'd never left, but she was nowhere to be seen. Over the past two days he'd developed this annoying habit of keeping tabs on her whereabouts. Not intentionally. Well, not totally intentionally. He was just unusually aware of her presence.

That night after leaving her place he'd walked home instead of calling a cab. The night air had seemed unusually fresh, and the briskness left him feeling hyper alert. He'd walked a couple blocks and felt this weird little ache in his jaw. He was smiling, and had been since he'd left her at her door.

That night had left him with an odd sensation of completeness. It wasn't that he just had a good time with her. It was more than that. For the first time in several years he had let go of the neuroses that he usually got hung up on. Seeing Ed and Elena again helped too.

When he'd stepped through the door of his apartment, all of the warmth from the night quickly evaporated. Whatever familial sentiment there had been before was confronted by the cold and empty reality of his living space. Ed and Elena weren't his happy parents, and Mindy wasn't his girl.

He'd been playing a part, and he'd gotten caught up in it. Elena had leaned in a whispered in his ear. "Danny, she's good for you. I haven't seen you happy in so long. Take a chance, hon." She'd withdrawn with a loving pat on his back.

He hadn't known what to say. She'd shaken him a bit. Did Mindy make him happy? It was hard to figure out. Off the top of his head, he could only think of the times she irritated him. The more he thought about it though, the more he realized that maybe Elena had been right.

By the time morning came, and he still hadn't made it to sleep, Danny had come to the realization that he'd come to rely quite a lot on her for his daily dose of cheer. It freaked him out a little. She'd become intricately woven into so many aspects of his life.

Wednesday morning, she'd breezed into the office slightly after nine. He'd heard the elevator doors slide open, and didn't need to look up to know who it was. Everyone else was already there. He recognized the cadence of her stride and even imagined that he could smell her perfume on the air.

The fluttering in his chest returned once again. He steeled himself against it. He had to do something about this burgeoning reliance he felt. He needed to reestablish boundaries.

Now though, seeing her bottom wiggling around underneath the desk, he forgot about those boundaries and a fluttering of a different kind afflicted him. He felt a groan creeping up and covered it with a joke.

What had he come in here to do? He cleared his distracted thoughts. "I have one of your files. Betsy put it in my inbox instead of yours."

She stood up completely and quickly took the file from his outstretched hand. She looked down at it. "Mrs. Bowden. That's right. We need to re-file with her insurance carrier. What a pain in the ass." She flipped through the other papers in the file, exhaling a frustrated gust of air that flipped her hair across her face.

The phone clutched in Mindy's hand began to buzz again. She looked down at it then back up at Danny. "I have to take this. Maggie's been pestering me all day. I think I've avoided her as long as possible." She tapped answer and put the phone up to her ear.

Danny stood in her doorway awkwardly caught between wanting to slink out unnoticed and the urge to eavesdrop. Mindy wasn't paying any attention to him so he didn't make a move to leave.

"Maggie, I've told you, I'm not really interested in that kind of thing….. Well, no, but ….. You don't understand. I've got to play catch up this weekend, I have so much paperwork… " She was pacing as she spoke. She was trying very hard to get out of whatever Maggie had planned. She stopped and frowned. "Who are you calling boring?... A firefighter? Like in those calendars?... I mean I guess I could clear my schedule tonight…."

Danny's felt a little wave of jealousy engulf him and was surprised. He wiped his suddenly sweaty palms on his thighs, fidgeting. Mindy turned toward him as she finished the call. "Give him my number, we'll meet somewhere after I get off… Love you too."

She looked up at him. He felt the muscle in his jaw working while he tried not to say anything dickish. She saved him from saying anything by speaking first. "Maggie's always trying to set me up with her guy friends. They're not my usual types, but I've reevaluated my approach to dating. A firefighter will be a nice change of pace, plus she says he's hot." She drew out the last work, increasing the pitch of her voice.

He fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Better than some hippy dippy new age weirdo." He stalked out of her office without waiting for her to reply.