So I decided to continue this story because Mindy's viewpoint is too much fun to leave alone! I'm not sure how long this story will be yet or how often I can manage updates but I have an idea where I want this to go. Any Americans out there who notice any 'Britishisms' please let me know and I will change it. Enjoy!

Twenty-eight seconds after closing the door to her office, Mindy had her best friend on the phone.

"Hello?" Gwen answered on the third ring. Behind her voice was the murmur of children's TV, some upbeat jingle advertising something that would be hard to clean, probably.

"So we came back to work this morning after the conference and everything was cool and then this woman came out of his office, all tall and blonde and was being sexy and familiar with him. And I just don't understand how she has the guts to stand there after what she did to him. And he didn't immediately tell her to get out which was weird right? I think that's weird. Do you think that's weird?"

"Mindy? It's polite, some would say normal, to begin conversations with hello." There was a metallic clattering which made it sound like Gwen was in the kitchen. If Mindy closed her eyes she could see her friend leaning against the counter in her modern kitchen, totally frazzled. Maybe something baking in the oven. It was kind of funny to think about. Especially knowing that Gwen couldn't bake a cake to save her life. It also made her yearn for the kind of home life her friend enjoyed but which she was excluded from due to her single status.

Mindy pulled herself from her distraction, rolled her eyes, using her free hand to rub her brow. "Weren't you listening? I'm in crisis."

"You are not in crisis. Why are you in crisis? In five words or less, please."

Five words or less? Mindy thought for a moment. Could she try and use Santa Fe as one word rather than two? She didn't want to use up almost half her words with a place name. Better avoid it all together. "Erm... Conference, Danny, ex, here, gorgeous."

A short pause. "I'm gonna need some more."

Mindy sighed. "See, five words was not enough."

"Just tell me what you're talking about, why you're in crisis this time and if I'm gonna have to bail you out."

"Ha ha. No bail needed. So, we had this conference this weekend-"

"The one in Santa Fe? How did it go?"

"Mom!" Riley shouted from the background.

Gwen replied and Riley said something unintelligible.

"No, you're eating lunch in a little while. I'm talking to Mindy right now. Sorry," she said, directing the last word to Mindy.

"What does she want?"

"A cookie... Are you lying on the floor?"

"...No."

"You're lying on the floor."

"I'm not!" Mindy protested, while wondering which patient stuck gum on the underside of her desk. She would put money on it being Mrs. Swanson. She was always chewing gum.

"Whatever," Gwen said, clearly not accepting the denial for a second. "Now tell me about this conference."

Mindy, filled Gwen in, as succinctly as Mindy was able to, which was to say not succinctly at all, on the events of the weekend. Jeremy's disastrous presentation, Morgan and Jeremy's dehydration and then, because she'd run out of things to talk about to avoid the subject, Josh. She braced herself for the outburst she knew was coming. Sure enough...

"JOSH? You went to visit your ex-boyfriend?" Gwen exclaimed.

"It wasn't like that. It's not like a... booty call or something. I wanted closure."

"No such thing."

"God, you sound like Danny."

"Danny's a smart guy."

"Danny's an idiot," Mindy said, her mind travelling again to the room across the office where Danny was surely in the arms of his ex-wife. Maybe kissing her traitorous neck. Her grip tightened around the receiver. "But I'm getting to that. So, Danny said that if I had to go do this 'incredibly moronic self-destructive thing' he was gonna drive me because I'd had something to drink. Really I think he just likes to see me make an idiot of myself."

"He cares about you. He doesn't want to see you do anything stupid. He used the words moronic and self-destructive?"

"About eight times on the way to the address I'd been given."

"Like I said, smart guy."

"A little bit less judgement, please." Mindy fixed her eyes on the lint dancing in the air in the sunlight streaming through the open window. The blinds swayed slightly in the breeze. Betsy must have opened her window earlier, she was sure she'd closed it the last time she'd been in here. In the corner her plant was showing shiny, healthy looking leaves, so green they looked as if they'd been painted and Mindy wondered who'd remembered to water it. Betsy again probably. God, they really didn't pay her enough for all the little things she did. "Josh is a drug addict. Cocaine, apparently. Apparently he's also addicted to cheating because it wasn't just me and Heather."

Gwen let of a stream of volatile expletives which made Mindy sure Riley was safely ensconced in a room far from her mother or Gwen would never use such language.

"I completely agree and normally I'd happily enter into half an hour of Josh-hating, but not really the point of the story. Oh, but this is strange: when I was there he said something about me and Danny."

"You and Danny?"

"Yeah, that he'd always thought there was something between us."

If Mindy was expecting a surprised or incredulous response, she was disappointed.

"Oh... Huh."

"Huh? What does huh mean? It's not even a word."

"I'd never thought about it before but maybe..."

"Maybe what? Maybe nothing. Did you miss the part where Josh is a cocaine addict?"

"Oh yeah that bit is totally messed up but you and Danny... Perhaps there is a little something there. He's always seemed so concerned about you and you do talk about him a lot."

"So? I talk about Kim Kardashian a lot."

"As far as I know, you've never called Kim Kardashian handsome and said she smells like a 'man, all sweaty and strong.'"

"When did I say that? About his smell?"

"Maggie's birthday. You were drunk."

"Huh..." Mindy had to admit most of that night was a blur. It had been fairly soon after the break up with Tom and she'd got started early with the red wine.

"See? Huh is a word."

Mindy shook herself. "The misconceptions you and Josh both share about my relationship with Danny is not the point."

"This seems to be a long story with very little point."

"There is a point. The point is, Danny's an idiot."

Gwen sighed heavily. "Okay, listening."

Mindy continued the story, missing out the turbulence and the clasping of his hand with hers, and subsequently of hers in his own large hand, mainly because she didn't feel prepared to handle whatever Gwen would read into that. It was only a response to a moment of fear. It wasn't like she enjoyed his clammy palm pressed to her fingertips. She quickly filled Gwen in on coming back to the office that morning and the blonde surprise waiting for Danny.

"She just waltzed out of his office like she had every right to be there. Didn't she give up the right to be in his life when she jumped into bed with another man and broke Danny's heart?"

"Slow down, what did she say?"

"She just said hi but it was the way she said it, like he belonged to her and she was imagining saying it in bed."

"I think you're reading too much into this."

"No, I swear her eyes were undressing him, begging him to take her back."

"No, it definitely sounds like you're reading too much into this."

"But what if he does? He really loved her, Gwen. She could get him to forgive her and it would be a huge mistake because she'd just hurt him again."

"I know you care about Danny. He's your friend and even if you won't admit it, I kind of agree with Josh that there might be something else."

"The words 'I agree with Josh' should be forbidden from the English language. They should be a criminal offence."

"Okay, sorry. We won't talk about that. But there's nothing you can do. Surely the person who is really in crisis here is Danny."

"I," Mindy began before realising she wasn't sure where that sentence was going to go. "Danny's my friend. Like you said, he came with me to Josh because he didn't want me to make an idiot of myself, is it so weird that I want to stop him making this insanely huge mistake with this woman who hurt him so badly before?"

There was a smile in Gwen's voice. "Are you sure that's all?"

Mindy groaned low in her throat. "I'm gonna have to go. Put Riley on the phone."

Gwen called Riley to the kitchen. "Look, don't worry about anything, Mindy. Danny's a big boy. He can make his own decisions and he whatever he does, it will work out."

"Maybe," Mindy agreed while her mind protested that no, things don't always work out and it was up to her to make sure Danny didn't do anything stupid like give Christina a second chance.

Gwen evidently heard something in Mindy's voice. "Mindy," she said warningly, "it's Danny's choice. Listen, are we still on for shopping with Alex and Maggie this weekend?"

"Of course."

"Great, here's Riley."

The sound of fumbling came across the line as the phone was passed over and Riley pressed the phone to her ear.

"Hewwo?"

"Oh god, haven't you grown out of that? Why haven't your parents put you up for adoption yet?"

Riley ignored this. "Who's Danny? Is that your boyfriend who made my bunk bed?"

"Et tu, Riley?"

"Huh?"

When Mindy finally emerged from her office ten minutes later, her eyes immediately went to Danny's office door, firmly closed. In itself this was not unusual. Danny preferred his privacy, normally closing his door when he was working. However, the blinds either side of the door were also closed, affording him a level of privacy Mindy had never seen him claim before. She took her eyes away and made her way to the reception desk.

Morgan was sitting on the chair next to Betsy's, his fingers tapping a nervous beat on the desk. He and Betsy were sitting close together, and as Mindy approached the desk, Betsy whispered something to him, laying her hand on top of his to stop his movement. He looked at her, took a deep breath and nodded once. Betsy looked up at the sound of Mindy's heel on the floor.

"Hi Dr. Lahiri, Mrs. Delgado is here a little early. I was about to call you."

"Thanks. Where is everybody?" Where's Danny?

"Dr. Reed is with a patient and Dr. Castellano is..." Betsy shot a look towards the closed door and lowered her voice, despite the fact that there's no way he could hear her. "Still with his wife."

"Ex-wife, Betsy," Mindy reminded her. Morgan's leg jiggled under the desk. "What is with you, Morgan?"

"Me? Nothing, Dr. L. I'll go and get Mrs. Delgado into an exam room." He shot off without another word and Mindy watched him go with interest.

"Well that was weird."

Betsy busied herself with something on her computer screen. Mindy's brow furrowed and she opened her mouth at the same moment Danny's office door swung open. Mindy's head snapped that way, all concern about Betsy and Morgan forgotten.

Christina walked out, hitching her purse higher onto her shoulder before striding off towards the exit. She met nobody's eye on the way out, and despite how much Mindy tried to read the expression on her face, she couldn't make sense of it.

Danny appeared in the doorway to his office and this time Mindy could read his face with no problems. Anger. The friendly ease she had become used to on his face was gone and the sight twisted something in her gut. She felt the loss of that look like plunging into a cold bath.

"Where's Jeremy?"

"He's with a patient, Dr. Castellano," Betsy said while Mindy stared at his face.

"Go and get him. I want everyone in my office now. That means everyone. Beverly, you too. Someone get Morgan."

"I have a patient waiting," Mindy managed to get out.

"She can wait a few minutes. Get in here."

He turned and stormed back into his office. Mindy was frozen to the spot, fear coursing through her for reasons she was not sure of. Betsy was staring open mouthed at the open door as Danny moved back towards his desk. He sat down in his chair and looked back out to the reception area.

"Now," he barked. Betsy jumped up from her chair. She and Beverly left in search of Morgan and Jeremy. Mindy slowly made her way across the floor like she was walking through quicksand, not wanting to be the first in his office facing that anger. She stopped to straighten an already perfectly straight picture on the wall and to re-centre a plant on the far side of the desk. Glancing towards Danny's office, she instantly met his narrowed eyes and he jerked his head to motion her into his office. Feeling like a naughty child, she complied.

She moved into his office and sat down on a chair opposite his desk, avoiding looking at him, not liking the anger emanating out of him. Instead, she stared at his desk, eyeing up the tidy space. One thing about Danny, he was meticulously clean. Behind her, Jeremy entered, closely followed by Betsy. Morgan and Beverly were last to enter.

Next to her, Jeremy, gestured at the remaining chair for Betsy to sit. She smiled up at him, a small, weak smile, clearly frightened by Danny's demeanour and the heavy silence. Beverly, immune as always to awkwardness was looking between the doctors with disinterest. Morgan loitered by the door.

"What's this about, Danny?" Jeremy asked. "Where is the delightful Mrs. Castellano?"

"Don't call her that," Danny bit out. "What I would like to know is, who considers it their right to poke around my private life?" He looked at each person in turn, eyes boring into theirs.

"What are you talking about, Danny?" Mindy asked.

"Why do you have a knife on your desk?" Beverly asked. "Is it in case any of your patients gets violent? That happened to me once. I was in a cafe in Brooklyn with one of my many lovers. This was about twenty years ago-"

"I don't care," Danny said, snatching the silver object out of her hand and returning it to the spot on his desk.

"That's a letter opener," Betsy told Beverly who shrugged and went back to examining the items on the desk's surface with interest.

"The Wells are waiting in my office, Danny. Could you please tell us what this is about so I can get back to those pay me for my time," Jeremy said.

"Like a prostitute?"

"Not like a prostitute, Beverly."

Danny covered his eyes with his hands. "You're giving me a headache. All I want to know is who thought they had the right, who had the balls to go through my drawers and mail a private letter to my ex-wife?"

Betsy let out an involuntary gasp and all eyes flew to her. "Was it you, Betsy?" Danny asked in a dangerous voice.

Betsy, flushing bright red, opened her mouth but nothing came out. Danny leaned forward over the desk, focussing in on her and she blinked furiously. Jeremy rested his hand on her shoulder without seeming to realise he was doing it. Mindy raised her eyebrows.

"Did you mail that letter, Betsy?" Danny asked again.

"I did," Morgan suddenly burst out from where he still stood by the door. Mindy twisted in her chair to look at Morgan. Jeremy removed his hand from Betsy's shoulder to stare at the nurse and Danny stood up to better see the man by the door. Even Beverly put down the glass paperweight she had been examining to watch what would happen. The only person who didn't immediately turn to face Morgan was Betsy who remained almost perfectly still in her chair, still as red as if she'd been sunburnt. The only movement from her was the twisting of her hands in her lap.

Morgan, who always brought to mind a puppy dog, curious, eager to please and friendly, now looked like one about to be thrown into the rain.

Mindy looked between Morgan and Danny, noticing the darkening look on Danny's face and the tensing in his jaw which told of clenching teeth.

"Right. Everyone else please leave. I want to talk to Morgan."

Morgan moved to the side of the door allowing room for everyone else to leave. He refused to meet Danny's eyes instead staring at a spot about half way up the opposite wall. Mindy tried to catch his eye on the way, to do what she wasn't sure. What he did was wrong and Mindy understood why Danny was pissed but knowing Morgan, Mindy was sure he had good intentions. She paused at the door, opened her mouth to say something but Danny's firm hand on her arm steered her out the door.

"I'm a partner here, Mindy. This is a disciplinary issue and I will handle it." He closed the door behind her with a snap.

Mindy stood, confused and at a loss for what to do next. Betsy and Beverly had already moved back to their desk, Betsy still retaining her blush and Jeremy had disappeared back to the Wells. Mindy had known something must have happened to bring Christina back into Danny's life but she hadn't known what. Now it turned out Morgan was somehow responsible.

Mrs Delgado appeared at the door of exam room two and Mindy remembered what she was supposed to be doing. She walked away from Danny's office, hoping her colleague wouldn't be too hard on Morgan.

Halfway across the reception area she realised she still didn't know how Danny felt about Christina's return.