"Betsy," Jeremy said leaning across the reception desk to get her attention. "I was wondering if you had any plans for tonight?"

"I was going to visit Dr Shullman. Why? Dr Reed would you like to come?" she asked beaming excitedly. "Nobody in the office will go with me and I think he might find it strange if I go by myself."

"No." he said sighing heavily. "Though, do say hello for me and tell him that we miss him very much."

"If you miss him, you would come and see him." she mumbled quietly, focusing her attention back to her paperwork on her desk.

"Can't you visit him some other time?" Jeremy asked, hopefully.

"This is the only time that I've scheduled. I'm really busy over the next couple of weeks and I wanted to see him early in the New Year."

"Fair enough. What about over the weekend? Are you free on Saturday then?"

"Saturdays are no good for me. I take my neighbour shopping. She's old, so I drive her to the shops and do her groceries, then I clean her apartment. I'm usually too tired to do anything else afterwards, so I just stay at home and watch tv."

"Do you clean and shop for her every Saturday?"

"Pretty much." She said without looking up from one of the files that she was working on.

Jeremy smiled at the kind gesture. Betsy really was one of a kind! He had yet to find a more sweeter girl than her and he had been through his share of a lot of women!

"How about Sunday?" he asked persistently.

"I don't know yet, Dr Reed." She said pulling her eyes away from her file to look at him. "I should be, I guess."

Jeremy sighed heavily. He had always expected her to seem more excited when he asked her out. This was not at all playing out like he had planned it in his head. Sure they had been flirting for weeks and he was doing his very best to give her time to let it all sink in. Betsy was a smart girl, but at times she was so clueless that it drove him totally insane. Even though he was directly hitting on her, she was still probably in her own little world thinking that they were just having a nice, friendly chat. He knew that she liked him just as much as he liked her. Shauna had filled him in on it one day and Morgan cracked jokes about the subject daily. He had even asked Danny for advice. Danny Castellano- who had the worst track record with women- had even managed to see that Betsy was totally oblivious to his feelings for her.

"I was thinking of going to Central Park on Sunday, would you be up to joining me? We could have a picnic?" Jeremy said, trying to sound romantic and docile.

"I don't like picnics. I hate ants, not to mention that I rarely walk through Central Park. The last time I was there, I was mugged and the plants upset my hayfever allergies. But have fun, Dr Reed." She said sweetly, smiling at him.

Jeremy smiled fakely, thanked her and decided to head back to his office. She really was not getting the hint and he would retreat for a more convenient time.

"Betsy!" Morgan said poking her hard in the ribs.

"Ouch Morgan! Why did you do that for?" she shrieked, holding the spot where he had jabbed her.

"Are you insane? Dr Reed was practically begging you to go out with him and you said no?"

"What?" she asked cluelessly, frowning a little. "No, he didn't ask me out. He just wanted me to go to a lame picnic in the park."

"Firstly, picnics are not lame…they are one of the most romantic things that you can do for a girl. You being one should know and appreciate that already! Secondly, Central Park is not just any park! It's one of the most fabulous places in the world and thirdly, Dr Reed totally digs you and you rejected him? Do you even though what pretty guys like him do when girls turn them down?" he asked, gesturing his thumb across his neck.

"He is going to cut my throat?" she shrieked loudly.

"Your throat?" he laughed, rolling his eyes at his friend and shaking his head in disagreement. "No, not yours. His!"

"Dr Reed won't kill himself because I said no to a picnic. That's just silly." She said hotly, trying to seem more interested in her file in front of her.

"You never know. It's Friday today. This could be the last day that we see him, seeing that there's a weekend before Monday work. And if the rejection hits him hard enough, he might not live through the long and painful weekend."

Betsy did not say another word. She pretended to write some notes on her file in front of her, while her mind was really fixated on Morgan's alarming words.

He had to be joking right?

xoox

Mindy had left Danny's office shortly after their kiss. She had found it too weird to be around him at the present moment; because for some unknown reason, she now found anything that Danny Castellano did to be unbelievably sexy.

AND SHE WANTED HIM BAD.

Being back in her own office and to her own thoughts was almost as bad as being around him. Though he was not in front of her, taunting silently in ways that he would never know; he was still very present in her thoughts. This was obvious by the amount of work she had managed to achieve since their steamy hook-up.

That was NONE to be precise.

She had about a million questions to ask him, but she dared not to go into his office again. She couldn't have another repeat of the morning's antics; especially when they were at work of all places! If Jeremy or anyone else in the office saw them like that, before they figured out what they exactly wanted from each other, things could get a lot more complicated than they need be.

Mindy's message alert on her phone went off loudly, pulling her away from her thoughts about Danny. She reached across her desk for her iPhone quickly and read the message.

I figured when you didn't message or call me the other day that you must have deleted my number.

It was really nice to see you again and I'd love to get together with you or dinner or drinks.

I just need to talk to you.

I know that I hurt you…I messed up Mindy. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.

I know you probably don't believe me, but I love you.

Please give us one more chance…I'd do ANYTHING to prove it to you.

By the way, this is obviously Josh xoxo

Mindy rolled her eyes and put her phone down on her desk. That guy had some fricken nerve! She wanted nothing more than to call him up and yell at him, but she was not in the mood to think of him right now. She had better thoughts to get back to. Thoughts involving Danny Castellano and all the places throughout the office where they could make passionate love once everyone else had left Shullman and Associates at night.

xoox

"Alright." Betsy said barging into Jeremy's office and alarming him a little.

"Betsy, is there something wrong?" he asked, looking up from the chart he was reading and frowning a little.

"Alright, I'll go to that picnic with you." she said hotly and nodding her head at him curtly. "Just don't do anything silly over the weekend to…harm yourself in any way, okay?"

And with that, she was out of his office before he had a chance to figure out what the hell she was talking about.

xoox

"Franco, it's Danny. I've called you about twenty times, for God's sake! At some point you are going to have to answer my calls and talk to me. Look, I'm not interested in Christina anymore. That letter was from two years ago. Please call me back and we can talk. Bye."

Danny threw his phone to his desk and sighed heavily. He was getting pretty sick and tired of Franco's blatant immaturity. He was the one that stole Christina off him in the first place and even then, Danny had taken his calls to allow his "friend" to explain his version of events. Now, when he needed to get into contact with him, he was screening calls? It was so pathetic that it made Danny swell up with anger.

Danny's day at been so overwhelming. What with Christina's outburst and confrontation –which he was not at all prepared for- and what with Mindy kissing him to his complete and utter shock… to say that he had had a very stressful day was the understatement of the year!

He didn't regret kissing Mindy. He had enjoyed it much more than he had thought he would. No matter how many times he had played out what their first kiss would be like; never would he in a MILLION YEARS imagine that Mindy would be the one to kiss him! He had always thought she was totally oblivious to the possibility of them as anything other than co-workers! Not to mention that he had secretly believed Mindy still harboured some very unnatural thoughts about his co-worker Jeremy.

Mindy kissing him completely unexpectedly had eliminated his theory that she still had feelings for Jeremy. This made Danny feel like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders and he leaned back into his desk chair, smiling contently to himself. For once in his life he was not at all threatened or jealous of Jeremy Reed.

He wanted to see her. Well, he wanted to kiss her more than anything really. But he didn't want to scare her off or overwhelm her. As much as it killed him to exercise self-control, he figured that she might need some space to process everything.

After Christina had come back for her coat, Mindy had excused herself and left his office in record timing. They had bumped into each other once since then in the corridor outside the reception desk. Danny had seen her while they were getting charts and she had awkwardly called him "buddy", patted his arm and quickly headed back into her office without another word or glance his way and shut the door behind her.

In all the time that he had worked with her, Mindy rarely shut the door unless she was having an existential crisis that was too big for her to deal with; or unless she was making out with one of her many boyfriends that Danny hated.

Seeing that he door was closed and with no one else inside, instantly put Danny into one of his worst case scenario, paranoia modes where he assumed that she was having one of her crisis's because she had now regretted kissing him. Feeling his body become excessively sweaty from the negative thoughts in his head, he tried to combat the negative with positives ones like…

She kissed you. She wanted to kiss you.

But what if she was in her room right now, lying down on her floor and regretting the kiss? He thought to himself as his heart raced a thousand miles an hour. What if she had decided that it was a mistake and they should just remain friends, so as to not complicate their work place relationship?

Danny loosened his tie a little, suddenly feeling the sensation that it was suffocating him as a heatwave of sweat spread over him.

He needed to go and see her. Stuff giving her space and patience! He was not going to allow Mindy Lahiri second guess herself into thinking that their kiss was a mistake!

xoox

"Morgan, can I have a word?" Jeremy asked walking into the nurses' office and shutting the door behind him quickly.

"Sure Dr Reed." He said placing a tub filled with blood onto a metal tray. "What's up?"

"Do you know anything about why Betsy agreed to come with me on my picnic? I was certain that she was not going to go after she told me that she was allergic to plants and hated ants."

"I talked her into it." Morgan said beaming, as a big smile played across his face from ear to ear.

"Yes, I figured that you would have played a part in it. Though, I always assumed that she would appear more excited if I ever asked her out on a date. She seemed more annoyed…mad even, when she told me that she would come along. It was almost as if it was an obligation for her and I don't want her to feel like I'm burdening her. I want her to enjoy our date. I want it to be perfect, you know?" Jeremy said rambling on.

"Look Dr Reed, you know how Betsy is. She's smart and dumb at the same time. She exactly like Cher, from my favourite movie Clueless-"

"Your favourite movie is Clueless?" he asked cutting Morgan off quickly and raising an arched eyebrow at his friend.

"Uh yeah! Why wouldn't it be? It's funny and romantic. My grandma loves it and Alicia Silverstone is so hot! Anyways, that's not the point. What I'm trying to say is that Betsy is exactly like Cher… She's smart at times, but so thick and clueless every other time. Dr Reed, she didn't even get that you were hitting on her!"

"She didn't?"

"Nope. She was totally oblivious to it."

"So what did you say to make her change her mind, then?"

"I told her that you might uh do something…you know, its not that important. The point is, she's changed her mind and now she's going."

"Morgan!" Jeremy sneered. "What did you tell her?"

"Okay, don't be mad though…but I kind of told her that you might kill yourself, since she rejected you…" he said flinching a little.

"WHAT?"

"You're mad, huh?" Morgan said wincing slightly. "I'm so Dr Reed, I just wanted to see you two happy…that's all."

Jeremy did not want to hear another word. He wanted to kill him.

xoox

"Hello, Dr Lahiri speaking." Mindy said answering her ringing work phone.

"Mindy, don't hang up please! It's Josh!"

"Ugh what do you want?" she asked, groaning into the receiver. "Why are you calling me at work?"

"I had to, you wouldn't answer your cell! I know that you got my text and you are ignoring it, but I wanted to say that I-"

" I'm hanging up now…goodbye." Mindy said cutting him off mid-sentence.

" WAIT! Min, please!. Just give me a minute to explain. I really need to tell you something important."

"Are you dying?"

"What? No."

"Are you checking yourself into a cheating anonymous rehab retreat?"

Josh laughed loudly. "No. Why? Do places like that exist?"

"I don't know Josh. But I'm sure you could make up the organization and fund it, seeing that you have so much experience on the matter!"

"Look, I know that I hurt you and trust me I'm mortified. What I did to you will haunt me forever."

"Good. I'm glad to see that somewhere deep down inside that lying, cheating body of yours is a conscience! Now I won't have to use my future reincarnated life stalking you and giving you hell! Goodbye Josh."

"You haven't changed one bit." Josh sneered, a hint of anger evident in his voice. "You are still so unbelievably stubborn!"

"I am not!" Mindy said hotly. "I just have no time for cheating ex-boyfriends!"

"So you don't believe in talking things through…or getting closure?"

"I've gotten closure buddy! Okay? I have moved on since you. I've dated guys. I've had a relationship."

"Had? So your single now?" he asked sounding optimistic.

"That is none of your business. Now if it's okay with you, I've got to get back to work."

"So you don't need closure. That's fine, Mindy. But I do. Can we please meet up after work today and talk? I have a lot that I need to tell you and get off my chest."

"Hell no." Mindy said snapping quickly. "I am never seeing you again, Josh. You broke my heart. I was more depressed when we broke up than whenever I watch Titanic and Jack dies! Do you know how much you scarred me for life? I almost stopped believing in love because of you…but that was until I watched UP and I saw how beautiful the cranky old man was when he was with his wife- but that's besides the point!"

"So you won't meet me after work then?"

"Am I speaking another language, dude? No I will not."

"So can you at least give me a minute to say what I need to say over the phone?"

"Argh! Fine." She hissed. "You get a minute and then I'm hanging up."

"Why haven't you been returning any of my calls or texts? I've literally been messaging you for months."

"Let's see Josh…I don't know…maybe it has something to do with the fact that you cheated on me!"

"I don't know how many times, I need to say that I'm sorry to get through to you but all I know is that still love you, Mindy! I'm sorry for treating you like I did and I swear that if you give me a second chance, I'll make it up to you everyday for the rest of your lives!"

"Never gonna happen dude. Once a cheater, always a cheater!"

"The other day at the coffee shop was the best that I've felt since we broke up. I miss you so much, Mindy! I know you can't find it in your heart to forgive me now, because I was a jerk and I treated you so badly. But you need to know that I still love you and that I'm single. I have been single since we broke up and I am working on improving myself…I'm doing it all for you, Mindy."

"Well that's too bad." Mindy said coldly.

"Can I ask you one question?" Josh said feeling desperate to clutch on to anything that could give him so hope.

Mindy sighed heavily. "What is it?"

"Did you love me?"

"What do you think, Josh? Did you think that I would have cried myself to sleep for over a month, had I not loved you? Do you think that I would have given up on love after we broke up, because I just felt like it?"

"So you did love me."

"Ugh you're so cocky and arrogant!" Mindy snapped quickly. "Yes, I loved you. I loved you a lot! Sometimes I have these dreams that we are back together and that I still love you and want you in my life…then I remember the truth…that you are a cheater, Josh and that I will never get back with you again!"

"Remember your favourite tv show that you made me watch…I think it was One Tree Hill? Well, Lucas cheated on Brooke with Peyton but they eventually got back together, huh? Remember how happy you were when they did? They were your favourite couple and we can be like that too." He said desperately trying to plead his case.

"Well, had you stuck around long enough you would have known that Lucas broke Brooke's heart again and married Peyton!" Mindy screamed a little. "Thanks for bringing up Brucas because now you've totally shattered my heart into a million fan girl pieces again from all these feels! I have to go. Goodbye Josh."

"Mindy, wait. I just have to know one last thing, before you go. Are you still in love with me?"

What the hell was with this guy? Couldn't he take a hint? Mindy thought feeling really to explode.

"Josh, a part of me will always love you. You were the first boyfriend that I loved completely. I felt loved and safe when I was with you. You also made me feel secure, and ironically I believed that you would be the only boyfriend that I dated to not cheat on me. But in time you did, so that's that. The point is, I loved you very much and I will be forever hurt. Feelings don't exactly disappear because you break up. It took me a long time to get over you, but eventually you will move on too, Josh. So no, I'm not still in love with you."

"But you must love me a bit, to say that you will always love me, right?"

"We were together a long time, Josh. I would be lying if I didn't say that I loved you…or still might potentially love you a little deep down."

"Mindy, I never appreciated what we had while we were dating...but I swear to you today, that I will win you back. I love you and I'm not going to stop trying to prove that to you. I have to be in court now, but I will see you soon hopefully. Love you babe."

And with that Josh hung up the phone without hearing her reply; leaving her in a more confused and messed up mood.

Maybe he has changed. He really did seem sincere on the phone… She thought biting down hard not her lip.

Great! Why the hell didn't she hang up sooner?

Now his words were going to be messing with her head for the rest of the day!

xoox

Danny walked back onto his office and slammed the door shut furiously.

How could he be so stupid to think that Mindy would actually like him back?

He had walked over to her office to talk to her. He had wanted to take her into his arms and kiss her again; and then ask her out to dinner that night. But instead he had overheard her talking to her cheating ex-boyfriend through her half-opened door.

She still loves him.

Danny, you are an idiot! A small voice in his head taunted him over and over again.

A part of him had always known that Mindy would never reciprocate his feelings for her. She was not only too clueless to realise that he had any; but she also was too concerned with other guys to ever consider him! But after the morning's kiss, he had for a moment started to hope.

For once, he had allowed himself to believe that she might potentially feel something for him too; because she had kissed him after all!

But now as he paced his office in complete anger, a swelling hatred consuming his body, he felt like the biggest moron on the history of the planet.

He needed to get over his stupid fantasy that Mindy Lahiri wanted him as badly as he wanted her!